Upon arriving home, Teddy quickly ehe house, pletely ign Geie, who was strangely sitting on the porch.

  "Hey man, what's up?" I calmly asked as I approached.

  "Your mom told me you went to pick up your sister, so I waited for you out here," Geie replied, looking unfortable.

  "Oh ok, wanna hang out or something?" I asked, cheg my watd thinking about the free time I had before meeting Case. "I don't think I have permission to go ht now, but I think we've got a couple of sodas in the fridge," I added, pointing inside my house.

  "Oh yeah, sure," Geie responded, sounding impressed for some reason.

  "Great," I tinued, studying his slightly unfortable expression. "Are we cool?" I asked, fused. He wasn't scared I was going to hit him, right? Or worse, had his mother already found out about the fight aed the way Mrs. Cooper would?

  "Wha- oh yeah, of course," Geie quickly replied, though he didn’t seem very sure of his answer. "It's just that..." he trailed off, struggling to tinue his thoughts. "I'm sorry, everything happened so fast, and by the time we could get there, the crowd had already formed," he finally said.

  "What?" I asked, amused, now uanding the situation.

  "Yeah well, Brock came in, and you were pretty fast, and before anyone could react, you had already knocked Johnson to the ground," Geie expined, exhaling as he recalled the older student on the floor. "Then everyoood up and ran to where you were fighting Smith."

  "It's fine, Geie, don't worry about it," I quickly said, incredulous that my friend was worried about not having 'helped' me. "I don't mind at all. I wasn't even pnning it; I pletely got carried away in the moment," I assured him.

  "Good, maybe ime you pn on doing something like that, give us a heads up, so we distract them while you kick their asses," Geie said, much more rexed, joking around.

  "Sure, I'll make sure to let you guys know ime," I said sarcastically, pyfully shoving my friend.

  "So, did they expel you or something?" Geie asked as we ehe house to grab the sodas, promptio tell him everything that had happened after his dad had dragged me out of the cafeteria.

  Later, Geie went home, and I left for the gym. It was time for training with Case.

  The gym retty packed with people training at their own pace. Case and Tim, the ones in charge of giving instrus, were making their rounds when they saw me walk in.

  "Hey, what's up?" I greeted them as I dropped my things in a small area behind the front ter.

  "All good, there are three new ts," Tim said with a friendly smile.

  "Did you write them in the logbook?" I asked, grabbing the register.

  "Yeah, you guys start in five," Case, who was expining foot positioning to one of the ts, said sternly. "Are they broken?" he asked, quickly iing my hands without ging his expression at all.

  "No," I replied.

  "Good. Expin how the fight went," he nodded, harshly me as he caught Tim's attention, who seemed unaware of my hands.

  Without going into too much detail, I carefully expio Case and Tim how I remembered the fight.

  "So, with just over three months, you felt brave enough to fight two-on-one?" Case asked, crossing his arms and shaking his head in disbelief.

  "I wasn't thinking straight; I was angry," I admitted, immediately regretting my choice of excuse as Case shook his head again and walked to the other side of the gym, stopping to help whoever he thought .

  "Poor choice of words," Tim said sarcastically, patting my shoulder. "Good luck."

  Yeah, I know.

  "We're doing sparring," Case said once we were ready, throwing Tim araining gear—gloves and padded headgear. "Only striking," he tinued, clearing a small padded area of the gym.

  During the time I’ve trained with Case, we’ve done several sparring sessions of different types. Usually, it was more on to do it on the ground, but on a while, there were standing training sessions.

  "Kicks and takedowns allowed, no more than five seds of grappling," Case expihe rules, drawing the attention of the others in the gym. Sparring wasn’t yet on at the gym, and it attracted attention si was the closest thing to a live fight.

  "Try not to overdo it with the low kicks," Tim said with a grin as he put on his headgear. Iively few striking sparring sessions Tim and I had, I took full advantage of his massive build, which made him slower and more proo low kicks.

  "I ’t promise anything," I said with a smile as I put on my headgear.

  "Oh yes, you ," Case suddenly said with a malicious grin. "Don’t worry about punches or kicks, Tim. PJ’s only going to defend," he decred, crossing his arms.

  "What?" I asked incredulously.

  "Oh yeah," Tim said, clearly excited and mog me.

  "Don’t joke, Case," I practically begged, ign Tim's creepy smile. "How is that fair?" I asked.

  "Life isn’t fair," Case decred with a smile. "If I were you, I'd strap that headgear on tight," he added as he walked away from the 'ring.'

  "Tim, brother, have mercy," I said quickly, tightening my headgear and smiling nervously at my muscur friend.

  "I ’t promise anything," Tim replied, mog me as he cracked his knuckles, preparing to turo his human pung bag.

  "Go on," Case ordered with a loud cp, making Tim immediately advance, raising his guard despite knowing he wouldn’t be getting hit.

  Siim was much bigger than me, he was fortunately also retively slower, which allowed me to dodge the few punches I could. The rest I had to absorb with my guard or try to deflect, but unfortunately, we didn’t have infinite space.

  "I thought you’d uood by now—an angry mind is a narrow mind," Case said forcefully from the sidelines. "I don’t say things just for you to ighem. That’s not how this works. I train you to be the best. If you go into a fight angry, no matter the oute, you’ve already lost."

  "I uand, I’m sorry," I said, as I took another punch from Tim, trying with all my strength to distance myself from my gigantic friend.

  "No, you don’t. You think there are no sequences because you beat two untraieenagers and won?" Case asked, annoyed. "Do you think you're strong?" he asked again. "You're not," Case decred.

  Listening to Case’s words while Tim tinued his surprisingly steady assault on me began to annoy me slightly.

  "I was defending a friend," I said angrily, dodging a jab from Tim.

  "gratutions, you’re a real hero," Case said, g with dripping sarcasm. "I don’t care," he tinued seriously, stopping his fake appuse. "I train you expeg a certain level of fighter from you, and in your first real fight after being trained by me, you go and ruin it like that. It’s embarrassing."

  "What?" I asked angrily. "I won," I decred, frustrated, looking at Case and losing sight of Tim, who took advantage and swept my legs, pushio the ground and mounting me, just like I had doh Smith in the cafeteria.

  "No, you didn’t," Case said as Tim sat on my torso, pounding my arms, which were c my head and face. "In a fight, victory belongs to the one who keeps their mind clear and their focus on strategy, not to the one who gets carried away by anger or frustration," he said, motioning for Tim to stop. "Therefore, that fight—you lost."

  "Sorry," I said, embarrassed, with Tim still on top of me, prompting Case to nod.

  "tih a normal sparring session, five mihree rounds," Case said sternly, walking back among the other people in the gym.

  Tim, seeing that Case had finished his lecture, got off me and offered his hand to help me up. "I was just starting to have fun," Tim joked, sensing that the atmosphere was slightly tense.

  "I’m going to give you so many low kicks you won’t feel ys tomorrow," I said, pretending to be angry as I accepted Tim’s hand.

  After the training and cheg the logbook and the money in the register o time, I went home.

  "hat happeo your hands?" Gabe asked during dinner, eyeing the color of my skin.

  "Your brother was in a fight," Mom, clearly upset by the reminder, said, pressing down hard on her sad.

  "Biane. It was against two guys," Teddy said immediately after Mom, clearly eager to share what she knew, probably from talking on the phoh her friends.

  I didn’t remember seeing Kat in the cafeteria, but knowing how gossip spreads in school, it was silly to think she hadn’t heard about it from someone else.

  "Cool, did you win?" Gabe asked, leaning closer to i my hands, apparently studying the skin on my knuckles.

  "It’s not 'cool.' It’s stupid and uable," Mom said furiously, quickly nudging Bob to support her.

  "Yeah, violence shouldn’t be an option," Bob quickly agreed, looking back at Mom with hopeful eyes, definitely not being forced to say it.

  "Bianca heard that the fight was because some uys were bullying Brock," Teddy added

  quickly again.

  "They were bullying Brock?" Gabe asked incredulously. "But he’s huge. How did you beat someone who could take on Brock?" he asked me.

  "Bianca said you left one of them g and the other with a broken eddy added once more before anyone else could say anything.

  "How did you do it?" Gabe asked excitedly, hearing Teddy’s words.

  Mom smmed her hand oable, interrupting anything anyone else might have said. "We’re not going to talk about fights at the table," she decred forcefully. "Or anywhere else in the house, at least not in front of me," she added, calming down slightly. "If I hear one more word about it, you’re all grounded," she warned, pointing her fi the rest of us, even Bob.

  Having said her piece, Mom tinued eating her food, clearly upset, muttering things to herself.

  In silence, I looked over at my brother and discreetly winked, making Gabe smile immediately, uanding. I’ll tell him ter.

  The day, a little ter than usual, at school, as soon as I stepped out of my car, I found myself fag my natural enemy at school—whispers and people staring at me like I was an animal in a zoo.

  I k would happen; I was already used to it, but the annoying feeling of being watched and talked about as if they didn’t care that I could see them doing it was still there.

  As I ehe school, the already crowded hallways around me immediately quieted for a brief sed, with some people, surprised, staring at me as I walked in.

  While walking, trying to ighe murmurs and eyes glued to me, I noticed how some people stepped away, seemingly afraid of me, just like the three students ihroom the day before.

  "Hey, do people really think I’m going to attack them for no reason?" I asked, greeting David and Geie, who were already at their lockers o mine.

  "Hey, I think they do, yeah," Geie said, gng at the people around us.

  "I hope it ends quickly. I have a reputation to uphold," I joked, pretending to be ed, making Geie look at me weirdly.

  An would have ehat joke.

  "You okay, man? You’re pale," I asked, ign Geie and looking at David, who was standing there with his mouth open, staring at me. "Oh, please tell me you’re not scared too. I’m not crazy," I said, exasperated.

  "Wha- of course not," my friend said, surprised, sighing as he hid his nerves. "Why would I be scared of you?" he asked sarcastically in a sharp tone of voice.

  "That's what I'm asking," I said, ughing as I opened my locker.

  "So, do they think Brock will e to school at some point?" Geie asked, losing his smile for a moment.

  I didn't know the ao that question. I don't think anyone besides Broew the ahe humiliation he went through was something I couldn't imagine how it felt.

  "I wouldn't," David replied, much more serious than I had ever seen him before. "That retty brutal. I would never recover from it, but Brock is way cooler than me," he tinued, slightly l his head. "Don't say I didn't," my friend quickly reized what he had just said and nervously lifted his head.

  "Don't worry, man. Your secret is safe with me," I assured him, pyfully patting David's shoulder.

  "And with me," Geie added, raising his eyebrows maliciously.

  After that, they started a discussion in which I found myself forcibly involved about a beauty test between two actresses.

  "Good m, PJ," Sheldon suddenly said formally from the hallway.

  "Hey Sheldon, good m," I said, smiling at my little friend and ign Geie, who, as always when his brother arrived to enjoy his 'escort,' pined.

  " I ask for some advice?" When the boy was well shielded from the people passing by the hallway, who were unaware of his presence as they were more ied in looking at me incredulously, Sheldon, keeping his suitcase close to his body, asked seriously.

  "Of course you ," I immediately responded, surprised.

  "I would like to overy ophobia, so I wao ask someoh medical knowledge for their reendation," Sheldon calmly said, making David and Geie frown, surely not uanding the term 'ophobia.'

  Amused by the expression on my friends' faces, I was about to sarcastically thank Sheldon for sidering me someone worthy for that task.

  "And you're the best I have avaible for free," Sheldon added, raising his shoulders with a bit of disappoi before I could say anything.

  Of course.

  "ophobia, huh," deg to ighe somewhat hurtful ent from the boy, I murmured, "does this have anything to do with the Sparks' new dog?" I asked, slightly smiling at my little friend.

  "It's totally reted," the boy replied. "My fear of dogs has caused some problems in my family," he decred seriously.

  "Some problems?" Geie asked sarcastically, interrupting anything else Sheldon wao say. "Meemaw fought with Mrs. Sparks yesterday. She has a bck eye and everything," he said, moving his hand in front of his own funny face.

  "Yeah, like I said, problems," Sheldon said, a being interrupted.

  In disbelief, imagining the older woman having a fight with the other woman, I could only shake my head in amusement. "So you want to overe your fears to avoid causing more problems for your family?" I asked, surprised by the boy's uncharacteristic act.

  "Yes, I know. I'm very siderate," Sheldon decred, proudly puffing out his chest.

  "Of course you are," I said sarcastically, smiling at the boy.

  "So, do you have any reendations for me?" the boy asked seriously, returning to the topic.

  "There are essentially two options, like with any other fear," I nodded seriously. "Option one, gradual exposure. You do small, increasingly 'risky' things to overe your fear," I tinued. "First, you study everything you want about dogs in books, then watch a movie, for example," I expined, watg as the boy nodded seriously, listening to my words.

  "What about option two?" Sheldon asked, ied.

  "Option two is to close your eyes and hope for the best, as they usually say, a 'leap of faith,'" I said. "F yourself to i with the dog and hoping for the best."

  With one hand on his , Sheldon seemed to be weighing the two options in his head. "I think for now I'll try gradual exposure," he finally said a couple of seds ter.

  "Good, e o's go to css," I said, patting the boy's shoulder.

  "It seems my intelligence is finally givihe respect I deserve. They're making way for me," Sheldon said proudly as we walked to the first-period , notig the behavior of the students around him.

  "Seems like it," I nodded, amused, agreeing with the boy.

  The day at school tinued retively normally. During csses, although I could occasionally notice the ed looks from the teachers glued to me, they didn't ignore my raised hand during the 'petitions' with Sheldon. They talked to me normally and smiled when I answered a question.

  My cssmates, oher hand, seemed genuinely intimidated. So much so that the usual time I spent helping anyone who asked in csses like math or sce had been reduced to only my friends asking for help. I didn't really mind too much. Helping someoh a math problem was no issue, but it wasn't something I looked forward to all day.

  Additionally, having more free time during each css, after finishing the work left by the teacher, allowed me to y notes onto other sheets.

  "You do whatever you want now. Everyone knows what you do and they're scared," David said excitedly as we walked to the cafeteria during lunch, apparently having finally noticed the strange behavior of people arou school.

  "We could use the smoking bathroom whenever we want," Geie said excitedly, uanding David.

  "Get to the front of the cafeteria line immediately," David proposed.

  "We could talk to any girl without fearing their boyfriends," Geie excimed, pointing at David and reag aing realization. Unbeknownst to him, he was attrag the attention of people around him, earning unpleasant looks.

  "Why does it seem like everything you listed works more for you than for me?" I asked sarcastically, making my two friends lose their excited smiles.

  "That doesn't matter right now. The important thing is that you do whatever you want now that everyone is scared of you," David said nervously, l his voice.

  "Yeah, I do whatever I want," I said, rolling my eyes pyfully. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to do it. Everything you guys said, except the bathrooms, sounds like something a bully would do, and I'm not a bully," I added, pointing at a bigger guy putting a kid into a trash .

  "So much power, wasted," David said sadly, raising his hands and looking at the school ceiling.

  "Sorry," I said pyfully to my friend. I wouldn't abuse my 'power,' at least not to bother someone. "Hey!" I excimed, calling the attention of the funny guy o the trash . "Leave him alone," I ordered seriously, causing a small crowd to slowly form around us, apparently ied in watg anht.

  Notig a wall of people f around him, the guy nervously raised his hands, nodding.

  "Get him out of the trash , idiot," I said, seeing that the guy was just pnning to leave as quickly as possible, rubbing my forehead.

  "Yes, sorry," the guy quickly said, forcefully lifting the kid by his legs and carefully setting him on the ground.

  "Thanks," the kid said, shaking his clothes before quickly running away, looking at me puzzled.

  "If you try to put someone else in any trash , I'll make sure to do the same to you," I seriously warned, pointing at the guy's nervously moving foot. "Go on," I ordered, moving my hand and making the guy, like the kid, quickly leave the pce.

  Patting my friends' shoulders, I tinued walking to the cafeteria, pletely ign the strange looks from people around me.

  "I might use my 'power' after all," I said to my friends, who had caught up with me a moment ter.

  The day tinued. During the final period, after 'saving' a couple more freshmen cssmates, I didn't have to say anything for the bullies to stop their harassment. Just seeing them was enough. The speed at which gossip spreads in school had its advantages after all.

  Whe arm of the day rang, I ag my things, ready to go to the hospital, when I suddenly remembered that I had detention.

  Not really knowing what to do, I asked for dires to where detention occurred. Fortunately, Geie khe pce.

  In an ordinary , pletely deserted at that moment except fivens, who was reading, oddly unsurprisingly, a ic book. "Take a seat and don't talk, wha—Dun, what are you doing here?" the man asked, surprised as he looked up from the ic to see me enter.

  "Detention," I said, leaving my backpaext to one of the chairs, not really knowing how to respond. What was I expeg him to say?

  "Oh yeah, this is strange," he said, opening his eyes as if remembering that I should be there, nodding. "Well, you do your homework if you want," Mr. Givens said, shrugging his shoulders hesitantly.

  "Oh sure, thanks," I said gratefully. I didn't know what I was supposed to do; doing homework was much more practical.

  "Yeah," Mr. Givens replied, frowning and tilting his head. "Yes, this is really strange," he murmured before opening his ic book again.

  While I worked on that day's homework and Mr. Givens read his ic, the was slowly occupied by a couple more people. Most were men, but two girls with heavy bck makeup and matg clothing, along with spiked colrs, were also there, staring at me ily and occasionally whispering things to each other.

  With their stant strange looks as they chewed gum, I regretted taking the fro.

  L my head, burying it in my notebook filled with math problems, and trying to ighe smiles of the two 'dark' girls, I tinued my work when suddenly the door was smmed open, and surprisingly, Kat entered, upset.

  "Take a seat and don't talk," Mr. Givens said monotonously, as he did every time a udeered.

  Kat ighe man aered the , stopping abruptly when she saw me sitting there. She seemed uo avoid it a out a pyful sigh before pletely ging her expression and walking to the back of the .

  Seeing my friend walk by, pletely ign me, my gaze met with the two girls who hadn't taken their eyes off me. They immediately smiled and blew kisses in the air, which was anything but a good feeling.

  Detention tinued iive silence. Ign Mr. Givens' instrus, the other people iion whispered quietly among themselves. Only Kat and I remained silent, with only me doing my homework.

  In the end, with my homework finished, Mr. Givens checked his watch, closed his ic book with a cp, and said, "You go," as he quickly left the .

  Being the only one who had done any work, I took loo leave than my detention cssmates.

  "Hey," as I left the , in the middle of the hallway, the two girls with heavy dark makeup were waiting.

  "What's up," I said, quiing my pad leaving the pce rapidly.

  Outside the school, a few steps from the main door looking out to the street, Kat was standing, apparently waiting.

  "Is your dad going to e?" I asked, stopping beside her. "I take you home if you want," I added a moment after receiving no response.

  "No," Kat finally replied as she walked dowairs.

  "No problem," I said, following my friend. "Kat, e on, where are you going?" I asked, watg her start to walk.

  "Home," Kat replied without turning to look at me, not stopping.

  "Just wait," I said, exasperated, running to the parking lot and quickly grabbing 'Debbie' from her spot.

  I swiftly left the parking lot and reached where Kat was still walking.

  "e on, Kat, get in. You don’t have to walk," I said, l the passenger window. "I’ve got good music, I promise. Someoh way better taste than me picked it," I tinued, smiling. "We don’t even have to talk on the way. Just think of me as your chauffeur," I quickly added.

  Kat, who had been shaking her head slightly in annoyance during my little speech, stopped at my st words, l her head in exasperation, g her fists.

  "e on, you pick the music," I said, notig that I was about to vince her, finally makiurn on her heel and open the car door with force.

  "Obviously, I have better taste than you," Kat said arrogantly, opening the glove partment and s through the CDs.

  "Told you," I said with a grin as I drove away from the school.

  During the ride to Kat’s house, apart from the musiothing could be heard ihe car.

  "Why are you mad at me?" I asked, uo help myself, breaking my promise. This made Kat groan in frustration as she tried to turn up the volume on the radio. "No," I said, stopping her hand from turning it up. "Let’s talk. I’m tired of my friends not talking to me," I added seriously.

  Sighing, Kat shook her head in exasperation, turning her face toward the car window.

  "There’s o go. You’re stuck with me, so you might as well talk," I insisted, keeping my eyes on the road.

  Time passed, and I still didn’t get any response from Kat.

  "e on, talk to me," I said, tired of waiting. "I thought we were friends," I said, trying to appeal to her empathy with exaggerated sadness.

  "Friends," Kat muttered angrily, "just friends," she said, raising her voi frustration. "And only that, nothing more," she practically shouted at me, clearly furious.

  Oh.

  "I’m sorry, I had no idea–" I began to say.

  "Of course you had no idea, you blind idiot," Kat said, hitting my shoulder. "Why would you? We only talked every day, hung out together, and you were funny. How would you have any clue?" she tinued, still hitting me. "Even my dad invited you to dinner. For a moment, I thought he knew and was doing it for me, but no, of course not."

  "I’m sorry, please, I’m driving," I pleaded, trying to shield myself from her unches while keeping my eyes on the road.

  "Of course you’re sorry, you damn knight in shining armor. Obviously, the great PJ Dun is a goody two-shoes," Kat said sarcastically, still annoyed, crossing her arms.

  "I am not a goody two-shoes," I replied, feigning offeer she fell silent. "Just so you know, I was involved in a fight," I added, trying to suppress a smile, at least getting Kat to scoff slightly, if only for a moment, before turning back to the window. From the movement of her shoulders, it seemed like she was g.

  I had no idea what to do. Kat was a great friend, obviously beautiful, but to me, nothing more than a friend.

  "I’m really sorry, Kat," I said, holding my hand in the air, about to pat her shoulder. "I never meant to give you the wrong idea," I tinued.

  "I know," Kat murmured, her voice slightly nasal. "It’s my fault fetting my hopes up. You’re o everyone," she sighed. "I just thought... I don’t know," she said, shaking her head in disappoi.

  "Kat, you’re beautiful," I said seriously.

  "Shut up. I don’t need your pity," Kat said sarcastically, scoffing.

  "No, I mean it," I replied, gng at her seriously before quickly returning my attention to the road. "I’m sure I’m not the only one who notices, and I bet you a colle of CDs that someone else will notice soon."

  "Why are you like this?" Kat asked exasperatedly, raising her hands. "Be like any uy. Just reject me and brag to your friends. Don’t be so nice," she said, pung my shoulder again, annoyed.

  "I would never do that. You’re my friend," I said, once again shielding myself from her disanized punches.

  "Idiot," Kat said, finally stopping her punches, ughing with some tears in her eyes. Leaning forward, she started looking through the songs until she apparently found the one she was looking for, beginning to sing at the top of her lungs.

  Amused, I followed Kat’s lead, singing the few parts of the song I knew, while just mumbling the rest.

  When we arrived at Kat’s house, there was an awkward moment of silence before my friend gave me a small smile and nodded. "See you tomorrow, goody two-shoes," she said before opening the door and heading toward her house.

  "I’m not a goody two-shoes!" I yelled through the window, ughing as I drove out of her street.

  ---

  Author Thoughts:

  As always, I'm not Ameri, not a doctor, and not a fighter.

  With that said,

  I think that's all. As always, if you find any errors, please let me know, and I'll correct them immediately.

  Thank you for reading! :D

  PS: PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.