-6-

Aidan's P.O.V.

"I swear to God, it moved."

Most of the boys laugh, watching me poke at the mess on my tray.

Lexie takes my side, though. "I'm not even sure what this is supposed to be."

"It's food," Armpit says simply.

I glance at Lexie; her expression's mirroring mine: Ew.

"Just eat it so ya'll don't pass out tomorrow," Squid reasons. Unfortunately, he makes a good point.

Okay, here goes. I slowly take a tiny bite of the mystery-gunk off my fork.

...

"I've had worse, I guess." That doesn't mean it tastes any good, though. It's kind of like wet cardboard with seasoned salt.

They laugh again while Lexie follows my actions. The order around the table is X-ray at the end, Armpit on his right, then me, Squid, and Zero. On X's left is Zigzag, then Lexie, then Magnet.

X-ray chooses now to ask, "So, you two gonna tell us how you got here?"

With a quick look across the table, I shrug. "I guess."

His gaze slides to me. "A'ight, you first."

"You want the short version?"

"For now."

I poke at the gook on my tray as I talk. "I got in a fight at school."

"That's it?" Magnet questions.

"Pretty much."

"No way," Squid says. "There's gotta be more to it. Ain't no way they sent ya here just for fightin'."

I guess that means they want the long version. "It wasn't 'cuz of the fight. It was 'cuz of how it ended."

Now they're interested. "How'd it end?" Zigzag asks, leaning forward over the table a little.

"What happened?" X asks.

Might as well tell them now. "See, the guy I was fighting was pretty big. I freaked out a little and..." This is the part I hate thinking about. "I slashed his neck by accident."

"Whoa..." There are surprised murmurs among the guys, but Lexie just stares at me.

"Did ya kill 'im?" Zigzag asks, eyes even wider than before.

"No, but he had to go to the hospital. I was aiming at his face, but he tried to dodge the hit."

"What'd you hit him wit?" Armpit asks.

I hold up my hand, waving my fingers a little.

"Yeah, right. Seriously, what'd you use?"

"I am serious. I scratched him." I cringe inwardly. The feeling of his blood under my nails almost made me throw up. "The judge sent me here so I'd learn to be less violent."

They all look between each other, murmuring about whether they thought I was lying.

"Must've been one hell of a swing," Lexie mutters.

"Chica's tough," Magnet praises.

Once the murmuring dies down a little, X-ray turns to Lexie. "What about you?"

I instantly focus on the girl across from me. Maybe now I'll get to hear her story since she wouldn't tell me on the way here.

She looks around at all of us for a few seconds. "...Well, it's nowhere near as badass as almost killing someone with my nails." She sends a tiny smirk my way. "It's pretty stupid."

"So?" Squid tries to goad her on. "C'mon, spit it out."

She hesitates again, and I think her face is going red. Is it really that embarrassing? "My friends and I were playing truth or dare. ...One of them dared me to run through the mall in my underwear."

...No. Way. "Did you do it?"

She nods, looking anywhere but at us.

Just like that, the whole table is in hysterics (minus Zero who's trying desperately not to laugh).

C'mon, Aidan, control yourself! It's obviously not something she's proud of! "So you got arrested for streaking?" I ask, laughter still noticeable in my tone.

"No. I got arrested because my friends used the dare as a distraction. While the mall cops were chasing me, they split up and stole from, like, four different stores."

I sober immediately; now I feel like a bitch for laughing. "Oh... My bad."

She shrugs, moving the gob of "food" around on her tray. "Whatever."

"Man, that's cold," Armpit chuckles.

"You need some new friends," Magnet decides, still smiling a little.

In an effort to lighten her mood, I raise my hand. "Ooh, me! Pick me!"

She laughs a little and points at me with her fork. "I think that's one right there."

I pump my fist excitedly. "Yes!"

"Aw, ain't that sweet," X taunts, rolling his eyes.

I just stick my tongue out at him when he looks down at his dinner.

Squid smirks at me. "Better put that away unless you're plannin' on usin' it, girly."

...Eww! "In your dreams."

"How'd ya know?"

The others laugh, Lexie included. Me? I just want to smack him.

Armpit nudges X-ray. "We're gonna need to keep an eye on 'em tomorrow, X."

Lexie and I both look at the two of them. "Why?" we ask in unison.

"All the other dudes around here been eyein' you two since you got off the bus," Armpit says.

"Yeah, an' most of 'em ain't as nice as we are," X-ray adds.

I think I just shivered. I'm not liking where this is going.

"Seriously, man. You two better be careful," Magnet warns.

"Why? What's the worst they could do with Mr. Sir and Pendanski around?" Lexie asks.

"You don't wanna know," X says darkly. "Some of these guys got sent here for stuff they did to girls."

...Oh, God. We're gonna get raped.

Zigzag looks at me and laughs a little. "Don't worry. Long as ya stick by us, they won't bother ya."

If that was supposed to make me feel better, it didn't work. "But you guys won't always be around. What then?"

"What're you worryin' for? You're the one who almost took someone out with nothin' but your nails," Squid comments.

"Yeah," Armpit agrees. "And with the way you run, none of 'em would be able to keep up!" he reminds Lexie. "Ya'll got nothin' to worry about. Just watch yourselves."

Suddenly, sharing a tent with these guys seems like a much better idea. Bunking with them sounds a lot safer than two girls in a tent, alone at night. ...With nothing to use as a weapon.