Welcome back! Thanks for all of your reviews, follows, and favourites. I love hearing what you guys think about what's going on in each chapter and what you think will happen in subsequent chapters, so please keep it up! For those of you waiting on updates for my other RB stories (so far I've been updating regularly so it might seem like a bit of a delay this time, sorry!), just know I'll get those up soon. I came up with what I think is going to be a really good twist for Madness that requires a lot of thought and careful execution, but I think if I can pull it off, it will be well worth the extra bit of time. I've been monitoring feedback for some of the other stories and may make a few little changes to the upcoming chapters (I'm still sitting on the fence), but I'll do my best to start posting updates in the next day or so. Anyway, thanks for reading!

Recap: After refusing to give up her boyfriend/buddies after a convenience store shooting, Andy finds herself in juvi. Oliver in particular does his best to prepare her, warning her about some of what goes on at the detention centre. Later that night, Sam is on the brink of giving up his son when a small moment leaves him opting for fatherhood, despite his fears and uncertainty. When both men visit Andy a few days later, they find out a teen serial killer has recognized Andy and has called her out to the other inmates, putting a huge target on Andy's back.

Andy tensed. She'd hardly seen Suzie Johnson, but it was only a matter of time before that changed and when it did, she knew she'd be in trouble. No doubt Oliver would try to instill her with positive thoughts, suggesting in an overly optimistic fashion that she may only be fined and sentenced to community service. Realistically speaking, she knew that even if it was a possibility now, by the time her trial rolled around, it wouldn't likely be an option anymore, not with the growing tension. It seemed only a matter of time before all hell broke loose.

The only thing she suspected was saving her from a solid beating was that her houseblock, the red block, only contained those awaiting trial. She rarely saw sentenced inmates, which meant she was technically sitting pretty with a group that had no beef with her dad and may not even be guilty of a crime. In fact, nearly half of the people in her wing seemed to be misfits, but rather harmless ones at that. The other half seemed like they might actually be guilty of theft, assault, or murder, but so far, none of them had paid too much attention to her, even after Suzie had called her out. Still, there was an obvious tension in her block, and it was getting thicker by the day.

From her seat in the dining hall, her eyes flicked over to the others, noting the quick glances. Something was up. Hearing the creaking of the dining hall door, she turned in time to see the next wave of inmates pouring in. Her heartbeat sped up. Andy frantically scanned the faces, taking in every mop of blond hair before letting out a sigh of relief when none of them turned out to be Suzie. The relief was short lived, however, as she felt numerous sets of eyes on her, followed by a group of three girls sliding onto the bench beside and across from her. Her eyes flicked around the room again, swallowing hard when all eyes seemed to be on her table. Taking one last sip of her drink, she quickly stood and turned to go, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

Fear shot through her. It was a long moment before she forced herself to turn around, bracing herself the best she could. Later on, she couldn't recall if she actually saw the fist coming or not, but in that moment she was very aware of the pain shooting through her face and the fact that her knees had given out. Blinking hard, she scrambled backward, struggling to focus on her attacker.

"Get up," the girl snarled.

Andy wiped her hand across her face, not surprised when it came back bloody. Her lip was definitely split open, with just as much blood spilling down her chin as there was pooling in her mouth. Still, her teeth seemed intact and aside from being rattled, she seemed okay otherwise. Inhaling deeply, she pushed herself to her feet and glanced around at the guards, but they seemed to be having trouble getting through the inmates who had crowded around. She was on her own. Her mind raced. Her dad had taught her how to throw a punch, but aside from that, she really didn't have any fighting skills. None of that mattered now though. Andy didn't have a choice.

Each heartbeat rocked her; her stomach churning as fear overwhelmed her. In a bid to settle her nerves, Andy closed her eyes, wiping her sweaty palms on her prison uniform before balling each hand into a fist. She knew the next attack was coming, yet she still kept her eyes closed, taking two deep breaths before opening them and spitting her mouthful of blood into her attacker's face. The girl stopped, frantically trying to wipe the blood from her eyes, but Andy didn't let her. She stepped forward and threw her entire weight into the punch, trying to hide her surprise when the girl fell backward, knocked out cold. Andy's eyes immediately darted to the other two girls, but the inmates were all backing away, looking at her with uncertainty. She stared at them evenly until the guards broke through the crowd and cuffed her, roughly leading her to get medical treatment.

The woman in the infirmary looked her up and down, noting her houseblock. "Not a good way to head into a trial."

Andy remained silent.

"Who started it?"

"The other girl."

The woman handed her an icepack and cloth. "Put it on your face."

Andy obeyed, some of the tension leaving her body as the ice numbed the pain.

"This is going to hurt," the woman replied, taking Andy's left hand and resetting her fingers.

She cried out, glaring at the woman.

"It's not my fault you got in a fight," the woman said, both her tone and expression void of sympathy.

"I was defending myself," Andy retorted.

"Either way, you're prolonging your stay."

Andy grimaced as the woman started to move her wrist in various directions.

"I'm going to take an x-ray to make sure it isn't broken."

Although she obediently followed the woman to the machine, she said, "What would you do if someone attacked you?"

The woman gave her a long look. "I wouldn't be in here in the first place."

1 week after the first visit…

Sam looked over to find Oliver leaning against a locker a few down from his own. His friend looked troubled – his forehead was creased and he was fidgeting. "Going to see her again?"

Oliver nodded.

"You want me to come, don't you?" Sam asked slowly. When his friend remained silent, Sam nodded and sighed. "Alright, let's go."

The drive was done in silence, which suited Sam just as well. Despite being a cop and periodically having to comfort people, it really wasn't his thing and when it came to comforting his friend about the whole Andy situation, he really had no idea what to say.

They slid into the chairs, waiting as a guard went to fetch Andy. "It's going to be okay," Sam said quietly.

Oliver glanced at him. "She's…" He fell silent as the door opened and Andy was led into the room.

Sam's eyes snapped over to his friend, whose own eyes were wide with concern as he took in the girl's wrapped up hand and cut lip.

"What happened? Are you okay?" asked Oliver, the words coming out in a jumble.

"I'm great," Andy replied as the guard hooked the cuffs to the table.

"You don't look great," said Oliver slowly.

Andy shrugged. "Really, things are good." She gestured to her hand and lip and added, "This will go away."

"Things are good?" Oliver asked in disbelief, his voice rising slightly. "Last time we came, you said you were the most hated person here and now you're injured."

"Hardly," she replied, rolling her eyes.

"So what happened?" Sam asked. He knew Oliver was losing his cool and if they really wanted answers, getting a rise out of the girl wasn't the way to do it.

"Got in a fight," she replied, shrugging. "It was a couple of days ago. One of the idiots tried to attack me in the dining hall."

"That's not going to help you get out of here any sooner," Oliver said disapprovingly. "It might even give you the heavier sentence."

Andy laughed dryly. "You think I don't know that?"

"You didn't have to fight."

Andy's eyes narrowed. "If someone attacks you and the guards aren't around, are you just going to stand there and let them beat you to death?"

"There's always another way," Oliver said.

"Yeah, and what's that?" Andy snapped.

Oliver opened his mouth, then closed it.

"See."

"Andy, it's not going to help—"

"You know what it is going to help, Oliver?" she said. "It's going to help me survive for however long I'm in here. We already knew the chances of me getting off lighter were slim and this was bound to happen, so right now, I need to do whatever it takes to survive."

"She has a point Oliver," Sam interrupted.

"You agree with her?" Oliver asked, eyes wide.

"I'm not saying it was right, but if it got some of them to back off, she may have just made her life in here a lot easier," said Sam.

Andy's eyes flicked up to Sam's face, surprised that he was almost taking her side. She held his gaze for a moment, frowning, before turning back to Oliver. "It wasn't even that bad," she reassured them. "You even said I'm smaller than most of them. This girl wasn't small, mean, but not small, and I only made a point. I wasn't trying to mess her up."

"Andy, you're not even a fighter," said Oliver, confused.

She shook her head. "That's the thing, it doesn't matter what I am or what I'm not. In here you are whatever you need to be, and that is what I needed to be to still be here. Besides, it's not like it's going to happen again."

Oliver made a noise in disbelief. "There's no way you can know that."

Andy smirked. "Suzie tried to attack me yesterday."

"What?" Oliver said, his face paling.

"She couldn't get within 10 feet of me."

"You made some friends," Sam said, half intending it to be a question, the other half a comment.

"If you want to call it that," Andy replied. She laughed. "I think they're actually scared of me after that fight, which is kind of funny, but I have reputation now and as long as people believe it and they're scared, then they're going to protect me because they don't want to be against me. It's tiring though, but better tired than dead, right?" She bit the uninjured part of her lip, suddenly looking thoughtful. "You know, they brought a new girl in last night… found her dead this morning. I only saw her in passing once, and then again when they carried the body out. It's pretty twisted. But it kind of proves my point. Whoever she was, whatever she did, she clearly didn't do it right."

Sam glanced around at the other tables. The other inmates hardly glanced in her direction anymore. He wondered how a girl as small as Andy had managed to win a fight. She must be scrappy, he thought to himself. Or pack a mean punch.

Andy hesitated. "How's Zoe? And Izzy?"

"Good good," said Oliver, but he left it at that. His mind was still reeling from what she'd told him.

"I should go," Andy said, getting to her feet.

"Dinner?" Oliver asked slowly.

Andy rolled her eyes. "No. I have a… I have someone I need to see."

"Another fight?" Oliver pressed.

She shook her head. "No."

"Then why do you need to leave?"

Andy shook her head and called for the guard. "Survival."

Thanks again for reading! Up next, Andy receives her sentence, and all hell breaks loose, but just how much trouble will Andy find herself in? Chapter 5 is called "Bad Feeling."