I'm back!! So I know that I had another story but I just didn't feel like it was good so I'm writing a different one that I think is better so bear with me and hopefully you will be just as responsive with this story as you were with my first.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my own characters.

I'm Keeping You Safe

Here we go again, I thought. It was just like them to be just graduated and already be in trouble. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised this wasn't the first time this has happened.

I shook my head at their stupidness. Stealing Dad's car to go for a beer run for celebrating reasons I get, but stealing a school bus? Come on! How is that even possible?

They stood there with their heads down and their shoulders slumped as my mom slapped them all upside their heads, but you could still see the hint of a cocky grin creeping up on all their faces. I swear the things that these boys can come up are unbelievable and how they still don't get arrested amazes me. I mean they stole a bus and all they got in return is a slap upside the head and a "firm" talking to. Granted the slap was probably the hardest they will ever feel, I think they still should have gotten some jail time. I can't even hang out with my friends after midnight without getting grounded for a month.

But I guess that's what I get for being the youngest of four and being the only girl. You get great protection form the hardships of the world but with that comes the protection from every cute boy there is out there. Did you know that I'm 18 and have only been out with 1 boy? 1, that's it and it had to be pre-approved by the pact as they had become known as.

I guess I should explain a little bit more. My name is Haley James and I am the youngest of four and I have three older brothers. There is the first set of twins James and Brian both 21 and new graduates from NYU. James with dark brown hair and deep chocolate brown eyes that screamed hot Italian guy and that every girl fawned over. Brian with his pitch black hair and electric green eyes that he got from our dad and the body that anyone would kill for. Then there are me and my other brother Lucas. The second set of twins for my mom and dad. He will never let me forget that he is 2 minutes and 17 seconds older then me. It makes me so angry!! Argh, all the time.

Anyway Lucas with his lighter brown hair and sweet honey brown eyes that any girl would completely melt over the second they came in contact with him. He was everybody's sweetheart and he could never do wrong. He was usually the one that got the other two out of trouble. No one could resist that smile. It was like honey, warm and irresistible.

Finally there was me. Plain old Haley James. There wasn't much to say about me that is utterly fantastic. I have soft honey colored brown hair and dull brown eyes that for some reason my mom always praises me for. Whatever, I don't see anything special. Anyway I have a petite build and have normal 18 year old girl features. Not that much about me is that worth mentioning.

I looked back as the boys made their walk of semi-shame towards the bar.

Did I mention that I worked in my dads bar? No, well I do it's called "The Set Back" cause anything on the menu, bar or food, will set you back at least a day in recovery.

Weird isn't it that an 18 year old girl would be working in a bar serving hardcore mob guys, but that's my life. Working in the family business. It isn't all that bad. I get to spend everyday with my parents and brothers. Sometimes Aunts and Uncles but it's not bad, and being "cute" as everybody says I am does not do badly for the tips.

Anyway, the boys approached the bar and they all took a seat in front of me.

"I can't even look at you without wanting to punch you and wanting to burst out laughing until I die at the same time" I said

"We know, we made a mistake, but let me tell you it was totally worth it almost seeing the vein in dads neck explode. Ha ha." James replied looking as if he had just completed the master plan.

"God, I know that was the craziest shit we have ever done and I have to say the look on moms face when you told her that she looked beautiful with her face all red was priceless." Brian added while grinning like his face would never go back to normal and he would be stuck like that forever.

"Man and when Nathan sweet talked that cop lady into not arresting us when that's totally where we were headed." Lucas looked down and shook his head in admiration for the friend that had been with us since the beginning.

My head suddenly snapped up and I turned it to the end of the line looking towards the last guy who so happened to be my best friend." Wait a second, you were part of this?" I said incredulously.

He slowly raised his head and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Ya. It's not like I had a choice. It was either go with them or forever by subjected to a life of constant teasing about the fact that I didn't have the balls to get on that bus."

I looked directly into his eyes and couldn't help but get lost in them. It was no secret that I liked Nathan. Everybody knew that I liked him except him. I have always liked him and everyday he got more and more handsome. He had jet black hair and piercing electric blue eyes that could penetrate the soul of anybody daring enough to look in them and try to figure him out. He had the body of an Adonis and he was the love of my life.

I exhaled heavily, looking away. He would never see me the way I wanted him to. I would always be the baby. The one that needed to be protected instead of loved. Too many times I had told Nathan that I loved him and all I got was a hair ruffle and an I love ya too kid. Kid. That was my least favorite word in the English language. I would never be anything more. I would forever be subjected to seeing him go from one girl to the next in the hope that he would finally see my love for what it was, real.

But that's neither here nor there; I had some scolding of my own to do. He was going to Duke in the fall and he didn't need to mess that up by being an idiot and stealing a school bus the day of our high school graduation.

"You always have a choice Nathan and choosing to steal a school bus was not the right one. What if you hadn't been able to "sweet talk" that cop? Huh? What then? How were you going to explain to Duke that the reason you were sent to jail was because you couldn't say no to a bunch of idiots?" I exclaimed throwing my hands in the air and smacking him in the shoulder with my rag.

"Jeez Hales leave the guy alone, he is a grown man that can make up his own decisions. Not everyone has a stick up their asses and is miss goody too shoes all the damn time." James decided to come to Nathan's defense.

"You know what James you can just mind your own business because unlike you who has already graduated from college Nathan still has to get there. So excuse me for actually caring for him and his future. Not everyone wants no end up back in this bar picking up the family business after there father" I was fuming at this point and all the guys were staring at me with shocked looks on their faces. I couldn't take their stares anymore, so I threw my rag harshly onto the counter and stormed out of the bar and up the stairs to the roof.

Everyone was silent for a moment until Nathan finally spoke,"I'm going to go see if I can find out what's bothering her."

Lucas answered, "Good luck, I've never seen her like that before. I can't believe she said that about you guys." Nathan nodded and headed in the path that I had just taken.

"She's probably just PMSing or something like that. After Nathan talks to her I'm sure she will fine and her usual perky self, ready so celebrate her graduation." Brian offered his excuse for my behavior getting nods from both James and Lucas in agreement.

On the roof

I was sitting on the ground with my legs hanging over the edge of the roof looking out at the town I had grown up in when I heard the door to roof shut loudly. I didn't have to look up to know who had come to see me. I knew his footsteps and the sound of his breathing and what he smelled like. Creepy right? I couldn't help it I loved him and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Not that I wanted to.

I felt him sit next to me and pull my left hand from my lap and intertwine my fingers with his.

"You want to tell me what that was all about?"

I turned my head to the left looking at him for a moment before staring back at the rooftops.

"I don't really know. I guess it's just that you have everything going for you and it would be stupid for you to loose it all on account of my brothers and their stupid schemes." I sighed, he would never understand that if my brothers cost him any part of his future that I would feel personally responsible for his failure.

He pulled my eyes towards his face by my chin and said softly,"Hey I would never blame you if something happened to me or my future. It would be my fault if anything went wrong. It would be on me because I couldn't say no when it really counted."

He always knew what I was thinking and that killed me. I couldn't keep staring at him with him continually staring at me with that strong of a compassionate look in his eyes. I leaned my head on his shoulder and stared back at the sky.

"I know but I would still feel as if I hadn't done enough to help you, to guide you in the right direction instead of failing you and letting your dreams slip away."

He sighed and placed his head on top of mine and kissed the top of my head lightly. "That's why you're my best friend Hales. You care about me more than anyone ever could."

Friend that was my other least favorite word and it always caused the hole in my heart to get a little bit bigger. I would always be his best friend. I would watch him grow up and fall in love with someone else and start a life with them and I would still only be the friend.

I don't think that I could handle this for much longer. I think that for the sake of my heart I needed to distance myself a little from Nathan. Maybe find someone out there who hadn't known me my whole life and could love me for real.

Little did I know that that was going to be pretty hard. Our lives were about to be so fiercely intertwined that you wouldn't know where one ended and where the other began. I was about to become the healer and saver while Nathan was about to become my most powerful protector.

So what did you think? Was it ok for my first chapter?

Please Review =-) Caitlin