As I walk in the door cheers come from the class. I keep a straight face and walk to my seat. Mrs. Wallence follows in and gives then that warning look that every student knows means to stop whatever they are doing.

"Get to work on your assignment."

I pull out my work and start taking notes for the test. The person next to me soon taps the table to get my attention and whispers to me.

"Nice one. They asked for it."

"Lilly, back to work! I swear this class is gonna make me lose my mind."

She breathed that last part under her breath.

The rest of the day goes by and what I had done disappears with all the other drama and at the end of the day, it is brought back up with twists. Rumors about it spread. As the day comes to an end and I am running errands for the gym teacher I walk past a few groups of people.

"I heard she caused the accident."

"I was told that she was bragging about hiring the guy as a hitman."

"She even knocked out his tooth, I was in the class and saw it happen."

"What happened to the nerd?"

"Nerds lost it."

"He said all he did was ask her if she was okay."

A few more whispers surround me as I walk past them. A few catcalls sound and I ignore it all. I won't see these people after high school, don't matter. As long as my grades are good I'll be okay. 

I go to the office and ask for three new pairs of pants and five new shirts along with two more pull-ups. Babysitting isn't too bad. We are only allowed to take care of kids five and up. 

Any child under and the parent has to come in and take care of certain things. They hand me a box of clothes and another box of pull-ups. I put one in each hand and carry it while trying to move my crutches. I walk out of the office and down the same hall.

"Those for you?"

I get a bunch more remarks trying to make me go off but I ignore it. As I am almost at the end of the hall Lela and her crew walk by. Brittney is behind them all. As I go to pass them they grab my crutch and pull it out from under me making me fall. They laugh at me while I lay on the ground. Brittney drops my crutch next to me.

"Oops."

They continue to walk and I sit up. I pick up the clothes and put them back in the box. My leg hurts from me not being able to protect it but I put it in the back of my mind. No one makes a move to help me till footsteps sound down the hall. 

I don't look and I continue to put the scattered clothes back in the box. That is till A appears in front of me and puts some clothes further away in the box. 

"Thanks."

He nods his head and smiles at me. As I go to pick back up the boxes he helps me up and hands me my crutches.

"I got it," I say.

He ignores me and grabs the boxes and carries them for me anyway.

"Where to?"

"Gym."

We start walking that way.

"Thanks for this."

"No problem. So you threatened him?"

"Yeah."

"Good for you. I think we might be a bad influence on you."

"Probably."

We continue to walk leaving the groups of gossip behind us.

"What kind of class is this?"

"One that earns easy credits."

"I'm in," he says as a smile crosses his face.

"You want to deal with kids that peed themselves?"

"I'm out." His look from before drops into a serious one.

"Easy credits," I tease him.

"No amount of credits is worth mopping up pee," he announced with a dead serious face.

I laugh slightly at him.

"Are you laughing at me?"

"What? No!" I shoot back.

He smiles at me as we reach the gym. I open the door limping a little and stand in front of it to keep it open. He walks in and kids start to surround him.

"Beth?"

"Yeah?"

"This is a messed up class."

"Here, hand me the boxes."

He tries to hand them to me over all the kid's heads and they reach for the boxes and shout at us.

"If you guys want to play dodgeball later you better back up."

They all step back and go silent. Works everytime.

"Thanks for your help."

"No problem."

He turns to head out and as that door closes. They continue to go crazy while the gym teacher mops up pee. I don't get it. The bathrooms are right there. I mean, is your zipper stuck or do you pee because you're excited?

"Alright, if you have not peed your self, go over there, if you need to go to the bathroom, go. And if you have peed yourself in this class today stay here."

Once they are all cleaned up it is only a few more minutes till school is out and the gym teacher lets me out early. I grab my bag filled with books that are like cinder blocks and sling it over my shoulder. 

I head out the back door to keep the kids from following me and head to the Northside parking lot. As I head out I see them. Jace, Henry, David, Courtney, Lela, and Britney. I am not in the mood to even try to avoid them. I continue to walk and they stop talking as I go to walk past them. 

I wanted nothing more than to walk through the front doors today but memories following the last time I did that wasn't pleasant. They followed me on my way home till we reached an alley. I could barely stand up straight and that was the first time I bought makeup to cover it all up.

"Where do you think you're going?"

They grab the back of my bag and pull me backward making me fall but I was able to protect my head. Pain shoots from my back to my legs and to my head. I stand up on one leg. They punch me in the face and I grab the wall to keep myself up.

"Your mother as resilient as you?"

I lost it. I throw a punch knocking David back and giving him a bloodied nose that runs down his face. He wipes away some blood but it just covers his hand and smears it.

He quickly curses at me and says I broke his nose. But I already knew I did. I made sure I did.

My hands are pulled behind my back and I struggle to get away. They punch me in the stomach making me want to throw up whatever I have in my stomach. I continue to struggle and I see Henry pull a knife. They wouldn't kill me, right?

"Face scar for a broken nose sounds fair." 

He comes closer and puts the blade to my skin and slicing it making it began to bleed and burn as it cuts smoothly through my skin. If I move it will be worse. 

"Hey!"

The stinging of the blade to my cheek soon stops and we all look over to see Gray, A, Mason, L.J., and Trever approach. 

"Stay out of this."

They come closer.

"Let her go," Mason says as they stop only feet away from us.

"Walk away. This is our problem." Daniel says trying to stop the bleeding from his nose.

Trever busts up laughing and can't stop when he sees how ridiculous Daniel looks as he has smeared the blood everywhere on his face. I don't think I could explain how ridiculous he looks if I tried.

"Sorry, sorry, this is hilarious."

He says leaning on L.J. still laughing. L.J. attempts to keep a straight face trying not to laugh at Trever and his reaction but I see his mouth almost tug into a smile.

"I said let her go," Gray says pulling back his shirt a little revealing a gun. Fake. I know one when I see one. Smart though. Mason pulls a switchblade to his side.

They quickly let me go and shove me to the ground running away like they just saw a bear. I stand up against the wall and pick up a rock, throwing it hitting Henery in the head and Jace has to help him run as he becomes dizzy. 

"Nice aim."

I turn to see Gray handing me my crutches.

"Thanks. How bad's the cut?" Ask as I take the crutches and my bag.

"Not awful. Won't leave a scar."

"Guys, I got a picture!" Trever says chuckling.

He holds up his phone and it shows a picture of Daniel with blood on his face making a weird face.

I smile and shake my head at him.

"You did that to him?" L.J. says smiling.

"For the record, I didn't start it."

"Couldn't have done better myself," Gray says smiling at the picture while Trever is laughing.

"We are definitely a bad influence." A says looking at me copying my smirk.

"C'mon, I have a first aid kit in my car for the cut," Mayson says motioning for us to follow him.

Trever slowly stops laughing and has to take deep breaths.

"Did you guys not see it?"

"What?" L.J. asks.

He pulls the picture back up and points to the side where Jace is halfway in the picture and points to his pants. There is a darker spot on his pants.

L.J. stifles a laugh. Jace peed himself. I have to hold in a laugh and take a few deep breaths at just how funny this is. I don't think you understand.

Gray chuckles and A is smiling widely while Mason trying to keep a straight face.

"You better send it to me," I say looking at Jace's eyes that are bugged out.

"I mean, if we wanted to, we could share it with the school."

"Too far. Way to far. That can ruin a person." I say still smiling.

"Beth is right. This is a joke among friends only." Gray says, backing me up.

We reach Mason's car which is a nice dark blue truck. He opens the back door and a few pieces of garbage fall out. He reaches in and pulls out a first aid kit.

Since I can't see the cut Mason tries to stop the bleeding and bandage it. In the end, it burns worse from the alcohol pads that were used to clean it and is covered by a huge bandage.

"Alright, now that, that is taken care of. Who is Beth gonna ride with?"

"She can ride with me." A says nodding his head towards his car.

We split up and I follow A to his car.

I sit in the front seat and he blares music the whole time while we make small talk and jokes like dorks. We finally make it to Queen Kone.

He pulls in the front and turns off the car making the mirrors stop shaking. I grab my crutches and stand up closing the car door behind me. We head in and sit down in a round booth in the corner.

"I never got the chance to say it really but thanks for helping me and my family out of the car."

"No problem," L.J says looking over the menu.

"Wait a minute, guys, she doesn't know," Gray says looking at them.

"She doesn't know," A says looking up at me.

"She has no idea," Mason says smiling.

"She has had no training..." Trever says looking to me as well.

"What are you guys talking about?"

"You think she's ready for that?" Trever says grinning.

"Ready for what?"

"She's ready," Gray says while nodding.

"What are you guys talking about?"

Gray signals a waitress over. 

"What's your favorite type of ice cream?" A asks me.

"Oreo, I don't get-"

"Hi ma'me could we get six of your triple I.C.C?"

"Flavors?"

"Strawberry," Mason says.

"Chocolate." A says.

"Vinella," Trever says.

"Mint Chocolate Chip," L.J. says smiling.

"Cookie dough and an Oreo for her," Gray says last.

"Alright, it will start in ten minutes. Best of luck."

"Hope you can keep down your icecream Beth."

"What have you guys signed me up for?"

"You'll see in ten minutes."

"And you have to play."

"Oh no." I say rubbing my eyes.

They all smile and chuckle at my scared reaction.

I pester them for the next ten minutes to tell me. Then someone with a microphone steps in the center of the ice cream place.

"Could I have your attention please?"

We all turn to her and the guy's smile.

"We have an Ice Cream Competition starting with six different individuals. Five are repeat competitors and one newcomer. These guys have ten minutes to eat three gallons of ice cream in the form of milkshakes. All they need to do is have it in their stomach at one point or another. Throwing it up is allowed and encouraged for the sake of your health.

A table is set up over a garbage bags. Six chairs are set up with two buckets on each side. Oh, shoot. This is a throwing up rainbows competition. Milkshakes are set up in lines of each chair. All colored to be a rainbow. A straw sticks out of each. 

"The six competitors come on up and take a seat."

They push me out of the booth.

"What have you guys gotten me into?"

They all smile at me. We take our seats and I am second to last on the line between L.J. and Gray who is at the end.

"Names for the record?"

She moves the microphone to each of us.

"Gray."

She moves it to me.

"Beth."

"L.J."

"A."

"Mason."

"Trever."

"Hands behind the table. Ten minutes on the clock. Go!"

The guys start dumping the ice cream into their mouths and I do the same. I am the third to finish it and my stomach already hurts. I don't care about pacing like the guys are and quickly chug the next two. Luckily thay are actually really small.

 I am already downing the last of the five in front of me. I am about to explode. When I finish, a new set of five is set in front of me. Oh man.

"How are you not getting brain freeze Beth?" I hear Mason shout.

"I already have it," I say as I finish the next one. What they don't know is I am the raining champion in my family. Therefore brain freezes are so common I don't feel it as bad. But I do feel my stomach about to explode.

"The ice cream being rainbow does not help," I say as I look at colors in the cups.

I hear a few of the guys try to hold down their ice cream. THIS IS SUCH A SICK GAME!!!

I start to finish the last three and Gray has caught up with me. We are both on our last set. I finish the first two before him. As he finishes his third I am about halfway. He finishes it but has to take a second to breathe and I quickly down the last two and he comes back doing the same.

"And we have a tie for the winner!" 

I quickly tuck my hair behind me and gag into the bucket beside me as applause sounds and the guys all do the same. 

I finish gagging and put my elbows on the table burying my face and they give us napkins. I grab one and wipe the ice cream and throw up off my nose and mouth, crumpling it in my hand afterward.

"Beth and Gray finished in six minutes and six seconds. A new record! Both of you get your picture on the board of winners!"

 Gray and I stand up as they lead us to a striped wall. He wraps his arm around my neck and I wrap mine around his back. They quickly take the picture and carry it over to a bulletin board full of pictures. 

They take the picture in the winner's space and move it down putting our picture there. I twist my hair in a way that it's out of my way and I can go throw up some more. They hand us both a bucket to throw up in and an ice cream with googly eyes keychain.

What a place.