Disclaimer: hey everyone thanks for waiting on me. I really appreciate it. So just to catch everyone up, Alex met her old rival William Rogers and her old gang. Unfortunately, will wants revenge from Alex for what her brother and she had done. So hope you like the story so far and don't forget to Review!!

Alex's POV

"Ahh" I screamed. Will and the rest of his deranged gang took turns using me as their own personal punching bags. The last few hits were from Mark. He never liked me or my brother. Mark was the kind of guy that didn't have a problem hitting girls. That was fine by me, a fair fight.

"You..are…a bastard…" I said trying to take a breath. At least three ribs were broken. And my whole body was going to be a black and blue mess if I got out of this in one piece. I kept floating in and out of consciousness. My head felt ready to explode, I couldn't take this much abuse much longer. Darry hurry I thought.

Darry's POV

When we hit William's territory, I knew she was there. Dally and I kept walking. I picked up the pace when I heard a yell. It was Alex. Dally and I started to run down the alleyway. At the end were will and his group of men. They were in a circle surrounding something or someone. I knew then without a doubt that it was Alex. I didn't know how I was going to get her out of here, but I didn't care. All I wanted was to get her in my arms and take her away from here.

"William" I called. My voice was full of menace and hate for all of the people in front of me. William stepped forward and looked me up and down.

"You don't have any business here, so move along now" he said with a smirk. With that I punched he in his face. He went to the ground. At once I was jumped by two guys. Apparently they didn't realize that I found fight until the fight was out of me. I smiled and threw a guy against the ally wall so hard that he was knocked out. Well I thought, he wasn't moving. But I had better things to worry about. There were nine of them and two of us. Dally came up next to me and stood facing William.

"No" I said "He's mine" I said and got ready to face off against him.

"This isn't your battle" William said when Mark and a few others advanced on me. But I was ready. I took hold of Mark and threw him against the wall. My fist made contact against his nose and everyone in the ally heard the sound of bone crunching. Blood spurted out of his nose and partly on to me. I threw him down to the ground and got ready to fight my one true enemy again. William would pay for what he did to Alex. I would make sure of it. I was already letting ideas run through my head on what I wanted his newly rearranged face to look like, then…….

"No" everyone turned to a broken body on the ground near a trash can. It was Alex. She was covered in her own blood, and holding her side. She looked horrible. I heard Dally step next to me.

"Stop all of you." Alex tried to get up but someone kicked her in the ribs. Before anyone could so much as move, I was on him. I grabbed him and started to slam his face over and over into the brick wall of the ally.

"Darry STOP!" I heard Alex's voice and stopped, but I didn't let g of the guy's head. "Please let Paul go." She said finally getting to her feet. I heard her take a quick sharp breath, and hold her side.

"William I have no business here. All I was supposed to do was deliver a message." She said. I turned and faced her letting go of Paul. He slid to the ground uncurious.

Alex's POV

"I have a message from my brother." I said taking another sharp intake of breath.

"What does Tom want from me now?" William had hate written all over his face. "After you both got to live in the soc world you completely forgot about your old friends. Did you just think you could forget about us and live richly with no problems for the rest of your sorry lives?" he said stepping forward.

"No, I never forgot where I came from trust me. As soon as I moved away from here I ran away. Or maybe you didn't know that" I said. Anger grew swelling inside me, making my heart ache from old wounds reopening. I took a step to him.

"What is your message then Alex, what does our dear Thomas want from dear old me" all the hate and anger that was trapped inside him for the last three years started to leak out.

"He says that he's going to come out of hiding, to come back here and start again" I said. "That's why he wanted me to come back here first, try and get a place for me and him. Or did you not know our parents died." I said looking him straight in the face.

"Does he think he came just come back here and pretend that what happened before you left never happened? How can he do this to his old family, his own flesh and blood. What are you going to do Alex. Pretend nothing ever happened?"William yelled. He turned around and punched the wall out of anger.

"Please Will, I'm so sorry about what happened, it was an accident. You have to move on" I said putting a hand on his shoulder. He shoved my hand way and turned to me.

"So he just wants to forget that he was the one who didn't save Edward when he needed Tom the most?" William's voice echoed off the walls.

"No, he has never forgotten. He just moved on. You have to move on too. This is gonna tear you apart if you let it be." I said

He looked at me with a pained expression. "It's late get out of here Alex, don't let me catch you here again." He said turning away from me.

I looked at Darry then to Dally. "Let's leave" I turned away and started walking away from one of my closest friends. Now I didn't know what we were. No quite enemies but not best friends anymore. I wasn't sure, all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep forever. I had so much time on my hands now. This was a good a time as ever. Darry Dally and I headed back to the house.

When we walked through the door, all heads turned to me. Soda jumped up from the couch and ran to me. He gathered me in his arms and wouldn't let go. I returned the hug half heartedly. Somehow the whole gang joined in the circle, and one big group hug formed. I was back in my home, safe, and really tiered. As the circle dispersed, soda let go of me and held my face in both of his hands.

"Are you ok now?" he asked. His eyes piercing mine.

"Yes" I replied.

"You're tiered" he said

"Extremely" Soda picked me up bridal style and carried me to Darry's room. When he put me down, I gasped. The pain in my ribs were incredible, my whole upper body felt like it was on fire.

"What's the matter Alex" he asked, concern rang in his voice.

"My ribs, no my whole body" I said in a little more than a whisper. "Just let me be" I said lying on my back.

"Are you sure" he looked like I was about to break in half. I probably looked like it.

"I just need some sleep. I'll go to the doctor tomorrow." I said closing my eyes.

"Goodnight" he said I heard the door close and soda going into the kitchen. A few minutes later, the door opened again. I felt a cool hand rest on my cheek. My eyes opened and Darry was right next to me. He kneeled next to the bed. He looked ready to pray. He stared at me for a minute and then spoke.

"I'm so sorry this happened." He took he hand off my cheek and grabbed my hand.

"It's ok. This would have happened eventually." I said getting ready to close my eyes again

"No it's my fault that your hurt." He said. He rested his head on my stomach.

"It's ok. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I promise I'll go to the doctor tomorrow. "

Darry picked he head up and stared at me.

"I love you Darry. Nothing can change that ok." I said smiling I was trying my hardest to keep my eyes open, but I was failing.

"I love you too Alex. Now go to sleep" with that he took a blanket and put it over me. A few seconds later I was out.

Disclaimer: so what did you think. Was it worth the wait. Well maybe not that long of a wait…. So tell me what you think cuz I really want to know. If you don't tell me than I have no idea what to write for future chapters. So please REVIEW!!! It would help a lot. Until then bye!!