A/N: I just want to say a massive thank you to you all - So What? has received 100 votes!! I'm beyond happy because i've only written 17 chapters! I am internally screaming. :D I love you all so much! We also reached 1600 reads which i'm also over the moon for! I know a lot of you have been eagerly awaiting this chapter and i cant dedicate it to all of you (unfortunately!) But this is dedicated to all of you who told me to update asap and asked me when this chapter was coming out! As always, comment, vote, follow, promote, whatever you want! I absolutely love you all and thank you so so so much for reading my story!!! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Conor’s POV

My stomach dropped as soon as I heard his voice.

“Is this your girlfriend?” He teased.

“Jason, leave it…” I said, praying so much that they would just be allowed to walk out of this unharmed. Yes, I said unharmed. See, I’m going to be honest with you here; we’re not that kind of gang who just meets, has a drink and goes home. They need to cause trouble; they think the best thing would be for us to be a feared name. Jason wants to say our gang name and for people to shudder. It was never like this before, when Alan run the gang. He just wanted to be a biker gang; we just drove around, the noise from our bikes echoing the streets bringing attention. Now we steal, break and scare. I stay back; I make sure I’m the lookout so I never harm people. Stupid it seems, I know, that I can fight people to no end at school but not in the gang, but I don’t have a reason for beating up a shopkeeper I’ve never seen before… These jackets we wear were paid for with the money we stole… THEY stole. I don’t want to wear it, I feel guilt and hatred for myself when I put it on but I have to. Amir once came for the meet up without his jacket and they beat him up so badly he’s still having physiotherapy…

“No, Conor, I will not leave it. You know the damn rules! No visitors!” He shouted over to me, the anger in his voice making me feel a little scared. “They find out about us and our cover is broken!”

“They don’t know anything!” I shouted back. “They were meeting up for a chat, not to see me! This was all by chance!” I stuck up for them. Jason remained inches from Louise’s face and I could see her hands shaking. I just wanted to run over there and push him away, letting them get a head start, but I knew that wouldn’t work… They have bikes… My heart was beating so hard I was struggling to breathe. I’ve never felt so worried in my life. Usually when people stumbled across our gang I didn’t know them and I’d just turn a blind eye to them as my gang beat them up… but I know them. I like them. I love- No… Let’s not think like that…

“Rules are rules, Conor!” He shouted. “Ollie, Reece, Zander!” He shouted. Before I could think, two of them had grabbed my arms and one had their arm around my neck – not tightly, but just so I couldn’t try and run off easily. They knew what they were doing.

“Get off me!” I shouted, struggling. The more I struggled the tighter the grip around my neck became. I soon gave up. Jason grabbed Louise by the arm and she let out a scream as he squeezed it. “Leave her alone!” I shouted and began struggling again. I glanced over to David but he was being held back like me by another two members; Sanjay and Riley.

“Leave her alone!” David shouted, struggling too. In my head I could already see how this was going to end. And let me tell you it nearly bought a tear to my eye.

“Now, guys, we know the rules don’t we?” Jason shouted.

“YES!” The group said at once.

“And what do we do when people stumble across our meeting place?” Jason asked the group.

“Make them forget!” They all shouted back. My knees felt weak. I couldn’t stand properly. I couldn’t watch the group beat them up, as much as I despised David for the rumours and stealing my chance to walk Louise home, I couldn’t watch either of them get beaten up by my gang. Jason spun Louise round and grabbed her by her arms. He was one of the strongest of the group, he could hold one person without a struggle. I knew what was coming next.

“What’s your name?” He asked Louise, but she remained silent. He nodded to Sanjay and Riley who put David’s arms in a lock and punched him in the stomach before kicking him in the face. Louise screamed and tried to pull free from Jason.

“DAVID!” She tried to pull herself away from Jason but it wasn’t working, his grip was just tightening.

“What is your name?” He shouted in her ear. A single tear rolled down her cheek.

“Louise.” She mumbled.

“How do you know Conor, Louise?” Jason asked her, his head now resting on her left shoulder so he could talk into her ear.

“Leave her alone!” David spluttered from the floor. They still held onto his arms but he was kneeling on the floor. “Just leave her alone… It wasn’t her idea. I chose to meet here!”

“I’m sorry, what?” Jason looked over to David. He grabbed Louise round the waist and walked over to David, whose nose was bleeding.

“I chose to meet here.” He repeated.

“No. No he didn’t!” Louise said as she cried. It was heart-breaking to watch for two reasons; one was seeing Louise in such a state – she was so scared and upset and I just wanted to help her. The second reason was I was watching her lay herself on the line for him. For David. Not for me. Jason threw Louise to the ground and as Riley and Sanjay lifted David to his feet, Jason kicked him in the ribs. Riley and Sanjay dropped his arms and let him fall to the floor. They walked over to Louise and grabbed her instead.

“Louise! Look away!” I shouted over to her, anxiously. Jason only ever beat someone up when he wanted them to remember it. I couldn’t deal with Louise watching that. She did look away from David, but her eyes stayed glued to mine. She just stared at me through the screams and pleads David was shouting. ‘I’m so sorry!’ I mouthed to her. ‘It’s not your fault.’ She mouthed back and shyly smiled. I shook my head. It was my fault. I should have told her how I felt. I should have told her about me. I could have done anything and it may have stopped it ending like this…

“HELP ME PLEASE!” David screamed out. It echoed across the park and down the streets. I heard more punches and kicks making contact, the sound slowly making me feel queasy. I couldn’t allow this to happen anymore. It shouldn’t have happened at all.

“STOP IT!” I shouted out. “JASON, JUST STOP!” I flung my head back to head-butt Zander, who stumbled backwards and moved his arm from around my neck to clutch his nose. I stood heavily on Ollie’s foot, causing him to shout out and let go of my right arm. I swung my arm back and elbowed him in the face before punching Reece in the face. I ran over to Jason and pushed him off of David who looked like he’d just done an hour of cage fighting with a champion.

“Thank you.” He spluttered. Jason stood up pushed me back.

“What the hell is your problem?” He hissed at me.

“This fight should be between me and you…” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“That’s what you think…” He laughed. He pushed me back again and straight into the arms of Reece, Ollie and Zander again. Jason ordered Sanjay to come over and hold me back too. I watched as Jason kicked David a few more times, until he was unable to move without being in pain, and slowly walk over to Louise, who was struggling to get free from Riley.

“Louise…” Jason begun. “You see what happens when you hang out with the wrong crowd?”

“Yeah, they end up like you!” She shouted before she spat in his face. My heart felt like it stopped for that moment as I held my breath wondering what Jason was going to do. He pointed to Riley and pointed over to David and Riley sheepishly walked over, feeling like he was missing out on the fun.

“No, Louise. They end up like you will…” He threatened before he punched her. His arm swung at such force when it collided with her jaw she fell to the floor.

“NO!” I shouted, trying my best to pull free from the four people who had hold of me. “Leave her alone! Fight me instead!” I shouted. But I knew Jason’s plan. He was going to ruin me by hurting her. It was easier for him and worse for me. I yanked my arms but the grip was so tight I could feel my pulse, the blood pumping through my arms. Again I kicked and swung and punched and bit and elbowed but this time I couldn’t break free. I couldn’t help her.

“You’ve messed with the wrong people, Louise! We are the most feared gang in this town!” He shouted down to her. “The most feared gang in the country!” He looked back to me and gave an evil smile - one I wanted to wipe off his smug face – before he kicked Louise in the stomach.

“God damn it, leave her alone!” I shouted. I could feel my emotions going crazy. I thought my head was going to explode. I wanted to cry, scream, shout, fight and run away all at the same time.

“You see, CONOR,” he began, emphasising my name as teachers did when you did something wrong in class. “This is what happens when you break the rules…” I looked back to Louise, who lay still on the floor.

“You asshole!” I shouted. “They didn’t do anything to you!” He smiled and began walking towards me.

“Conor, they don’t need to do something to me personally… they just need to be there; in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that gives me a reason.” He said before stopping inches from me. “If you have a problem with us all, Conor, why don’t you say it? You know the rules for quitting…” I did, yes, and they weren’t nice. In the films where you can shout at your manager and walk out, then live a fulfilling unemployed life? It’s not like that. You hand your jacket in and you become someone who is ‘in the wrong place at the wrong time’ and you get beaten so badly you’ll not recover for a while.

“I-I…” I stuttered. I looked back to David, who lay on his side coughing and wheezing and moved my gaze to where Louise was laying – but she wasn’t there anymore. She was running up to us at a speed I’ve never seen before. She leapt up and shoved Jason in the back, causing him to fall forward. I ducked down and he fell onto the other guys in the gang. I squeezed out of the mess of people and ran towards David and Louise. I put his arm round my shoulder and Louise did the same and we began to run through the park. The adrenaline was pumping so quickly I could barely feel my legs as we ran, I felt like I was just floating along.

“What the hell were you thinking?” I said to Louise through heavy breathing.

“I was trying to help!” She laughed. I smiled back. That’s when it hit me. This girl really does mean something to me! David was right! I only hope I wasn’t too late to prove it!

As we ran through the park, I could hear the guys catching up to us. I looked round and could see them hurling things in our direction; rocks, bottles, cans, branches – whatever they could find.

“Watch out!” I cautioned Louise. “They’re throwing-” but I never finished my sentence. Something hard hit me in the back of the head.