Marie Graham, thanks for your opinion! I mean it! ;) Nice observation you made with 'draws' and 'drawing', I'll keep an eye out next time! About the dashes, well... I always write my stories with them, but for next's story, I'll think about it! Thanks again!

SIXTEEN

Next day, I woke up with a pain on my back. I stood in front of my mirror and turned around to see my back: it had a huge faint bruise that still hurt whenever I knelt or flexed my back. I still felt Frank's foot there. Dad didn't want me to go to school, but I told him I had to because I had a test… lie. I dressed up with the usual uniform and a grey Nike overcoat. Then, I headed downstairs for breakfast. There, my mom was watching her daily novel, -"Stop punching everyone you see, alright? Ya' ain't a boxer! You just get ya self and others in trouble!"- She shouted when I left the house.

Nah, I wasn't a boxer, but I didn't need to be one to give people a lesson or two.

Immediately when I stepped school ground, the news reached my ears: Frank was expulsed and sent to the Military Academy. That'd straighten his ball right. I let out a huge sigh of relief. I did it, I wanted to fall on my knees and raise my arms up in victory, but there were too many people. Besides, I'm probably the only one who's glad that Frank was thrown out.

Another thing I heard was that Trisha was looking for new boyfriends and that everyone rejected her, since they all knew the little threesome and drugs she had with George and Trevor. Gossip spread like butter on bread in this school. She was known as the cheap bitch now.

My group was waiting for Hanji and when I arrived; their looks were all on me. Obviously, everyone heard. One week was enough to spread the gossip; Jean, the crazy student who broke Frank, the most popular and strong guy's nose. I wouldn't be surprised if it were on the newspaper. They were probably worried or terrified I'd punch someone else.

I was wrong. They all launched at me happily. Of course, I wasn't the only one glad that Frank was out, my whole group was too. With Frank out of the picture, twelve one was dispersed and without a leader they'll stop harassing us. They though I did it for them, but… I didn't.

My gaze slowly moved to a corner, to see if Marco was there like always, but he wasn't and I sighed. I sudden worry of never seeing him again because he change school swallowed me.

Everyone's voices invaded my ears, -"Jean, you did it! Now we don't have to worry about those bastards!"

-"I can't believe you broke his nose! That was awesome!"

-"You showed him not to mess with us!

I grasped my hair and felt like pulling it out. A sudden headache was born inside my head. They had no idea of the real reason I broke Frank's nose and I couldn't tell them, I couldn't tell anyone. Marco can't leave without having spoken to me!

Thankfully, Reiner stepped in, -"Guys, guys, leave him alone,"- He ordered, but no one listened. They kept asking me questions, -"Hey!"

Hanji arrived and I tried to push forwards into the classroom, but it was hard. God, the damn headache...!

I ended up shouting as the questions and compliments increased, -"Ugh, shut up already!"- My head throbbed. I should thank them and feel flattered, but instead, I didn't feel anything at all, just a fucking headache, -"… I'm just not feeling well. I'm sorry."- I quickly apologized and entered the classroom. They quickly stopped.

Inside, Reiner checked on me. I had my head down on my desk and felt someone near, I knew it was him. Besides, I could smell his Calvin Klein perfume from any distance which made my headache worse. I needed coffee. Before he could say anything, I spoke, -"What now?"- I didn't raise my head.

-"Jean, what's wrong? Do you feel bad? You should go check yourself with Kat."- I heard him say with a worried voice.

Still head down, I shocked my head.

-"Jean… if you don't tell me, I can't help you."

I sighed and raised my head to meet his muscular figure. I had to look up a bit more. I shrugged, -"Just a fucking headache. It'll go away."- I lowered my head again. Why do I lie? Marco kept popping in my head and I sank even more in worry.

From a small gap between my arms, I saw Reiner gave me a skeptical look as he sat and crossed his arms, waiting for the truth.

I sighed again, -"You're not going away, are you?"

-"Nope."

I raised my head again and met his worried and determined eyes. He always looked for each and every one of us, but I wondered if he was the same with Marco. He was like an open book for everyone where you could write all your problems. I just couldn't write that I was thinking a lot about a guy, that'd be weird, so I ended up giving him a small lie that wasn't an entire lie, -"Look, it's just that… everything around me is so complicated. I can't make sense of anything. I try and I try to just enjoy life, but… it's pointless. I feel like a witch set a curse upon me."

Reiner nodded, like if he understood me. He leaned a bit and placed his elbows on his knees, -"Let me tell you something,"- Here he goes, I told myself, -"Life is a riddle, if you haven't noticed. It's up to you figure it out. You might feel like something is like this and then to your surprise, it's another and it keeps going like that. Well, that's good."

I arched an eyebrow, -"How's that good? Nothing goes as you want to, you're just more confused."

He shook his head, -"Not everything can go as you want them to, Jean. If it does, then it's the same thing over and over again. It means your cycle of life stopped,"- Before I could tell him that that didn't make any sense, he continued, fully knowing that I wasn't following, -"The cycle of life is change. Change is life, Jean. It's like a gear, always moving, always changing. Nothing can stay the same forever. What you're going through now… is change. It's a difficult process, but that means you're alive. We human aren't accustomed to the change, even though God created us with that gift. We just lay back and wait for the life to continue its same course."

Okay, okay… first he talks about change, then God and then humans. How's that gonna help me? Besides, it didn't have anything to do with what I told him, -"Reiner… I don't follow. I don't see how that makes sense."

-"It's not supposed to now,"- He smiled and stood up, -"You just haven't seen it, the change, the evolution in you… because it just begun."

-"Yeah, yeah, hey,"- I said and looked at all places but his face, -"… thanks for helping me out there. You, Bert and the girls."

He nodded with a smile, -"Anytime."- And walked away to his chair.

Reiner's words spun in my head for the rest of the damn morning. I wanted to believe that he said all that just to cheer me up, but deep within me, I knew he was right. Reiner was always right. He believes I was in process of changing and, now that I think about it, I believed I was changing too.

-"Oh, one more thing, Jean,"- Again, Reiner spoke to me when I was about to leave Math, -"You're the alpha now."

I halted my steps and turned around hastily, -"What…? Ah wait, you think my fight with Frank was because I challenged him to it?"- Oh no, not this again. I knew the alpha of a group was like the leader who challenges another leader or something like that. Science knew. I still can't tell him the real reason of the fight.

He looked at me suspiciously and I began to say I blew it, but he didn't question me about it, -"Whatever your reasons were, you've done well and this group needs someone like you as their leader, someone willing to fight if needed."

I always believed that there wasn't a need to have a leader. No one decides for anyone, but I never questioned him about it. He does a good job maintaining the group together and I knew I couldn't do it, -"Fighting is not the answer, you know that."

He laughed, -"Funny coming from you. Anyways,"- He patted my shoulder, -"Think about it."

I sighed. He's been bothering me with that a lot now. I wondered if he was tired of leading this group or if he really sees a potential and leadership in me like he always mentions. Funny, Marco said I had leadership too…

Ah really, really!? Was it necessary? Did the cycle of life made Levi change subject from mammals, amphibians and reptiles to alphas and their responsibilities? I didn't have any interest in that. None at all. So, I had my head down during the class and at the end of it, Levi called me, -"Kirshtein, may I have word with you?"- I sighed tiredly and walked towards him, sitting on the chair in front of his desk. I thought he was going to scold me for not paying attention today, but surprisingly, he didn't, -"How are you feeling? And I mean both physically and mentally."

I shrugged, -"I'm fine… I guess."

-"Hm, you better,"- He took a sip from the same coffee each morning, -"Busting you out of that mess was harder than you think. Dealing with Francis Bureau was not easy."

Francis Bureau was Frank's dad, -"I figured. How did it all go?"

-"Look, let me just say that if it wasn't for Marco's mother, you wouldn't be here right now,"- Levi said with a serious face, -"We tough it was going to be easy since we had all the proof, but Francis is an sly son of a bitch and almost made the principal expulse you and into jail, but Marco's mother arrived and she gave the last ingredients we needed,"- He nodded approvingly and reached for something in his drawer, -"It appears that Marco suffers from these situations frequently."

He gave me a paper and I eyed it. It was a list of all the schools Marco had been bullied in and how many times he changed. I froze, unable to look away from the list. Who were all the motherfuckers…? I gripped the paper as that instinct of punching whoever bullied Marco surfaced again. It was the same one as in the fight with Frank. Then I noticed that the bully's names were on the list just beside the school's name.

-"This was the tenth time of consecutive abusive attacks that were taken on him in record… that means that higher, more complicated and tedious actions needs to be taken, but she insisted that the answer was here,"- He stared at me for a minute, fingers crossed and below his chin, -"You."

I pointed at myself, -"Me…? How…?"

He sighed and took another sip from his coffee, -"I don't know. She wanted to speak with you, but you were still recovering."

My stomach whirled as minutes passed and I just stared at nowhere in particular, -"I don't know what to say… it's so confusing…"- It actually wasn't. I kind of had the answer.

-"At the end, we discussed and until now,"- He sighed worriedly, -"I don't know what she finally did."

-"Did she… change him?"- My voice was shaking because I fear the answer that haunts me. Then, Reiner words whispered in my head.

He shook his head, -"I'm not sure. That's what I told her, to change him into a specialized school were kids like him refuge."

I scowled when he called Marco a kid, but I didn't say anything about it.

He continued, -"This is the biggest problem I've had to face in all my years of teaching,"- He gestured me to give him the paper. I thought about it for seconds: if I gave him he paper, I lost any opportunity of breaking the nose of those bastards. Levi snatched the paper from my hand anyways, -"I'll keep doing my best to solve these problems. On the other hand, try to stay out of trouble and control yourself."

I had my eyes locked on the paper.

-"Understood?"- He asked me.

I gazed at him slightly and nodded, -"Yeah, yeah."

-"You may leave."

But I didn't want to leave, not without the paper. I stood up casually and went for my backpack. I acted as if I was looking for something and slowly gazed at Levi. He left the paper right in the desk where I could easily slip it away in my pocket. He turned around and began working on the chalk board. I quietly moved towards his desk and slipped the paper in my pocket. Rapidly, I took my backpack and left, but not before I glanced back at Levi who was shocking his head and I quickly left running. Yikes. I think he saw me take the paper, but didn't say anything. Bah, whatever. What matters is that I had it.

While walking towards Spanish, I read all the school's names, the bully's and memorized them. Marco didn't even stay in his schools for two years, just one or a semester only. Something struck me; I've been on a school with him: the elementary school on Maria City, but he stayed for the first semester only because of a guy called Samuel Van. Motherfucker… I knew him; in fact, I had his phone number…

I went for my phone, but saw someone on the corner of my eye. I thought it was Levi, so I ran away again.

Lunch hour came and I hung out with Reiner and Berthold, because they insisted. When we walked out of the launch room, there was a crowd of people in the McDonald's. It wasn't a fight, but they were watching someone or something. We began to walk closer and then I heard it, '… you'll pay for what you've done to him!', 'You… motherfucker!'

In the corner of my eyes, I saw two guys watching something on their phones with gaped mouths. I walked to them and took one. He didn't say anything as he eyed me and whispered to his friend. I ignored them and looked at the video… of me. I was over Frank, punching him hard, -"I told you, I'm not letting you touch him!" I looked like a wild animal with rabies. My eyes widen… I looked out of control, I didn't even recognize myself. I looked abnormal with so much rage, but the anger in my eyes faded and everything crashed down when Marco stopped me. It was amazing how I stopped, how he made me stop. In a second, I was like under his spell. The video was obscure, but I could see a faint glitter in my eyes. Was I… was I crying? Then, the one who recorded the video zoomed it at me. I was definitely crying.

I then realized that I needed him. I needed Marco and… he needed me.

I snatched out of my trance and saw that the video was in YouTube, as in worldwide. I tch-ed and gave the phone to his rightful owner. Then, I snuck out of there when they recognized me, -"Hey! It's the animal that broke Frank's nose!"

-"Hey, Jean. Give me your autograph! Sign on my butt!"

-"Who are gonna punch next?"

-"When's the next fight? We really want to see you breaking a nose!"

-"Crybaby!"

They all started to laugh and I ran. Reiner and Berthold went after me worriedly, but I was already out of their eye sight. I naturally went to the bathroom and leaned my head on the sink, hands on the side gripping the cold surface of it. There was silence, only the water drops from another sink prevailed. But… there wasn't an open sink. My hands moved on their own to my cheeks and I felt warm tears running down. I stared at myself in the mirror. I really looked miserable…, so lost. I wasn't sure why I was crying in the first place…

-"Jean! Come out, please! Just ignore them!"- I heard Reiner's voice outside, but not outside the bathroom.

I quickly cleaned my cheeks before heading out. I definitely wasn't crying because of the video or others mocking me, I actually saw that coming. Gossip had to spread soon enough and obviously someone has to record the crime scene. I've had enough of mocking laughter that I became immune to it. You just have to ignore them and shit them. I was crying because…

I halted my steps.

I felt a weird twist on the air. Something big was coming. Frank? Francis? The principal?

No.

He arrived and I knew just where to find him.

I ran like never before to the Geeks and Gamer's liar. I actually ran past Reiner and Berthold who looked amazed by my speed. I felt like a magnet, an energy pulling me. When I arrived, he definitely was there and like always drawing. I quickly hid behind one of the stilt around the rondure and breathed heavily. Was I actually nervous? My stomach swirled with butterflies.

My heart filled with warmth when I slightly peeked and saw him smiling as he drew with coal. Then, he laughed lowly. Wait… did he knew I was here or is he crazy? It became clear because I was such an expert in discretion: he slowly began looking at my way. I hid again, my heart beating fast. Another laugh.

I heard him stand up, -"Jean."- He said.

My heart stopped for a second and I shrunk. Sweat fell from all over me. Why was I so sweaty all of a sudden?

I took a deep breath before stepping out. There's no escaping this, -"H-hi."- I spluttered.

He was smarter than I though.

Oh mah, sho cute :3