Hey, this is just a story I thought of, but I think it's wat too cliched.. Like seriously...Do you think I should discontinue it? Yeah...

"Riiiiiiiing!" The alarm clock rung with startling, shrill, loudness. A hand shot out of the red silk covers, groped around on the antique desk, and upon finding its target, hurled the alarm clock across the room to smash against the wall in deadly accuracy against a of a picture of her the said girl's mother. With a groan, she sank under the covers, pulling the comforter over her head in a smooth and practiced motion.

"May!" Her mother appeared in the arch of the door way as if one timing with the annilihation of the alarm clock. "That's the thirteenth alarm clock I've gotten you this month," her mother, a woman in a pencil skirt and hair pulled into a tight bun, said ripping open the cream colored curtains. "Just because you didn't like moving here, doesn't mean you have to make such a big deal about it. What's done is done." And with that her mother stormed out of her room, slamming the door behind her, while calling out, "I'll expect you downstairs for breakfast in ten minutes!"

With a groan the sixteen year old teen climbed out of bed, but dove back in, when she was hit by a cold blast of air from the open window that had been blocked by the shades. Gritting her teeth in annoyance she hopped out of bed, and pulled on her clothes that she had picked from last night, humming in approval of her handiwork.

Then she walked to the door, stepping around the smashed remains of her alarm clock. She rushed down the spiral staircase, eager to get breakfast over with her family, whom she was still angry at. She rushed into her seat gobbled up her eggs and bacon that had been set out for her and made a move to rush up the stairs again. "May, wait." Her mother's voice stopped her from charging up the stairs, and getting the hell away from her family.

"We wanted to talk-"

"There's nothing to talk about!" May interupted angrily. "You can't just barge in every frickin' time I finally settle down, and make friends and announce that were moving, ok? I have a life too!" With that, she bounded up the stairs, ignoring her mother's calls behind her. She blinked back tears as she rounded the front balcony into her room.

She brushed her teeth and washed her face, then began to yank a comb through her hair angrily. Each jerk like a punch to her mother. Breathing in deep, she managed to calm down just enough to see a flash of yellow in the corner of her eye, just starting to turn into her street. Comb in mid stroke, she yanked it through her hair, threw it onto a maroon plush chair in her bedroom and gave herself a onceover.

She was wearing a seethrough tanktop, with a gray cami underneath, faded navy jeggings that she had cut herself. They were fraying at the edges, and slipping on her white sneakers with black laces, she picked up her back pack adjusted her ponytail and ran out the door, rushing down the steps and out onto her driveway.

On the bus, she immediatly scrunched herself in a seat in the back and fingered a piece of thread that was already coming loose on her backpack by her constant picking. She lost herself in her thoughts as she argued angrily in her mind about the unfairness of her parent's decision.

"Hey, you. New girl. Get outta my seat." A red headed girl was glaring angrily at her, hand on her hip.

May responded instantly, the school food chain was wiped clean of her mind as she shot back. "Sorry, I think this is school property."

"Who do you think you are?" The redhead snarled at her, "Do you even know who I am?"

"Would I want to?" May retorted, glaring at her. May decided that she was obviously some kind of punk or goth. Her hair was held in a side ponytail, her leather jacket was ripped and beaten, and her combat boots were a huge stand out in the crowd that May was surprised that the teens on the bus were yet to notice or comment on them.

The redheaded punk looked May over, then, deciding she liked what she saw, she held out her hand. "The name's Misty." May was surprised at the sudden change of attitude, from hostile to friendly, but she shook her hand anyway.

"May."

Misty studied her over for another time, and then her eyes softened as she slid into the seat. She placed her backpack on the beaten leather of the bus seat and rested her arm on it looking at May curiously. "Your new here, aren't you?"

"Yes..." May answered warily, not quite sure what to make of the question.

Misty took a deep breath, "There's something I need to tell you about this place."

By the time Misty and I had gotten of the bus, we had become practically best friends. And she had told me a lot of important things about La Rousse, including...

"Gang's?" I asked incredulously. "Your kidding me."

"Not gangs, five main gangs." Misty corrected me in my dubiousness.

"That is so cliched, is this something like the Warrior cats series or something?" I asked mockingly. "Its just so... so...I mean five gangs are in this town?"

"Not gangs...gang is just way to cheesy...believe me...when your fighting for your life, you don't think its cheesy." Misty said seriously.

"Really, you?" I asked in awe.

"Yeah, it's crazy... this street fighting. What's even crazier is that I'm in one," Misty sighed, crossing her arms.

"It's just so...cliched and cheesy," I commented glancing around me.

Misty noticed me looking around, and she laughed. "Not everyone is involved."

"But they stay away from the people who do," I noted. Seeing some goths dressed similarily like Misty walking alone up the school road.

"Yeah."

"So what are the five whatever you call it's?" I asked, suddenly curious.

"Why the change of attitude? As I noted before, you weren't exactly believing when I told you about them in the first place."

"I'd like to be able to defend myself," I answered.

Misty nodded in approval, "Well there's the Snake one. They have the brains, you know sly, sneaky, that kinda thing."

I nodded, filing the information away into my mind. "Then there's the Tiger one, that's where all the rich kids are in, you know? Rich parents, snooty and all. They don't really fight well, but they have tons of money and resources. Um, then there's the cheetah's those teens are super fast. Like athletic, track people, you know?"

"Yeah."

"And then there's the lions..." Misty's voice trailed of, as she glared at a pink haired girl's back, who was just entering the school. She picked up again, "They're the one with the guns and all... really. They're the worst of all of them." I nodded in understanding, as we walked up the stone steps to La Rousse high.

"What about the one your in?"

"The panthers," Misty answered quickly. "Let's just say, we have the knives." My eyes widened at her statement. Knives?

"Wow," my brain was whirling with all the sudden information she had given me. I was about to ask her to tell me a little more about the gangs when the bell rang.

"Quick, what's your class?"

I looked down at the schedule that I had taken out when I had climbed up the steps. "Math."

Misty groaned, "Valencia's in that class, your dead... unless...Okay, there's a girl in your class, a bluenette, you can't miss her. She's a panther, her name's Dawn, she'll protect you."

"What?" I asked in confusion, as a brunette came up to Misty.

"Just find Dawn, and don't talk to a white haired girl, okay?" Misty shouted behind her as the brunette tugged her down the hall.

"Okay," I said weakly, as I headed quickly to my designated locker that had been assigned to me by email. I quickly opened the door shoved my back pack in, unzipped it, pulled out my math book and slammed the locker shut. I raced to the math classroom, which was conveniently located across from my locker. I took a deep breath, and walked in.

"Class, this is May." The teacher said, introducing me in front of the class. "May, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself."

"Okay-"

"Wait, sorry." The teacher reached over to her coat pocket and took out her cellphone, as it rang. "Yes, hello?" Then letting out a scream of despair she grabbed her coat and raced out of the room, calling behind her back, "Valencia's in charge!"

The class laughed at her expense and high fived each other, as they rushed to their friend's desks and started talking about plans after school. I was left in the rush and conversational attitude of the students as they lounged out on the chairs.

The supposed Valencia that Misty had told me not to talk to approached me, and introduced herself. "I'm Valencia." She put on a smile that seemed so geunine that I wanted to ignore Misty's warning and open myself up to her. But I couldn't after I noticed a very small and faint strain of tenseness of the other people in the room. They started babbling loudly, all topics of nonsense and found ways to glance my way every few minutes.

"May," I said with a fake smile, that she could clearly see through.

Valencia frowned for a very slight second, and then a wide smile appeared on her face and she started explaining exactly what Misty had on the bus, but angling it so that the Snakes seemed like the good people. Explaingin made up (probably) scenarios in which the Snakes had swooped down and helped a helpless victum.

"Hey," Valencia was interupted by a hand on her shoulder. I looked up to see a blunette with a fierce look in her eyes. Dawn? Valencia glared at her, and she glared back, after a minute of staring Vanessa down, Dawn looked at me.

I was surprised, that Valencia had looked away first. Everything about her screamed out her membership to the snake gang. Her cold gray eyes, her sparkly ripped skirt that seemed to mock you, now that I thought of it, without making her stand out as a total girl. The first button was undone teasingly,of her white crisp blouse, and her hair was pulled into a tight bun. Her hostile posture and sly smile, deeply hidden under her fake cheery bubbly one added up to the equivalent of a viper queen.

Dawn, on the other hand, was a total princess in the punk world. Her black skirt had waves of silk running down it, and her chain belt was littered with glitter. She wore a purple cami under a navy blue glittery t-shirt. She had on dark purple eyeshadow with just a touch of mascara. She looked like the typical princess girl on the streets, and I would have thought her one, if I hadn't seen the knife cut on her arm. She had wrapped a few bandages around it, but I could see that it was still fresh and that blood had seeped through.

It was then, that I finally realized, this is all real, the street fighting here and stuff in this town. And I was scared, really scared. And when Dawn jerked her thumb for Valencia to leave and she turned to leave herself, I panicked calling out Dawn's name. I knew that once Dawn had her back turned Valencia wouldn't hesitate to 'attack me' again. I didn't want that to happen.

"Dawn!" Her posture stiffened hostily and she whipped around aggressively. "How do you know my name?"

"Misty," I said weakly, surprised by the change of a protective attitude to an aggressive and hostile one.

She softened and studied me for a second, her hand on her hip. "I can see why she took a liking to you. Come on." She indicated me in the direction of her desk with her head. "We have a lot to talk about."

"You've got to sit with us," Dawn whined in the lunch line.

"But I hardly know anyone at the Panther table," I complained, grabbing a tray. I continued down the line, grabbing a sandwich as I went.

"It doesn't matter," Dawn replied. "The gangs go after all the new kids. Trust me, they do. And there either going to like you, or hate you. If they like, they're going to want to recruit you, if they hate you, they're going to kill you, either way if you don't join their gang or they hate you, you are going to die."

"Literally?" I squeaked out.

"No." Dawn answered truthfully, "But you could as well be."

"So your recruiting me into the Panthers before they get a chance to have a go at me."

"Theorectically, yes." Dawn admitted, not one bit ashamed.

"But what about the other kids, Misty said not all people at school were street fighters."

"They...had bodyguards for a year."

"Your kidding."

"Nope. Oh, here's Misty."

Misty approached us, at the end of the lunch line. She had already filled up her tray, and was tapping her foot in annoyance. I figured out that she had been standing there quite a while. "I see you've met Dawn, May."

"Yeah," I said grinning. In my other classes which Dawn had coincidentally seemed to also be in, I had talked to Dawn a lot more. She was actually a quite cheerful and bubbly girl, regardless of being a Panther and all.

"Come on then," Misty said, starting in the direction of a table in the corner. She was stopped by a sneering voice, belonging to a pink haired girl.

"Where do you think your going after yesterday?" She snarled, upturning Misty's tray onto her, as quick as lighting. Cheetah, I concluded, taking a look at her long legs and athletic oudorrsy look.

"May, why don't you head to the table first." Misty warned me, indicating the table with a flick of her head, but keeping her eyes on the pink haired girl. I got the feeling that she wasn't suggesting it, and that things might get a little ugly. I was pretty sure that most schools wouldn't allow fights in their cafeteria, but most teachers weren't afraid of half of their students as I had seen so far.

I knew better to complain about meeting the Panthers myself, and I headed over to the table, taking a deep breath to calm myself down as I sat on an outside seat. "Who do you think you are?" A voice behind me interogated as I looked up wincing slightly. I knew this was coming, you didn't just sit at a punk table and expect to get away with it.

"Misty and Dawn invited me here," I explained to the brunette that had dragged Misty away earlier. I hoped she had remebered a glimpse of me, and know that I was with Misty. Her face or hostile posture didn't change an inch.

"Then we'll wait for them to come over then, won't we?" She was obviously waiting for Misty and Dawn to come over and prove me hopefully wrong. Yeah, not going to happen.

"May, I see you've met Leaf..."Misty's voice trailed away at her hostile postition, hand on cocked hip, and a glare on her face.

"Oh, so you were telling the truth, my bad." She changed instantly, like as Dawn. It made me wonder if they were slid into a seat next to me, as Misty and Dawn sat across from me.

"So May, you'll still have to-"

Just then a few other goths headed in our direction and I presumed them to be Panthers as well. They sat down at the table, and began chatting, barely noticing me which surprised me. From what I'd seen, these street fighters were really hostile and guarded at first, then friendly..sorta. But now they barely acknowledged me.

"Your with us," Misty explained, piecing together my puzzled expression. I nodded understandingly as I lifted my fork to start eating my lunch.

"Newcomer?" I jumped up, startled and I stared into green smouldering eyes. It was a boy, dressed similarily to his fellow members, leather jacket, and combat boots and all. It was his proud expression that had me separating him from the others, and his green hair. I had assumed a gang like this would have a leader. I was right. "Drew Hayden." He didn't hold out his hand for me to shake, but then again, this was a street fighting gang, not a political part

I nodded and opened my mouth to say something, but he cut me off. "Daryl's warehouse at seven," and with that he slid out of the seat, and made his way to a group of boys at the other end of the table.

"Uh..."

Misty laughed at my dumbfounded expression. "Drew can be like that, but here, we like to test recruit's. She pulled out a piece of paper and drew dirctions to the warehouse. "Oh, also there's something I need to tell you. We have...territories." And with that she pulled out a map of La Rousse, and began outlining five major parts before I could get a word in.

"Where do you live?" She finally stopped so that I could catch up to all the information she was feeding into my brain. I pointed to a spot on 24th avenue. "Lucky you, your in the middle of Panther territory." The way she said it, made me wonder about the people who weren't.

Cliche, I know...Pleaz review..