Surrounded by carnival goers at every angle, Shay thanked her genes for the nimbleness she'd been gifted thanks to her small stature. Shoving through the crowd of people almost exclusively larger than her certainly helped her gain ground away from Benji, who'd definitely spotted her, she figured. She felt herself being rocked against other people around her, with the crowd bustle nearly sending her off her feet.

Why is it so crowded at a carnival in the middle of the day?

She didn't dare turn around to see if Benji was still following. It had been a bloodcurdling moment, seeing this individual capable of crippling a rising empire coming at her. What did he want? Was he willing to hurt her to get whatever it was? These thoughts were drowned out and morphed into a succinct sense of fear by the sound of children running around nearby.

Shay made her way through everyone and back towards the entrance through the red and white archway leading in or out of the carnival. She pressed herself against the metal gate, yet to be opened by the sullen carnival employee, then barged forward, feeling her chest rising up and down with heavy breaths.

"Do you mind?" muttered a pedestrian.

Shay turned around; there was no trace of Benji. She gently wiped her eyes, careful not to ruin the makeup work she'd done, and still, no cold-hearted backstabber.

"Oh, god," she gasped. "Did I just imagine that?" Her gaze drifted up to the eyes of people staring at her. She felt herself burning up, and remembered she'd just slammed her way through the entry gate. "Uh, sorry, guys. Uh... one of the carnies tried to play the firetruck game with me. Had to get out fast."

The ticket person scoffed, their lifeless gaze pointed at nothing. "Jerome. Sicko."

On her way back through the tunnel she'd walked under to get to the carnival, thoughts of what she'd experienced stayed with Shay for longer than she found comfortable.

Ding ding!

The sound of the boxing bell rang out across the walls of the gym, perhaps even audible to those outside the gym. Kanashii stood on the sidelines outside of the boxing ring, petting Winston behind his ears while a cluster of preps watched Connor and Chad approach each other from the other side of the ring. Oliver and Caden watched from afar, Oliver still swirling his wine glass around from where he stood on the stairs to appear even taller, with Caden leaned up on a punching bag.

A frown spread across Connor's face as he stepped towards the center of the ring. With his fists out in front of him, he already had bruises on his face and arms, while Chad looked the same way. The prep danced around in the ring, faking a confidence that the marks on his body didn't back up.

"All right, Henson, that was just a warm up round. I suppose now it's high time I turn you to pulp!"

"You don't scare me, pussy."

Chad swung his fist, and Connor ate the strike, firing back with fists of his own. The preps shouted taunts as the fight commenced.

"Pound him like father pounds me!"

"Send that pauper back to the poor house!"

Chad's fist thudded into Connor's stomach, then a prep among the crowd yelled, "Yeah! Yeah, that's for his conniving view of incest! Cousins are legal!"

"You guys have got more than a couple fucking problems, huh?" Kanashii jibed.

Connor raised his arms up, absorbing several blows from his opponent, then he charged a series of jabs into Chad's midsection, working his sides and distracting him enough to surprise him with an uppercut. The shot sent Chad backwards into the ropes. As he swung back, he tried to use the momentum to knock a punch into Connor, but he dodged, hit him with a flurry of both fists, spun around to knock him upside the head into a turnbuckle post. Chad dodged one strike, then used the opportunity to toss Connor into the post with vigor. Droplets of sweat and blood dripped from Chad's face as he fought, and the desperation in his eyes revealed a boxer fighting tooth and nail to keep from humiliation.

Chad nailed him with a punch, then Connor once again threw his arms up to block. With a growl, he thrust his arms out, discombobulating Chad's next hit. Before Chad could strike again, Connor sent a fierce left hook into his gut. Spit flew out from his mouth as he winced with agony, the wind completely knocked from the prep. As his stomach went back, Chad's grimacing face came forward, and Connor reared back and shot his right hook straight into Chad's nose with the force of a cannon. Before the bell could ring to separate them, Chad flew backwards and tumbled over, unconscious.

The ring bucked up and down for a moment, then went still. Everyone was silent for a number of moments, then Kanashii leaped into the air, his fists pumped to the ceiling and he cheered. The preps murmured unintelligibly to one another, and then Connor climbed down from the ring and snagged his green hoodie back from his congratulatory friend. Breathing roughly, Connor turned to face where Oliver was eyeing him down.

"There."

Without another word, Connor, Kanashii, and Winston headed out of the gym. Oliver's burning gaze rested on him until the preps heard the sound of the gym's entry door crash shut. Caden approached Oliver, the two towering preps watching the door thoughtfully.

"Quite the display, hmm?"

"I wouldn't say so," Caden argued. "I'd like to see Henson go one on one with me. Then we'll see who's so macho."

"Yes, of course, Connor wouldn't be able to take either of us on, but he made quick work of Chad. It makes me wonder how he'd fare against the others, and that brings me a sense of worry. More curiously, the peasant knew about my date with Harper..."

"Standing your girl up again, Oliver?" Jayshawn jibed, strolling past the pair.

"Watch your tongue," he snapped, "lest you end up on my pottery wheel. Go get Chad out of the ring." [1]

"Why should I?"

"Jayshawn, do we need to have the conversation again?"

The prep sighed. "No, we-"

"How much money does your father make? Hmm? What's Mr. Vendome's net worth?"

"My-"

"And what's Mr. Harrington's net worth by comparison? Huh? What is it?"

Reluctantly, Jayshawn went silent. Caden watched the exchange with amusement.

"Exactly," Oliver answered for him. "Quit acting like a disgrace to aquaberry and go fish our friend Chad out of the ring. Make yourself useful."

Jayshawn muttered curses under his breath and trekked over towards the ring. As he left, another prep approached to take his place, this one slim with a moustache, short hair and grown out, dark bangs that rested in the front of his face. He, like most of the other preps, was currently dressed in a boxing outfit.

"What is it, Roman?" Oliver prompted.

"Hey, boys, what are you two talking about?"

"Take a guess," Caden replied.

"Oh, I don't know... Connor Henson?" he chuckled.

"That pauper knew about my date with Harper," Oliver sneered. "How? How could he have known? It implies that the savage actually spoke to her. That pig should know his place. Dogs eat in their kennels, not at the dinner table. Spread the word, men: Connor Henson and those that associate themselves with him are on the preps' shit list. He injured Bryce's hand, he's exchanged words with my girlfriend, and now he's made a fool of Chad in front of us all." More mysteriously, he added, "The way things are unraveling, I'd suppose he was right..."

"Don't worry, Oliver," Caden guaranteed, "when the time comes, I'll be the one making a fool of Connor Henson."

"Or, we could just leave him alone," Roman suggested. The idea was met with an incredulous glance by his leader. "Not gonna lie, fucking with Connor seems like a lot more drama than it's worth."

"What the devil did you just say?" Oliver demanded. "'Leave him alone'?" He chuckled. "No, Roman. Listen to me. Evan Mattson's drone business is down for the count. This means that we have our chance to swoop in and assert ourselves as the dominant breed here at Bullworth. We're back in our gym, we're training, we're showing our cousins a good time, we're growing bigger and better than ever. Why would we let some guttersnipe intervene?"

"Well, I just figured-"

"The answer is, we're not, Roman. We're not. Get out of my perfect, 20/20 sight."

The following day, Pete roamed the Bullworth campus with a cheap camera in both his hands. With it, he aimed up at the school flag mounted on its post, whipping and flapping in the fall wind. After Pete snapped a picture of it, he took a look at the quality of the image.

"Blurry," he grumbled. "Ms. Worm's probably not gonna care for it. Eh, I suppose I could try to flatten out some of these rough edges in post." As Pete examined the image, a student walked behind him. "Maybe crop out the-"

"Yeah, crop out your mom."

Pete froze. That voice belonged to Benji. Breaking free from his frosty imprisonment, he spun around and flashed a terrified face to Casey, one of the many Bullworth jocks.

"W-what was that?"

"Should've been listening the first time, squirt," Casey mumbled as he headed away, lumbering like a giant.

Pete took a deep breath and smeared his hand against his face. "O-kay, Pete... hang onto your sanity..."

Later, the bell rang, signaling yet another ending to classes Pete wasn't absorbing any information from. As he exited, last in class behind boisterous students passing him by, he prowled through the halls wondering whether these students were actually excited to be present at Bullworth Academy, only pretending to not enjoy it.

He wondered why a paper airplane just zipped through midair and collided with his cheek. Next, he wondered what his friends were up to. After meeting Orion the charismatic greaser in Bullworth town, he hadn't fully figured out what his other friends had done with their day. Pete overheard Connor and Kanashii talking about preps, and he assumed they'd had some kind of run in with them due to the bruises and alleged beatdown Kanashii received, yet Pete's thoughts had been a muddled mess.

Then he remembered why at the sight of Shay and Kanashii chatting at the very end of the hall. He saw warm "goodbyes" via lip reading, yet only heard the activity of the halls around him. The sight of Shay had Pete's hands sweaty, with the rest of his body soon to follow. Then the sound of Orion's voice drifted its way into Pete's mind.

What's up, little dude? Hey! I'm in your conscience. At least-your imagined interpretation of me and how I'd react were this really happening-is in your conscience. Sick. Anyway, remember what I said to you.

As multiple passerby students cut corners, met up with friends and headed down separate sleek halls and the like, Pete saw Kanashii depart and Shay begin heading in his direction. Judging by where her violet-contact eyes were pointed, Pete figured she didn't notice him quite yet.

She's coming, he thought.

Sometimes guys that don't know what they're doing with a girl will act timid, right? Orion's voice returned to him. They'll be all up in their heads, second guessing themselves, questioning everything, acting like a mannequin, man. You don't want that. You don't wanna talk to this girl like you're not sure of yourself. Who are you, Pete? You're the guy that gets this girl.

"Yeah, yeah, that much made sense," he murmured to himself, puffing up his chest as Shay neared closer.

See, think of your brain and the girl's brain as two sides of one present. Like, a Christmas present, all right? Just visualize that. Now, think of your ability to perceive as a pair of scissors.

Now, as each side of the box opens up, you wanna take out the present inside, so to speak, using your ability to mentally meld both psyches of each side of the box. You are one half, the girl is the other. Now, if you've properly melded minds with this girl and yourself, found who you are and interspersed it with who she is, you can then present your 'gift' to her, which begins as an attractive conversation.

"But what did any of that mean?" he panicked.

"Hi, Pete," Shay squeaked.

Now, does all that make sense to you, Pete?

"No," Pete croaked.

"Hmm?"

"I mean, hey, hi, Shay."

She shrugged. "Okay. Sorry about my voice. You know, the way it always squeaks? I sometimes wonder if it's annoying to other people. Kanashii says it's not, but I feel like he can be a bit biased with me at times."

Your voice is perfect to me.

"Wanna walk with me?"

He obliged, following her down a hall leading towards the central staircase of the academy building interior as she continued. There, in front of Ms. Danvers' office, yellow tape surrounded the still shattered trophy case.

"I wonder if it had to do with puberty. I've had this thought before-what if I was just destined to have a teenage boy's voice, even into adulthood? I'm not a full grown woman yet, but wouldn't that be sad? Being squeaky into my 30s and beyond?" she chuckled. "Anyway, did you hear about how Kanashii got into a boxing match? Ugh, I don't know about you, but I couldn't stand to look at him after that. Of course, I forgave him, but- no, what am I saying? We were both there when Connor told us."

You should say that to her-about her voice.

"Do you think I should've been so quick to forgive? I supported Kanashii when he wanted to help you and Connor with all that Benji stuff, even though that meant he'd be fighting people, but casually getting into it with people who box? What's the point?"

Come on, say it. You're losing your chance.

The pair made their way to the staircase, skirting aside from the yellow tape to head down the stairs.

"It's like he's not really thinking rationally or about his safety as much as he is just being impulsive. That's how Kanashii is sometimes, but it just bugs me, you know? And on the topic, so does that trophy case situation," she mentioned with a grievous glance at the shattered glass. "The Bullworth administration's apparently too lazy to do anything about the hazardous mess they've decided to leave out. I hope Ms. Danvers just heard me..."

Pete cleared his throat, yet still shakily uttered, "Your voice is perfect to me."

For their first time in the exchange, Shay was speechless. "Oh, you mean- about what I was just saying? Aw, Pete. That's kind."

Pete smiled and awkwardly fidgeted. He stood up on a couple steps up from where Shay stood, now standing at an artificially taller height. "So, uh, how do you feel about... movies?"

She politely chuckled. "They're cool, mostly, but I was kinda wondering what you thought about what I said."

Pete paused. "Oh. About Kanashii?"

"Mmhmm," she nodded.

Her scent is doing something to me... how does any girl manage to be so beautiful?

"Uhm..." He drifted off, though thankfully for him, Shay kept her patient gaze fixated on him. Pete made sure to keep his chest out and his hands from fidgeting-to the best that he could-for this answer. "I think," he started, his chest puffed. Unfortunately, instead of He-Man vibes, he gave off penguin energy. "I think that what Kanashii did shouldn't mean anything to you, 'cause you're cu- cool. You shouldn't need to care. I don't care about stuff like that- you know, 'cause, like- I'm pretty confident."

Shay eyed him with a confusion that Pete may have been able to pick up were it not for everything else overwhelming his senses. "'W-what he did'?"

"Er... Shit. Sorry, Shay. What'd you say about Kanashii?"

Shay brushed some of her pinkish hair out of her face. "I was just saying that... Pete, were you listening to me?" she wondered gently, her voice squeaking ever so slightly.

"Of course! Yes, I..." Pete scratched behind his head, using one of his arms to block his reddening face. "Sorry, I gotta go."

"Wait, Pete-"

But he was already leaving. Shay watched him go with intrigue, but now she didn't feel like chuckling. The beginnings of a frown creased her face, though there was still the same gentle longing in her eyes as before.

"Hey, Shay." She jolted and turned to see that Connor had appeared. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, sorry, you just startled me."

"Is that Pete leaving?"

Connor picked him out among a crowd. A flock of bullies eyed him heading away from where they loitered by Wade's locker, but didn't engage. The unspoken treaty between Connor and Evan after the events of the Hole and afterwards held strong.

"Yeah, that's him," she murmured. "He was acting a little off just now."

"Yeah? How?"

"I-I don't know. I'm sure it's nothing."

"Face justice!" snapped a prefect. Connor and Shay watched the suit-clad enforcer charging after a greaser, sprinting past passersby with a lit firecracker in his hands. As they disappeared down a hallway, the pair heard the sound of an echoing boom, followed by an agitated yowl from several students.

"It's never boring around here," Connor remarked.

"Hi, Connor."

The duo saw Harper passing them by next. Connor waved to her and replied, "What's goin' on?" As she smiled at him and kept walking with a slight pep to her step-an inch above the kind of pep you gain in your step from thinking you're above everyone else-Shay looked from her up to Connor with a wide-open mouth.

"What?"

"Get out!" she squeaked. "Did Harper Harrington really just say hi to you? You'd be hard pressed to hear her say anything nicer than 'die alone' to anyone, even her fellow prep cronies."

Connor shrugged. "She's not so bad. Not to me at least."

"She thinks she's better than everybody!"

"I don't doubt that, but I chatted with her when we ventured into Bullworth town. She was... all right."

Shay blinked open her eyes, opened wide, and she shook her head. "I can barely believe that. Then again, less likely things have happened..."

Connor caught the grievous tone of Shay's voice. "Like what?"

Taking a breath, the pastel goth took a seat on one of the bottom steps of the staircase. Connor leaned on the railing nearby.

"I saw Benji again. At least, I think I did."
Connor's eyes were fixed on Shay, yet the contents of his thoughts were a mystery to her. She saw him scrunch up his face a bit, but how was he truly taking this news?

"Where?"

"When we went into Bullworth town, I found a tunnel that led me to a carnival. It was beautiful. There were flashing lights, and carnies with these big-"

"Shay. The point."
She withdrew a wince. "I-I was getting there. At one point, I was surrounded by people, but there was one person in the crowd, way further ahead of me, and he wasn't doing anything. He just stood around with a cloak over his head, which in itself is a red flag. Then they lowered the cloak, and we caught eyes, and it was Benji..."

The pair paused.

"I guess there's only so many places that scumbag can hide."

"Do you think he really needs to hide?"

Connor nodded with certainty. "Yeah, 'cause if he shows his face around me-or any of the bullies for that matter-he's gonna get his ass kicked. You know, in all my time spent hanging around that guy, I never saw him fight anyone. You wanna know what I think? He knew just how good I am in a scrap, so he let me handle all his fighting for him. All the scuffles with the bullies... just a fucking puppet show," he grumbled. "I think he can't fight. Think about it. With the amount of shit he talks, we'd have seen him get in a fight by now if he could."

"I did see him in a fight, once," Shay mentioned.

Intrigued, Connor replied, "Yeah? When?"

"It was when we went to rig Evan's drones with bombs-me, Pete, Noah, Avery, and Benji. Norton Williams was there to try and stop us from getting into Evan's sanctuary. I wasn't exactly expecting it, but Benji actually went toe to toe with him."

"Who the hell's Norton Williams?"

"He's a big guy. Big guy. Greaser. Right hand man to Xander. Not someone you wanna mess with."

Connor nose-exhaled. "So Benji took on someone with that description? How hard did this Norton clobber him then?"

"Pretty hard... but Benji still beat him in the end. Not by fighting him, but- let me explain. The rest of us made a plan to take Norton down, one without fighting-seeing as none of us can do that. Noah blinded him, and Pete leaped out at him from a tree, but then Benji came back with an explosive and strapped it to Norton's chest. He threatened to kill him if he didn't leave us alone."

"Psycho shit."

"But, Connor, here's the thing; you could be right-Benji may not be a fighter like you, but he's smart. He used his head to get out of that situation. He used his head to create the entire situation of us being there in the first place. If you see him, sure, you could beat him up probably, but what if there's something else up his sleeve? What if he's rolling up his sleeves right as we speak?"

"Cool it, Shay. We're not gonna let Benji get the drop on us."

Shay looked up at him with big, worried eyes.

"Me, you, Pete, Kanashii; it's us four against the rest of these clowns. We may not be able to trust many people around this desolate tundra, but the four of us can trust each other."

Finally, Shay managed a smile. "Five, Connor; don't forget about Winston. Nashii won't let you hear the end of it."

Pete sat on the bottom set of bleachers overlooking the football field, where many typical Bullworth antics were unfolding. Unsuccessful jock Tyler raced after several more of his people doing laps, shredding the grass with their feet as they pounded forward. Tyler came in last, then slammed face first into the tree Connor and Benji hid in when intercepting bully-jock drone deals weeks prior.

"God, Tyler, are you ever gonna get better?" Dan taunted him.

"It's just," Pete started, straining to find the right words. He eyed the football field and spoke to someone behind him. "Don't you ever get that feeling where your heart is twisting in a knot, and you feel yourself starting to rev like a- like a car. You just feel such a hurricane of feeling going on inside yourself that you can't express even if you wanted to. I don't know what it is, man, but something about her lately... It wasn't like this when we met. I was nervous, sure, nervous as I always am. Was. I don't know. I feel like I've gotten better, but I've still got a long way to go... Beside the point."

Several jocks in the middle of the field rushed through burpees, lunging into the air and falling back to the grass with stagnant form. Head cheerleader Alexstrasza stepped around them with her hands behind her back like their coach, begging the question as to where their real coach was.

"Come on, boys, this is just embarrassing. You think Lightning became the top athlete in the academy with lazy form like that? I've seen more active quads in my arthritic, bedbound uncle."

"You don't need good form when you've got tren," Casey monotoned.

"Amen," muttered another jock.

"There was this point where Shay hugged me, and, man, I just melted... It felt like... It felt like I'd just been immersed in... I don't know, mud or something, and the moment she held me I just... it was like I could breathe for the first time. The comfort and the warmth... it was a feeling I could get addicted to. It was only a bit after that I realized just how I feel about Shay... but it's making me go crazy. I don't feel like myself. All I can think about is being with her. I don't know what to do."

After a pause, Pete's listener spoke.

"Let me ask you something."

Pete turned around. "Go ahead, Evan."

"Why are you telling me all of this? I mean, that's a lot right there that you just poured out." Evan relaxed, leaning back on the bleacher behind him. "Shouldn't this be something you tell Connor? Or, I don't know, Shay herself? What good are you doing anyone keeping this to yourself? And what good are you doing me having me on the receiving end of this word vomiting?"

Pete pressed his hands to his face and hunched, letting out a groany sigh. "I can't do that. You don't understand, Evan. I already can't help feeling like Connor and Shay think I'm weird sometimes. I don't worry too much about that with Kanashii. Between Winston and... whatever else it is he does, he kinda seems to operate in his own world."

Evan frowned, staring down at his pant leg, ripped up and torn near the lower half of his knee. "Really needs to get that fucking dog in check... Here's the thing, Pete. You are weird."

"Ouch," Pete peeped, rubbing behind his neck and staring down at the pavement.

"But should that really stop you from doing things? Look around you, buddy. Tyler wears a tracksuit 24/7 and managed to run into a tree while running on a football field. You know how wide a fucking football field is? Casey's built like an over-stuffed cow and speaks like he's auditioning for the role of Bodyguard #6 on the latest Cartoon Network feature. That's just a couple of the jocks, but fucking everyone around here is a freak. Everyone, bro. You're hard pressed to find sane people here, and I don't think any of this is news to you."

"N-no, I know all of that."

"See?" Evan leaned forward and laid a hand on Pete's shoulder, the boy staring at the bully leader with a timid expression on his face. "You're a freak, Pete. Congratulations, now you're just as qualified as the rest of the people attending this junkyard and no less likely to score a chance with Shay than anyone else."

"Y- you know... that actually kinda helped, in an abusive-father-heart-to-heart-with-his-neglected-son type of way. Thanks, Evan."

Evan gestured him away. "Whatever, man. Happy to give you the Connor Henson childhood experience. Now, find Shay or Connor or fucking Harold for all I care. Go on."

As Pete headed back up the flight of stairs leading away from the football field and between the gym and pool buildings, he felt strangely lighter after speaking with his former rival.

Am I really just as qualified as the rest of the Bullworth academy kids? I've gotta be more qualified, right? But I'm such a weirdo around her... What a feeling. To think I'm better and worse than everyone at the same time. Why couldn't I have just turned 20 after 12? Being a teenager blows.

[1] - "Babies with soft spots on their heads better not misbehave lest they end up on my pottery wheel!"