Wagner made his way to his P.E. class. Upon arrival he noted that none of his friends were present. Which wasn't unusual except the fact that he was usually with them. They probably left school without him because he hadn't been at school until right before it started. Probably thought he wasn't coming at all. It wasn't a big deal. He never liked to skip as much as they did. He just went because they were his friends. He really didn't know where he belonged here. At his old school in California he had had a lot of friends. But since he came here her never felt the same. He knew he had changed. He tried not to think about it a lot.

As he changed his clothes he thought about Cammy. She had acted totally strange earlier that morning. He could never tell what she was thinking. She always acted tough but a lot of times her face gave her away. His sister had been that way. Wagner stopped walking and closed his eyes for a moment. Lisa. Wagner's eyes popped open suddenly and with a deep scowl on his face he punched the wall before he entered the school's gym and joined the other boys in his class who were already beginning to run their warm up laps around the gym. Since moving in with Guile, he had become much stronger. He worked out with Guile, and sometimes even without him. This instilled a sense of pride in Wagner he knew he deserved. He was strong, and skilled. As he jogged by a group of girls who were passing through them gym to get to outside he gave them a slight nod and winked.

The coach blew his whistle and the guys jogged towards him to receive instructions.

"Okay boys. Today is basketball day, we got a big game coming up. Conner, Wilkins, Smith, Fornier, and Lewis; you're team one. You other five, team two."

Wagner couldn't hold the smirk from his face. The five boys the coach had called out were the basketball team. And against them would be Wagner and the rest of the asthmatic bunch that hadn't skipped out on class today.

No rules were set forth. They just started to play. Team two was getting hammered. The five basketball players knew it was no match, an unfair one at that, yet the still reveled in creaming the other team. Wagner didn't think, he just acted on instinct. Conner ran towards the goal, ready for a jump shot right over Wagner's head. Normally a person would have moved but Wagner stood his ground as he clenched his fists and readied himself for the collision. The two boys hit and Wagner kept his footing as Conner fell on the floor. The coach's whistle rang through the air as Conner's teammates ran and picked him up from the floor.

Once Conner realized what had happened, his friends had to hold him back as he lunged towards Wagner.

"What the hell are you thinking? If I got hurt and the game was lost tonight it would have been on your head."

Wagner shook his head as he spoke.

"Oh no! We could have lost? Who cares. You're just pissed you got checked."

"By a little punk like you? It was a lucky shot!"

Wagner started to step forward but the coach grabbed his arm. He shook it off roughly and began walking out of the gym.

"I'm dressing in coach."

Conner yelled behind him

"You going to smoke out with your little pothead friends?"

Wagner stopped walking and suddenly, he turned and ran full speed at Conner. Some other boys who had come to see what was going on were able to stop Wagner before he could reach Conner.

"You don't know anything about them or me."

"I know enough to say you don't belong here."

"I don't need this shit."

This time when Wagner turned to walk away, he didn't listen to what Conner called out to him.

Later, at lunch, Wagner laid on a wooden bench outside the lunch room, thinking. He hated people like Conner. So tied up in their self delusion that they thought everything revolved around them and their tiny victories. Wagner let out a deep sigh. That used to be him. Before everything bad started to happen. Before his father ruined it all.

Suddenly Wagner heard somebody approaching him. He sat up and saw Conner's black hair. He was walking towards him with all of his friends.

"What do you want?"

"To settle our score."

"I thought it was settled. Last time I noticed you were the one I knocked down."

"That's different. Now I know all about you and your fucked up little life."

Wagner was silent. How could he know? Conner continued.

"A sad little adopted boy with big dreams of being and Air Force pilot. Really, you think maybe you could be creative."

"As opposed to your dreams of being in the NBA?"

Conner's friends snickered at Wagner's remarks and Conner turned and gave them an evil look which made them stop. Wagner smiled and laid back down on the bench.

"Now if you will excuse me, I was busy doing nothing."

Conner slammed his hand down next to Wagner's head.

"Listen here fly boy. I would do it right here right now if I didn't have things on the line. I guess you're lucky for that. But eventually, you're going to be mine."

Wagner got up from the bench and was nose to nose with Conner before he spoke coldly.

"When and where?"

Conner smiled.

"Today, right after school. Across the street there is a little section of woods with a clearing. Be there."

"I will."

Wagner walked away slowly. He didn't hear what Conner said under his breath.

"Hope you can fight all five of us. You're in for a beating little punk."

Cammy arrived at school only about half an hour late. She was glad she got to talk to Guile a little bit this morning. He really tried to understand what was going on with her. It wasn't that it was really bad here. It was just that she didn't really feel at home. And then seeing Ken this morning on the TV. That was really hard. They had been separated because she was scared of Shadowlaw. Shadowlaw. She hadn't though of them for a while now. At least not the specific name of the organization. It's not like anything helped her remember. She went through the whole day in a daze. She left the school and headed for where Wagner usually parked, hoping he hadn't left already. But she stopped when she saw him walking across the street. Where is he going?

Wagner entered the woods and there was a small clearing just like Conner had said. It was just far enough back not to be able to be seen from the street. He leaned against a tree and waited for Conner. Not more than a minute after Wagner had arrived, Conner showed up. Neither boy said anything. Conner made the first move, lunging forward with his right arm extended. Wagner ducked and landed a medium punch in Conner's gut. It didn't effect Conner who, then moved again, this time landing a punch right on Wagner's chin. He stumbled back a bit, but shook the punch off. Wagner advanced on Conner and delivered a swift kick to his side and immediately followed up with another kick, this time in his chest. Conner hit the ground and Wagner followed him punching his face as the two men fell. Wagner left blood on his hands and noticed that he had split Conner's lip.

That's when he stopped hitting him. He stood up and turned to walk away but when he turned around he saw four of Conner's teammates approaching. Wagner tried to keep his face cold, emotionless, but he knew he was screwed. He looked into their eyes and knew. One walked past him and help Conner off the ground. There was no way he could fight all five of these guys. Wagner tried to sprint forward, no shame in running from an unfair fight. But two of the men caught his arms and pulled him back around. Wagner struggled but couldn't break their hold on him.

"What the fuck Conner? You can't fight your own fight."

"It's not that. I don't care about fighting. I just want to see you get the shit beaten out of you."

"And you can't do it yourself."

"Oh I'm going to do it. My friends are just here for, moral support."

He started laughing and Wagner felt like he was in a bad movie. Conner approached him wiping his lip off and kicked him in the stomach. Wagner made a noise as he felt the air go from his body. He started coughing as Conner punched him in the eye. His body flew backwards but was caught by the two holding his arms.

"How do you feel now?"

Wagner looked at him up at him.

"What do you think?"

Conner yelled out loud and brought his hand down on Wagner's shoulder. The men holding him dropped him to the ground and started kicking him all over. His back, ribs, and stomach ached. They suddenly stopped when they heard a female voice.

"What are you doing?"

Wagner looked up and through the dust from the ground he saw Cammy. Before he could tell her to leave Conner spoke.

"Nothing that you would care about. Unless you want to have some other fun."

Wagner spoke.

"Cammy, leave now."

"No Wagner. I think I got this one."

Conner and all his friends started laughing hysterically. One of the guys approached Cammy and put his hand on her shoulder. Before he could speak she had grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back. She slammed his body up against a tree and then onto the ground hard. Cammy stepped over The boys fallen body and walked towards Conner.

"You guys are going to pick your shit up, turn around and leave."

Conner looked Cammy strait in the eye as he kicked Wagner again.

"I don't think we are. Just cause you can ram my man over there into a tree don't mean shit."

He reached forward to slap her face but she moved faster than he could see and delivered two crisp jabs into his ribs, which were accompanied by two audible pops, and a yelp of pain. Conner fell to the ground gripping his chest. Another of the men approached her, Cammy dodged his clumsy thrust, spinning to the side and backhanding him in the stomach. As he doubled over, Cammy brutally smashed her knee into his chin, smashing his jaw. The guy cried out in pain and Cammy noticed that the other two had left leaving her, Wagner, Conner, and the other two fallen boys. Cammy walked forward and helped Wagner up from the ground.

"Are you okay?"

Wagner stared at her, his eyes wide.

"What the hell was that?"