A/N: This is just a short chapter to get you 9hopefully) interested while I write out a bunch of chapters, I don't actually know anything about the mafia, I just thought it would be fun to write. Enjoy!

Seven year old Massie Block sat on her swing, in her big, lonely backyard, staring at the street where the rest of the kids were playing. She wasn't allowed to join in. Her dad wouldn't tell her why, but she just wasn't allowed. So everyday she sat out on her swing by herself, waiting for the friends who didn't come, because they didn't know she existed. Massie was home schooled of course. "Of course" is what her mom always said when she told Massie that she was home schooled. Massie really hated that phrase. Of course, meant no to her.

July 27th 2003

"Massie come downstairs! We have some news!"

Massie bounced down the stairs, letting each foot barely hit before she was on the other. She liked doing that, it felt like flying. She raised around the house looking for her parents, until she found them on the opposite side of the house, sitting calmly in the sitting room. Well it was really her mother's room, and Massie wasn't allowed inside of it. She hovered in the doorway, waiting expectantly.

"Massie come inside."

"I'm not allowed."

"Massie Ariel Block, you may come in this one time, and sit on that stool while we speak with you." Kendra Block said without any real emotion.

Massie's mom reminded Massie of a robot sometimes.

"Some of my business partners are going to be moving onto this street, and they all have children, so you're going to have some friends to play with." William announced.

Massie's eyes widened. "Friends?" She whispered. "To play with?"

She took off, screaming about all the games she was going to play and did they know how hard it was to play duck duck goose with one person?

.&.

"Massie, come downstairs and meet your new playmates!" William called.

Massie's nose wrinkled. Playmates. What an ew-y name for friends. She smoothed her hands over her t-shirt and shorts and then over her sleek ponytail, thanks to Inez, and dashed, as calmly as she could, down the stairs.

"Massie, this is the Rivera, Lyons, Fisher, Harrington, Hotz, Hurley and Plovert families. This is Alicia, Claire and Todd, Cameron and Harris, Derrick and Sammi, Josh, Kemp and Christopher." Her dad introduced.

Massie waved shyly, she didn't really know how to act around kids her own age. They waved back with bright smiles, that she slowly returned.

"Massie, do you want to play outside?" Derrick asked hopefully. "Alicia and Claire don't like to get dirty much."

Massie widened her eyes at Alicia and Claire. "Come on! You can't honestly like to be clean all the time, that's no fun." She insisted.

Alicia and Claire shrugged. They all headed outside to play.

"Don't stay out too late, you'll be going to school tomorrow." Mrs. Rivera called.

School AND friends? This was the best day of Massie's life.

.&.

Massie came inside hours later, covered in mud and grass stains, and the biggest smile her parents had ever seen stretched across her face.

"Now remember Massie, tomorrow at school, if people ask you what your parents do, what do you say?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you, it's not good manners." Massie recited with practiced ease.

"Good, go clean up, and I'll come tuck you in." Kendra told her.

"Okay."

Present Day

16 year old Massie Block woke up and stretched luxuriously before practically flinging herself out of bed. She stumbled through her morning routine, wash her brown waves, blow dry them, do her hair and makeup for the day, and then decided what to wear. That particular Monday she had decided on a white lace racer back tank top with her (well Derrick's really) favourite black leather jacket, a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and red motorcycle boots, to add some colour to her outfit.

She breezed through the kitchen, taking the coffee and croissant that Inez offered her, before a familiar car horn honked outside. She smiled at the sound of her friends shouting her name, and went out to join them, sliding into the passenger seat, her reserved spot, besides her best friend, Derrick.

"Morning Mass!" A series of voices chorused.

"Hey guys." Massie replied, fiddling with the radio, until some loud Dubstep remix blasted out through the speakers.

.&.

They cruised into the parking lot of Westchester Academy and per usual, everyone turned to stare at them. Massie and her friends were known as the Maple Avenue group, and everyone in the high school knew them, and how closely knit they were. Of course they didn't know just how close they were, since no one but that particular group knew that their parents were at the top of the USA's mafia. That was sort of a huge secret. They all slid out of the car, waiting for Derrick to lock up, before heading into the school, Massie and Alicia in conversation about something, their heads bent together. They had just arrived at their lockers, which of course, were right next to each other, when Blonde 1, Blonde 2, and Ginger arrived. Otherwise known as Kristen Gregory, Olivia Ryan and Dylan Marvil, second-tier popular at WA, and desperate to somehow be included in the Maple Avenue group. In a way they were, Massie, Claire and Alicia would talk to them in class sometimes, and they were sometimes allowed to sit with them at lunch, but they were far from being a part of that group. And no one was close, they had all known each other, and been best friends for nine years. No one could touch that. But Kristen, Olivia and Dylan were trying.

"Hey Massie, Alicia, Claire, Derrick, Cam, Kemp, Josh and Chris!" Olivia chirped.

"Girls." Massie said flatly as she took books out of her locker, barely sparing them a glance.

Olivia, Dylan and Kristen tittered as if she'd said something funny. Alicia glared at them and they shut up fairly quickly.

"Is there something we can do for you?" Alicia asked, making it clear with her tone, that this was not the time for a suck-up session.

"No, we were just saying good morning." Dylan hastily backtracked.

"Well you've said it, and now you should probably leave." Claire's voice was cool, and she was the nicest out of the girls.

The Trio of Annoyances, as Massie often referred to them, took the hint and left.

"You girls are terrible." Josh chuckled, leaning back against his locker.

"Well you know what things are like in the family right now, we don't have time for niceties." Alicia told him, slamming her locker shut with a bang.

"You don't have to tell me, I know how tense it is." Josh agreed. "We better get to class, yeah?" He added.

The others mumbled agreements, still worried about their parents, and Derrick steered Massie off to English class. She ignored all the stares, except for one particularly small ninth grader who looked at Derrick like she'd love to show him her bedroom, who she shot a glare at. The ninth grader promptly disappeared into the bathroom, eyes wide.

Derrick shot Massie a confused look. She raised an eyebrow.

"What? We can't have little girls following you around wanting to meet your parents and shit, now can we?" She asked with extreme innocence.

Derrick just shook his head. "I wonder about you sometimes Block."

"Well, Harrington, keep wondering, I'm a deep abyss of secrets that you have no hope of discovering." She announced, teasingly.

Derrick just laughed as they slid into their seats in the back corner of the class. Dylan took her usual spot right in front of them. Massie raised an eyebrow.

"Not today Marvil." She told her. "We need our privacy."

Dylan looked insulted, but gathered her books and found another seat. Massie leaned back, checking her nails and then grabbed her notebook, flipping to a clean page and scribbling something down with her fuzzy purple pen as Mr. Di Angelo called out their names. A note dropped onto Derrick's desk.

"Massie Block?"

"Hey Charlie." Massie said calmly, using his first name as all her friends always did.

He winced, but continued on. No one at the school understood why Massie and her friends were allowed to use his name, like they were superior to him, or something.

I really wish my dad would chill out already, even they can tell something's up.

Derrick scrawled out his reply and tossed it onto her desk.

Maybe because you need to relax with the hostility at school. It's not that hard to figure out Block. I act the same way.

Massie rolled her eyes.

Because you like attention from girl's, you're a man whore. I'm not. That's the difference between us D.

Derrick snorted.

Like you don't have five guys following you around, waiting for the promised "second date" that's never going to happen.

It's not my fault I'm irresistible ;)

Funny, I was just going to say the same ;)

Massie started laughing, causing the teacher to look up. "Problem Miss Block?" He asked, trying to save some face.

"No Charlie, there's no problem." Massie replied sweetly. "You can continue."

Mr. Di Angelo tried not to go red.

.&.

"MASSIE!" Alicia whisper-shouted at Massie at lunch. "You can't go around undermining people just because they know who our parents are!"

"I don't do it to everyone, I only do it to him. He just gets on my nerves." Massie responded, picking through her turkey sandwich. "Has anyone else noticed that the caf's food is the grossest food ever?"

There was agreement from everyone.

"Let's go out for lunch." Cam suggested. "I seriously cannot eat anymore of this."

"Good idea." Claire agreed. "Especially since TOA is coming up to us for the seventh time this morning.

It was true, blonde, blonder, and ginger were on their way over. Alicia rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, you just missed us." She said snidely as they walked past the three girls, all who huffed and went to sit with Griffin Hastings, Chris and Layne Abeley and Skye Hamilton.

.&.

"I'll have a cinnamon biscotti, two vanilla dip donuts and a large half french vanilla, half hot chocolate." Massie ordered.

"Name?"

"Megan Smith." Massie said, coming up with a fake name on the spot.

The guy scribbled it down. "Can I have your number?" He asked bluntly.

"No." Massie replied flatly. "Just get my food."

"I want your number."

Massie shot Derrick a wide-eyed help me look. He walked over, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Problem sweetie?" He asked.

She leaned into him, and glared at the guy across the counter. "He's trying to hook up with me." She said flatly.

"Watch yourself." Derrick said, eyes flashing threateningly.

The guy backed off, and the two friends returned to their table. Massie laughed.

"Thanks for back there Harrington."

"Anytime, as long as you're willing to do the same."

"You know I would. No one can find out about our families." Massie agreed.

"Yeah, that's why." Derrick muttered, so no one but Cam and Kemp, who were right next to him, could hear.

Kemp patted him on the back.

.&.

Massie was called downstairs by her parents. She slowly walked down the stairs, worried as she saw Kendra and William's serious faces.

"What's going on?" She demanded.

"You're going to have to stay in the house for awhile." Kendra began.

Massie's eyes widened as they explained.