Super late, I know. Didn't have internet or a computer for half a year. Currently going through that bumpy patch in life. Hope this will do you all over until I can get the next one up. If my memory serves me correctly, I've basically introduced everyone minus a couple teachers and such. Enjoy!

Warning: contains angst (hey, it had to show up sometime)

The slim fingers that tugged through her hair were nothing close to gentle. As the finger tips dug into her skull, she could already feel the ghostly presence of an upcoming headache. The sharp pain when she was being pulled back up to her feet caused a tiny whimper to bubble from her lips.

"Appears like our little piglet doesn't want to play anymore." Though the words were spoken more to the group, the boy was muttering them darkly into her ear as if to test his theory.

Bright pink locks once tied up perfectly into a ponytail now laid across her face and sticking out in every direction. Dark pink eyes gazed forward, shaking with worry and from an old nightmare that had started anew.

"You're still as much of a wimp as were back then." A smooth, feminine tone jeered at her.

There sounded a separate female laugh. "What a stupid girl, she never learns."

"I'm not stupid!" The victim shouted in protest, reaching up to try and undo the fingers. "And I'm not a wimp either. You're the real cowards."

The hold on her hair tightened dangerously and she was reduced to mumbling all over again. A hard expression made its way into his eyes but the victim couldn't see it.

"You think you can call me a coward and get away with it? Come on now, piglet, you should know by now that I'm not so easily persuaded."

She took in a deep breath of air and tried to shake him. "Please Mitch, I'm sorry. You're not a coward."

Stretching his lips into that familiar crooked smile, the boy pushed at the much smaller girl's hair, forcing her head to tilt back. "You know, somehow I don't believe you. You could just be saying that so I'll leave you alone. Is that what you're trying to do, piglet? Trying to get rid of me?"

"I-I-I-" She tried but was cut off by a new hand covering her mouth. One of the girl's. Oh no ...

The next thing she saw was the butt end of a broomstick come crashing down on Mitch's head. His grip on the girl loosened dramatically and the victim fell against a locker and out of arms reach.

"Dammit, Stratmon!" A voice snapped, clearly beyond annoyed. Though the smallest girl hadn't a clue who the voice belonged to, Mitch knew and that was enough.

Just when the boy had picked up his feet to start booking it in the other direction, a hand shoot out and snagged the back of his collar, cutting him short.

That was when the girl was presented the image of her savior. He'd have had the tall, dark and handsome look down if his hair hadn't been blond. With Mitch in one hand and broom in the other, she never would have thought she'd find being saved by the janitor so relieving.

He didn't have his usual smile on though. Apparently the two had a history because Mitch looked unsure and Guy just looked annoyed. "You're always causing trouble, Mitch and now I find you here picking on a Cadette? What is the matter with you? And a girl no less!"

"She was asking for it." Mitch spoke sternly, his glare set on the girl but it wavered a bit when Guy tugged on his shirt, hauling him up to his proper height. Frighteningly enough, the boy was only one head shorter then the janitor.

"By doing what? You probably just cornered her during break so you could pick on her during class. Thought you could get away with that, huh?" He tested but left no room for comments as he turned to face the two girls. His glare wasn't there for them but his voice still held authority. "I don't know if you ladies do this often but you two will be dealt with as well. Get to class." When neither of them moved, he sighed. "Now." His voice insisted.

Both girls exchanged looks with themselves and Mitch before turning in opposite directions to head to class. The victim watched them both go with worry. Both girls had been Mitch's little lackeys for as long as they had started picking on her. Neither of them changed. Neither of them tried to put up the good girl front either so she figured Guy must have just not dealt with them before.

"Miss." A voice called and the victim's attention was brought back to the janitor. She nodded to show he had her attention but said nothing in fear she'd slip something up. He was giving her a gentle smile though, clearly showing that he was just there to help. "You should head to class as well. Once I bring Mitch up to the office, I'll come give your teacher an excuse for you being late. Sound good?"

Fear shattered her expression from its (remotely) calm look but before she could bring up her protest, Guy was already dragging Mitch by the arm past her. "Don't worry." He replied to her silent plea. "I won't tell anybody other then the principal what's going on here."

That answer didn't really satisfy her but she was simply trying her best to keep her eyes away from Mitch. She certainly didn't need to look up to know that he had a murderous stare. She knew Guy was only trying help but she knew better then anyone that this was truly going to come back to haunt her. It wouldn't matter if Mitch got expelled, he'd still find ways to harass her to and from school.

Once she felt she was completely alone in the halls, her hands shook violently and she crumbled to the floor. She was so thankful it was class time. The odds of anybody finding her crying on the floor like this would be next to none. As long as she kept her voice under control, there was a good chance she could get away with it.

That was good ... because, everything considering, she doubted she could stand.

The only sounds she uttered were when she chocked on her own gasps for air, fingers laced together to cover her mouth. With her head tilted back against the lockers, the tears poured down the sides of her face, trickling heavily onto the floor and in her ears. The white noise of the halls fell deafly as more pain pulsed in her ears.

She'd been so relieved when they'd moved up to high school that she'd completely forgotten about them when she herself landed here. In hine sight, that was a very stupid thing to do. What would possibly make them forget about her? She was the perfect little victim in their eyes. She was small, relatively quiet and kept to herself. She didn't have many friends and she certainly didn't have a white knight to come save her every time.

Oh yes, she was perfect.

The fingers that had been covering her mouth reached up into her hair and pressed painfully against her skull.

Why again? Why her?

There was a screech to her right and without bothering to look and see what it was, she instinctively rubbed at her face, wiping away the tears the best she could and kept her head low. She didn't doubt that her eyes were swollen by now, plus all the crying had added to her headache. She didn't want to get into some sort of questioning period.

Wobbling slightly, she gathered herself and got to her feet. She turned away from the noise and went to make a dash before the voice caught her heart and she forgot what she had been trying to do.

"Arietta?"

No ... not him, not right now. Go away, come back later. Later!

The footsteps were a little heavy and quicker, which meant he was jogging, which meant that even if she'd wanted to run at this point, she wouldn't have been able to outrun him.

"Hey!" He called, practically right behind her. Guilt ran down her spine and her knees shock. She couldn't speak, if she did he'd know she'd been crying. But if she-

"Don't ignore me." He demanded and she flinched. Exactly what she'd worried about.

Instinctively, she took a couple steps forward but the other would have no such action. "We've been wondering where you'd run off to." He grabbed her arm and spun her around without further debate. "It's not like you to skip .... class ...."

NO!

"Are you crying?!" He spoke, the clear surprise in his voice and face. "What happened?"

Don't ask questions! Stop asking questions! No more-

"Arietta! What happened?! Don't ignore me, you know I won't go away even if you do." He spoke, giving her a little shake. "Arietta!"

"Stop saying my name, Sync!" She screamed, as loud as she possibly could, her hands to her ears and her figure bent like she was in pain. "Stop asking questions!"

The volume, not the words were what surprised the other, his hands in the air as if to show her that she wasn't touching her or anything. Like he was innocent. Which he was but Sync didn't understand that at the moment.

A door opened and out popped the vice principal, who just happened to be visiting that classroom. "What seems to be the problem here?"

"I don't know!" Sync exclaimed, hands still in the air and eyes traveling from Arietta and Jade.

"You're so stupid!" Arietta shouted at him, her face still ducked down but voice still raised. "Maybe if you had half a brain in your head instead of muscle, you'd have figured it out years ago!"

Sync flinched, clearly unsure of what to do. So instead, he went back to the basics of his nature. He kept quiet.

There was a high pitched scream, one that came from deranged lips and it echoed through the empty hall. The girl pressed against her ears harder and the more pressure she put, the louder she screamed.

Stepping toward her and closing the classroom door behind him, Jade reached out toward her and tapped her shoulder. She spun around instantly, made eye contact with him before she turned once more and ran as fast as she could from the direction Sync had come.

The boy watched her run off, rocking on his heels trying to figure if he should go after he or not. On the other hand, Jade had fell oddly silent. His hands were slipped into his pockets and he looked down the hall with a blank expression.

"What did you do?!" Sync questioned, scowling the other a moment before he looked back over to where she'd disappeared. "What the heck is going on?!" He questioned out loud, utterly confused.

"That, my boy," Jade started, patting him on the shoulder calmly, "was the worst mental break down I've seen in years. Perhaps even worse then the one the principal did when that mysterious being chopped off all his hair when we were younger."

Sync shrugged off the touch and moved away from him. "Your pointless stories aren't what I want to hear right now. Don't you have someplace better to be?"

"Don't you? You're very close to that girl, are you not? I see you two together rather often."

"Well yeah, she's practically my best friend but you've obviously never seen Arietta when she's upset. Normally, if she hides out, you can't find her. In her current state, I wouldn't doubt it if she was halfway home already."

"So ... take your pick. Either way, you should probably get out of the hallway. I do believe you have Combat class this period, do you not? If Largo catches you out of class, I can only imagine what he'll do to you."

Sync opened his mouth to say something but figured there wasn't really anything he could say. He'd blabbered himself into a corner.

"If ... if you see her around the school, can you tell her to come to class? Maybe if I talk to her, she'll calm down. It can't be that bad, right? Probably just girl drama. Too much drama. All at once."

"I'll keep my eyes wide open." Jade nodded and then waved him off.

Hesitant at first, Sync finally picked up his feet and jogged toward the t-section of the hall that would lead to the gym. Once there, he stopped and looked down the other way, contemplating one last time if he should go and track her down.

He'd never seen Arietta so upset before ... and sure there had been times when they'd gotten into fights but she'd never raised her voice at him like that before ...

Perhaps it would be better to leave her alone for a while. Wasn't like he wouldn't be able to talk to her later on, right?

Turning on his heels, Sync dashed through the halls, his head filled with worry over Arietta and his heart filled with worry over what he'd missed in class by coming out here.

TBC ...

Review, please!