I stared in disbelief at his face for a few seconds before I could even think of any words to say.

"Yusuf?" I managed after my brain had managed to put some words together in my head. "Wh-What are you doing here?" Fear began to build up inside me and I wondered if this was going to be where he got his own back for me booting him in the face. The sun shadowed his face too much for me to see any injuries, which was probably a good thing for both him and me.

"I came here to talk to you." He blurted out, looking around anxiously. He was acting shady, as if he wasn't meant to be seen here.

"About?" I tried to carry on the persona he knew only too well.

"Don't go over there today. That twenty four hour slot is a load of crap; he's just plotting for us to attack you as soon as you stepped out of the alleyway." He said quietly, still looking around at any person we could see in eye's view.

"Why are you-" I began but he was quick to interrupt me.

"I saw your face when he said it, you were thinking about it." My jaw dropped slightly. How could he read my facial expression that well?

"Can you blame me?" I shot his comment down. "I'm doing community service because of Eli, as you know." I pointed around me at the area I was now working in.

"Don't knock it too much, it's better than where I am." Yusuf folded his arms across his chest. "Graham's got it in for me." I stared in disbelief at this man. Why was he telling me all this? "I guess Eli never told you, eh?" He let out a silent laugh and shook his head.

"Told me what?" My disbelief turned into confusion. Now apparently Eli was hiding things from me too? I didn't need this today, my mind had enough to sort out without added extras.

"Oh boy..." Yusuf sighed rubbing the back of his neck with his hand awkwardly. "Well I originally asked Eli if I could be a part of your group but he turned me down because you had those other two guys, Seb and Tom. Graham was quick to snatch me up after that but he always had it in for me because I wanted to be in the rival group."

"Well you don't fight like you wanted to be our ally!" I said before I thought, quickly silencing myself and looking away from him.

"I couldn't... I needed to make it look believable." He informed me with a sorry look on his face.

"It's alright, I understand." I said. "Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just a bit, well, overwhelmed." I shook my head and sighed. "One minute you're beating me up and the next you were meant to be part of our group." He smirked.

"I know, it's a lot to take in. I'm just trying to help." He shrugged. He once again looked around, making sure no one from his gang was around to see him talking to me. Suddenly things began to make more sense.

"So that's why you were saying all that stuff yesterday?" I pointed at him like I'd sussed him out. "And Reece got all annoyed."

"Exactly. You should be the leader; Eli is reckless and gets himself into trouble a lot... Plus he won't let me back in the group even with those two gone." Once again my jaw dropped and I stared at him. What the hell was going on behind the scenes? Why would Eli want more people to help us out?

"What? Why?" My tone got angrier and louder.

"I don't know, something about not needing me because the two of you can handle everything." He said nonchalantly. "Which I see isn't always the case." He gestured to me and the workplace behind me.

"You're telling me!" I rolled my eyes. "I need to talk to him; he can't be making these decisions without consulting me! I would have happily said yes to you coming to join us..." I balled my hands into fists and hit the box of tools beside me in frustration. Why would Eli want us to suffer against people when there was a guy who we knew could fight happy to join us? What was he playing at?

"Yeah he said you'd say something like that." Yusuf laughed.

"Leave it to me, if you're serious about leaving that moronic gang I'll chat with Eli and see what's going on. I could have you with us by tomorrow." Yusuf took one last look around before he nodded.

"Your name only goes as far as your reputation. We hear a lot about you and your fighting ability, most people don't even want to bother you and Eli any more. Every other night we're having to fight people off for second place." Yusuf explained, informing me about something I barely knew happened.

"So gangs actually think there's a top spot in town?" Yusuf nodded. "And people want to fight for top spot?" He nodded again.

"You guys are top spot but everyone is too scared to take you on. Graham's gang are second, surprisingly, but because people know how stupid the gang are they always try and fight for second place."

"And that's why Graham wants to keep you there?" I asked, everything piecing together a little better with every sentence he spoke.

"Without me, they wouldn't be second. I'm the one who fights and keeps us in second." He said almost proudly but I could tell he wasn't happy being used. He was better than that gang, I'd always said so, and for them to use him just to keep their place in second was just ridiculous. Without Yusuf fighting for them, they'd probably be in fifth place.

"Let me guess, Graham runs off like normal and Dane and Reece end up doing some stupid mistake and injuring themselves." I joked, although most of it seemed quite feasible.

"Imagine it... We're holding off the likes of Deejay and his gang, Ted's gang, Pauly's gang and Wade's gang and Graham shoves me out to fight them all while Dane and Reece argue over which one person they are going to fight with. Inevitably one of them always ends up falling down and staying down and I'm left to do all the work." Yusuf sighed and gave me an unimpressed look. I tried my best to hide the smile that was growing on my face but eventually I couldn't, and a huge grin appeared on my face.

"Sounds fun." I held back from laughing in his face. I would never have thought Graham's gang were so disorganised and slapdash, yet here I was being told it first-hand. "Seriously though, I'll talk to Eli if you want, I'm sure I can get you over here before you've got to save them again." Yusuf's smile grew.

"Thank you so much." He checked his watch quickly and his eyes widened. "Look, sorry Chloe, I've gotta run. We're all meant to be having a meeting about our recent losses to you guys and discussing how we can improve..." Yusuf said, quoting Graham. He then followed it with a smirk and rolled his eyes.

"Have fun!" I laughed. "I'm sure they'll find a way to blame it all on you and-"

"Don't even..." Yusuf warned, pointing his finger at me. "Don't jinx it." We both laughed and I bit my lips together to try and hold back the dorky laugh that wanted to escape. I heard someone's footsteps make their way towards me and cease just behind me. I looked up to Yusuf who's smile had been wiped off his face, now replaced with a serious, stern look. I slowly turned my head to see Dean behind me, his body tensed and angry.

"Who is this?" Dean growled, looking Yusuf up and down. I felt my stomach knot and my heart rate quicken as I imagined Dean leaping at Yusuf and attacking him. The way Dean was looking at him wasn't friendly, it was quite like the look I gave people when I fought with Eli.

"No one, I'm just leaving." Yusuf held his hands out in innocence.

"Yeah, you'd better be." Dean threatened, shooing him away. "She doesn't need people like you in her life." Yusuf looked between an angry Dean and a sheepish me. Why can't anything be simple in my life? Why do people always need to get involved with things that aren't any of their business?

"Dean, what the hell are you talking about?" I snapped at him, fed up with everyone doing things without asking me. He flinched at my sudden outburst which made me feel bad but at the same time felt so good. I needed to take control of my life and the decisions made inside it.

"Are you Darren?" He asked Yusuf in a harsh manner to which he raised an eyebrow and shook his head. My eyes widened in shock. Why was he asking that? What did he want with Eli?

"No." Yusuf shook his head again. "Look, mate, I've really gotta run. Maybe you should just talk to Chloe. I'm obviously not who you're looking for..." Yusuf was quick to leave after that and rushed off to his little meeting. As soon as Yusuf was out of sight and earshot, I spun round to Dean with my eyes wide in anger. I didn't want to shout at him but I was having a pretty bad day and I could barely control myself.

"Care to explain yourself?" I spat to Dean's surprise. The sun beating down on me was only making me more irritable, I could barely focus on the task at hand and people felt like today was the day they needed to tell me all these things I'd never known before. I wiped the back of my hand over my forehead, getting rid of the sweat starting to form as I stood out here it getting hotter by the minute. My mind was swimming with new information and new emotions. I needed time to myself to just sit and sort it all out.

"I just thought... Well, I- I..." Dean stuttered nervously, obviously scared that he'd upset me. That feeling of guilt hit me again and I sighed.

"I'm sorry. I'm just having a bad day." I apologised, offering him a soft smile.

"That's fine..." He spoke softer now, not wanting to annoy me anymore. "I- Wait, what happened to your face?"