Dam Dariram

{Fall in love…

Fall in love…

I

Need your love in every way

And I feel this everyday

Cause I have too many tears

To fall in love again}

Two-Bit was rummaging around his house and I heard his mom yell at him. It wasn't a curse or anything, the voice was soft for how loud it was, but I couldn't make out what she had said.

I tried opening my eyes and received a sharp pain in them for the try. I didn't make a sound for the sharp, sudden blindingly white flash of pain, only slumped down on the couch and clenched my eyes shut. I wondered where Two-Bit had gone off to.

My mom was so going to kill me for this. Being gone the whole night and finally coming home with a long, deep slash on my face would get myself the reward of a grounding, chores and more chores, and never being able to see the guys again. Not to mention the sight of my father yelling at me and making me cry wasn't pretty.

"Two-Bit! Yo-Yo!"

I smiled at my nickname. "In here, Sodapop."

There was a soft thud and Soda came skipping into the front room. "Hey Yo-Yo. How ya doin'?"

I shifted my shoulders and wished I could look at him. Seeing pure black for hours on end and not being asleep got tiring. "Er… Well, you know. How's it look?"

There was a pause. "Well, not too bad. It makes you look tuff… Real tuff."

"Hey Sodapop." Two-Bit.

"Hey Two-Bit. How's it going?"

"So, so. I'm surprised her mom hasn't called yet to scream at me."

I started laughing. "Oh, please! My mom would never yell at ya, Two-Bit."

"Sure she would!" he said with a confidence behind his voice that normally wasn't there. "Considering you got that slash, she'll probably have me arrested."

"What for?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow above my closed eyes. "You didn't do it, that freaking Shepard did."

"Hey, watch that mouth. You know Pony and that Sheep are buds." Soda put it.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't give a damn right now about that Curly or his brother. Right now, I just want to be able to see again and go bust someone's ass."

Two-Bit laughed. "Good 'ole Yo-Yo."

"Keep a look out for the Coolers, Two-Bit. I'm sure their leader will be ready to bust open the head of whoever it is that hurt Yo or had anything to do with it." Soda said sharply but quietly.

Two-Bit didn't respond for a while. "I didn't do it, what do I have to worry about?"

"You're hanging with her. That's what. You know that Yo has a close connection with that bastard Nick." Soda snapped.

"Don't call him that, Pop." I growled. "He's a hell of a lot nicer and cooler then Randle."

They didn't say anything.

"Leave Steve out of this."

"Why the hell should I?!" I yelled, thrashing over and almost falling off the couch. I pried open my eyes and puss pooled out of them from the sand grinded in them and probably the stuff Two-Bit had put in them to cool them off.

"Callisto…" Two-Bit warned.

"NO!" I shouted. "I'm not letting him off with it!"

Soda swallowed and glared at me as best he could.

"If I see Randle again…" I snarled, baring my teeth. "I swear… I swear I'll slice him up good!"

"Cal, shut up." Two-Bit said.

I shot him a good hot glare. "You want a fight with Nick and his buddies, huh?"

"Stop this, now." He said firmly.

His mom walked into the room and looked at me. "How are you doing, dear?" She mustn't have heard the yelling.

"I'm doing peachy." I said through clenched teeth.

Two-Bit glared at me. He didn't like me being mean to his mom.

{Now

I am walking around

In this side of the town

I just can't hideaway}

I pulled myself up and clasped my head. A rush of blood flowed and my eyes wavered, making my stomach lurch. I held down whatever I had eaten the day before and stood up slowly on wobbling legs. "I'm going home," I said flatly as I pulled my legs to take me to the doorway.

"Really? What are you going to tell your mom?" Two-Bit asked, crossing his arms.

"That I slipped and fell. I do that a lot," I turned to him. "It'll keep you from getting arrested." I turned back away and stumbled out of the house.

"Cal!" Two-Bit half yelled, half sighed after me. "You're just going to run into Curly and get into more trouble!"

"Don't worry about that." I called back, turning my eyes to look at him. "I got the Coolers lookin' out for me."

He snorted. "To what you think."

I snorted right back and headed down the sidewalk. "To what I know. And if you're smart, you'll stay away from me for a while." I headed down the sidewalk for a while, and when I was two blocks off and down a street where there was no one around, I pulled myself up on a cement wall and closed my burning eyes. I wished about then that I had a cell phone.

The whole street was totally abandoned, and it was still only the middle of the day. There were a few driveways that had cars in them, but no house looked occupied.

About fifteen minutes later, I pulled myself off the wall and trudged to another street and glanced around. There was a dark red Mustang with a black top crawling down the street at around five miles an hour; and let me tell you this, Mustangs don't do that.

I swallowed hard and fumbled through one of my pockets for Griffin. My eyes were watery still from the solution in them and my cheek was on fire from the slash. To the sight of anyone, I was just a helpless girl. Shit, would they be wrong.

The car stopped on the other side of the street and turned off. Two boys, about twenty, who were the only ones inside, climbed out. Damned he who tried to jump me.

I wiped back my bangs and stopped walking. I leaned my left side on a small tree for stance help and my wavering eyes watched the two boys intently as they crossed the street towards me.

The taller one had dark brown eyes and green eyes. He wore a black shirt with a red dragon on it and black baggy pants with red stripes down the side.

The slightly shorter one wore exactly the same, only with a dragon pendant around his neck. They were members of the Southside Hoods, and this one was a leader of a portion of the group. His long blonde hair went to the middle of his neck and his eyes were a bright blue.

They stopped on the sidewalk five feet in front of me, their hands shoved into their pockets.

The blonde looked me up and down and his blue eyes rested on my slash. "Soc?"

I took a deep breath and my eyes wiggled. "My slash?"

He nodded his head.

That made me flat out dizzy. "Na." With my right hand I brushed down a wrinkle in my black tank top and tugged on a pocket of my baggy jeans.

{How

Can I look in your eyes

When I feel like to die

I have to runaway

Daririram dariram dariram

Darirari rariram

Dariraram dam}

He narrowed his eyes slightly as if in confusion. "What's your name? And what gang are ya in?"

I didn't want to answer either one of them, but I had to. That, or get killed. "Callisto. And… I'm not in gang." I swallowed the last answer hard. Embarrassing. That's all it was.

He nodded and his eyes went normal again. "You a greaser?"

"I don't know. I have a bit of money… Middle class, probably."

He glanced at his friend, who had a hard look in his eyes. "You need a ride somewhere?"

I blinked. "Eh…" my eyes were twitching and they started to irritate me again. "Yeah, sort of. If… you were going in that direction."

"Where to?"

"Well… wouldn't you get in trouble if your…friends…saw me in your car?"

He almost decked me. "It isn't any of their business, now is it?"

I shook my head. "No, sir." Even I knew better then to talk back to a gang leader. "Watsonville. By the airport."

"You got friends in a gang?" he asked.

I blinked. "Um… Well, I do know the leader of the Coolers."

He nodded and looked at his friend, who now had a frightened look in his eyes. "You wanna do it?"

He looked down at his friend. "I'm not one to tell you what to do, sir."

He nodded back and turned to me. "Hop in." he turned and went back to his car, his buddy following.

I looked up and down and the street slowly and followed after them. I got into the back car and the taller one got into the front seat.

The blonde shut his door and turned on the car. On jammed Linkin Park. He turned it down and turned to look at me. "You keep your mouth shut good about this and you'll have another buddy in a different gang, got it?"

I nodded my head. I could use more friends in gangs.

He turned around and swung the car around, making the car wheels squeal. He sped down the street and went right through a stop sign. Luckily no cars were coming at us.

I kept my mouth shut the whole drive while the two boys talked quietly to each other over the loud music booming through the stereos. I did, however, tap my foot to the music. Neither seemed to notice. I hummed it in my head and even muttered the words to the songs. But we only got through three until the blonde turned down the music.

He glanced at me in the mirror and back at the road as he turned down the Buena Vista turnoff. "Right?"

"Left." I murmured just loud enough for him to hear.

"Right."

"No, left." I said, a bit louder.

He chuckled. "I meant, okay."

"Oh… sorry." I flustered.

His friend was rolling his eyes and probably thinking I was a totally moron. He was lucky I hadn't pulled Griffin on him yet to steal the car.

{Dariri

Ram dariram dariram

Dariram rariram

Dariraram dam

And fall in love again…}

"What number?" he asked as he went down a hill at 50 MPH that was supposed to be 30.

"406." I said, looking out the windows.

He slowed down as he went up a hill and he turned into the driveway. The gate was open.

I swallowed and was reluctant to get out of the car. Dad was home. Mom was home. Jason had a friend over. I wanted to cry and beg the Hoods to let me stay with them.

The blonde looked at me. He offered his hand. "Name's Lukas Mattock. Luke to friends."

I smiled for the first time since I had gotten to Two-Bit's house. "Thanks for the ride. It won't be mentioned out of my brain." I said as I shook his head.

He opened his door and pulled forward his seat. Once again, he offered me his hand to pull me out of the Mustang. "If you ever need a place to stay," he glanced at my house and I was lost in those pools he called eyes. "I run a place downtown Santa Cruz. Called The Dragon's Lair. You can't miss it. It's made out to look like shut down restaurant. Use the back door," he looked down at his dragon necklace and pulled it off. "Here…"

I swallowed hard as he put it in my hand.

"Show them that, they'll have to let you in."

I looked up at him and couldn't even smile. "I don't know what to say."

He shrugged. "Don't say anything. Just come by sometime. There's always a spare bed."

I finally managed a smile and nodded. "Thanks a lot."

He climbed into his car. "Your welcome." He took off without so much as putting his seat belt on.

{And

Fall in love again…

Fall in love…}

I turned to my house and wished I had told Luke a fake address. I trudged to the house and opened the front. I slipped into the kitchen where no one was, and looked into the front room. Jason was playing his PS2 with his best friend Brendan and another friend Jon was watching. "Where are mom and dad?"

Jason whirled to look at me, and Brendan paused the game. He gaped at me with wide eyes.

I swallowed hard. "Jason?"

He suddenly scowled. "Where the hell have you been?"

I sighed and rubbed my forehead by my scar. "Friend's house. They didn't have a phone that was working."

"Shit they didn't." He grumbled.

"Hell, it isn't your business!" I snapped back, totally not in the mood for fighting with him. "Where's mom?"

"Where do you think? In her room."

I took a breath and went down the hall. I grasped the handle, but knew I shouldn't. I went to the bathroom and smothered on who knows how much cover up on that freaking scar. I washed my hand of the make-up and then went to my parent's room.

Dad was on the bed on the phone, and my mom was just lying there.

I cleared my throat. "Mom?"

She almost jumped out of her skin. She whirled to look at me, and I noticed how puffy her red eyes were and how white her skin was.

I could tell I was going to The Lair tonight.

After about three or four hours of yelling at each other, dad and mom let me off with a grounding of two months and, since they hadn't seen the scar, didn't make me promise not to see my buds anymore.

But being grounded didn't keep me from thinking constantly of The Lair and when I would leave. I couldn't drive, that was for sure, but I figured I could get Nick to pick me up, or I could just take the bus.