The administration offices of the school were awfully quiet as I held an icepack to my skull and looked around. Kennedy was on the other side of the small room and both of us were forbidden from moving until Principal Greene got off the phone with our parents, who would be arriving at the school as soon as possible.

After my head collided with Kennedy's nose and she began bleeding for the second time in one day, Mr. Varner naturally came walking down the hall and caught the end of the event. He dragged us to the Principal office immediately. The others were told to wait in the hall and were being questioned by Mr. Varner, but ultimately allowed to leave since they weren't actually physically involved. Kennedy's head hung back as she held the thick towel against her face. I was pretty sure the bleeding has stopped, since she would look down to text every few minutes.

Yeah, really milking it.

Principal Greene's office door swung open to reveal his angry face, his small eyes even smaller as he squinted at us. The hope for a light punishment faded from my being as his aura poisoned the room. He crossed to the hall door and spoke briefly with Mr. Varner. To wish I was a fly on the wall was an understatement. I was outnumbered and had a feeling I would be fully to blame for the altercation. When Principal Greene was finished and Mr. Varner left, we were motioned to follow him into his office. Kennedy went first, finally lowering the towel that was only a little bloody. We sat in front of his desk silently for a minute before he finally spoke deeply.

"Your guardians are on their way here. Until they arrive, you are going to tell me one at a time what exactly transpired today. I've had a long week and if you argue over each other and extend this longer than necessary you will both be facing severe repercussions." Principal Greene gestured to Kennedy. "Go. From the beginning."

"I-I just…" Kennedy stumbled, putting on a façade of the injured bird to which I controlled the urge to roll my eyes. "I was talking to the girl I tripped over in the hall earlier today. I wanted to apologize to her when Valerie came up to me. She was mad because I made a joke about her cousin that I admit was distasteful. She fell against the lockers and when I went to help her up she headbutted me."

My jaw hit the floor for a moment before snapping shut and looking at Principal Greene. His expression was unchanging and impossible to read. It made my stomach churn.

"For clarification, tell me how Ms. Owens fell."

"I don't know."

Principal Greene blinked and shifted his eyes to me. "Ms. Owens?"

"I didn't fall," I said plainly.

"From the beginning, please," he requested.

I swallowed. "I was walking for the exit when I came across Kennedy talking to the girl she tripped over. She wasn't apologizing, she was harassing and threatening her. I became defensive and Kennedy pushed me into the lockers. I only headbutted her after she spit in my face."

"That's not even true!" Kennedy squealed.

"Enough." Principal Greene sternly spoke with a volume just below yelling. His expression was still unchanged other then a higher level of irritation. "I spoke with Ms. Parrish."

"Who?" Kennedy spilled with a crinkled nose that caused her to flinch in pain.

"Ms. Parrish is the girl you tripped over and the only one that had a matching story with one of you," he snapped at her. "Ms. Owens, you failed to mention anything about your cousin, Isabella Swan, in your version of the story when compared to Ms. Banks' telling. Care to explain?"

My brow furrowed. "I didn't feel it had any validation to the actual incident itself."

"So, you're telling me that there wasn't aggravation prior to the incident involving Ms. Swan's return to school."

I swallowed. How was I supposed to answer that without looking like a total snitch? Instead, my answer was a stare.

He sighed and pinched his nose as a light and beep came from his phone. "Your parents are here. Wait out in the main office until I am done speaking with them. If either of you put another toe out of line out there so help me… go." Principal Greene waved us off. We left, trying to maintain a distance between us. As I sat on my side of the room, the door to the main office opened with a wrath-lined vigor.

Enter Olivia. Fiery eyed, murder ready Aunt Olivia. Her glare flashed at me and I felt my soul fracture. I knew this was how it would be. She was pissed at me, not Kennedy. That was fair.

Sawyer went through an extremely violent phase early on in the new family dynamics to the point of partaking in underground high school fight clubs. It was short lived when Olivia found out. Instead of laying into the others who were responsible for starting the fights, she reprimanded Sawyer. I watched. I learned. Aunt Liv didn't stand by and let us make excuses for our actions. Yet here I was, burning under her intense scowl instead of having learned from my forefathers.

Olivia strode through in her long black coat that made her look as tough as she actually was, her auburn hair flowing in perfect waves. Overall, she looked like an Amazonian warrior that I shouldn't have crossed. She was followed by Kennedy's mother who also glared at me before turning the attention to her poor, helpless daughter. I opened my mouth to speak and only a small sound escaped before Olivia's head snapped back to me along with a finger that silenced me.

"Don't."

I sank into my chair, wishing to shrink into oblivion. The parents walked into Principal Greene's office and shut the door, leaving Kennedy and I to stew in our own miserable suspense, ironically probably waiting to hear of our suspension. The obnoxiously loud clock on the wall ticked away the time.

Thirty minutes later, Principal Green opened the door and released the beasts, but they weren't turned on me this time. Well, Olivia still was, but it was shared with a disgust against Kennedy. Her own mother was dragging her out and muttering things. I flinched for Kennedy, even though I hated her.

"Let's go," Olivia said as she held the door out open for me, turning and looking back to thank Principal Greene for his time. I followed silently until we got to the rainy parking lot and realized I had the car. On cue, Olivia asked for the keys.

"How did you get here?" I asked quietly, still terrified as I handed the keys over to the woman who still wouldn't look at me.

"I had to call Charlie for a ride. He picked up Bella."

"Oh," I mumbled as we got into the car. Another uncomfortable silence filled the air until we got to our road when I tried to open my stupid mouth again before getting cut off, which was deserved.

"You promised me, Valerie Dawn Owens. You broke that promise." Olivia's voice escalated. "You headbutted another girl, Valerie!"

"Could you stop saying my name like that?" I cowered into the seat.

"No!" she shouted at me. "I will continue saying your name in a way that drips with disappointment until the severity of what you did gets through your head, Valerie."

"I didn't want to disappoint you," I grimaced. "I am sorry. It was a momentary lapse in self control over my anger when-"

"When she pushed you and spit in your face for calling her out on her inability to avoid karma?" Olivia cut me off, still pissed but slightly calmer. "Your principal told me all the background information and confirmed that your story was the only one that lined up. Turns out the girl you were defending is a good person compared to the one you made bleed."

"Wait," I shook my head. That's what he meant? Mine was the story he believed. "So, what happened in there? How much trouble am I in exactly?"

"In school suspension tomorrow meaning that you will have all your classes in a tiny pathetic room under scrutinizing observation, and three weeks of no extracurricular activities." The car pulled into the garage and Olivia got out after sighing heavily. I trailed behind her as we walked to the house. She finally stopped in the kitchen, grabbed a wine glass and popped open a bottle of red. After a long sip, my aunt looked at me. "Valerie. What you did was wrong and I don't want you to think that I approve of violence as a way to handle your problems."

You're right, I thought. Drinking wine is definitely a better way to do that.

I bit my tongue. Now was not the time for my snarky humor. It would not be appreciated. Although, Olivia did look at her glass in a way that suggested she was thinking it too. She set the glass down with a clink.

"However," Aunt Liv started again, closing her eyes for a long moment. "I'm proud of you for standing up for your family and even more proud that you stood up for someone you didn't even know. It shows integrity and bravery."

Olivia smiled at me and it reached her green-blue eyes, something I was afraid I would never see again after I broke her trust. I smiled back, but still felt shame and guilt.

"But.."

There it is.

"You're still grounded for the next three weeks," she continued smiling as she delivered the dooming sentence. "You will be driven to school by me, your uncle, or Bella. You will come home immediately after school. Your cellphone will remain in the kitchen where you can check it once in the morning and once at night with further use requests being ran by me."

I sighed. "That's fair."

"No arguing," Olivia bobbed her head and pursed her lips. "Very mature. Good. Now give me your phone and go to your room to do some homework. I'll get you when dinner is ready."

With heavy feet I trudged to my room, dropping my backpack in front of the built-in book shelves. I belly-flopped onto my bed and lifted my head to look out the rain-streaked window. Getting through the night would be one thing, but the next day I would have to face the school and the looks and the general feeling of dread that came with the territory of being pegged as a headbutting thug. I hadn't even had the chance to tell my own friends, so everything that spread would be based off whatever Kennedy, her friends, and the one witness that I had on my side were telling. Defending Bella, defending the girl, defending myself… it may have been the worst, most compulsive thing I had ever done.

I woke up on Friday morning, unpleasantly, to my aunt pounding on my bedroom door. Since she had taken away my phone which served as my alarm, being woken up by the warden was the only other choice. Waking up via warden drumming wasn't enough and instead I was driven to school in the most embarrassing fashion possible.

"Olivia!" I screamed while looking out the front door sidelight at the cop car sitting in the driveway, my uncle in the driver seat and my cousin in the passenger seat. "Olivia, why is Uncle Charlie here with the squad? Please tell me this is a joke!"

"Nope," Olivia called from the kitchen where she was preparing her cup of coffee. "Crime and punishment my sweet, sweet child! Charlie is taking you and Bella to school to finish off this week."

My eyes widened as I dragged my bag around the corner to gawk at my aunt. "Liv, this is past punishment. This crosses the line into excessive force and a drunken power trip." I tenderly touched the slightly bruised area of my forehead. It throbbed a little even through the Tylenol. "If I show up to school in the back of a police car with a bruise on my head while whispers of what happened yesterday swirl around me, I will be pegged as a cold, hard, destined for women's prison, criminal."

"Stop being dramatic," she said while handing me my lunch bag. "Besides, no one will want to mess with you that way."

"And there goes my social life," I said, walking to the door. One of my hands lifted in the air as I left my aunt in the kitchen. "You know, you were a lot nicer about all of this last night and I did not see that coming!"

As that door closed, another opened, and out came Uncle Charlie from his car. His face was anything but cheerful as he opened the back of the car for me, but I was frozen.

"Hi Uncle Charlie."

"Get in the car," he stressed in his cop voice.

Another disappointed role model. Great.

The ride was eerie. My skin was crawling the same way it did when watching a horror movie. The ghost was hiding in the dark corner that the audience could see, but the main character had no idea they were about to get butchered. It was like waiting for that moment except I knew what was coming. The calm before the storm, a breath before the plunge, the –

"How did you even know how to headbutt someone?" Charlie's yelp broke the silence just before we pulled into the school yard and its tone teetered closer to frustration than discontent.

"Um-"

"You know what? I changed my mind," he added, parking the car to let Bella and I out. "I don't want to know. I'll be here at the end of the day to pick you up. Try not to hit anyone today, okay?"

Charlie would forgive me for being a disappointment quickly. After all, he was torn since I was defending his daughter.

…

I jostled the lock on my locker and fought to get it open. The lock was acting sticky. I really needed to ask about getting that fixed sometime.

"You can beat up the school bully but you can hardly win a fight against your locker?" a questioning, familiar voice asked from the side. Aly walked up with a strange, nervous smile. "Morning. That bruise looks painful."

"Aly!" I nearly dropped my books. "Oh my gosh, I am so happy to see you. You have no idea how freaked out I am about today and I really need to talk to you before things spin out of control."

"Did you really stand up to Kennedy?"

Stand up to? "Stand up to? You mean you don't think I ruthlessly attacked her?"

"Of course not! How could you think that?" She whispered. "Kennedy and her friends are trying to tell people that's what happened but for once no one is believing them. Mandy Parrish told her friends and its been leaking out all morning."

"Well, I haven't heard anything," I slouched a tad.

"The chatter stopped since you and Bella got here," Aly clarified.

"Huh. Don't worry," I closed my locker. "It'll start up again while both Kennedy and I share a small classroom with each other for the entire day."

"You got in-school suspension?" she grimaced. "Yikes. I'm sorry."

"Are you shocked? I did headbutt her after all. I guess I won't be seeing you all day."

"Hey," Aly grabbed my arm. "What about at home? Are we still allowed to study for the Trig test this weekend?"

"Shit," I closed my eyes tightly. "My aunt grounded me for three weeks. I'm not allowed to have a life till it's over. I'll talk to her about it. If it's for school, she can't say no."

…

"No."

"But-" I tried to interrupt.

"You are not allowed to leave the house and that's final." Olivia shuffled the stir fry vegetables in the wok and then pointed the spoon at me. "If you leave the house to go to the library how do I know that you aren't gallivanting around town."

"It's Forks," my face contorted. "There's nowhere to gallivant."

Olivia's tight-lipped, frustrated sigh rumbled in her throat. "If Aly comes here, I'll allow it. You'll study at the table and as soon as studying is done she goes home."

"Can she stay for dinner?" I pushed.

"Fine. Now tell me," she leaned on the counter across from where I sat, "how did school go today? Any more fights?"

"No, but it was boring, thank you very much." I got up to make some tea, a headache returning after being reminded of the stress. "Kennedy and I sat on opposite sides of the front row in the in-school suspension room while the vice principal watched us the whole time, the entire day."

"It was one day and you lived."

"Yes," I sighed dramatically. "Barely. But what happens when we both return back to normal sessions?"

"Luckily you have the weekend to gap it," Olivia said while nabbing the plates from the cabinet. "Things will settle down."

"On the bright side, from the small conversation I had with Aly, it sounded like people don't think I'm the monster."

"You're not a monster," she chuckled. "Where would you get an idea like that?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. The story could have been twisted to favor Kennedy and make me seem crazy."

"People tend to get what's coming to them. It's karma."

"Karma is so magical sometimes," I said while taking a filled plate from my aunt and walking towards the dining table. She followed but looked rather tense suddenly. I guess she forgot she was supposed to be mad at me.

…

"Thanks for letting me stay for dinner, Ms. Owens," Aly said as we sat down to eat the honey garlic pork chops that my aunt had been preparing while we studied.

"Please, for the hundredth time," she begged. "Call me Olivia. It's nice to have the company. I appreciate you understanding that Valerie couldn't leave the house today."

"Of course." Aly turned to speak to me from across the table. "After all, taking that kind of behavior lightly wouldn't exactly be a good life lesson."

"Yeah, yeah," I waved her off, scooping green beans onto my plate.

"Gosh, I just can't believe Kennedy's poor nose got smashed twice in one day," Aly said, taking the bowl of beans from me.

"Wait, wait, wait," Olivia stalled the conversation as she sat at the head of the table. "What do you mean twice in one day?"

"Mm," I swallowed my mouthful of water. "Didn't I tell you yesterday? The karma thing?"

"No, you got distracted by the squirrel outside." Olivia's brow raised.

Aly snorted as she scooped mashed potatoes onto her plate and I shot her a quick look to say 'don't judge me'.

"Oh, well, yeah. Earlier that morning I saw Kennedy with her list of bets and overheard her being generally terrible about Bella and she admitted to bullying people into paying her." I scratched my head. "I may have been slightly wishing for her to get what was coming."

Olivia's eyes widened at me.

"Um," Aly started before my aunt could. "I'm pretty sure when I told you she fell and broke her nose your exact words were 'dreams do come true'."

"Nark," I smirked at her before looking apologetically at Olivia –

She was seething. Olivia's usually blue-green eyes had a fire in them that I had never seen before, worse than Thursday, and I wasn't sure why. Nothing about the way she was receiving this information made sense. I had headbutted Kennedy in the face, which I wasn't proud of (maybe). My aunt, somehow, made me feel worse about this still.

"You wished pain on someone?" she asked with a cold voice and even icier stare.

"Not exactly her direct pain," I tried to backpedal casually, anxiously. "Just an unfortunate incident that would reflect her poor actions."

"Do you feel good about what happened to her?"

Well, I don't exactly feel bad.

"No," I lied. "Is my wishing ill thoughts really any worse than physically assaulting her?"

Olivia sighed heavily and finally blinked away the stare she had been holding on me. The scrutiny faded from the table and I swore I heard Aly exhale a breath she was holding.

"Sorry," my aunt shook her head and cut her pork into small pieces. Her demeanor shifted oddly in a way I recognized. It was what she did when trying to pretend everything was fine. A signature and well played move that fooled anyone other than my brother and I. Olivia smiled mischievously as a cover that I wasn't sure I wanted to see beneath. "You're right," she continued. "I just didn't realize you attacked an already injured opponent. Perhaps I should increase your punishment."

"No, no, no!"

Both Aly and I protested, prompting laughs from all of us. Olivia was kidding, but it was still a terrifying thought. Everything else was left to fade, including the awkward moment that had just occurred.