The view inside this thickly packed woodland was breathtaking. It was not a forest nor it was a populated area, it was well secluded from the outside world and one has to walk far to reach this large warehouse in between the greenery, so far as I have noticed. Tangled boulevard was the name of this place but it was not there in the maps. By what I gathered, the road to this place starts from Sandy Street and it mazes into this part of a county heritage which was once famous for its vegetation of grapes. Now, as it stands deserted with overgrown shrubs and trees, Alex and his gang were happy as long as they were deserted.

I was standing by the gates of the warehouse eyeing the thick greenery as the light falls in thin strips of gold threads illuminating tender leaves and flowers. It was magical; I was drinking in the flavor of the dense as well as the melody of different birds and insects. They were interminable yet they never irritated me; I smiled heartily relaxing. Everything was so serene here.

"Enjoying?"

"Hi, Nat"

"How are you doing?"

"God, this is breathtaking...but, don't you get bored after a while?"

"Bored? What are you saying? This is my life Angela, this is me. This wasteland is mine and this warehouse is my house."

"I don't understand."

"Long ago, my father used to be a farmer and he met my mother while working on my mother's father's field. You turned right to reach here form Sandy Street; if you had looked at the right to the turn you took, you could have seen a small muddy road which leads to the Panda's acreage; the land of Pandow Panda. A weird name, I know and a twisted story...so, he had two daughters and the eldest one was my mother. 

"In fact, my mother ran off with my father, because her father was trying to force her into marrying Charles... some relative of my Grandpa. They were never in love you see my mom and dad, and he didn't want to marry her; but my dad used to tell me that, Charles was a man of deceit and he was quite an animal towards women, so my father rescued her and then the love story was begun. Her father was kind enough to let her go as she wished and Charles married my mom's sister. Loran was their son...is now the sole heir to Pandow panda and he is in the rival biker group. He wishes me and Alex dead or me as his wife."

"Why?"

"Because he knew my mother would have been his mother if she would have married his father, but my aunt married his father and let's say she is not a mother everyone yearns for. Plus, Charles was furious but my grandpa was strong and he respected my mom's wishes; but after his death, Charles was severely injured by stunting and he instilled the poison to Loren and thus he is my rival wishing me dead."

"Why are you telling me your life?"

"It's no big deal; Alex pulled me through thick and thin and if he trusts a girl to his secrecy then she must be loyal to all of us as we are family here and we never cheat on our back."

"My, you guys are so awesome. Why don't you come to town?"

"I love it here and these people; I actually met them from town. They were all broken like me and they needed help and I was able to pick them up and give them hope and they have been loyal since."

"But, I don't see a whole pack, it's so little."

"Little is good honey, I brought Sandra the late pick and my first mistake to my pack because she cheated on me and now she is the girl gig to Loren. So, tell me about your love."

"Nothing much, at least not as interesting as your Nat"

"What? You find my life interesting? It is anything but interesting...it is dangerous."

"But, that makes you strong and happy; unlike me!"

"What makes you think like that?"

"I don't know."

"No, tell me...why makes you think less of yourself?"

"Umm...it's nothing."

"Because, Natalie...she is fat!" and that was Brono.

"That was rude Bro."

"No...look at her; she is self-conscious because she is fat. The people in town are good in making us think that we are inferior and ugly just because of that extra pounds having a happy time plus we are good for nothing scum on earth."

"Oh...sweetie, is that the reason?"

"Yea, I guess."

"Listen to me Angelina; you may be fat but what lies inside should rule who you should be. No amount of tragic tales shall convince me to lose hope in you. If you are fat, you are different and if you just like any other girl with a body as lean as me and chin as thin as me, it doesn't make you pretty. Pretty and beauty comes from the heart and so let the people deal with it. Never and I repeat never wallow in words that come from the hallow heart which only knows to spew tainted lemonade at you. Be yourself, if you fat...go like that; if you are thin...go like that but never be the sheep that follow others blindly just because you think that person is better than you. Live freely without worrying what others will think. They will go on think and say and once something comes their way you could see their runny face and nose thinking alike to make them the least pretty. I was jealous when I saw you first because you are beautiful."

"And I wished if I could have seen her before Alex did," Brono commented looking down at his biker's boots. I simply could only stare at him.

"Nat... I wish if...if it was as simple as you tell me. And Brono; you are sweet. Alex had a hard time to capture my heart and it's still in a blender. I hope you get someone soon."

"Angel... it will take time. It is only because you never had a proper friend who would make you see the world through their eyes. If you ever had one friend then you wouldn't have been like this. So trust me, I will mold your character in your stay here.

"Speaking of that, do you want to go soon as you commanded Alex the other day?"

"Na, my school is closed for two weeks and I will stay put until then."

"Alex is going to burst out. Let me tell him. Nat, show here our garden."

"Garden"

"You will see." her wink and those words made me see a new world and I was yearning to be like them, a soul who was carefree and caring.

My eyes flicked and my heart stopped for a while seeing the garden; as it was no ordinary one with flowers and weeds that I see most and know off; this one was adorned with bike stuff and all kinds of accessories and it was more like a garage, but Nat and Alex's team didn't like naming these beauties as some stuff that is lying on the garage floor. For them, this was their life and this was what they were. And this was what I could never comprehend; some people living in the depths of greenery with flowers as bike steel. It was all too overwhelming.

"What do you do for living?"

"Stunting"

"What?"

"Stunting" her answer was so blunt that I couldn't help but stare at her in wonder. She laughed majestically showing her bright teeth which made me feel insecure about my teeth being cavity stricken and too poor to be displayed with such beauties.

"Angela, stunting is a form of bike art and it houses big bundles for us you know. Stunting is a dangerous activity but if it's done with precision and expertise, it will never go wrong and if you are willing I will teach you. In fact, you could handle my bike with such ease if you are perfectly fearless; it will root the bike to where you want rather than how you want. So, back to the point, each year there will be a bike stunting held in Plymouth, forty miles from here and if we win the battle in the top three, we will get a huge amount of money. We have presented ourselves for the last five years and we have bagged the championship respectively. I could buy you anything as you name it dearly. And now to show you our playgrounds...come...hop hopp..."

Too stunned to even frame a word, I followed her to a sliding door and as she slid it open, the plain muddy terrain startled me. It was stretched so wide and it was barricaded highly to avoid creepers. The vastness of this land made me want to feel the bike under my fingers, but I knew I didn't have the time and guts. Gasping in awe, Nat enjoyed watching me go red with excitement every single time when she showed me something new.

"So, what do you think?"

"I think... my God, this is not some jungle as I thought it might be."

"What? No... I will take you to town in the evening; it's just a few minutes away. This place is well secured and barricaded."

"Oh." It was what I managed to say while eyeing the ground admiringly.

"This is where we learn and practice. Want to feel the wind in your hair?"

"Yes."

As if she could feel the energy, Nat ran off to start her Pink Fire and varoomed it from the inside to where I was standing and handed me two gloves, elbow and knee pads with a helmet just in case and I was ready with a shuddering heart and screaming body.

I carefully scrambled to the passenger seat and Nat was extra careful not to scare me, so she waited till I got settled; twice I tried to pull her with me while I was adjusting myself and the amount of embarrassment kept on nibbling my confidence, but, being the true friend, she helped me and at last I whooped a hooray into thin air. Finally, she accelerated slowly and we were set in a slow ignition, gradually gaining speed and sped off in hundred mph speed, which was too fast for me. But I held my tongue and enjoyed the vibrancy it gave me. Finally, as she was taking a U-turn, I lost balance and skid to the right side while I pulled Nat and her bike with me. Embarrassed beyond limits I started crying. This was the first time in my life, maybe second... that I was crying in front of another person and she soothed me saying it was alright and raised her black leather pants to show me an assortment of cuts and bruise marks saying that this was normal to fall in the first stage of biking.

Once again, I climbed back on after inspecting for scratches and she assured me that there won't be any as she used crash cages to avoid any damages. I looked around capturing the beauty of this place and just as I was about to turn, I saw a shadow vanish towards a thick oak tree.

"Hey, what's that gate for?"

"Oh, it was used to bring large vehicles from the nearby town for any new arrivals to the warehouse."

"Well, I swear I saw a shadow in there, near to that thick oak."

"Oh, it might be some stalkers, you know."

"But, won't they see you practice?"

"No, see those floodlights, why would we need it if we have ample sunlight?"

"You practice at night?"

"That's right and it was Alex plan to fix sliding one-way mirror to the whole of this place which will secure our stunts quite safe. Plus, the barbed wire passes electricity so everyone might want to secure their bottoms rather than snooping."

"Genius"

"Indeed, speaking of that...he might have returned with the new accessories from town."

"Let's go back."

"You enjoyed?"

"Yea, I did."

"So, tell me... do you love Alex?"

"Love for me Natalie is very difficult as I have seen my mom suffer through a marriage in which finally my father had the guts to walk out with another red or a brunette, leaving a very loving mother behind. So, I am not sure how to trust a man."

"I have to be honest with you, I loved him...Alex, you know, but then he told me himself that he doesn't see me in that way and I respected his wishes, though it hurts me immensely. There was a tiny bit of jealousy when I saw you first, but knowing you, you seemed quite innocent and I can't help but love you. If Alex loves you, please take care to respect his views as he is a man of such pride that he has never acknowledged his feelings to anyone in his life before."

"What?

"You have got yourself a pure form of love here dear."

I kept quite upon hearing those words which made my eyes prick with tears, I couldn't understand why. I looked up to the clear blue sky and asked my mom for being the true guide I used to see in her to help me.