Linda sat in the plastic chair, sniffling. She hadn't meant things to go this way; she hadn't meant for all five of them to be sitting in the principal's office. It was just that... David and his friends had been teasing her and pushing her around, and somehow in the struggle, one of them pulled her dress sleeve down. Then Drew had laughed and pulled her bra strap, and things ... escalated from there.

~twenty minutes prior~

Linda really liked their English teacher- really liked him. He was fun and laid back, and he welcomed all and any ideas. But most importantly, he let them spend the last fifteen minutes of class outside if the weather was nice.

And today it was glorious; the sun was shining, the grass was green, the sky was blue.

She had been on the swings for a while before jumping off. She slid her cardigan off her shoulders and held it in her hand. Would the school get mad over her dress straps? She had specifically made sure the straps covered her bra straps.

Linda shook her head; they couldn't get mad. Nothing they deemed inappropriate was showing, and her hemline wasn't dancing dangerously in the face of "two inches above the knee". (She had toed that line way too many times).

Her friends were on the other side of the soccer field, which meant she had to get by David and his gang. She frowned; a week ago, Travis and Drew had been saying lewd things about her. They now eyed her almost like a predator eyes it's prey. She gulped, and walked away from them- it was a big field after all.

David ran up to her, "still acting innocent, huh?"

She started to back away when she bumped into Travis. He smiled at her, "we know you're not."

She didn't give them an answer, only tried to make her exit again. But then Drew was suddenly in front of her, and they had her pretty much trapped.

Linda swallowed, "I need to go see my friends, excuse me."

"We're your friends," David leaned closer to her, all three boys moving so they were backing her up against the wall. (She didn't realize they were doing that, otherwise she would've tried to stop them).

Travis held onto her shoulders from behind her, "you're very pretty. Sexy even."

"Stop it." Linda tried telling them firmly.

"Or what? You'll call the teacher?" He ran a finger up her arm, hooked it under her dress strap, then yanked the strap down.

She gasped, jerking away from him, and unintentionally into Drew. He pulled the other one down, then traced her bra strap.

"Look at this, Dave," he pulled her bra strap up then let it go. It hit her skin with a stinging snap! "Black and lacy! Not so innocent, huh?"

(If she hadn't been so scared, she would've brought up the fact that a bra is a bra is a bra. It was black and lacy- so what?)

David smirked, grabbed her skirt, "does your underwear match?"

"I bet it does," Travis said, gripping her arms so she stayed still. "I bet it's a black, lacy, sexy thong."

"Let's take a peek, shall we?" Drew smiled menacingly.

But before she could protest, before she could yell and scream and draw attention to herself, David was yanked off her and Travis and Drew dropped their hands.

She watched David get punched in the nose, then fall to the ground.

"Hey!" Travis and Drew stepped up to her rescuer.

"I thought I told you punks to mind your manners."

David stood, "we were just having a friendly conversation!"

He punched him again, sending him back to the ground. He gave Drew and Travis two good punches before the teacher arrived.

"All of you, in the principal's office. Now!"

And so now, here she sat, with Drew on her left and Danny Reagan on her right. She still had no idea how or where Danny had popped up from, but she didn't care. And as she waited for the principal and all the parents to come in, all she could think about was how much she absolutely wanted to just throw her arms around Danny Reagan and kiss him until both of them were breathless. It wasn't as if she couldn't do that- he was her boyfriend after all, and they did kiss a lot. Now was just not the place to thank her boyfriend for being her knight in shining armor.

He looked at her, her cardigan tightly buttoned around her. She was shaking slightly with unshed tears and slight panic. He put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed gently. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I'm just... a little shook up, you know?"

He slid his hand down her arm and grabbed her hand, smiling gently at her.

Principal Sharma came in at the point, and sat in his chair. He looked at the kids in front of him. "Who would like to go first?"

Simultaneously, Drew, Travis, and David all said, "it was all her fault!"

"The f*** it was!" Danny yelled back at them. "You f***ing idiots were harassing her!"

"Miss O'Shea?" Sharma completely ignored the yelling and foul language.

"I didn't do anything," Linda said, tears evident in her voice. "I was just... walking... when those three cornered me."

She managed to tell him what had happened without the tears falling.

"Is this true?"

"Yes," Danny answered. "They we're going to stick their hands up her dress."

"And you thought the answer was to punch them?"

Fire flashed in his eyes at the condescending tone the principal used. "They were harassin' her!"

"Miss O'Shea should've told them to stop."

"I did! I- did!" Linda's voice cracked and the tears started to come. "And they didn't listen! I said stop."

"She wanted it," Travis scoffed. "She was practically begging'!"

"No means no, ya f***s! It's in the Bible!" Danny spat at them. He couldn't tell them exactly where in the Bible, but it was in there.

Travis, Drew, and David all tried to explain their reasonings, and how it wasn't their fault. Danny continued to yell and spit curses at them, and poor Linda just sat there crying.

The three boys were suspended for a week, and Danny was suspended two day for punching them. (He argued and said he shouldn't be punished at all, but the principal didn't budge his sentence). Linda was told to dress modestly, to which Rosita, Mary, Danny, Linda, and the other moms all exclaimed that she was wearing modest clothing.

Her tears were dry now, and her cardigan in her lap. The sun was warm on her freckled shoulders and arms.

"So why do we get ice cream exactly?" Jamie wondered. It was very odd that Mary took him and his siblings for ice cream after school. It was odder still that Linda and her grandmother joined!

"Don't question the logic, Jamie! Enjoy it!" Joe pointed out, making everyone laugh.

Later, when everyone was either throwing away their trash or using the bathroom, Danny walked up to Linda and hugged her tightly. She hugged him back; they didn't need to say anything.

When his arms wrapped around her, she felt all the stress and fear wash away. Was this what people meant when they said their partner's arms felt like home?