Hi all :) This has been co-written with lunastars and we hope that you enjoy it. We already have the first couple chapters written and will be posting once a week until it's complete.

Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!

Chapter 1

"Mornin'," Dad smiled as I made my way into the small kitchen, the aroma of coffee steering me in the right direction.

I grabbed a mug from the dish rack and poured myself a cup, mumbling a greeting back to my dad as he flipped through the newspaper. After adding three scoops of sugar I opened the refrigerator to grab the milk but found the carton completely empty. "Dad! Vince used all the milk again!"

"Now, pumpkin, I'm sure he didn't mean to," my father placated, "You know him living here will take some time to get used to but the boy's mother just passed away. He has no where else to go and…"

"You want to keep an eye on him because we're the only family he has left," I finished for him, having heard this spiel about a hundred times in the past two weeks. I, of course, felt horrible about the loss of his mom but unlike Dom and Mia I couldn't fully understand it. Our mother passed away when I was only a toddler and no matter how hard I tried there just weren't any memories attached.

My dad stood from his chair and kissed my forehead, "Have a good day at school and I expect homework to be done before you start anything else."

He left through the back door and I couldn't help the smile that spread across my lips as I heard his Charger roar to life.

"C'mon, Ellie, if I'm dropping you off at school we have to leave now or I'm going to be late for my classes," Mia called from the bottom of the steps with a pile of books in her arms. I choked down the rest of my coffee and shuffled my way to the front of the house slinging my backpack over my shoulder on the way. Her eyes raked up and down my body, "You aren't going to change?"

"Why?"

She huffed in annoyance, "Erela, you barely have anything on! No way would dad let you out of the house like this."

"He didn't say anything before he left," I challenged with a smirk.

"Whatever," she mumbled as she opened the front door and headed toward her car. I locked the front door behind me and slid into the passenger seat, turning the music on as soon as she had it started. "Where did you even get a shirt like that?"

"Letty."

Mia looked over to me suspiciously, "Letty gave you that?"

"Gave…left on Dom's floor…same thing…"

I looked out the window, not waiting to see her reaction. I could easily guess it though she was my big sister. Even though she loved having me around and was the more lenient of my two siblings, she could still get a little bit on the over protective and bossy side. I had no doubt in my mind, however, that she would keep quiet. It was just a shirt after all. Dom wouldn't be happy at all but he wouldn't kick up too much of a fuss especially if Dad was around and in a good mood I would be fine, but sometimes even I wasn't that lucky.

"You know, it's a good thing you've got Dad wrapped around your little finger," Mia commented as she backed out of the driveway.

"I don't know what you mean," I grinned innocently at her.

*Fast and Furious*

"Hey," I smiled in anticipation as I met my boyfriend in the parking lot after school, "Can I drive?"

Sam sucked in air through his teeth, "Oh, I don't know. I wouldn't want you to grind the gears. Why doesn't my little bunny just hop in the back?"

He reached out to tuck a piece of hair behind my ear but I backed away, "I'm so not your 'little bunny'."

"Don't be like that, Ellie," he followed after me as I started walking down the sidewalk away from the school. "I didn't mean anything by it…it's just…well…I mean…"

I spun around and crossed my arms over my chest, "It's just what?"

"Well…you're a girl."

I dramatically gasped and put a hand over my mouth, "I am? I never knew that." I rolled my eyes and started walking again ignoring the protests from the guy that up until today had been by boyfriend for the past couple of months. "Hypocritical asshole," I mumbled as a horn sounded from behind me. I was going to keep walking until I heard the engine and I knew it couldn't be Sam.

"Hey kid, need a ride?"

"I'm not a kid," I protested as I looked both ways and crossed the street to get in the passenger seat.

As soon as my door was closed we were off, the speed pushing me back into the seat, but I was anything but scared. A content sigh escaped my lips as I let my head fall back.

"Shouldn't curly be driving you home?" Vince questioned and for the first time I didn't correct the nickname I just shifted and stared out the window. He turned the music down and got serious, "He didn't do anything stupid, did he? Do I need to go down to that school and teach him what happens when he messes with my girl?"

"No," I laughed at how sincere he was. "Let's just go to the shop."

He looked over to me for a second to make to see if I was telling the truth. He must have been satisfied with my answer because he shifted into third and turned the music up. We finally pulled up to the shop and a smile instantly flashed across my face. This was the one place that nothing bad could ever happen. This was my heaven.

"Thought I told you homework needed to get done first," my dad called out from under one of the cars he was working on.

Vince shrugged in my direction silently telling me he hasn't going to help and walked over to the Honda he was assigned that day. Dom came out of the office and raised his eyebrow at my shirt choice as he passed by to grab a tool he needed. I waited until my dad rolled out from under the car and held my hand out to help him up. "You did, but I got this today and wanted to show you."

I handed him my report card and rocked back and forth on my feet as he pulled his glasses out of his front pocket and set them on the bridge of his nose to read it over. "Well, you've got your momma's brains that's for sure," he smiled, folding the paper back up and wrapping his strong arms around me. "I'm so proud of you, pumpkin. Keep that up and you'll be able to go to whatever college you want to."

I let my arms fall and walked over to the car Vince was supposed to be working on, "Daddy, I don't want to go." I popped the hood and did a quick scan to see if I could figure out why it was in here. "I told you I want to work here with you."

"You deserve better," he stated as he used his pointer finger to smear grease on my nose.

"So Dom doesn't?" I questioned, raising a questioning brow. "Or Vince?"

My dad gave me a stern glare, "Of course they do, but-"

"But nothing, Daddy," I said softly with a small pout. "College is what Mia deserves because it's what she wants. Vince and Dom deserve nothing more than a job at this place because that's the only job they want."

"I wouldn't mind taking a car around a track once or twice," Vince shrugged as he walked back to the car with a few tools.

I sighed and rolled my eyes. "Well, the only job they want that they're actually talented enough to get."

My comment caught even Dom's attention. Vince stuck his tongue out at me and I pulled probably the most unattractive face I'm sure I've ever made, but before any more remarks could be passed, Dad spoke up.

"You should still look into applying," he told me with a greasy finger pointed in my direction. "You've got a real shot. With those brains of yours, you could do anything. You're only seventeen. You've got a little while so just look around and think about it, you may change your mind."

It was hard to keep the frown from my face but I held it in. I wasn't going to change my mind; I knew that, he knew that, hell half the city knew that but I was going to humor him. As much as I loved my dad, I didn't think he was always right. One day when this conversation comes up again, he'll see my side of it. He had to, right? I mean I'm still a junior in high school there would be plenty of time. I could work here and maybe it would leave my system, maybe I'd go to college later on in life if I really wanted to. We would both win, I could work closely with cars and he would see me further my education.

I flashed him a small smile. "Tell Mia to quit going on about me applying and I'll at least consider looking."

Vince started laughing but quickly turned it into a cough when he got a look from my dad. He shook his head and kissed my forehead, "I'll see what I can do but you need to go do your homework."

"I will," I promised as I walked over and grabbed my pair of coveralls. I stepped into them and tied the arms around my waist to hold it in place. "But first this car needs an oil change."