It was to hot for November.

I'd only been in the shop for an hour and I'd already taken off the sweater I had put on during last period. Wiping the sweat from my forehead with my arm I tried to concentrate on the person who was walking into the shop. I already knew who it was.

"Hey Holland." Pogue Perry said to me as he came into the building, his eyes eagerly searching the shop for a peek at his bike.

"Hey Pogue. Sam took your bike out for one last test run to see if he there is anything wrong with it." I said, reciting verbatim what my boss had told me to tell him. I watched him as he roamed around in the back of the shop. If it was anyone but Pogue I would have told them to stay up front. But he seemed to be here as much as I was and this was a common practice of his.

Pogue Perry pretty much lived here. He came everyday at 4:30 and left everyday at working away on his bike. I swear he is in love with that thing. It had really surprised me when I found out that he not only had friends but a girlfriend. I had pretty much pegged him as one of those loner types who spent every free moment of his life improving his mechanical skills.

That shows how great my judgment is.

But he was apparently apart of a very close group of boys who he had grown up with. They called themselves the "Sons of Ipswich" because they could trace there families back to when the town just started.

How very blue blood of them.

Anyway, they were nice enough. Or at least i thought they were through the very short, awkward conversations they made with me every time they came with Pogue to the shop. I had met Kate at one of the very few times I'd ever gone to Nicky's. She was one of those insanely perfect looking girls with perfect hair and perfect teeth and a perfect body. She wasn't an unpleasant person but she did get kind of clingy when Pogue said hi to me.

I had laughed about it after I had gotten my mom out of the bar and into the car. She had actually looked a little jealous. Which is insane because girls like her don't get jealous of girls like me.

I'm that girl that people don't really notice. The one who can go a whole year without being called on by the teacher because they're embarrassed that they don't remember her name, The one that eats her lunch in the hallway instead of the lunchroom just to avoid talking to people. The one that never gets asked to go anywhere by anyone and who likes it that way. The one who when assigned to a group project aways has to reintroduce herself to people because they forgot she was in the same class as they were.

I'm perfectly average in almost every way.

And the fact that Kate, who seemed so amazingly perfect had looked jealous because her boyfriend had said hi to me was so hilarious that I had laughed for a minute straight afterwards.

The roar of Pogue bike rolling into the shop jerked me out of my thoughts. My boss Sam straddled the canary yellow bike as he flashed me a quick grin and greeted Pogue. I would have had to be stupid not tho notice how hot Sam was. He kept his brown hair short, not buzzed or shaggy, just short. His tan stood out sharply against the white of his shirt making all the hours he spent outside obvious. His work with cars and bikes somehow kept him in great shape because he hated working out but was somehow very muscular. He had perfectly straight white teeth and clear green eyes. The only fault I could find in his face was his slightly crooked nose. The fact that he was not only a very handsome guy but one of the nicest I'd ever met had never escaped my notice. And I should for all intents and purposes should be obsessed with him instead of Aaron Abbot.

But I wasn't.

I was sixteen when I first saw Aaron Abbot. At the time I didn't know who he was of course, but there was something about him that made me want to smile. Something I so rarely did.

I didn't go up to talk to him. I blamed this on the fact that I was a work. But the real reason was because I didn't want him to turn out like everyone else had.

Rude, ignorant, intolerable and mean.

So I just watched him.

For the next two years I watched him.

I found out from the few people that came into the shop I worked at regularly that he went to Spencer's, was fantastically rich, and was dating a bitchy red head named Kira.

I wouldn't say I was in love with him. I hadn't even said two words to the guy. It was more like an obsession. He was the complete opposite of me. He had friends. money, good grades, and a family.

For most people that wouldn't be enough to form this stalker like love I had for him. But from someone like me, someone who comes from a family thats so fucked up like I did, he seemed perfect.

Sam had always been like a brother to me. Ever since I'd started here at the shop when I was only fifteen he had always looked out for me. When he noticed I walked home instead of someone coming to pick me up he'd started giving me rides home. When he see me eating an apple on the weekends I worked he would take me out to lunch. On my seventeenth birthday he'd bought me a new coat after seeing me in the same one for the last two years. He always gave me bonuses and whenever the shop was doing good he'd give me a small raise. He would always invite me over to his parents place for Thanksgiving and Christmas. He knew things got hard for me around then.

He had only met my mother once but that was enough for him to know why I wanted and needed to work so much. She had come by looking for me because they had turned off the electricity in our house. She said she didn't know what happened to the money I gave her for the bill, she said she thought someone stole it.

What she really meant was that she had spent it. Most likely at the liquor store. I could still smell the whiskey on her breath.

When Sam looked at her he guessed. When he heard our conversation he knew.

I was the one who made the money in our house. I paid the bills, took care of my alcoholic mother and went to school.

When she left he didn't say anything. But that was when he'd started giving me extra money in my paycheck. I was grateful for the money but ashamed of it was well. It was pity money. Money I didn't earn and didn't deserve. But I never tried to give it back.

"Is Pogue here?" Someone said to me, yanking me out of my memories. I looked her over before I answered. Blond hair, blue eyes, and a genuinely nice looking girl. She seemed nervous yet confident at the same time, something that is truly great to witness.

"Yeah, he's in the back with Sam. I can get him for you." I answered her helpfully. Trying not to notice how she kept eying my cloths. I mean yeah they were old but it's not like they had holes or anything.

"That be great actually, he was supposed to meet Caleb and me at Nickey's twenty minutes ago." She said to me with an easy smile that held no hint of the verdict she had come to after she had silently judged me.

I nodded at her, as I went into the back where I could hear Sam and Pogue talking about his bike.

"Um..." I started uncertainly as I walked up to Pogue who was sitting on one of the many shabby chairs strewn around the shop."Theres a girl at the front thats looking for you. She said something about being late for Nicky's." I finished hurriedly feeling horribly awkward for interrupting his and Sam's conversation.

Surprised Pogue looked at his watched and mummered quietly to himself before standing up and stretching. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Sam. It will be fixed by then I hope I miss riding alot more then I thought I would."

"Only if I don't find anything else wrong with it. I don't want you in another accident like the one that nearly killed your bike here." Sam said teasingly. flashing him his trademark grin. But I could see the hint of seriousness in his eyes. That had been a bad time for him. When he's heard we had hurriedly closed down the shop and after dropping me off at my house he had speed off to the hospital. When I'd heard how he looked I didn't think he would be able to walk anymore much less ride his bike.

"Oh believe me that wreck had nothing to do with how my bike ran." He said chuckling lightly as he walked to the front to meet the blond. "Later Holland" He called back almost as an afterthought.

"Bye" I said quietly knowing he wouldn't be able to hear me. I sighed as turned to look at Sam work was working diligently on Pogue's bike. "So." I said noting that it was 6:30, way past the time Pogue normally left. "What was wrong with it this time?"

Not even looking up from the part he was working on he replied "Oh you know."

"Sam you can't keep him off that thing forever. Just give it back to him already." I said to him softly knowing the real reason he kept finding different things to fix. "Anyway, it's not like he won't just ride twice as fast now that he's been in a wreck. He'll be more cautious and you know...go slower." I put my hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. He looked up at me and his features showed all the worry I already knew he felt.

Sighing, he move away from the bike and out of my reach. Sitting on one of the shabby chairs he let out a deep breath. "Yeah Holland I guess you're right. Plus I think he might just buy a new one because of all the work it's taking to fix this one." He said jokingly.

I let out a breathy chuckle as I stared at him. He cared to much. That was his problem. He was only twenty eight but he felt it was responsibility to take care of everything and everyone around him. Without saying anything else I walked back to the front and pulled out my math book. Focusing all my attention on the problems in front of me.

A/N: Okay you guys I've had this on my computer for awhile. I thought it was about time I shared it with the fan fiction world. Honestly I'm really nervous about this story because there is no set pairing and a scrambled plot line that I keep changing up.

I do have more then half of it finished. The rest keeps going in a different direction then I want it to. I will be putting up chapters a few times a week until it comes to the point where it is unfinished. Once there I will be asking for some help with what you want to happen.

Review and make my life!!!

Flames are welcome and will be laughed at. I also do love constructive criticism though. Tell me my problems and help me make my story better.

Thanks y'all

prettylittleravergirl

Songs I listened to while writing:

Runs in the Family by Amanda Palmer

Never Wanted To Dance by Mindless Self Indulgence

Uniform by Bloc Party