Ethan "Spot" Conlon

Melody "Bittersweet" Conlon

Josephine "Gip" Miller

Matthew "Specs" Gordon

Travis "Skittery" O'Connell

Evelyn "Hades" Swanson

Vinny "Ghost" Soprano

Luck was on their side and they pulled in just as first period ended. Melody grabbed her black, button covered bag and slammed the car door shut. She hurried inside, leaving her brother a good few yards behind her.

Once she safely passed the dean's office, Melody pulled off her hoody and slung it over her side-strapped bag. Classes poured out into the hallways and the first of many catcalls and hollers sounded as she walked through the torrent of teenagers. Unhappy girlfriends elbowed their respective boyfriends and Melody indulged in her urge to purr and wink at a few of them.

She had the reputation of being a slut, despite the fact that she barely dated, nonetheless slept around. The only person who had tried to suppress the rumors was Ethan. Melody called it "overprotective brother syndrome," and often suggested he should see a shrink for it. He was the reason she didn't have a boyfriend, at least to his knowledge.

Only two people knew about the odd situation, one of them being directly in front of her. "Jo!" Melody smirked as she spotted the ill-tempered girl pacing in front of her locker. Jo looked up and glared behind her, waiting for Ethan to appear as well.

"Where's the rat bastard that earned you another detention?" Jo growled, straining her neck to try to see through the crowd and find him.

"Calm down Jo," Mel laughed, flicking at the beanie hat that Jo always wore, making it spin around.

"Well, he's got to come to his locker sometime, and when he does…" she cracked her knuckles impulsively.

Melody rolled her eyes. "Don't threaten what you won't go through with…" Out of all the things she hated, she hated having a locker next to her brother the most. Even though she was a year younger, she was in the same grade as Ethan. It had been that way since middle school when she skipped 5th grade.

It had been quite a while since her many admirers had given up on swooning her at her locker. In fact, it was hard to do it anywhere. Even if Ethan was not there, he would find out about it and many of the guys came home with black eyes and bloody lips. There was only one she protected from her older brother. Travis O'Connell. He was new to our high school, beginning only two weeks after the school year started. He had long black hair that fell around his pale face, obviously a dyed color and striking brown eyes that were always just barely open.

Someone probably should have warned him, everyone knew he had a thing for Melody. Lunch was their only class together but it seemed that they bumped into each other a lot in the hallways. It was cute how shy he was at first. How he tried to warm up to her friends first and work his way into their small little group. Of course Mel's friends had the characteristics of being fairly crude when it came to someone barging in on their small group.

Melody noticed of course, but tried to ignore it. She had those sudden pangs of loneliness when he wasn't around and he was constantly in her thoughts. She knew better, she knew she couldn't let her brother know about this one. The rest were just pawns. Cute little playthings she didn't mind watching her brother torment until they disappeared.

There were the notes. They were random at first, showing up maybe once a week. They consisted of small little poems, always dark but beautiful, proclaiming love in unique way. The ominous swooshing of his trench coat always turned her head and that's when Ethan began to notice. He was constantly at his locker, waiting.

The mishap came on Melody's part. It was one of the few times she didn't wait until Ethan wasn't at his locker. She opened up and a single sheet of paper fell to the ground. Oblivious to that happening, she kept gathering her things. Through the corner of her eye, she saw Ethan kneel down to get something. The glare her brother gave the sheet of paper revealed what he had just read.

"Who wrote this?" his voice was a growl.

Melody snatched it out of his hands and glared at him. "That is none of your business…" She realized her mistake right away. The letter didn't have her name on it or his; she could have claimed it wasn't even hers.

Ethan wouldn't drop it and he took a lot more notice on who talked to her and later on she found that he was harassing some of her close friends for information. It was Evelyn who first let Mel know about the harassment. He wasn't stupid enough to ask Jo for information.

Melody was dressing for gym when her friend approached her. Her short, once auburn hair had chunks of purple dyed into it and it was cropped shorter then the day before. Her deep auburn eyes glinted in the dim light, revealing the strange violet glow around her pupils. They may have all had to dress the same in gym class, but Evelyn had made sure to crop the shirt and ride the shorts down low to reveal all four of her tattoos. On the front of each of her hipbones were black pistols and on the sides of her hips two phrases. The left side said "I'm staying alive," and the right side said "The worst is over."

"Evelyn," Melody said, nodding at the girl as she pulled on her gym shirt.

"Your hott, but yet annoying brother has been asking after someone who's been sending you love notes. I suggest you tell him to stop bugging your friends or I may just stop sleeping with him…" Evelyn smirked at thought of her ever stopping her sexual escapades with her friend's older brother.

"That bastard's been bugging you about that?" Melody's eyes rose as she stopped tying her black Chucks.

"Yes, and not only me, mind you…" Evelyn said pointedly.

"Vinny?" Melody's voice was a choked whisper, as if she had just swallowed a piece of bread whole.

"Yep… and you'll never guess what she spilled to your brother…" Evelyn was almost as pissed off as Melody was about the whole situation.

The sound of Melody's fist slamming into the locker echoed through the now empty locker room and there was blood all over her knuckles. "Nurse time…" Evelyn said, knowing Melody's plan.

Conveniently, Ethan was where she knew he would be; Travis's locker. With blood dripping over her knuckles and her loose gym suit on, she jumped on her brother's back. His grip on her lover's shirt was loosened and he fell to the ground with a grunt, his sister right under him, holding him on top of her with a death grip.

"Go to class Travis…" she tried to force a smile as Ethan attempted to wretch free of her hold. She had the unfortunate luck of having a pacifist for her new love interest and she knew that Ethan would tear him up if he got to him.

"Let me go…" Ethan growled and she obeyed once Travis was safely down the hall and off to class.

Melody got up and dusted off her dust covered gym suit and then glared at her brother. "You need to mind you own business, Ethan Conlon, or I may just have to kick your ass…" Melody's voice was anything but friendly and she placed her hands on her hips. She meant every word of it.

He held up his hands and shook his head. "I'm just protecting you, baby sister…"

That was all Melody needed to hear to get her agitated. She shoved him up against the locker and pulled on his hair, slamming his head back hard into the locker. "I do not need your fucking protection! I'm not Charity y'know! I can handle myself. I'm not going to die if you let one guy touch me! And if you ever touch Travis again, I'm leaving… I'll not only kick your sorry ass, but I'll fucking up and leave. You hear me!" Melody screamed at him, her voice screeching with the pain that had overcome her.

Ethan just shook his head. "I don't want him near you, understand. I won't touch him, but he is NOT going near you…"

Melody just shook her head. Then she did something she never thought she would. She compromised. "Fine," her emotions were overcoming her and she did not want to let her brother see her cry. She let him go and ran to the bathroom. It was only after a good sob did she realize what she had done. She promised her brother not to see Travis, not to encourage his love for her, to let the one guy she ever cared about slip through her fingers.

Minutes passed before Melody realized that Jo was trying to make her snap out of it. The bell sounded, bringing her back to reality and realizing she was already seconds late for class. "Shit! See ya later Jo!" and with that said, Melody ran off.