Okay! I am so so so so sorry for not updating! I have two excuses: laziness and school. I'm so sorry! Please enjoy this, and I had to cut the thing in half so most of chapter six is done!

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or Green Day. I do own Thunder, Taz, Red, the Chains, the Flares, and Skittles (the OC, not the candy).

Percy POV

Nico and I watched Mom walk away to the cleaning aisle. I looked over at Nico, and we walked over to the school supplies. I glanced down at my list and made a face. I could already tell that this school year was going to be painful. The first thing on the list was an inch-and-a-half thick binder for each class except PE, which meant I needed six binders. I was going to have one heck of time trying to keep track of all those. I sighed and said, "What's the first thing on your list, Nico?"

He pulled a face. "Binders and dividers. Why do we need a separate binder for each class?"

I shrugged. "Something about helping students with their organizational skills. I prefer one big binder, but then it's like a big black hole that eats, no kidding, everything. I lost a middle school assignment in one, then I reused the binder last year and found the assignment sometime around winter break."

Nico snorted. "Have you tried color-coding? That worked for me."

I shook my head. "Nope. Maybe I will this year." Holy cow, Nico was talkative right now. If that band – what was it called? Green Day? – if Green Day got him this relaxed, I would play any song of theirs on every music-playing device I could. … Well, maybe not. That would get loud and confusing, but you know what I mean. This was just plain awesome.

Nico and I starting pulling binders off the racks. I decided to give Nico's color-coding thing a try. I out blue, gray, red, green, black, and white binders. Glancing back at Nico, I saw that he had picked out all black and dark red binders. "No color-coding this time?" I asked. Nico shook his head. I grabbed six packs of dividers, made a face, consulted my list, and sighed, grabbing a twenty-pack of pens off the shelf. I lost these things all the time. These guys would probably be gone by the time the second week was over.

Nico and I finished collecting all of our supplies after a few minutes. My arms were filled with binders, dividers, pens, clips, pencils, notebooks, paper, and a ton of sticky-notes. Apparently I had a sticky-note-obsessed teacher. No one is ever going to use—I checked my list—twenty-five packs of sticky-notes in one school year. That is just not possible.

I looked back over at Nico. His arms were just as full, but somehow he had manage to stack his stuff so that it was easier to carry. "What're you gonna pick out to personalize all of this stuff?" I asked, hoping maybe I would learn a little bit more about Nico if he answered.

He shrugged. "Let's see what they've got first. I don't know if they have what I want." I nodded, and we browsed up and down the aisles, idly looking for stick-on decals or something. After about twenty minutes of browsing, Nico sighed and said, "Nope. Don't have it."

I was just about to ask what it was when I saw Mom walking back towards us, her shopping cart filled with paper towels, tissues, soap, hand sanitizer, and a whole bunch of other things. "Are you guys ready to go?" she called.

"Yeah," both Nico and I called back. We walked over and carefully placed our stuff in the cart, trying not to cause a supply avalanche. Walking to the clothes section, I studied Nico. His eyes were flicking around the store, watchful and a little uneasy. Every time someone looked in his direction, he glared hard until they looked away uncomfortably. His shoulders were uptight and tense, and his fists were clenching. A bigger guy walked past us, bumping Nico. Nico's eyes narrowed at a tattoo on the big guy's forearm. I saw his right hand drift towards the pocket in his leather jacket, where his blade was. Worried that this was going to escalate into something big, I nudged his arm lightly. He flicked his dark eyes over to me, and I shook my head ever so slightly. Nico gave a slight huff and lowered his hand. I glanced over at Mom to see if she'd seen any of that little scene. She was humming and pushing the cart along, completely oblivious. I sighed softly. Good.

We walked past a police officer who was chatting amicably with another customer. I had no idea what a police officer was doing just sitting around and chit-chatting with people in Walmart, and I decided that it wasn't worth wondering over. But when Nico noticed him, which was just before I did, he slowly reached up and turned up his jacket collar. He moved over to the other side of me, and when I glanced in his direction confusedly, he mouthed, "Just stay there." I furrowed my brow, suspicions forming in my mind, but I did as he said. We were soon out of sight of the police officer, and Nico relaxed, though not much. I frowned again. Why would Nico have any reason to be edgy around police? Had he had an unpleasant run-in with an officer before?

I shook my head to clear out those thoughts. Nico might look kind of suspicious, but there was no reason for me to suspect anything of him. Right?

Nico POV

I slowly pulled in a deep breath, trying to calm my racing pulse. I rolled my shoulders a little, attempting to unclench my knotted muscles. I glanced furtively over my shoulder. The officer didn't appear to notice me at all, but I still felt uneasy.

I was thankfully jolted out of my little anxiety attack when Sally said brightly, "Clothes! Percy, you already know what you need to get, so meet Nico and me back over here in about twenty minutes or so." Percy sighed and nodded. He wandered off, trailing his finger along the shelves. Sally turned around and smiled. "Can you turn around for a second?" she asked. "I just want to check the sizing on your shirt."

No, I thought. I can tell you my own shirt size. Don't you dare touch me. When I didn't exactly answer or turn around, she just walked behind me and pulled lightly on the collar of my shirt. Her fingertips grazed the back of my neck, and I tensed a little.

"Relax," she told me. "I'm not going to strangle you." She found the tag, hummed lightly, and removed her hand from the back of my shirt. She then started moving up and down the aisles, looked back at me, and motioned for me to follow her. I sighed and moved to her side.

"I'll assume you want black, right?" Sally asked with a smile.

I snorted a little. It struck me as funny that she knew me so well already. "Yeah," I said, "but I like red, blue and gray too. Just as long as it's on the darker side of the spectrum."

Sally laughed. "All right. We'll see what we can do." We moved up and down the aisle, with Sally pulling shirts off the shelves and holding them up to me, staying within my preferred color range. We settled into a little pattern: Sally holding a shirt up to me, placing it in the cart or putting it back, and me picking out the types and styles I liked. I was actually enjoying this. It was a temporary reprieve from my messed-up life. This felt like something normal teenagers would do with their parents, and I thoroughly appreciated it.

Sally picked up a black-and-red heather hoodie and showed it to me. "Do you want this one?" she asked. "It's nice. Besides, I don't think a leather jacket will be the most comfy thing to wear if it's only a little chilly outside." I wrinkled my brow.

"Sure.." I said hesitantly, "but you really don't have to. It's already really kind of you to buy me new clothes..." I trailed off as she placed the hoodie in the cart and smiled.

"It's all right, Nico. It's no trouble at all. Consider it a 'welcome to the family' gift, if you want." Sally glanced at her watch. "We'll grab you a couple pairs of jeans, find Percy, and then we'll be ready to go."

Finding jeans wasn't difficult. It took me about two minutes to grab two pairs that would fit. I plopped them in the cart just as Percy walked up with his things. He put them in the cart and sighed.

"Done," he said with relief. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, Percy, we are," Sally said with a laugh. "Let's go, boys."

Percy and I trailed behind the cart and Sally. It was a companionable silence, and I realized that for the first time in years I felt right at home. I smiled; it was a feeling I wouldn't mind getting used to.

The checkout was relatively quick, thankfully. I'd already had a couple of close calls, and we'd only been in the store for an hour, tops. I was itching to get out of here.

The cashier finished scanning our items and asked Sally to swipe her card. I started tapping my foot impatiently on the ground. This was taking too long. Stupid ADHD.

Finally, the checkout was finished, and the cashier sent us on our way with a cheerful, "Have a good school year!"

Yeah, right.

Sally scanned her receipt, crossing things off of her mental checklist. Percy and I walked just behind her again, squinting in the bright August sunlight. Sally clicked her keys a couple of times, and we found the car and put our stuff in the trunk. Tired, Percy and I climbed in. I settled into my seat with a sigh and rested my chin on my hands. God, shopping shouldn't be this tiresome, I thought.

The drive home was uneventful, except for Percy shooting me the occasional curious glance. Oh, man. He was going to want an explanation on the whole guy-and-police-officer thing. I was not looking forward to having to brush him off, since the truth would most likely get me kicked out. I didn't really want to be sent away from this home.

Sally, Percy, and I walked up to the apartment. As soon as Sally opened the door, Mrs. O'Leary shot out of the opening and took off, full speed, down the stairs and baying. Sally gave a startled "Oh!" and nearly dropped the bags she was carrying. Sighing, she looked over to Percy and me. "Would you boys mind getting her? I'll take your stuff inside."

Percy smiled at her and put his bags down. I said, "No problem," and set mine down too. We both ran after her. "Which way did she go?" I asked Percy.

"Umm..." Percy glanced off to both his left and his right. "No clue. You wanna try splitting up and see?"

"Sure," I answered. "But I don't know where I'm going, so if I get lost, I'm blaming you."

"I don't think you're the type of person who gets lost easily."

We peeled off in two different directions. Percy went to check downstairs, and I decided to check the current hallway and upstairs. Stopping at the base of the stairwell, I cocked my head and listened for Mrs. O'Leary's tremendous bark or her loud, thumping footsteps. After a couple of seconds, a startled yelp and frantic paws sounded over my head. I smiled a little bit and started up the stairs. I had only gone up three of them when the object of my search bolted down the stairs and nearly bowled me over.

I laughed and ran after her, calling, "Hey! Percy, get back up here!"

A muffled shout echoed up the base of the stairwell. "Coming! Chase her to the apartment!"

I rolled my eyes. How exactly was I supposed to do that without another person?

Percy joined me, and we managed to corner the dog after chasing her into every possible area except where we needed her to go. She wagged her tail at us and gave us a big-eyed dog grin. Percy laughed and knelt in front of the massive animal. "Dog, you are absolutely crazy," he growled at her, ruffling her ears. Mrs. O'Leary woofed and licked his nose. Sighing, Percy stood up, hooked his fingers in her chain collar and said, "Luckily for you, I love you too much to send you back to the pound." Looking over at me, he puffed out his cheeks and laughed. "We got a workout chasing this goofball, didn't we?"

We led Mrs. O'Leary back to the apartment, both of us keeping a couple of fingers looped in her collar. I wasn't eager to run around the building again, chasing a dog. She was such a big animal, we didn't need to reach at all to keep our hands on the chain.

Percy opened the door, and Mrs. O'Leary trotted inside, her tongue lolling out of the corner of her mouth. Sally looked over at us and smiled. "Thank you," she said. "Do you boys want lunch?"

"Yes!" Percy and I chorused. We both sat down, and Sally put plates with sandwiches and chips and strawberries down in front of us. We thanked her and ate.

After I finished, I just sat there for a minute or so and looked around the apartment. I smiled a little, grateful for the home the Jacksons had provided. I sat at the table, just thinking, until Percy startled me.

He'd snapped his fingers a little close to my face, and before either of us knew it, I had grabbed his wrist and pinned it to the table. I blinked and realized that I'd just responded to a simple snap of his fingers like I would have if he'd swung his fist at me. I hastily released his wrist.

"Sorry," I said quickly, feeling a little ashamed. Geez, these...nice people are rubbing off on me. I usually would've pinned his hand to the table and threatened him, but no. This time, I apologized.

Percy stared at me for a second. "Dude," he said. "Whoa."

"I'm sorry," I said again. Dammit. Again with the apologizing. "Force of habit."

"Whoa," Percy said again. "Those are crazy reflexes, Nico."

I snorted a little. "Just a tip here: try not to startle me too often. I tend to react kinda violently sometimes."

Percy huffed a little. "Yeah, I noticed, thank you very much."

My little smile turned into a grin. We sat and talked a little. Percy chatted a bit about his life and a little about friends at school. I sat and listened to him. I ended up learning that he actually had a half-brother named Tyson, who lived with their dad. I also ended up telling Percy about Hazel. Not all about her, but just the little things. Percy was a good listener, to be honest. He paid attention as I talked about her love for horses and her beautiful drawings. I kept talking, too, gradually forgetting that Percy was still there and listening.

I stopped when my eyes started to prickle with tears. I blinked hard and drew in a breath, trying to get rid of the lump of emotion that had formed in my mind. Percy reached over and gave my wrist a light, quick squeeze. I blinked again and gave him a slight, fake glare.

"We will not speak of this, Jackson," I said in a low voice. "You are to forget everything that just happened."

Percy laughed. "Gotcha, tough guy. Let's go get our stuff unpacked."

We grabbed our bags of school supplies (blech) and took it to the bedroom. I dumped all of the stuff out onto my bed. I looked at the blank fronts of the binders, then pulled out a Sharpie. As I drew on the cover, Percy came over and sat down next to me. I continued my drawing, covering the lighter, sketchy lines with thick, firm ones. After a minute or so, Percy commented, "That looks really cool. Who taught you to draw like that?"

I shrugged. "Hazel really liked—likes—to draw. I guess I picked up a little from her. But then, after her—" I cleared my throat, "—accident, I just sorta started teaching myself."

Percy smiled at me. "I can't draw for crap. I can't even draw stick people."

I laughed. "Stick people are not difficult, Jackson."

"Says the fricking artistic genius over here."

I snorted. "They're really not."

"Yes they are!"

I shook my head and smiled. "Okay, man. If you say so."

Percy gave a definitive nod. "I do say so." I continued my drawing, letting him watch over his shoulder. Eventually the drawing began to take shape, and Percy made an irritated grunt. He bumped my shoulder lightly. "Stop being so talented. I feel insecure about my own non-existent art skills."

I snorted and finished the wolf drawing on the cover of the binder. I picked it up and moved it to the other side of me, then grabbed another. This binder was black, so I pulled a silver Sharpie out of my jacket pocket and began another drawing.

After a while, all of the binders were covered in black and silver Sharpie drawings. I capped the markers and stuck them back in my pocket. Percy huffed again, and I smiled. Surveying my work, I decided that the archer drawn in sliver was my favorite. It showed a young woman dressed in silver camouflage, with an arrow nocked and the bowstring taut. I squinted down at the face. It looked disturbingly similar to the girl I drew yesterday. I frowned. It was driving me crazy not knowing who she was.

Deciding not to dwell on it, I turned to Percy and said, "Do you want me to decorate your binders?"

He looked at the drawings and nodded. I picked up his green binder and started drawing. I ignored any thoughts of the nameless girl and tried to focus on my sketch. I managed to finish the first one without any stray thoughts, and I set it aside. However, when I started the next drawing, my mind wandered to Saturday. Thoughts of Red and his threats began to swirl around in my mind, and a small voice began whispering in the back of my mind. He'll kill you this time, it murmured. He said so. And you know how well he keeps his word. My eye twitched a little.

Shut up, I thought back to it.

It kept hissing and laughing. He nearly did last time. You remember that knife. You remember that pain. You remember everything, don't you, Nico? Don't you? DON'T YOU?

My hand jerked a little, making a stray line on the drawing I was working on. I didn't notice. "Shut up!" I growled.

"What?"

My head snapped up. Scanning the room, I saw Percy looking over at me, concerned. I'd forgotten he was there. "Not talking to you," I said. "Sorry."

Percy nodded slowly. "Ohhh-kay."

I ducked my head down, going back to my drawing. I forcefully shoved any thoughts of Red out of my mind. I was not going to listen to that little voice today.

When I got to the last binder, the gray one, Percy said, "Could you draw an owl on that one, please?"

I looked over. "Sure. Why an owl, though?"

He smiled a little. "It's my girlfriend's favorite animal."

I laughed. "Okay."

I drew an owl flying on the cover of the binder. When I finished, I held it up for Percy to see. "This okay?"

Percy took it and nodded. "That's perfect." He started putting the dividers and the loose leaf paper into the binders. I did the same.

By the time we finished organizing and putting everything away, Sally was calling us for dinner. I set the backpack Percy had given me at the foot of my bed. We walked into the kitchen and greeted Sally and Paul. Sally served dinner, and everyone enjoyed the meal. It was good, but my anxiety over the upcoming fight prevented me from actually enjoying it. Which was annoying, because I was hungry.

Everyone finished their food, and we sat and talked a little. I didn't talk too much unless someone asked me a question, which happened twice. Eventually the conversation died down, and I excused myself. I carried my dishes over to the sink and set them down. I quickly counted the days in my head. Today was Wednesday, which meant I had two days until I had to go get myself beaten up in the stupid rumble.

Well, I most likely wouldn't get beaten too badly. I was decent at dodging hits, but I didn't think I would escape with anything less than a bloody nose and a split lip.

I sighed. There's nothing better than getting your face all banged up right before the first day of school. Please take special note of the sarcasm.

I headed back to Percy's bedroom—well, I guess it's mine now, too, but whatever—and changed into some old sweatpants and a black undershirt. I was exhausted, even though I hadn't really done too much today. Well, maybe I had. Tour, school supplies...Yeah, okay. I'm allowed to be tired today. Nevermind.

I curled up underneath the covers, hoping I wouldn't have any nightmares tonight. Soon my eyes were drifting shut. I heard Percy enter the room and say something, and then I was sound asleep.

Rain was falling down in sheets. A cold, stiff wind howled through the alleyways. A teenage girl, dressed in tattered jeans and a leather jacket, was huddling beside a dumpster, looking for some respite from the driving rain and the bitter wind. Her black hair hid her face, and water was running down her neck. Her body was wracked with tremors from the cold.

A massive man—muscular, not fat—melted out of the shadows. He brandished a small handgun. Sensing something, the girl's head shot up. Her electric blue eyes flashed as she saw the man.

The large man raised his hand and flicked his fingers a few times. Three more brawny guys appeared, and they all descended on her like wild dogs on a piece of meat.

The raven-haired girl kicked and fought, but they brought her down quickly. The dream started to fade, and the only sound was her scream echoing hauntingly through the alleys.

TWO DAYS LATER

I paced around the bedroom. It was about two in the afternoon, and I was starting to feel my pre-fight twitchies. My ADHD was acting up, and I just could not keep still. My hands were doing this little jump-twitch thing, and my whole body would give a little shiver every few minutes. Percy was watching me with slightest hint of amusement visible on his face. Finally he said, "What's the matter with you? You look like somebody's just injected you with pure caffeine. Calm down."

I sighed loudly and flopped on my bed. "I can't. I've got ADHD too, remember? And it's going completely into overdrive. I. Can. Not. Calm. Down."

Percy laughed. "Well, go take a walk or something. You're making me feel all twitchy and nervous."

I smiled a little. "Maybe I will. Hey, tell Sally not to freak if I'm gone for a while, okay?"

Percy blinked. "Sure. But why would you be gone for longer than half an hour?"

I paused for a second. "Just, y'know, catching up with a couple of friends. And I'm bad at keeping track of time. Nothing to worry about." Man, I needed to brush off my lying skills.

I walked out of our room and to the front door. I slipped on my shoes and called to Sally, "Gonna take a walk. I have a bit more energy than I know what to do with."

"Okay. Be careful!" came her response.

I left the apartment, patting my jacket picket to make sure I had my switchblade. After I felt the handle, I quickened my pace. Turning down an alley, I let my feet guide me to an old hangout. I had a feeling my old friend Thunder would be there.

In about fifteen minutes, I was at an old gas station. It'd been marked for demolition for the past five years, but they never tore it down. Its windows were broken and dirty, and the boards across the door were loose. A couple of them swung down to from a little doorway. The paint was long gone, and the gas pumps were broken and dejected-looking. The old walls were covered in graffiti. The marks and signatures were all outdated—half of the gangs here had had all of their members killed or locked up. The other half were almost nonexistent or had long since picked better turf.

I ducked inside, and, sure enough, Thunder was leaning against the inside wall, inspecting the thin chain he wore around his neck. He looked up and saw me. Flicking his hair back from his face, he gave me a lazy grin.

"Thought you'd be here soon."

I smiled. "Yeah. Couldn't wait any longer. How's it been lately?"

Thunder shrugged lightly. "Same. Though Red's been growlin' at me for passin' on your message. Still thinks we shoulda cut you up a little."

I snorted. "He's always thought that. But you know he's mostly talk." I grinned. "You only follow him 'cause he's got the title to the house."

Thunder laughed. "Damn straight. I might'a turned him in, 'cept for the fact he gives me a place to sleep at night."

I laughed with him. I'd missed my friend. We hadn't spoken very much since I'd been stuck into the adoption system.

We kept up the talk for a while, catching up on who's jailed, who's joined, who's managed to get themselves on Red's watchlist (really, everyone is. The man's paranoid), and really anything that sounded interesting.

The sun crept down toward the horizon. Thunder turned and squinted over at it. Sighing, he said, "Time to go beat some people up."

We ducked out of the old gas station, careful not to slip on the broken glass in front of the doorway. In ten minutes, we arrived at an old, deserted parking lot. The pavement was torn up and cracked to the point where it was mostly gravel, with some nice little bits of street scattered about. It was a horrible area to have fights, but it was popular because there were no functioning security cameras. They'd all been demolished years ago. Plus, the police rarely drove by this area, so it was where most gangs *ahem* settled their disputes.

In two minutes, the rest of our gang was here. We were a group of about fifteen people, predominantly male. We had four girls, but they were just as good at bashing people's faces in as any of the guys, so we never tried to keep them out of the rumbles.

One man shouldered his way through the gang. He was about 6'2'', with a deep scar on the left side of his jaw. Another silver scar marred his face, slashing just above his left eye and over the bridge of his nose. He had reddish-green eyes and flaming red hair.

I'll give you one guess as to who he is.

If you said he's Red, then congratulations! You win the privilege to continue reading.

Red approached me. His eyes glinted in the fading sunlight. His thin lips twisted in a sneer as he said, "Well. Look who got the guts to bring his sorry ass here."

The people behind him shifted uncomfortably. Most of them wouldn't meet my eyes. It was clear they just wanted Red to shut up so we could get the rumble over with.

Maybe I should explain something. Red and I might be a part of the same gang, but we definitely didn't get along. Red hated me purely for the fact that I existed. He takes my existence as a challenge to his authority. It's a reasonable fear, seeing as I held more of the gang's respect than he ever did. It's actually pretty easy to see why he didn't want me around.

I lifted my chin. "Red." Just a statement.

He sneered again. He most likely would've sent a few more lame, derogatory insults, but the other gangs showed up. Red growled and pushed past me. I snorted to myself. Can't be seen throwing punches at one of his underlings, I thought dryly.

I turned around to survey the people that had just shown up. I felt a little smile tug at my lips. Oh, yeah. This was gonna be fun.

The first new gang here was the Chains. They were all guys, and most of them had a ton of facial piercings. The leaders and higher-ranking guys each had a lip piercing and a cartilage piercing connected by two thin silver chains. I smiled. Nudging Thunder, I murmured, "Betcha at least three of those guys are gonna have their jewelry ripped outta their faces by the time this is over."

He followed my gaze. "Heh. Probably right there, Angel."

The other gang was the Flares. These guys looked like those really, really extreme punk dudes. You know, the ones with the insane mohawks and crazy makeup? That's them.

I didn't know exactly why they called themselves the Flares, but Thunder had told me that they sent up fireworks—flares—to signal an initiation, a victory, or a kill. … Seems kinda stupid to me. It's like yelling, "Hey, cops! I just killed a guy, and I'm idiotic enough to send up a very fucking obvious signal with all of the evidence right here! Come arrest me!" But whatever.

Red and the other two leaders walked to the center of the lot. They started talking in low voices, setting up the rules.

Someone tapped my left shoulder. I turned and saw another friend of mine, Taz. I smiled. "Hey, Taz. What's up?"

He smiled back. His gold canine tooth glinted harshly. "Hey, Angel. We've missed ya."

"I missed you guys too. Red still his crazy self?"

Taz snorted. "Yeah, but more'n usual lately. Damn near shot someone when Thunder told him you was gonna show up. I'd duck and run after this is over. He's kinda touchy right now."

I blew air out my nostrils. "He's always touchy."

"Yeah, but Skittles left him. He's been throwin' li'l tantrums for a week.

I winced. "Yeah, that'll do it." Skittles was the only person that kept Red from throwing people out a window. She'd mellowed him out a bit. And, more than once, she'd helped me out of trouble. If she left, Red was going to be even more violent than usual. My hand started to move up to the thick scar on my neck. The little voice started to come back, and I mentally slapped myself. Stop it, I hissed to it.

I was about to ask Taz where she'd gone, but before I could, Red walked back over.

"This is gonna be a no-weapons-allowed rumble. If you don't follow that, you'll be—" his eyes glinted coldly "—gently reprimanded." A slight shudder ran through the gang. I suppressed a shiver myself. Everyone knew all too well that any reprimanding done by Red would be anything but gentle.

He paced a little. He said, "I wanna win this thing. Gotta show them who's boss. We ain't gonna let some weak little bastards win."

A murmur of agreement ran through our gang. Red turned around to face our rivals. The air was thick with tension, and the only sound I heard was Taz's breathing next to me.

Someone gave a sudden, hoarse yell, and the tension snapped. Everyone surged towards the center of the lot, whooping and hollering.

The three separate gangs collided and dissolved into a violent mass of people. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins. I ducked under a Flare's swinging arm and kicked him in the back. He stumbled forward onto another person. They went down throwing punches.

Somebody tried to grab my neck from behind, and I swung my elbow back and connected with my attacker's ribs. He grunted, but didn't let go. I squirmed around and managed to swing my weight to the side. Losing his balance, he staggered and fell, taking me down with him. When he smacked the back of his head against the ground, I felt the chokehold on my neck loosen. I seized my chance and broke his grip. Rolling over, I quickly scrambled up and knocked him out with a quick punch as he was trying to get up.

I jumped back into the fight, thoroughly enjoying myself at this point. I kicked a Chain's knees and he collapsed, taking down a Flare as he tumbled. Somebody's fist glanced off my jaw. It stung, but didn't faze me. I located the person—a big, ugly Chain—and blocked his next punch. I swung my fist and managed to connect with his nose. He staggered back, and I gave him a hard shove. He fell over backwards and cracked his head hard on the asphalt.

The fight continued like this for a matter of minutes. I got knocked over and punched and kicked more times than I could count. The whole time, I tried to avoid Red. He would most likely punch me out, and then later claim he didn't realize it was me.

I heard a loud, piercing whistle tear through the air. Suddenly the Flares were sprinting away. I smiled. One gang out, one to go.

After watching them for five seconds or so, the two gangs left whooped and yelled. As soon as the little cheers were finished, the fists started flying and insults filled the air again.

The Chains didn't hold out much longer. After another five or ten minutes, they staggered away from us. A loud victory holler rose up through my gang. I yelled even louder when I saw bloody chains hanging from a couple of guys' faces.

After they were gone, I felt the adrenaline leave me. My shoulders sagged. I felt aches and sharp zings of pain in various places. I rubbed a hand across my face and winced as it brushed against my nose. I pulled my hand back and saw a good amount of blood. Grimacing, I rolled my shoulders a bit to get rid of some of the tension.

Red turned to us with a harsh grin. That grin faded when he saw I was still there. He yelled, "Get outta here, boys. I gotta talk to Angel-face over here." The gang shot a few questioning glances my way, but didn't move. Red opened his mouth to yell at them more, but I flicked my wrist lightly, motioning for them to go. Thy reluctantly started heading back the way they came. Thunder and Taz looked over to me, silently asking if I wanted them to stay behind. I shook my head slightly. I didn't want to drag them into this anymore.

Red waited until they were out of sight and earshot, then whirled around to face me. His eyes were blazing with anger.

"What—the—hell—are—you—doing?!" he hissed. "Try'n t' steal my gang, are ya? I thought I said you was supposed to be out two weeks ago! And you had the nerve to bring your sorry little ass to my fight!"

I cocked my head to the side. "I never said I was going to steal 'your' gang," I said. "They just respect me more than you."

He grit his teeth. "You bribed 'em, didn't ya? What didja offer 'em? Money? Drugs? Well? Answer me!" He went to slap me across the face, but I grabbed his hand.

I growled, "I did not bribe them! I saved their hides, because you weren't going to! They know that! They remember everything that happened! And you wonder why they respect me!"

I turned to leave, but Red seized my arm. His gaze burned with anger. "Listen to me," he growled. "They might respect ya; they might listen to ya—now, at least. But—" he pulled a sharp, gleaming blade halfway out of his pocket, "—I can change all that—with one. Little. Slash." He tucked the blade away and let go of my arm. "Watch yourself, Angel. Don't turn your back, or you might mind my little buddy buried in the back of your neck." Red shoved me over and followed the gang. I stayed on my back, motionless, until the crunch of his shoes on the pavement faded.

I carefully sat up, trying to calm my breathing. I might not like to admit it, but Red's threat scared me. Shaking my head lightly, I stood up and brushed the little rocks off. With a start, I realized that it was completely dark. The streetlamps had turned on. I needed to get back to the Jackson's place.

In about forty-five minutes, I arrived at the Jackson's apartment complex. I sighed. Sally was gonna freak. I carefully eased open the door, grateful that it didn't squeal. One light was on in the living room, and I saw that Sally had fallen asleep on the couch. I felt guilty that she had waited for me to get back, but I was also relieved hat I didn't have to face her questions until the next morning. I glanced over at the digital clock on the stove and felt my eyes widen. It was 10:55 PM. I did the math in my head. I'd left at 2:00, so I'd been gone for almost nine hours. I winced. I'd be lucky if she didn't kick me out or scream at me for an hour.

I walked almost silently to the bathroom to clean up before going to bed. I carefully inspected my face for bruises. There was one forming on my jaw where the Chain had tried to score a hit, and there was a purple splotch on my right cheekbone. There was still dried blood on my lip from my nosebleed, and my hands were scratched up from breaking multiple falls, but not much else. I'd bitten the inside of my cheek at some point, but that wasn't a visible injury.

I decided to grab a quick shower before going to sleep. The hot water felt excellent on my stiff muscles.

When I was cleaned up, I threw on some old, clean clothes and curled up in bed. My eyes shut immediately, and I drifted off into a (thankfully) dreamless sleep.

Okay! Chapter five... check! Alright, now I know you guys are probably crazy upset, but I swear the next update will not take that long. I was talking to a couple of friends and they were like, "What? You still haven't updated?!" and I was like, "NO, geez! I'm getting there!" and when the chapter got to over 60 pages in my notebook, I drew the line. So, second half of Five is probably the first half of Six. I'm so sorry, but please tell me what you think! Thanks!