Mary sighed loudly as she put her book down on the coffee table, she couldn't concentrate on reading with her father yelling in the other room. His study was next to the living room where she sat and she could hear almost every word he was screaming.

He must've been pretty upset cause his usually calm and melodious voice was now shrill and edgy.

"…whole shipment gone…yes…our costumers…yes that is an understatement…thousands of dollars…yes…"

Mary could hear how he sighed and muttered as he was waiting for his turn to speak and she knew he must be talking to the owner of the company.

She wasn't all that interested and really wanted to read her book so she got up and walked up the stairs to her room, walking down the long hallway she walked passed her mothers room, the door was a crack open and she peered inside. It was dark and smelled of her mothers perfume, the bed wasn't made and it was all a mess.

When Mary had been a child she had loved to sneak into her mother's room when she wasn't at home to play with her evening gowns and make up. She shivered as she suddenly remembered one of those times, she had been dressed in a white glittering dress and was just about to try on a red lipstick when her mother walked in on her, she ran up to her and slapped her hard across the cheek so her nose started bleeding, the blood ran down onto the white dress and Mary started crying, not because of the pain or the shock of her mother hitting her but because of the dress being ruined.

She had felt guilty about that dress for years after. Now she couldn't understand her mother valuing a dress so much. She stepped out of the room and walked down to her own; she threw herself on the bed and started reading again.

"Hey sis!" Jimmy flung her door open and walked over to her bed to sit down, Mary didn't put her book down she just ignored him knowing he was up to no good

"Feel like going to a party?" He asked taking her book and putting it on the floor next to the bed. Mary wanted the book back, not to read it but to have it in front of her so her brother wouldn't see her. Eventually she looked at him, he was smiling widely.

"It's gonna be wild" he added grinning.

"Where?" she asked in a hastily sign not feeling to sure about the whole thing, she wouldn't be able to talk with anyone but if her brother wanted her with him she knew she would go anyway.

"Shepard's" he said and Mary wondered just how close Jimmy was getting to Curly and his gang. But she sighed and nodded.

"Fine" she signed.

The music was loud as they stepped into the small rundown house; there was no hallway so they stepped straight into the living room which was packed with people. All of them looked like greasers both they boys and the girls, Mary was surprised to see so many people in one place, they were dancing and talking, her brother had been right, it was wild.

"Who are all thesepeople?" she asked her brother who let his eyes wander over the crowd.

"Shepard's gang and some friends and girlfriends" he answered smiling at his sisters surprised look.

"Wow that's many people and Curly's the leader of all of them?" she asked not being able to disguise her impressed looks.

"Not all, but about seventeen guys I think, but Curly's actually not the leader, his brother is but he's not here at the time so Curly's kind of a stand in" He explained to her.

"So are you and Curly good friends?" Mary asked with a teasing smile.

"I don't do friendship but as long as it's productive I'm in, if it doesn't give me anything…" he said smirking cunningly "…well then fuck them." Mary felt her self draw a sharp breath in surprise, she had never heard her brother talk like that, she had always thought of him as a nice guy even though he did fight and steal, but what he'd said wasn't like the Jimmy she knew, it was kind of hard and cold.

"Hey there Brady" Curly was walking up to them with a brown haired girl hanging onto his arm; she seemed a bit drunk and was walking a bit wobbly. As he reached them he nodded his greeting to Mary and turned to Jimmy.

"So this turned out well soc" he said smiling evilly at Jimmy who nodded slowly at him looking all cold and tense. Too Mary it was obvious that they didn't really like each other, in fact it was quite obvious that they didn't.

"All set for next time?" Curly asked boring his eyes into Jimmy's, his eyes were hard and hid all of his thoughts and feelings and Mary could see that that bothered her brother. He liked having control of every situation he was in and with Curly he wasn't in charge and that made him angry and tense.

"Yeah, sure Shepard" he answered in a tense voice trying to control his anger. Curly must have noticed cause he chuckled lightly and patted him on the shoulder as he walked of dragging the half sleeping girl with him.

"What are you getting yourself into brother?" Mary signed

"These guys aren't to play around with, they're dangerous Jimmy!" She was upset by the new side of her brother that she hadn't seen until tonight, he seemed so angry and mean somehow, he was just like all of the greasers at this damned party, just cold shells of persons.

"Listen sis, Curly's just a little shit who looks up to his brother to much, he's just playing macho" He said his eyes flashing, she could hear he was upset but he didn't want her to lecture him and she new he wouldn't listen anyway so she dropped it.

"I'm taking a drink, just stay here, I'll be back soon" he mumbled as he walked of hastily.

Mary stood there leaning against a wall in the living room trying to stay out of everybody's way; she let her eyes wander over the crowd recognizing some of the others from Curly's gang from the Dingo and the movies. They were all acting like children on Christmas, dancing and laughing, they actually almost looked happy but she saw that their eyes they were still cold and bitter.

She scanned the room looking at the beat up couch and the torn wall papers; every table was full of empty liquor bottles and beer cans. She smiled as she recognized the label on the liquor, it was whiskey, and it was from her fathers company. She found it amusing that the greasers who hated people like her father would favour that label over others.

Jimmy was taking his time and she started to feel tired of just standing there, she looked around for his head in the crowd but didn't see him. It was then that she noticed that all of the liquor that was either on the tables or in the hands of greaser guys were in fact the same label, the label of the company her father was president of.

Strange she thought but then her mind wandered of as she saw Curly fighting with the drunken girl, she was screaming at him and he was smirking his eyes glittering dangerously, she grabbed his arm as he was looking at a friend laughing at her. Curly looked at the girl coldly and then he pushed her of off him so she fell to the floor as he walked away straightening the sleeve of his black shirt where she had held him.

As Curly walked past Mary he stopped and turned to her asking;

"Where's your brother Mary?" his voice was tense and his nostrils flared, he looked as if he wanted to punch someone so she signed in rushed motions telling him that she didn't know exactly. Curly sighed loudly and irritably at her grabbing her hands to make her stop.

"I don't get that doll" he was sneering at her still holding her hands firmly as he started to drag her along with him through the crowd. He didn't stop until they where in a room upstairs, it was a very messy bedroom full of ashtrays and beer cans and clothes scattered around the floor. He let go of her hand and started rumbling around in the mess. Mary watched him to shocked to do anything.

"Catch!" he called as he threw her a notebook and a pencil, Mary didn't catch them and as she bent down to retrieve them from the floor he walked over bending down to help her.

"So where is he?" Curly asked her as they where sitting next to each other on the unmade bed.

Mary wrote down what she knew which wasn't much and then returned the paper to him. He scanned it over a sneer forming on his lips.

"Fuck" he exclaimed getting up and running a hand trough his hair, his eyes were flashing and Mary felt herself stiffen as she sat there watching him as he turned to the wall punching it so hard it left a hole. Curly didn't seem to mind the pain in his hand though as he looked at the blood sipping from a torn knuckle slowly, he was breathing heavily and then he remembered Mary sitting on his bed.

"Well we better find him before he does anything stupid" he said his voice now calm. Mary drew a breath of relief and put her finger up to make him wait a minute for her to write down a question. Curly waited by the door wanting them to go downstairs as soon as possible.

Mary gave him the note and watched him reading it, his eyebrows furrowed and his lips drew back to show his teeth in an animalistic way.

"He's messing with the wrong people" he stated coldly and held the door up to her.

Downstairs the party was as wild as when they left and they immediately saw Jimmy as he was standing in a corner talking to a girl with black hair and dark eyes. Curly grabbed Mary by the arm again as he speeded towards her brother.

"Been looking for ya Brady, have some things to talk over with ya" he said in a low and threatening voice, Mary saw her brother tense up but he still slimed confidently as he turned to Curly saying;

"Let's talk Shepard"

Jimmy turned to his sister signing swiftly to her;

"Go out to the car, I'll be there in a minute"

Mary did as she was told, she didn't want to see her brother being lectured by Curly anyway and she had a feeling that was what was going to happen.

After about five minutes Jimmy came out, he was silent as he got in the car and Mary wondered what had happened between him and Curly but she didn't want to ask, it was Jimmy's business and the less she knew the better.

Sorry for the long wait, I've been sick. Well hope you enjoy it!