Author note: Blah, just read it!

Madeline rolled her eyes and clenched her fists. "I'm Madeline," she said in a high-pitched, girly voice towards Spot.

Spot blinked a few times and stared at Madeline with his mouth hung open. She was taller than him, and made him look very weak.

I grinned and laughed again. "Wow Conlon, you work fast. Got yourself a girl," I said.

"You know him?" Madeline asked in an "oh-no-you-didn't" way.

"Sadly, yes," I told her.

Madeline narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her overlarge chest. "Well, don't know him," she said.

"You know, as much as I wish she didn't, ya can't erase tha past," Spot commented with a chuckle.

"Stay out of this you dog!" I snapped.

Spot sent me a glare. "Well apparently you don't need help," he said.

"Help from you? Oh please!" I said.

"Are you like his girl or something?" Madeline demanded to know.

"She wishes!" Spot exclaimed.

"In your dreams!" I shot back.

"Hey, don't talk to my man like that!" Madeline hissed, pushing me back.

I caught my balance and then stared at her in astonishment. "Whoa, when's the wedding?" I asked.

Spot just stood, staring at Madeline like she was some giant. Well, she was a giant actually.

"Soon," Madeline sang.

"Wait, when did dis happen?" Spot shouted.

I don't know what suddenly possessed me, but I angrily threw my fist at Madeline's nose and blood seeped from her nostrils. She growled angrily and hurled at me forcefully.

I moved to the side and she landed in the dirt, but immediately jumped to her. She swung her right arm, I ducked, and then she swung her left arm and I caught it. I pounded my fist into her stomach three times and then brought her chin to my knee.

The oversized girl fell into a heap onto the ground. But she didn't give up yet. She pushed herself to her feet and tackled my small form to the ground. The air was instantly knocked out of me from Madeline's immense weight, and I couldn't breathe.

I felt her fist collide with my cheek weakly, and then she slapped my other cheek. Okay, this would probably be the first time this ever happened, but she's huge!

With all my force I pushed Madeline off of me and regained my breath as I jumped to my feet and dragged Madeline to her feet. I made her bend down to my level and gripped her hair tightly and pulled her head back. I bent down and pulled a small knife out of the side of my shoe and held it to Madeline's neck.

"I can either slit your neck or poke your eyes out," I told her. "You choose."

Madeline whimpered and I let her go as she fell back to the ground. I returned the knife to its home. I turned my back to Madeline and didn't even pay attention to her as she got back to her feet.

Spot's eyes grew wide in horror and immediately jumped behind me and caught Madeline's arm before the knife in her hand impaled my back. Spot twisted Madeline's arm and the knife fell from her fingers and hit the ground. She stumbled backwards as Spot pushed her.

"What in the hell?" I asked confusedly.

Madeline looked from me to Spot and spit out, "I thought you said you weren't with her!"

"I ain't, but its weak ta attack someone with their back toined," Spot said.

Madeline spit in the dirt, blood and all, and retrieved her knife. "This ain't over, Parker," she said coolly as she turned and limped away.

When I could no longer see her I turned to Spot, astonished. "Why did you do that?" I asked.

"What do ya mean?" Spot asked, pulling his cane out of his belt loop.

"You could've let her kill me, but you didn't," I said, watching as he leaned against the wall of a building beside Stephen.

"Now why would I do dat?" he asked in a relaxed tone.

"Well, for revenge. I did punch you," I reminded him.

"Yeah, so? I ain't gonna get revenge by lettin her hoit ya. I can get my own revenge," he said.

I was still confused about many things. Why did I suddenly go insane on Madeline? Why did Spot help me? Why was I still thinking of myself when Erica is on a dangerous test?

I licked at my lips and the hesitantly told him, "Thanks."

After Stephen had a long chat with Spot and a boy named Chuckles, who was very bulky and strong looking, and I wandered around Brooklyn, we finally headed back to the school to see how Erica was doing.

Once we entered my room we found Erica standing in front of the mirror, already tending to her wounds.

"Erica," I said.

Erica grinned at me and showed us a very disgusting looking burn on her right arm that she was tending to. "When you play with fire you may get burned," she laughed. She looked a bit damp, so that told me she went with my water method.

"I'm proud," Stephen laughed, giving her a short hug.

Erica laughed and then wrapped a bandage around her wound and then her wrist. "Did you guys go see Spot?"

"Yep, and kicked Madeline's ass," I said triumphantly.

"That's no surprise," Erica sighed. She then dropped the sarcasm and her face went completely serious. "Did you find out what your test was?" she asked.

I plopped down onto my bed and shook my head. "Nope, haven't gotten word yet," I said boredly. "I mean, it's not like I'm not able to pass it, whatever it is. It'll probably be an old test I've done in the past."

"I hope, because if they start popping up with new tests at a time like this then we are all doomed," Erica said.

"Well, what if it is a new one? I mean, they always practice the new ones on Anomie," Stephen spoke up.

I furrowed my eyebrows and then rose from the bed. "I need to see Cadince," I said.

Stephen and Erica nodded and I quickly fled the room. Okay, if there is anybody who knows almost more than I do it's my good friend Cadince.

Cadince Idi was a mischievous girl with a lot of spunk. Her number is 102, and only arrived at Ned's school a week after I did. From then on she was the one I hung out with, and the way our attitudes mixed you could mistake us for sisters. Cadince had a bit of mouth like me, but she had a heart. She's what keeps this school alive – literally. Well, her humorous attitude, and my bold attempts at keeping people in line, we technically ran the school.

She and I could confuse someone by finishing the other's sentence, and I had to admit, her silliness did made me smile slightly. I said slightly. My heartless ways may have rubbed off on her a bit, but she still had a hell of a lot of energy, and to be honest, people were pretty sure she would get killed in a task pretty soon. She was a bit careless at times, but I had more faith in her.

You would probably think that Cadince was the second-in-command of the school, but that's where I draw the line. Never in a million years would I put her in charge of helping people if I were to suddenly disappear. That's what I had Stephen for – good ol' Stephen.

Without knocking I walked through the door to Cadince's room, and found her sitting on her bed, her feet propped up on her nightstand.

I closed the door behind me and mysteriously leaned against it. "What did you hear?" I asked under my breath.

Cadince raised her head and peered up at me beneath her hat. Sometimes she tried too hard to be mysterious. "Honestly?" she asked doubtfully.

"Nothing, huh?" I asked.

"Nah, they seem to be having you on some kind of top secret test," she said lazily as she pushed herself to a sitting position. "A bunch of dumbasses running that desk upfront," she laughed.

"And you're just now noticing?" I asked, sending her a look. Cadince never seemed to be affected by my dark self. She always said there was a side of me dying to break loose, I just hid it well.

"Hey, I'm just now noticing a lot of things," she shrugged. "Like the fact that you and your friends have been around a bunch of newsies lately."

"What are you a stalker?" I asked coolly.

"Probably," Cadince said. "But that one guy, what do you call him – dog-boy? – kind of freaks me out."

"Why?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. "He's just an immature jackass, nothing freaky about that."

"I don't know, he just has this vibe propelling off of him, and I watch the two of you argue and some serious shit could happen," she said dramatically.

"What do you mean?" I asked frustrated.

"I'm not sure, but if you wanted to, the two of you could kill each other in a brawl," she said. "But, something is just different the way you argue. Anomie, have you ever experienced love?"

I nearly fell to my feet at her question. Wasn't I just thinking about love today? "No!" I snapped. "Cadince, you know I don't believe in love!"

"I don't know, it seems to me like you're just now recognizing it," Cadince commented.

"For who?" I yelled.

"I don't know. Stephen? Trevor? Alex? ...Spot Conlon?"

My eyes widened in horror. "Me? In love with Spot Conlon? I just met the boy, Idi! And for one, I can't stand him, and two he's a stuck up show off!" I protested.

"Interesting," Cadince said, squinting. "You didn't say a word about the other boys…you just jumped right into Spot. Maybe you don't love him – and I can see that you don't – but you are growing used to him. Who knows, maybe someday you'll find it in you to actually have feelings for the boy."

Me, Anomie Parker, would not, could not, and should not ever love! I wasn't aloud to love, and I wouldn't start now!

Next Chapter: Anomie has a secret test with Stephen and Cadince, and can't believe the horror of the secret…for the first time ever Anomie expresses emotion through tears…

Author note: Okay, so, I hope you enjoyed!