I struggled to sleep that night, and by morning, I was exhausted and anxious for the day. The term "social punishment" kept spinning through my head.

                Clearly this school had made the Blues feel superior and set them loose on the Maroons. But this whole thing was dangerous. Someone was going to get hurt along the way.

                I showered and dressed, hurrying out of the room while Jordan was still in the shower. I didn't want to walk to class with him. Hell, I wanted to avoid him no matter what.

                I reached the academic building early and sat on one of the benches in the hallway. There were a few students moving around despite how early it was. Some teachers talked with each other outside classrooms, calling out greetings to students.

                I spotted Isaac helping a teacher carry some textbooks down the hallway. Isaac had the cheerful smile on his face, talking away as the teacher smiled and nodded along. The two disappeared down a hallway together.

                There were only a few Maroons here this early, and they huddled together, keeping their distance from the Blues and the teachers. I didn't recognize any of them, and I had no desire to. It seemed like the fewer people I got involved with here, the better.

                "Kai?"

                I looked up. Mr. Townsend was standing in front of me. He had a stack of papers in his hands.

                "Oh, hi," I said. "I wasn't really looking to talk to anyone."

                "Well, since you're here early, would you mind helping me in the classroom?" he asked.

                "I do mind, actually," I said.

                He was patient, though. "I could always have you take that quiz..."

                "I have a speech problem. I meant to say I absolutely don't mind at all," I said, standing up.

                I followed him down the hall and into his classroom. He set the stack of papers on his desk, shifting through them.

                I looked at his desk, nodding at a picture on it. "Wow, those your kids? They sure look happy to be next to each other."

                It was a picture of two boys standing near each other. One looked annoyed to have his picture taken. The other smiled, but he clearly didn't like being so close to the younger one.

                "Those are my sons," Mr. Townsend said, looking at the picture. "They...don't always get along."

                "Couldn't tell," I said.

                He handed me half the stack. "Please set one of those on each desk. These papers got all mixed up in my office. I have to sort through them."

                I leaned my cane against his desk and limped my way to the desks slowly, setting the papers down. Mr. Townsend continued separating the papers into different stacks.

                "You remind me a bit of my younger son," he said.

                "Yea, not something I want to hear," I said.

                "He liked to push people away," Mr. Townsend said. "Beckett was always angry."

                "Thank you for the wonderful comparison," I said.

                Mr. Townsend sighed. "I know you don't want to be at this Academy. I know you're trying to push everyone away. But this will be a lot easier if you just try to make friends and behave." He picked up a stack and began setting the papers on desks.

                "Thanks for the advice, but I'm pretty content not getting involved with the insane people of this Academy." I set the last paper down and limped back up the row to get my cane. I picked it up and glanced at Mr. Townsend. "Hey, does the headmaster have a kid named Leon?"

                Mr. Townsend frowned. "Yes, Leon was the same age as my youngest son. Oh, did you meet him? He likes to come to the campus and help out with some of the new programs."

                "Nope, never met the guy. Just heard his name mentioned and didn't remember seeing him on the site," I said, which was only partially true.

                "Oh, yes, Leon was the youngest of the Constance children, and wasn't raised to take over the Academy," Mr. Townsend said. "He helps out here, but he doesn't work here."

                I let the topic drop and finished helping him with the papers. By the time we were done, students were starting to enter the classroom, so I took my seat.

                "Thank you for the help," Mr. Townsend said.

                "Thank you for threatening me into helping you," I said.

                He left to go talk to another student and I pulled my notebook out. I mentally groaned as Jordan entered the room, but he simply glanced at me and moved on to his seat without saying anything.

                Mr. Townsend started his lesson, thankfully with no preamble about us beating the shit out of Maroon students. My next two classes passed calmly, the tension from yesterday forgotten.

                When we were let out for lunch, I left the room and started towards the dining hall. If I could get through classes, I'd go hide out in the library after the Peer Program to avoid Jordan.

                I took the elevator up and stepped off, groaning out loud. Jordan smiled at me, Lenny and two of their friends standing with him.

                "Hey Kai. Sit with us today," he said.

                "Not interested," I said, trying to limp away from me.

                But his friends blocked my path, and I realized it was the boy, Ryan, the one who almost broke Karson's nose. The other one was the girl who had been with them.

                "We want to get to know you," Ryan said. "You haven't talked to anyone but Jordan."

                "That's a lie. I talked to Lenny yesterday when he was looking for Jordan. This myth has been busted. Now get out of my way," I said.

                "Sit with us!" the girl said, a smile on her face but a warning in her eyes.

                "Fine," I said, seeing no way out of this since they had me blocked.

                They walked with me to get food and led me over to a table. We all sat down and Jordan gestured at his friends to introduce themselves.

                "I'm Ryan."

                "I'm Kate."

                "And you know I'm Lenny."

                "Great, we're all best friends now," I said, picking at my food moodily.

                "You're new here, so you don't quite have a grasp of the situation," Lenny said. "It's our duty to keep the Maroons in line. Jin Amano and his group are by far the worst, and we haven't been able to find out what they're up to. That's where you come in. You're in the Peer Program with them. You can be our eyes and ears. If they let something slip, you can tell us."

                "What, so you can kick the shit out of them again?" I asked.

                "Karson Wylie has a history of violence," Ryan said. "Jin might look sickly and slow, but when you team him up with Karson, the two are pretty dangerous."

                "I heard it's because Jin was in a gang," Kate said.

                "Jin seemed to be holding his own just fine when he was punching you in the face," I said to Jordan.

                Jordan scowled. "I forgot how fast he is. And he fights dirty."

                "Look, all that aside, if we can bring Jin's group down, Mr. Constance will be incredibly grateful," Lenny said. "He has a lot of strong connections. They have a party at the end of the year where a lot of important people will be, and they handpick students to go. If we finish off Jin's group, I bet Mr. Constance will let us come to that party."

                "Think of the opportunities, Kai," Jordan said. "People from colleges, people from strong business, people with strong connections...it would be an incredible opportunity. And taking Jin's group down would make this Academy a better place."

                "They like to act up. They fight against Mr. Constance," Kate said. "They're one of the few groups Mr. Constance can't keep down."

                "That sounds like his problem, not mine," I said.

                "Are you defending Jin's group?" Ryan said.

                "No. I want nothing to do with Jin's group or your group. I'm here because my parents made me come here, I'm in the Peer Program because my parents signed me up for it, and I hate every second of this. I'm not a spy, I have no interest in an end of the year party with a bunch of stuck-up rich people, and I couldn't care less what will please Mr. Constance," I said, my irritation growing.

                "Think it over a bit. We'll talk again after you get out of the Peer Program," Jordan said, and started eating his lunch.

                His friends copied him, letting the topic drop and instead talking about the essay we had for history. I stayed silent, trying to drown out their voices and focus on the conversation of the table behind us for a distraction.

                I had never been so grateful in my entire life for a period of time to pass. As we rose to leave the cafeteria, Jordan picked up my bag and held it out to me.

                "We can all walk to class together," he said.

                "Nope, sorry, legs don't work. Don't wait up for me." I hurried away from them and over to the elevator.

                I rode it down and left the dining hall so fast I thought my leg might give out. I leaned heavily on my cane and dragged my bad leg all the way to my next class, taking my seat and ducking my head when Jordan and his friends entered.

                The next three classes passed normally enough, and I was careful to avoid Jordan and his friends. When our final class of the day let out, I bolted out of the door and down to the room the Peer Program met in.

                I let myself in and took a seat, not surprised that Lev was already there. He didn't say anything to me, just fidgeting with a pencil.

                Isaac came bounding into the room and frowned. "Where's Jin?"

                "Probably getting himself into trouble," Lev said with a sigh.

                "Oh." Isaac took his usual seat. He looked at me and pouted. "I wish you hadn't gotten Lenny involved. I don't like him."

                "Trying to suck up to you, huh?" Lev said.

                "Who wouldn't want to suck up to the little bastard?" Karson asked as he came into the room. "His weekly allowance is more than I'll make my whole life. Perks of a rich dad, huh kid?" He grinned. "Well, perks of living with a rich man."

                Isaac's pout grew deeper. "If Jin was here, he'd hit you."

                "Got that right." Jin stepped into the room and punched Karson in the back of the head. "Shut up and sit down, Karson."

                "Ow! Are you his bodyguard or something?!" Karson said, glaring at Jin.

                "No, I'm just annoyed," Jin said, dropping into a seat. He glanced at me. "Any surprises we should be braced for?"

                "They wouldn't be very surprising if I told you, would they?" I said, eyeing the bruise on his cheek.

                He put half a straw in his mouth, chewing on it. "No, I suppose it would ruin the surprise. Then again, I've never been fond of surprises."

                "But Jin, life's full of surprises!" Karson said, slinging his arms around Jin's shoulder.

                "Like this?" Jin said and slammed his elbow into Karson's gut.

                Karson gagged, dropping his arm from Jin. He shot Jin a dirty look rubbed his gut.

                Was there really a rumor that the two of them were hooking up? Jin seemed like he couldn't even stand Karson.

                Amelia came into the room, mumbling to herself as she scrolled through her phone. She sat next to Lev and tugged on his vest, shoving her phone in his face.

                "Look at this!" she cried. "Look at it!"

                "I can't when you shove your phone against my eyes," Lev said, pulling her hand back to look at whatever she was showing him. "Oh, um, that's...very nice?"

                "Very nice? It's incredible!" Amelia said, yanking the phone away from his face so she could stare at it and mumble to herself again.

                "Amelia, are you looking at pictures of technology again?" Karson said.

                "Honestly, I couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a printer or a cat," Lev said.

                "You're all uneducated," Amelia said.

                Lev snatched the phone from her and held it out to Jin. "Printer or cat?"

                "I bet he sees a vodka bottle," Karson said, wincing as he received another elbow to the gut.

                "Printer," Jin said. "That's a cord, not a tail."

                Lev squinted at it. "Huh, really?"

                Isaac got up and went over, looking over Lev's shoulder at it. He furrowed his brow and tilted the phone.

                "Are you sure that's a printer? It kind of looks like my aunt's cat," Isaac said.

                I couldn't stay quiet any longer. "What the fuck kind of cats have you people seen?"

                "It could be the brain damage from the beating we took yesterday that has us thinking it's a cat," Karson said. "Thanks for that, by the way, crip."

                The door opened and Mr. Kean came in. He glared at Lev, eyes sliding from him to Isaac.

                "Isaac, we talked about this," he said.

                "Oh, sorry! We were trying to see if this is a printer or a cat," Isaac said, heading back to his desk and sitting down.

                Mr. Kean held up a small stack of papers. "Maroons, you have a test tomorrow. You'll be pairing together to quiz each other in the back of the room."

                "Lev-" Jin started, but Amelia threw her arms around Lev's neck and stuck her tongue out at Jin.

                "Too slow!" she taunted. "He's partnering with me."

                "Looks like we're stuck together, Jin," Karson said, snickering.

                "I'll break your ribs one by one if you piss me off," Jin warned.

                The four stood up and took the papers from Mr. Kean before heading to the back of the room. Mr. Kean followed them back there, separated the two groups to opposite sides of the room so they wouldn't distract each other.

                As Mr. Kean was helping Lev and Amelia, Jin stood up and moved to the front of the room. He tossed a paper in the garbage and I noticed as he slipped a piece of paper onto Isaac's desk. Isaac tucked the paper into his notebook as Jin moved on to the back of the room.

                Mr. Kean came back to the front. "Isaac, why don't you sit next to Kai?" he offered.

                "Sure, Mr. Kean," Isaac said, gathering his stuff.

                "I didn't agree to this," I said as Isaac took the desk next to me, shifting it so our desks were nearly touching.

                "Please? I need help with my math," Isaac said, giving me a small smile.

                "Help him for just a little, Kai. I need to make sure they're studying correctly before I can help you two," Mr. Kean said and went to the back of the room again with more papers in his hands.

                Isaac flipped his notebook open and bent down, digging in his bag for a pencil. But he'd flipped open to the page where the note was.

                In messy handwriting, it said "meet us tonight behind the library". Isaac sat up and noticed his mistake, turning the page to a fresh one and humming cheerfully to himself.

                "No humming or I shove that pencil down your throat," I said.

                He pretended to zip his lips and nudged his math homework towards me. I reluctantly helped him as Mr. Kean tried to help the Maroons study.

                Mr. Kean came back over to help Isaac, relieving me of the babysitting duty. Mr. Kean spent the time moving back and forth between everyone, trying to keep a close eye on the Maroons to make sure they were actually studying. When he finally dismissed us, I gratefully packed away my stuff.

                "I think this test will be a breeze," Amelia said.

                "You think every test is a breeze," Karson grumbled.

                "You're just mad because you're too stupid to pass anything," Jin said.

                "Yea, well, I'm surprised you're not braindead yet," Karson said.

                "Makes two of us. Shut up and let's go," Jin said, shoving Karson forward.

                They left the room without bothering to look at me. Isaac hurried to follow them out, his notebook clutched securely in his arms.

                I left the room, ready to go hide out in the library for a few hours. Maybe I'd start bringing a book with me and read in the café after the Peer Program.

                "Kai."

                "No, no, no," I said as Jordan and Lenny came up to me. "I'm not in the mood. Don't bother."

                But Lenny blocked my path. Jordan gave me an easy smile.

                "We think they're up to something. They like to fight back once we corner them and beat them down," Jordan said. "Did they let anything slip during Peer Program?"

                That note flashed through my mind. They were going to meet behind the library, and for some reason, they wanted Isaac there. They were pulling him into their schemes.

                I could tell Jordan and Lenny that, let them handle whatever came next. It wouldn't be hard to supply them the information they wanted so they'd leave me alone.

                But if I told them and they caught Jin and his group, they'd attack them again. Maybe this time they'd take it too far and seriously hurt someone. I didn't want that on my hands.

                So I made a decision. And like most decisions in my life, it was one I'd probably come to regret.

                "Nothing at all. They're not stupid," I said, pushing my way past Lenny, hitting him in the ankle with my cane when he tried to hold his ground. "If they're up to something, that's your problem to figure out."

                They watched me go, and I could sense their annoyance with me. I wasn't cooperating with them, and they didn't like that.

                I left the academic building and leaned against the wall of it. I squinted up at the sky, the weight of my decision slowly settling on me.

                "Shit," I said quietly. "I just made this a whole lot worse for myself."