Act 2 Scene 3

You can really tell a lot about the quality of a school by the posters they have up in their office. Most schools have some cheerful motivational posters and a couple public service ads. We just have a whole bunch of 'Hugs not Drugs' posters plastered up, giving the impression that they are literally begging us to stop using drugs. That or they were the only free posters. Depressing.

My knee bounced impatiently, and it irritated me. I wished I could be like Minho - who hadn't so much as blinked for the past hour we'd been waiting. I hoped I didn't look nervous. Gally had been blatantly glaring at me, and I didn't want it to seem like he was getting to me. I crossed my legs and glanced back at the clock again. Barely any time had passed. To my left, Thomas was fidgeting madly. He was like some unstoppable force of positive energy that had been tied down in this dreary place.

"Newt, I -" he started for the millionth time, before being harshly shushed by the nameless office lady. They must have a factory for these women. They were all hopelessly out of style, mean as all hell, and had excellent hearing.

Thomas bit his lip and looked away in frustration, foot tapping erratically. I knew he was trying to apologize, but I didn't want to hear it.

Finally, the office door opened and the principal stepped out. He was dressed entirely in fabrics that at one point would have been white, and had a strange resemblance to a rat. Long ago, the entire student body had unanimously forgotten his name and taken to calling him The Rat Man. I had to give it to them, the nickname was quite an accurate descriptor.

"Come in," he said, as if we hadn't been wasting our entire afternoon waiting for him to call us in.

Thomas bounced up, eager to release some of his pent-up energy, and Minho slowly rose, face still stone. I followed quickly, not wanting to be beside Gally for any amount of time. The office was dingy at best and grimy at worst. There were chairs set out for us and we took them somberly.

"Boys," The Rat Man started, and I had to force myself to stop wondering at the weaseliness of his face and concentrate on his words, "Our school has no tolerance for physical violence and you must be punished."

Fine by me, I thought. Whatever they could throw at me wouldn't be as bad as the shame I felt not being able to stand up for myself.

"Detention for two weeks, starting today."

"Today?" I blurted out. All eyes jumped to me. I crossed my arms, "I have work,"

"That, sir, is your problem," Rat Man said, with a small smirk.

"Well how long do we have to stay?" Thomas asked.

"For today, until you all apologize to each other," he said.

What sort of bullshit logic was that? Were we toddlers again and "I'm sorry" was the magical phrase that could repair any broken friendship? Words were worthless.

"Sorry," I said, intoning as much sarcasm into the word as possible, "Can I leave now?"

The Rat Man steepled his fingers, and gestured to us with them, "Not until everyone apologizes,"

"Sorry, bro," Thomas said to Gally, looking genuinely sorry. They had been friends after all, "But if you're gonna hurt my friends, you can bet your ass I'm gonna hurt you,"

"Thanks," Gally said, smiling sarcastically, "Sorry to you too, Judas. And you, the big stupid knight in shining armor."

He turned to me, "And sorry to the poor widdle princess, who needs these big strong men to take care of his wimp ass,"

I took a breath, trying to swallow my anger. I calmly gave Gally the middle finger and some insight into the possible sexual relations between his mother and a hippopotamus. He smiled back at me and employed an impressive mixture of curses and slurs, some of which I hadn't even known existed.

We looked back at The Rat Man, who seemed satisfied enough with our apologies. After all, what did he care, if he could claim that he'd tried?

"And you?" he asked Minho.

I turned to him.

"No,"

It was just one word, but my heart sank. His stubbornness was going to keep us here all night. At the same time, though, I was flattered that this was so important to him. But mostly, I wished he'd just apologize. This wasn't a battle worth fighting.

"Alright," The Rat Man said, standing, "Let me know when you change your mind,"

He left the room and the door locked with a click behind him.

Shit. This was going to be a long day.