Mr. Wonderful

{Hey Mr. Wonderful,

Oh you're so incredible

Hey Mr. Wonderful,

Wonderful to me

Hey Mr. Wonderful,

Oh you're irresistible

Hey Mr. Wonderful,

A miracle to me}

The night was freezing and way too dark for my liking. I decided against going to the bus station and pulled up Nick on the Internet. Damn he stayed up long.

I instant messaged him and asked him to pick me up in front of my house, but not to make any noise. I got off as soon as he sent 'okay' and snuck to my room. I grabbed a jacket, changed into a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt, and went back to the living room. I snuck out of the house without our dog making a racket about it and jogged to the gate. I climbed over the wooden part and waited in the darkest of the shadows for Nick to come.

It was about ten minutes later when he pulled up.

I immediately jumped into his car. "Hey, thanks for coming by so late." I said to him.

He smiled softly at me. "No problem. Where did you need to go?" he got back out onto the road and headed for the freeway.

I couldn't tell him where I was really going. That would wreck everything in my life. I clenched the dragon necklace in my hand and a sudden surge of warmth crept through my body. "The mall." That was close enough to where I needed to go.

He nodded. "No problem."

We were quiet for the ten-minute trip until he pulled up in the mall parking lot and turned off the engine. He looked at me and almost laughed. "How'd ya get the scar?"

I blinked at him. "What?"

He put his hand on my cheek and swiped off most the portion of cover up. "I don't miss a thing about you, baby."

I laughed. "Just another rumble. I'm fine."

"I know you are. I never said you weren't." He stated as I jumped out of the car. "Want me to pound who did it?"

I shook my head. "No thanks." I shut the door and headed for the mall. "Thanks again for the ride."

He nodded and took off.

I jogged to the front of the mall and waited till he had taken off completely. He knew damn well the mall closed at eleven, and it was twelve thirty now. I shrugged it off and headed around the corner. It would take me ten minutes to get to The Lair on foot, but that was okay with me.

I somehow didn't find any trouble on the streets; I got to Luke's place without a hitch. I walked into the alleyway and sure enough there were two guards by a door. They didn't so much as look at me.

{Hold me

I wanna feel your arms

Around me

Oh na na

Oh na na

Kiss me

Cos only you can make me happy

Oh na na na}

I pulled out the necklace from under the jacket and held it up for them to look at.

They turned their eyes to me and they looked like they would pull heaters on me.

"Um… Luke said I could get in here."

They swallowed hard and the one on my right kicked open the door. "Go ahead."

I would have smirked and strutted in there like the queen of the world, but I was too scared out of my wits to think of that. I slinked into the building and immediately started running up rows and rows of stairs. When I got to what looked like the top, I glanced around. There were five guys on the ground playing cards and two girls asleep on the floor. There was a door just beyond the group of boys. I slinked through the shadows and reached for the handle.

Just that second, a cool touch felt under my chin. The flat part of the blade.

I swallowed, but barely, just so I wouldn't cut myself.

"Who are you?"

I winced and knew my slice was showing. But that didn't make me look weak to them, it made me look tough to them. "My name is my own. Lukas Mattock said I was welcome."

"Hmm. Lukas my ass. Tell me your name before I slit your throat."

The door flew out and a heater was aimed at the person's head. "Drop the blade or I'll blast your brains out…" Luke's voice said coolly.

I almost sighed a sigh of relief.

The person pulled back the blade. "You know her?"

"You're a smart one. Moron," Luke took hold of my upper arm. "Get lost." He pulled me into the room and shut it with his foot behind me. "You all right?"

I turned to look at him and blinked. He didn't have a shirt on and he was wearing a sort of red trunks. I kept my eyes level with his. "Yeah… I'm fine."

He went past me and sat down on top his desk. "What are you doing here?"

I went after him and held out his necklace. "I wanted to give this back… And just came to see what the place looked like."

He smiled. "Keep it."

"But… it's like your identity."

"Most people know me by looks," he shrugged. "You should have been wearing it. That jackass wouldn't have pulled his blade on you if you were wearing it."

I sighed. "But I'm not a Southside Hood."

He shrugged. "So what? It's a token to show you know me. You'll get through everything with that."

I shook my head. "No I won't. I'll get into major trouble by wearing it."

He laughed. "You mean with Nick and the Coolers?"

I nodded. "And others, sooner or later."

He smiled. "So, you don't want it?"

I looked down at it. "No, I want it. A lot… It's real cool looking."

"So, how'd you get here? You don't look old enough to drive yet."

I scowled. "Oh shut up. I'm old enough to drive."

He just laughed. "That's good enough."

I rolled my shoulders and tried my hardest to keep my eyes on his. "You live here?"

He shrugged back and jumped off the desk. "I spend the night once and a while."

I watched him cross the room. "I better be getting home… I'm supposed to be grounded. Can I hitch a ride from you?"

He turned his eyes to me as he poured himself a drink. "Grounded?"

"Yeah. For being missing overnight without calling home. What do you say?"

He drank half the cup and set it down. "Sure… why not?" he grabbed a set of car keys and headed out his door.

I followed after him, down the four fleets of stairs and out into the darkness of the alleyway.

He got into a car parked by the sidewalk and started up the engine.

I couldn't make out what it was, but I figured it was the red Mustang from the day before. I hopped into the car and buckled in.

Luke was pulling on his seatbelt as well and turning down his CD player. "You hitch a ride with Nomi?"

I blinked. "You mean… like to get here?"

He nodded as he turned the car down the street.

"Yeah. You aren't like, mad, are you?"

"Why would I be mad?" he asked.

I took a breath and shook my head as I looked out the window into the darkness. The freeway was rather bare of vehicles and all I heard was the low hum of Luke's Mustang and Linkin Park's voice. I wiped my mouth and glanced at the boy. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-one. And you?" he didn't seem to mind the question.

"Eighteen." I murmured as I rapped my long fingernails on the door handle.

"You antsy for a reason, Cal?" he asked in a soft voice that reminded me of an old friend.

"I just hope my parents don't know I'm missing." I whispered, sinking in my seat.

His hands were tightening and loosening on the steering wheel. "They don't."

I didn't bother to ask him how he knew that, or how he figured, but he was right. My parents never found out about me leaving the house that night. No one knew about it except Luke.