If Stacy hadn’t been so worried about her own situation, then she might have recognised Gary by his facial details. However, the truth was Gary had changed quite some bit since the last time she had seen him.
Now, seeing his green hair, and his face, Stacy instantly recognised him. After yelling out his name, it seemed like she was about to say something else as well, but the words seemed stuck in her throat. The high schooler quickly placed his finger on his lips, silencing her.
He also looked behind her, making sure the door was still shut.
“Look, I’m not here to do… ‘that’ with you, I promise. So you will be okay, alright.” Gary tried to calm her down by using a gentle voice. However, he soon noticed that her eyes were looking in a particular direction — the object in his hand.
‘Of course, if I’m holding this thing, she would be scared.’ Gary nervously smiled and put the pink long hard object back down on the table. Showing his open palms, he called Stacy over. His sister’s former best friend still seemed a bit shocked by the whole thing.
“Gary… why are you in a place like this? And why did you pick me… Since you knew it was me, you could have picked someone else. I… I… You haven’t always had a thing for me, have you?” Stacy asked, as she either hadn’t hurt or didn’t believe the boy’s claims.
“Please.” Gary scoffed. “Don’t flatter yourself. Let me make something crystal clear. I’m not here as your friend. Amy told me everything that happened that day. I understand your situation at the time, it must have been scary, especially as a girl, but that doesn’t change that you left Amy behind!
“I don’t even care that you told them about me… but I’ll never forgive you for what you did to her!”
Looking into Gary’s eyes caused Stacy to gulp down her spit. His tone of voice was severe, and the teenage girl was beginning to believe that if he was in a place like this, he wasn’t the ordinary boy his sister thought him to be.
“Now that we have cleared that up, can you tell me how you ended up in a place like this? I might have understood it if it had been the Grey Elephants, but this area is controlled by the Pincers.” Gary commented.
After hearing the two gang names, Stacy’s eyes widened, and it looked like her suspicions were correct.
‘I guess he isn’t here just to see some girls…’
She hesitated, wondering if she should tell Gary or not. Even if he might have some knowledge in that area, what could he even do if she did tell him? Nevertheless, the whole situation was too much for a young girl like her, and it had been eating her up inside. Nearly breaking down again, she sat up straight to stop herself.
“My situation… has nothing to do with Amy or the Grey Elephants, if that’s what you were worried about. I’ve done enough to Amy, but she’s safe from this life. All of this was because of my parents.” Stacy revealed.
“I bet Amy thinks that I moved school because of what happened, but that’s not true at all. My parents have been having money troubles for a while now. If you didn’t know, they own their own mechanic business. We weren’t wealthy by any means but better off than many people in Slough. Many workers relied on our shop for their income.
“However, apparently, one day, my parents had a client who refused to pay up. To make matters worse, it was a big job as well. Usually, they keep the car as compensation, until those people pay up. They did the same in that case, even though the guy claimed he was a gang member.
“Eventually, he came back with others. They beat my parents and all their workers as well. It might have been fine, it had just stopped there, but they kept coming back and disrupting the business. From what they told me, some time later they got approached by someone who had heard about their trouble.
“My parents took out a loan with them, even though they knew the loan shark belonged to a gang, but with so many people relying on them, what choice did they have? The situation at home was stressful. So… I spent my time on some dubious sites, pretending to be someone I wasn’t…”
“Coincidentally, I eventually ended up chatting with Hawk. Maybe I just wanted some escape. Whatever… I’m sorry I got dragged you and Amy mixed up in all of it…”
Stacy stopped her story there, but Gary had already gotten the gist of it. The loan must have come from the Pincers. They must have charged her parents criminally high-interest rates, the type that would be impossible to pay off.
Then, in the end, they forced Stacy to do this, move her and her family to this area and the school. The loan was illegal in the first place, so the police wouldn’t do anything about it, and it’s not like they would act even if her parents would explain the situation.
He wasn’t sure if Stacy knew already or not… but the reality of the situation was that her family had most likely been targeted from the beginning. Even if the ones harassing them had not been from the Pincers, it wouldn’t surprise Gary to learn that the small-time gang might have paid off another gang to create the ruckus.
“Wasn’t your dad’s business under the Grey Elephants area? Why didn’t they do anything to protect you?” Gary asked.
She shook her head.
“I have no idea, Gary. I don’t understand most of this stuff, in the first place. Everything is so scary to me. They told my parents I would just be working off their debt as a waitress for a restaurant. As soon as they had me here, though, they told me that if I don’t do as they tell me, my parents would have their organs sold… these guys are scary… they’re terrifying people, Gary. What do I do?!”
It was clear that Stacy was beginning to panic again. He was wondering if he should help her or not. Hearing her story, as much as he didn’t like her, it wasn’t her fault she had gotten into this situation, and he imagined there were others that were the same.
“Stacy, I need you to help me. We might be able to get you out of this situation, but to do that, I require some information. Have you met the boss of the Pincers by any chance? If not, do you at least know what he or she looks like and where they are located?”
According to Kai, Stacy was the perfect target to get information from. She didn’t want to be here, and hadn’t been here long enough to know just how scary the Pincers were.
Wiping her tears from her face, she looked at Gary once more. Her thick, heavy makeup was halfway down her cheeks.
“I can’t… there’s a rule. When we first came here, they said we’d be done for if anyone speaks about the Pincers. If anyone even tries to talk to us, then we need to get out of there and inform the other immediately.
“I’ve put you and Amy through too much already, so I won’t do that. Honestly, Gary, I’m just happy to see someone from my normal life. I couldn’t tell anyone about any of this, not even Amy! Thank you… for listening to me.”
Ironically, Gary had drowned out what Stacy was telling after a certain put. As such, he was completely surprised to feel her hand pressed up against his thigh.
“Say… if it’s you, Gary… I think, it would be ok… you could be my… first.”
“Austin!” Gary shot up like a bamboo shoot. The reason he hadn’t heard the last few words was because he was thinking about what he had just been told, how it could mean trouble for their group.
“AAHHHHH!” A scream was heard coming from outside.
“Someone asked about the Pincers! Help, help!” A female voice cried out.