1 CHAPTER ONE

Smoke. Thick curls of it near a pale face, and delicate little tendrils wafting away. Dark hair framed that pale face, and eyes were closed, hiding their colour.

They snapped open with the shrill ringing of a bell. Blue, pale blue they were. An impatient huff escaped chapped lips, and the cigarette was tossed to the ground and crushed underneath a black boot.

A small slender hand came up and brushed dark strands of hair behind her ear. She adjusted her leather jacket and lifted her backpack from the ground, then began walking down the pavement and past the large black gates- into school.

She sighed and looked down at her hand, tracing a tattoo on her finger delicately. The happy chatter of other students surrounded her, and she scowled at how close they were to her. Brushing past them, she headed inside and to her locker.

Popping it open instantaneously, she shoved unneeded books in, and took the ones she did need, out. Just as she closed her locker, she was attacked from behind by someone who smelled distinctly like coconut. It was Sierra. Sierra Black.

She had met Sierra when they were both in Pre-K. Some kids were bullying Sierra, and she stepped in and made them stop. They became the best of friends.

"HEY IVY!" Sierra yelled into her ear.

"Hi Sierra." Ivy replied quietly, a faint smile on her face. Sierra let go of her and Ivy's eyes scanned her. She hadn't seen her best friend over the weekend. Her dark brown hair tumbled down her shoulders in heavy curls, and her dark eyes shone brightly.

"How was your weekend?"

"Oh you know, the usual." Sierra was the only person who truly knew what that meant. To her other friends, it meant being alone at home, and watching Netflix. She did want to tell them the truth, but she wasn't ready for that yet, it was too soon.

And speaking of her other friends. They both appeared on either side of Ivy. On one side was Lily Moon. Someone Ivy met at the start of 7th Grade. She was of Asian descent, and had a pale face, framed with delicate strands of black hair. Her eyes were dark and slightly narrow. She looked at Ivy and pursed her plump lips.

"You've been smoking again." She commented, smelling the scent of her cigarette smoke.

"Oh come on Lil, we agreed to leave her be." Levi commented. Levi Rooney was someone she met a year after she met Sierra. He was considered to be a ladies man, even though he didn't actually 'play' around with girls or have sex with them. He was a gentleman, and it was his looks that got him classified as what he is.

Girls all around the school swooned over his messy dirty blonde hair, and sweet brown eyes. Levi played football, and that meant that most girls knew he had a six-pack, as he played shirtless. They tried to get with him, but he was saving himself for his true love whom he wishes to meet soon.

"Thanks Levi." Ivy shot him a small, grateful smile, and he nodded back, returning it.

"HOLY CRAP! GUYS. Did you hear? There's a new kid moving to town. I heard he's a bit like Ivy." Sierra burst out.

Ivy's eyebrows raised. "How so?" She fiddled with the bracelet on her wrist, playing around with the cool metal.

"Troublemaker, delinquent." Sierra explained. Ivy shot her a fake offended look and adjusted her backpack strap on her shoulder.

"Class?" She mentioned, causing everyone to realise that they were still in school. They rushed around the corridor, emptying and then refilling their backs with books they needed. "We skipped form. Let's just head to first period."

Lily waved goodbye to them first, heading off to her Physics class. Levi pulled out a crumpled paper, stained with coffee and inspected it, eyes narrowed and trying to make out what was written on it. "I have meth?"

"Math ya dingus! Math!" Sierra corrected him, smacking the back of his head with her thin English booklet.

His eyes widened in realization. "Oh. Yeah, that makes more sense. Anyways, bye!" He waved and then left, heading the opposite direction from where Lily went.

Sierra turned to look at Ivy, who was looking down at a pristine timetable. Well, pristine everywhere, except the occasional grey smudge near the corners. "Art."

She looked up at her best friend, who frowned. "I have Music. Alone."

"Sierra darling, we all have our subjects alone. Bye, I'll see you in break." Ivy waved and headed up the stairs, to the highest floor. The art room had huge windows to let in natural light. Ivy walked in right after a huge crowd of people entered before her.

She headed to the seat beside the window. A seat she had claimed as her own, and no one dared touch it because they were too scared of the consequences. There was always an empty seat beside her that no one ever sat in, because, again, they were scared.

She sat and closed her eyes for a second, leaning her forehead against the cool window. Then, after a while, she opened them and looked towards the board. The teacher had written something on it for them to do. An assignment due at the end of the week.

Paint, draw or create something that reflects your emotions.

Of course the question had something to do with emotions, it always did. Ivy pulled her phone and earbuds out, and listened to some music, humming along whilst she picked out some colours. Once she was satisfied with her colour palette, she picked up a brush, and dipped it in some dark paint.

It flowed smoothly on the paper, marking it and leaving a dark line before it. More and more lines appeared until the shape of a rose was starting to appear. Just as she was about to dip into some brown paint, someone tapped her shoulder.

She took her earbuds out, pausing the music and turned to face the person. "Yes?"

It was someone new. Someone who's face she did not recognize. This must be the new kid. He had messy black hair that was slightly curled, and dark eyes. His jawline sharp and muscles prominent. She could see the edges of a tattoo creeping from under his sleeve.

"Hey. I'm Caleb. Caleb Martin. New kid. The teacher said to sit here, it was the only empty spot?" He raised his eyebrows.

Ivy stared at him blankly. "So sit." She plugged her earbuds back in and went back to her work, leaving Caleb Martin staring at her with a confused yet intrigued look in his eyes. He was curious, and he wanted to know more.

So he sat down and pulled out random pots of paint, colours that didn't relate to each other at all. He picked out greens, reds, purples, and others. Then, he dropped a paintbrush into each one. After he did that, he picked up each paintbrush and splattered some paint on his canvas.

When he was done, he looked over at Ivy, and coughed loudly, causing her to glance over and take one earbud out. "Yes?"

All he did was nudge his head towards the 'painting'. "Uhm, cool?"

"What are you doing?"

"Something."

"Wow, how informative." He replied sarcastically.

"I know." She put the earbud back in and returned to her own painting. She was adding some dark red streaks to the brown petals, making a dead rose with slight flickers of hope. Caleb turned his eyes towards her painting after he put all his paint away.

The bell rang, and she dropped her paintbrush into the pot and just left it like that, standing up and grabbing her bag. She was about to leave when Caleb placed his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed it and twisted slightly, causing him to gasp in pain. "Don't touch me."

"Right sorry." He yanked his wrist away from her. "Aren't you gonna put everything away?"

"Nope." She replied, leaving without an explanation. She headed straight to English, a class that she had with Levi. She had Chemistry with Lily, and P.E. and study periods with Sierra.

Ivy walked into English and headed straight to the table that her and Levi shared. She got the window seat and he got the aisle seat. She sat down and minutes later, he walked in, running his hands through his hair.

"Hey V."

"Hey Lev."

"You sound chipper." He commented.

"There's a new kid in school, the one that Sierra told us about in the morning. And he sits next to me in Art." She leaned her chair back, so it stood on its back legs. "Ugh."

"Feeling the love here." A familiar yet new voice replied, sounding kind of sarcastic. Ivy turned around only to see Caleb sat behind her and Levi. She scowled and banged her head on the table, before lifting it again.

"You again."

"What is it V?" Levi asked, turning around to see who she was talking to.

"This the new kid." She huffed, pointing at Caleb, before turning and facing the front, ignoring him.

"You her boyfriend?" She heard Caleb ask, trying to sound nonchalant. Levi snorted.

"You've got to be kidding me man. Me dating Ivy? Never going to happen, right V?" Levi asked his dark haired best friend.

"Never." She confirmed. "He's too much for me to handle."

"Exact- HEY!" He yelled, causing a small smile to appear on her face. He nudged her with his elbow, and she shoved him hard, causing him to fall off his chair, and a victorious smirk to appear on her face.

"I hate you Ivy." He muttered, getting back on his chair, a scowl on his face.

"Feeling is mutual darling." She replied, rolling her eyes and focusing on the teacher, who had just begun taking the register.

"Ivy Parker!"

"Present." It was a quiet response.

"Ivy Parker!"

"Present." It came out slightly louder this time.

"Ivy Parker!" The teacher could see her and yet he still yelled her name for the third time, a triumphant look on his face.

"I FUCKING SAID PRESENT! GODDAMN YOU!" She yelled out.

"DETENTION MS. PARKER!" He screamed, scribbling on a small detention slip and handing it to her, a furious look on his face, eyes blazing wildly. All she did was roll her eyes and huff.

"V, are you gonna go?" Levi leaned back in his chair, eyebrow raised questioningly.

"Seriously Lev? When have I ever? He's new. He doesn't know that." She replied. "I need a smoke." She muttered to Levi, but Caleb heard it and his face showed surprise. She stood, tossing her dark hair over her shoulder and picked up her bag, heading to the door.

"Excuse me Ms. Parker? You can't just leave like that." The teacher reprimanded her. Her hand lay on the cool, metal door knob and she rolled her eyes once more.

"Watch me."

"I will give you another detention. Or better yet, inform the principal." A smile grew on his face, thinking he had finally got her, and that she would apologise, sit down and shut up.

But, Ivy smirked. "Go ahead." And with that, she opened the door, walked right out and slammed it shut behind her. She made her way down the hallways and to the front door of the school. Pushing it open, she walked out the gates and sat down on some pavement some meters away.

She unzipped her bag and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a leather bag containing her lighter. She flicked the lighter's catch and watched the small flame flicker in the slight breeze. Then, she let the cigarette and took a long drag, flipping the silver lighter in her hand.

Pulling the cigar away from her mouth, she exhaled, letting the thick smoke billow from her mouth and float off towards the sky. Closing her eyes, she breathed heavily, before taking another drag. Smoke flowed from her lips as she sighed.

Suddenly, her bag began vibrating and she frowned, fishing around for her phone. She took it out and tapped the green icon.

"Hello?"

"V! Hey!"

"Carlos. Hey. What's up? Everything alright?"

"Yeah, the gang's all good V. How are you? I know what today is." Carlos was a very close friend to Ivy, and so he knew what today meant to her and he was the only person brave enough to address her about it. Sierra knew not to speak about it, and Lily and Levi only knew that her parents 'passed away' today, so they let it be, just like she asked.

But, the reality was much darker than that. They didn't pass away, and neither did her sister. They were murdered, and her brother kidnapped. Her mission for the past 5 years was to find their killer and her brothers kidnapper and make them pay for taking her family away from her, and causing her so much pain, that she was numb. She would do whatever it took to get him back.

"I'm doing okay Carlos, thanks. Just smoking my life away, literally." She laughed bitterly, taking another drag. "I got to go now. But I'll bring Sierra over after school, and we'll discuss some... stuff."

"Alright. I'll see ya later V." Then he hung up. ivy sighed, and stuffed the phone back, and then stood, dropped the cigarette and stepped on it, wiggling her boot to make sure it was out. Just in case some kid came out and picked it up, deciding to take a drag. It has happened before.

Then, she grabbed all her stuff and checked her watch. It was lunch time. Not surprising, she usually didn't notice time slipping when she was smoking. She headed back to the art room, where all her friends were gathered around her seat.

Sierra approached her and placed a comforting hand on her arm. She shot her a look that said, 'I'm here if you need me' and Ivy responded with a weak smile before they walked towards the rest.

Levi looked up, slightly worried. She shot him a thumbs up and he relaxed. Noticing her attitude was different, he spoke up. "Hey guys, we met the new kid."

"Well I technically met him in art. He has to sit next to me." Ivy commented, sitting down in her seat, and taking a bag of crisps and a chocolate bar from her bag. When she wasn't smoking, she needed to eat or sip on something.

She unwrapped the chocolate and began eating it. She picked up her paintbrush and dipped it in some dark green paint, she moved onto painting the stem and leaves of the flower. Her bar was gone within seconds and she groaned internally, savouring the last bite.

Popping the crisps packet open, she finished it and wiped her oily fingers on her jeans before getting back to her painting. She decided to just do the stem and leave it, she did have the whole week to finish it.

So, she pulled out a sketchpad and some graphite and set to sketching something, well to the others it was something random, but to her it was someone very close to her heart, someone she had not seen in a very long time. Her brother, Jacob Parker.

She did the rough sketch with the graphite, along with his hair, then grabbed a pencil and moved on to the details, she went over his hair again, then moved to his face.

Suddenly the door opened, and someone walked in. "MR TEACHER!" It was Caleb. She rolled her eyes; this kid was everywhere. Literally, everywhere. It was almost like he had tagged her and had her on a GPS.

Caleb continued walking in, not noticing the group of 4 sat in the corner of the room. Sierra cleared her throat and he looked over at them.

"Can we help you?" Sierra raised an eyebrow, and her eyes scanned his body.

"Like what you see?" He smirked, causing her eyes to shoot back up and meet his own dark ones.

"Meh." She grinned, causing him to scowl.

"I'm looking for the teacher?" He begrudgingly asked. Ivy sighed, knowing she was the only one who knew, and that meant that she had to speak to him.

"He's in the staff room." Her quiet voice came out. He looked over at her, and noticed she was the same girl from his previous two classes.

"Hey, it's you!" He nodded. "Had a nice smoke?"

Ivy was surprised, but she kept it hidden behind a nonchalant mask. "Mhm." Then, she went back to her sketch. Caleb was surprised to see she didn't get mad at him for being so blunt about her not-so-normal habits.

He nodded his head and backed out of the room, but not before thanking them. Sierra turned to Ivy and hissed at her. "V!"

"Yeah?" Ivy didn't lift her eyes from her drawing, her concentration was on it fully.

"HE KNOWS ABOUT THE SMOKING?!" She whisper-yelled.

Ivy sighed and finally looked up, placing the pencil behind her ear, because she knew she would probably drop it. "The English teacher was pissing me off, so I told Levi that I needed a smoke, and he apparently heard. Not a big deal." She explained before going back over her drawing, but this time with her finger.

She smudged the edges of the head, softening them and making them fade back into the paper, just like he faded out of her life. Lily saw what she was doing and leaned closer.

"Who's that?"

"My brother." Came the short, soft reply.

"I didn't know you had a brother." Lily's eyebrows furrowed, and she frowned.

"It's not something I like to talk about. He was kidnapped." Ivy explained shortly, before returning her headphones to her back and tucking the sketchbook with it. She stood, and grabbed her bag, swinging it over her shoulder.

"I'll see you guys at the end of the day?" Then promptly left.

As soon as ivy was gone, Lily turned to the other two, eyes wide, and tucked her dark hair behind her ear. "Did you know she had a brother?"

Levi choked on his water, before swallowing and looking at Lily, eyes serious. "How did you know?"

"She just told me. You knew?"

"Lily, we've known her since Pre-K. Well, I knew her since Pre-K, but she met Levi a year after that. So, we knew her brother and her. We were friends with him. He's a year younger than us, but then the same night her parents passed away, he was kidnapped. No one knows what happened to him. She doesn't like to talk about it."

Lily frowned. Something there didn't add up. why was her brother kidnapped, it's not like her parents were murdered or anything. They were in a car accident. But her brother wasn't, and he wasn't at home with his sister. He was kidnapped. It didn't make any sense. It's not like it was for ransom or anything, because her parents were dead, and she wouldn't get the inheritance until she was 18. Maybe that's what they were waiting for, for Ivy to turn 18 and be able to pay the ransom and get her brother back.

Lily shook her head and brushed all those thoughts away. She didn't want to go into it. Ivy was her friend and she respected her decision not to talk about those things. She grabbed her things and waved goodbye to the other two, heading off to class. They followed soon after, not wanting to be late.

Time flew by, and now ivy was stood outside the school, with her phone gripped in her hand, furiously texting, trying to save this one shipment that would get them lots of money.

"V!" She heard someone yell, and she yelled back.

"Give me a second. Please." She went back to her texting, and a minute later was done. She tucked her phone away and looked up, a satisfied look on her face. She looked towards her right, and Sierra was stood there.

"Ship?"

"Yep. Trying to secure it. I think we're good. Let's go, Carlos is waiting." They walked towards her car, which was her dads old car. Well, not old, he had bought it mere days before his untimely passing, and he only got to use it once or twice. Now, it was passed onto her and she put it to good use.

It was a black Bugatti Chiron. With equally as dark leather seats and upholstery. Ivy got in the driver's seat and bucked herself in. she inserted the shiny key in, and revved the engine, grinning at the sound the car made.

Sierra rolled her eyes, smiling at her friends antics. She slid into the passenger's seat, and got buckled in, making sure to grab onto the door for support as ivy drove like a maniac, twisting past cars and going WAY above the speed limit.

Soon enough, they pulled up outside a house on the town outskirts. It was massive. There were imposing black gates and guards stood outside. Ivy brought the car closer and a guard approached her. She rolled down the window and he nodded, gesturing for the gate to be opened.

Ivy drove in and parked her car in the driveway. Both her and Sierra got out and headed right for the front door. They walked in and slammed it shut behind them, not noticing the two people peering at them from the bushes outside the house.

Levi turned to Lily, eyes wide. This didn't look like a normal house. There were guards outside with guns. "What the actual fuck."