Summary: There's always been a rivalry in Ipswich, a rivalry between the rich and the poor. And when the line between rich and poor begins to blur for two teens, things get dangerous.

Rating: M Rating is for violence, sexual content, and cursing.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters seen in the movie The Covenant. I also do not own the idea of Greasers and Socs (this was geniusly invented by S.E Hinton). I also do not own the idea of "The Pack". The Pack was at one point a real group of students in a high school in Illinois who were known for their vicious and violent "popular" ways.

Elizabeth Stokes was not having fun.

She was not having fun because Justin Manning, her brother's best friend, was currently groping her on the dance floor.

She was not having fun because her older brother, Gale, was watching him do it and didn't even care.

She was not having fun because Lizzy was expected to let Justin grope her and she was even expected to enjoy it.

She was "in", as "in" as you could get if you went to Ipswich Public High School. The Pack, as they were so affectionately known, was made up of a select group of people at Ipswich Public High School and she was included because her brother was included. Her brother was quarterback for the varsity football team and leader of the Pack and his friend currently groping her was the star running back.

Nothing came between the star quarterback and his best running back, not even the quarterback's little sister. Lizzy almost felt like an offering. Actually, that's exactly what she felt like as Justin turned her in his arms so she was facing him. His hot breathe brushed over her cheeks as he reached behind her and pulled her closer to him with a firm grip on her ass. She felt his growing erection push into her stomach and immediately scowled.

This was not what she had signed up for when she agreed to a night out on the town with her older brother and the rest of the Pack. She had not been expecting her supposed best friend, Natalie, to shove her off onto Justin so Natalie could have her way with her older brother.

The slut.

Nicky's was not what she had had in mind. When she had agreed to the little outing she had been hoping for a nice drive around town and a movie. But luck was not on her side tonight.

With every passing second Justin's erection was growing bigger until finally Lizzy couldn't take it anymore, appearances be damned. She shoved away from him with a hand on his chest and picked her way through the crowd of dancing teenagers over to the almost deserted bar. It seemed everyone had taken a liking to the current song on the jukebox and was out on the dance floor.

She slumped onto a barstool and swiveled herself around to check out the rest of the bar.

Nicky's was considered neutral territory. Neutral territory meant a place where the kids that went to public and the kids that went to the Academy could all be seen in the same place. Nicky's was one of the few places on the neutral list besides the movie theatre and a few restaurants in town. Neutral territory also meant no fighting between the poor and the rich. Nicky had made that clear ages ago when Lizzy hadn't even been old enough to be in high school. It had probably been a rule way back when her parents had been in high school because that's how long the rivalry had been going on between the rich and the poor sides of Ipswich. The hatred had always been there and no one had questioned it.

It had always reminded Lizzy of the book "The Outsiders" ever since she had read it way back in the sixth grade. The Greasers and the Socs. And in this case, Lizzy, her brother, Justin, and the rest of the Pack were the Greasers. They were the kids from the wrong side of the tracks.

And the prime example of the right side of the tracks, of the Socs, was currently walking in the door. The Sons of Ipswich. The name for the four boys was used for both the public kids and the private kids. Both sides envied the four boys whether they wanted to admit it or not. They were the richest of the rich and the most popular of the popular. All eyes followed them wherever they went.

They entered the bar in a single file line, oldest to youngest with Caleb Danvers leading the way and Tyler Simms bringing up the rear. The dancing crowd seemed to part for them and an empty table magically appeared when all the tables had previously been occupied. The smiles on all of their faces oozed confidence and carelessness. They wanted for nothing and they asked for nothing.

Caleb Danvers was the leader of their group, just like Gale was the leader of the Pack. At 18, Caleb Danvers was the perfect example of a rich kid headed for an Ivy League school. He had the best grades in his class, a flawless swim record, and the charm to make any girls' panties drop. Lizzy rarely ever got to see it in action but the rumors floating around public school were that he always had a girl on his side and didn't even need to put in an effort to make it so. Come to think of it, though, Lizzy had ever seen Caleb do anything more then half-smile.

Pogue Parry was only comparable to Justin Manning in the fact that they were both the right hand man. Pogue was the second oldest of the Sons and the one person Caleb could confide everything to, or so it was said. If the four weren't together, then you could at least find Pogue and Caleb in the same place.

The same could be said about the two youngest, Reid Garwin and Tyler Simms. The two were inseparable troublemakers who spent many-a-nights at Nicky's hustling unsuspecting people at pool. Lizzy had seen the pair do it on many different occasions and swore up and down there was something unnatural about the way the two always won.

Despite the pair's unbelievable way of winning all the time, Lizzy always found her own gaze resting on Pogue Parry.

Parry was the mysterious one of the group. He road a motorcycle, preferred solitude to company, and was always on and off with Kate Tunney, a beautiful dark skinned goddess that also happened to go to Spencer Academy.

Who was Lizzy kidding? The only girls the Sons dated went to the academy. It was against the rules to date out of your social class in Spencer. It was against the rules in a big way, as in something parents and even school officials would get involved in. Parents from all over the States paid good money to send their precious children to Spencer Academy. No one wanted said precious kids to get defiled but the locals who barely stayed out of the poor house.

Lizzy tried to pretend she hadn't been watching Pogue Parry as the man himself made his way to the bar. He stopped next to her, barely noticing her presence, before leaning over the bar and calling out to Nicky. Lizzy kept her gaze down but could barely make out the sound of Nicky's heavy footsteps as he made his way over from the other end of the bar.

"Ladies first, Pogue," she heard Nicky say.

She looked up sharply and just in time to meet Parry's intense, mysterious green eyes. She held his gaze for a second before blushing a deep red and turning to Nicky.

"Just a coke please," she said, just loud enough to be heard over the music. "And you can put it on Justin's tab." She motioned towards the dance floor where Justin was groping another girl he had managed to get his hands on, someone Lizzy vaguely remembered coming to Nicky's with.

She heard Nicky mutter something under his breath and raised a quizzical eyebrow at him.

"That little shit's tab is pushing one hundred dollars," Nicky explained with a shake of his baldhead.

Lizzy blushed again. She had really wanted to stick Justin with some kind of punishment for touching her like that. Before she could say anything, though, Nicky spoke again.

"I'll do it for you, though. I saw the way he was touching you out on the dance floor. I also saw how that little shit-for-brains brother of yours didn't do anything about it." He nodded his head in their direction and gave her a wink. "In fact, I'll charge him for a pitcher." His loud, raucous laughter filled the bar for a few minutes before he walked off to get her coke.

She always had to be reminded of the fact that Nicky was one of them. Nicky was on the poor side. Sure, he owned his own bar on the outskirts of the city, but he didn't make enough to live in a fancy mansion. Nicky was a regular attendant of the public football games. He always came ready to cheer and taunt the opposing team. He was a perfect football fan who did all he could to support the boys on the field, including her brother. Although, now it looked like Lizzy was finding out Nicky wasn't as big of a fan of her brother's as she originally thought.

"Thanks, Nicky," she said gratefully as he came back with a glass filled with Pepsi, ice, and a straw. "I really appreciate it," she added as an afterthought.

"Think none of it," was his quick reply before he turned his eyes to one calm and collected Pogue Parry.

"What do you need, Parry?"

Lizzy dropped her gaze again and sipped at her Pepsi. The last thing she wanted was to draw attention to herself in front of one of the Sons.

"Four Cokes and four fries, Nicky," Pogue answered smoothly, his voice deep and husky.

It sent a chill down her spine. She couldn't remember if she had ever heard Pogue Parry speak before. He was more of the strong silent type. His voice sure did have an effect on her though, one she really wanted to brush off and ignore.

"Comin' up, kid," Nicky answered a few seconds later.

Lizzy found herself hoping that Pogue would move back to the table with his friends to wait for his order but she had no such luck. He shifted to sit in the seat next to hers and turned around to face the crowd as well. An awkward silence fell over the two sitting next to each other.

She doubted he even knew her name or that she even lived in the same town as him. And here she sat, knowing practically everything about him.

"Lizzy!" She looked up from playing with the straw in her Coke to meet eyes with Natalie who was making her way over. No doubt Natalie had already realized who was perched on the seat next to her. In fact, Pogue sitting next to her was probably the only reason Natalie had come over to talk to her.

Lizzy had never really got along with Natalie. Natalie had been fighting Lizzy for all the attention since they both got to high school. They were both juniors and they were both fairly smart. The difference between the two was that Natalie tried to hard to be pretty and too hard to be liked. Lizzy was naturally liked and didn't really give a shit if people thought she was pretty.

"What are you doing? You totally left Justin in the dust back there. He's devastated." Natalie stopped in front of her and Lizzy got a good view of the hickey her brother had left on her neck. She wondered where her brother was now that he had finished getting what he wanted out of Natalie.

"Yeah," Lizzy said quietly, "He looks really devastated." Half of her was hoping Natalie wouldn't hear the statement but half of her was hoping she would.

"He is. You really think he wants to be dancing with that slut?" Natalie motioned towards the dance floor. Lizzy followed her gaze and watched as Justin swept a hand through his hair before smacking the ass of the girl grinding on him. "He really likes you, you know." Natalie continued.

"Yeah," Lizzy agreed sarcastically.

"I mean, your brother's been trying really hard to get you guys together. Why can't you just go with the pack, Elizabeth? Your brother and his friends get what they want. No matter what."

Natalie said the last sentence forcibly and her words were accompanied by a squeeze of Lizzy's thigh. Lizzy quickly moved her leg from under Natalie's hand and glared at the girl standing in front of her.

"No one tells me what to do, Natalie," Lizzy answered sharply. "Not my father, not Gale, and certainly not the Pack." She kept her glare strong and steady until Natalie wilted under it and started to turn back to the dance floor. "And you might want to look in a mirror, the hickey on your neck is making me sick," Lizzy taunted.

She heard a snort from beside her and turned to see Pogue Parry smiling. Just smiling. He wasn't looking at her or staring at Natalie as she walked away, he was just smiling.

And Lizzy wrote it off as a freak accident; quickly deciding his friends had done something she hadn't seen that made him laugh.

Twenty minutes later found Lizzy in the same spot minus Pogue Parry who had receive his order of four Cokes and four fries and taken it back to his table of "brothers". It also found Gale sauntering up to Lizzy with a smile on his face.

"Let's go. We're leaving." He commanded as he stopped in front of her. He snatched the empty glass out of her hands and all but slammed it onto the bar behind her. "You're riding with Justin."

Lizzy scowled at him as soon as the words were out of his mouth. "I'm not getting in a car with him. He's no where near sober enough to drive and I don't want to get groped anymore tonight." She protested.

Gale reached out and grabbed ahold of her wrist, successfully pulling her off her barstool. "You know how this works. Go get in the car. We're leaving now and that's final." He whispered lowly in her ear.

She yanked her wrist out of his tight grip and took a step back. "I'm. Not. Going." She emphasized every word and then took another step back, unsure of how her brother would react to her final words.

The tension rose between the two for about two minutes as they stared each other down, neither one willing to admit defeat.

"Fine," Gale snapped suddenly with a quick move forward. He bent down so that his eyes could be level with hers and until their noses were almost touching. "You can walk home then. See if I fucking care." He stared her down for a few more minutes before finally letting out a low growl and turning to the remaining members of the Pack who were waiting by the door.

She would surely pay for the display of power struggle later but for now she was only happy she wasn't getting into a car with a drunk guy who was probably going to rape her.

"I'll drive you home if you want," said a deep, husky voice from behind her.