The seven of us crowded into Ms. Pierce's office while she sat at her desk looking at us pointedly. With the room filled, Mr. B stood just outside the closed door, like he was keeping us from getting out, or others from getting in. There were only two chairs available in front of Ms. Pierce's desk, not enough for all of us so none of took them. Instead, we all stood in front of the desk waiting for our lecture and punishment.

For being in trouble I felt oddly relieved. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Trinity was able to make it out of this place untouched by Toby or any of his lackeys. As we were escorted away she took off, but not before assuring us that she was catching a bus home and would be fine.

"I don't know who started that mess in the hall, and frankly I don't care." Ms. Pierce started.

Part of me wanted to defend our actions and yell that Toby was to blame. But I knew there was no point in doing any of that, we would still be in trouble.

"It wasn't our fault," Sage said through gritted teeth.

Guess she couldn't resist the urge to let it be known.

"I don't care." Ms. Pierce repeated. "You all know you are stronger and contain..." she looked around like someone nearby could hear "gifts that make you dangerous. To use those abilities on those that are weaker than you, is extremely irresponsible!"

"But we didn't our abilities on them!" Declan rebutted.

Ms. Pierce cocked an eyebrow at him before looking at me.

"So it's natural for Chloe to man-handle a girl three times her size?"

I was pretty sure her question was rhetorical but I couldn't resist the urge to speak anymore.

"I couldn't just let her beat me black and blue. I had to defend myself!"

"Not like that you didn't."

Ms. Pierce's eyes were steely with her resolve. The look would have made the old my cower but instead, I stood with head held high. I was no one's punching bag anymore, and if that meant I crossed a line then so be it. Once Ms. Pierce realized I wasn't going to be apologizing any time soon, she looked back down at the papers on her desk.

"Doesn't really matter anyway. Landry's has a strict no-tolerance policy when it comes to violence. That means Lolly, Alicia, Sage, and Chloe will all be reclassified to Class B."

"That's not fair!" Alicia shouted. 

Lucas turned to kick the wall in frustration, while Sage ran her hands through her hair repeatedly and the others let out a mixture of groans and curses. I wanted to shout and kick things too, but again, there was no point. I knew when I first hit Betty that I would be reclassified, and I did it anyway. If I had to go back, I would do it again. It was the right thing to do.

Ms. Pierce didn't bother to pay any attention to the outbursts and protests. She got up from her desk and walked to the door, holding it open as an indication for us all to head out. Once in the hall, we were greeted by an ever silent Mr. B. He held four bags already packed with our things and new uniforms. It gave me a sense of deja vu from when Declan went through this not that long ago.

We followed Ms. Pierce and Mr. B through the building and up the stairs. When we reached the third floor and began walking past the regular dorms, we were being closely watched by a large group of kids heading to their rooms. From the whispers and looks they were giving us, it was obvious, word of our fight had already spread. I looked at the kids who were staring and pointing at us one last time before entering the doors that lead to the Class B floor.

Through the doors and up the fourth and final flight of stairs, we were met with a small lobby area. Much light the one of the floor below, it held a desk with a guard and two doors on the wall behind him. The doors read "B-Boys" and "B-Girls".

"You boys can go to your rooms until dinner. But so you all know, all of you have been banned from tomorrows dance." Ms. Pierce announced, standing in front of the guard's desk.

"What?" Lolly yelled, speaking up for the first time since the fight was broken up.

It sucked to miss the dance, but I felt worse for Lolly. She had been looking forward to it more than anybody. The visible tears in her eyes made my heart break and obviously hurt Lucas as well. He hugged her tightly before Mr. B nudged him to go to his room.

"Well girls, follow me." Ms. Pierce instructed walking through the "B-Girls" door.

The other side of the door held a long hallway with a bunch of doors. It seemed only a few of them were occupied as we walked along. Ms. Pierce stopped halfway down the hall where four doors, two on each side, stood wide open.

"Each of you gets a single room. Head inside and change into your new uniforms and bring them back out here when you're done. Sage, you have room 7, Chloe room 9, Lolly room 8 and Alicia room 10." She pointed to each door and the four of us split off to explore our new accommodations after taking our bags from her outstretched arms.

My room, which was next to Sage's, was much smaller than the one I shared with Lolly downstairs. It held a small bed with a plastic bin slid underneath. I guess the bin was my new dressed. The rest of the room was empty, the only benefit being a separate smaller room with a toilet and sink. At least I can pee in privacy, but now I was afraid to see what the shower room looked like.

I stepped into the bathroom and quickly changed out my gray uniform and into one of the new black ones that were inside my bag. Before heading back out to the hall I dumped the rest of my bags contents into the plastic bin, surprised to see my picture of me and Mom fall out with my new clothes. Looking at the picture I felt like tearing it up, but instead, I threw it in the bin and slid it under my new bed.

I made it out into the hall just as the others did. Alicia looked nervous and Lolly still looked sad, most likely from not being allowed at the dance. I had no idea how to feel. Would it be better or worse to have a room by myself? Would the extra rules I have to follow be difficult?

"The guards will come and get you when it's time for dinner. You have to stay in your rooms until then." With those words, Ms. Pierce actually looked sorry. Almost like she hated this as much as we did.

None of us said a word as we went back into our rooms. I sat on my bed and watched out of the small barred window in my door as Ms. Pierce shut and locked it. The sound of the lock made a small feeling of panic settle in my gut. I didn't like being locked away, it reminded me too much of what it felt like when I was first arrested. My breathing started to speed up and my heart felt like it was thumping harder in my chest.

"Chloe?"

The sound of Sage's voice brought me out of my panic thoughts and I rushed to my door. I couldn't see her through the window in the door but at least I could still talk to her, I wasn't completely alone.

"Sage?"

I could hear her let out a deep breath off to my right.

"Are you scared?"

Yes, but I couldn't say that out loud. I was sure Lolly and Alicia could hear us and I didn't want to get any of them upset. Chances were they could be panicking like I was a second ago, so I had to be strong, for all of us.

"Can't you tell mind reader?"

Sage chuckled slightly. "I'm not trying to invade your mind right now, so just answer the question."

"No, no I'm not scared. We'll be fine. The guys go through this every day, so we can handle it too."

"I'm just as strong as Lucas." Lolly piped up from across the hall. I knew she could hear me.

"You don't have to be strong, dingbat, you can poof out of here." Alicia barked from her cell.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that!" Lolly replied excitedly.

No less than a second later I saw Lolly's face pop up in my door window. I was surprised I jumped back from the door with a "What the!"

Lolly giggled before saying, "I have an idea. Be right back." and then her face disappeared from my door.

I ran back to the door and looked all in the hall but couldn't see her.

"Lolly?........Lolly?"

No response.

"She probably just went to see Lucas." Sage offered from the right of my cell.

"Yeah, your probably right."

"I'm trying to sleep, can you guys shut up!" Alicia shouted from her room.

Sage didn't say another word, so I took her lead and went back to my bed. Maybe Alicia had the right idea. A nap would do me some good.

I crawled into my bed and closed my eyes, surprised to find I was tired after all. I guess fighting could do that to you.

The sound of yelling and my door being unlocked woke me from my dreamless nap. I sat up in bed to find a guard standing there.

"Time for dinner."

I got up and walked out into the hallway to find Lolly, Sage, and Alicia already there and in line with three other girls. The line began to move and took my place in the back behind Sage. The guards led us to just outside the B dorms where the boys were waiting in a line of their own. Besides Declan, Lucas, and Wes, there were ten other boys in the same black uniforms. We were instructed to merge into one line with the boys and I was relieved when Wes made sure to squeeze in line behind me.

The whole way to the cafeteria, Wes found different ways to keep a hand on me. First on my shoulder, then the small of my back, and finally on my waist. It was like he got just as much comfort from touching me as I got from him touching me. Still in line, we collected our trays of food and were directed to the Class B tables in the back. I tried not to pay any attention to the kids that were staring at us but that's hard to do while being paraded around.

At our table, Wes grabbed hold of my hand, not paying any attention to the food sitting in front of him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, eyes worriedly searching mine.

I offered him a small smile to help calm him.

"Yes, I'm fine. I napped the whole time." He didn't seem to be buying my carefree attitude so I added in, "It's actually nice being able to sleep without Lolly's constant bouncing around keeping me up."

"Hey!" Lolly yelled from across the table and threw a french fry at me.

I caught it and tossed it into my mouth before giving Wes a wink and his hand a small squeeze. It all seemed to do the trick as his whole body relaxed and he let go of my hand to start eating.

"So I have a plan for the dance," Lolly announced with a slight whisper.

I wanted to act like I wasn't interested but this news intrigued me.

When she was sure all of us were listening she continued.

"We're going to sneak out of our rooms and have our own dance in the training room while everyone else has their stupid dance in the cafeteria," she explained.

"And how in the hell do you suggest we do that?" Alicia asked from several seats down.

"We have a plan," Lucas answered.

So she did go see Lucas after all. Leave it to Lolly to find a way to get what she wanted and include all of us her scheme.

I looked around to see if anyone was going to object but all I found were faces that were excited about the possibility of having some fun.

"So what's the plan Lolly-Pop?" Declan asked, leaning from around Sage.