AUTHOR'S NOTE: CHAPTER 1 IS FINALLY COMPLETE! Yes, it took a while, but I was working on A Pinch of Sugar, A Dash of Spice as well! And I've decided that with my mental schedule, I'll try and update each fic on alternate weeks.

Seeing as it's the first chapter, it'll be kinda boring, sorry! D: But I hope you guys enjoy it somewhat :) PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE R&R? I'll give you virtual cookies! 3

Logan Mitchell swerved into the Palm Woods High parking lot, the tyres of his custom made Ducati screeching as he stole one of the best parking spots from the Jennifers - the three most popular girls in the whole school. Killing the engine and dismounting, he strutted past the girls, flashing them a cocky, crooked half smile as he did so, ignoring their glares as he made his way towards his waiting gang.

"'Sup?" James said, nodding his head in greeting as Logan joined the rest of his gang outside the school's entrance.

"Light me up, Diamond," he said in reply, sticking a cigarette between his lips and leaning against the wall next to James Diamond, his right hand man. As James dug around in his jean pocket for his lighter, Carlos Garcia, yet another one of Logan's cronies joined the group.

"'Sup, Litos?" Logan said, greeting the short Latino around his now lit cigarette. He raised his hand for a bro fist, which was met promptly by a tan fist, and a bright white smile.

"Hey, assholes," Carlos chirped, using his collective nickname for his two best friends. "Light us up, then, Masshole," he then said, putting a cigarette in his mouth and standing in front of James and leaning in as James brought the flame of the lighter up to meet Carlos' cigarette. As the bell rang signaling that class started in ten minutes, the boys took one last deep inhale from their cigarettes before dropping them to the floor and grinding them under the heels of their boots. Flinging open the double doors that led into the busy hallways of Palm Woods High, the three of them stepped in together.

As the boots slapped against the linoleum-tiled floor, the buckles of their leather jackets clinking, heads whipped around to stare at the three boys made their way down the hall to their lockers. Even though the three rarely showed their faces in school, they still managed to commandeer the hallways, which enraged the Jennifers even more. They were the queen bees of the school, right at the top of the social pyramid. Or so they thought until the Fire Riders set foot on school grounds.

Who are the Fire Riders, might you ask? Only the baddest bad boys on this side of Minnesota. And Logan? Well, he's the pack master. You could say that they're essentially like the Plastics, with the ability to build you up in seconds, and tear you back down in half that time. They were feared, yet loved, envied, yet respected.

They were popular, yes, but not in the same way as jocks or the Jennifers were popular. Those people were popular based on their looks, money and the fact that they knew how to manipulate. They were popular by default because they were the jocks and cheerleaders, nothing less, nothing more. The Fire Riders were a completely different story. They established their popularity by reinforcing their power and each member had a strange charisma that just naturally attracted people to them.

Obviously, the fact that they had drool-worthy good looks and that everyone loved bad boys helped quite a bit as well.

In the school office, Kendall Schmidt waited on the sofa, leg jiggling nervously. He had his fingers templed and pressed to his lips, thick eyebrows furrowed slightly in worry. "Kendall Knight?"

His head snapped up at the sound of the school principal's secretary, Kelly Wainright, call his name. "Principal Rocque will see you now, come on in," she opened up the door and let Kendall through. Kendall grabbed his backpack off the floor of the reception and walked into a simply, but classily furnished with mahogany and leather and glass. Sat behind the desk was an extremely large man, balding and stuffed into a suit.

"Sit," he bellowed, stabbing a finger at one of the leather armchairs placed in front of the desk. Kendall fell into it before leaning forward, placing his elbows onto his knees as Principal Rocque flipped through his files. "Hmm… Co-captain of your old school's hockey team… Good, good…2nd in your whole class…Not bad…" he continued to mutter to himself for a little while, until he slammed the file shut. "Kelly!" he shouted into the intercom, making Kendall flinch slightly.

"Yes, Principal Rocque," came Kelly's voice through the intercom speaker, sounding slightly tinny.

"Send in Camille Roberts," he continued. Just then, a girl with curly brown hair stepped through the door.

"You wanted to see me, Principal Rocque?" she said, smiling sweetly.

"Yes, I did, Ms. Roberts. This is Kendall Knight, Palm Woods High's newest addition, and I want you to show him around. Is that okay?" his voice reverberated around the small room; bouncing off the walls and making Kendall flinch again slightly.

"Oh, of course it is, Principal Rocque! I'd be more than happy to help!" she replied, a large grin still plastered on her face. Principal Rocque nodded slightly before pointing towards the door and hollering "Now, OUT!"

Camille quickly turned on her heel and headed out the door, dragging Kendall along behind her. Kelly handed Kendall some paperwork and his timetable to him nodding his head and smiling in thanks, as Camille towed him out of the office. As soon as they were out of earshot of the office (Kelly had creepily bat-like hearing), Camille dropped her hand from it's viselike grip on Kendall's wrist, muttering under her breath. Kendall struggled to pick out her words in the commotion of the hallway, managing to hear "bastard", "loudass motherfucker", "titface" and what he thought sounded like "poo poo head" somewhere in the loudness.

"Look," Kendall said, rubbing his wrist where Camille's fingernails had dug in. "If you don't want to do this, it's fine. I get it. I'll just find my way around myself." He started to turn away in the other direction when Camille grabbed his arm and span him around to face her again.

"No, no, no, no, no," she replied quickly, a genuine smile spreading across her face. "It's just that Principal Rocque is so fucking annoying sometimes, and…and… ugh! He's just so demanding! I mean, I don't mind helping you out, especially seeing as you're the new student and all, but he makes me do EVERYTHING for him!" she spewed it all out in one breath, but still managed to breathe rather normally. "Whew! I'm Camille Roberts, by the way," she then said, holding her hand out for Kendall to shake.

"I figured. And I'm-" he began, reaching out for the brunette's hand to shake it.

"Kendall Knight. I know. You're the only new shit who's come here. Like, ever."

"Seriously?"

"Unfortunately, yes. You see, Minnesota's one of those places where everyone has known everyone since childhood, and people only leave this place, and come back to visit. No one new really ever moves in."

"Woah, okay…"

"Exactly. So prepare for A LOT of people trying to rope you into their group, oaky. But you can come sit with me at lunch if you want to. Let me see your timetable," Camille held her hand out for Kendall's timetable, which he handed to her without hesitation, watching her scan down the list rapidly.

"Brilliant! We have homeroom, drama, AP biology and AP Spanish together! C'mon, let's get you to your locker." Kendall followed Camille soundlessly to his supposedly assigned locker, which wasn't far from her own, taking in all the commotion around him as students greeted each other enthusiastically with high fives, hugs and the occasional girly squeal or two.

As they weaved their way down the compacted hallway, quite a few people who looked suspiciously like drama geeks, all enthusiastically asking if she's considering taking part in this year's school play, greeted Camille. She merely smiled and said mysteriously "Maybe I will, maybe I won't. We'll see…" before walking off again with Kendall trotting close behind.

"Popular, I see," Kendall commented absentmindedly.

"Hmm?" Camille turned towards Kendall slightly. "Oh, them? Nah, they're just some people I worked with on last year's school play. And the school play the year before that. And the year before that year too… You get the general gist. I did a lot of school plays."

"I can tell. So are you really thinking of doing it again this year?" Kendall asked as Camille came to a halt at a locker that looked newly painted.

"Here we go, Kendall Knight's locker. Well go on then, put in the combo," she said, gesturing grandly towards the plain and shiny locker. "And about the play, I don't know. I want to try something new, y'know? I feel like drama has always been a safe house for me and I want to go out and see if I can find something else that I want to do."

As Kendall listened to her, he put in his locker combination and pulled it open when he heard the faint click. "Mmm yeah, I get you. I think that might be why my mum decided to move us out here." He shoved a few books that he'd picked up into the locker before turning back to face Camille, only to find that everyone in the hallway was pressed up against their lockers staring in what seemed like awe at a group of guys dressed like bikers as they walked down the hallway.

When they finally passed, Camille let out a breath and peeled herself off of the wall of lockers she'd pressed herself up against. "Who were they?" Kendall inquired, gesturing down the hall in the direction that the guys had walked down.

"The Fire Riders - the baddest gang around here. The short, spiky haired one at the front? That's Logan Mitchell, alpha male. The tall, pretty boy? James Diamond, only THE most gorgeous guy in all of this side of Minnesota. All the girls here want him, and I'll admit, I've had the hugest crush on him ever since sixth grade, but obviously, none of us here are up to par. Then, there's Carlos Garcia, the Latino. One of the nicest, happiest kids you'll ever meet, but that little fucker is fierce in a fight. I tell you now, you do NOT want to get on their bad side. They will fuck you up like no one has before."

Kendall merely stared at her, not quite believing her. "Don't believe me?" Camille apprehended haughtily, crossing her arms. She pointed towards a tall boy who looked like he was once strong and popular, most likely a jock, but was now shrunken in upon himself and weary looking, supported on a crutch. "That's Dak Zevon. He was one of the most popular people here. Major athletic potential and everything. One time, he got on the wrong side of the Fire Riders, and was stupid enough to start a fight with one of them. Insulted Carlos and everything, and he knew that James and Logan were extremely protective of that kid. Look at him now. He was humiliated and now we don't even know if he'll be able to run again."

"Oh, shit. Those guys mean business, then, don't they?"

"Yes, and don't you ever dare doubt that. Or you'll end up just like poor Dak over there."

"Note taken," Kendall smiled, nodding his head. "So, homeroom?" he offered out his arm for Camille to take and let her lead the two of them down the hall in the direction of their homeroom like conjoined twins. They had their heads bent close to each other, so deep in conversation that they didn't notice when Kendall almost slammed into someone. But a loud, harsh voice snapped them out of their reverie.

"Oi, watch it, blind fuckers!"

Aaaand there we have it! Once again, please please please review :) I WILL LOVE YOU FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER! And you'll get a wee mention at the beginning of the next chapter ;D