i'm just a teenage dirtbag baby.

Lydia sighed and leaned back in her chair munching on one of the carrot sticks she'd stolen from her mom's lunch trey. "I don't know why you're making me go do this stupid get-together with you and not Josh." Her complained to her mother. She hated that it was always like this, her mom's friend would throw some get-together and then Lydia would be drug along dressed up all nice just because her mom was hoping she'd play nice and get along with her friends son. And somehow Josh would always get out of it, really she was pretty sure it was because her mom didn't believe that she'd find a nice guy on her own. But the thing was Lydia wanted to make her own choices, date who she wanted, and be herself. Though if she voiced that opinion her mom would pass out and probably send her away to learn to behave or something. So for now she lived under her parents rule and put up with her brother and everyone else keeping her from doing what she wanted. If only it were easier.

---

Harry nodded his head in reply to whatever Zayn had just been going on about. Sure they were best friends, and he'd do whatever for Zayn and the rest of the lads, but honestly Harry kind of hated this life. He hated all the fighting, he hated what people thought of him, how they treated him, and he really hated how just because he was from this part of town and happened to be part of Zayn's group that they just assumed he was always up to no good, or expected him to get into trouble. He was capable of going out just for fun and not actually doing anything to get in trouble, and he didn't get what was so shocking about that. "I'm gonna head out for a bit." He called to the others as he pulled on his jacket and headed out to just walk around clear his mind, and of course let Zayn have his quite time to figure out how he was gonna put this plan of his into action. And Harry was sure once Zayn knew what the plan was himself that he'd help out, because well Harry was always going to be there for his friends, but until then he was just going to be alone and think about how much he wished things were different.

Clarity was beginning to regret her decision of walking home from her boyfriend Drew's house. They'd gotten into an argument because Drew was always talking about their future together and how they were going to get married at some point. Clarity wasn't sure if that was what she wanted though. She was only sixteen after all. She still had a few years of high school left! How could she be expected to think about marriage already? Drew had sensed her hesitation and called her out as to whether or not she actually loved him. This had led to the argument and eventually Clarity had had enough. She'd left Drew's about an hour ago and she honestly wasn't sure if she was going in the right direction or not. She was still pretty upset about what had happened, so upset that she didn't even realize what part of town she was in or the group of guys in leather jackets that were heading towards her. She sniffled a bit and wiped at her eyes before pulled her sweater closer against her body when she heard someone call out to her. She tensed up a bit, but kept walking, realizing that it was a group of guys across the street. She quickened her pace and pulled her sweater closer against her body, her heart pounding as she walked. However, before she knew it, they had crossed the street and were headed right to her. "Where d'ya think you're going, beautiful?" One of them called out to her. She turned and continued in the other direction, though she was stopped when one of them grabbed her elbow. "Aw, come on now, gorgeous. We was only lookin' for a good time. Surely you could help us out." The one who grabbed her said. "Let me go, please." She said quietly, her voice trembling slightly.

---

Zayn leaned against the outside of his house and took a long drag from his cigarette. He'd just had a meeting with the guys. It was an important meeting, though not nearly as important as some of them had been. It was to discuss how he planned to show up the leader of the rival greaser gang, Josh, once and for all. They'd bounced ideas off of each other, though nothing had really stuck with Zayn, until finally, he realized what he was going to do. He was going to prove that he was better than Josh could ever be. He was going to show him who's boss. He was going to prove that he could essentially get any girl that he wanted, and how exactly was he going to do so you might ask? Well, there really was only one way to do so. Josh had a younger sister named Lydia. Zayn had seen her around town a couple of times before and at the drive-in as well. She was definitely a fit bird, but basically untouchable because of her brother. Zayn was going to go after her. He was going to make her fall for him. It was going to be perfect. It might end up being a challenge, but Zayn did enjoy challenges every once and a while. And he knew exactly where to start. He'd overheard a couple of Lydia's friends talking, one of them was actually dating Liam, and apparently Lydia had some party or luncheon or whatever to go to with her mom. And he knew for a fact that Josh wouldn't be there. It was going to be perfect. He finished off his cigarette, taking one last, long drag before he headed down the street in the direction of the place he knew the little luncheon or whatever was going to be.

[So I got a bit carried away...]

Harry pulled his jacket tighter around himself as he walked down the street, one of the good things about this part of town and the fact that he was part of Zayn's gang was that people were kind of scared of him so when he wanted to be left alone he could be. After all Zayn's gang was kind of nearly number one. Right now they were just trying to prove to Josh and his gang that they were, so they were kind of at war and everyone else was trying to just stay out of the way. It could get pretty intense sometimes, and because of that Harry really wanted out every now and again. He just didn't want to deal with everything, he wanted to just live and not worry about things. Maybe fall for some girl and be happy. Whatever the hell made him happy. It was nearly impossible or that was how it felt anyways. It wasn't long into his walk before he noticed a couple of other greasers who he knew liked to cause trouble around this part, well more trouble than everyone else on a normal day, heading towards a soc who clearly did not belong, and what kind of guy would he be if he just let them have their way with her? Not a good one, even if geaser's weren't known as the good guys Harry wasn't about to let a bunch of guys who gave them all a worse name go ruining some girls night, and possible life just for some fun. "Do you idiots not listen?" He said pushing them away, "leave her the hell alone." He told them not scared of a couple of idiots. And even though he knew who she was once he'd gotten closer, and he couldn't really say that he liked her boyfriend, or any of her friends for that matter it wasn't going to stop him from saving her from these idiots.

---

"You know why you have to go Lydia, now stop whining and try to behave this time." Her mum told her giving her one of those stern mum looks. "I'll try, but I can't promise anything." Lydia replied not that interested in going to some stupid lunch with her mother who was just going to try and push her off on some guy she didn't even like or want anything to do it. Honestly she thought it was stupid that her parents actually thought she'd behave and fall in love with some boy they wanted her to be with. For starters Lydia had just turned 17 she was still in school and didn't know shit about love, and she certainly didn't think she was ready to find the guy she wanted to settle down with. Okay if she found a guy and felt like that then she'd just deal with it, but she wanted to do that on her own. She didn't get why her parents didn't trust her, you'd think she was going to run around with every greaser in town and end up pregnant they way her parents treated her. Though honestly the only guys she could even get close to were the ones her mum was always trying to set her up with, mostly because Josh had some kind of power or something over everyone else and so none of the guys she found attractive would come near her. Between her parents and her brother she was shocked she even had a life with friends at all. Guys didn't come near her, and when they did and her brother got word they stopped. They just lost all interest. It was annoying. "Mum, you know that all your attempts for me to meet some guy and fall in love like you want isn't going to work right? I mean eventually I'm going to date guys I wanna date and you, dad, and Josh are all just gonna have to deal with it."

[ That's okay, sometimes it's good to get carried away ]

Clarity's heart felt like it was going to beat right on out of her chest. She really just couldn't believe that this was happening. After getting into that huge argument with Drew, she really hadn't thought that her night could have gotten any worse. Clearly she was wrong though. She was trying to think of something, anything, that she could do to defend herself. She knew that if she tried something, it wouldn't work though. There were too many of them, and only one of her. And then suddenly, a deep, raspy voice caused complete and utter silence. Clarity was shocked when the greaser who had a hold of her arm, let go of it. Looking over, she saw the source of the voice. Another greaser. She'd seen him before in school. In fact, she was pretty sure that he was in a couple of her classes. She was honestly kind of surprised that he'd said anything at all. She had a feeling that most of the greasers around her would have just walked on past like nothing was happening at all. "What's it to you, Styles?" One of the greasers who had come onto her finally spoke up. "She's nothing but a soc. And she's on our turf anyways. We was only givin' the stupid slag what she deserves."

---

Zayn was sure that this plan was one of his best. There was hardly any room for error. Even if it took some time to win Josh's sister over, it would be worth while. It would be worth the wait, because in the end, he would have the pure satisfaction of seeing the shocked look on Josh's face when he won. The guy wouldn't even know what hit him. And that was really the best part of this plan: he was going to catch Josh completely off-guard. He was going to act like he actually had a thing for his sister. Like he actually fancied her, and finally, once he won her over, and maybe even had his way with her, he'd end things with her. Break her heart, and make his initial plan known. It was going to be brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.

It didn't take Zayn very long to figure out where the party was at. He normally avoided things like this. Why would he ever want to attend some luncheon with prim and proper women who had sticks up their arses? The only guys who went to these things were the ones whose mummies and daddies paid for everything. His mum had tried to turn him into one of those twats once. It was kind of ironic really. Zayn Malik, one of the most ruthless greasers around, was from a family of socs. She had tried to get him to conform with society, but he'd traded in that pair of chinos and that polo shirt for an old t-shirt, leather jacket and ripped jeans ages ago. That was something that most people didn't know about Zayn. His family actually lived on the same side of town as the socs. They were extremely wealthy people. His mum had kicked him out a few years back after one too many arrest reports and a fair share of warnings. He normally stayed at one of the guys' houses. And he'd told himself that he would never go to one of these stupid little parties, but desperate times call for desperate measures. He headed inside, smirking at a few women who stared at him with wide eyes as he walked in.

Harry sighed but didn't move and inch, he wasn't about to back down and let these guys win. "Well maybe I just think you should back off and find someone else to mess with." He told them not personally wanting to get into a fight with them tonight, and he really didn't want to have to take them all by himself, plus he knew if word got back to Zayn that he was standing up for a soc that he'd be livid and well Harry hated to think about that. Because he didn't want to have to explain to one of his best friends why he was standing up for a soc and doing one of the only things Zayn couldn't really stand. But still not even that was stopping him right now. He was going to stand here and make sure that these idiots didn't touch a hair on this girls head. "Just go on about your nights and let her leave, plus I'm sure she didn't mean to wander onto our 'turf' clearly she's upset about something and you guys I'm sure are just making her night a lot worse." He said rolling his eyes, honestly he would've even told them that it wouldn't happen again if he knew it'd work but he couldn't be for sure that she wouldn't come back to this side of town and then if she did Harry'd be in even more trouble because she came back. So he just left that little bit out. "Now I'm not gonna say it again, leave her the hell alone and get on with your nights."

---

"Lydia Faye, you will not talk to your mother like that." Lydia's mum said to her a few moments before they'd arrive at this stupid lunch, "now young lady you're going to go inside and have a nice time. And stop talking nonsense. You're my only daughter and I'm not letting you turn out like your brother. Who should be happy that your father is out of town and can't punish him right now for all his insane behavior." Which all caused Lydia to hate this that much more. She wanted her parents to see that she hated how they lived, she hated this life that had for her. She wanted to make her own choices, even if they were bad ones. With how tight her leash was though apparently it didn't seem like that would happen ever. Hell her mum was probably going to tell her what to do and expect her to do it when she was married with kids of her own, and Lydia hated that too. With the way things were going she was never going to be happy a day in her life. "Well don't let me hold you up." She finally said sighing softly and finishing the walk to her mum's stupid friends house for this stupid lunch thing she didn't even want to go to.

"Becky what's wrong?" Lydia's mum asked when they walked in and saw her fanning herself surrounded by some of the other women looking like she'd just been mugged or something. "I invited Tricia and her son showed up. He's in the other room probably messing everything up." Which only caused Lydia to be more confused, she'd met Mrs. Malik before actually they had dinner at her house every other Thursday but Lydia hadn't known she'd had a son. And apparently this was why, Lydia was assuming that he was a greaser and they'd kicked him out or something. She didn't know, usually when they were there Lydia just sat around and listened to the mindless chatter making nothing of it and like poked at her peas until it was time to go home. "Lydia you stay right here okay." And she just nodded her head and went to set down their dish with the rest of them and leaned against the wall of the hallway leading into the sitting room while her mother went to crouch down beside her friend. It was stupid how they were all acting like the world was going to end or how Becky was hurt or something all because some bad kid had walked in. Though Lydia did kind of wonder how bad this kid was, he probably wasn't even that bad they were just making a scene. And while she knew her mum had told her not to move her mum was clearly more caught up in her friend than Lydia, so Lydia took the chance to slip into the sitting room and see what the big deal was.

Clarity stared at the curly-haired boy, still honestly pretty shell-shocked that he was standing up for her. She'd always kind of just assumed that all greasers were the same. Vile, nasty, ruthless, and just about any negative word that came to mind. Of course, she'd never actually really had a conversation with one before. She was only going off of what her parents, older siblings, Drew, and her friends said. She'd kind of just assumed that, if enough people thought this about them, well, it had to be true, didn't it? "You're lucky he showed up when he did, pretty birdie." The same greaser from earlier spoke up. "Don't think that you'll be so lucky next time if you wander on over here." Without another word he turned and headed off in the opposite direction, the others following behind him.

And then there were two. "Thank you." She said quietly, her voice almost inaudible as she turned to the curly-haired greaser who had just saved her arse. It was quite obvious that she was still confused as to why he had done it in the first place. And she honestly was. He could have easily just walked on past like nothing was happening at all and let those vile men have their way with her. But he hadn't, and that was what really interested and confused her all at the same time. Now, without having to worry about those other greasers, she was able to get a good look at him. If he wasn't a greaser, she probably would have thought he was attractive. He had a boyish face, brunette curls, and a gorgeous pair of emerald green eyes. He was tall too, and skinny, but not the lanky toothpick sort of skinny. It was pretty obvious that he had some muscle to him. And now that she really looked at him, she knew that he was in fact in a couple of her classes. She also knew now that he was a part of Zayn Malik's little gang. That caused even more confusion for her. Why would he, of all people, help her?

---

Zayn knew that he had caused quite the scene when he walked through the doors of his mum's friend's house. He'd been over there a couple of times in the past, before his mum had kicked him out of the house for his "unacceptable behavior". That was also before he'd opted out of being one of those chino and polo wearing twats. When his hair had been combed perfectly so there wasn't a single hair out of place. When his skin was free of any tattoos, and when he hadn't smoked a single cigarette in his entire life. Obviously a lot had changed since then. He saw it all as good changes though. He liked the person that he'd become a lot better than the person that his mum had wanted him to be. A whole hell of a lot better in fact, and even though it had cost him his family, he had the lads. They were more of a family to him than his own family could have ever been. They accepted him for who he was. And that was what really mattered.

Heading down the hall, he pulled out his package of marlboros and took out another cancer stick. He wasn't one of those guys who smoked a pack a day or anything, and he'd had one maybe a half an hour or so ago, but he wasn't doing this because he needed a smoke. He was doing this to get even more of a rise out of the women in this house. He brought the cigarette to his lips and lit it, taking a long drag as he continued down the hall, pausing when he heard a woman tell Josh's sister to stay where she was before heading into the other room. Perfect. "Do you always let her boss you around like that?" He asked, raising an eyebrow as he took another drag from the cancer stick.

Harry rolled his eyes again and pushed his fingers through his messy curls shaking his head, "they're such twats." He mumbled just glad they'd actually listened and just walked away because this could've went a lot worse. Honestly he was still kind of shocked they'd walked away. Usually they wouldn't have just let only one member of Zayn's crew boss them around, well maybe if it were Zayn alone. Maybe they just didn't want deal with it, which was a smart choice so for once he could say they made the right choice by backing down but with them that was something Harry knew he'd never get the chance to say again. And honestly Harry didn't ever wanna do this again, he was already dealing with enough without having to worry about a bunch of punks who gave the rest of them an even worse name.

"I wouldn't worry to much about it." Harry told her easily able to tell that she was lost for words and totally confused. "We're not all bad, and believe me half of us don't care about socs as long as they aren't giving us a hard time. Those guys are just twats and like to mess with everyone who they don't think belong here. They give the rest of us a bad name and they don't have souls. Or at least I don't think they do. How else are they gonna be able to just attack innocent people walking by clearly upset about bigger things." He said sighing it just didn't make any sense to him. "Which does bring me to a question, why are you even in this part of town? I mean surely you've been told not to come around here, and especially not alone right?" He asked her wondering if she'd tell him what was up, which he wouldn't care if she did or not. He was curious as to why she'd showed up though. Everyone knew this part of town wasn't a part you wanted to be in unless you were from there and even then sometimes Harry still hated being in this part of town. Mostly just this section though because of the punks who thought they ran the streets causing trouble.

---

Lydia walked into the room and saw this 'bad' boy everyone was making such a big deal about and she saw it. Or at least she saw why they thought he was bad. What with his cigarette between his lips, messed up hair, slightly scruffy face, the clothes, and the tattoos she could clearly make out on his skin she understood why they thought he was bad. And as much as her mum would hate it she couldn't help herself but find it attractive. Maybe it was the thought that he was forbidden according to her mother and father. They'd kill her if she even thought of bringing a guy like him home, and well he was probably one of her brothers like rivals or something so he'd probably be livid as well. And Lydia didn't know if it was just the fact that being with someone like him would piss her entire family off that made her find him attractive, or if it was just because Lydia liked a bad boy. Either way though she found him attractive and could only imagine what having someone like him in her life would be like.

She was pulled from her thoughts of him that could have gotten dirty had she thought about him much longer when she heard him speak. "Just because she bosses me around doesn't mean I listen. I mean she did after all tell me not to leave her side yet here I am." She replied leaning against the wall she hadn't quite figured out if getting any closer to him was a good idea or not. Even if she did find him attractive she didn't want things to get out of hand. She knew a thing or two, plus one of her friends was dating a greaser in the gang that went against her brother and well they talked. And Lydia knew better than to get her guard down. Even if she wanted one it was going to take more than just thinking he was attractive for her to get to close to him. This way she still felt safe and well her mother wouldn't make too much of a scene when she found them together in this room. Though she could only picture how the woman would react.

[I'm kind of really loving these long posts. ]

Clarity merely nodded her head in agreement with his statement. Those guys did seem like complete twats. They obviously believed all the superficial stuff and the feud between the socs and the greasers. She honestly didn't know where any of that had actually started. She'd never really bothered to find out why though either. She'd always just kind of went along with what everyone around her believed. She was normally pretty quiet, which was surprising seeing as she was a cheerleader and all. Frankly, she was only a cheerleader because her older sister had been one and so had her mum. They kind of expected her to be one, and so she kind of just did what they expected her to do. The only reason that she was the captain of the squad was because of her sister, and so many of the girls on the squad worshipped her sister in this really strange way, and they'd picked her as captain the year before. Truth be told, Clarity didn't like cheerleading at all. Most of the girls on the squad were super annoying and some of them were complete airheads, but what was she going to do about it? Absolutely nothing. She couldn't. Well, she could, but she knew her parents and older siblings would be furious when they found out. And she'd never really done anything to piss them off before, so she was hoping to keep it that way.

"My boyfriend and I got into a huge fight earlier...he was supposed to give me a ride home tonight, but I got really upset with him, I still am, and I kind of just stormed out." She started, not really even knowing why she was telling him all this. He probably didn't want to hear her little sob story, and she normally wasn't one of those girls who complained about her boyfriend 24/7 either. For whatever reason, she didn't want him to think that she was one of those girls. Why she cared what he thought about her, she honestly had absolutely no idea. "I guess I was so upset that I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking...." Her tone was sheepish and she gave her shoulders a slight shrug. "But seriously, thanks for um, doing what you did before. You definitely saved my arse." She mustered up a weak smile.

---

Zayn was honestly kind of surprised by her response. She'd definitely caught him a bit off guard there. It was clear that she was a fiery one. He kind of liked that though. It would make this whole thing all the more interesting and fun for him. It would suck if she was one of those annoying, overly girly types of girls. Those were just the absolute worst. They were usually really whiny and clingy and annoying, and he really just hated girls like that. She didn't seem like one of those girls at all. He didn't know why, but he'd kind of assumed that she was. He'd never actually spoken a word to her before, and he'd never bothered to ask her friend who was dating Liam about her either, why would he ask about her anyway, so he really didn't know her at all. He still didn't know her, but he could just tell that she had a fire in her soul, or whatever poetic crap people said nowadays, and it would definitely make this a lot more interesting and enjoyable for him.

"If you don't listen to her all the time, why are you here now when you clearly don't want to be here at all?" He countered. It was quite obvious that she didn't want to be here. Her body language was pretty much screaming that, and the expression he'd seen on her face earlier only seemed to prove that fact even more so. He figured that he would pick her brain for a little while, and see what he could find out about her. He was trying to see how much of a challenge this whole thing was going to be for him. He hoped it wasn't going to be too easy, because well, that would just take the fun right on out of it. He took another long drag from his cigarette and leaned against the way, casting a glance over to her as he waited for her response.

[ I know! Long posts like this make me so happy Lol. ]

Harry nodded his head kind of shocked she'd told him that. Even if he knew that he wasn't like half the guys in this part of town people didn't trust him. Of course given he was in Zayn's gang he got why they didn't trust him, but still the point was people didn't trust him and so it was just weird that even though he saved her life kind of she trusted him. Really he wouldn't have been shocked if she would've taken off to get as far away from them all as quickly as possible as soon as they'd walked away. Hell that's probably what he would've done if he were her. "Sorry to hear that. Guess it must've been a pretty big fight, since I mean you ended up here of all places." He said not really minding that she hadn't taken off running. Honestly he knew that he had a few classes with her, well from what he could recall from when he actually showed up or paid attention anyways. And from what he could remember she was one of the few soc's that didn't totally get under his skin.

Harry tried not to be easily annoyed, but honestly he kind of was. Sure sometimes he took what people said to him pretty seriously, and like everyone else he knew there was so much he could handle. The thing about the people he couldn't stand at his school though was it was like they tried to push him over the top all the time. With their annoying chants, and voices, and just everything. Plus he hated how he didn't have as much as them but the liked to run in his face that they had more than him. Which was probably another reason he took such pride in being friends with Zayn and the lads and being part of their crew. Because with the lads he felt like he really fit in, they were all like a family, even though he still had his family. The lads were just like his extended family and he liked having them around. It was really nice to have them at school too, because well then he had people who'd keep him from socking one of those damn socs and really getting himself into some trouble.

---

Lydia crossed her arms but kept her eyes locked on him, "as much as I hate coming to these things, I get an immense amount of pleasure pissing my mum off while I'm here by doing things she tells me not to. Why are you here I think is a better question though? I mean this doesn't really seem like your scene and I'm guess since your mum kicked you out you weren't really invited?" She said licking over her lips and finally making her way across the room to the cabinet. "Would you like a drink?" She asked opening it and pulling out a couple of glasses then looked over everything else to see what she should pour herself. "Mr. Vincent has quite the selection of alcohol." She said before finally pulling out one of the bottles of whiskey and pouring some in each of the glasses and picking them up handing him one.

Lydia had never really been one to listen to rules, sure she was here but ever minute since she'd woken up she'd been dedicating to make sure her mother understood how much she hated this life. Somehow him showing up here today and all of this was making it a lot easier for her. Really she'd planned on making Tyler sneak down here while their parents were talking about their prim and proper things and sneak some up to her. Only she was hoping that he'd get caught and rat her out so he mum would be embarrassed and shit, but this way she could actually drink it and when her mum caught her she'd be livid. So she didn't even have to use Tyler. Which was even better because to be honest even though Lydia supposed he was attractive for a soc he was an idiot. And now she didn't have to use him for anything, nor would she have to spend her day with him. As soon as they were caught her mum would make a scene and she was hoping that they'd go right home because of whatever she didn't really care why. And then she'd listen to her mum yell at her, well she'd ignore her mum while she yelled and just nod her head and say she was going to be in her room all night she she was supposed to be. And then hopefully as long as her friends didn't forget her she'd sneak out later tonight to go to the drive in with them and all would be well in the world.

Clarity still honestly wasn't all that sure why she'd told him in the first place. She didn't know why he bothered asking her. She sort of just assumed that he wouldn't care enough to know, and she was pretty surprised that he was still hanging around. He'd saved her life, essentially, and he was still there right now. Why was he still there? That was really what she wanted to know. She obviously didn't come out and ask him that. It would be a bit blunt for her, but it didn't mean that she didn't stop thinking about it. Because she did. Something about him was different though. She'd never really spoken to any of the other greasers before, but she just had this feeling in the pit of her stomach. This feeling in her heart that he was different than the others. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she did. She doubted that she would ever find out why though. It's not like they'd likely ever talk to each other again after today.

"Yeah, it was." She said quietly, a slight frown tugging at the corners of her lips as she thought back to the argument that she'd had with Drew. "He's just always talking about this supposed future that we're going to have together. He always talks about marriage and kids, and it honestly kind of freaks me out...I'm only sixteen. I shouldn't be thinking about stuff like that yet. He's my first boyfriend. I just--I don't know why he's acting like we're going to last that long when there's a good chance that we won't." She let out a soft sigh, shaking her head. He probably didn't want to listen to her little sob story. "I'm sorry. You probably don't want to hear about my relationship problems." She let out a bitter laugh. "I should really get going. It's um--it's getting late. My parents are going to start to worry if I don't get home soon."

---

Yep, this one was definitely a firecracker. And that definitely wasn't a bad thing either. She actually had a backbone and this fire in her soul that would surely make this whole thing all the more interesting for him. And it also helped that she was well fit. Zayn was looking forward to this even more so now than he had been before. She wasn't the dull, wallflower type. He could see why Liam's girl was friends with her. She really wasn't like most of the girls in town or at the high school. She clearly wasn't preppy or a bottle blonde or anything like that, and that was why Zayn knew that this would be enjoyable for him. She clearly had some sort of a fighting spirit inside of her. That's what Zayn already liked about her. Not in the romantic sort of way though. Never in the romantic sense of the word.

He gave his shoulders a slight shrug. "I figured this thing could use a little bit of excitement." He said. He obviously wasn't going to tell her the truth. The really fun part of this little plan of his was that, other than the lads, no one would know what he was up to. He was sure that people might begin to suspect something, so it was a good thing that he was a decent actor. "That's one thing you'll come to learn about me. I never turn down a free drink." He smirked slightly, taking the glass from her after he put his cigarette out in a vase of flowers, being sure to leave the butt floating in the water. He took a sip of it, his gaze never once leaving her. "Are you always looking to piss off your parents?" He asked her curiously. He had a feeling he already knew the answer to that question, but he was still curious to see what she would actually say.

Harry didn't know why he was so interested in this girl, or what about her made him want to know more but there was something there. And after he heard her story he kind of thought her boyfriend sounded like an even bigger twat than Harry already thought he was. And well Harry really thought that Drew, her jock of a boyfriend was a twat. Really though her parents seemed kind of insane too if they went along with this crap. Honestly they were in a new age, not the stone ages where girls were having kids while they were still kids themselves because they had to populate the earth or because they didn't think they'd have time in the future. It was different now and clearly she didn't want to think about everything he wanted to think about yet he wouldn't drop it.

"Well he sounds like a twat," Harry told her shrugging his shoulder some, "you clearly aren't ready for that step in the relationship and to be really honest that's normal. I mean I'd be freaked out if I were you too. He should just drop it and let it be." Harry told her knowing that if he were he he'd have told this Drew kid to back off and just let him live his damn life. "Yea, I totally understand. You should probably get going so your parents don't freak. So I guess I'll see you at school." He said feeling slightly awkward about that afterwards realizing they didn't even talk when they were in school, but nevertheless he'd see her while they were at school.

---

Lydia tapped her fingers against her glass and stared across at him pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. She was trying to figure thing whole thing out, did she really believe that he was here because he thought this thing could use some excitement or was there some kind of other motive that he just wasn't telling her because it was part of some top secret plan that only he and his group could know about. Truthfully she was leaning towards the second one, because she found it hard to believe that someone like him would just decided to come and grace the people here with his presence. Especially when she was sure he had other exciting things to do, like battle something out with her brother. She had after all put two and two together and remembered her brother always going on about a Zayn Malik being the leader of some rival crew he was up against. So surely he had something more exciting than being here unless he had some motive.

"Well seeing as they seemed to have made it their life goal to ruin my life and make sure that I have no say so in anything involving my life, yes." She told him with a smile before she poured herself another glass. "I'm sure eventually they'll see that this is my life and I'm in control. That even if they don't trust me I don't care, but until then I'll just be an out of control teenager." She told him knowing that her parents would see they weren't getting through to her. They were just pushing her farther away and pushing her more towards the life they didn't want her to have. And maybe if they hadn't pushed her into this life and kept her on such a tight leash that things wouldn't be this way and she'd be how they wanted. Really you'd think they would've realized this hadn't worked for Josh and it wasn't going to work for her either. Lydia wasn't going to let them win.

Clarity was honestly still pretty surprised that she'd told him about her fight with Drew. She was even more surprised though that he'd even bothered to ask her why she was so upset in the first place. It just seemed so out of character for someone like him. At least, that's what she assumed. She'd never actually spoken to any of the greasers face to face before. She was only going off of what everyone she knew said about them. But he didn't seem anything like what they had described at all. And that kind of really confused her. She honestly didn't know if she knew what to believe anymore. This whole thing was honestly just really confusing for her.

She let out a quiet laugh at his words, the smallest of smiles tugging at the corners of her lips. "Yeah, I guess he kind of is sometimes." She said. There was a part of her that sometimes wondered why she was even with Drew. He'd seemed like such a nice guy when they'd first started dating, but she wasn't so sure that he was anymore. In fact, he could honestly be a bit of a jerk most of the time, and she felt like he was always trying to show her off to his mates. And he was big on PDA too which was something she didn't quite like either. He liked making out against the lockers or underneath the bleachers a bit too much sometimes. Once and a while was okay, but it seemed like it was nearly every day now, and she just didn't think she was comfortable with it anymore. "Yeah, I'll um, see you at school." She said slowly. She smiled slightly before walking past him, realizing soon after that she was going the wrong way. "My house is this way." She said sheepishly, her cheeks heating up lightly as she walked back past him in the opposite direction.

---

"Join the club." Zayn muttered, a slight chuckle escaping his lips soon after. His parents had been the exact same way. It was all about appearances for them, and that was what had really pissed them off. He had to always dress a certain way and act a certain way, and finally, after a while putting up with her bullshit, he just kind of stopped. And maybe he'd gotten a bit carried away at times, and maybe he could have toned down the whole teenage rebel thing a bit, but it was in the past now. The past was the past and nothing was ever going to change it. So he'd gotten arrested a couple of times. So he had a criminal record. So his parents had kicked him out. Well, so be it. He was much happier with who he was now than he had been before, and really that was what mattered most in his opinion.

"Don't get too out of control or you might end up like me." A faint smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as he took another sip of his drink. He kind of liked the fact that she was hellbent on pissed off her parents. He was pretty sure that she wouldn't mind pissing off her brother a bit as well. And he knew that all of that could definitely work to his advantage. If there was one thing that he was sure her family would dislike it was her hanging around with him. So, if he could convince her to, which he was sure that he would at some point in the near future, he'd be getting what he wanted quite easily. He knew that he could easily have her eating out of the palm of his hand so to speak. "Well, I'm sure your mum will be pissed when she sees you talking to me."

Harry sent her a small wave before finally turning away and going back to his walk, which he still wasn't even sure where he was going. After everything the rest of the lads and himself had been talking about today he'd just needed some fresh air and decided to go for a walk. Of course now it was getting late and he didn't really feel much better. Maybe he was being silly, thinking that he could change his life or just decide to stop being the guy people expected him to be and be the guy he wanted to be. Maybe this was the guy he was, and he was supposed to just accept that. Maybe there wasn't a damn thing he could do. Finally Harry turned around and decided to just head back home and just get some rest. He wasn't sure why all these things were suddenly on his mind. Up until today he hadn't really questioned this life, he just went along with it and accept that this was it. That what people thought about him had to be true because he was greaser who kind of had a record. Sure it wasn't anything compared to Zayn's, but it still existed.

If Harry were being honest about everything then he'd probably tell everyone that he just didn't know anymore. He didn't know if this was the life for him, he didn't know if he wanted to keep this up, and he really wasn't sure if he wanted to take part in any more little games that could get him in trouble. He didn't want to become a soc or anything, because well that one would've been impossible and he didn't really wanna lose his friends. He just kind of wanted to take his life into his own hands and just be a person with a life. He wanted to just see who he wanted without problems. There was just something different now.

---

"I'm guess your parents were the same way then," Lydia said taking another drink. "They have all these things they want, like how they want me to dress, and act, behave." She said shaking her head, it really didn't make any sense why her parents wanted her to be this way. She didn't get why they couldn't just trust her enough to let her be herself and make her own choices. "Honestly I feel like sometimes my parents have some plan to arrange a marriage to someone I know I wouldn't be with in a million years. Like Tyler. I mean I might find him attractive if he wasn't such an idiot." She said rolling her eyes at that one, she couldn't imagine her life with him at all. "You'd think that parents would want their kids to be happy and just accept them they way they were, but it's like everything that makes me happy pisses them off." She added and it seemed that was just how things would have to be.

"Well you don't seem too upset about how you've turned out." She told him assuming his life had been similar to the other greasers that she knew. Which would mean he had a record, he'd probably seen the inside of a cop car a few times, and he was right that her mum was going to be pissed when she saw them together. "And yes, she's going to be very pissed when she see us talking, but she'll get over it. Plus we're just talking, I'm sure she we could both think of a few things that she could walk in on that would piss her off even more." She told him knowing talking was nothing to if her mum were to walk in on them making out or something. Lord the thought of how her mum would react to that was priceless.

[Shall we do a skip for Clarity and Harry? I was thinking maybe they end up getting paired up for a school project or something?]

---

Zayn chuckled darkly. "You think your parents are bad, mine were probably ten times worse." He said. He knew that he didn't really know if that was true, but he was still kind of bitter about the whole subject, and he honestly, in a way, hated his parents. Most people would probably say that that wasn't possible. They were his parents. He couldn't hate them. Yada, yada, yada. But he did. They didn't accept him for who he was. They wouldn't let him be who he wanted to be. So, he'd acted out, and maybe he'd taken things a bit too far, but he was glad that he did. He was so much happier without them in his life now. "Yeah, you'd think, but some parents are just complete twats. They can't learn to accept their own children. It's all about appearances and keeping up with the Joneses." He shook his head, taking another sip of his drink.

"Why should I be upset?" He countered, raising an eyebrow. "I'm the happiest that I've been in a long time. I don't have to worry about my parents constantly ridiculing me and trying to get me to be someone that I'm not. I'd take living the way that I do over that any day." And that was the honest truth. He wasn't going to ever go back and live with his parents. Not even if they begged him to do so. The lads were more of a family to him than his actual family could have ever been. He nodded in response to her later words. "Yeah, I guess you're right." There were worse things that they could be doing right now. Not that he would have minded doing any of those things at all.

[ sounds good ]

The following day Harry actually showed up at school. He'd almost decided against coming, he just hadn't wanted to and had kind of wanted to spend the day in bed thinking about everything that he'd let plague his mind the night before. But then he realized that maybe showing up at school and just taking his mind off his sudden willingness to change was a good idea. So he'd gotten up, gotten ready, and now here he was walking through the halls towards his locker to get his things and head to class like nothing was up.

It was something new for him, usually if he showed up it was with the others and there was some reason they were all there. Like they had some point to prove to the soc's or they had nothing planned and thought they could find something interesting to do here. Which usually resulted in them all doing their own thing and half of them skipped class to be with their girls, so really even when they were at school it was still like they weren't in school. But again, today was different. Harry was here, he was going to go to his classes, and he was for once going to try and feel normal..

---

Lydia shrugged her shoulders. "I supposed that's possible. Maybe your parents are worse than mine. Either way though we both have twats for parents who care more about making sure they keep up apperances and look good so they can be accepted than their own damn kids." She told him kind of bitter herself about the whole thing. Sometimes she felt like her mum just used her for some sick fantsy where she could live some lush life she dreamt of having but didn't get. Lydia wouldn't let that happen either though, because this was her life and she was going to live it the way she wanted.

"Well if that's what I have to look forward to if I end up like you then I guess I have nothing to worry about." She told him wanting what he had right now, she wanted to feel that freedom. Even though she enjoyed pissing her parents off and pushing them to their limits she wanted to feel the freedom. She wanted to actually be able to do wat she wanted and know she wouldn't have to come up with some plan to piss them off again. And maybe if she could think of a way for that to happen she go with it. "Oh I know I'm right. Talking is nothing compared to kissing, or touching," she said licking her lips, her mum would have a cow if she saw that. And shed bet that her father and brother would freak out when they found out too, which made it that much more tempting.

If Clarity were to say that things had gone without a single hitch since the night before, she would have been lying. She'd gotten an earful from her parents the night before for showing up home so late at night. She'd lied and said that she'd fallen asleep at Drew's and headed upstairs to her room without another word to either of them. How could she possibly tell them what had actually happened? She didn't want to ruin the picture perfect idea they had about their youngest daughter's life. So, she hadn't said anything about it. But she had thought about it. How Harry had saved her life essentially. How he seemed different from the other greasers. How surprisingly nice he'd been. How he actually seemed to care. It was all just so confusing for her.

So, when Drew picked her up the next morning, acting as though the fight hadn't even happened the night before, she remained quite even then. She remained quiet when she walked into school with him and he lent her his jacket because she'd forgotten her own. She was quiet for most of the first half of the day really. Until she got to English class. A class she, ironically enough, had with Harry. She walked inside that day like she normally would have and took her usually seat with her friends towards the front of the room where she waited for class to start.

---

Zayn nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He said. It didn't really matter whose parents were worse. They both had parents who were twats. They both had parents who sucked and who couldn't accept their own children for who they really wanted to be. There was a small part of him that was enjoying this purely because he had someone who was in the same boat as him. He'd pushed the thought to the back of his mind as soon as it came to him. He was doing this for the sake of the bet. He was doing this so he could get to Josh and prove to him that he was better. That's all this was really about and that was all it would ever be about.

"It does have its perks." He told her, taking another sip of his drink. He loved the freedom that he had now that his parents had pretty much disowned him. He could do whatever he wanted to and whenever he wanted to. If he wanted to skip school, he could skip school. If he wanted to wear the same jeans he'd worn the day before, he could wear the same jeans. If he wanted to smoke a damn cigarette, he could smoke a damn cigarette. "Yeah, there's definitely a great deal of a difference between those three things." He chuckled softly.

Harry spent most of his day ignoring the looks everyone was sending his way when he actually said here when his name was called. People apparently thought it was weird that he showed up. Though he didn't see what he big deal was, he was here and actually in class, why it was such a big deal he didn't understand. This wasn't his first day or anything, and it wasn't the first time he'd showed up either, but everyone else thought it was like the end of the world or something.

He just put up with people's odd behavior until English, one of his final classes of the day thankfully. There was one like one more after this one and then Harry knew he could go home and decide if he wanted to put himself through this again the next day or not. For now though he needed to make it through the rest of today. So he walked into his English class and headed for an open seat. Normaly had he shown up with the lads then they'd all sit in the back and ignore the teacher and everyone else while they talked about whatever and did whatever. Today though he'd shown up alone and didn't really want to sit in the back alone. So he settled for something closer to the front, and totally didn't even realize that the girl from last night, whose name he wasn't entirely sure of, was sitting near where he'd decided to sit.

---

Lydia nodded her head, of course she was right. Even though he didn't live with his parents anymore it was because they were still twats, just like her own. And for all she knew soon enough her and her brother would be kicked out and disowned just like he'd been. She found it slightly comforting though to have someone to talk to about this. Her friends didn't seem to understand. Natalie's parents had gotten over ever being part of this stupid club and just let Natalie be herself so they didn't push her away or lose her, and they were actually pretty accepting of her boyfriend even with his supposed reputation. Brooke, well when her parents were home they were too busy with other things to even notice her, which some could say was a gift while others a curse, usually she stayed with Natalie so neither of them really understood Lydia's situation with her own parents. So talking to Zayn about it and having someone in the same boat was nice.

"I bet, I mean being able to do whatever whenever, and see whoever sounds a lot nicer than having a leash so tight you can't even leave your house unless your parents approve." She told him still wishing she could have that. Usually the only way she could get out was by sneaking out. Something she'd gotten a lot better at over the last couple of years. Though her parents did tend to let her out more now that she was 17, still though they could be strict and cause her to have to sneak out to go where she really wanted. "I don't even know if my parents know that I've had my first kiss yet. They probably think I still think guys have cooties or something."

[ so I'm thinking that while Zayn is trying to use Lydia to prove a point to her brother, Lydia is going to use Zayn to piss her parents off. And so they're both kind of using one another until real feelings get mixed in and make things difficult. ]

Clarity made small talk with a few of her friends until the late bell rang. Almost immediately afterwards, the teacher started going through the attendance list, each person saying 'here' or 'present' after his or her name was called. It wasn't until the teacher got nearer to the bottom of the list and she heard Harry's name, did she glance behind her and realize where she was sitting. Her eyes locked with his for a brief moment before she quickly averted her gaze back to the front of the room. She wondered why he was sitting there. If she remembered correctly, she didn't pay much attention to where the greasers in the class usually sat, he sat in the back. She wondered why he'd decided to sit up towards the front instead.

Once the teacher had finished going through the attendance list, he went straight into the lesson for the day. It wasn't really a lesson though. He had started talking about this research project that he was assigning. It wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't said that they had to work with someone else. That wasn't the bad part though. He didn't want people working with their best friends and not getting their work done, so he'd decided to assign the partners. Clarity kind of zoned out through most of the names and groups. "James...Whitshire...Jones...Styles...." Her attention was automatically brought back to what was going on in the class when she heard her name and the name that followed after. Her friends were sending her sympathetic looks, obviously feeling bad that she had to work with a greaser. "Alright, now meet with your partners for a few minutes and discuss what you'll be doing your project on." The teacher said once he'd gone through the list. Clarity bit down on her lower lip lightly, hesitating for a moment before she finally turned to Harry. "Looks like we're working together." She said quietly.

---

Zayn had never really thought that there were other people out there in the same boat as him. With shit parents who couldn't find it in them to accept their children for who they really were or who they really wanted to be. He honestly had just never really given it much thought. It wasn't something that he thought about often. When his parents kicked him out, he ended up staying with Liam for a while and then he would stay at a different one of the lad's houses every so often. He hadn't cared that his parents had kicked him out. He was honestly glad that they had. He just felt so much freedom once they had. It was a feeling that was just so foreign to him up until that point in time.

"Yeah, that doesn't really sound all that appealing at all, to be honest." He said, chuckling quietly. And it really didn't. He honestly knew how she felt though. His parents, especially his mum, had been the exact same way with him until he'd started acting out. They'd tried to get him back into line until they realized that there was no way he'd ever be the same person they wanted him to be anymore, and that was when they'd kicked him out. They were fed up and tired of trying to "help him", as they called it. They were done trying. "How mortified do you think your mum would be if she walked in on us sharing a proper snog right now then?" He asked her curiously, a mischievous smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

[I actually really like that idea a lot! ]

Harry sat in his seat, still ignoring everyone around him. It was beginning to feel pointless though. No matter how long he ignored them they all just seemed to be so interested in talking about him that he wasn't sure he'd ever not be on their radar. And it wasn't a good thing, everyone here thought he was some kind of delinquent, which was absurd. It wasn't like he had some long record that'd take like a week to go over. He'd gotten arrested like one time, and well he hadn't even had to stay in jail because he was bailed out by his parents the same night. It was stupid anyways. The lads and himself had just been out walking around chatting about everything trying to figure out some plan they had to take down Josh and his crew and happened to walk across property they weren't supposed to be on and the cops happened to be there and catch them. Stupid if you asked him, especially since they were just walking across it, not like they were hanging around there tearing things up. The point was these people were always going to see him as a greaser, or at least as some kid who gets in trouble and is bad to be around and it was starting to feel pointless trying to be something else, even if this something else made him a bit happier.

"Looks like it." Harry replied leaning back in his seat a little and smiling over at her. He thought it was kind of ironic that they'd be working together, or well at least in some kind of awkward teenage chick flick way. He was hoping that her friends wouldn't freak out, and he really hoped that her boyfriend wouldn't flip either. Sure she could've gotten paired with anyone else in the entire class and she got stuck with him, but that's just how it happened. He'd had nothing to do with it, and he doubted she'd asked to work with him secretly or anything so it wasn't like they'd planned this. And he didn't want it to cause any trouble, he put up with enough of that in his ever day outside of school life as it was he didn't wanna drag a bunch of soc's into his life and cause himself more trouble. So he was hoping that her friends, and her boyfriend wouldn't make a big deal out of them working together. Just like he hoped his own friends wouldn't make a big deal about this when they found out, since well none of them were here right now.

---

Lydia had never really taken the time to talk to anyone about this stuff before. She'd brought up the whole thing with her friends before, but usually they just shot her down either not wanting to be part of her plan to ruin her relationship with her parents as they called it, or Brooke would tell her to get over herself because at least her parents cared. Where as Brooke's parents didn't even care enough to spend time with her. So she'd stopped bringing it up around them all together. And she couldn't really talk to Josh about this kind of thing. One because he was hardly ever home, probably to avoid their parents looks and just their parents in general, or maybe there was some other reason he was never home, either way she couldn't talk to him because he was hardly ever home. And on top of that the one time she had tried to talk to him about it because he'd actually been home he'd told her to leave the pissing their parents off to him. As if that would do anything. Before Lydia had decided on her own that she was taking things into her own hands to get her life how she wanted it every time Josh would piss them off they'd pull her leash tighter. Like oh Josh is smoking now, oh well we can't let Lydia leave the house she might start too, or oh Josh got arrested, well we can't let Lydia hang out with her friends tonight or she might too. But it was different with Zayn. He understood and she could talk to him.

"Yea it's not." Lydia replied shaking her head, having a leash so tight that she'd had to start acting out so maybe her parents would realize they were holding on way to tight was kind of annoying. And it wasn't the least bit appealing, honestly she hated it. Sure she liked the thrill of pissing them off now that she'd been doing it a while and clearly it was the only way to get what she wanted, but that didn't change that she hated it. And that things would be a lot easier on everyone if they'd just let her be. But that clearly wasn't going to happen, so this was just how life was. "I don't know," she started glancing back towards the doorway where she could hear everyone in the hall still freaking out a bit, but it did sound like they were finally getting Becky calmed down. "We should find out though." She said setting down her glass and walking to him, she wanted to make this look good so they were both going to have to get into this. Which clearly since he was attractive it wasn't going to be a problem for her. So she snaked her arm around his neck and prepared, "I hope your a good kisser." She whispered against his lips with a small smirk of her own.