The pavement made hard slapping sounds beneath my worn trainers while the cold November air stung my lungs from my deep breaths as I ran down the empty sidewalk to school.

Late again.

But luckily it was mostly because my step father was a bit disoriented this morning from the night before rather than rampant with rage as he normally was… Always was. But still, a nice change.

I tripped a little from the long hand- me- down pants that my mother gave me. A reluctant gift from her cousin Malcolm. Yeah. Didn't seem to fair to me either. But who was I to judge? We were from a poor family. An almost dirt poor family; getting poorer and poorer everyday because of my father's binge drinking from being poor… A very counterproductive cycle, I know, but one that hasn't led us to the streets. Yet. And it didn't help that the neighborhood was in the middle of the 'gang pool' of Seattle.

Every night on the local news there was always some type of report related to gang violence. The streets were filled with graffiti sprayed into their signs or signatures, not to mention the rising attacks on innocent civilians. The fear that emanated from the people unrelated to the violence was everywhere. You had to drive miles to break out of the madness, and even still, the drive was incredibly dangerous. Very few have made it out, or even had the guts to make it out that I've seen…

I hated the gangs. I hated the gangs and everyone in them. All the members and the ones that looked up to them were cold and evil… heartless.

I brought myself back from my thoughts as I neared the bus stop to go to school. It was a public stop that dropped me ten blocks from the building. Luckier than most. I just had to find out who they were.

Only two more corners to turn and…

"AAAHH!" the air that went rushing out of my lungs was almost painful as someone, with an iron grip, grabbed my arm and yanked me back. Who the heck..?

"Hey girl… Where you runnin' off to?" I heard a greasy voice say.

I lifted my head to identify my captor, only to find that it was my worst fear.

A thug.

My eyes widened as I tried to snatch my arm back. He noticed my attempts and laughed.

"What's wrong suga'? Me and my boys were just wondering where you were goin'." He leaned in closer to me, so close that I could smell the alcohol on his breath, "Maybe we could give you a ride?"

I looked around for help, only to find four of his companions standing behind him with excitement in their eyes.

I suddenly figured out where this was going.

I gave a quick prayer in hopes that my plan would work, and swung my free hand across his face. The sound of it rang in the empty streets. But lucky his shock made him let go of my arm. I took the opening and ran down the street, their shouts of anger followed as they ran after me.

I shot down the pavement, desperately trying to find someone to help me. But all I ran into was a skinny boy lazily walking down the road. I didn't even bother to ask for his help. He would get killed. Easily.

I took a quick left down an ally that lead to a more populated part of the city, only to find two of the thugs waiting for me at the end. My heart dropped as I heard cat calls from behind me. I turned slowly to find the last three thugs eyeing me in excitement.

"Whoo! We gonna have fun today! Huh Lenny?"

"All right! All right! Let's do this!"

Lenny, who was apparently the leader, walked up to me as I shrank into the back wall of a building, he quickly grabbed both of my hands in just one of his and then grabbed my jaw to make me look at him.

"Now, let's see if we can tame this bitc- DAMN!"

Lenny instantly let go of me again when I rammed my knee into his midsection. The fire inside of me was strong as I watched him hold himself in pain.

My new vigor stemmed from two things.

One, I was NOT going to get gang raped.

And two, no one ever calls me a bitch. I hated the term.

The other thugs started to all come at me at once. Now there was more fear than fire as I wondered how to fight them all. And Lenny, who had slightly recovered, seemed to have more of a vengeful air to him now than one that was excited for the chase.

One of the thugs caught me off guard and grabbed me around the middle, locking down my arms. I thrashed and tried to scream but another covered my mouth.

This was it. This was the end. I was going to get gang raped and killed. Then my parents would see my dead body in a short news cast, and my father would be too drunk to care while my mother cried in a corner to herself.

No… why must it end like this…?

"Really? It takes five of you to take down one girl? Are you honestly willing to lower your street credit like that?" A strong voice said from the mouth of the ally. My heart leapt out of the pit it was in. Someone had come to save me! I quickly blinked away the tears that had begun to form in my eyes only to find that my supposed hero was… the skinny boy. Oh joy.

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