(A/N: Really no reviews for my last two chapters? You guys are breaking my heart here ;) I'll just have to keep bothering you people with updates until I get some reviews. Hahahah! I had tryouts for volleyball at my school (I'm going into ninth grade) and I'm waiting to see if I got on the team and it is absolutely killing me to wait, so to occupy myself I'm typing up some chapters. If anyone likes Percy Jackson fanfictions I have a story for that now. I hope you enjoy this chapter!)

Once she got back to the dorm, J took a cold shower in one of the enclosed stalls. After she was done, she made sure the door to the bathroom was locked, then she looked at herself in the mirror. She pulled up the side of her shirt and saw the massive purple and black bruise on the left side of her ribs. She hissed in pain as she touched it. The skin at her hair line was split and she had a bruise on her thigh from where Edward had kicked her.

She dressed in the extra close she had for when she wasn't training which was a cotton tank top and black sweatpants. J walked out of the bathroom and saw that no one was in the dorm. She slid down the wall next to her bed and sat there. 'What was I thinking?' she asked in her head, 'the fight was over, I knew it was, then why did I keep hitting him anyway? It was like I was trying to kill him.'

J sat there for a while, guilt eating at her, until finally she decided to go check on Edward and apologize.

~Line Break~

She now stood in front of the infirmary door after walking around for some time trying to find it. She was mentally fighting with herself on whether or not to go inside, eventually going in.

Walking into the bright white room was surprising considering how dark it was in the compound, it hurt J's eyes. She quietly shut the door behind her and looked for Edward. He was sitting in the edge of one of the beds, facing away from her. J saw the bruises on his sides and bandages on his left shoulder; he was slowly putting on his shirt.

When he was done she walked to the end of the bed and cleared her throat. He looked over at her and asked in a defensive tone, "What do you want?"

J took a breath that hurt her ribs, and said, "I just wanted to apologize for going too far in the fight."

Edward got up and walked over to her, glaring down menacingly, "just watch your back, because I don't plan on forgetting this."

She looked up at him not intimidated, and without saying anything she turned and left. Once outside she took time to think about his words. From what she saw in his eyes he was being very serious, if she wasn't careful he would try to kill her. After debating going to dinner and deciding against it she headed back to the dorms.

Walking with her hands in her pockets looking at the floor she didn't even notice the person walking towards her until he stopped right in front of her. "Earth to J, anyone in there?" the person asked.

Looking up she saw Zeke smiling down at her. "I'm here," she said with a failed attempt to smile.

Zeke noticed this and lightly grabbed the side of her face, using his thumb; he tilted her head up to see it better. "What happened?" he asked seeing the split skin by her hairline.

She leaned out of his grasp and shrugged, "training fights."

He raised an eyebrow, "who were you up against that could do that? What happened?"

"I was up against Edward," she said looking at the ground.

Zeke frowned, "He's the biggest transfer this year and you were put up against him?"

She shrugged and looked up at Zeke with mischief in her eyes, "that might be, but I still beat him. He's in the infirmary now."

He looked at her strangely, "what kind of damage could this skinny girl in front of me do to that tank of a boy, huh Dredd?"

She laughed, "This skinny girl dislocated his shoulder, busted his nose and gave him some bruises that will be hurting for a while."

"I'm glad you're my friend, 'cause you're scary" he said with a grinned. Zeke turned and headed in the direction she originally had been headed. She elbowed him in the side playfully; he smiled and elbowed her back. Unfortunately for her, it was in the side that was bruised. She side stepped away from him, not saying anything.

Zeke noticed and asked, "You ok?"

J shrugged off his question, "I'm fine."

He didn't push it but he felt like something was off. They walked in silence until they reached the dorm. J and Zeke sat next to each other on her bed. It was quiet because no one else was in the room. "Haven't been in here in two years," he said more to himself, then to J he asked, "so tell me about your fight, how was it?"

"Awesome," she said and then gave him a detailed description of her fight, pretty much just her attacks and none of Edwards. As she talked Zeke had laid down so his feet were on the floor and his head was opposite them. After she finished she almost held her breath hoping that Zeke wouldn't recognize how much she had left out of the story.

"So I didn't really catch the part where you explained how you got that gaping hole in your head."

"It's hardly a gaping hole, it's barely a scratch," she protested.

"Either way how did it happen?" he asked.

"Well he picked me up by my hair and started punching my side and my skin just ripped," she mumbled, not looking at him.

He lifted his head off the mattress and looked at her with concern, "how did you leave that out? It's a pretty significant detail, Dredd!"

She shrugged and he continued, "That had to hurt, you should go to the infirmary and make sure you don't need stitches."

"How are your ribs?" he asked as he gently poked her side with his finger.

She leaned away slightly and he stopped, but she still didn't say anything. "You should go to the infirmary and get those looked at," Zeke said.

J shook her head, "they aren't that bad."

Zeke was not convinced by her tough guy (girl) act, "if you won't go to the infirmary, will you at least let me look at it?"

"I don't see what good it will do," she said with a sigh, but she lifted the side of her tank top just high enough so he could see the damage. He saw the angry purple and black bruise that spread over her ribcage. He drew in a breath, eyes darting between her eyes and the injury. She looked at him as he gently took the shirt from her grasp, holding it lightly to her side, careful to avoid touching her bare skin.

He lifted his free hand and looked like he was going to touch the mark when…

"What the heck are you doing to my initiate, Zeke?" came a stern voice from the door way.

Zeke jumped and hit his head in fright in the process dropping her shirt, but J just looked at the source of the sound, not startled at all. Of course, it was Eric. His arms were crossed over his chest, his expression dark.

"I swear this isn't as bad as it seems. Really! I didn't do anything," Zeke babbled.

J laughed with a mischievous look on her face, "Well.., to say you didn't do anything would be a lie. You practically pulled off my shirt."

Eric tensed, not yet realizing that she was joking. Zeke looked at her like she had stabbed her with one of her notorious blades. J looked at Eric's expression and laughed. When she could get in a breath she said, "I was just kidding. Why are you here again Eric? Besides terrify Zeke that is."

He still didn't look happy but he answered, "I was trying to find you since you weren't at dinner."

"Why do you care if I went to dinner or not?" she asked still annoyed from there talk earlier.

"Because it's part of my job to look after initiates, especially transfers. So if something happens to one of you it would be my neck that gets wrung."

She scoffed and stood up, "yeah you seemed pretty worried about the safety of initiates by throwing knives at my head yesterday."

Eric growled, but before he could say anything Zeke shot up and pushed J out of the door before she could get herself into any more trouble. He took her took the cafeteria and made sure she ate dinner, then they went their separate ways.

J arrived at the dorm and entered silently, the lights were out and everyone was asleep, well almost everyone. Sitting on J's bed, still awake, was Zoe. "What are you still doing up?" J whispered.

She got up and said, "Waiting for you, I was getting worried, no one had seen you and you didn't come to diner."

"I went later with Zeke," she replied.

"Zeke," Zoe said, trying to recall a face to fit the name, "the one you walked over to tackle Eric yesterday?"

They both laughed quietly and J replied, "That's the one."

"Get some sleep, you probably need it," Zoe said walking to her bunk on the opposite wall from J's.

"Hey," she whispered after her, Zoe stopped and turned.

"Thanks for waiting up for me," J said softly.

With a smile and a small nod Zoe turned and went back to her own bunk. J followed suit and sleep took her as soon as her head hit the pillow.