We walk into the school and people stare at us the whole way down till we catch up to the guys.

"Hey, guys," I say as we walk up.

They turn to us and their faces go white.

"We left you two alone for a few hours. How did it turn to this?" Gray says.

"What do you two do when we're not around?" Alan says.

"Like are you two rebelling against hair?" Trever says.

"Are you guys saying we don't look good?" I ask crossing my arms.

Willow does the same as me.

"No- I mean I don't mean that you guys don't look pretty- I mean-"

"That's not- what we were-"

Me and Willow smile at each other as they get tongue-tied.

"I have cancer. Beth was about to shave her head too but I got her to choose a bald cap instead." Willow says.

"You have cancer?" Alan says solemnly.

"Stage three but they said I should be okay after a few rounds of chemo and a surgery."

"Sorry, you have to go through that," L.J. says sincerely.

"You mind me asking what type of cancer?" Alan says.

She shifts from foot to foot, I can tell she doesn't wanna say it because it makes her uncomfortable.

I point to my pink hat and they quickly realize what it is.

"Hey, look at the bright side, teachers will excuse you if you wanna skip class." A says smiling sadly.

"Well, well, well, when did the coneheads move in?" Lela says behind us.

We turn and sure enough, all eight of them are there. All the school bullies.

"Look, I'm not sure if it's because your mom was a [bleep] or you hit your head too many times that you don't know when to back off but here's your warning. She may not fight but I sure as [bleep] do." Willow says like the bad girl she is.

"Oh, the cone head speaks! To bad those words will only get her in trouble." Britney says.

"Why don't you stop why'll your ahead?" Willow says.

"Why don't you go kill yourself?" Courtney says as she shoves Willow into the ground. Hard.

She hits the ground and winces and I see tears in her eyes and Courtney and the others laugh and I snap. I quickly pull my fist back and at a good amount of force punch her in the face, sending her flying back into the guys as they all back up.

 David steps up to me and punches me in the face but I quickly recover even though I can feel my lip begin to swell.

The guys quickly go in front of me keeping me from throwing another punch and helping up Willow as David goes to throw another punch.

"KIDS!" We all quickly disperse as a teacher grabs me, L.J., Gray, Alan, David, and Courtney by the arm.

We are all lead to the office as everyone watches us. Me L.J., Gray, and Alan are all sent to the same room and sat down. The teachers all stay staring at us, waiting for us to move. We stay like this for awhile. We stay silent till the principle and two police officers walk in as the teachers leave.

The police officers stay behind us while the principle takes a seat in front of us. He leans back in his chair and sighs.

"You three I would expect this but Beth?" He says sitting up in his chair.

"Actually they had nothing to do with this, they kept me from throwing another punch they didn't throw one, only I did," I say sitting up.

The guys all look to me.

"She's lying, it wasn't only her I threw a punch to," Gray says looking back to the principle.

"Yeah, I threw a punch as well," Alan says.

"Same here."

He looks to all of us. 

"Who really threw a punch in this?"

"I did. They were keeping me from throwing another. They didn't do anything." I say looking from the guys to the principle.

"Alright then, you three are excused."

"But-" Alan begins but the principle cuts him off.

"You may all go. Now." He says like a warning.

The guys all look to me as they leave.

"So what happened?" He says grabbing a pencil and fidgeting with it.

I shrug my shoulders. I am not about to be put in counseling with them so that they can have even more reason to kill me. This is on me, I threw the first punch, something I promised I would never do again. I have got to get back to normal.

"And Beth any form of headwear is not permitted, please put it away when we are done here."

I take off the bald cap and put my hair into a pony-tail hastily as he continues.

"You do realize I am going to have to call your parents."

"You can't, they are working at a hospital and I can serve time in community service for the rest of the year, You don't need to call them." 

"Look, Beth, everyone makes mistakes, this was your very first and you have been top of your class all year so for today and today only, I will let you off the hook after apologizing to Courtney but as an extra procedure, for this last month of school you are to have a police escort to every class. Becky?" He says motioning for an officer to step forward.

She walks up next to me.

"Becky will be keeping you out of trouble and escorting you from class to class. Becky this is Beth." He says motioning to me.

"Why don't we head over to the other room so that you can apologize?"

I bite my lip to keep me from saying something I will regret as I stand up and he motions for me to walk out. I stand up and he goes in front of me as we walk out to another room.

Inside the room, David and Courtney sit there as Courtney holds ice to her nose. My cheek and jaw are bruised too, I got punched pretty hard too. I wonder what they have said about me. I look to them as all eyes are on me.

"Sorry for punching you," I say with no real sincerity.

She says nothing.

"Alright then. Let's go." 

I am lead from the room and Becky motions for me to follow her. She grabs a bag of ice from the office and hands it to me as we walk out. I don't take it.

"Your gonna want it, it'll keep the swelling down."

I take it from her and put it to my face. Not really wanting to.

"you know you remind me a lot of myself as a kid."

I say nothing.

"Straight A student good girl with a few really good friends. Till you have enough and high school snaps you."

I stay silent, not really wanting to talk.

"I know who you are Beth, I worked on that case. The one with the five-year-old girl they said. It was my first case, first time on the scene. 2009. You know you would make a good officer."

I don't want to say anything.

"If you ever have some extra time, let me know, you can work as an apprentice in the office. You might find it to be some fun."

We soon make it to my class and I walk in as she straighten's up and stands beside me with a now straight face as the whole class turns to me. Gray looks surprised as I walk in with an officer.

"Back of the class please Mrs. Jones."

I take my seat and Officer Becky sits on the other side of the table. Everyone continues to watch as I pull out my stuff from my bag.

"Attention back up here please." Mrs. Wallence says as the class slowly turns their heads back.

Gray continues to look back to me worryingly as I look at the board but see him from the corner of my eye. I glance over at him and see him look back to me. I then glance over at the others who are all comforting Courtney. They watch me and I quickly look away. I see Becky watching where I look and glance. She is studying me and taking metal notes, something I do a lot.

I quickly and easily finish the assignment and start working on homework as I set it off to the side. Mrs. Wallece soon appears though and looks over my work.

"Finished already?" She says in a normal talking tone so that the whole class can overhear.

"Yes ma'am," I say looking up to her from my homework.

"And you are sure that answer is correct?" She says pointing to a question.

Becky watches what she is doing and what I say. Me and her both know what she is doing. She's testing me and how far she can still push me.

"Yes, ma'am."

"How do you know?" She says standing up straight with her arms crossed.

"You reverse the process starting with the answer you had gotten and see whether you get the known variables," I say calmly and clearly.

"Nice job." She says straining her voice.

She soon walks away and the class turns back to their work. I take a silent deep breath and continue working on all my homework.

The day carries on until last period. Every kid in there is attracted to Becky and she gives them all stickers as I clean up. It soon ends though and it's what I and the gym teacher call a 'God is happy,' day. No one peed themselves.

Becky walks me out to the parking lot, past the others and near the guys.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow Beth. Let me know if you wanna look into becoming an apprentice." She says walking away and to her car.

"Beth!" I look over and so does Becky as she continues to walk away. The guys are calling me over and Willow is with them.

I look sadly at them and walk over. They all look to me as I stand before all of them.

"When will you learn to fight in private?" Alan says shaking his head.

"What happened to the cap?" Willow says.

"Teachers made me take it off."

"The police officer?"

"Here for the rest of the year to make sure I don't mess up."

"Wow, so you wanna go to the skate park?" L.J. asks.

"No thanks, I got some stuff I got to take care of."

"You want a ride?" Gray says.

"No thanks, I'm just gonna walk, see you guys later?" I say backing up.

"Sure." A says.

I quickly turn and walk away. I can tell they watch me walk away. 

I overthink everything that has happened today as I walk home with my head down. What did I do to deserve this? I am about halfway home when I feel a pull on my coat into an alley like area. I am quickly pulled to the ground but picked up by my hood, choking me.

"You thought you could get away from us?" Henry says as he holds me by the hood.

It's them.

"You thought wrong little B," David says as he takes a cigarette from his mouth and comes up to me.

He pushes the hot ashes into my cheek, burning through my skin as I whimper and try to pull away. Ashes fall to the ground as my cheek burns.

"Knock it off!" He says as he finishes burning my cheek and fips his cigarette off the side before punching me in the face.

They continue to all punch and kick me till my face bleeds. They pull my arms from my face and legs from my chest as they continue to punch and kick me. The girls dig their heels into my arms and legs while kicking me in the stomach along with pulling my hair. The guys on the other hand, Jace holds my arms and legs away to keep me an easy target while David punches me in the face and stomach while Henry throws a few rocks at me.  

 It seems like an eternity till they stop hurting me. They all finally leave but I don't cry I just sit there. On my side. In a ball. In an empty alley. Alone. Straight face till they leave.

I sit up and rub the cigarette ashes from my face as I go to stand up. I am wobbly on my bruised legs and use the wall to stand up completely. I get weird looks as I leave the ally covered in bruises, burn marks and blood running down my face.

I quickly make my way home and in the front door.

"What happened to you?" Leo says walking over to me.

I ignore him and slide off my shoes as I race upstairs to the bathroom. I quickly rush in the bathroom and lock the door, slowly turning around...

And looking into the mirror at someone I don't know.