Lyle and Corrine are waiting outside when I walk out the door the next morning. I give them a smug smile, and Corrine blushes. Lyle rolls his eyes.

"Are you going to stand there eternally? We need to get Newt before the bell!"

"It's okay. We have time," I tell him, before giving Corrine a hug. She goes stiff and doesn't return the gesture. "I'm glad for you, guys."

"Hey! What's that about?"

"Lyle, come on... You always do this, I say, rolling my eyes. "But, okay. You're kind of cute when you're jealous. Isn't he, Corrine?"

"You look happy today, John," Corrine says when I release her, ignoring my question.

"Aren't you?" I ask back.

"Ooooohhh, I see," Lyle coos, now returning the smug smile, and turns to Corrine. "He got laid."

"And what a night we had, love," I counter, and Lyle goes pale. "Never knew you were so sweet in the sack."

Corrine giggles, looking away.

"Very funny, Newbie. So full of dung, as usual."

"Anyway, none of you denied that you're dating. Way to go." I give them my fullest smile and walk ahead, leaving them confused and in silence.

I realize I'm the Martin of the trio right now. The one who walks alone. I kinda want to text him and ask how he's doing, but I know I won't. I push the thought aside, replacing it with a happier one. Newt is coming out of his jail.

Newt is coming out of his goddamned jail!

It takes us three minutes to get there, and before knocking, I take in the freshly painted façade, which I didn't get to see yesterday before I went to Abby's house. There's something deliciously pleasing about things falling into place, like giving closure to the whole outcast situation. The eagerness to see Newt in the classroom with the rest of us injects me with the drive I need, and I knock on the Newton's door with my best smile.

The door swings open, and an incredibly angry Mrs. Newton is pulling on her son's ear, dragging him outside despite his complaints. "I've heard enough excuses already, young man! You're going, and that's final!"

"But, Mom! Hey, that hurts!"

"No buts!" Then she morphs into the usual lovely Mrs. Newton, and addresses the three of us with a smile. "Make sure he doesn't skip classes, will you?"

After that, she shuts the door in our faces. We listen in awe how Mrs. Newton also spins the key on the front door, locking us out.

I watch Newt's Adam's apple bob as he swallows. He takes a deep breath and then hides behind me. "I don't want to do this."

"Of course you do, man."

"No, I don't. I'm scared, you know?!" he says, snappy as every single time he's forced to prod on his wounds. "What if they come for me again, John?"

"We'll be with you," Lyle says, giving him a reassuring half-hug. "It won't be the same this time."

"Sure it will," Newt replies, frowning. "Because you're such a fighter, aren't you?"

"We have John with us," Corrine says, casually hanging from Lyle's shoulder. Not gonna lie, I'm a bit proud to know people can depend on me.

"Please," Newt spits, his frown now deeper. "In his state? Even I could beat the dung out of him."

"Care to try?" I challenge with a smug smile. When he doesn't reply, I bump his shoulder. "Come on, tough guy. We're gonna be late for school."

"I'll help if push comes to shove," Corrine adds, throwing a few sloppy punches to illustrate her prowess. "You're not alone."

"She's damn right, Charles." The voice behind us belongs to Abigail, and we all turn to face her. If speaking to other people wasn't enough, she's also wearing her hair in a neat, high ponytail, flashing her scar for everyone to see. Corrine clenches her jaw. "I have my own score to even if they give me an excuse."

Lyle leans over and whispers in my ear, "What the hell happened to her face?"

"Not now," I whisper back. I thought he knew already? Guess she hid it well enough.

"Are you all mute or what?" Abby complains, scanning all our faces. She nods slightly at Corrine when their eyes meet. "Sorry about last time."

"It's..." Corrine tries to say, but her voice trails too thin to be heard. I wonder what happened between them.

Abigail suddenly produces a smile as big as a crescent moon, and takes hold of my hand, lacing fingers. I should probably shy away from it, but the situation is tense enough as it is.

I sigh. "Okay, let's go to school already."

Not even Newt complains this time. Lyle and Corrine walk ahead of us, followed closely by Newt, who's trying his best to hide behind them. We all walk in uncomfortable silence. I pull Abigail a bit behind.

"What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" she asks, turning her big eyes to me.

I squeeze her hand lightly to let her know what I mean.

"Oh, you're not going to back away now, are you?"

"What does that mean?"

"You promised to stay by my side, didn't you?"

"I didn't mean it like this!" I hiss, trying to avoid the others listening on us.

"Well, you probably should've read the fine print before signing, don't you agree?" she says, leaning forward and kissing my cheek. I notice all of my friends are watching. "Unless you want me to go back home, of course."

"What did I tell you, Corrine? John actually got laid," Lyle teases, but he should know better.

"Oh, and he was sooooooooo good," Abby purrs, sticking to me, and caressing my cheek with her free hand. The fact that she's teasing Lyle is the one funny thing about the whole situation, and I allow myself to chuckle. "I couldn't even move afterwards. Such a passionate lover."

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Lyle replies, turning back to Corrine and abandoning the subject entirely.

"Focus on your girl, Ackerman," Abby finishes, before turning to me again. She whispers in my ear, "Come on, Foster. Man up. You already know I'm dying for your broken bones."

I just keep walking, allowing her to do as she pleases. There's no harm in it, after all, so long as she doesn't pull another stunt like yesterday at the cabin. I'm still wondering if she actually meant that or not. I'm not sure I wanted to stop her by the time she found the necklace, which is a pretty distracting thought to be having when Abby is literally clinging to me, close enough for me to smell her hair.

"Were you even serious yesterday, Abby?"

She looks up at me with a lopsided smile. "What do you think?"

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

"Sometimes you're adorably slow, you know that?" she says, like this answers my question in any way. But since we're already getting close to school, I don't pry any further.

"Newt," I call out, and he looks my way over his shoulder. "We're with you, okay?"

He thinks about it for a second, and finally nods, but he hesitates again once we reach the front gates, and I see why as soon as Abby and I catch up with him. The dunce who was about to shit his pants yesterday at Newt's house is waiting with four of his classmates, all of them Rude's friends.

Newt freezes in his tracks. "I can't do this."

"Yes, you can," Abby replies firmly. "I can do it, and so can you."

"Stay behind me," I say more softly. "It's going to be okay."

Upset as he looks about this whole deal, he swallows hard, and starts walking ahead with barely more determination than fear. I follow closely without a word, actually proud to see him facing his fears. We try walking past Rude's crowd, but two of them snicker and start shoving each other, until one of them finally decides to send the other flying right onto Newt, but Lyle is quick to shield him.

The guy laughs like this is a funny prank. "I'm sorry, Ackerman. Didn't see you there."

"It's okay," he replies, making an effort to keep his cool. "Try to be more careful."

"That's bold of you, trying to tell us what to do," the guy replies, standing face to face with him. "Mind if I ask what's going to happen if I'm not?"

"You're going to need a new face," Abby replies, wedging herself between them. I stand right next to her, just in case things get ugly.

"Oh, look. The bitch speaks, now!" He turns around to address his friends, who laugh like the idiots they are. "Did you hear that, boys? Looks like some bitch here needs another lesson."

His group bunches together, the guy from yesterday trailing behind.

"Just call me 'bitch' one more time," Abby warns, but I motion for her to stay quiet.

"We don't want any trouble," I say, loud enough for the whole patio to hear.

"Hah! We care little for what you want, piece of dung."

"Don't think you're going to rule the school just because you sent Rude to the hospital, punk."

"Actually, we're kind of done with that kind of bullshit, man," Lyle says from behind me. "We may lose in a fight, but we're not letting you guys push us around anymore for free."

"Ah, look at you, all macho now that you're dating Ugly Corrine," the same guy comments, and snickers as he gives Corrine a once-over. "Who would have thought you'd actually get laid, given that you look like dog dung."

"Take that back," Lyle roars from behind me, and again, I motion for him to stop.

"You guys are over," someone else says, siding with us. Another two follow him. He turns to speak to the rest of the students that are now gathering around us. "And the rest of you? Are you going to have these idiots do whatever they want?"

"You know what? They're right, we're done with that dung!"

"Yeah, get a grip already, losers!"

And then the rest of the people are miraculously on our side, coming from all around and surrounding the group of idiots, and there's a small uproar as everyone agrees on not taking shit from them ever again.

The idiots frown as they take their surroundings, having at least fifty students against them, with more and more joining every second.

Newt forces his way between Abby and me, and addresses their leader with a wavy voice. "Look, it's like John said. We don't want any trouble with you." He fidgets a bit before continuing. "I understand that you're mad that I'm back here, but, I'm kind of a nerd and I like school. So, please. Think about it. We can mind our own businesses and stay indifferent to each other. We don't have to be friends or anything. I just want to have a normal life."

"You were disrespectful to Amanda, remember?" Leader says like he's not about to be beaten to a pulp if he doesn't quit pronto.

Newt lowers his head. "I know. I will apologize to her if that's what you guys want. Let's just not fight each other anymore."

"Apology accepted, Charlie," Amanda voices from somewhere in the crowd, which parts as usual to let her join us. "And welcome back. It's good to see you again," she says to Newt, offering him a gentle smile, then turns to the other group, this time scowling. "First of all, you guys would do well letting that go already. And second, don't you dare use me again as an excuse to bully anyone. Understood?"

"We're doing this for Rude and you!"

"You're just being petty, stupid, and quite the assholes," Amanda scolds them. "Apologize at once. I won't say it again."

"You do realize you're no longer the school princess without your brother, do you?" their leader says, pointing a finger at Amanda, and that's as far as this is going for me.

In a nimble move I get a hold of that finger, twisting it backwards. The guy screams in pain, and his friends are ready to charge when the whole crowd gets in the way. I keep forcing this dude's fingers until I bring him to his knees.

"Now, listen to me, you dumb piece of shit," I say through my clenched jaw, close enough to have my spit land on his face. My rib protests, but I don't hold back. I twist harder. "I'm going to break your fucking fingers one by one if you don't get your friends out of my fucking face. Now tell them to go."

"Fuck you, newbie!"

"Wrong answer," I say, making his finger snap, but not letting it go. The guy is nice enough to grit his teeth and let out muffled grunts instead of screaming. "Now, let's try again."

"John, please, stop..." Newt pleads, but I'm still not done.

"Say it. Now."

"Enough!" That's Mr. Sunderland's Olympian thunder, reclaiming order as he also splits the earth open. I sigh in relief, letting the guy go, who retreats to his peers, holding his hand. "Everyone to their classrooms. Right now!"

The whole crowd disperses except for the five guys from classroom six, and my group. The man staring at us like we're a sacrifice isn't Eugene at all. It's the Mr. Sunderland I met on the first day of classes. His glare is unforgiving. "All of you, follow me."

That's how we spend the entire first period in Ms. Higgins' office discussing the details of our arrival to school. Eugene gives us a rough lecture in thunderbolts before sending everyone to their classrooms, except for me. Abigail also decides to stay with me for some reason.

"Scarborough, you can go."

"Well, how about you go fuck yourself instead?" she replies very clearly, and I gasp in horror at her, elbowing her to shut the fuck up. She's SO suspended now, if not worse. "And you, stop looking at me like that. You think I fear this sad old bitch like the lot of you?"

"Abigail Scarborough, go to your classroom right now." Eugene's voice is not his previous bossy one as he says this, which confuses the living hell out of me. "Don't be like this. You're just making it harder on yourself."

"Like hell I will. If you think I'll allow you to give John shit for defending us, you're sorely mistaken, you flabby piece of dung!"

"Abby, please!" I beg her.

She stomps the ground once in rage, and crosses her arms as she finally shuts her mouth.

Eugene points his palm at the door, not saying anything else. Abigail frowns, points a finger at her eyes to let us know she's watching, and then finally storms out of the room.

How was it that Lyle said it? Bonked in the head? I see his point now.

I turn to Eugene, holding my palms together like I'm praying. "Please don't expel her?"

Eugene sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose and pointing his palm to the chair for me to sit. I do as instructed.

"Keep what you just witnessed a secret, please," he finally says, all Eugene again.

"I've seen nothing, sir," I rush to reply. Is Abby actually going to survive after that?

Eugene nods, and takes a deep breath. "She has special circumstances, so we're a little more... lenient with her."

"I see," I say, but not because I know what the hell is going on.

He takes another deep breath, and his eyes go hard and menacing again. "What you did is not acceptable, Mr. Foster."

"I know, but—

He raises his hand to stop me. Stay silent unless asked. Got it. "I know what you did, and why. But you almost broke another student's finger."

Heck no. I did make it snap, but it didn't break. Though, yes. I was about to.

"Is that the way you want to set yourself apart from Rudolph Riggs?"

Valid point. Using brute force to drive a point is what Rude used to do. When he puts it that way, I didn't do things any different. I lower my head. "No, sir."

"Prove me you're in control of your emotions, John. Ms. Higgins already has her eyes on you, remember?"

"I'm sorry, sir."

A few seconds pass where none of us says a word.

"Actually, that's also my fault. I was watching the exchange, and I allowed it to go that far," he says, and when I look up, he's smiling. "I'm proud of you for defending your friends, John. Just don't resort to violence next time if you can avoid it. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"My name's Eugene."

I nod. Somehow I feel like I lost the right to call this man by his name, like I did something beyond repair. That's the kind of respect Mr. Sunderland commands. It's no wonder why he now leads the people at Utopia Ranch. I can't even imagine what kind of monster was leading before him, though. Fearsome enough to keep Zeus himself under wraps, I bet.

"Now go," he says, wearing the same blissful smile he did at the ranch. "Mr. Newton will certainly need his friends with him in his first day."

I return the smile, nod at him, and leave.