Chapter 1

Joe walked out of the gates of the jail house. He had lost weight and his hair was stiff and oily; he had already been in that stall four times.

Joe was one of the "public troublemakers-" well that's what everyone called him. The first time he had ever gone to jail was for flicking out his knife and getting in a fight with some rich guy for talking trash about Joe's dad dying from overdose on drugs. Joe knew it was bad and he was ashamed of it but it still got him mad when stupid rich guys or even girls talk bad about his old man. Joe had cut that guy on the cheek (His name was Chek). He was looking for the fight though. Joe got suspended from school for that, and put in Juvie for a few weeks. Now at school, he was always called white trash, JD, public troublemaker, hood, or stupid. Other times for going to jail were because of the fact that he was framed for something he did not do.

Joe glanced back at the metal sign, "Juvenile Delinquents that way" beneath the sign that read, "1964." Joe smirked.

"Don't come back, kid," a police said laughing at his own joke. Telling Joe that was like telling a six-year-old that there wasn't a Christmas.

Joe walked around town passing the 10 cent store, the junkyard, the park, and his small dark neighborhood. He walked over to an abandoned construction area that his group usually hung around. Someone approached him.

"Hey Joe," Matt said. Matt was homeless teenager who ran away from home at the age of twelve and hitched the train to New York. He was now seventeen years old which meant that he had not seen his abusive parents in five years. He got arrested for his first time when he was eight and he broke into some richie's house and took some of their silverware to sell. However, he got caught and arrested. Over the years, he had been thrown into the "cooler" too many times to count, not that anybody cared.

Rob ran up to Joe, and slapped his back exclaiming, "Hey man, how was the cooler for ya man?" Now Rob was the cool one. He had never ever been arrested. He said that "the pigs were too stupid to ever catch him." He had stolen everything that he owned, but was too "slick" to be caught. He could get any girl he wanted; not all the rich ones though. He had long, silky, soft, dark, brown hair and flawless tan skin. Rob's parents were really moody-to say the least. Sometimes, they treated him like he was the most important angel in their lives. They would do anything they could to make him happy. But because of their position in society-which was pretty low- alcohol always seemed to be the solution. In these times, Rob would show up to meet his friends with cuts and bruises from his abusive parents. Rob was cool about it though and did not let it bother him.

"It was fine,' Joe said.

"Hey, I found this big wallet with money in it that some guy just dropped. It's sad how clumsy people can be these days," Matt said with a twinkle of mischief in his eyes.

"Nice move, man," Rob said.