Chapter One

"Spare some change sir?"

"Get a job."

She shrugged.

It didn't matter.

Nothing seemed to matter anymore.

Dru stuck a cigarette in her mouth. She didn't have a lighter. The one she had had broken the previous day, and she didn't have the money to buy another one. It would be all right, the flavor of the tobacco she tasted would be enough to tide her over until she could find a match someplace.

It would have to be enough.

It was bitterly cold in Manhattan today. The miserable kind of cold where no matter what you did or where you went, you could never seem to warm up. Dru hated it, but she dealt with it. She dealt with a lot of things.

And she was tired of dealing with them. For once she wished she could stop dealing with things, and just take care of them. But how was she supposed to take care of "things" if she couldn't even take care of herself?

Letting out an exhausted sigh, she dug her hands into her shabby coat pockets and continued on her way. Her stomach twinged with hunger. She hadn't eaten in nearly three days, but as always, she was dealing with it. She knew somewhere in this god forsaken city there was a dumpster with some left over food in it just waiting for her. She just had to find it.

Excited shrieks ripped through her eardrums as she neared Times Square. She shot a quick glance across the street, only to see a huge mass of screaming teenagers lining the sidewalk in front of Mtv studios. She rolled her eyes. Why were people so infatuated with rich celebrities? Didn't they know that just across the street was a girl who needed to be loved that way too? No, no they didn't. They didn't see her, nobody saw her. She just blended in. She was just Dru. Homeless, hungry, cold, tired Dru.

And nobody seemed to care whether she was there or not. She often thought she could have jumped in front of rush hour traffic on the George Washington bridge and the cars would have kept hitting her, and kept on going. She didn't matter. There were millions of people in New York City, and she was just another countless face. It didn't matter if she were suffering or not, because in this city...everybody was out for themselves.

She crossed the street, hoping that because of the huge crowd that had gathered it would be easy to pick somebodys pocket. She didn't want to do it, she hated herself for having to do it. But she was just so damn hungry, it was starting to drive her insane. She had to eat something, and she was tired of begging people for their money. Silently, she slipped into the crowd and began to scan it for a promising pocket. She didn't need a lousy ten dollars, no, she needed enough to last her for awhile. It was time for a change, and hopefully if she found at least a hundred bucks, she would be able to make that change.

It was at times like this she was glad she blended in. Not one person paid her any mind as she pushed her way through the crowd, casually slipping her hand into random purses and pockets, trying to strike gold. She sighed, none of these teens had anything significant. Five bucks here, a pack of gum there...what was that supposed to provide her with? A ding dong and a lighter? Drawing in a breath, she continued to push her way foward. After several minutes, she found that she had pushed herself to the front of the crowd, and she also found that she had had absolutely no luck in her pocket picking mission. She groaned, for once, couldn't she be standing next to somebody with a zillion dollars? No, of course not. That would have been too easy.

"So you'll get us in?"

"Girls, I told you yesterday. It's no problem."

Dru reverted her attention to the male voice. She didn't know why out of all the chatter that was going on around her that his voice inparticular had stood out. She gave him the once over, and didn't see anything special about him. His stood about five foot eight, blue eyes, brown messy hair. To her, he could have been the guy she had given a blow job to last week. She wouldn't have remembered. But still, she was curious. Something inside her was telling her not to misjudge this character. Maybe, just maybe...he could be her ticket to salvation.

Slowly, cautiously she inched her way towards him. She smiled, he was so wrapped up in his conversation with the two adolescent blonds in front of him it made it even easier for her to get close to his back pocket. She slowly eased her hand down into the depths of his pocket, and clenched the soft leather wallet that sat at the bottom. Bingo.

He shifted slightly.

She froze.

"Please..." She prayed silently. "Please don't move anymore."

He stopped, and continued his conversation.

Dru breathed a mental sigh of relief, and finished pulling the wallet out of his pocket. It was black leather, and was as fat as a balled up fist. She smiled. It was the jackpot of all jackpots. No, she wouldn't go hungry tonight. And quite possibly, never again.

This was it. She was home free. All too quickly, she began to make her way back through the crowd. She hadn't even made it five steps though, when she felt an arm hand clamp tightly around her arm.

"What the hell are you doing?"

He knew.

"Get off!" She screamed, trying to break free of his grasp. It was no use, he was much stronger than her. A single tear floated down her face as the man pulled her back to where he stood.

"Give it here." His voice was soft, and bared a hint of southern twang.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Without another word, the man thrust his hand into her coat pocket and pulled out his stolen wallet. "You don't?" He raised his eyebrows, while waving the black wallet in her face.

Dru swallowed hard. Gasps came from all around her. She knew what they were thinking. They thought she was scum. She wasn't scum. She was hungry. Hungry, homeless, tired Dru. "I...I'm sor..."

"Don't bother." The man sneered. He gripped her arm tighter, and began to drag her away.

"Mister..please." Dru pleaded. "Please don't bring me to the cops."

The man remained silent as they approached the entrance to 1515 Times Square. He pulled open the door and led Dru inside and onto the escalator, not relaxing the grip on her arm as he did so.

Dru shook with fear. All she had wanted was some food.

Instead, she had gotten herself arrested.
****************
The room was warm. Dru was glad to be warm, even though she knew it was better to be cold and hungry rather than warm and in jail. But...she wasn't in jail yet. No, she was...inside Mtv Studios. Of all places, she never thought she would have wound up in here. That guy, he never had bothered to tell her his name, had left her there. There was a big black guy stationed outside the room, and she was sure that he wasn't about to let her leave. She was scared, but was relived to be warm at the same time.

It was then when she smelled it. A smell so wonderful, that her mouth began to water. It smelled like...garlic?...no...it was pizza. She couldn't remember the last time she had tasted a piece of pizza. But she was sure it had been at least a few years. She saw a random person whiz by the doorway, carrying about five pizza's in his arms. Her stomach growled. Oh, how she longed for just a little piece. Just one tiny piece.

"Hey."

Dru snapped out of her pizza fantasy once she heard the gruff voice of the bulky man that was guarding the doorway. She was scared. She didn't know if she should answer him. She didn't know if she could trust him. But...that pizza...she wanted that. "Yeah." She whispered.

The man glanced at the floor and then met her gaze again. "I bet you want some of that don't you?"

Well...I..." She stuttered.

The man laughed. "That was kind of a dumb thing to ask. Of coure you do. Why else would a kid like you be pickin' Trace's pocket?" He shook his head. "I'll get us some food." His expression turned serious, and he pointed his finger at her. "Don't be goin' nowhere."

She shook her head. Her go anywhere? With food on the way? This guy must be nuts! "No." She squeaked out, as she watched him leave. "I'll be here." She sat in silence for a moment, before seeing a familiar figure pass by the door way. It was that poor sap she had tried to rob.

Trace.

Who would have thought she would have picked some big Mtv executives pocket? Maybe she really had gotten lucky this time. After all, nobody seemed to have called the police. Well...not yet at least. After several gut wrenching minutes, the man came back, carrying an entire pizza and a bottle of soda with him.

"I hope you like sausage," he plopped the items on the table, "That's all they would let me take. Justin's a big pepperoni eater..." He paused to let out an amused laugh. "Won't let anyone else have any."

The very sight of food overwhelmed her. Like a savage, she threw the pizza box open and yanked a slice out of it. She shoved it into her mouth hungrily, taking a big sloppy bite out of it. Amazing...

"Damn." The man laughed. "Breathe girl. It's all right." He said, beginning to fill two cups with the soda he had brought with him. He slid one over to Dru, who guzzled it eagerly.

"How long has it been...since you've eaten?"

After taking another huge bite out of her slice and chewing it, she finally was able to speak again. "Three days."

"How old are you?," he inquired.

She guzzled some soda, "Nineteen...almost twenty."

He frowned. "Where are your parents?"

Dru tore another piece of pizza out of the box. "Dead." She whispered.

"Oh."

That was the extent of the conversation for her. She was too hungry to try to explain herself at the moment, especially to a perfect stranger. It had never felt so good to eat something. As far as she was concerned, this was the best pizza she had ever eaten in her entire life, and the soda, whatever it was...it was great too. She wondered what it must have been like to live like this. Always having a roof over your head, always having food. It was like some sort of luxury. Something she definitely wasn't used to.
She wondered, if she would ever get the chance to get used to it. She swallowed hard.

If she went to prison for theft she would, that was for sure.