I took a drag of the cigarette and slowly exhaled, watching as the puff of smoke formed an odd shape in front of my face. The ash from the burning tip dropped on my leather jacket when I brought the cigarette to my lips again. I groaned and dusted my jacket.

Done with the cigarette, I threw it to the floor -it was barely up to two inches now- and crushed it with the heel of my boot. I had been outside here for a while now and I was getting irritated. I leaned away from my bike and adjusted my clothes.

I heard a door open, and I turned around to face the house I was standing in front of. The guy I had been waiting for finally walked out, my book in his hand.

Took him long enough.

He wore blue loose jeans and a plain and boring blue long-sleeved shirt. I was surprised he wasn't wearing glasses. His black hair was a mess, not the sexy type of mess, but the one that made you scrunch up your nose like I was doing now.

Now standing in front of me, he stretched my book forward.

"What took you so long?" I asked and reached for my book.

He didn't release it immediately till I tugged at it. I watched him, hoping he would look up at me, but he didn't. His gaze remained on the floor.

I rolled my eyes and opened the book. I flipped the pages until I found the one I was looking for. The first thing I noticed was his penmanship. It was beautiful even though all he wrote were signs, symbols and numbers.

I studied the work and was satisfied with what I saw. The answers he got looked like they were correct. I had no other options anyway and besides, Matt assured me that the guy was good, so I had nothing to fear.

I reached into the pocket of my jeans and pulled out the hundred-dollar bill. I smoothened it out before handing it to him.

"Here you go. Thank you." I closed the book with a soft thud, but the guy jumped, obviously startled.

He studied the bill in his hand and slowly looked up, meeting my eyes for the first time. I sucked in a breath. His eyes were beautiful: blue eyes that reminded me of the ocean on a beautiful summer day.

"We agreed on fifty, not hundred." His lips formed a small frown, and I lifted a brow in question.

He should be happy I paid him a hundred, double of what he asked for just to get my calculus homework done for me. Anyone else would be elated.

"And I gave you a hundred. You should be happy." I opened my backpack and tucked my book inside before zipping it up and securing it on my back.

The guy still stood there, and I stopped my attempt to climb on my bike.

"What is it?" I was getting irritated.

Up close I could tell that he was quite attractive, apart from his eyes that seemed to draw me in, his voice was deep, deeper than I expected. The scent of his cologne reached my nose, and I fought a smile. He towered over me, meaning I had to tilt my head just to look him in the eyes. If he didn't dress like a loser, he could be more interesting.

"You shouldn't be smoking." He finally said.

I noticed he had a stubble on his chin and I couldn't help myself when I looked at his lips. They were pink, and Lord have mercy, quite inviting.

I smirked and got on my bike. "I know."

With that, I pulled my helmet over my head and revved my engine before driving away, away from the nerd who still had his eyes on me till I was out of his view.

I lifted the visor of my helmet, letting the cool breeze hit my face as I weaved my way through the almost empty streets of North Wind.

North Wind was not a small town, but it wasn't too big either. I grew up here, and like every other town, there were some things that were peculiar to it. The people in this town were intimidating. Either they intimidated you with their money, status, or with a rumor flying around that they were in a gang.

There was some sort of hierarchy that everyone followed and it all depended on either how rich your parents were or how influential you were in social activities like sports. Your status determined how you were treated.

The bottom of the food chain was the poor and working 24/7 people, the ones who worked as housemaids or school cleaners.

Up next were the middle-class people, not poor and not rich either, those who worked nine to five and could still take their kids to school.

Then the average people came next, they were the ones who were rich but not so rich, they could afford private schools for their kids but were not rich enough to go to a car dealership to buy three expensive cars of different colors and not feel a dent in their account balance.

And at the top were those who were fucking rich; people like my parents. They worked all day long to make their money and came home to a life of luxury and I was raised that way.

And there was a final spot that was mixed with the top class. These people were the dangerous ones, the gangs, and mafias. Not just a group of petty thieves, but people that belonged to the biggest community of organized criminals. Because of their wealth, we always mixed them with the people at the top, but people at the top knew we were nothing compared to them.

Of course, every average society had this group of people, but the people of North Wind took it to a different level. We had an unwritten rule that was always obeyed. Sadly, I followed this rule, no matter how much I hated following societal standards. The last thing I wanted was for the entire town to gang up against me.

This rule was the reason North Wind was the way it was. It was simple, and they had drilled it into my head from day one: Two classes can never mix, no matter what, and everyone had gotten used to that life. You stayed in your lane and I stayed in mine. It applied in every social way, safe for public places that couldn't be controlled easily.

Now the gangs ran this town. The town was safe, not from the gangs, but because of the gangs. The police knew who the gang members were, but they couldn't do anything. Their presence was the reason for the safety of the town.

To avoid intimidation from the gangs, I worked for the biggest gang in town, the North-East gang. Not selling drugs or ammunition, but in car racing, I was fast with my legs and with cars. They didn't have a good racer, so I raced for them and we shared the money. That was where I got most of my money from. I didn't enjoy spending my parents' money.

I was not a gang member, just an outsider who helped keep their status at the top and in exchange, my family and I got their protection from other gangs.

Finally reaching my destination, I parked my bike under the tree and got down. I was supposed to be meeting Eli, who was a North-East gang member. I had to race tonight, and he always insisted on giving me a little information about who I was racing. He usually just sent the information through my mail, but it had been a while since we last saw and we both agreed on meeting physically.

This was our meeting spot, the northern territory where there was northern security. I was sure if I looked around properly, I would find a few people lurking around, people sent by the North-East gang leader to be sure their border was safe.

Feeling like it, I pulled out the pack of cigarettes in my pocket and groaned when I found just one stick left. I took out my lighter and lit the cigarette before pocketing the lighter and letting the cigarette rest on my lips.

I heard the roaring of a car in the distance and I knew who it was, Eli. Shortly after, he parked his car in front of me, his tires barely missing my legs. The mother fucker deliberately did that just to piss me off.

His brown hair was messy, obviously from the wind as he drove. He drove a convertible; the cover was always down unless it rained and he drove at an insane speed, so no matter how hard you tried, your hair must get messy.

His brown eyes looked tired, bags under them telling me he hadn't had a good rest in a while. He bit his bottom lip, sucking on his lip ring. His eyes scanned me from head to toe.

I rolled my eyes at him and leaned on the passenger's door of his car, taking a drag of my cigarette and exhaling, watching as the smoke clouded my face.

Eli reached for my cigarette and I let him. He took a drag too and exhaled, just like I did. I used to smoke before I met him, but being around him rubbed off on me and my smoking became ten times worse. You could hardly be around Eli and not catch him smoking once.

I got into his car and settled myself in the passenger's seat, giving him an impatient look. He took one last drag of my cigarette before handing it back to me and taking out a file from the glove compartment.

I snatched it from his hand and impatiently took out its content. Eli chuckled, and I rolled my eyes at him.

The picture of a guy was in my hands. He had blonde hair, green eyes, and a lip ring. One look at him and I knew he was trouble.

"Red" I called out the name that was attached to the bottom of the picture. "Works with the West?" We hardly raced the West gang, so seeing that I was racing one of their own was a big shocker.

"Yeah, they say he's good, the best in their gang. He hasn't been around for a year, so that's why the West doesn't race anymore." Eli explained in that deep voice of his, it was not as deep as the nerd from earlier.

Why am I comparing them?

I shook my thoughts away and put the picture back into the file. "Not as good as me?" The idea of someone being better than me at racing irked me. I could be competitive.

"I don't think so." Eli's hair bounced back and forth as he shook his head.

"Same time?" I took another drag of my cigarette.

"Yeah," he nodded, and I took that as my cue to leave. Hopping out of his car and onto my bike, I slipped on my helmet and watched as Eli drove away.

Tucking the file in my backpack, I started my bike and revved the engine before driving off.

When I got home, I met with the usual silence. My parents were hardly ever home, always on one business trip or the other or just caught at work, and my elder brother was in college. Mum and dad left last night while I was sleeping and according to the note they left on the kitchen counter, it was an impromptu trip and they wouldn't be back until four weeks.

Four entire weeks! Who goes on an impromptu trip that lasts for an entire month? Right, my parents!

Because of their work schedule, I didn't have the best relationship with them, my mum especially, but they tried their best. Anytime they were home, they tried their best to make up for the lost time. Well, my dad did.

My mum and I were always close, if not even closer than my dad and I were now, but after I turned twelve, it was like someone dug a vast gap between us. I tried to get closer to her, but she pushed me away, so after some time I stopped, leaning closer to my dad. My brother felt the same way, too.

Ever since then, nothing changed for the better, things only changed for the worse. It scared me that my parents' relationship was shaking. They quarreled a lot more, mum would say a lot of hurtful things to my dad and he'd just walk away from her, taking a duffel bag for the night or weekend and leaving the house or he'd just ignore her words and stay at home.

Other times it'd be my mum who grabbed a bag and left the house. I always admired my dad for one thing; he never resorted to violence or said anything hurtful to my mum. It was only a handful of times that I heard him speak vulgar words to mum. But despite everything, my dad continued to be my dad to me and my brother.

Feeling tired and hungry, I ordered pizza for the night and headed upstairs for a quick shower.

School today was hectic, a lot more hectic than usual. After school, I stayed around to catch up on some homework -which I hardly ever did by myself these days- and by the time I was rounding up; the sun was about to set and I didn't even notice.

If I hadn't told that nerd that I'd be going to collect my homework from him today, I probably would have waited till tomorrow to collect it from him, I hated keeping people waiting or falling back on their words so I try my best not to. If I knew he was going to take my time like that, I would have waited till tomorrow. I was out there for close to twenty minutes.

After my shower, I dried off and changed into shorts and a singlet just before the doorbell rang. Rushing downstairs, I took some cash from my purse and opened the door.

The nerd from earlier was now standing in front of me, but he looked somewhat different, almost hot. I probably wouldn't have recognized him if I didn't look properly at him.

He was wearing the Pizzeria T-shirt with a white long sleeve underneath and fitted jeans. This time around, he was wearing glasses. His hair wasn't messy like it was before, it was styled, and some stray strands of his hair fell forward on his face, making him look way better than before.

"You ordered pizza?" He asked, snapping me out of my thoughts and stopping me from ogling him.

"Right." I gave him the cash and collected the box from him.

His fingers brushed mine, and I felt electricity flood through me, shocking me to my bones.

What is that?

He felt it too because at that second he tensed, and his eyes flickered to mine. They were so blue that I got almost got lost staring at them, almost.

I cleared my throat, "keep the change." I slammed the door shut and rested my head on it.

What the hell just happened?