"You are not to go to that party, got it?"

Ash's face was deadly serious. He was having some sort of stupid party for the "cool people" and I wasn't to set foot anywhere near it.

"If you screw this party up, you'll regret it."

He punches me in the gut a couple of time for good measure. I wince a bit, but it was nothing like his dad did when he got drunk or bored. However, Ash's dad rates a 5 on the abuse scale. The abuse scale is something I made up when I first went into the system at age 6. My entire family died in a car crash and I was the only survivor. Currently, this is the ninth family I've been in, and so far, the richest. I'm a secret adoption of the famous Ketchum's. His dad was a famous adventurer, and his son, well, just a good looking bastard. Ash loves to stress the adoptive part of adoptive brother.

"Party starts at eight. I better not catch you anywhere near it…"

I nod and even add some fake fear into the mix. He left satisfied. I laughed a little to myself as soon as he left. Did he seriously expect me not to sabotage something?

When he "threatened" me, it was around 7:30, so I piddled around my room until 7:40, when the first party guests began arriving. Preppy girls wearing short dresses and skirts, high heels, and outrageous makeup. All, for my adoptive brother. What did they see in him? One caught my eye however, and in a bad way. I instantly recognized her as Dawn Berlitz. She the daughter of the famous socialite, Johanna Berlitz. Her father was the head of the school board. I always wondered why Dawn was in public school instead of private, but, it wasn't like I was just going to randomly go up to her and ask. She was one of those bitchy popular girls who rolled with the high rollers and didn't pay any mind to the bottom feeders. She arrived by herself, so I figured she was the girl that Ash "personally" invited. I'd never admit it in public, but she looked kinda pretty.

Finally, around 8:30, everybody seemed to arrive. Quietly, I made my way to the kitchen carrying a knapsack. No, I wasn't running away! I already realized that running away didn't solve your problems. You faced them head on. I peeped into the kitchen for a quick second and saw it strangely deserted. Everybody must be dancing or something. I opened the refrigerator. At first glance, it had normal things: salad, fruit, water…etc. but I knew where the real stuff was. Apparently, they thought I was stupid. They hid the soda and beer inside of the bread box. I quickly scooped that up and threw it in the bag. Then, I raided the cabinets. I got chips, crackers, just about everything I could find. Then, I headed back into the hallway, when I bumped into somebody.

"Ow! You made me break a nail!" she shrieked.

"Hello to you too." I mumble, sarcastically.

She pushed me back into the kitchen.

"Oh, it's you Dawn."

Her eyes widen for a moment. "How do you know my name?"

I roll my own. "Who doesn't know?"

"Hmph. I'll have you know I'm Dawn Jessica Miranda Beverly—"

I smile a forced smile. "Ok, thanks so much! I don't really care, but, thanks anyway."

I push past her as fast as I could. Good thing I did too. Ash and the rest of the party people busted into the kitchen to raid it for food.

"Hey! Where's the food?" Ash exclaimed. I smirked to myself, retreating back to my own room.

I made sure everything was in the knapsack. Besides that knapsack, the only childhood possession I had was a necklace. My mom gave to me the morning of the accident.

"Honey, no matter what happens, remember that we're always with you." She whispered, handing me the locket. I remember thinking that it was really girly, but I put it on anyway. Inside was a picture of mom and dad and on the other side was a picture of Reggie, my older brother. It was always hidden under the shirt I wore, for protection and for social reasons. I mean, come on, a guy wearing a locket that 'isn't' from a girl? How would that seem?

I grabbed the knapsack, joking referred to as the "goodbye" bag, and open the hatch to my window. Even though it was the summer, the night air was still a bit cool, and I smiled as soon as it hit my face. The night air was like a second home, or first real home rather, to me. Everytime I ran away, the police would always find me at the park or the beach because I love nature. I jumped down the two feet from my bedroom window and made sure that my emergency rope was tightly secured. The music from the party blared from inside the house, even without the doors or windows being open. Now, all I have to do is meet up with them.

"Hey Paul!"

My groupies were hanging around at a park. It was a bit of a walk, but it was worth it.

"'Sup?" I asked, high-fiving all three of them.

The twins, Tony and Tyler, and a girl named Sarah, always hung around me for some reason. We're all loners, outcasts, weirdoes, whatever you call people like us, so we just all bonded together. Now, we were friends and hung out together whenever we could.

"Got any tonight?"

Tyler shook his head. "Naw. I'm getting some tomorrow hopefully."

"I swear, you're going to get shot one day!" Sarah exclaimed, jokingly.

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever. It makes money."

Don't worry. They're just joking. I ask the same question and it's the same 'ol debate. We don't do drugs or anything, but we do get drunk sometimes.

"Speaking of money…" Tony broke in. "Paul, did you bring the beer?"

I nod, taking it out of the knapsack. I hand everybody a Corona. They all smirk at me before downing it in two gulps.

"Man, why don't you drink?"

I shrug. It never really appealed to me. However, hand me a cigarette, and we'll be all good.

"He likes cigs, remember?" Sarah points out, reaching for another beer.

I take a pack of Camel's out, and put it to my mouth, lighting it up.

Everybody stares at me in awe.

"What?" I muttered against the cigarette.

"That was…" Tony begins.

"Really sexy." Sarah finishes.

I hold back a smile. "Oh really?"

"Yeah..really."

I shrug, still wondering what they were talking about. That's always how I lit my cigarette.

"So, what was at that party?"

I look up from my cigarette. "Just prissy bitches…"

"What about Dawn?" Sarah asked.

I don't say anything for a moment.

"Aw look, Paul's in love!" Tony exclaims and his twin laughs.

I roll my eyes, glad for the darkness. It took a lot to make me blush, and for some reason, that stupid statement did. Why would I love somebody like her? She's way too prissy for me.

"Ok, let's do something else, eh?" Sarah says with a sigh.

Tyler ceases his laugher. "I have something we can do."

"Is it legal?" I ask, blissfully.

"Is it ever?"

Tyler's idea was to steal my foster brother's car and take it for a joyride.

"You are out of your mind." I reply, as we all walk the long walk back.

"Chill. All you have to do is find his keys. Ransack his room. What does he have, security?"

Actually, he does.

Finally, we reached the house. It seemed like the party got louder, if that was possible. We crouched behind the bushes to figure out our plan of action again.

"Remind me again please." I mumble, gazing through the holes in the bushes.

"Ok. Go inside, find your foster brother's keys, get in his car, take it for a joyride, and ride off into the sunset."

I suppress the urge to say that it's probably around midnight.

"Good luck." Sarah whispers to me with a smirk. "Say hi to Dawn for me!"

I bet she just jinxed me. I sigh and jump out of the bush, and approach the house. I decide that going though the front door wasn't an option, but it probably didn't matter. Everybody was either wasted, left already, or…off "doing it" somewhere. Good thing my emergency rope was there. I climbed up it like a monkey and slipped though my open window. I almost fell back out of the window. I saw Dawn and Ash in a…compromising position. I covered my eyes quickly.

"Oh God!" I exclaimed, interrupting them. "You have 10 seconds to get dressed."

I didn't hear movement, so I go on further to explain.

"Why are you…"

"Giving each other a massage?" Ash finished with a smirk.

I moved my hand, and indeed, Ash was giving Dawn a massage.

"Why are you guys naked?"

"Why do you care?" Dawn asks, rolling her eyes. "And why are you even here anyway?"

"Charity," Ash whispers without hesitation. "My parents and I take in orphans for charity work every so often."

Damn. He's good.

"Oh Ashy…you're so caring!" she gushes. "Too bad you didn't pick somebody good looking…"

Ew. Like, I almost gagged.

"This was the best they had."

Depending on how you look at it, that could be a compliment or an insult. I almost chalked it down as one of the only compliments he gave me, but then he said,

"My parents have this weird obsession with the color purple. They wanted a rare baby with purple hair. I guess they got one."

Ah, so close.

"Would ya look at the time?" I exclaimed, pointing to a random spot in the room. "Gotta go!"

I quickly slipped back a half naked Ash, but couldn't help but to hear him mutter a 'You're dead' as I passed.

Great. Just great.

I knew exactly where Ash's room was. It was kinda hard not to know. He had these stupid arrows pointing down the hallways towards the room. Surprisingly, the room wasn't locked, so I walked right in.

"Hmm…no security either…" I muttered, walking straight to where the keys where—on his dresser. Again, when I walked out, he was nowhere to be seen. Well, not until I bumped into him in the hallway.

"Aw, Paul. Why the hell do you have my keys?"

Shit.

I took off in a run towards the front door. Oh, I forgot that stupid party is still going on. Like I said earlier, everybody was wasted, so I made as much noise I could. Eventually, I busted out of the house and towards Ash's SUV. It was parked in the driveway, as usual. The twins and Sarah were already waiting inside. Why, you ask? Because my idiot foster brother never bothered to lock his doors.

"Hurry up man!"

I jumped into the driver's seat and struggled into my seatbelt. I threw the key in and the radio blared on.

"Thanks for turning to POKE 102.8. This is the station for all your music needs."

"Paul! What are you waiting for? Hit the gas!" Tony yells.

I pressed down on the pedal and we sped away from a speeding Ash.

"Phew…" I sighed and looked to the back seat. Sarah and Tyler were resting on the backseat. Tony was in the passenger seat looking really alarmed.

"Did we just do that?" he whispers, looking at me.

"Hell yeah."

We drive in silence for a while. We weren't going in a particular direction, just…driving.

"So, what now?" I asked after a while.

"Good question." Sarah said behind me.

All of a sudden, we heard police sirens.

"Come on!" I yelled, slowing to a stop.

"This is the police. Get out of your vehicle and come out with your hands up!"

I looked at everybody and they looked at me. We unbuckled our seat belts, but still didn't get out.

"Stop the car while you still can!"

I jumped out real quick after that. How in the world did Ash get into a police car, and more importantly, the speaker?

"Drop your weapons now!"

They had gun aimed at me. WTF. I'm driving a freakin' car for goodness sakes!

Eventually, the twins and Sarah followed my lead and we all raised our hands up. We were handcuffed and thrown into separate cars. Come on, it wasn't that serious!

"Ah, Paul. Back again?"

The judge, Mr. Alex, sighs. It was an indifferent sigh. I've seen Judge Alex so much, he's almost grown on me. Sometimes, I even wonder what would happen if he adopted me.

"Let's see. You stole a car, possession of liquor, and probation violation."

Oops. Forgot about that.

"Damn." I muttered.

Judge Alex bands his gravel on his desk. "Ah, no cursing." However, he says it half-heartedly.

"Really? You aren't lying to me are you?" I ask, but I know he never would.

"Sadly, I'm not. Unlike your friends, your test scores are exceptional. Son, what is your IQ?"

"Um, last time I checked, it was about 175."

Judge Alex tries to hide his shock, but I know him too well. "Good. You'll be eligible for our program. Let's face it, you don't want to go to jail, so why not tutor people instead?"

"Why not."

"Besides, you passed the test anyway, so tutoring a couple of people shouldn't be that hard."

I nod. I went to Ash's home with the prospect of my tutoring information being sent in the mail.

Geez, I hope I don't get a prep, or worse, a Dawn.

Awesome! Chapter 2, done. Merry Christmas guys! :D