Thursday March 21st, 2016

Richard groaned and lowered his head onto his crossed arms again when Om pointed out how they were still going to be doing their chemistry test. He'd studied, and was reasonably sure he was going to pass with a relatively high grade, but that didn't mean that he had to like it. There were others in the class that looked even less amused than he was, and still others that seemed to be having entirely too much fun.

He kicked Sophia and quickly signed in her direction, Please, try not to get me detention today? I would really appreciate it. Despite the words he was grinning like an idiot. Trouble with Sophia usually came with consequences, like getting detention, or grounded, or both to be honest. But it was usually just enough fun that it was worth the trouble.

What the hell kind of name is Om? he wondered as he scribbled on his test paper. This guy's kinda weird, it's not just me, right?

No answer to his thoughts was forthcoming. Someone walked past his seat, bumping his shoulder hard as they went and he squawked in surprise as his face was suddenly planted into his exam sheet. "Hey!" he snapped and sat up, glaring at Largent's back. The older student looked back over his shoulder and smirked at Richard, causing him to growl under his breath in irritation.

Without another word Largent handed in his paper and walked out of the class. Still fuming, Richard finished the rest of his test, ignorant of the way Om's eyes followed him. He finished his test next and handed it off to their new sub.

"Richard," Om said, just before the boy started to stalk his way from the room and he stopped, looking back at the older man. "There are always bullies in the world. If you let them get you upset, then they win."

Richard sighed and nodded, still mad but a little less furious. "Thanks teach," he muttered and walked quickly from the room. He walked across the hall and sat down with his back against the wall. A book came out of his backpack and he buried his nose in the well worn and dog-eared pages, waiting for Sophia to finish her test and come join him.

Thursday March 21st, 2016

9:07 AM

When The Boy With the Book started talking about Michelangelo, Mina was pleasantly surprised. It was a good idea to pair up with him after all. She nearly jumped out of her seat when he slammed his hands on the desk. He noticed, too? I didn't know he was that observant.

Mina ignored the boy who came up to them, asking if he could join the group. She started a new doodle on her page, and continued to ignore him. The Boy With the Book will deal with him if he wants to. For the rest of class, she repeated the process of doodling and ripping out the page. She didn't need to listen, as she already knew all of the stuff.

She looked up at the clock. Class is over. Without hearing if the boy was in her group or not, she packed up her things and left the class. The next class was Chemistry, and Mina was pretty confident about her test. As soon as she reached the classroom, she chose the same seat she had for History, the front left-hand corner. There was a sub today, Om, not that she really cared. Subs really irritated her, for they never know anything. The girl who could sign seemed interesting to Mina. Is she not able to talk? The Signing Girl reminded her of The Silence of Bonaventure Arrow. Mina quickly realized that she was signing to another boy. She was pretty sure The Signing Boy could talk, but the fact that he could sign intrigued her. Ah, I can't think about this now. I have a test to worry about.

When she received the test paper, she speeded through the whole thing, taking less than ten minutes. Mina took her time to check if everything was correct. This usually lasted for twenty more minutes, but she felt adventurous this day and handed in the paper earlier than usual. She pulled her doodling notebook out and started to draw.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" Oh. She had forgotten that subs do not let her doodle after tests.

"Doodling in my notebook," Mina replied.

"Are you allowed to do that?" Om asked. She waited for other students to back her up, but she heard nothing. What was I waiting for? They never back me up.

"Yes, I am."

Om had a disgusted look on his face, but she didn't care. Subs really do suck.

---

---

The clock ticked, and ticked. The class was almost over. Alden glanced at his hand, it was still bleeding, although thankfully lightly. He may need to get his table for history changed sometime. Before Alden could get up to pack for his next class, a familiar person entered his peripherals.

"Hey, uhm, I was wondering... There's only like 29 students in the class today and, uhh, everyone has a partner...for the most part. So, think I can join your group? there being odd numbers and all..."

It was Micky, a person that he is familiar with in the past, taking a few classes together and some other business. He looked up at the boy, eyebrow arching upwards,

"If you pull your weight, feel free. I expect perfect work, Mick." Alden said, looking away from him and beginning to fix his bag for the next class, "Although you may also have to ask icy, maybe she wouldn't care, maybe she would."

He now picked up his belongings are standing upright, began walking towards the next class. He didn't have any time to go to the toilet to clean up his wounds, so he'd do it after the test that was announced.

Entering the class he took up a similar seat to the History class, next to Mina, not particularly by choice since most seats were already occupied, though he did wonder how everyone got here this fast. There was some stuff about the handsome sub and how some of the girls fawned over him. There was also some quick exchanges between him and a few of his classmates, though, it didn't particularly interest Alden. Coincedentally enough he was taught sign by his deaf aunt, so he had a grasp of the conversation. There was also something about an older student bumping into another one, and the teacher piping up about bullying.

The test was now being handed to the students, and Alden filled it out quickly. He took also about ten or so minutes to check the test, and as he was about to give it in the sub spoke out about Mina's doodling. It seems like she expected some backup, as it was true, he did notice Mina doodling after her tests, she was a fast test taker.

"She had done her test already, I don't see the problem, so it should be fine right, sir?" Alden piped up, "Sitting idly after a test would be oh-so boring."

Alden grinned sardonically at the sub, Om, whom face of distrust loosened just a little,

"If you put it that way..."

Before he could finish, Alden walked up to the teacher and handed in his paper, and flashed his left hand smudged with his own blood,

"Since I'm done, I'll excuse myself." he said, placing the strap on his shoulders whilst waking away. The test wasn't too difficult so he pondered why it took people some time to do.

As he walked into the bathroom, he rinsed his hand under the sink, with his blood now flowing freely. He hoped that there would have been no scar left, he sincerely would despise that, the scar ruining his complexion. His left sleeve was up, so as to not let the water douse his clothes, he patiently waited until the blood washed away, staring rather intently.

Just as Blake finally moved on from a particularly challenging question (for him) he finally heard a sub start chewing Mina out for drawing for once. It's not that he purposefully ignored it whenever it happened, it's just that he literally always happened to be intensely focused on figuring out a question at those moments. That, and he just so happened to be seated on the opposite side of the room from her. Tests may make a room quiet, but unless you screamed in his ear Blake just wasn't likely to hear anything if he was particularly focused.

Back to the matter at hand, Blake just raised his head and hand up at Om. "She really is," he added to Alden's defense, "I see her do it after tests sometimes and our teacher doesn't get mad over it." Surprisingly enough, yes, he has in fact finished tests before time was up to see it. He didn't really see what the sub's problem was. It was one thing if she was sharing her answers around, but from where he was sitting it didn't look like there was really any way for her to do that either.

With that out of his system, Blake went right back into his test. Just a few more questions to solve! Just a few more... Oh goodness these are the things he has the toughest time with... Blake scratched his head and just kept at it to figure it out.

Sophia grimaced as she watched the little confrontation between Ricky and Lardo. The other boy had rubbed her the wrong way since the day she had laid eyes on him, and the callous way he treated people did little to improve that first impression.

Turning her attention back to the test, her grimace only deepened. Unlike Ricky, tests weren't easy for her at all; the information would get jumbled up in her brain, and she always had a headache afterwards. By the time she had finally finished, the rest of the class had already finished and left. She was the last one, as usual.

Dropping her pencil on her desk, she blew a sigh through her lips and rubbed her eyes before depositing her test on Tic-Tac's desk. He glanced at her with an amused smile. "Your class has quite a few characters, doesn't it?" Sophia simply shrugged as she sat on the edge of a desk expectantly. "As are you, it seems. Mr. Sterman left me several notes about you. He's of the opinion that you're a rather intelligent young woman, despite your more... disruptive tendencies." Both of them smirked. "He also noted that you've been struggling in this class."

Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Sophia shrugged again. This may be hard to believe, but I am not exactly a science kind of girl. Too much to remember, too little interest.

Clasping his hands together, he rested his chin on his knuckles. "So that's what it is? You're bored? Understandable, but it really all depends on how you look at 'interesting'. I think if you really took the time to think about it, there's a certain beauty to chemistry. And from what I've seen, you have a very keen grasp of it."

Sophia blinked for a moment, then smirked. Aren't there rules against teachers flirting with their students?

He leveled a hooded look at her. "Are you going to do anything about it?"

No. I was serious, you are not my type.

"So was I." He stood up and sat on the edge of his desk. "I'm not going to do anything about your conduct today, I've done much worse in my time. However, I would appreciate it if you listened to your friend every now and then, and refrained from putting me in a situation where I might get fired in the future. I'm rather fond of staying employed. Good day Ms. Callahan, and if you need any help, don't be afraid to ask."

Sophia gave the sub an odd look. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was something about his tone that made her think he wasn't talking about schoolwork. Shrugging, she tugged her phone from her pocket. "I'LL BE SURE TO REMEMBER THAT. SEE YOU LATER TIC-TAC."

As she turned and walked out of the classroom, Om blinked. "Tic-Tac?" He chuckled. "That's a new one."

---

Outside the classroom, Sophia spied Ricky waiting for her, but she also spied something far more interesting to her: Princess was sitting against the wall, drawing something. It was obvious what she needed to do.

Sidling up in front the girl, she bent over and examined the drawing upside-down, which unfortunately also dumped her mass of hair into the girl's lap. It looked like... well, she wasn't really sure what it was supposed to look like, but it did look really good, whatever it was. She could also feel the girl's glare boring into the back of her skull. Without looking up from her examination of the drawing, she rapidly slid a message into Speaker. "HEY PRINCESS. WHATCHA DRAWIN?"

@Ally610@pockets

Oblivious to the drama ensuing around him, Hal triumphantly finished his test. He slid it on Om's desk, gave him a smile, and bolted out the door without saying a word. He didn't want to draw too much attention, he'd been extremely late after all.

Hal slid into the hallway, noticing other students who'd finished their test waiting out there. He recognized most of them; Richard, Mina, Sophie. Good, he thought. At least I won't have to head down alone. Not knowing any of them well enough to call them friends, Hal certainly appreciated them now, he hated showing up to lunch alone. He decided to wait in the hallway until the rest of them went down, and he'd follow, blended in the crowd.

Micky felt a little bit of relief when Alden didn't mind him joining, but he wasn't all that fond of asking 'Icy'. But, micky had to do what he had to do, even if that meant succumbing to some criticism or rejection. Micky couldn't hesitate more than the few seconds he already had so he just decided to ask. Micky took in a silent yet prolonged breath, and began to speak.

"You thin--" Micky began, but almost immediately being cut off by the end of the class.

Micky looked at Mina as she walked away, obviously heading to her next class. Micky wasn't going to chase down the Ice queen just to join a History group, the possible outcomes of which were most definitely not worth it. Micky let out his breath and watched as the two students walked out of the room.

"I guess that's that." Micky said silently to himself. All of the students were already out of the classroom by now, so Micky then left too. Micky walked down the hall opposite the direction in which the majority of the class went, instead Micky headed towards the gymnasium. Earlier in the year, when students were picking their electives, Micky had decided to be more healthy and loose some weight in the process. Back then, he thought it was the perfect choice, Physical Education and Health. Looking back, he realized that the decision he made wasn't as thought out has he'd previously assumed. Phys. Ed wasn't an easy class for someone of Micky's weight, regardless though, Micky promised himself he'd never fall into a positions where someone would make fun of his weight, even if that meant pushing his body to the limits for months on end.

Micky showed up to Gym in his usual gym cloths. Coloured mesh shorts, with a grey shirt that had the School's logo and name in a darker color. Luckily it was a Thursday, so Micky didn't really have to worry about exercising to much. Usually towards the end of the week (Thursday and Friday), the teacher will play a game with the class that usually has more to do with thinking and planning, rather than physical feats.

Micky heard the bell and realized the class was over. Usually Micky waits for the bell to ring but when you're actually having fun, time flies.

"Take 6 laps and then you're good to go!" The teacher yelled through the gym.

Micky let out a sigh followed by a whispered, "...shit." Drenched in sweat, Micky 'hit the showers' and put on his regular clothes.

"First half down, one more to go..." Micky said to himself as he made his way through the halls back to his locker.

Thursday March 21st, 2016

Mina nearly died of a heart attack when Alden and The Slow Test-Taker backed her up. She was grateful, but she couldn't show it, of course.

After she decided that the silence was affecting her doodling, she stepped out of the classroom to lean against the wall and draw. Mina only noticed The Signing Girl when she pulled up her phone and make it speak in that annoying voice. Princess... is she trying to tell me I'm Elsa from Frozen? She sighed. Ugh, princess. Why do girls like them anyway?

"Not drawing, doodling," she said, without looking up. When she finished drawing the last squiggle she held it up again. It still wasn't very good, but she was fine with it. She put back the notebook in her bag and took a drink out of her water bottle. She hated water fountains because she always had to wait.

The Signing Girl was still standing next to her. What does she want? Mina looked around and noticed The Signing Boy reading. She turned back around and started to walk towards the cafeteria.

On the way there, she bumped into The Boy With the Book when he came out of the washroom.

"Sorry," She mumbled. Why am I apologizing? This isn't like me...

She noticed blood on his hand. "Oh! Are you okay?" Crap. I just said that out loud.

Thursday March 21st, 2016

Largent glowered at nothing. The halls were empty and only the echoes of his footsteps gave any indication that there was life in the school. The old building was so sturdily built that even with classrooms filled with students, the sound was contained to within the rooms. Nothing was to be heard in the hall. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, realizing at a glance that he was nearly out.

He sighed, plucked one of the last smokes from the pack and tucked it between his lips, making his way back to the bleachers. He was skipping third period and waiting for lunch. he only had P.E. next and he really couldn't give a flying rats ass about that stupid class. He sparked up his lighter as he found a quiet spot to sit beneath the bleachers and leaned back against the metal support beams that held up the entire structure. With smoke swirling around him and birds chirping in his ears he sat, and waited.

__________

Richard groaned when Sophia started messing with Mina. Her reputation preceded her and he really didn't think it was a good idea for overly chatty Sophia to mess with the schools resident Ice Queen. The hall was rapidly filling with students, a few he knew, and others he didn't. Alden came back from the bathroom, hand still bloodied and he winced sympathetically but stood, shoved his book back in his backpack, and walked up to Sophia.

He shoved his arms through the straps of his bag so that it hung on his chest, turned and placed his back to Sophias, then reached back, hooked his arms through hers so they were pressed back to back, and leaned forward. The end result was that her feet came up off the ground and she was lying on his back like a turtle on its shell.

"Come on, Soph," he said. "Let's leave the nice girl alone and go to class. Soon as we get through this next class we'll go find you some grub, huh? I think your blood sugar is getting low." He was sure they made quite the comical spectacle as he started carrying her down the hall toward their next class, but he didn't much care.

Third period was quick and easy, looked like most of them still had the same class together. How had he not noticed all these people that he had several classes with every damn day? In the end there was a refreshing lack of further incidents and before he realized they were making their way through the halls and toward the cafeteria. He could already smell the mystery meat that was the staple of high school lunch the world over burning in the pots. Seriously, prison food was probably better than the slop they got, but he wasn't going to complain... much.

He was saying something to Sophia, what, he would never really remember, when the incident that would lead to the complete destruction of the normal, quiet life that he knew, began. He pushed open the door, and with his head turned to talk to Sophia, plowed headlong into another body, sending both of them stumbling to the floor.

"Ow," Richard whined and sat up, gingerly rubbing a small bump on the back of his head. "What the hell happened?" He looked up and froze, eyes opening wide as he took in the site of Largent sprawled on the floor in front of him. Next to the older bully lay an empty lunch tray. Empty because the contents of said tray had ended up dumped all over Largent. It looked like spaghetti with 'meat balls', orange jello, and an entire can of coke.

"I'm dead."

At the loud crashed caused by Richard slamming into Largent, Hal whipped his head around towards the conflict. He set down his food tray, a smirk on his face as he walked toward it.

So, the big guy's probably about to snap, Hal thought. About time. Hal had never liked Largent, a dumb bully who used brute force to pound through life, in Hal's eye. Largent lacked grace, and cunning. These were things that Hal appreciated, and tried to embellish in his image, which usually resulted in bitter failure. Hal saw, however, a new opportunity. That kid, Richard, was in many of Hal's classes. He was friends with that quiet Sophie girl. Two for the price of one.

Hal moved near the sideline of the crash, lurking in the growing crowd. He'd wait for Largent to make a move, and then strike from behind. Largent wouldn't know what hit him. Partially because, if everything went according to plan, Largent would be unconscious. The other part originated from the fact that Hal wasn't sure Largent knew what backup was.

Hal picked up an empty tray from a pile of dirty ones nearby. It shouldn't be too much longer now.

Before Blake knew it, the period had passed. He managed to finish with time to spare, but he couldn’t deny that was definitely the longest it took for him to finish a test. If he had to actually start studying to get through this class… The thought made him shudder as he turned it in to Om. He wiped the metaphorical sweat off his brow as he packed his stuff into his backpack, slipped it over his shoulder, and went into the hall. Class was essentially over by then, so he just made his way over to his third period class ahead of time to reunite with his brother. Neither twin looked any better, really, but it was nothing they weren’t used to.

Once that period passed the two were bound for the cafeteria, finding something to talk about by contemplating how a Gundam Justice League AU might go.

Nerds.

Unlike most of the people in the school, the two usually prepared a lunch ahead of time so they wouldn’t have to deal with the dangers of the mystery meat. They’ve been packing their own meals since middle school, really, so avoiding it wasn’t very hard for them at all. Sure it got kinda stale since the only real mixup to it is the kind of snack they bring to complement their sandwich, but it had to be better than school lunch. Their commute to the cafeteria was stopped up by the commotion at the door. The two peered up over the crowd of growing shoulders, managing to make out that one of the people there seemed to be… Largent!

“Oh, that one dick?” Al asked.

“Hey, yeah, that guy!” Blake responded, “…Oh man, the other guy’s probably dead if that’s actually him!”

Al was just about to ask him if he was going to do something stupid, but Blake was already in motion to go help Richard up. Plan Stupid full steam ahead!

---

---

While the bleeding seemed to lessen, it didn't stop. With a sigh he decided to just get to the nurse's office and grab some bandages. He dried off his hand and placed the strap on his bag on his shoulders. Alden stepped out of the bathroom, slightly unfocused because of the wound on his arm and bumped into a person. He was actually at fault this time,

"Sorry" the figure said, oddly enough,

"No no, it was actually my fault, sincerest apologies."

"Oh! Are you okay?" the figure, who he now noticed was Mina asked in a bit of a worried tone, whilst she stared at the lightly bleeding hand

Alden chuckled a little at her concern, "I'm fine, just a little, annoying mishap during history." he said lightly, no hints of concern in his voice, "I'm headed towards the nurse's room, if you're actually that worried you can accompany me." Alden continued, looking back and giving her a smirk, he was now joking with her and teasing her. Alden didn't know if she would actually come, but he started walking away, towards the nurse's room.

---

He had gotten his wound sterilized left hand wrapped in gauze, with the nurse pulling out a wooden splinter from his wound. She also noted that there may be a scar, which Alden would be very displeased at, but it couldn't be helped.

Alden found himself in the cafeteria, he wasn't planning on eating whatever slop they managed to put together because his mother already packed him lunch. Before he could sit down and eat his prepared lunch there was a huge crashing noise. Apparently two boys collided with one another, Richard and Largent, with Richard being the one at fault. This was going to be messy, Largent is known as a bully of sorts, and those weren't rumors, Alden had seen plenty of Largent being, with lack of better word, a douche.

A crowd now gathered around the scene, of course who wouldn't want to see a scene of Largent losing it and probably beating up Richard. One of the most notable things he saw was one of the students, Hal, picking up a dirty tray nearby, inching very close to Largent, almost instantaneously he got the gist of what Hal wanted to do. Alden got up, and walked over, and getting being him Alden grabbed his arm with his left, bandaged hand.

"You, you're not planning on doing anything stupid are you?" Alden said his eyes piercing through Hal, his eyes were saying that it was stupid a plan to actually assault someone, especially with these much witnesses.

Hal was off-put, even slightly shocked, as Alden's bandages brushed against him. Hal pried his arm away from Alden, brushing it off.

"It's only stupid if it doesn't work. Plus, Largent's a tank. It's about time someone put him in his place, and I know you wouldn't be keen on scraping guts off the floor." Hal smirked at Alden's glare. "Just because you wouldn't wanna get dirty doesn't mean I'm not going to. No one likes Largent, people will be on my side. Right?"

This last line was said with some lack of confidence, but Hal shook his head, sticking to his plan. At the very least, Hal thought, Richard will owe me for taking his beating for him. If everything goes perfectly, I'll be a hero. If it fails.... well, I'll be nice enough.

Thursday March 21st, 2016

Mina actually considered following The Boy With the Book to the nurse's room. What's wrong with me?

She tried to ignore his smirk, and headed towards the cafeteria. There was a seat that she always sat in, and she hoped no one had taken it. When she walked into the room, loud music and chatter filled her ears. She tried to act like she didn't care that her ears were being blasted off, and walked to the chair in the corner. Once there, she took out her lunch, a ham and cheese sandwich, and also her book.

Halfway through lunch, she noticed people muttering and staring at her while passing by. Although she was used to being stared at, she wasn't exactly sure why they were talking about her in her face. Mina ignored it, like she always does, and kept on reading the book.

“Please God, please God, can you please tell me why? I ask this of you, yet in my heart, I know,” she read. I do know. I do know why people are talking about me. Mina sighed. I shouldn't have talked so much to The Boy With the Book.

When Ricky picked her up and hauled her away, Sophia pouted and proceeded to kick his butt with her heels until he finally put her down. Of course, this only gave her the opportunity to turn around and jump right back on, this time clinging with her arms hugging his shoulders and legs wrapped around his waist, her head cheerfully perched on his shoulder. As they walked away, she glanced behind them, frowning thoughtfully. Awe, I wanted to watch her draw more. A crafty smile formed on her face. I'll just have to catch her again.

---

Naturally, things simply had to go downhill from there. Third period math was boring, as per usual, and by the time lunch rolled around, Sophia's head was pounding and she was ready eat just about anything, even the cafeteria's "stew surprise", or rather "whatever leftovers they couldn't pawn off to the kids thrown into a pot and boiled overnight". Sometimes detention really sucked when you had to spend it helping out the lunch ladies.

Everything went from bad to worse, once they got to the cafeteria, and Ricky ran into Lardo. Literally. The collision left both of them on the floor, and Lardo's lunch making some rather nice looking art on his shirt. In an instant, Sophia crouched and started running her hands over Ricky, checking him over while neatly interposing herself between the two. The last thing she wanted was a fight before she had something to eat.

Micky made his way to his third class, Math. There wasn't anything interesting going on in math, at least, nothing Micky found interesting. It was your average class routine; Review the homework, complete a work sheet out of the text book, than finish off with more assigned homework. Nothing special. Micky didn't realize how quickly the day was going now that his hardest class, Phys. Ed, was now over. Math flew by and the bell eventually rang, indicating it was lunch.

Micky wlked down the halls and made his way to his locker where he would grab the few dollars he had for lunch. I't would be a strong argument to say that the lunch food wasn't worth paying for, but Micky had no other choice. Other than the Roof over his head and food on the table, Micky was quite independent. Micky didn't make his own lunch, not for any specific reason. The change jingled in his pocket as he walked through the halls and into the cafeteria. He got a bit nervous when he realized how much noise his money was making. In the past, he had numerous incidents where bullies would hassle him for his money. It happened only once at this school by a boy named Largent.

Of course, the amount of money he had wasn't a big enough pot for Largent to want it, but the thought still remained. Realistically, that incident with Largent might never happen again, but with a past like Micky's you can never be to paranoid. Micky walked into the cafeteria and saw the scene that was unraveling.

"Speak of the devil..." Micky whispered to himself.

He joined the crowed of gawking students, shuffling his way to the front of the crowed. He recognized the boy opposite of Largent, although his name was a mystery to Micky. Regardless, of who the boy was, this was a scenario you wouldn't wish on your enemy.

"The boy's a dead man" Micky said, His words getting mixed in with those of all the other students.

This is going to really suck Richard thought as, behind Sophia, Largent surged to his feet, like the leviathan rising up from the infinite depths. Spaghetti fell from his shirt, landing on the linoleum underfoot with a squelching sound. His face was red, eyes wide and teeth bared in a feral snarl of rage. Largent stepped forward, shoving Sophia bodily to the side and he reached down and grabbed a double fistful of Richards shirt, hauling the smaller boy to his feet, and then up, onto his tip toes.

"Do you want to die?" he snarled, face inches away from Richard. "Is that what this is about? I'd be happy to help, really, but I'm sure you could have found a les painful way to go about it." He let go with one hand, pulled his arm back, and slammed his fist forward into Richards gut. If he'd been standing on his own Richard would have folded completely around the blow as the air rushed out of his lungs and he was left with barely the strength in his legs needed to stand on his own.

Richard flailed and squirmed, trying to pull away from Largents grip to no avail. The other boy was simply too strong. Richards head was leaned back, doing his best to avoid the stench of stale cigarettes on Largent's breath and as he looked up at the ceiling a brilliant thought popped into his head. He didn't give himself time to think about it, because if he did, he was reasonably certain that he would talk himself out of it. With his head tilted back he screwed his eyes shut, body tensing in preparation, and suddenly jerked forward as hard as he could. The crown of Richards head met with Largent's protruding nose with a sickening crunching sound. There was a gush of warm blood and Largent bellowed suddenly, letting Richard fall, dazed, to the floor. Stars bloomed behind Richards closed eyelids and he slowly sat up, his head pounding and elbows stinging from attempting to catch himself in his fall.

Did I really just head-butt Largent? he thought and looked up. Largent had both hands clasped to his face, blood leaking from between his fingers and a murderous look in his eyes that sent a series of cold shivers down Richards spine.

"That didn't make things any better," he muttered. "Come on, Soph, we gotta get out of here before he kills me." He croaked, still barely able to draw in any breath.

Hal stood there in the crowd, frozen. He hadn't expected Richard to fight back. He couldn't remember a single time anyone wanted to fight back against Largent. And suddenly, the kid who was friends with the mute just broke the brute's nose. Hal dropped the tray in his hand. Maybe Stuck Up was right. Live to fight another day.

Hal slunk deeper into the crowd, leaving the tray on the ground. Trying to use the crowd as cover, he nudged his way out from behind Largent closer to the front, where Richard and Sophie were trying to escape. At the very least, Hal could make sure that they were okay.

Somebody had to.

Hal would find that someone was already filling in for the position he was trying to take. Blake had pushed through the crowd a bit too late to stop the initial swinging, but he was definitely there in time to cover Richard and Sophia's escape. "Holy geez man, it sounded like you broke his nose!" he remarked as he tried helping him up. "But seriously," he lowered his voice, "Get the heeeeeeeck out of here while you can. I'll meatshield you!" He seemed earnest about his intentions and gestured for them to get going, taking a moment to look back at Largent to see if he'd gotten back up.

Blake had plenty of pluck to square off with Largent if need be, but there was just something... very imposing about him in general. Breaking up fights had been scary at first, but he eventually toughened up to be able to handle a few swings and return a few if need be. But with Largent... Geez, the guy just seemed a lot more intimidating than any of the other guys he's had to deal with up to now. It made him feel uneasy about intervening, but his moral code wouldn't abide by him backing out now.

Sometimes, the oddest things can go through a person's mind at the strangest times. For Sophia, it was Getting pushed to the ground hurts. She had landed heavily on her shoulder, and had her arm not come up, she would have cracked her head on the floor as well. Both facts came to together to demonstrate her error in judgement: it was obvious that Largent did not care about who he hurt.

She looked up just in time to see Largent punch Richard in the stomach, nearly lifting him clear off the floor by his shirt, and she was in the process of standing up when Richard rammed his head into Largent's nose. Sophia was mildly impressed; she hadn't ever seen him hit someone before. Unfortunately, while his attempt at self-defense did succeed in gaining him freedom, it also had the unfortunate side effect of making Largent even angrier. "Ou biddle shid!"

Largent stood well over a foot taller than Sophia, and probably had a good 20 - 30 pounds on her. For such a big person, he could move awfully quickly when he wanted to. Unfortunately for him, Sophia was faster, and she was quite a bit angrier.

As the bigger boy swung his fist towards Richard's face, Sophia once again interposed herself between them, catching Largent's wrist with her forearm and batting aside his attack. Before he had a chance to react, she struck, jabbing her hand up and catching his throat in the V between her thumb and forefinger. His angry snarl gave way to a choking gurgle, and his eyes bulged as he found his airway temporarily blocked. Not giving his a chance to recover, Sophia seized his shirt and drove her knee straight into his crotch, sending Largent doubling over. Still not finished, she clapped her hands on his ears and yanked down, bringing her knee up to meet his forehead. As Largent stumbled backwards, Sophia spun and drove her foot into his stomach, driving the air from his lungs and toppling him onto his back. Standing over the fallen boy, Sophia waggled her finger at him, as though she was looking at an errant child throwing a tantrum.

Ignoring the stunned silence of the crowd, she turned and helped Richard to his feet, leading him through the parting crowd of bodies. As they put some distance behind them, the weight balance between the pair slowly shifted, until she wasn't so much supporting him as he was supporting her. When they reached a semi-secluded spot, Sophia pulled away and leaned against the wall, clutching at her knee and whimpering as tears pooled in her eyes.

@pockets