When I woke up the next morning I was in my bed. How I got there I had no idea. I looked for my purse, wanting to take something for this headache and to get me going, but I couldn't find it. I got up and ran downstairs and saw it was still sitting on the kitchen counter. I took out my wallet and took a pill. Then I looked around me. I was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday and my breath smelled like wine and cigarettes. It was also only 9:00 am, which was good. Not too late in the day. What day was it even?

I went back upstairs and looked at my phone. Three missed calls from mom. Shit. Then I saw the date. It was Monday. I was late for school. I ran into the bathroom and brushed my teeth while I fixed my makeup and then I fixed my hair and ran to get dressed. I grabbed an extra baggie out of the container under my cabinet and put it in the lining of my wallet with the other one and headed for my car.

I called mom back while I was driving. She was pissed that I was late for school, but I apologized and said I was on my way. She dropped it for now, thank God, but she always brings things up again later. I just didn't know when later would be and I was already dreading it.

I got to school a couple minutes later and checked in. I was a senior so I had pretty easy classes. The only one I missed was my music class, which was essentially a free period for me since I used it to practice my band's songs before our actual practices after school. I was the lead singer and I wrote most of the music. I went about my day from there like normal. I had English, then lunch, then History. My last class of the day was a literal free period because it was Co-Op, so I just went to work at the garage like normal. Everything was fine through lunch, but on the way to my History class was when it got a little messy.

I was walking down the hall when I got a text from my mom. She was telling me about a couple of repos that came in that she needed me to handle because she had to leave early and get Abel from daycare at the hospital. I was replying to her when I ran into someone. I reached for their books that they had dropped without ever looking at them.

"I am so sorry. I wasn't looking." I apologized, finally looking at their face. "You. What the hell are you doing here?" I stood up and so did she.

"Well I'm going to school. Isn't that what all 18 year-olds do?" She laughed.

"Not here. You do not go here."

"I do now. We moved here so this is my school now."

"You listen to me you little bitch." I got right in her face. "You do not get to show up and invade every part of my life. Back the hell off before I make you back off."

"Oh yeah? And just what are you going to do about it? You can't even defend yourself, much less do anything to me. You are weak and pathetic. And you don't have your big bad bikers to protect you here. I'm not going anywhere. So tell me, what are you going to do about it?"

"Is there a problem here?" My English teacher said. She knew me very well.

"I don't know Polly. Do we have a problem?"

"No. No problem."

"Good. Then go to class, girls."

"Yes ma'am." I said, never breaking eye contact with Polly.

"Yes ma'am." Polly said, turning her head to look at her.

She turned her head back to me and looked me up and down before turning and walking away. I stood there, watching her walking away. When she turned the corner I took a breath and a couple steps backwards. Then I relaxed my face and turned to smile at my teacher. I walked into the bathroom and took two pills before going to my History class. I was sitting there with my phone recording the lecture because I was too high to focus on what was being taught. I was thinking about that night again. It was her fault. All of it. She started everything and now she was here, invading another part of my life.

She had to be punished. This was my fight, not my families. They couldn't know what happened to me so I had to deal with it myself. So, when the bell rang I knew I had to find her. I walked outside the classroom and there she was. She wanted this to happen just as much as I did. She got in my face and smiled.

"You think you have so much power in this town don't you? The truth is, you're nothing more than a helpless little girl who needs her daddy to come and save her ass."

"You're one to talk bitch. You can't do anything without your dad's approval can you? I can handle my own shit, can you?"

"Wouldn't you like to find out?"

"Yes actually, I would." I said, punching her square in the jaw.

She fell to the ground and I stood above her smiling. She got up and hit me back. Honestly, I wasn't expecting her to be that strong so I stumbled a little. She grabbed my throat and pushed me against the wall, squeezing. A crowd had formed around us, so the teachers couldn't see what was happening. She used her other hand to punch my stomach multiple times and then got close to my ear so I was the only one who heard what she said.

"Maybe since you were so reluctant to receive our message, your mother would be more open to it."

That's when I lost it. No one threatens my family. I grabbed her wrist that was around my throat and twisted it until I heard it snap. I pushed her down onto the ground and started hitting her, over and over again. She landed a couple punched and scratches in between, but every hit I threw landed on her face. Boxing with the guys pays off. I don't know how long I was hitting her, but eventually my History teacher broke through the crowd and pulled me off of her. I was still swinging so everyone around me back up.

Mrs. Bello pushed me up against the wall and held my wrists to my side until I calmed down. She was yelling, "Stop it! It's over!", until she broke through the rage fogging my brain. When I calmed down, she let me go and I looked over at Polly. She was bleeding on the floor with another teacher trying to press paper towels to her face. Mrs. Bello grabbed my arm and led me into the bathroom to clean myself up. I looked in the mirror and saw my lip was busted and there was a cut bleeding on my cheek and neck. There was also these nasty red marks around my throat, they would probably leave a bruise.

"What happened? You have never had a fight in school before. What the hell is going on?"

"I'm sorry, okay? It's complicated."

"Well why don't you explain it to me?"

"I can't do that."

"The club is not what you should be concerned with right now. You need to tell me what this was about. You could be expelled for this."

"I'm not going to be expelled. Like you said, I've never had any kind of trouble at the school before and plus they would never expell me based solely on who my family is. And this isn't even club business. This is personal. She had it coming."

"What did she do? How did she have it coming?"

"I-I can't tell you that."

"You hit her first, Amelia. I saw you." I looked down at my hands. They were bleeding. I rinsed them off in the sink while she spoke. "I have to take you down to the office."

"I know." I dried my hands and motioned for the door.

When we left the bathroom, I saw Polly standing with her head tilted back. It looked like I had broken her nose. We both went down to the office with Mrs. Bello. The other teacher stayed to usher the crowd to their classes. As we got close to the office the adrenaline started to wear off and I started to feel burning in my ribs, again. We went into the conference room in the office and sat on either side of the table. Mrs Bello sat at the end of the table with the principal coming to sit at the head of the table.

"So, both of your parents are on their way, would either of you like to tell me what happened here?"

"The girls got into a slight altercation in the hallway." Mrs. Bello said.

"Slight? They both look pretty busted up for a slight altercation. So, Mrs. Morrow, is there anything you'd like to say for yourself?"

"No ma'am."

"No? No? You have nothing to say for yourself?"

"No ma'am. I don't."

"Well, Mrs. Zobelle? Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"She came at me. I was just trying to defend myself."

"What?!" I screamed. "That is bullshit and you know it!"

"Mrs. Morrow, if there's something you'd like to say you will have to wait. You had a chance to go first and you didn't. Go on, Mrs. Zobelle."

"She attacked me in the hallway and I was just defending myself."

"Well then, Mrs. Morrow, what would you like to say?"

"I just want to make it clear that I did not start this. AND if anyone was 'defending themselves' here, it was me."

"Mrs. Bello, who struck first?"

She looked between the principal and me before looking at her hands nad then back up at the principal. "Amelia hit first."

"Well Amelia, you hit first, would you like to tell me how that was self-defense?"

"I-"

When I was about to say something, my mother burst into the room, very angry. Zobelle walked in right behind her. I saw Weston and my father standing back in the office. She looked at me and held my face in her hands. She looked at the other people in the room and watched Zobelle check Polly.

"What happened?" She asked me.

"A little fight. No big deal."

"Well then, let's go." I stood up and she put her hand on my lower back.

"Mrs. Morrow, I-"

"Teller-Morrow."

"Right, Mrs. Teller-Morrow, I have to ask Amelia a few more questions before you leave."

"Has she answered the questions you've asked?"

"Yes ma'am, but-"

"Then we're through here. Let's go."

We walked out of the room and my dad followed us out of the building.

"You will meet us at the garage. Now."

"Yes ma'am."

"You alright baby?" Dad asked, once mom got in the car.

"Yeah dad. I'm fine."

"Good. Your mom just needs a minute to cool off. She's had a bad day."

"Yeah. I'm sorry about all this."

"It's alright. Let's go."

He got in the car with mom and she drove them back. I got in my own car and looked at myself in the mirror. My pupils were pinpoints. She had to have noticed when she looked at me. Damn. This was going to suck.