Here I was, sitting in the den of the Osborns' home. It was a pretty lavish place. It had eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms, with the last one being a part of the master bedroom. Along with that, it had a den that doubled as a recreation area (complete with the latest gaming systems hooked up to a seventy inch plasma screen television, a pool table, and even a fireplace… despite the fact that the mansion itself was in South Florida), a swimming pool in the back, multiple balconies… anything you can think of, there was a 50/50 chance this house had it. The inside of the house was decorated with a lot of trinkets and items from around the world.

I stated before that Harry's dad, Norman, was the head of OsCorp. OsCorp is an engineering and pharmaceutical firm. They specialized in military technology and alternative supplements. It was because of the former that they were one of the more profitable companies in the world. Needless to say, Norman was very rich, and he made sure the home was fit for guests. As such, we were there often, just to hang out or play video games… usually.

This wasn't one of those times.

The whole group was there, sans Carl. I was sitting on the sofa with my body leaned forward, elbows on my knees and hands laced together as I stared intently at Harry. To my right was Gwen, who had her right arm around the shoulders of Jessica, who was currently trying to hold back the tears to no avail. And then there was Anya, seated cross legged on the floor to my left. Across from us, on the recliner was Harry. He just got done explaining to us what really happened. Needless to say, we were all at a loss for words.

"So… let me get this straight," Anya began, prompting me to look down at her. Her head was tilted from apparent disbelief. "Someone gave an anonymous tip that Carl was going to be at Sawgrass to orchestrate some kind of illegal deal. So cops showed up, questioned him, and asked if they could search his vehicle. He complies, and they found two bricks of coke in his trunk."

"Yeah, that's basically it," Harry said with a sigh.

"That can't be right," I said. "Carl would rather die than have anything to do with the stuff, not after what happened his freshman year."

Long story short, Carl's girlfriend at the time died from a drug overdose. So you can imagine why we didn't believe the story.

"I don't believe it either, Ceph'," Harry said. "Matter of fact, I know he got screwed over somehow. But the powder they found in his trunk says otherwise."

"How much is the bail?" Gwen asked.

"Bond hearing hasn't been set yet. Though, it might be next Thursday."

"Oh lovely," Anya said. "So what's the plan?"

"Only plan I have is to talk to my dad and see if he'll have his attorney defend Carl," Harry answered. "Right now, I'm more worried about the bail. Any chance of him getting to any school on a football scholarship will probably go out the window once word gets around about his arrest. But if we can bail him out, he can still finish the semester without missing too many days. That way, he can still pick some others way to pay for school."

"You say this as if your father's lawyer is guaranteed to win Carl's case," Jessica said in a somewhat choked voice.

"If Jennifer can win the Oprah versus OsCorp case, she can take care of Carl."

Don't bother asking.

"So, no homecoming, and Carl gets arrested," I said with a sigh. "Well, I don't know how this week could get any worse."

Have you ever wanted to go back in time just to slap the taste out of your past self's mouth for saying or doing something so stupid? Yeah, this was one of those times. That bad week I told you about? This was the start of it.

The following Monday started off rather uneventfully. That was, until lunch time. Because of my schedule, my lunch was right before fourth period. Instead of grabbing the French bread pizza, like I usually do, I decided to opt for the fish sandwich. Ten minutes later it was announced over the PA system that the fish sandwiches were tainted. Not that it mattered much, because during that announcement, I was on the toilet as my body emptied my bowels like a bad case of imminent domain. By the time I was able to go to class, I missed a pop quiz that would have earned extra points for an upcoming test. It wasn't that big of a deal, but I preferred to be ahead of the curve when final exams rolled around.

Tuesday, Anya and I missed the school bus, so our folks dropped us off at the nearest transit stop to catch the city bus. Problem was, the nearest stop that would take us towards our destination had no form of cover, and five minutes afterwards, the sky opened up and said good morning by serving us a healthy serving of heavy rain.

To add to that, word of Carl's arrest got around real fast. It seemed like every corner I turned, there was somebody talking about it. Some people thought he was framed. Other people claimed that they knew that Carl doing something with cocaine, like he was dealer, and just started demonizing him. It gotten so bad that rumors of Jessica being a crack whore started going around by Wednesday. At that point, I literally walked out of the classroom, ignoring my teacher when she asked me what was wrong. It was all I could do to avoid hopping the aisle and getting into that girl's face to tell her to shut up.

I merely walked away. It helped me avoid doing something stupid. Which was rather ironic, because me walking away lead into doing something stupid.

Before I continue, I have to tell you guys something: Carl was the anti-bully of the school. Ever since his freshman year, bullying was a scarce thing because since Carl was so popular, had a thing against bullying, and is so scary of a dude to get into a fight with, the mere words "I know Carl" was enough to make anyone think twice. He was basically the Sword of Damocles. However, Carl wasn't around anymore. So, some of the bullies started to come out again.

So, I was walking around, near the cafeteria. First lunch was in session, so people were out and about. I was just going to just turn around when I heard a familiar voice.

"Get away from me, Flash!"

I stopped in my tracks and scanned the area. It took me a while, but a few people turning their heads in the same direction lead my gaze to the source of the voice. It belonged to who I thought it belonged to: Anya. And she was standing to face to face with Flash Thompson, starting quarterback of the school's football team and all around douche. He was the guy who got kicked in the nuts by Anya, resulting in her suspension. I started to walk towards them, quickening my pace as I noticed that he had her grabbed by the elbow.

"What are you going to do, call Carl?" he said tauntingly. He then yanked her closer, causing her to yelp. "If you hadn't noticed, Carl is too busy making sure he doesn't drop to the soap to come to your aid. Who's going to help you now?"

"I am!" I said once I was within ear shot. The two of them looked at me. Anya then yanked herself away from Flash before running to my side.

"Who are you?" Flash said.

"I'm her older brother," I said as I took a step forward. I may like to avoid conflict, but my threshold had its limits. Somebody putting my hands on my sister didn't fall within them. Flash looked back at Anya and then back at me, eyebrow raised. I knew what was going through his head.

"Are you serious?" he said. "Look, if you want to play Captain Save-A-Ho, don't come up with a pretense. What is she, adopted?"

"Matter of fact she is," I said. "And as much as I'd hate to cut this conversation short, I got places to be." With that said, I turned away. I took Anya's left hand with my right before walking away from Flash, gently pulling her away before the scene became bigger than it already was. But, like I said, Flash was a bully, and I didn't have the threat of Carl or any reputation of my own to deter him. So he was right behind us every step, running his mouth.

"Your stepsister, huh? Not even blood related? Must be nice, having access to that every single time you go home."

I stopped in my tracks, blank expression on my face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Anya look at me. She walked in front of me and faced me.

"Ceph'…" she said. The look on her face said it all. She was trying to tell me to just walk away. And for a moment there, I was going to. But Flash, being Flash, decided to add this little gem.

"Way to keep it in the family!"

You know what else didn't fall within those limits? Someone implying that Anya and I like to partake in incest.

I immediately turned around before knocking Flash to the ground with a right hook to his jaw. As the crowd gathered around, I jumped on him before wailing on him repeatedly until two of Flash's friends jumped in. I was pulled off of Flash before I was curled in a ball on the ground, trying to protect myself as I was getting kicked. This continued until security showed up.

Right after, I was being escorted to the principal's office along with Flash and the rest of his crew, and being handed an ice pack as I told my side of the story. All this culminated in a five day suspension and a long car ride home, with my dad being the driver.

When we got home, we were in the dining room of our home, sitting at the table with my uncle sitting across from me. I didn't make eye contact with him. Instead I used my only good eye (my right) to look down at the table and study the wood patterns. I knew for a fact that my Uncle was staring a hole at me, trying to figure out what to say. I was wishing that he just talk already because the silence was getting to me. After several more seconds, I finally got my wish.

"You know, normally you'd be facing the belt," he began. He then scoffed. "But for the sake of avoiding redundancy, I'll forgo your behind whooping."

"This isn't funny," I replied.

"You're right. This isn't funny. As a matter of – Look at me boy!" I took in a deep breath raised my head slightly and made eye contact. His angry face softened up a bit. I had to a hold back a scoff of my own as I wondered how messed up my face was. "What's wrong with you, Ceph'? Fighting at school? Did I not raise you better than that? What was going through your mind?" I remained quiet, not wanting to take the risk of answering a rhetorical question and agitating him even more. "What happened?" I remained silent until it became apparent that he was waiting for an answer.

"I left class because… because this girl was talking crap about Jessica, saying that she was Carl's crack whore and stuff. I wanted to avoid getting into a conflict with her." I noticed the twitch on my uncle's lip. The irony wasn't lost on him. "So, I was walking about when I heard Anya screaming out. By the time I found her, she was being grabbed by the elbow by Flash."

"And that's when you decided to start throwing hands?" Uncle Ben asked. I shook my head.

"Nah. I pulled Anya away so we could just get away from him, but Flash kept on following us and implied…" I paused for a moment as I thought of a way to word this. I then sighed. "He implied that Anya and I interacted in ways that a brother and sister shouldn't be interacting."

Uncle Ben kept his eyes on me, as if he was waiting for me to say I was just kidding. He then blinked once, and I could see the gears turning in his head.

"That always have been a button of yours, Ceph'," he finally said. He then shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, I understand why it would set you off, but you can't be punching out everyone who says that. If I punched out somebody every time they said something I didn't like, I wouldn't have a job." He then sighed. "You're better than this. You're lucky this is a first time offense, 'cause ten days would have you repeating your junior year. And not only that, imagine the example you're setting for Anya. She gets into enough trouble as is. As such, you're grounded for a month. And you can forget about Homecoming. Is that understood?"

I wasn't going anymore, anyway. That's what I wanted to say. I simply nodded instead. I was already grounded for a month, and my eye was practically swollen shut. Why make things worse?

"Good," Uncle Ben said. "Now grab an icepack out of the freezer. Hate to have your aunt look at you with that eye swollen shut."

The rest of the night went by rather quickly. I remained up in my room, resting my eye on an ice pack as I lay on my bed, on my stomach. I didn't even come down for dinner. I just wasn't hungry. As the hours went by, I heard everything that happened outside my room, from my uncle explaining my suspension to my aunt, to Anya arguing with my uncle on my behalf, and failing. Before I knew it, it was one hour before midnight. After stripping down to my boxers and undershirt and leaving the icepack on the night stand, I was under the sheets, on my back, trying my best to go to sleep. I just wanted to forget the day and try to make the best out of a bad situation. Five days from school, seven days without worrying about Flash.

Problem was, I couldn't sleep for anything. While the swelling receded enough for me to open it, my face still hurt. I glanced over at my alarm clock, and 1:00 shined back at me in red lights. It was then when I heard the window slide up. I immediately sat up and looked towards it, only to see Gwen crawling through. She landed lightly on her feet, barely making a sound before her gaze landed on me. She was dressed in a grey sweatshirt with matching sweatpants and black socks and flip-flops. The look on her face was ambiguous, yet it still had me feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. Was she angry with me? Was she disappointed, or even ashamed? Was it a mix of all three? Those were the questions that were popping in my head. Her very presence was enough for the guilt to build up in my chest.

She kept her gaze on me, unnerving me more and more as seconds passed. Not being able to take it anymore, I opened my mouth to say something. Before I could say anything, she brought her index finger against her lips, silently shushing me. She turned and closed the window behind her slowly, making sure not to make too much noise. She turned around before walking towards me. I took this time to turn my body, making my feet hit the floor with. She stopped right in front of me. She brought her hand up before placing it softly against the left side of my face. I winced slightly at the touch, which brought a scowl on Gwen's face.

"What happened?" she asked quietly. I frowned.

"I got into it with Flash," I whispered. "I was beating is face in until his boys jumped in." The scowl on her face became more pronounced. She definitely wasn't thrilled. I already knew the next question she was going to ask, so I decided to just go ahead and answer. "He implied out loud that Anya and I fool around whenever we're at home." At that, the scowl softened, but only slightly.

"You still should have walked away," Gwen said. "How long you're grounded for?"

"A month." I sighed. "It's seven days away from Flash, but now that I think about it, next Thursday's going to suck. Especially since I got to worry about what Flash might try to do with Anya."

"Don't worry about that," she said. "I'll make sure to keep her at my side whenever I can." Her scowl completely disappeared, but that frown remained on her face. "I'm worried about you right now. Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't think anything's broken," I replied. "Well, except for my pride, anyway." This got a scoff out of Gwen as she shook her head.

"Well, that's usually the first to go whenever you get your butt handed to you." As she said this, she slid her finger underneath by chin. She then leaned forward and planted a cheek on my left eye. My breath hitched slightly, and, somehow, my eye didn't hurt that much anymore. She then placed her forehead against mine. "Please don't do that again. It's already hard enough as it is with Carl gone. I'm not going to like you not being around for the next seven days. Especially since I have to cheer Jessica up by myself. The way things are now, it's a two-person job."

"You got Harry," I said.

"Yeah… but he doesn't have our chemistry."

I paused for a moment before I smirked. I felt my cheeks heat up a bit. I then sighed as my smile faded slightly. "Well, maybe our chemistry can help me sleep. This eye got me unable to sleep."

"Don't worry," Gwen said. "I'll have that handled." I smiled at her as I returned to my previous position on the bed. I made room for Gwen to climb in. Before she did, she grabbed the bottom of her sweater before taking it off, revealing a black t-shirt. She dropped it on the floor before she joined me in bed, leaving her flip-flops. "Let me be the one to hold you, tonight." I nodded as I turned my body and rested the right side of my face on her shoulder. She wrapped her arm around me. "Try not to get your face bashed in while you're stuck at home." I scoffed before shook my head. Then there was silence. After about ten minutes, I felt myself drift to sleep.

I slept like a baby that night. It was probably the best night of sleep I ever had at that point. But, of course, it didn't last.

As soon as I woke up, Gwen was, as per usual. I was met with the sight of Uncle Ben standing at my bedside. I didn't even bother saying anything as I sat up and looked up at him. He looked down at me with a slight frown.

"Well, I'm glad you have your eye back," he said. He then pushed a piece of paper in front of my face. I didn't ask what it was. Between Anya and I, there was enough groundings in this house to know that was list of chores. "You already know the drill."

That's pretty much the nature of my grounding. No television, no video games, no reading materials, no hanging out or talking with friends by any means, which leads to no internet. Beyond that, I'm responsible for any chore that was on the list given to me in the morning. So, over the next couple of days, I was cleaning gutters, bathrooms, rooms, dishes, kitchens, and other stuff. And when I wasn't cleaning, I was on by back, looking up at the popcorn ceiling, counting each kernel in a futile attempt pass the time. By the time I went to sleep Friday night, I was silently wishing I just walked away that afternoon.

Fortunately, Anya was able to get me a parole of sorts.

On Saturday morning, I was looking up at the ceiling, counting the kernels again when I heard Anya and my Uncle Ben talking from down the hall.

"Can't you get your mother to go with you?" Uncle said. I couldn't help but find it funny that though I considered Anya my little sister, I referred to my Uncle and Aunt as, well, my Uncle and Aunt while Anya referred to them as Mom and Dad.

"She's going to leave in about five minutes," she said. "She's going to meet Ms. Watson up in Deerfield."

"And why can't you take the pictures yourself?"

"Well, for one, Cephas is our best photographer. And second of all… I suck at taking pictures. Look, Dad, I know he's on punishment, but I need him for this assignment. And I know you have to work today. Let him come with me. Please?"

At this, I sat up from my bed. I heard nothing for a bit. Then I heard footsteps come towards my room. The door opened, and my Uncle stepped through.

"Good morning, Cephas," he greeted.

"Good morning, Uncle," I said. I turned my body, letting my feet hit the carpeted floor before I stood up. I stretched my arms outward as I leaned my backward, groaning as I did so. I straightened myself before looking over at my Uncle again. "What's on the agenda?"

"Today's your lucky day." He brought his hand out towards me. Instead of a list, he gave me fifty dollar bill with a few dollar bills. I looked at it before taking the money in my hand. "It turns out that they are having a special exhibit at the Museum of Discovery and Science. You remember how to get there?" I nodded slowly. "Good. Bring your camera. She needs pictures for her an extra credit assignment that'll make up a good chunk of the assignments she missed when she got suspended, provided she does a good job with it. I want you go with her, take pictures, get them developed and get back here at 5:30."

"Fifteen minute grace?" I asked. He narrowed his eyes at me. "What? You know how the BCT can be at times.

"…Fine. Also, I want to see those pictures when you get home."

"No trust?"

"It's not you I don't trust." My uncle then stepped forward before closing the door behind him. He then began to whisper. "Look, Ceph', Anya hasn't exactly been happy about your punishment, and I just want to make sure this isn't just some attempt to get you some relief from it." He frowned. "Look, I'm glad you're sticking up for your sister and everything. Just… be smarter about it next time. Remember what I told you, Ceph. With great power…"

"…comes great responsibility."

"Exactly," he said. "Now get ready."

About twenty minutes later, we were on the bus heading east. The bus was relatively empty, allowing us to have a section for ourselves. I looked outside of the window as Anya leaned against me. I looked down at my feet, making sure that my backpack was still there. I then looked over at Anya.

"So what's this exhibit about?" I asked.

"It's dealing with genetic engineering, showing off species they created."

"'They'?"

"Yeah, this science firm, headed up by this guy…" Anya's eyebrows furrowed up as she tried to recollect his name. "Connors, I think it is."

"Curt Connors," I said. "He's an interesting guy. He used to be a combat surgeon until he got his arm blown off in a mine blast. Ever since then, he's been researching a way to harness reptilian and amphibian DNA for the sake of using it to regenerate limbs."

"How do you know all this?"

"I read up on him in my science class freshman year." I looked out of the window, making sure that we didn't miss our stop. "In one newspaper article, a writer asked if Curt was just obsessed with getting his arm back." I frowned slightly.

"Is he?" Anya asked.

"I don't know… but who cares?" I said as I shrugged slightly. "If he is obsessed, then he's obsessed with something that can change the world for the better. You see, reptiles and amphibians can regenerate entire limbs, and sometimes even organs. Imagine if he could harness that for use on humans? People could walk again, transplants won't be needed as much. Heck, we could be looking at a cure for muscle dystrophy and the like. His obsession could help people big time, you know?"

"Yeah…"

"'Sides, he could of have been doing something worse. After such an experience he had, he could have become bitter, or worse." I paused as I looked back Anya. "I wonder if I could be like him if something that bad happened to me."

Oh Old Cephas, how I despise thee.