Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Why Wait? ❯ Chapter One ( Chapter 1 )

"Alright, line up here. No, no, not that way! Like this!" growled a teen-age boy in exasperation as he attempted to straighten out the "new recruits." He was about 5'5, long-limbed, with richly tanned skin and jet black hair under an old paperboy cap. He narrowed his electric eyes at the small group of seven - five girls and two boys, from underneath a curtain of long, untamed bangs. they grinned back at him. "Not happy with 'em, Dodger?" another, older-looking boy asked, his arms crossed. "... They'll do, I guess," Dodger sighed.

 

Dodger was nearly fifteen, though he looked older and was often mistook for about seventeen, and then teased for his height. But Dodger was used to being teased. He had an odd, smooth face that didn't remind you of a boys' and an unusual voice with an unusualy neutral accent. He was slender and long; not tall or broad-shouldered like his companion next to him. Some people asked if he was gay, but he showed little interest in either gender. Besides that question agitated him. His "real" name wasn't known to anyone except Musa, the one next to him.

 

Musa, already sixteen, was much taller, with a more mature, broader build. Nearly 6', he towered over his fellow teens easily, though it was often thought he couldn't even instimidate a butterfly because of his relaxed, gentle personality. He sighed tiredly, running a caloused hand through his short, spikey, bleach-blonde hair, bright hazel eyes watching the excited newcomers.

 

 

"So... now what?" he asked, his voice carrying a hint of a New Zealand accent. "Just... ugh, I don't know. Take them to the others, let Alex deal with them," Dodger muttered while he messaged his temples, the other hand shoved in the pocket of his blue jeans.

"A'right, but are you going to be OK?" Musa looked questioningly at his best friend. He smiled reasuringly. "I'll be fine." Musa smiled back and jogged off. The two were as close as two humans could possibly be. They did everything together, finished eachother's sentences and read eachother's minds. They blanaced eachother out perfectly; Dodger's firey, hot-headed temper, with Musa's patient, goofy demenor. If you messed with one, you were messing with the other. Musa was also the only one who knew that Dodger wasn't really a boy...

 

Her real name was Dakota. She claimed to have neither a family, nor a home. Musa knew almost everything about her, because they had been friends since they were toddlers. But she never spoke of those and so he didn't either. She had started posing as a boy when she was eight.

She and Musa were at a playground when a local bully walked up and shoved Dakota down. He teased her for being a girl and started kicking her. She never liked being a girl for other, personal reasons, and now her female existance was miserable.

 

At her house that night, she looked for ways to make the teasing stop; something, anything. Thats when she came upon her trademark cap, and when she became known as 'the new boy'. She wasn't jeered now. She wasn't pushed down or struck. She was Dodger. She was one of the guys. She could hold her own in any fight, though it was rare she was ever challanged. She was suprisingly happy with this.

 

Smirking slightly, she hopped down from the boulder she was standing on and followed the sound of soft snorts and pawing to a fairly-sized herd of horses. Scattered around the pasture, on grass, fense, or horseback, were nearly twenty-five other teen-agers. She didn't know how it started or why, but they - she and Musa - had started picking up other kids soon after they ran away together.

They were orphans or they came from abusive homes, places where no-one really seemed to care that they were gone. They were her little band of misfits, traveling like free-lancing gypsies on horseback casualy around the country-side of America, known as The Rufio. The word had no particular meaning, she just made it up, and it just fit.

 

"Alright, Rufio! We have a long day ahead. We need to make it to Maine before nightfall. Think we can do it?" Her challenge was met by loud, eager cheering.

She grinned and tugged her black short-sleeve jacket up on her shoulders to protect her from the chilly Autum air, watching as they tacked up.