Chapter 7

The three blonde lead me down to the beach, all eyes were on me, narrowed like they were waiting for me to turn around and slit someone's throat. It was a little strange, as a kid I grew up in a gang, no one ever questioned my motives everyone trusted everyone. Now, no one trusted anyone, everyone was prepared to be stabbed in the back. I can play that game I thought to myself, meeting the gaze of everyone who made eye contact with me.

The sand swallowed my feet, leaving a track of footprints following me, like my shadow. Soon the entire gang was in one line walking down the sand path that connected to a wooden dock that stretched across the water. When we reached the end of the dock slowly everyone started sitting down, the girl who found me sat down gracefully, pulling her knees to her chest. One of the blondes to greeted me before stood behind her, arms locked across his chest. His brown eyes were hard and focused, he looked like a guard dog, one who had been whipped often and wasn't use to letting outsiders in.

"What's your story boy?" he asked, his voice was like sandpaper all scratchy, like he had to yell orders often.

"Unless your ears don't work I'm pretty sure you already heard it" I snapped.

His brow rose slightly, and I silently cussed myself. Right now I needed trust; I needed to be accepted to all these people can get what they deserved. Being snappy was not going to work in my favour. As I opened my mouth to speak a small laugh broke the deafening silence, I looked over to the other blonde, instead of brown eyes his eyes were a deep ocean blue. He wore a small smirk on his face, like he was challenging the brown eyed boy.

"The boy got a point; you and I did hear the story. The Blood Ties got a solid grip on the kid, he's new and stupid still learning the ropes here." He said casually, like we were discussing where to go for lunch rather than trusting someone with a gang membership.

New and stupid I thought to myself well I guess it's a start, better than a distrustful bastard

I swung my gaze back to the brown eye boy, the girl at his feet was hiding a giggle, and as I looked around, most of the people were suppressing a smile as well. A hand clapped on my shoulder, I looked over to see the blue eyed gang member at my side, and his hand was like steel, veins sliding up his pale skin.

"Name's Jared, what's yours?" he asked.

"Michael" I replied instantly

He nodded, motioning his head to the other two blondes. "That's Ashton, and Hailey, my brother and sister" he added as an afterthought.

That made sense, though Hailey looked a lot like Jared they looked like siblings. The only similar Ash shared with his siblings was the pale skin and gold hair. While Jared was strong and toned, Ash had more of a panther look to him. He was strong, but more cunning. I nodded at both of them, eyes drawn back to Hailey, so this was the girl who ruined River and Joey's friendship. She was the most gorgeous girl I ever laid eyes on, she could easily work her way in between two people. Then I wondered who Joey was, who was the boy who knew River better than River even knew himself?

Jared steered my body to the side so I was facing a new group of people. There were three people standing side by side, the first was a girl. Her hair was vibrant red; it was long and thick, curling in soft swirls that framed her heart shaped face. Her eyes were large and alert, a chocolate colour filled her pupil, and however it was surrounded by an emerald green. Her body was small yet firm, she wore tight clothes showing the flatness of her stomach, and shorts sharing her toned legs. She shifted her weight to the side, never raising and lowering her gaze as she looked me over.

"That's Jamie" Jared whispered in my ear I nodded, meeting her gaze with the same closed off expression she gave me. Then I moved my attention to the boy standing beside her.

The boy had bushy black hair that curved around his ears, which had a sliver earring lodged into it; it matched the one on his left eyebrow and lip. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black, closed off to any emotions. He was at least the same height as Darry, standing tall, looking down daring anyone who dared to challenge him. His skin was also light, the sun bouncing off casting a large shadow at his feet.

"Joey" Jared filled in for me. I repressed a look of shock, containing my features behind a mask. So this was the boy who betrayed River for a girl, who threw away years of brotherhood for one girl. I wondered vaguely if the boy who stood in front of me was the same boy who stood beside River. The piercings must have been a new addition feature wise, but what about the facial expressions. Did he also have this much confidence? Did he strive to intimidate newcomers? Or was he more open and friendly to strangers?

The third person there was another girl, she was small, and my guess was five feet tall exactly. She was Asian, with long pinned straight black hair. She stood with confidence, and strength, I could see the muscles from her arms and legs ready to be tested. Her brown eyes were filled with a fire, determination, ready to strike at anyone who pushed her too far.

"That's Luna" Jared said, his voice a touch softer when he said her name.

I nodded taking in everything around me, these people had been pushed to their limits and expected to bounce back, or die trying. Survival was the only thing on their mind and anyone who stood in the way was to be removed. It was as simple as that, Jared kept his hand on my shoulder leaning in to my ear.

"We look out for each other; first thing you need to know about the Jets, no one turns their backs on one another. Cross us and you won't survive long enough to tell your tale, to spill our secrets got it? So keeping that in mind, are you in or not?"

six sets of eyes were focused right on me, some daring for me to back out, run for the hills screaming to whatever town I came from. Others somewhat curious, wondering what new blood in the gang would taste like. Without flinching I met Jared's gaze offering him a crooked smile

"Of course man" I replied like it was a no brainer.

A sly smile formed on his mouth, pleased with my answer. I noticed the others giving their heads a slight jerk in approval. I swallowed wondering vaguely how in the hell I was going to report to Alex, or anyone in the Blood Ties. This was a group who had been backstabbed way too many times and wasn't going to trust me with game plans in a matter of days. My addition to the Jets wasn't about being protected, it was about protecting, with me as a new member the Jets had one man on the Blood Ties, and it wasn't an equal fight anymore.

The sun was beginning to set, the light sky transforming into an orange, pink, with a trace of gold outlined in the clouds. A couple years ago I would have wanted to paint a picture, now it was just another part of the day, Jared and I started walking back to the park, we walked in silence for a minute before he spoke.

"So you going back to your family?" he asked

I nodded, which was the truth. I knew now I had to be more cautious than ever with my brothers, they couldn't suspect me being part of two gangs. We reached the mouth of the four different pathways and Jared nodded walking in the opposite direction.

As I walked home I couldn't shake the feeling that I was being followed. I made a couple sharp turns into alley ways and around blocks. It was finally till I reached my block where I finally felt that I was okay. I hoped up the porch steps swinging the door open walking inside the dim lighted house, from what I could see no one was there. I shrugged walking past the couch which normally housed greasers, and into my bedroom.

Out of habit, I left the light off, the moon's light passing through the blinds in long narrow stripes, often gave me enough light to see what I was doing. I yanked my shirt over my head tossing it by the door, I would wash it tomorrow. As I was unbuttoning my jeans the light flickered on,

Instantly my hands found my back pocket and I pulled out my switch blade, spinning around, crouching like an alley cat I held the blade ready to take on an attacker. Once my eyes adjusted I realized who it was, it wasn't an attacker, or a threat it was Marti.