After I left art, much calmer than I had entered—the familiarity of the relaxed environment had soothed me greatly—I walked with Danny and some other sophomores to the cafeteria, chatting about our shitty schedules. As I walked in, a salty aroma invading my nostrils, I instantly spotted Penny sitting with some freshmen. They weren't the "popular" crowd I'd envisioned her with; these people actually looked nice. I waved in her direction, but she didn't notice me. My little sister seemed to be worried about something.

I didn't dwell on the fact for too long, though. The scent of cheese had my black trainers zipping toward the pizza line, despite the fact I was all but forbidden from it. My well-rounded brothers unfortunately advocated nutrition- hell, I wasn't entirely convinced Dana wasn't a hypochondriac- and after my sugary breakfast, pizza would most definitely be out of the question. Once again, however, the beauty of brother-free meal times had me disregarding all healthy choices the school so generously offered.

My argument about the outcome of the World Cup was interrupted by an announcement over the loud speaker. I would have ignored it, had a familiar name not sent off warning bells in my head.

"Penelope Kherrington, please report to room N307," the announcer said over the intercom. "Penelope Kherrington, please report to room N307."

So, Dana was getting his just desserts in early. I swiveled around in my chair, eyes searching for the table I saw my sister sitting at when I came in. Sure enough, she was there, conversing anxiously with the girl next to her.

Why wasn't she getting up? When our middle brother resorted to the intercom as means of communication, it meant he was absolutely serious. I eyed Penny closely, noticing her hunched shoulders. Her back was to me—so I couldn't see her face—but I could picture what it looked like. Brows lowered, a worry line between them. Her lips would be pointing down, teeth almost surely latched onto her bottom lip.

I resisted the strong urge to take her to Dana myself when it was obvious she wasn't getting up. I held myself back, however, as my conscience reminded me that she had to make her own decisions. Sometimes I wished Penny would have never grown up; it was hard watching your little sister make mistakes, and even harder watching her learn from them.

A poke to my shoulder had me turning back towards my food. Danny was eyeing me worriedly.

"Dude, Dana's calling your sister down to his class. What the hell did she do?" My best friend cared for Penny also, thinking of her as a surrogate little sister.

"All she told me was that she was late. He wouldn't have given her lunch detention for that. Whatever she did must have been bad... and she isn't even going!" I exclaimed, letting some of my calm exterior slip.

"Man, does she have a death wish or something? Sometimes I think you guys dropped her on her head too many times..."

"Tell me about it," I muttered, resting my chin in my hands tiredly.

"Let's go outside before fourth period. You look miserable, Owen." Danny's concerned eyes moved to my haggard face- I probably looked worse for wear at the moment.

I nodded amiably, dumping my tray and following him towards the doors. We passed by Penny's table again, and I couldn't resist approaching her. I wouldn't drag her to Dana myself, no, but I would damn sure try to convince her to just accept fate and go to him herself. She knew as well as I did that if he had to come to her, there would be hell to pay.

I shrugged Danny off as I rounded the table to her chair. My sister noticed me this time, looking up at me with the same facial expression I had imagined. This comforted me a little; no matter how much she grew up, we would always be close, and I held that to me like a life support. Therefore, I tried not to look to upset as her anxious eyes fell upon me.

"Penny, you know Dana called you down to his classroom, right?" I asked stupidly. Everyone had heard the announcement, foreboding as it was.

She blushed, as her friends eyed her curiously, and turned away from them, facing me completely. I bent over slightly so she wouldn't have to risk her friends hearing something that could possibly be embarrassing.

"Dana's extremely pissed at me. I don't want to see him now, in the middle of school!" Her breath hitched a bit, and I could see she had been holding back tears. The "I can handle anything, it's no big deal" façade was a common one in the Kherrington household, and Penny had no doubt been utilizing it in front of her curious friends.

"But don't you think he'll be more pissed if you just keep ignoring him?" My voice failed to be as condescending as I'd hoped.

Penny looked up at me pitifully, and I wanted more than anything in the world to trade places with my sister. I gave her a hug, ignoring the glances I could feel piercing the back of my head. Damn meddling freshmen.

She pulled back from the hug first, inconspicuously swiping the back of her hand across her eyes.

"Please go," I pleaded, hoping she'd muster up some courage to face the "big bad wolf", as we'd once called him.

But all Penny did was shake her head. She resumed her stubborn façade as if she'd put on a mask. Her eyes unclouded and returned to steely resolve.

I sighed, straightening out, knowing there was no way I could convince her now. "See you at home tonight?" Dinner was something our family tried to do together every night, the only semblance of quality time we actually had.

My little sister smiled, nodding her head. "Of course," she acquiesced. "Just remember- convince Ben to make Dana's favorite."

I grinned back, some of my earlier frustration dissipating. "I've got his class next; I'll try my best."

With that, she turned back to her friends; our little conversation bubble had popped.

Danny was impatiently waiting for me by the doors, and I gratefully made my way towards him.

"Sorry... I just had to try to convince her to face her executioner of her own free will- didn't work, of course," I muttered, shoving my hands into my khakis pockets.

My best friend chuckled, patting me on the back. "Courtyard?" he asked, and I nodded eagerly.

The fresh air calmed my nerves, and soon Danny and I were laying spread eagle on the grass, soaking up the warm sun.

"So what happened with Yates this morning? I'm surprised you don't have a lunch detention, too," he smirked.

I tried not to grimace as I picked at the soft blades of grass. The incident from lunch had pushed that particular situation to the back burner. Now- thanks to Danny- it was front and center once again.

"The bastard suspended me from the first game of the season! He even said if I kept arguing he'd take me off the team completely," I raged, clenching my fist in the soft earth below me.

Danny sat up, astonished.

"He can't do that! There's no fucking way he can do that!" he seethed, almost as upset as I had been.

I yanked a chunk of grass from the ground and sent it sailing across the courtyard.

"Looks like he can, and Cooper's gonna give me hell for it," I muttered dejectedly.

"But..." Danny trailed off, sagging.

Despite the fact that the suspension was totally undeserved, it was our word against the principal's. There was just no way out.

We sat like that in silence for a few moments, wallowing in the shittyness of our first day at Willow Academy. Our vigil was cut short as the bell rang, and we got up, brushing off grass from our uniforms.

"Who've you got next?" Danny asked quietly, pulling out his schedule. "Looks like I've got English with brother number 1."

My gut dropped and I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. I pulled out my schedule futilely, hoping beyond hope that somehow the paper had been magically altered. I unfolded it, not bothering to smooth out the dense creases. My eyes scanned the page, and my heart sank just as my gut had. The words were the same, of course, glaring painfully at me.

"Fourth period. Kherrington, Benjamin. Room S117."

"Round three," I muttered, slinging my backpack over my shoulder and slinking to my brother's class. Fate was definitely not on my side today.