Oh God, I hope she didn't hear that, Dre thought to himself as they both walked out of the foyer in silence. Dre peeked at Megumi from the corner of his eye, admiring the way her silky dark red hair danced slowly in the wind, the way she held her chocolate-brown satchel in front of her. She was beautiful. Absurdly beautiful.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Megumi suddenly said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Dre asked her, turning his eyes forward.

"I can literally feel you watching me, dude."

"Oh. Sorry" Dre said, trying to keep his composure.

They both walked in silence again. He felt himself sweating bullets from the embarrassment of McManus's outburst and his unfortunate staring habits. "So, you're Ke'Undre Wolf, huh? Are your parents' name Abigail and Raheem Wolf?"

"Yeah." Dre's face soured. "How did you know that?"

"They're friends with my mom and daddy. I think he said they've been friends for about twenty years."

"Did they fight in a war together, too?"

Megumi raised an eyebrow. "How did you know?"

"Because that's how long McManus has been friends with my mom and dad. They always told me that they met at some weird academy, but I'm still kinda skeptical."

"Why is that?"

"I don't know. Kind of a gut feeling, really."

"Hm." She turned back to the front. "God, this is insufferable."

Panic shot through Dre. He hesitated. "Sorry. I'm kind of a quiet person."

"No, not you. I mean this heat. How in the world do you all manage to live here?"

"Oh, that. That's just something that you'll have to get used to. It's always humid here, even in the winter." Megumi groaned as she patted sweat off of her forehead with a pink handkerchief.

They walked the concrete steps to a wide building. The stone pillars erected in front of the entrance made it look more sophisticated, but the tin, warehouse-like appearance behind it said otherwise. "This is the cafeteria," he said as he held the door open for her. Inside were three rows of tables, each with set of maroon chairs set on top. The walls were filled with gold-painted plastic trophies behind glass doors. A stuffed gray wolf was in a glass box in the middle of the football trophies, an eternal snarl on its face.

They both stopped in front of the case. "And this is Wolfie."

"Wolfie?" Megumi repeated, uncertain. "You guys just keep a stuffed wolf in here?"

"Well, yeah. Wolfie is our school mascot. Kinda. See, no one's never really explained what exactly a Curley wolf is, so we just got the next best thing, I guess."

"Andy you all just eat in front of a stuffed wolf. This school's weird."

"You have no idea." Walking past Wolfie, they strode down a long narrow hallway with sea foam-colored walls to a pair of maroon double doors. "Well, this is the pool," Dre said as he placed a hand on the handle. He pushed the door open, choking on the chlorine-filled air that spewed from the room. Catching the attention of the class, a smooth voice in a thick southern drawl immediately called out to them.

"Well, well, look who's here, ya'll," a young man sneered as he stepped towards them, towel in hand. He was a tall, fair-skinned man with blond, combed back hair. It was Doug Flowers, one of the best baseball players in the school. Everything about Doug bothered Dre. From his cocky grin, to the way he acted like a tool to get people to like him, to the nickname he gave Dre. "You're runnin' a little bit late, ain't you, Mutt? Class ends in about ten minutes."

"Friends of yours?" Megumi whispered so low that Dre had to lean in to hear her.

"The complete opposite," Dre whispered back. "I don't really have the time or patience for this right now, Doug. Go bother someone else."

"And who is this redheaded cutie?" Doug asked Megumi, ignoring Dre.

"Not interested," Megumi stated.

"Aw, come on, babe. I just want to know your name." He took a step towards her, only to be intercepted by Dre. "What do you want?"

"The lady said she wasn't interested in you," Dre repeated. "And it didn't sound like a challenge."

Doug gave a conceited chuckle. Go run along now, Mutt, before things get ugly in here."

"You want it to get ugly?" Dre snarled as he widened his feet shoulder length apart, sliding his right foot behind him, getting into a defensive stance. "I'll make it downright atrocious."

Doug's smug grin disappeared from his face. "Peewee! Come 'ere and handle this lightweight."

As quick as he called, a tall, heavy-set man appeared at Doug's side with a beer belly that jutted over the belt line of his swimming shorts. He wore a red, sleeveless flannel shirt with a drenched white towel draped over his large shoulders. His head was shaved, with a thick beard covering his chin and jaw. In spite of being a freshman in the school, he was already at least a foot taller than Dre, and had a thick beard covering his jaw. 

"You never learn, do ya, Mutt," he said in a drawl thicker than Doug's. He snapped the towel off of his beefy neck and threw it on the concrete floor. Hearing Peewee's pronounced voice echo through the swimming room, the students crowded around them, each of them looking as bloodthirsty as the next.

Megumi looked around the group of students in a panic. "What are you all just standing around for!? Somebody go get the coach!" she called from behind Dre.

"For what?" Peewee asked. "The only way to train a mutt is through discipline. You'd better stand back girl, unless you want-"

Without warning, Dre sucker punched Peewee across his bearded jaw, grimacing as he held his fist. Peewee glared at him as he rubbed his jaw. In a flash, his fist dug into Dre's stomach, knocking the breath out of him. He fell to his knees, clutching his stomach, struggling to breathe as well as keep the rising bile down. Without missing a step, Peewee kicked him into the lockers with enough force to rattle the twenty-seven locker doors. The sickening sound of metal crashing on flesh reverberated through the air.

His stomach was throbbing, screaming in agony as he struggled to lift himself up. Megumi looked on in horror as Peewee stood over Dre, slamming his size thirteen boot on Dre's left arm. Peewee was trying to break him. This was beyond just some schoolyard fight. This was assault.

Enough was enough.

Shoving Doug out of the way, she dashed behind and cracked Peewee's jaw with a bone-shattering right hook, sending him careening to the pavement. The pool had gone silent as she gingerly helped Dre to his feet and wrapped his uninjured arm over her shoulder. "You're not hurt too bad, are you?"

"I think my arm is broken," he struggled to say as he hugged his left arm to his abdomen. He clinched his eyes. He wasn't a stranger to pain, but this was a worse pain that he had never felt. It was as if both his elbow and his stomach was struck by a sledgehammer. Every heartbeat sent a shockwave coursing through his arm. "How did you do that?"

Before Megumi was able to say anything, a short, slightly overweight man in a white collared shirt rushed to the scene. A maroon baseball cap with the words Prescott Curley Wolves stitched in white covered his head. The students dispersed at his arrival. "What's going on out here?"

"The Mutt knocked Preston out, Coach Falls," a blond-haired girl answered.

"Is that right?" Coach Falls questioned, "Go to the office then, Ke'Undre,"

Megumi turned to the coach, outraged. "Are you serious!? You actually believe that Dre was able to knock that ugly mug down? Dre is nothing but skin and bones! He couldn't have even hurt him, let alone knock him out! Where were you when Peewee was stomping on his arm?"

"Okay, kinda hurting feelings," Dre muttered.

"Look, I don't know how they did things where you are from, but things are run differently down here. Preston is the starting Center for the football team, and with the first game of the season coming up, our team really needs him. Ke'Undre, however, is just Ke'Undre. He ain't nothing but a liability. If he get into an altercation with our athletic department, then he'd better be prepared to face the consequences." He turned his attention to Dre. "Now, boy, get your ass to the office."

Scowling, Megumi turned to help Dre to the exit doors. "Hold up. Where do you think you going, girl?"

"Helping Dre to the office. He can barely walk on his own," she said without turning to him.

"I ain't dismiss class, and I ain't tell you to take him to the office neither. Stay here until the bell rings."

"Is that right? Okay." Megumi helped Dre off of her shoulder and strode back towards the pool area. Her fists clinched, she stopped in front of Peewee, who was still dazed and was staggering on one knee. Without warning, she sent a wide right hook to the side of his face, knocking him back down to the concrete. Coach Falls was beside himself with rage. "So, I'm kind of confused, coach. What did you want me to do again?" She looked back at him, smirking.

'