The principal had dragged me away from everybody. He took me to a room and plopped me down in a chair. He was mad. Really mad. I swear I saw steam come out of his ears.

"You behavior is unacceptable," he said, he sounded like my worst nightmare. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

I wondered if I should've said what he wanted me to say, or what I wanted to say. "He deserved it." So I went with what I wanted to say.

The principal leaned in extremely close, I could feel his breathe. "Why did you punch him?"

"He deserved it."

"That is not valid reasoning."

"He was making fun of April and I for sitting with Drake and Grayson."

"And what made you think you could punch him?"

"Because... Because... He deserved it."

"Why did you punch him?"

"He was being mean to us. It's my natural instinct. I get hostile!"

"Do not yell at me."

"Sorry."

"Why did you punch him?"

"I just told you. Don't you understand."

"This type of behavior comes with consequences you know."

I knew what was coming. He was going to hurt my wrists just like Ms. Mean has. I lifted my hands to him. I braced for the expected pain. But he just looked at me.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"Awaiting my punishment," I whispered.

"Why are you lifting your hands?"

"To get my punishment." He must have noticed the bandages because he stared at them in particular.

"What happened to your hands?"

"I was punished."

"For what?"

"I didn't make my bed quick enough."

"What did your mother do to you?"

"She didn't do anything but leave me at the orphanage."

"What did the orphanage do to you?"

"They punished me."

He started to unwrap the bandages. I jerked a few times because of the pain. Then he saw my punishment. He saw my pain.

"Did the people at the orphanage do this to you?" he asked.

"Yes."

"What did they do?"

"She cut my wrist and burned the other."

He stood up and grabbed my arm again, but lighter this time. He pulled me up from the seat and walked me back to the room. He showed my wrists to the nurse and she took me to her office. I sat on some kind of table bed as she looked at my wrists.

"Your cut is infected," she said. "And the orphanage did this to you?"

"Yes, but one of the ladies doesn't want us to get hurt. But she doesn't have any control."

"Don't worry, we'll get this taken care."

The nurse walked across the room and grabbed a bottle, a small piece of cotton, and a needle. She took the needle and poked my cut. It hurt extremely bad. I started to cry, it hurt worse than when I got the cut.

"It's ok," the nurse said. "This will help I get better."

When she finished with the needle she got the bottle's contents onto the cotton ball. She applied it to the cut and it stung, it stung worse than the needle had hurt. The she took a sticky bandage and put it over the cut.

"Stay in here," she said. "I'll be right back."

-------------

After a few hours everything was finally sorted out. The principal only decided to give Wes and his gang the punishment because they started their whole mess. Drake, Grayson, and I all stayed with the nurse so she could make sure we were ok. We were but she didn't want to send us to class. She eventually let us return to Armen. Of course he yelled at us.

"I can't believe you kids!" he yelled.

"I asked you not to call us kids," Drake said.

"You all deserve it after the way you acted! You can just go around beating people up!"

"But we don't understand this world," I said, trying to get Armen to calm down.

Armen took a deep breathe. "You have a point. I should have told you guys what not to do."

Armen was obviously under a lot of stress. He didn't want to admit that he wasn't ok. I gave him a hug. Hugs always help.