"I'm a nightmare, a disaster. That's what they'd always say."

- Me Against the World by Simple Plan

Chester, Pennsylvania wasn't the ideal place for kids to grow up. Well, it also depended on what part of the city you lived in. Growing up, Danni Shepard had to fight to be top of the food chain in the streets.

Now was a time when she wished she had better cardio. With her hand clutching her side, her ratty Converse shoes slapped against the sidewalk as she dodged the bright street lamps. Her breath came out forced as she felt herself grow woozy from blood loss. Pulling her hand away from the open wound on her right side as she ran, she couldn't help but flinch when she noticed how thickly the blood covered her palm. "Fuck," she cursed as she tried to push her legs to go faster.

Danni heard the sirens before she saw the flashing lights. She skidded to a halt before turning to run back from where she came. As she went to turn, her legs got tangled beneath her. Danni caught herself against the concrete before she could land on her side. "Shit!" she cried out as she was jerked up by the collar of her black leather jacket.

Sweat matted her shoulder-length onyx curls to her forehead and the back of her neck. She groaned in pain as the fuzz cuffed her and checked her for weapons, hitting her side and pulling his hand away once he felt the wetness. Sticky blood covered his hand as Officer Jacobson shook his head in disappointment.

"Damn it, Shepard. You know what your foster mother is going to say when she hears you been arrested again?" he hissed as he lead her to the back of the car.

The fuzz always annoyed Danni to no end. She scowled, "I don't care what the ol' bitch says. Besides, what are you gonna do to about the boy who stabbed me? Think you're playin' favorites by letting him go?" The cop said nothing as he shoved her into the back of the car. Once he was seated in the drivers seat, she continued, "Is it cause his family has money?"

Officer Jacobson ignored her, "I'll take you to the hospital. Your foster mom will meet us there. You know you're lucky I'm not taking you in?"

It always seemed that Danni wore a permanent scowl on her face to match her hard, ice blue eyes. She leaned her head back against the seat, enjoying the silence until Officer Jacobson started the scolding; he treated her as if she were a little kid. "I know you're a smart girl. Book smart and street smart. You're sixteen. You should be focusing on achieving in school rather than fighting on the streets."

Danni couldn't help but scoff, "I dropped out yesterday. I'm not going back to that hellhole." The officer was quiet the rest of the ride to the hospital. She couldn't help but bite her lip as the pain increased in her side.

Once they were in the hospital parking lot, Officer Jacobson opened her door and tried to get her out as gently as he could. She groaned as she stood up straight in the frigid air. It was a wonder why he was so… kind after all the trouble she caused him. She was only eleven the first time she had been jailed. Ever since then, she had only gotten worse.

"Just try to make the right choices, Danielle," Officer Jacobson said, making her frown at the use of her real name. He soon left her alone in one of the rooms with a doctor. With gritted teeth, Danni let the doctor put the stitches in her side. With the way he kept looking at her, she could basically feel him judging her. Street Rat. Delinquent. Hood. All labels she had been called before.

While the doctor finished stitching Danni up, her foster mother entered the room. Her hair was pulled up but that didn't stop it from looking like a rat's nest. "Danielle Marie, what the hell were you thinking?" she screeched as her brown eyes scanned the long wound on Danni's side. The doctor was quick to exit the room, clearly wanting to escape the feud that was about to happen.

Danni leaned up on her elbows, winching but not backing down from the wicked witch. "The asshole was insulting Karen! She's only thirteen! She hasn't learned how to stand up for herself! I had to-"

She was cut off by her foster mother, who made an angry noise. "That doesn't mean you had to fight!"

The woman turned away from the teen on the bed, shaking her head angrily. "No matter. I contacted your cousins from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Tim and Curly Shepard. Told them of all the trouble you caused and after some consideration, they agreed to take you in. You'll be out of Chester by tomorrow morning."

"Good. That means I don't have to put up with your bullshit anymore."

Her foster mother looked at her, the pity in her eyes pissed Danni off more than anything. "I'll be here in the morning with your things." She was then left alone in the chilly hospital room.

Meeting Tim Shepard was probably one of the most awkward moments Danni had ever had happen. As soon as she had knocked on the door to his home, he stared her down. Tim's features reminded her of an alley cat that had gotten into too many fights. He had dark blue eyes with black hair that curled at the ends. His nose looked as if it had been broken one too many times and a faded scar ran from his temple to his chin. Tim looked nothing like the guys in Chester did. "You Danielle?" he had asked.

With a hardness in her voice, she couldn't help but say, "Yeah, I'm Danni." He just smirked and lead her inside.

He gave her a short tour of the house. The inside didn't look any better than the outside did. There was a small couch in the living room with a small television. One bathroom and three bedrooms. One was filled with crud and, of course, that was soon to be her room they had to clean out. Tim told her she would be sleeping on the couch until it was emptied of the junk and had a proper bed in it. Then, he informed her that Curly was out with a couple members of his gang, doing God knows what. They sat at the small, wooden table they had dinner at. Small carving were in it, most likely Curly's doing since he was the younger sibling.

"So, what'd you do to get kicked outta Chester?" Tim asked as he took a sip of beer. Danni scrunched her nose at the disgusting drink.

"What didn't I do?" Danni frowned. "From stealing to getting into gang fights. I was nothing but a problem to them." Tim watched as her emotions flickered across her face. Controlling her emotions was one of her worst problems, especially her anger.

"You know," Tim started, breaking her from her thoughts, "you ain't the only one like that around here. Damn, that's basically how everyone in my crew acts. If you want, you can hang with us some time. Get a feel of it." Danni watched him with a guarded expression. The way Tim would give her that cat-like smile made goose bumps form on her arms. "We get into rumbles with Socs, go around causin'-" Tim was cut off as Danni asked a question.

"What's a Soc?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed as a confused look formed on her face.

Tim let out a hard laugh before explaining, "A Soc is a rich kid. South Side Social. They don't take to kindly to us Greasers."

Danni bit her lip, trying to put everything together. "Did you say Greaser?" she finally asked. Why couldn't they just use 'rich' and 'poor' when talking about this stuff?

Tim chuckled again, "Girl, you got a lot to learn. A Greaser is what we are. Put grease in our hair, tough people and tuff lookin'." Danni nodded as she took everything in. Maybe she did have a lot to learn…