She could remember a rule she’d heard in school, that guy with an earring in their left ear meant they were gay. Or was it the right?

It had been three years since she’d been in school, now that she thought about it. Grade seven felt so long ago.

Whatever. If that was his thing, that was his thing.

“What was that?” she asked, her head jerking in the direction of the other group.

“Shit, I don’t know,” the earring guy said. “Randoms have been showing up all over. This used to be a hangout spot, there’s an ice cream place inside, but since they showed up and started causing trouble and trying to make money off of tourists, it’s different.”

They were locals, then, and the teens with the spray-painted clothes were visitors or recruits of the newbies. Good to know.

“Only two kids allowed in the ice cream place at a time,” one of the younger members of the group said. “So fucking stupid.”

“I heard something’s going down,” Ashley said.

“Has been for the last few weeks,” a girl said. Her hair was plaited into a braid that ran from the center-front of her hairline over her head. Two more plaits were at the side of her head. Ashley liked the makeup. “They went after the criminals, but they didn’t do anything about the gangs. They went after the ones with powers.”

The guy with the earring added, “The local gangs are running scared, new gangs are showing up, cops are cracking down.”

“You can’t even keep track of it all,” the oldest boy said. He was the one she’d first talked to and he was answering for the first time. The first thing he said was to admit a weakness like that? She was less interested in him now. Not so useful.

“What places are trouble?” she asked.

“First time in Boston? You alone?”

“Not my first time,” she said. She ignored the second question. “I know neighborhoods, but not where to go or not to go.”

“Dorchester, Mattapan, Mission Hill.” the guy with the earring said. “Places to stay away from.”

The girl standing next to him said “Deathchester, Murderpan, Mission Hell.”

Ashley smiled.

The guy with the earring said, “I hear Hyde Park is a warzone, and there’s the dead stop near Boylston, you can’t go there without someone starting shit.”

The girl said, “You hear bad things about East Boston, but only from people who think brown or black skin is a reason to be scared.”

“I don’t scare easy,” Ashley said.

“If you’re looking for a place to stay, you’re going to be shit out of luck. Most places are booked,” the girl said.

“I’ll manage,” she said.

“You don’t scare easy, you’ll manage,” the guy with the earring said. “You’re tough, huh?”