Disclaimers: These are my characters, all mine, even if they bear a striking resemblance to a certain warrior and bard. Sorry MCA/Universal you should know by now that I can't resist. But, so ya know, in no way do I make money from this. It's just my own sick, twisted fun.

Sex/Violence: Lots. More then the usual eps of Xena, and more then my usual stories. This is a tough city, a tough neighborhood where just about anything does and will happen. This story depicts love between two members of the same sex, so if this is illegal or offensive, read elsewhere. This story also depicts an act of rape, but no graphic sex scenes. Sorry folks, just not my style.

Anything else? Don't know about that yet. Guess this story has an R rating because of the violence and potty mouth language. Um, that'd be all now. Go ahead and read. Delve into my twisted mind, if you dare! :)

Chapter Two

This year is going to suck! Tony's stomach heaved and her throat burned. It was the fact that the toilets and the whole bathroom stank, that every time she was close to the toilet loosing the contents of her stomach she'd smell the stench and loose it all over again.

Finally it was nothing but dry heaves and she rose unsteadily to her feet. She would have leaned against the door, but none of the stalls had any.

Maybe I can find the nurse and go home sick. She dragged her books and her body down the hall to the nurse's office. The window on the door had been smashed and the office had been vandalized. She felt her stomach lurch and hurried back down the hall to the side exit.

Tony gulped in large amounts of clean fresh air and sank onto the concrete steps, resting her head in the palms of her hands.

"Don't you know it's illegal to leave school grounds?"

The low voice purred right next to Tony's ear and she sat up with a start, her heart skidding to a stop as she fell into blue eyes. "I'm not leaving," she stated defiantly. And you can't make me either, she thought silently.

"What are you doing then?" Shane asked as she sat on the stairs beside the young girl.

"Just getting some fresh air." Tony looked out over the parking lot and blinked in the sun's glare, refusing to meet Shane's eyes.

"There's plenty of fresh air inside."

"Not in the bathrooms," Tony mumbled.

Shane grinned. "They do stink." All thoughts of playing games with this remarkable girl went right out of her head as she found herself engulfed in a shy smile. "What's your name?" she asked abruptly.

"Tony. And you're Shane, right?" I've heard a few things about you.

"I take it you've heard of me then?" Shane's voice was self-deprecating.

"Not much," Tony admitted.

There was silence for a long moment as Shane decided what could or should be said. And suddenly she found herself muttering, "I'm sorry about the incident in the cafeteria."

"S'ok," Tony murmured. From the things she'd heard she'd never expected an apology. A smack on the head, broken ribs... something like that.

"Wanna get out of school for a bit?" The dark teenager stood suddenly and climbed down the steps, not really waiting for an answer.

"I should go back inside?" It ended up more a question and Tony blushed as Shane gave her a sharp look.

"Suit yourself," she shrugged and clomped down the rest of the stairs, hitching her thumbs in her Jean pockets and not blaming the naive young girl one bit for not wanting to come.

Tony looked up at the darkened school door and the nausea rose in her stomach again. "Wait!" she called as she skipped the stairs two at a time and stepped up beside Shane. "Where are we going?"

Shane blinked at the bright smile then shrugged. "Dunno, feel like an ice cream?"

"Mmm, I love ice cream!" Tony bounced along beside the stoic, darker teenager, not letting Shane's silence bother her in the least. "Oh, wow, is that yours?" Tony's eyes came to rest on the shiny black Harley.

"Yup," Shane said proudly. It is... now. "Hop on and I'll take you for the ride of a lifetime."

Shane hadn't been kidding. Tony was breathless after the desperado flight down the busy city streets after recklessly swerving in and out of traffic. More then once Tony wished for a helmet, but she thought, wisely, that it was a comment better kept to herself.

As the bike came to a screeching halt Tony pried her fingers off Shane's leather vest and slid off the bike. "Hot dang," she breathed.

Shane chuckled. "Never been on a bike before, have ya?"

Tony shivered as she stood and shook out the shakes. "Not unless you count the bicycle I had once." She rifled her fingers through her hair and finally gave up on the snarls when she found Shane watching her with a bemused expression.

"Been to Coney Island yet?" Shane had the oddest desire to push a stray wisp of Tony's hair behind her ear. She shrugged the feeling away nervously.

"Coney Island?" Tony swiveled on her heel and got her first good look around after the whirlwind ride. "Wow. No, no I haven't been here yet. Gram promised we'd go as soon as-" There's that expression again. Tony vowed to keep her mouth shut as long as possible. It lasted all of three seconds after they'd started for the gates.

Hot dogs and hamburgers sizzled in the late summer warmth. Suntan lotion and moving bodies swirled around Tony in an awe filled daze.

"They've got clowns and everything!" Tony called over the crowd of people. Most of them were tourists with cameras hung around their necks and sun block on their noses. "Hey, wanna go on a roller coaster?" Tony swung back around. Shane was gone.

Tony turned again to find Shane striding purposefully off the wooden deck and onto the crowded beach. Tony raced to catch up, hoping that she hadn't angered the older girl. Hoping she wasn't back where she was in the cafeteria with the threat of a black eye.

"Hey, Shane," she reached out and tugged on Shane's arm, trying to pull her to a stop, "I-"

Shane turned so suddenly that Tony took a startled step back. "Don't do that," she hissed.

"W-what?" Tony stammered, unable to comprehend the depths of Shane's eyes; the anger, the fear and pain she saw there in the split second before Shane's face once again became a mask. "Don't do what?" she asked as the silence stretched between them.

"Don't ever come up behind me like that." Don't ever touch me, Shane left the threat unspoken.

"I'm sorry," Tony withdrew her arm and hid it far behind her back, as if she'd been burned. She turned her gaze out to the sea of bodies. There seemed to be nothing to say, yet so much left unsaid.

Shane followed Tony's gaze out across the sun-dappled beach and skipped over the lotioned bathers, resting on the cresting waves. Something deep inside her hurt today. Was it just for Charley?

Tony cast a curious gaze up to study Shane's profile. She was lost in thought, farther away then the next edge of the ocean. There was a tiny scar below Shane's ear that ran from the underside of her earlobe an inch down her chin.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Tony asked, and held her breath as Shane's jaw tightened. The scar tissue whitened as Shane flexed her jaw.

"Ain't worth a penny," Shane replied coldly. "This was a bad idea. I'm taking you back," she said abruptly, and turned, heading back to the boardwalk.

"Shane?" Tony hurried to catch up. "Shane! Wait!"

Shane didn't stop till she was at the top of the wooden stairs with people bustling noisily by. She arched both eyebrows as if daring Tony to defy her.

"Did I do something to upset you?"

The hesitant question was so totally unexpected that Shane lost the growing coil of anger in her belly. "No," she watched those bright green eyes carefully, "I'm just in a bad mood."

"Oh, ok." Tony had been so sure that her rambling mouth and tendency to say whatever was on her mind had caused Shane's anger. "Do we really have to go back?" she asked quietly.

Shane had to strain to hear her over the crowd of tourists. Ahhh, what the hell, right? A small part of Shane's mind still toyed with the idea of playing games and messing up this young girl's naive little world. Then she sighed. What was the point? "How 'bout a ride on the coaster, then ice cream?"

The bright, full of teeth smile Shane got right then was enough to crumble any lingering thoughts of hurting Tony. Funny, she thought, the bad assed bitch is going soft, and over some pretty little blond.