“Blaine, get up before you miss the bus,” I groaned and pulled my gray cover over my head. I wanted to miss the bus, it was trying to take me to that dreaded new high school that my parents had forced me to enroll in since they moved to this small town called Blue Ridge. “Blaine, get down here,” mom yelled again and I swore under my breathe as I stumbled out of my bed and pulled on some old jeans, a white t-shirt, and I grabbed my brown hoodie as I walked out of my room and down a short hall, a flight of steps and I grabbed my black backpack and shouldered it as I walked through the kitchen door as my mom told me to have a good day. I grabbed my skateboard that was leaning against the wall right outside the door and skated down the corner where kids were already getting on the bus. I kicked up my board as I climbed onto the noise filled bus. I began down the isle and as I walked by seats that were opened strangely became occupied as I came down the isle. I finally sat down in one seat in the back that no one else was sitting in. I slammed my head against the cold window and stared out as the bus doors closed and the bus jolted off.

“Hey, new kid, you might want to find a new seat before Blake sees you or you’ll be in big trouble,” a boy in front of me said as the bus came to another stop and five kids climbed on, four boys and a girl. The boy looked back at me once more and saw that I wasn’t about to get up so he just turned back around. Three of the six kids took their seats but three, the girl and two of the boys, were headed straight for me. The girl and a boys sat down across the isle from me before looking over to see me sitting there and then they got a weird look.

“You’re in my seat, move,” the one who looked to be the oldest told me. I looked up at him blankly but didn’t say anything. He would look pretty intimidating to most kids in his sleeveless black t-shirt and dark jeans with black work boots, but I had seen kids like him before and it wasn’t very scary.

“Is there a problem,” the driver asked and Blake, I was pretty sure that was who he was by now, got an amused look on his face. He let a notebook slide from where he was holding a few under his arm and it hit the floor of the now silent bus with a small plop.

“No sir, I just dropped something,” he said as he bent down and picked it up. He continued down the isle and sat in the empty seat behind the girl and boy who was sitting across the isle from me. I turned my attention back out the window but I saw Blake lean forward and whisper something to the boy in front of him.

“You really did it now,” the boy in front of me said as the bus stopped in front of the small high school that had Blue Ridge High in old golden letters on a sign in front of the school. There was a loud bang on the side of the bus and the driver left to go scold, or at least try, the teenagers who had caused the racket. I stood up and climbed off the bus. I was walking up to the school when I finally found myself face down in the grass and then was lifted up by my backpack.

“You think you’re so smart, maybe I should help you get rid of some of those brain cells,” Blake yelled at me as he threw me into a near by tree. I stumbled backwards a little and my hand went to my nose and I pulled it down to find blood. “Grab him, Jay,” Blake instructed the boy who had sat across the isle from me who gave a small smirk before grabbing one of my arms and twisting it behind my back and before I could fight back he had the other in the same position. Blake’s fist connected with my face and then his knee to my gut. His fist came back for another punch but someone stopped him.

“Beat it, Blake,” a girl’s voice came but I didn’t look up to see who it was. My head was throbbing and I felt as if I couldn’t move my limbs.

“This new kid needs a lesson,” Blake told the girl.

“Yeah, you saw what happened on the bus,” Jay, the boy restraining me, added. Right about that time a bell rang.

“You now Aunt Diane will kill you guys if you’re late for class again,” the girl said and I felt Jay let go of my arms and I fell to the ground. I heard Blake and Jay laugh but their voice placed them walking off toward the school. I rolled over on my back and opened my eyes to find a girl staring down at me. She had been the one on the bus. She had pale blonde hair that was braided into pigtails and she wore a gray toboggan. She had on a back t-shirt with white sleeves and some dark pants like Blake’s.

“Hey, are you okay,” she asked, her tone softer then it had been when she was talking to Blake and Jay.

“I don’t know, how bad does my face look,” I asked her with a slight laugh though hissed in pain from my ribs. The girl laughed a little before extending a hand which I took and she helped me up. I stumbled a little but she caught me before I fell.

“My name’s Cass,” she told me as I got to where I could stand on my own.

“Blaine,” I told her.

“Well Blaine, we might want to go get all that blood off your face,” Cass told me with a laugh and she headed off toward the sidewalk.

“Why would you want to help the new kid,” I asked her and she stopped and looked back at me confused for a moment but then a smirk crossed her face.

“Who said I was helping you? What if I’m only helping my older brother keep out of trouble,” she asked me and I shook my head and followed her.

“Where are we going,” I asked her.

“My place,” she told me and I looked at my feet. This was strange, I didn’t even know why I was going with this girl I had met only a little while before. I guess it was the fact that if my mom saw all of this then she would go crazy and call the principal and that would make me look like a total wimp. What was getting to me most was that I wasn’t even sure she was trying to help me or Blake. She hadn’t said that she was helping her brother, so she hadn’t said she wasn’t helping me. I shook my head, this was all too confusing.

“So, Blake’s your brother,” I asked, trying to make conversation as we crossed a street.

“Yup, one of the many,” she told me with a slight laugh. Great, now this made even more sense.

“One of many, so Jay is too,” I asked, thinking a little.

“Nope, he’s my cousin, though we do live with him and his little brother Kam,” she told me as we turned down a small alley beside a shop. She climbed onto a dumpster and climbed up on the fire escape before looking down at me. “Can you climb up,” she asked and I sighed. We climbed up a little more until she slid open a window and climbed in. I followed to find that I was in the middle of a medium sized bedroom that had four different beds and two cribs in it though the room was spotless and the beds were made perfectly. I sat down on the closest bed and grabbed my stomach as I fought back the urge to vomit right there. Man, Blake could kick hard.

“Not that I don’t get a thrill out of climbing up fire escapes with bruised sides but why couldn’t we have just came through the front door,” I asked her and she laughed a little as she helped me up and limp into the next room which was a kitchen. I sat down in one of the chairs as she grabbed a first aid kit off the top of the refrigerator.

“My aunt and uncle are down in the shop this time of day and so is my youngest brother Jamie, and Kam,” she explained as she got some a small pot and filled it with water I looked around the room until I saw the bathroom and I could see myself in the mirror. Blake had done a lot worse damage then I thought. My nose had a trail of blood coming from it and I had three places where my lip was split. There was a small cut on my cheek and some bark from the tree still in my hair. Cass must have noticed me looking at it because she said, “He was going easy on you.”

“That was going easy,” I asked as she brought the pan, a rag, and some tissues over.

“Yeah, trust me. He’s a nice guy though when you get to know him. He’s just…troubled,” she told me as she started to clean the cuts on my cheeks. I grabbed one of the tissues and held it to my nose.

“Well I could have taken him,” I told her and she laughed but I couldn’t tell if it was from what I said or if it was jus that my voice sounded funny from me holding the tissue to my nose.

“Sure,” she told me as she put the rag back in the water and took some antiseptic out of the first aid kit. I got a grimaced look and she looked at me funny.

“Is that going to sting,” I asked her and she laughed a little.

“It might a little,” she told me and I felt my body tense a little. She sighed and walked over to the sing and grabbed some band aids out of a cabinet. “Fine, be like Jamie,” she mumbled before walking back over and putting the band aid on my cheek.

“Thanks,” I told her and she smiled a little.

“I don’t know how you think you could beat Blake if you can’t even stand antiseptic,” she told me with a small laugh.

“They’re different,” I told her as I threw the tissue in a garbage can near the table.

“Not very, but with both you need a little push to go up against them. Like Blake came after you so that was a push,” she told me and I shook my head, pieces of bark falling to the floor as I did.

“What about the antiseptic,” I asked and she laughed a little.

“I put it on the band aid,” she told me and instantly my cheek started to burn. “Hey, watch it. Don’t get bark on the floor or my aunt will notice, she’s a major clean freak that way,” she added and I looked down at the bark on the floor. She picked it up and put things away to the exact position they had been before. “Want anything to eat or drink,” she asked after she was done.

“Do you have a Coke,” I asked and she opened the refrigerator and grabbed two. She handed one to me and sat down at another seat on the opposite side of the table. I looked around the room as I opened the drink. It was a bright white with only four doors and everything was spotless. One of the doors lead into what I was sure was where Blake, Jay, Cass, and whatever other siblings or cousins that lived here slept and I could see a master bedroom where their aunt and uncle must have slept. Then there was the bathroom and there was only one door closed that I wasn’t sure about.

“Where does that lead,” I asked as I pointed to the door.

“What, that, it just leads down some stairs to the shop or to the alley,” she told me and I looked at her funny.

“Why didn’t we just go through that door instead of the fire escape,” I asked.

“My aunt could have heard us open the door down there but she had the upstairs sound proofed so all the noise up here wouldn’t disturb customers down stairs,” she explained.

“Oh, that makes sense. So what do they sell,” I asked before taking a drink.

“You name it, they have it. My aunt can make hats and shirts and they sell pastries. My uncle sells parts to anything mechanical. Basically anything they can make,” she told me and I nodded. After that there was a small silence before she asked, “Where are you from?”

“Crystal Springs,” I responded and she got an amused look.

“The big city,” she asked and I nodded.

“Its not as big once you get used to it,” I told her and then, a door creaked open.