I grabbed my bag from the bushes on my way back into the dorm and let myself in. It was late enough that I had to show my ID to the Blues on duty at the front desk, who naturally harassed me before letting me go to my room.

               I checked the handle to our door, found it unlocked, and pushed the door open. Hal was sitting up in bed with a book in his hands, glaring at me as I shut the door and dropped my bag to the floor. I kicked it towards my desk and opened my closet to find something to sleep in.

               "Way to text me," he said.

               I paused and groaned. "Shit. Sorry, Hal. I forgot."

               "Which is how I know you weren't at the library. By the way, find a new place to hide your bag," he said.

               I turned to face him, cautious. He rolled his eyes at my expression.

               "Anika?" he guessed.

               "I needed to talk to her," I said.

               He rubbed his finger, scowling. "You don't have to sneak around behind my back. Just fucking tell me that's where you're going so I don't have to waste my energy checking the library."

               "How do you feel about a little rebellion?" I said.

               "Oh, for fuck's sake," he said. "Thevan was there too, I take it? Not this again, Griffin. You know why you can't. Why we can't."

               "I'm tired of Constance pushing me around, Hal," I said, feeling that anger rising up again. "He threatened you. He's not getting away with that."

               "He will if you go after him," Hal snapped. He took a deep breath. "Look, I don't give a shit what he does to me. I really don't. But separating us? He'll do it, Griffin. And he'll isolate you and send the students who are already pissed at you after you. Don't do that to me. Don't make me watch you get torn down."

               "You're already watching it, Hal," I said.

               He let out a frustrated noise. "I don't know how to win," he said at last, clenching his fists. "I won't let you end up like Thevan. I..."

               I walked over to him and climbed up onto his bed, sitting in front of him so close that our knees touched together. "Hal," I said, waiting for him to look me in the eyes. "I'm not saying we tear this place to shreds. I'm saying we..."

               What was I saying? I'd had images of guerilla warfare. We'd strike back against the oppression here.

               But that wasn't for us. Cara had friends who did that, and I couldn't see myself as part of that. Now I felt as frustrated as Hal looked. What did I want?

               Hal put a hand on my shoulder, steady and warm. "Whatever you decide to do, I'll follow you," he said. "Even if I think you're being a dumbass, I'll follow you."

               "He thinks he took everything from me," I said slowly. Hal's grip on my shoulder tightened and I reached up to put a hand over his. "He's wrong. Let's play by his rules, Hal. But let's be damn loud about it. That's what I want. I want to walk out of here with an ego bigger than his. I want him to know that he can't make everyone bend to his will with threats and manipulation. So, sure, we'll give him what he wants. But that doesn't mean we can't find the loopholes."

               "You're going to bang a lot of pots and pans together tomorrow, huh?" he said.

               I grinned a little. "There are a lot of things I want to say to my teachers and those asshole students. Time to say 'em."

               "Get to sleep," he said, giving my shoulder a light shove. "We can raise hell once I've had a night's sleep."

               "Amen to that," I said, getting out of his bed.

               I didn't have to fight back. I didn't have to wage war with the Academy. I had to preserve myself, that's all. Show Constance that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break my spirit. It'd be enough of a victory for me.

               And Evan could shield me from the blowback. With his Blue status, his word carried a lot of weight. That meant if he defended me when I was called out, it'd ease the pressure.

               I climbed into bed, feeling better than I had in a while. For so long, I'd been angry and frustrated and I didn't know exactly why. But here it was. My own form of rebellion was to keep acting like myself. No more monitoring all my words and actions for fear of Constance coming after me.

               Time to go back to being Constance's headache.

                                                                                          ***

               "It's not breakfast," Hal said.

               "Am I eating it in the morning? Yes? Breakfast," I said.

               "That's not- That's not what makes something breakfast! Fuck, I could eat a toddler in a French hospital in the 1700s in the morning and that would be considered cannibalism, not fucking breakfast," Hal said impatiently.

               I looked him in the eyes and took another bite of my candy bar. "Breakfast."

               "Choke on it," he said.

               I did not choke on it and finished the whole thing with no incident. Wyatt caught up to us on the pathway as we walked towards class.

               "Where's Jordan?" I asked.

               He shrugged helplessly. "He said he was walking to class with some friends." Wyatt fidgeted a little. "He's been acting off, Griffin. I don't like it."

               "Because the Blues are reinforcing their whole social structure on him," Hal said. "It'll either pass or he'll ditch us."

               "Don't talk about him like that!" Wyatt said. "He wouldn't do that."

               Hal seemed unconcerned. "He likes rules. Hanging out with us breaks those rules."

               "He's not like that," Wyatt said firmly.

               I wanted to believe Wyatt, but I knew Hal was right. Jordan was one of our best friends, but he didn't like trouble. Hanging out with us when I was a Blue was safe. Now, though, he was associating with three Maroons, and a 13 year old Blue. It didn't look good for him to the others.

               "Don't stress about it," I told Wyatt, hoping I could follow my own advice. "He'll sit with us at lunch."

               Hal grunted, trying to look unbothered by the situation. But if there was one thing Hal held firm to, it was loyalty. The idea of Jordan ditching us for the Blues must be killing him inside. He would never dream of abandoning his friends, and the thought of them doing it to him hurt him more than he'd ever admit to.

               "Wyatt, candy bar. Breakfast food?" I said.

               "If you eat it in the morning," he said.

               I gestured to him. "Wyatt is my new favorite."

               "You're both dumbasses," Hal said.

               Wyatt opened his mouth to retort, but was cut off as a Blue grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. "Come on, Wyatt. Don't be associating with that trash."

               I didn't recognize the Blue, but I didn't get much of a chance to take in his appearance, because Hal shot forward and gripped the Blue's arm. The Blue winced at the sudden pressure as Hal dug his fingers into the Blue's upper arm.

               "Wouldn't hurt so bad if you had muscle instead of flab here, bitch boy," Hal said. "Let him go and piss off."

               The Blue swallowed his fear and tried to glare at Hal. "Let me go or I'll tell the Headmaster."

               "I'll tell the Headmaster," Hal mocked. "God, can you pampered little pricks ever handle your own problems? Fuck off."

               Wyatt pried the Blue's hand off his arm and looked nervously from Hal to me. He set his expression firmly and looked back to the Blue.

               "Don't grab me!" he said. "And if you tell the Headmaster on him, I'll tell the Headmaster you were grabbing me. Piss off."

               Hal let out a howling laugh. "How's it feel to be told off by someone who hasn't even hit enough of a growth spurt to be threatening yet?" He squeezed the Blue's arm so tightly that the Blue winced before releasing it. "Go bitch to whoever you want. Just don't go grabbing people when I'm in the middle of telling them they're a dumbass."

               Hal shielded Wyatt from the Blue as they walked back over to us. The Blue looked furious, but he hurried away into the crowd of students up ahead.

               "Anyways, back to the important topics. You're a dumbass," Hal said to Wyatt.

               Wyatt smiled a little. "Piss off, Hal."

               "You really haven't had much of a growth spurt in the past year," I said, holding my hand over his head and comparing his height to mine.

               Wyatt scowled at me. "I'm still growing. I doubt you were tall when you were 13."

               "Was I? I don't remember," I said to Hal. "Time isn't real and I feel like I've always been 17."

               "That's the mood of the damn century," Hal said.

               We parted ways with Wyatt and went to our class. The day felt slow and miserable as I tried to focus on my lessons, and it was no surprise that Shafer was the one to tick me off.

               He slapped a ruler down on my desk and I lifted my head. "I was paying attention."

               "You were napping," he said.

               "It's kind of like playing classical music for a baby to raise their intelligence," I said. "Anyways, yea, I got it. I'm sure you've seen my test scores. I can afford a little snooze."

               "The genius," someone grumbled from nearby.

               I gestured in the vague direction of whoever said that. "See? Don't need the lesson. I'm a genius."

               "Okay, then, go on up to the board and answer all the questions there. I was going to have one student per question, but since you're so smart, you can do it," Shafer said, crossing his arms.

               I shrugged and got up, snatching up a marker and getting started on the problems. Someone threw a water bottle at me, and Shafer pretended not to notice.

               "Whoever threw that water bottle, your mom's a hoe. Also, I'm going to break your fucking arm," Hal said.

               "Aw, did we anger his attack dog?" a girl sitting in the front said. I turned to face her, walked over, and jabbed the marker against her forehead. She pulled away in surprise, streaking the black ink down her forehead.

               I pointed to the line of ink. "That's a mark of stupidity. If anyone else would like to join your clan of sheer stupidity, I'll happily inscribe the sacred symbol onto their forehead."

               "You fucking prick," she snapped.

               "I'm sorry, wait, what's your name?" I said. "Actually, no, it doesn't matter, we'll probably never speak again once you finish your tantrum."

               She grabbed a pen and tried to stab my hand it with, but I yanked it away and the pen stabbed into her desk instead. I resisted the urge to slam my fist down on her wrist. Fighting back would send me to the Headmaster's office, and that wasn't the goal.

               Instead, I added another line to her forehead so it was a giant X. "All hail! The chief of the stupid clan!"

               "All hail!" Hal echoed.

               She stood up, swinging a textbook at my face. I stepped back and it swung harmlessly through the air. She shoved her desk so hard that it slammed into my gut and I wheezed out a laugh.

               "That was clever," I admitted.

               I was slammed into the desk as Mr. Shafer grabbed my vest and yanked me forward. He pried the marker from my hand and tossed it across the room. He dragged me up to the board and slammed my face against it.

               "Do the problems," he snarled.

               "But you threw my marker," I said.

               "If you're so smart, figure something out!" he said, releasing me and stepping away with a dark expression.

               I shrugged and walked over to where the marker was, two kids attempting to trip me in the process. Hal looked furious, but I waved him down and retrieved the marker.

               I went back up to the board, easily finishing the problems. I turned back to the class and gave a little bow.

               "Now, maybe if you had a competent teacher, you could also answer easy questions," I said.

               "Maybe you forgot what vest you're wearing, Griffin," Shafer said coldly. "You don't get to parade around like some high and mighty king anymore."

               "You're right, I'd have to kiss Constance's ass to do that, and it's busy getting mouth to mouth from you," I said with a frown.

               He smacked me with a student's notebook and pointed at my seat. "Go."

               I happily took my seat, kicking my feet up on the desk and leaning back in my chair. I didn't doubt someone would try to knock it out from under me, but I wasn't concerned as Hal shot a glare at the kid sitting behind me.

               It was a silly confrontation, but it made me feel more like myself. I'd never bowed to the teachers here before, and having to do so since being a Maroon felt degrading as hell. Staying quiet and taking it wasn't my style.

               When class ended, I gathered up my things, unsurprised as Mr. Shafer approached my desk. Hal leaned against his desk, watching with guarded eyes.

               "Griffin, perhaps you've forgotten how things work at this school," Mr. Shafer said.

               I thought for a moment and shook my head. "No, actually, I think I remember pretty well. Maroons are shitty delinquent kids, right? So I'm supposed to be a shitty asshole and make my teacher's miserable. I'm doing my job, Shafer."

               His lip curled in disgust. "You always did like to abuse the powers of the Blues. How's it feel, knowing you can't just strut in here and act like you own the place?"

               "Uh, hello? I still strut in here and act like I own the place," I said. "I have a very nice strut. I spent years practicing it."

               "Don't dismiss his strut," Hal said.

               Shafer ignored that. "Your actions led you here, and you still haven't accepted your position. So, let me make it clear. You no longer have the power to mouth off to teachers without consequence. You no longer have the power to protect yourself or Hal from punishment. You no longer have the power to put down other students and be protected from their anger at it. You are a Maroon now. You're at the bottom of this Academy, and nothing will change that, because your own selfish, cruel actions led you here. You were nothing but a bully as a Blue, and now the Maroons get to take their shots at you for all the years you spent beating them down."

               "Are you done? I'm going to be late, and I don't have the power to do that anymore," I said. "I mean, that wasn't on the list, but I'm assuming it holds true."

               "Keep it up as long as you'd like. You'll get it through your thick head eventually," he said.

               I took that as a dismissal, and Hal and I went to our next class. By the time we were let out for lunch, I was fairly certain all my teachers hated me even more than they had before.

               "Come on," I said, leading Hal towards the section Jordan, Evan, and Wyatt had class in.

               "Why are we going there?" Hal asked.

               "To stir up some trouble," I said, pushing open the door and heading into the halls.

               Blues and Maroons were pouring through the halls to get to the dining hall or wherever their destination was. Hal and I pushed through them until the crowd thinned out to almost nothing.

               We found Wyatt and dragged him along with us to wait for Jordan and Evan near their classroom. Wyatt frowned up at me.

               "What are you doing?" he asked.

               "Walking to lunch with my friends," I said.

               "For fuck's sake, you could've told me so I could've grabbed Cara on our way out," Hal said, taking out his phone to text her.

               "Cara will meet us at the table," I said.

               I watched as Evan, Jordan, and a Blue girl I didn't know came out of the room, talking with their teacher. The girl looked nervous as she spotted us.

               "Hey," Evan greeted with that easy smile of his.

"I'll, um, see you guys later. Thank you for the suggestions, Mr. Townsend," the girl said before hurrying off.

"Did you guys need something?" Jordan asked, looking exasperated at our appearance.

"Just waiting on you guys to head to lunch together," I said.

               "How kind," Jordan said dryly.

               "Well? Let's go. I'm starving," Evan said.

               "Same. Plus, Mr. Townsend is boring," I said.

               "And I see a change of class hasn't ignited a change of attitude," Mr. Townsend said with a tired sigh. "Jordan, Evan, I will see you tomorrow. Griffin, just..." He shook his head. "Nevermind, it's a waste of breath to tell you to watch your attitude. Goodbye, boys."

               "Well, at least he knows it's a waste of breath," I said as he walked away and disappeared down a side hallway.

               "All of our teachers know that," Jordan said as we started walking together. "What are you doing, Griff? You're supposed to be keeping your head down, not drawing attention to yourself. Especially around Mr. Townsend. He's friends with the Headmaster. You don't want to piss him off."

               I waved my hand dismissively. "He wouldn't sell me out to the Headmaster. I was one of his favorite students."

               "Was," Jordan reminded.

               "I am," I corrected. "And can you blame him? I'm surprised I'm not Mr. Shafer's favorite."

               Hal snorted a laugh. "Yea, can't believe that. Oh, man, tell them what you did to what's-her-face in the front with the marker."

               So I told them about the chief of the stupid clan as we walked to lunch. Jordan looked like he was silently praying for the strength to be around me, while Evan and Wyatt got a good laugh out of the story.

               We grabbed our lunches and went to the table. Cara swiftly kicked me in the shin once I was sitting down.

               "Ow," I complained.

               "Fuck you, try meeting up with me too next time," she said.

               "I told him," Hal said.

               "I forgot!" I said. "I forgot, okay. I'm sorry. I had these grand ideas of pissing off Blues, and I forgot to bring you along."

               Cara huffed but didn't press the issue. She just swiped the slice of cheesecake off my tray, which I guess I deserved.

               "So I'm allowed to stick around again?" Evan asked.

               "Yea, sure, we're all going to hell anyways, and the more the merrier," I said.

               "Hey-" Cara started angrily.

               "Yea, fuck it," Hal said, and Cara shot him a surprised look. But if Hal wasn't going to protest, she figured he had a good reason, and reluctantly closed her mouth.

               Jordan looked suspicious as he looked between us, but he didn't say anything. I didn't like that look, though. He was the one who was always talking about how he and Evan were friends. He should be glad we were done kicking Evan out.

               We talked casually as we ate. I saw the eyes on us from surrounding tables, but ignored all of them. As paranoid as I had been before, I knew there was nothing against the rules going on here. Against the social rules, sure, but Constance couldn't officially punish me for that. As long as I avoided any official rule-breaking, I could challenge his punishments to protect Hal.

               Loopholes. Gotta love 'em.

               I wasn't at all surprised when Coby and his friend Erin came up to our table. Jordan sank down in his seat a little at their approach, looking resigned to the conflict that was about to erupt.

               "Not you again," Evan said as he noticed them. "I already told you, I don't want to sit with you and your friends." He gestured to us. "I have my own."

               "Did he just call us friends?" Cara whispered to Hal.

               "I'd tell him to shut the fuck up and not use the 'f' word around me, but I like the horror on Coby's face too much," Hal whispered back.

               "Evan," Coby said, looking irritated.

               "Alright, now you just look like my dad," Evan said. He leaned back in his chair, completely at ease. "Look, man, you're my roommate, not my keeper. I can sit with whoever I want." The smile sprawled on his face. "No harm done here."

               "He's using you," Coby said, pointing at me. "He's pissed you're taking his spot in the Blues, so he's going to use you. He'll pretend you're friends so he could use you to protect himself from punishment. He's already doing it. I heard he was acting out in class today. You don't find it suspicious he starts acting up after convincing you the two of you are friends?"

               "He didn't convince me. He kept telling me to fuck off," Evan said.

               "That was Hal," I said. "I'm sure I used less profane ways of telling you to fuck off."

               "Yea, sure, whatever," Evan said. "Either way, he's not using me."

               "He uses everyone," Coby said. "Why do you think no one likes him? He's always been a manipulative little shit."

               "Don't say no one likes me. Hal likes me," I said.

               "That's really debatable most days," Hal said.

               "Griffin isn't a bad person," Wyatt said, glaring at Coby. "You're manipulating Evan by trying to tell him what to do."

               "He manipulates this kid too," Coby said. "Doesn't he, Jordan? You've seen it. And you know he's doing it to Evan."

               "Griffin didn't want Evan around. Evan just has a way of inserting himself into the group," Jordan said. "And Griffin has never manipulated Wyatt, except into giving him food."

               "Griffin is my friend," Wyatt said firmly. "Piss off."

               "Hey, two people like me," I said in surprise.

               Cara stood up, a little shorter than Coby but infinitely more threatening. "You're going to walk away from our table and leave us the hell alone, or I'm going to save future generations a lot of grief and kick your testicles so hard it'll be considered sex-reassignment."

               Coby glared at her, but a smug look crept onto his face. "I know you. You used to hang around with that other Maroon crowd. But you're the one who got in too much trouble around here. You're just talk. You can't touch us."

               It was true, but Cara didn't back down. She took another step forward, and unease flickered through Coby's eyes.

               "Alright," Evan said, holding a hand out to Cara. "No testicle-kicking, please. We're already drawing attention. Coby, go away. You're the one causing all the drama. None of them were bothering anyone. Let me handle myself."

               "I know the kind of shitty person you are," Coby said to me.

               "That's great and all, but why did you bring her? She's just lingering there and it's awkward," I said, gesturing to Erin. She stuck her middle finger up at me. "Oh, finally, she did something."

               Coby turned on his heel and stormed away, Erin following him. I shook my head.

               "So much damn drama. Do these people not understand it's high school?" I said.

               "Seriously," Evan said.

               Cara sat back down, angrily forking her stolen cheesecake. "Why are Blues so fucking pretentious?"

               "Because they give us big egos," I said. "Or, uh, they give them big egos."

               "We're sitting right here," Jordan said, gesturing between himself and Wyatt. "We are literally sitting right here."

               "Congratulations," I said. "Hey, are you gonna eat that cheesecake?"

               "I absolutely am. It'll feed my big ego," Jordan said.

               "You're going to be salty about that for a while, huh?" I said with a sigh. He nodded and took a bite of his cheesecake slice.

               "I take it he won't leave us alone?" Evan said.

               "Not by a long shot. My guess is he'll go crying to the Headmaster or Caroline, and they'll use Cara, Hal, and I as an example of what happens when you break the status quo around here," I said.

               "Why is it so serious?" Evan said.

               "Control," I said simply. "It's all about control. If Maroons start befriending Blues, or ignoring the social rules here, it gives them control of their experience here. The Academy doesn't want that. It thrives on keeping the Maroons oppressed and controlled. It's ridiculous and outdated, but it's why they fight so hard to keep Blues as the supreme power here. The structure of the Academy stops working if Maroons gain agency here, and they won't risk even a small number of us rising up."

               "Damn," Evan said. "Anyways, was there anymore cheesecake left at the dessert table?"

               As we bickered over who got cheesecake, I thought about my own words. Coby wouldn't let this rest, because he seemed like the type of prick who had no status outside of the Academy. Kids like that were the Academy's favorite, because the staff filled their heads with ideas of how mighty and powerful they were and then sent them as attack dogs against the Maroons breaking the social rules.

               It would be a certain type of guerilla warfare for sure, but one we'd have to be careful about. We had to toe the line between rebellion and following the rules if we wanted to make it out of here in one piece while still sticking it to this damned Academy.

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A.N.- Okay, because people are still confused on when this takes place despite me telling you when it takes place: this is roughly during the events of the first Conversion Academy book