I walk downstairs the next morning and see no sign of my uncle anywhere. He was either still sleeping, or off doing whatever the hell he does. Nonetheless, I do not care, so I make sure some of my money is my pocket as I head out towards the garage.

After I left the house, I stopped by somewhere and ate some breakfast before speeding off to school. I parked my bike in an empty parking spot then got off as I stuffed my keys inside my pocket. I walk up to the building then walk inside. It's too early for this shit we call an education system. Nobody likes it, and nobody wants to keep dragging their ass around this hellhole for four years.

This place is literal shit, but sometimes it's a good thing to stay in school because once you hit the outside world, it's not so much fun and games anymore.

I walk to my locker and grab my book. I stare down at it as I knew that I had only a few months until I turn eighteen, then a few months after until I can get the hell away from this place and start my life somewhere else.

But who said I would wait?

I turn around and bumped into someone. I look at Amber in front of me and slightly smile. "Hi." I look around her then back at her. "Where's Trey?" I wondered.

She shrugs. "I don't know." She hooked her arm with my arm and we started walking to God knows where. "He didn't answer my text this morning, and I'm worried."

I shake my head. "You worry too much. He's fine."

Amber is the protective mother out of all three of us. She's the one who worries the most and scolds us if we misbehave. It's fun somtimes to mess with her, but sometimes she can be a little over the top.

"But, what if-" She stops in the middle of her sentence as we come to a stop. "There he is!" She leaves my side then runs down the hallway until she's jumping into Trey's arms.

I shake my head as I walk towards them. Amber has a stupid smile on her face as her arms are wrapped around Trey's neck, and I could see the struggle he was having from her grip being too strong.

"I need to breathe, chick." He removed her arms from his neck and stared at her. "What is your deal?"

She crosses her arms and stares at him. "You didn't answer my text last night or this morning."

I sigh. Here we go.

They started arguing and I knew that I had to do something or they wouldn't shut up for the rest of the day.

"Shut up!" I yelled. They both looked towards me with confused expressions, but I ignored them. "It's too early for this, please shut up."

Sometimes I don't think I fit into the teenage world. Almost every teenager gets on my nerves, although I am one of them myself.

They both stared at me for a moment until Amber spoke. "I'm sorry.." She said.

I sigh. "It's ok." I knew Amber was emotional and sometimes when I lash out on her, she starts getting really sensitive, and it drives me crazy sometimes because then I don't know what the hell to do but stare at her.

I pat her arm as in to comfort her and all she did was stare at me. She chuckles after a few seconds. "Your stupid way of comforting someone always cracks me up." She pulls me into a hug and I instantly feel trapped.

"Let me go."

She pulled back and smiles at me. We decided to walk around for a few minutes until the bell rung, because we don't hang out with anyone else or go anywhere else. We're basically outcasts in school and I like it that way. Nobody messes with us, and I don't know if that's because of me or what, but it doesn't bother me.

-

The only class that Trey, Amber and I have together is the class after lunch. Science. It's the only time that we can be together in class, besides hanging out before classes or after classes.

We hardly go to each other's house, and if we do, it's either theirs, not mine. It's something that I never allow, and although they always ask me about it, and why I don't ever invite them over, I choose to not say anything about it.

Right now, Amber and I were sitting at our table, in groups that we were assigned to. Projects are the best, especially if the teacher lets you pick your own group. It's more fun when there's a few more people to help you out, or if it's your friends and you don't get shit done.

After a few minutes, the door to the classroom opens and Trey comes walking in. I watch as he hands a note to the teacher then walks towards us and sits down. I study him for a moment. "What's up?" I ask.

"Why are you late?" Amber asks as her focus was on the drawing in front of her.

Trey shrugs. "I was in the bathroom." I watch until his eyes land on mine, then quickly looks away. "Um," He starts. "What are we suppose to be doing?" He asks Amber.

I watch them for a moment as Amber shrugs. Trey groans and I spoke. "We're structuring DNA molecules with these," I held up some colored balls and sticks. "Here." I hand them to him.

He nods then begins messing around with the objects. We sit there in silence for a moment as everyone else was working, and all you could hear was everyone talking, or making noises.

Amber was still drawing, and Trey was messing with the things I gave him. I watch as he was concentrated on what was in front of him, and he caught my eyes for a brief moment until he quickly looked away.

After a few more seconds, "Trey." I spoke out. He looks over at me for a moment. "What's up?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Doing work."

I watch him as he was focused and I knew something was wrong, and I knew that I was bound to get it out of him. I lean up and stare at him. "We're friends, right?" I ask. He nods, but never looks at me. "Friends tell each other things, right?"

He shrugs. "Sometimes."

I sigh. "Trey, what's going on?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." He stuck his tongue out a little as he was concentrating. I grabbed the balls and stick then pushed them onto the floor. He stares at it, then at me. "What the hell?"

I stare back at him. "Tell me what's going on, because something clearly is."

He stares at me. "I don't know what you're talking about. Nothing is going on." I could tell he was lying, and it was only making me more pissed off than him not telling me anything.

I look over at Amber to grab her attention. "Amber," I say as she's drawing. She looks up at me. "Help me out."

She looks between Trey and I. I knew she was debating in her head if she wanted to get involved or not. "What do you want me to do?"

I sigh. She was useless. I look back at Trey as he was staring at me. "Dude, just tell me. Please?" I beg.

He shakes his head. "I can't."

"Why not?" I ask.

He looks somewhere else. "Because.." He looks back at me. "I know how you are."

I gave him a confused look. "How am I?" I question.

He shrugs. "You're.. you. You get in fights, and bully people..."

I stare at him as he was looking down. "I don't do it unless I have a reason. What does that have to do with anything?" I question.

He looks at me and I was waiting for him to speak. "If I tell you.. you'll do something. I know you will."

I chuckle as I stare at him. "Can you elaborate?" I was lost.

He looks over at Amber as she was now engaged into our conversation. He looks back at me. "First," He started. "Promise you won't do anything."

I held my hands up in defense. "Whatever. Just tell me."

He sighs. "This guy..." He stops as he looks around for a moment before continuing. "When I was in the bathroom, these guys came in there and started harrassing me.."

"Harrassing you how?" I ask.

He shrugs. "They said that I was in the wrong bathroom, and I should be in the girls. They started calling me names and pushing me up against the wall." He hung his head down.

I look at Amber as she was looking back at me. I look over at Trey as his head was still down. "What guys?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I don't know their names. I know it was that Robert guy for sure." He looks up. "It's not a big deal."

I stare at him as I couldn't understand how he thinks that isn't a big deal. But, that's Trey for you. He's not the type to stand up against anyone who bullies him, and it pisses me off because I know he's being bullied more than what he tells me, when he actually tells me.

"Robert," I say as I look between Amber and him. "Langston?" I ask.

Trey nods. "Yes, but please don't worry about it. It's fine." He looks back down, and I hate how he doesn't really know me.

I sigh as I sit back in my chair and wait until a few minutes has passed. I then come up with an idea, and I stood up as Amber and Trey watches me walk to the teachers desk and ask for a hall pass.

"Don't get into trouble." The teacher warned as I grab the hallpass from him.

I chuckle then smile as I walk out. I love how every teacher in this school knows me, and thinks that when I leave the room that I would cause problems.

But, if they only knew that I don't cause problems with no reason.

I always have a reason.

And one of those reasons is from someone messing with my friends.

I think about Robert Langston, and I think about what class he's in right now. He's not a very smart guy, so I know that half of his classes are remedial classes, so he must be in one of those. Either math or English.

I have to take a good guess, and say English.

I walk down the halls and come to a stop in front of the English remedial classroom. I look through the small window and my eyes scan over the students at their desk. I slowly take each one of them in, and instantly come to a stop when I spot Robert at one.

I smile as I open the door and all eyes are on me. I look towards the teacher as she was sitting at her desk. "Yes?" She asks.

I hold my hall pass up. "I need to speak with Robert for a moment. I have some work for him." I lied.

She nods then tells Robert to grab a hall pass. I watch as he walks towards her then grabs the pass and walks towards the door where I am at. I walk out as Robert was right behind me, and I make sure that we're far enough away from the classroom.

"What work do you have?" He asks as we stop next to a locker.

I quickly look around before looking back at him. "No work, dumbass. I wanted to talk to you."

He leans against one of the lockers and nods. "Ok, what's up."

I sigh. Robert and I use to be cool, because we talked before. But, that was before I found out about him messing with Trey and I haven't done anything about it because I respected Trey's wishes.

Until now.

"It's about Trey Jenkins." I watch as he stares at me for a moment until he nods.

"Oh, ok. What about her?"

I squinted my eyes at him. "He." I corrected.

He chuckles. "Yeah, ok. Whatever, dude. We all know she's a girl, not a boy."

I started to feel my blood pressure rise, but I had to keep it cool for a second, or I might actually kill him.

I let my breathe out that I didn't realize I was holding. "Look.." I started. "Can you leave him alone?" I ask. I decided to approach this situation calmly first, and if that didn't work, well.. Sorry, Robert.

He stares at me. "Why?"

"Why the hell are you messing with him?"

He chuckled. "Oh, I got it.." He nods with a smile. "You're her friend, and you're trying to protect her."

I stare at him. "If you call Trey a girl one more time-"

"Or what?" He asks. "I'm not scared of you, Dana." He leans off the locker and stands close to me. "You're not a threat, and I will do whatever the fuck I want to." He got closer until I felt him breath on my face. "Try me." He smiled. "Bitch."

And that's all it took.

I grab ahold of his head and brought my knee up to his face. I watch as he stumbles back and groans. I push him up against the locker and stare at him. "If you mess with him one more time, I will make sure that your balls are disconnected from your dick. Got it?" I push off of him and watch as he falls against the floor.

I walk away from the scene, and went back to class like nothing every happened.

-

Robert Langston is the biggest fucking snitch in this entire school. He told a teacher about what happened. Now, I got called up to the principals office.

Fucking great.

I greet miss Valerie at the front desk and she shakes her head as she tells me that Mrs. Taylor will see me now. I have a mental flashback of yesterday, and I don't want to see this woman again.

I walk in then shut the door behind me as Julia is sitting at her desk, but quickly looks up as the door comes to a close. I sigh as I walk over and stop in front of the desk. "I'm here."

She looks at me for a moment until she looks back down at some papers. "I guess you were right," She said as flipped through the papers. She looks up at me as I was confused. "about us seeing more of each other."

God, this couldn't be any less awkward. I thought I would be able to handle this situation and mock her with stupid shit that I could think of, but it's harder than it seems because it's just now dawning on me that this woman was the same woman I slept with.

The same woman who was screaming my name, or fake name, that night in her hotel room. That same woman who I swore I would never see ever again, because that's how it usually works.

But now, she's my principal and I have to see her everyday.

Until I either decide to leave this town, or until I graduate. But, leaving would be a lot sooner than waiting a few more months until I get that slip of paper so I can leave this school.

"Yeah.." I trail off as I didn't know what to say, and actually didn't want to say anything.

I watch as she places the papers away from her then focuses her attention on me as her eyes look into mine. "So, I'm guessing you do know why you're here." She says.

I nod. "Yep."

She nods as she stares at me. "So, what happened?" She asks.

I shrug. "You already know the story, apparently, so why are you asking me?"

She stares at me for a moment. "Well, I want to get your side of the story." I watch her for a moment, but I couldn't understand if she was just saying that to decide how bad my punishment was going to be.

"Someone was messing with one of my friends. That's about it." I say as she watches me.

She nods. "Ok, so you thought that the best solution was to hurt him?"

I shrug. "I guess."

"Why?" She asks.

I chuckle. "How else am I suppose to get him to listen?"

"Maybe talk to him?" She asks.

I wanted to laugh. "Yeah, because Robert likes talking and actually listens." I roll my eyes. "Look, you don't know the story, so you wouldn't understand."

She stares at me for a moment until she leans back and crosses her arms. "Ok, then. What's the story?"

I watch her for a moment. "It's actually none of your business." I state.

She slightly smiles. "As your principal, and the decision maker of your punishment, I think it is."

I stare at her as I was trying to figure her out. Was she trying to be intimidating?

"Look-"

"No," She leans back up. "You will tell me the story right here, right now, or I will double your punishment from whatever it already is." She raises an eyebrow. "Got it?" I stare at her as I was trying to keep my cool, and not lose it because of this stupid woman.

God, why did I sleep with her?

I shake my head as I knew that there wasn't anything else I could do. "Fine," I said. She smiles and motions for me to take a seat. I sat down then stared at her for a moment. "My friend is transgender. Ok? Everyone thinks it's funny to mess with him because he's not like everyone else, and that pisses me off because everyone who is the same has to gang up on everyone who isn't. If that doesn't make it less easier on me, then fuck this school and fuck everyone else."

We both sat there as silence was the only thing visible. I could tell that she was trying to take in everything that I said, and I wasn't sure on how she would react. I knew that half the teachers here doesn't care about anybody and who they are, because if it involves violence then it's automatic punishment.

She leans back in her chair as she was watching me. After a moment, she finally spoke. "Ok," She said as her eyes never left mine. "thank you for telling me that." I nod as I kept watching her. "I figured out your punishment." I sat there, waiting for the bullet. "You will stay with me after school and help me with whatever I need. For.." She stopped to think. "a week."

I nod as I stare at her. "Ok, whatever." I stood up as I was getting ready to leave.

"Oh," She said as I stop to look at her. "your punishment starts today." She smiles. "Have a great day, Dana." I watch her for a moment before I walk towards the door. I look back at her as she was looking down at her desk then I walk out.