Connor sat down and the legs of the chair gave way under him sending him crashing down to the floor smacking his head, hard against the desk behind him. Everyone rushed to him. “Lucky you didn’t sit there.“ Rob laughed unfazed by the commotion. The teacher called for the nurse. There was blood too. When she looked at his skull that was cracked open for the class to see she wondered how a short fall could do that to him. A bump. Yeah maybe, but his skull was actually broken open. He was taken away in an ambulance, it pretty much burned away the entire math class. Which was good because she wasn’t ready for the test yet. At least she would have another day to study.

Next up was lunch and Rob followed her studiously to her usual loner seat in the corner of the room. She took out the apple she brought in her pack and bit into it trying to seem interested in the painted cinder blocked wall.

“Is that all you’re eating?” Rob asked talking for the first time since Connor got carried away on a gurney.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” She said glancing at him only for a second.

After a moment he spoke up again. “So why do you really like Puck?”

Tucking her hair behind her ear she looked at him. Or rather his mouth, her teachers always told her it was rude not to look at someone when speaking to them. But she could only get to their mouths. Unless they were a teacher or a parent. Adults were easy, they were past judging you unless you had a tattoo or spiked, blue tipped hair. “I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I guess he’s like I want to be. You know. He can do whatever and say whatever he wants. I wish I was like that.”

Rob leaned on his long fingers with oversized knuckles. “So you like him because he’s a prankster. Because you’d never have the guts to do anything to the people who treat you like crap. Is that it?”