26
"Slow it down, rugrats," a voice called out.
I winced and jumped back as a handful of shrieking kids nearly ran me over. I bumped into Liam. He put his hands on my upper arms to steady me.
"Sorry about that." Jessie ushered us through the door of The Impact Youth Center. She craned her neck and shouted over her shoulder. "I said slow down!"
Liam quirked a brow. "They're an energetic bunch."
Jessie shook her head ruefully. Her brown hair was up in a low bun and pulled away from her face. She wore not a speck of makeup, in contrast with my own heavy eyeliner and lipstick. My brother's girlfriend had that wholesome girl next door look.
Or at least, she did when she worked at the youth center. I'd seen her dressed for her part time job at a dingy dive bar. I'd never seen someone make a complete one-eighty from schoolteacher to biker babe so thoroughly. Standing here in front of me, you never would have guessed she looked just as at home in a leather miniskirt as she did in a cotton blouse.
"You were never that rambunctious as a kid, were you?" Jessie asked Liam.
His green eyes twinkled. "I was worse."
"Somehow I don't doubt that." She gave him a cheeky smile before turning to me. "Thanks so much for coming out to support our fundraiser."
"Of course," I said. "This place means a lot to me."
Jessie didn't know everything, but she knew the center was where I had gotten started with my very first rock band.
"Gael's around somewhere," Jessie said. "I've got him acting as my errand boy today."
She handed me and Liam plastic wristbands in exchange for a wad of small bills.
"These are your passes," she said. "It proves you paid to get in."
"Just like at concerts," Liam said as he examined his.
Jessie beamed. "There's actually going to be a short concert later today."
"Who's playing?" Liam asked, no doubt wondering how a run down non-profit on the rough side of town could have convinced a band to come.
"Some kids at our center put together their own rock band," she explained to Liam. "We thought it was the cutest thing, until we realized how serious they were. Now we're just proud and impressed."
"We'll have to stick around for it." I nodded to a booth where a woman was using face paint to turn a little girl into a cat. "How does this fun fair work?"
"It's two tickets per game or activity," she said. "You can buy them from Anya and Micah over there." Jessie gestured to a table along the wall with two kids standing behind it. "They're both in the band. They'll benefit from this fundraiser, so they were happy to help out."
The table was manned by a tall teen with thick black glasses and a younger looking girl with her hair hiding half her face. They looked to be around the same age as my friends and I had been when we first started our band. I had seen them play before, so I knew he was the keyboardist and she was the lead singer.
"Food and drink can be bought with cash," Jessie continued. "We've got a bake sale with treats the kids have made. If you're hungry for more than just cookies and brownies, a few local restaurants donated some catered food."
"You've really got this whole thing planned out," I said.
"It's not the event of the century, but the kids had a lot of fun putting it together." A fond look spread across Jessie's face. "We're hoping to raise some money to buy more supplies for our art programs. Paintbrushes, blank canvasses, things like that."
"This place only runs on donations?" Liam asked, surprised. "There's no government funding or anything?"
"The government funds standard programming," she said. "Early morning day care, after-school tutoring, things like that. But as for the non-traditionalstuff—"
At that, Jessie's brow furrowed.
"Local politicians don't always see the point in giving away tax dollars to painting classes or music lessons," she finished.
"Really?" Liam frowned. "That's complete bullshit."
