Lucas appreciated his friendship with Carvington, but on some days he could be a nuisance. Yesterday was one of those days, as well as this morning. He followed Lucas everywhere after class and was conveniently at the library when Lucas arrived at 6 in the morning. After they arrived at school together, they were greeted by Drake. More so, Carvington was greeted by Drake while the football player tried his hardest not to look at Lucas.

As Lucas sat down at his desk in the front of his first class of the day, he was thankful that he did not have any classes with Carvington before lunch. In his attempt to escape, Lucas had forgotten that he came to class 15 minutes early and that the classroom would be empty. Resting his head on the wooden desk with closed eye, Lucas hoped he would be able to sleep through the entire class. His teacher had informed the class that this week would be designated workdays.

"Good morning, Mr. Tathern," Mrs. Gregory sneered, picking up the thick textbook she had dropped on his desk. Lucas sighed heavily, slowly lifting his head off his desk. He met Mrs. Gregory's angry eyes and leathery skin. He rolled his eyes as he heard people chuckling from the back of the now filled classroom.

"Buenos días, señora," Lucas mumbled. Mrs. Gregory pursed her lips in response. Lucas knew he was not one of her favorite students. He only slept in classes where he knew the material, and Mrs. Gregory's class was definitely one of those classes. One of the many perks of going to the library every day was that he had run across a few language books. Spanish along with Russian and French were some of the languages that he had learned over the past few years.

"Well," Mrs. Gregory said, turning towards the rest of the class. "Now that Lucas has finally decided to join us, let's move on to today's agenda."

"I thought today was a workday," Lucas whined, rubbing his eyes. Mrs. Gregory took a deep breath and held it, tightening her lips.

"It is," she squeaked, a strained smile on her face. "You'll have time to work on your assignments after peer review. You will partner up in groups of two. With your partner, you will present to each other and give feedback." The class bustled with excitement as students waved down their friends. Lucas looked at the classroom, spotting Jessica glancing at him from the back. Their eyes locked for a moment, a silent agreement formed between them. "Calm down!" The class hushed. "Partners are already assigned." The class groaned as she read off the partner list.

Name after name went by, but he didn't hear Jessica's. Mrs. Gregory knew the cliques and social groups, her list showed it as friends were partnered together. She paired Jessica up with one of her female friends. Lucas scowled as he watched the old woman smirk at his frustration. Lucas was partnered with the best and quick-tempered football player in his school, Seth Miller.

Mrs. Gregory dismissed them, and students began shuffling around. Lucas watched as Seth lumbered towards his desk, towing a poster board. Lucas nodded at Seth as he placed the board down and took a seat next to him.

"Do you have a rubric?" Seth asked. Mrs. Gregory popped up from her desk and happily placed a rubric on Seth's desk. Lucas grimaced, as the class grew louder. Workdays were usually the days reserved as Lucas's slack off days, but peer review days were everyone else's.

Seth picked up his project, rising to his feet. "Let's go work in the hall," Seth said. "It's too damn loud in here." Lucas shrugged picking up his Spanish folder and followed Seth as he led them to the empty hall.

Lucas never had any problems with Seth. Seth was smart, the best in their class, and always kept Drake from pulverizing Lucas. He volunteered to go first. His family tree was a detailed drawing of an oak tree, each family member having their own branch along with a photo. He carefully went through ten of his family members, pronouncing their titles in Spanish almost perfectly. Lucas went through the grading rubric and told Seth what grade he would've given him, a perfect score.

It was Lucas turn to present. He took out a sheet of printer paper from his folder. The sheet had a disembodied head of a stick figure woman in the center of the page. The head had two lined connecting it to two heads below it, a girl and a boy.

"Are you serious?" Seth asked, holding back a chuckle. Lucas nodded, shaking the paper in his hand. "Come on. I would've expected better from the second best in our class. Where's your dad? Your grandparents?"

Lucas shrugged, trying to avoid looking at Seth. "I'm wondering the same thing," Lucas said, gathering the courage to look at Seth's bemused expression.

"Just add them now," Seth suggested, rolling his eye at Lucas.

"No, I mean I'm actually wondering the same thing," Lucas said. "I don't know who they are."

"Don't you have a sister?" Seth asked.

"Yeah," Lucas said. Seth already knew that. Everyone knew everyone. "I know her dad's name."

"Wait, what?" Seth asked. The bell rung, summoning the excited students to burst into the halls. "You have different dads?" Seth stood, grabbing his project.

Lucas picked up his folder and stood, nodding. "Yep," he mumbled, moving towards the classroom door.

"How many people has your mom been with?" Seth asked. Lucas paused, turning on his heels towards Seth.

Seth may have been joking, teasing him, or even just asking a question; but, Lucas didn't like it. When people first heard that Lucas and his sister had different fathers, they had already labeled his mother as a whore. Women would clutch their husbands as his mother would walk by as if she would snatch them from their grasp.

Before Lucas even knew what was happening, a response flew drone his lips. "Less than your sister," Lucas said. It was no secret that Seth's sister was promiscuous.

Seth threw his project on the ground, teeth clenched and eyes narrowed. "What the hell did you say?"

"You heard me," Lucas spat, his heart slamming against his chest as he stepped closer to Seth. "You should be worrying about who's in your sister. It's honestly hard to keep track-"

Lucas stumbled back as Seth supplied him with a blow to the head. Slightly dazed, he grabbed his cheek. It barely throbbed. He thought a blow from such a strong guy would hurt more. His thoughts were interrupted by another blow, causing him to stumble to the ground.

He was sure Seth was yelling, but Lucas couldn't focus on his words. The sound of his breathing filled his ears, ragged and fast. His heart was racing. He waited for another blow, but it never came. He heard yelling, cheering.

Looking on the floor in front of him, Lucas saw a guy straddling another. Lucas gasped, as he realized it was Carvington. He was beating the life out of Seth. He held Seth by the collar and struck him over and over again, not giving Seth time to recover.

Lucas unsteadily got to his feet, slowly gaining control of his legs, and staggered over to his friend.

"Carv," Lucas cried, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Get off of him." Carvington didn't listen, continuing his assault. "Stop!" Nothing.

"Stop!" Lucas' voiced echoed, holding an authoritative tone he had never produced before. Carvington stopped completely. His arm froze, still clenched waiting to complete his attack. Carvington's arms fell slack to his sides and he stood, balancing on one leg glaring at Seth with scorn.

Seth recovered quickly, jumping to his feet and blundered towards Carv. Luckily, a group of his friends jumped out to hold him back, but Mr. Martin was there in time to see it all.

"Both of you," Mr. Martin spat, pointing to Seth then Carv. "Office. Now." Seth groaned, shaking out of the restraint.

Carv stumbled to the ground groaning, and Lucas finally noticed his crutches splayed across the ground. Lucas couldn't help but wonder how Carv was able to do all that while in so much pain.

Lucas let out a heavy breath, as he watched Seth follow Mr. Martin and Drake rush to Carv's side.

It was his fault. All of it was his fault. Lucas's breathing began to quicken again. He felt like he couldn't breathe. With each breath, no air came in.

It had to be his entire fault. Drake and now Seth, something was wrong with him. Something had to be wrong with him. He needed to get out of there. He needed to run away. So, he did. Lucas ran into Mrs. Gregory's empty classroom and grabbed his backpack. He found the fire exit door and walked out of it, outside of the school.

With purposeful strides, his legs led him across town. It was his fault. His best friend got in trouble and was withering in pain because he couldn't resist lashing back at the school's notorious hot-head. He lashed back at the only player on the football team that didn't ignore him and was actually decent. Jess was wrong. Laura's dad was a deadbeat, but he was right about Lucas.

"Lucas," a feminine voice cried. He looked up, noticing he was in the library. His eyes became glossy as he came out of his trance, avoiding Leonardo's mother's concerning gaze standing in front of him. "Are you okay, sweetheart? What happened?"

"Can I have my book," Lucas asked, his hands quivered on his sides.

"Lucas-"

"Please," he begged, his voice betraying him breaking. He cleared his throat and met her eyes. "Please."

She bit her lip and rubbed her hands across her dress. "Come on," she said, the tips of her fingers brushing across Lucas' wrist. Lucas flinched at her touch, jolting his hand out of her reach. She frowned then walked away towards the desk. Lucas followed behind her as she opened a door to behind the counter. She led him down the hall behind the seats and stopped at a conference room door. She opened the door and led him into the room.

The room was plainly decorated with plain colors. A long table sat in the center of the room. A mini-fridge sat on the side next to a coffee maker.

Mrs. Jones scurried over to the freezer after instructing Lucas to sit down. She placed a book and an ice pack in front of Lucas. She gave him some instruction on how to use the ice pack and scuttled away to finish her work.

Lucas pushed aside the ice pack and allowed himself to fade into the book. A story without his own pain, away from his own problems. A story where everything worked out in the end.

After flipping through pages, his face began to sting bringing him out of the story. He sat back allowing himself to compose himself but overheard hushed voices from outside the closed door. He decided to ignore them, returning to the tale. He didn't want to come back to the world outside of fiction.

"Lucas," he heard a male voice coo. He raised his gaze off the page. "What's up, man? My mom said you wanted to talk to me."

Lucas didn't remember saying that, but he didn't remember his trek to the library either. He heard Leonardo pull out a chair and sat next to him.

"That's gonna leave a nasty bruise," he heard Leonardo say.

Lucas closed the book staring at the cover. "I need your help," Lucas said, picking his nails.

"I know," Leonardo said placing a freshly chilled ice pack in front of him with a rag. "Put this on your cheek. It will help the swelling."

Lucas pushed the ice pack away. "No," he said, flipping through the pages of his book with his thumb. "I need you to do something. Please."

"What do you need me to do," Leonardo asked. Lucas looked up at him, the room was empty besides the two teens.

"I need you to cast a revenge spell for me."