Cass grabbed my arm and dragged me into a nearby closet where we got in and she shut the door quietly before the door fully opened. We watched through the cracks in the door as young man who had a boy, who looked almost identical to Blake it was scary, and another boy about the same age attached to his leg.

“We’re not tired, Uncle Tom,” the on his shoulders chimed as he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“We’ll see how you feel when you get in your cribs,” he told them with a laugh as he walked over to the refrigerator and got out to juice boxes and handed one to the one that was attached to his leg and then pulled the one on his shoulders on and sat him on the chair that I had been sitting in. Then he headed for the door.

“Where are you going Uncle Tom,” the one that didn’t look like Blake asked.

“Oh, I need to get back to work though I’m sure that Cass will put you down for your naps,” he said as he smiled toward the closet before he left and Cass and I came out of the closet.

“Cass,” the one that looked like Blake exclaimed

“Neat magic trick,” the other yelled.

“How did he know we were here,” I asked as Cass went over and picked up the one who looked like Blake.

“Probably the Cokes we left on the table. Anyway, Blaine this is my little brother Jamie and my little cousin Kam,” she introduced. The one who looked like Blake, Jamie, just looked at me shyly and then turned around and hid his head into Cass shoulder. They were both dressed in a small hoodie and a pair of blue jeans and little sneakers though Jamie’s hoodie was blue with a green stripe running across it and Kam was wearing a green hoodie that had a blue stripe running across it. The two couldn’t have been older then four though I wasn’t very sure how old they were. Kam sort of made his way to where he was hiding behind Cass’s leg and she only laughed.

“I don’t bite,” I told them with a small laugh.

“Yeah, but they’re both shy that way,” Cass said as she patted the back of Jamie’s head. I followed her as she walked back in the original bedroom that we had climbed int. She place Jamie in one of the cribs and picked up Kam and put him in the separate one. She took the two now empty juice boxes from the two boys who were already slipping off to sleep. We walked back out of the room and she shut the door quietly.

“How old are they,” I asked as she threw the two juice boxes in the trash and grabbed the Cokes.

“You want the rest of this,” she asked and I shook my head. “They’re two.”

“Wow, smart for their age,” I told her and she nodded as she poured out the drinks and threw them in the trash.

“Come on, we can make it to second period if we leave now,” she told me as we headed back into her room. We grabbed our bags that we had left under the window. We climbed out and back down to the bottom. I turned to walk and then tripped over something.

“Ouch, what’s that,” I asked as I looked over at the object that I had tripped over. It was a fairly large object but it was covered with a blue tarp.

“Huh, oh, that’s our dirt bikes,” Cass responded like it was no big deal as she helped me up.

“You ride dirt bikes,” I asked and she nodded.

“We race them too,” she told me as we headed out of the alley and down toward the school again.

“Seriously, could you teach me,” I asked and she laughed a little before looking over at me.

“Sure, but you have to teach me to ride that,” she told me as she pointed to my skateboard. I looked at it and then back at her with a large smile.

“Sure, it’s a deal,” I told her was we walked up to the school and into the busy halls. I looked around in confusion and I heard her laugh a little.

“You don’t have a clue where anything is, do you,” she asked.

“No clue what so ever,” I told her with a weak laugh.

“Where’s your schedule,” she asked and I dug in my backpack until I found the crumbled piece of paper. I handed it to her and she looked over it.

“You have the exact same as me and your locker is beside mine,” she told me as she handed me the paper.

“Well that’s convenient,” I told her as we headed down the hall.

“Not really, its just a small school and not many kids live around here so the school doesn’t have many students,” she told me as she stopped in front of a locker and opened it and threw her things inside before grabbing some different books. I did the same with the same and shut my locker and then noticed something taped on her locker door.

“Hey, who’s that,” I asked pointing to the picture of a man and a woman who was surrounded by a group of children and the woman holding a baby.

“Huh, oh that’s my parents and brothers,” she told me as she shut the locker door.

“So where are they now,” I asked as we headed back down the hall.

“Mom died a few months after Jamie was born and my dad...well...he wasn't too sure about raising four kids on his own so he just dropped us off at our aunt and uncle's and we never saw him again,” she told me and I instantly regretted asking it.

“Sorry,” I told her as we turned a corner.

“Its fine,” she told me with a weak smile and I thought of some way to cheer her up. “How about your parents,” she asked.

“Well, I live with my mom and her third husband. My real dad hit the road when I was two,” I told her as we walked into our second class, Biology, and sat down at a table in the back.

“Do you like your step-dad,” she asked and I laughed a little.

“I guess he’s alright but it’s always kind of weird when I’m around him though. I think he feels like I’m just some luggage that came with my mom but it doesn’t really matter because he’s always on business trips and things like that,” I explained and she mouthed an ‘oh.’ Right about that time two people stormed in that I really didn’t want to see.

“Hey Cass, where’d you go in first period…” Jay asked as they walked to the back and then they saw me. “You helped him,” he asked as he saw me. Blake simply glared at me.

“Yeah, if the principal would have seen it then you two would have been suspended for a month,” she told him as she opened one of her notebooks.

“It would have been worth it,” Blake mumbled as he and Jay slumped down in the seats in front of us.

“Yeah, he’s a total wimp Cass,” Jay added like I wasn’t even there.

“Oh yeah, I bet I could beat you at anything,” I blurted and the entire class of about ten kids went quiet and they all looked back at the group. Blake got a small smirk on his face and Jay busted out laughing.

“You couldn’t beat us at anything; you’re like the little puppy who went up against the semi truck,” Jay laughed making my anger rise.

“Yeah, so maybe we’ll save you from some problems, pup. Think about what you say before you say it,” Blake told me as he laughed a little.

“Never mind what I said then, I know I could beat you at anything,” I told him and his smile faded and he looked more serious.

“Fine, Black Track, an hour after school, and don’t wimp out either or you won’t like it when we find you,” he told him as he leaned back, causing some of his short chocolate colored hair to fall in front of his dark, malicious eyes. Right about that time the teacher walked in.

“Okay class, I’ll call roll and then we’ll get our class started,” the teacher called as he took out a book and opened it.

“Let’s see, Blake Alden,” he called.

“Right here,” Blake called raising his hand.

“Cassandra Alden,” he asked.

“Here,” Cass called and I snickered a little, earning me a playful slap on the back.

“Jayson Alden,” he called and Jay raised his hand. Wow, I guess most of the people in their family went by shortened names.

“Oh yes, I almost forgot, we have a new student who will be joining our class and his name is Blaine Cade,” he said as he pointed toward me and I gave a slight wave though the other kids only stared at me. Well I could tell this was going to be an interesting school year.