"Enjoy ya little sinners." The man with a white apron croaks as he walks away. "Who knows it might be ya last meal outside of prison."

Grace tightly grips the metal dish and eyes the yellow mash potatoes and dark brown gravy, swimming in a sea of green peas.

Barf!

"Well, this is...something." Her jail mate mutters, swirling his plastic spoon in the mash. "The good news is we might not even get to go to jail, the food might kill us first."

Snorting, Grace lifts the plate up to her nose only to flinch back.

"It actual smells dangerous. Is dangerous even a smell?"

"But you even saw him." He laughs, placing the food onto the floor. "His apron was as dirty as a train station sink. I wouldn't be surprised if he was playing some Charles Edmund Cullen shit."

"Right but more like the chef edition."

The two burst into giggles.

"You're not so bad, you know. Kind of scary when you first came in here but you're more like a prickly teddy bear."

"Thanks." He groans, playfully flicking Grace on the ear. "Are you going to eat that though?"

"Well, I'm starving." Grace answers, sticking her finger into the mash."It can't be that bad, right? Even if it is I'm sure I've tasted worse."

"Impossible!" He laughs, throwing his head back. "Look at it."

"Trust me, my friend Vic had to bake brownies for this work charity thing. Unfortunately, I was the first to try them and had diarrhoea for a week ." Grace softly grins. "We had to go to the junk yard to throw them away, that's how bad they were. We made up a little nickname for it, um I think it was Radioactive Brownies?"

"How long have you been friends with her."

"Years." Grace whispers, pushing her curls back. "I just don't understand why would she just leave me here. It doesn't make sense."

Grace grips the plate of food as sharp pain shoots through her.

Vic, where are you?

"Enough of the sad, sloppy stuff." He murmurs, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to hear my story or not."

Forcing a grin, Grace wildly shakes her as she takes a spoonful of the mash before tossing it back onto the plate.

"So, it all started with a bad boy who stole my textbook." He chaffs.

"Oh, come on be serious." Grace mutters, pushing him back with her free hand.

"Fine. Last week I received an invitation from my high school 'friend', Manny."

Grace slowly nods.

"Manny said he was throwing a little party at our old school to celebrate 12 years of freedom, I don't know why he threw it at the place where they stole it but it was one of those situations where you party now and ask questions later. So, the day of the party rolls around and I show up at the school, wearing my favourite white tee and combat boots."

"The ones you're wearing now?" Grace asks, picking up some peas and mixing it up with the mash.

"Yep, these exact clothes. Anyway, I get there, park my car and walk up to the main doors but they're locked. So, I eye the building for  second and realise that everything is dark. No lights, no music and no cars. Utter silence. So, I call Manny and he says some rubbish about going round back and jumping through the old physics classroom window. I was skeptical, trust me I was but I did it anyway."

"Why?" Grace asks, slowly bringing the spoon to her mouth.

"Manny was 'the cool kid' in school. He had it all, the money, the cars, the girls and even the perfectly white teeth and blonde hair." He leans back against the bars, his eyes faraway. "I was just the black kid nobody wanted to be around."

"Aww." Grace whispers, putting the spoon down and gripping his callous hand. "I kind of know how that feels. I was 'that black kid' till Vic came along. We say we've known each other since diapers but that's just an exaggeration. It does feel like it sometimes."

"Yeah, at least you had somebody to rescue you. I didn't." He folds his arms, a small smile on his  face. "And to answer your question I guess I wanted to impress him, you know, feel like I was apart of the cool gang. I spent half my high school life trying to get his attention and 12 years later I was still at it. Anyway, I crawled through the window, which was crazy hard by the way."

Grace laughs, poking at her chunky tummy.

"I know what you mean."

"So, I walk around the school, in the dark like some pedophile creep, and almost 10 minutes later  I find him waiting in a hallway. By then I was suspicious. None of the lights inside were on, it was like this party wasn't planned, if you know what I mean. Turns out he was standing outside the school's basement door, he said basement parties were the 'litt-est' and no I didn't tell him that wasn't a word, just followed him down the stairs like a helpless puppy. "

"I'm not going to lie this is hella sketchy."

"When I say it out loud it is but when you're living it, it kind of seems fine, I guess. So, as we climb down the stairs you can literally feel the music pumping through you. At that exact moment all my worries disappeared, all I wanted was a cold one and a hot chick."

"Stereotypical." Grace quips.

"Look, a dude has needs and I would be lying if I say those needs weren't met. That party was, goodness I can't even describe it, awesome, euphoric, bombtastic? I know I'll never attend anything like it. The girls where hawt, the beers were cold, the music was pumping and the more it continued the better it just became...that was until the cops showed up."

"You're joking." Grace snorts.

"I'm sitting in a cell...does it look like I am?" He mutters, throwing his hands in the air. "Anyway, I was mid-gangnam style when 5 cops come crashing in, torches flashing and guns out. Instead of putting our hands in the air, girl, we Nae Naed out there faster than you can say: 'catch me outside'. You know, looking back at it, I've always been good at jogging but this time around I ran, ran straight out the basement, while they were busy cuffing and tasering people, and I knew if I ran out the school they'd catch me so I hid in janitors closet and guess who was already in there?"

"Manny!" Grace fake gasps, throwing the spoon into her cold mash.

"Yeah, stupid Manny. It took everything in me not to wring his head right there but the way he kept apologising and telling me that his wife left him ,his kids have abandoned him and that he wanted to do something crazy to feel alive again, I just didn't have the heart report him let alone stab him to death." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "So, we hid out in there till we heard footsteps right outside the door.

"Have you ever seen a white man pale, it's the funniest thing ever. I'm getting side tracked. So, I'm squished into the corner next to this smelly mop while Manny is crouched under some shelf with toilet paper, freaking out. Literally. He's hyperventilating, practically exposing us to the cops. Next minute the footsteps are right outside and you can see the flashlight from under the door. I almost peed when the door cracked open."

"What'd you do?" Grace mutters, her eyes wide. "C'mon don't hold out on me."

"Look who's the nosy one now." He says, his chin raised and eyebrow cocked.

"Oh, just carry on."

"Well, to cut things short he threw me under the bus. He told the cop I planned the whole thing and forced him into the closet to keep his mouth shut. Guess who the cop believed?"

"What about everybody else who was at the party? Where are they?"

"I wish I knew." He throws his arms back, cradling his neck. "Before I could even defend myself they cuffed me, spewed out some rubbish about my rights and stuffed me into the squad car."

"I'm sorry." Grace whispers. "So, what's happening now? Why are they keeping you in here?"

"The surveillance footage from the school and witness reports or something. They're gathering all that and waiting for the head detective to investigate further. Till then I sit here and he runs free. What I don't understand is why nobody else was arrested for trespassing. I mean we were all at that party just because Manny lied his way out doesn't mean they could have."

"You don't know. They might be interviewing them right now."

"I doubt it." He sneers.

"Hey, it's going-"

"You know what? Don't worry about me. I'm a survivor, I'll get through this plus the truth always finds it's way out."

Grace sadly nods, playing with peas as they swim around the mash.

"You haven't touched your food." He mutters, his famous smile back on his face.

"Well, I've been a little preoccupied."

"Sure." He teases. "You're just chicken."

"Am not!"

Sending him a snarky smile, she lifts the spoon up to her mouth.

"1...2....3."He whispers.

Grace quickly stuffs the spoon into her mouth and instantly gags as the gravy and chewy peas touch her tongue.

"Tastes like socks." Grace groans, forcing the food down. "Oh my word."

Hunching over, Grace releases a scratchy cough as she gently taps her chest, she quickly throws the food onto the bench as anther cough winds it's way up. A moment later she feels hands on her back, moving around in slowly, rhythmic circles.

"That was terrible." She says, coughing into her hand, pieces of pea flying out her mouth. "Don't eat it."

"You okay?"

"No." Grace gags, her hair falling over her eyes.

A second later soft hands beat against Grace's back.

"Take it all out. Just take it all out."

"No." Grace mumbles, her mouth swimming in spit. "I'm not throwing up in here. That'll just be a whole new level of pathetic."

"If you say so." He mutters, leaning over.

They eyes meet for a brief second before a chilling voice comes from outside the cell.

"Ms.Fontanel, I'm so glad you're having fun."

Flip!

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Hey Luvies,

Is it weird that this chapter feels short but according to the word count it's longer than my usual chapters. Mmmm, probably just me!

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and WHAT'S THE WORST FOOD YOU HAVE EVER TASTED? For me it was prawn tacos a few years back. I literally took 2 maybe 3 bites and went running to the bathroom to...well you know.

Anywho, don't forget to Vote, Comment and Share The Love!