Author's note: I got this idea after watching One Eight Seven where a teacher is caught in looming gang trouble in an urban high school in California.

Now, back to the story, Lacey is a vicious gang's puppet, essentially their chew toy to exploit in whichever way they see fit. Danny is a former drug dealer and a student who's trying to keep out of trouble after coming out of Juvenile detention for a drug related crime.

They meet, fall in love and as they say the rest is history. I hope you enjoy reading it as much I do writing it!

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DISCLAIMER: Needless to say that I own none of the characters from either the movie 187 or the Twisted TV show. There might be instances of violence, blood, drugs and sexual themes in this fic.

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The Rose That Grew From Concrete

Did you hear about the rose that grew
from a crack in the concrete?
Proving nature's law is wrong it
learned to walk with out having feet.
Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams,
it learned to breathe fresh air.
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else ever cared.

-Tupac Shakur

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LACEY

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I think that if I touched the earth, it would crumble; it is so sad and beautiful, so tremulously like a dream.

-Dylan Thomas

Breathing has nothing to do with your lungs; it's all about the dialogue between your heart and your brain. 'See your brain has to keep reminding your heart to pump blood into the organ.

One has to remind the other about breathing and functioning. They have to work together in order to survive.

Symbiosis.

Lacey tucked herself deeper into her black hoodie as she walked the green mile of Quincy Adams high school's long grimy corridor. With each stumbling step she reminded her brain to tell her heart to pump blood so that she could remember to breathe, so that her anxieties would not attack her again.

She knew that panic attacks were tricky bastards but she had to learn to control her fear. Lacey had to learn how to manipulate them, the same way everyone else around her had learnt to manipulate her.

"Hey Puppet, "someone called behind her cocking his arm back and hurling a balled- up piece of wet paper in the middle of Lacey's back.

Lacey didn't flinch she plodded forward, head down to avoid their eyes peeling her and scraping the shells of her soul. She hated this part of the day. She always felt so naked, as though they could still see the tattoo hiding on the nape of her damp neck.

Branded, that's what Lacey Porter was, she was K.O.S property.

When she was fully hidden by her metallic locker door, she finally looked up as her brown eyes sprang to life. She counted her breaths, following the method her psychiatrist had shown her. She counted each intake and outtake, counted her fingers to make sure that she was still present and that she was still Lacey Porter or at least a modicum of the girl formerly named Lacey Porter.

She hated L.A. She hated the petulant pink smog that crawled out every morning like a bloody fog to swallow her up. She knew that graduation was not too far away but the waiting was killing her. Her need to escape was stifling everything around her. She wanted New York, she wanted anything that said freedom, anything that said no more coarse hands crawling and creeping their way around her graceful limbs.

"Puppet"

The voice was deep, gruff, a hot breath dancing over her trembling skin.

"Cesar"

She mouthed inaudibly as his hands made light work of her dark cover and pulled down her hoodie.

"You should stop hiding Lacey, "he breathed against the shell of her flushed earlobe and she held back a sharp breath, biting her bottom lip. "You're beautiful" he added trailing his calloused finger along the deeply etched name on the back of her neck.

"Puppet" he read, reminding her of their bond and of his hold on her, of the gang's hold on her.

"There's a hang out today…after lunch,"

"I have science class Cesar" her skin around her brow line puckered as she interjected gently rolling him off her now exposed shoulder.

"Benny's gonna be there" he added touching her with his deep dark heat, creeping and crawling all over her prickly skin "it's not a request princess" he whispered as she cowered back.

"Lacey, "

Miss Henry, blonde and ethereal even in all that hallway filth, leaned against the computer science glass, her willowy arms folded and a strained smile fixed on her ashen face.

"Can I see you in my class, please"she motioned with her head, adding "now"

Lacey picked up her books, shrugged Cesar's hands off her hips and made her way toward the white stark haven of Miss Ellen Henry's computer class.

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