"Remind me again why we're stealing beers?"

I turned off the engine and looked through the rearview mirror.

"You can back out, Frisco," I told my favorite curly-haired wide receiver.

"I heard the guy who owns this place is a big football fan," he continued.

A little sigh escaped my lips. Frisco was always the nice guy. At least, he tried to be. Sometimes, I forgot why we were even friends. He was too good to be hanging out with me.

"He'll let us buy some."

I sneered at him. "Where's the fun in that?"

Besides, the owner of this store was a racist piece of shit. He wouldn't let Kurt buy anything when we dropped by here once. Where was the justice in that?

Sure, I shouldn't be talking about being righteous since I was far from it – and I've probably done worse things than him. But hell, he was living in the twenty-first fucking century. Plus, he insulted one of my boys. Anybody who ain't stupid knew better than to cross me and my team.

Frisco wouldn't know that because it happened in our freshman year. He didn't transfer until around sophomore year from San Francisco (hence the nickname).

"He'll see it coming if I come along," Kurt said, disappointed.

I looked at him beside me. He had to sit in the front with me because of his big physique.

"I'll do it, then," Alfie volunteered, our resident quarterback. He grinned and mocked, "Too bad you won't have any fun tonight, Kurt. Sucks to be you."

We all knew that this kind of reckless behavior was Kurt's thing. And him having to stay put in the car was definitely eating him inside.

I flashed my best friend a wicked grin.

Alfie and I had known each other since we were nine years old. Despite our opposite looks, he got dark hair and very green eyes while I got blonde hair and very blue eyes, we got a lot of similarities in terms of likes and dislikes. Those years of mischief and loyalty formed some sort of unbreakable bond between us.

The only girl in the car giggled darkly.

Connie was cool to be around with. You could say she was 'one of the guys', but she dressed like a smokin' hot girl.

"I'll come, too," she said, her pale blue eyes twinkling in excitement.

"A'ight." I nodded. "Connie will be the distraction. Be the lookout," I added to Kurt. My eyes switched to Frisco.

He rolled his eyes. "As always."

I smirked.

He was always the getaway driver. Even if he was a righteous mofo, he was loyal. We managed to corrupt him a little bit in the past years. It did him good, loosening up and knowing what real fun felt like.

With one last look around the car, I got out. Alfie and Connie followed after me. I glanced over my shoulder. Alfie was carrying the back pack, while Connie was rearranging her top to show enough cleavage to distract the old man.

As soon as we entered, I nodded at Connie. She walked up to the counter, lowering her chest to give the old man an eyeful. The owner was reading a news paper when Connie came.

"Hi," she said seductively. "Do you sell lollipops here?"

Alfie and I walked towards the row of fridges, pretending to look at our options.

"Here, sweetheart," I heard the owner say.

I glanced at the counter in time to see Connie unwrap the lollipop and slowly put the thing in her mouth to put on a show. He was giving her his full attention. Hard not to, with a face like Connie's. But I guess he wasn't really looking at the face. The old bastard watched her like a sick fucker. I managed not to barf.

My eyes eyes quickly scanned the store.

No CCTV. How stupid.

I looked back at Alfie. "Do it."

He stacked the bag with cans of beer, while I kept on the lookout. It was past eleven in the evening. Not much people went to the store at this time of night, unless they were going to a party or buying emergency essentials.

We were almost done when a random girl came around the corner isle. She stopped short when she saw us. Alfie and I froze.

I checked her out. Her black hair was in a messy bun, and she wasn't wearing any makeup. She was in a sweatshirt and sweatpants. She clearly wasn't expecting to see anyone she knew, otherwise she wouldn't have dressed like that.

I was about to signal her to keep her mouth shut when she looked away and went on with her business like she didn't see us.

I cocked my head to the side. I was pretty sure she caught us stealing beer. I watched her as she turned her back to us and scanned the row of chips. My eyes didn't leave her until she disappeared around the corner.

Deciding she wouldn't tell on us, I turned to Alfie and glanced at the exit. He nodded, getting my point. Without word, we headed out together.

My eyes wandered to Connie who was still heavily flirting at the counter. No doubt she wanted to fucking barf right about now.

Right before we reached the door, Connie decided to leave then.

"I guess I better go now."

Shit. Not yet. Too soon.

I made the mistake of glancing back. The owner took notice of us, and I immediately saw the recognition in his eyes. And soon came after that was suspicion. Damn it.

"Excuse me."

We all looked at the girl who spoke. It was the girl in the sweatpants. She appeared nonchalant as she emptied the contents of her basket on the counter.

"I'm sorry," she said, smiling sheepishly at the owner. "But I'm in a hurry and I'd like to buy these."

The old man was about to look at us again, but then the girl added, "It's really late. I'd like to get home as soon as I can."

"Alright, fine. Calm the fuck down, sweetheart."

I didn't like his tone. It sounded something like an abuser would say.

When he was busy scanning the items, the girl briefly glanced at me. The others took that as a cue to get out of there.

"C'mon, Oz."

I hesitated. When the girl looked away, I turned and bolted. I ran to my Range Rover, jumping in the backseat because Frisco was in the driver's being the getaway driver and all.

"That was close," Alfie breathed out.

"No shit," I muttered.

Connie left the horny old fucktard too soon. If it wasn't for that girl, we'd be busted.

"Don't leave yet," I ordered Frisco, when he revved the car.

They didn't question me.

"I managed to snag a few chocolate bars, too," Alfie mentioned, opening the back pack and getting out the sweets. Connie and Frisco grabbed some.

"Hand me a beer," Kurt said, looking over his shoulder.

I ignored them and waited until I saw the girl walk out of the store. She didn't look harmed. Good.

"Hey, have you seen that girl before?" I asked, nodding towards her as she climbed in an old blue Mustang.

"Don't think so," Alfie said, tilting his head as he munched his chocolate bar.

"She looks familiar," pondered Connie.

"Does she go to our school?" wondered Kurt.

"That's Halo Buckley."

We all looked at Frisco.

He shrugged. "She's in my World Literature class."

I nodded. Huh. So she went to our school.

"Why the sudden fascination?" Alfie asked curiously.

"She saved our asses in there," I admitted.

Kurt's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Her?"

I didn't like repeating myself so I didn't answer him. I only watched as the girl drove away in her Mustang. When she was gone, I leaned back in my seat and sighed.

"Let's get back to the party."