A.N. Time for a Lost Boys chapter ficlet! I can't even finish any of my other stories, but I seem to be on a roll, what with a one-shot and this in less than two days. So I'm hoping this means my writers block is getting unblocked. Reviews definitely inspire. I hate when people favorite you and stuff, then don't even leave something telling me what they liked about it.

Short first chapter, but I felt the need to leave it were I left it off. Will continue if you guys like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Nada. Ziltch. Except for any original characters that find their way into this story! :3

Chapter 1 - Boardwalk Blackmail

Those cold blue eyes. They held a lot of promises in them. Dark promises. Pain and death were at the top of the list. He made my blood run cold every time I saw him. They way he always seemed to know I was there, how he made it a point to catch my eyes with his own. I stopped spending time at the Boardwalk just so I could avoid running in to him altogether. I think his name is David...I've heard his friends call out to him in the past. They were pretty scary too, now that I think about it. They all had these eyes that just weren't right. Like they could see right into you. I felt violated every time one of them looked at me.

My own friends call me crazy. They're as seduced by their utter hotness as I once was. And maybe I was just looking at things all in the wrong way, but David didn't give me a good vibe and I wasn't about to test him. Which brings us to the here and now. Tammy, my oldest and closest friend turned 18 today. She wanted to go to the Boardwalk and party it up all night. Telling her I wasn't feeling well had crossed my mind, and I'd almost gone with it, but the guilt of lying to her would have haunted me for the next decade, so I had no choice but to go along.

"What is up with you Lenina? It's like you don't want to spend time with me." Tammy's small voice has me looking up at her from the backseat of her mothers old, rundown piece of shit. I'm wedged between two of our other friends, Kristen and Cameron. I usually get shotgun when we go out together, but Tammy's cousin Mara had booted me to the back. No big deal, really.

"Come on Tams, you know it's not that. I just don't like the kind of people that have been around the Boardwalk lately. It just doesn't feel safe anymore."

"This isn't about those guys again is it?" Cameron questions before Tammy can say a word.

"No." I try my hardest to sound like I mean it, but they know me to well. I let out a sigh of defeat, and slump further into my seat. "Okay, so maybe a little bit of it is, but seriously guys. They creep me the fuck out, what can I say?"

I can almost hear Tammy rolling her eyes. "Jesus 'Nina, they are harmless. What is your issue with them?"

"They aren't harmless Tammy. They are dangerous, I can feel it whenever one of them looks at me. I don't want to fight about this again. Neither of us actually knows them - and we should definitely keep it that way - so lets just drop it, okay? It's your birthday, lets have a good time and then go home."

"What the hell are you guys even talking about?" Mara questions, her large green eyes questioning as she turns in her seat to look back at the rest of us, occasionally glancing at her cousin next to her.

"Just drop it." I mutter hotly, arms crossing over my chest. Mara was from Sacramento, she came down every once and a while to spend time with Tammy and the rest of us, she was pretty cool peoples, but she'd never had an encounter with the local bad asses. And if I had any control in the matter, she never would. My number one goal tonight, besides having a good time, was to keep all of us away from any sort of trouble.

The rest of the ride was spent in silence, a pretty uncomfortable one at that. But as soon as we hit the Boardwalk, it was all smiles and laughter from all of us. I was dancing with Tammy when I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and my movements came to a halt. Tammy faltered a bit, but immediately took up dancing with Kristen as I weaved my way through the crowd. I need a break, and something to drink. I was just being paranoid. At least that was what I was trying to convince myself of.

"How much?" I tilt my head, my brown eyes looking at the young man behind the food-cart. I'd only got a soda and some french fries.

"$5." I smile and hand him the bill, shoving a couple ones into the clear tip cup resting on the counter.

"Thanks man." Finding an open table to sit at was going to be impossible, so I found a seat on a bench in a spot I could still see my friends from. If we got separated, it could take a while to find each other.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here, boys?"

I stop chewing my fry mid-chew, a sickening feeling gurgling in the pit of my stomach. Or was that just my body yelling at me for not swallowing the damn fry? "Looks to me like she's finally come back to see you, David."

The second voice is disgustingly close to my ear and it takes a lot not to launch off the bench and just run with everything I have. I shouldn't be so afraid. I'm sitting in the middle of a crowd, there is people everywhere. Yeah, people can be assholes, but I really don't think they'll just keep walking by if these guys decide to rape and kill me right here. I swallow slowly, my eyes connecting with ice. "See him?" I snap incredulously. "I don't even know you people, so why don't you go bother someone else?"

The tall, wily one plops right down next to me, flinging an arm around my shoulders. He'd been the one talking in my ear. Out of all of them, he scared me the less. His blue eyes were softer, and playful, but still creepy. The littlest scared me almost as much as the tall dark one did. But David completely terrified me. I shove him off of me, scooting as far away from him as I can. "Don't touch me. I said leave me alone."

"You said go bother someone else."

"Which means: Leave. Me. Alone."

"What if we don't want to?" David's sinister smirk makes me want to vomit. I feel trapped. He's in front of me. Wily is next to me, and it seems like the other two are standing just so to keep me from leaving. "What's your name?"

"Not any of your business." I make a move to get up, but Wily reaches out to stop me. He's wearing a smile that deceives the predatory look that now glitters in his laughing eyes.

"You can either tell us, or I'll just get it from one of them." David turns his icy eyes on the heavy crowd in the distance, but I know he's looking right at Tammy.

"Lenina. My name is Lenina." my voice is bitter, angry, and quick. He knows I will do anything to keep them away from my friends. What the hell was wrong with these guys? "Now can you just leave me alone?"

"Aww, 'Nina!" Wily sing-songs, "But we haven't even told you our names yet."

My jaw is clenched. The fries I'd bought are now lying on the ground and if I squeeze my cup any tighter soda will be everywhere. "Paul I think you're freaking her out." the little one is wearing a devilish smirk on his face as he speaks. He isn't coming to my defense, he's making fun of me.

"Look, I really don't know what I've done to you guys, but please, I've really got to go." I stand up, Paul doesn't reach for me this time, but I'm face to face with David now. He doesn't move an inch, his face split by the evilest smile I've ever seen. I feel like I'm being encased in ice.

"Come back tomorrow night. I want to show you something." Is he really so dense to think I'd be coming back? Like...ever again? "Or I'm sure Tammy would happily agree to join us..."

This son of a bitch. "Same spot?"

"Same spot, girly." the dark haired one finally speaks. When I catch his dark eyes with mine I feel naked and I want to slap him for leering so disgustingly at me. I would have too, if I wasn't still stuck between the bench and David.

"Dwayne, Marko." David's walking away in the very instant he speaks. The dark one, Dwayne, gave me a nasty grin before walking away with his friends.

"Don't be late, chicka." Paul boasts as he jumps up from the bench, stopping right next to me to smile broadly. "As soon as the sunsets, be here." with that he tosses a crumpled bill at me. I don't catch it and it bounces off of me to hit the floor. "Sorry about your frenchies."

I want to scream, cry, and crawl under a rock all in the same moment. This wasn't happening. What the hell did they want from me? Would they really go after Tammy or my other friends? Something told me they would. I had to comply with David's demands. I'd have to come back to the Boardwalk tomorrow night and find out what they wanted.

Reaching down I pick up the crumpled five dollar bill and shove it in my coat pocket without even looking at it. I turn my eyes back to the crowd to try and locate my friends. I wanted to go home. I didn't care anymore that it was Tammy's birthday, if they didn't want to take me, I'd walk.

REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW. I'm serious. Reviews are what fuel authors to keep going. If we don't get reviews, we often lose interest in a story.