15 minutes later we arrived in front of the house.

"Are you sure he lives here?" Mike said in disbelief.

"That's what the address on the envelope says." I said also in disbelief that Nick lived here. It was a big house with a big front lawn. To me it looked like it had a billion rooms. I was a bit nervous on going up to the door.

"Well go on." Mike said pushing me up a little.

"Come with me." I said nervously. We then slowly made our way up the walkway to the front door. I looked at Mike and he nodded at me. I then brought my hand up to the door and knocked. We heard some moving around inside and then the door opened. A woman opened the door and looked at us.

"Sorry we don't want any." She said and was about to close the door.

"Wait!" Mike said and she stopped. "We aren't selling anything."

"Then what do you want?" She asked pretty rudely.

"Is Nick here?" I asked softly.

"No autographs now." She stated.

"I don't want an autograph. I am an old friend of his." I said getting mad at her attitude but trying to stay calm.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Rachel." I said.

"Who is it?" I head a boy yell from behind her. He then appeared in the doorway.

"Nick?" I asked

"Rachel?" He asked back. I nodded and he hugged me. "Man have I missed you!" He said excitedly.

"Nickolas, we have things to do." The woman said lifting her head.

"But mom I haven't seen Rachel in a few years!" Nick exclaimed.

"I don't care mister! You have rehearsal to go to. Now move it!" She said with force and left.

"Look, meet me in those woods over there at 6 tonight. There is a clubhouse thing I built there when I was younger." He whispered and I nodded. "Bring your friend." He said looking at Mike. "I have to go." He said hugging me and shut the door.

"Well at least he is here." I said walking down the walkway.

"Yea but his mom could use an attitude adjustment." Mike said looking back. "Wonder what rehearsal he had to go to."

"He is in a singing group called 'The Backstreet Boys'" I said.

"Oh. Never heard of them." Mike said. "What do you want to do for the next 4 hours?" Mike asked.

"Well there's a lake or something over there so you wanna just hang out there and rest?" I asked. Mike nodded.

"Good idea." We walked over to the lake and laid on the grass and for once just enjoyed what a nice day it was. I took out the deck of cards I had and we began to play to kill the time.

.......

A few hours later I looked over when I heard a car and saw that Nick was home.

"Come on Mike lets go to the woods now." I said and we got up and headed over. We found the little clubhouse and sat inside. A few minutes later we heard footsteps outside and in walked Nick.

"Wow either this place shrunk or I grew!" He said laughing. Then came over to give me a hug. "So who is your friend?" he asked me.

"This is Mike. We have been friends since I was about 12." I stated.

"Hi Mike. Nice to meet you." Nick said and shook his hand. Nick had grown up...A lot! He was tall and very handsome. I didn't realize this when I first saw him because of his mom being there. His smile didn't change though; it was still that sweet smile that I remember from 5 years before.

"How have you been Rachel?" Nick asked me. "I thought you were in that place until you were 18?" Nick said referring to the orphanage.

"Well...um...er..." I stuttered trying to find out how to tell him.

"What's wrong?" Nick asked concerned. Mike just put his arm around me.

"Well, after you left Nick everything changed." I said softly.

"Changed how?"

"A guy named Mr. Crane came in and took over cause Mrs. Bradshaw retired. He was mean Nick. Really mean. He gave all of us chores and if we didn't do them on time he would beat us. We had to be perfect or we would get beaten." I said sadly remembering it all.

"Oh my God!" Nick exclaimed. "I'm sorry. I really am." Nick said coming over and sitting next to me.

"It isn't your fault Nicky. But I left there when I was 12." I said.

"Where did you go?" he asked. "Were you placed in foster care?"

"No, I ran away." I stated looking at Mike.

"That's how you met Mike."

"Yea. I was in his gang." I stated.

"You were in a gang?!" he asked in disbelief.

"Well it wasn't that I wanted to be, they kinda caught me on their turf when I was in a building looking for shelter." I said to him.

"Did they hurt you?" he said getting worried.

"No but if I didn't join the gang they would have." I said. Nick glanced at Mike and gives him a hard stare.

"Chill man. I was never going to hurt her." Mike said defensively.

"Nick, it is ok. Mike has protected me a lot." I said and Nicks face softened.

"I tried everything to get my step mom to adopt you but she wouldn't. I really wish she would have." Nick said upset. "You wouldn't have had to go through all that."

"I understand Nick. It isn't your fault. I just wanna know why you stopped writing to me." I said and looked down.

"I didn't want to but when I was younger she made me and then I joined the group and I didn't have time but I should have made time. I'm so sorry." He said sadly.

"Well I am out of the gang now. We kinda disbanded." I said.

"That's good." Nick said. "Gangs will get you no where." I looked up at him.

"Maybe so but the people in my gang took care of me for 4 years. We were like family. We looked after each other and they taught me what I needed to know." I said in a loud voice. I was a little upset at the comment he made. Nick was taken back a little bit.

"I'm sorry." He said and looked down. My face softened. I didn't mean to talk to him like that. I reached over and hugged him.

"I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to yell. It's just they were my family." I said and I pulled away. "Here I want to show u something that I have kept all these years." I went into my backpack and pulled out the now dirty and worn photo album. I handed it to Nick and he looked at it and smiled.

"You still have this?"

"Hasn't left me since you gave it to me for my 11th birthday." I said as he opened the book.

"Wow. I was that young?" Nick said laughing.

"Nick you make it sound like your 60 years old!" I laughed.

"Well there is really no pictures of me from before I came here except for a baby picture of me and my parents that was taken when I was a few months old." He said a bit sadly. Mike just looked on not wanting to disturb us. Nick looked though the old book.

"Where are you guys staying?" Nick asked me still looking at the pictures. I looked over at Mike and he shrugged. Nick noticed the silence and looked up.

"Well after the gang disbanded, Mike and I were the only ones left. I told him about you and that you lived down here so we took what money we had and came down here." I said. "We really didn't plan that far in advance."

"So you have no where to go?" Nick said sighing. I shook my head no. He looked at Mike and he said no as well. "Ok then you guys can stay with me." He said.

"I don't think your mom will like that to much." I said noting her attitude before.

"My step mom will have to deal with it." He said. "Lets go. I bet your hungry." And we got up and walked toward the house. We walked in and something smelled something good. Mike and I haven't had a real meal in forever. We lived off of fast food and most of that was what was left over at the end of the night.

"Mom we are having company for dinner tonight!" Nick yelled into the house.

"Oh and you think you can just do this with out asking in advance?" His stepmother said coming in to the room. She looked at me and Mike with disgust on her face.

"Be nice mom. They are good people!" Nick said getting upset.

"Don't talk to me like that mister! If it weren't for me you wouldn't be where you are today!" She yelled.

"Mom they are hungry" he started calmly. "they are going to stay for dinner." His step mother sighed and said ok. Then left the room.

"Nick, I don't want to cause trouble. We don't have to stay." I said.

"It is ok. Here I'll show you guys to the bathroom and you can get cleaned up." He said and lead us down the hallway. "There is a bathroom here and one upstairs. Mike why don't you use this one and I'll show you the one upstairs Rachel." We nodded and Mike went to get cleaned up and Nick brought me upstairs.

"Do you have clean clothes?" Nick asked me.

"Kinda." I shrugged.

"Here I'll get you one of my shirts and shorts for you." He said and came back with some clothes. "These are from two years ago." he laughed. "I grew out of them but they should fit you."

"Thanks Nick. You are doing so much for me." I said to him.

"No problem I'll get something for Mike too." He said and left me to my clean up. I locked the bathroom door and took a shower. Boy did that feel good and I didn't realize how much dirt was on me until it went down the drain. I just hoped from here this would get better for me.