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Hold it!

"Nate, this is crazy! You're going to get in an insane amount of trouble if you do this!"

"Of course I will if you blabber it out loud like that! Cut it out, Devin!" Nate rasped as if he was trying too hard to whisper. Even though Rue didn't know what was going on behind her she didn't like what she was hearing. She had to stop whatever was happening. She turned to face the boys that the voices belonged to.

"Hold it!" Rue shouted at them. Nate was not pleased.

"This doesn't have anything to do with you! Stay out of this!" He stated with frustrated venom coating his words.

"What are you doing?" Rue straightened her shoulders to look Nate in the eye and meet his glare with her own.

"I'm not doing anything to anybody! I'm just getting out of this school!"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm leaving. Plain and simple."

Rue looked behind the two boys. There was a garbage chute leading to a garbage dumpster outside. Rue's expression softened.

"You don't understand! The school's garbage chutes lead out to a huge drop! If you fall from that high, you could break your bones and even damage your brain!"

"Ugh, you people are all the same. I'm sick of it!"

"I'm just trying to help stop you from doing something that will hurt you! It isn't worth it!"

In a moment of lost control of his temper and rash decision because of it, Nate lunged at her. Fortunately, Rue was faster than him at that moment. He couldn't take it back now, not after trying to hit her.

"You got lucky," Nate said.

They readied their fists and targeted each other's bodies. Evading the other's blows, they both needed only seconds to counterattack.

"No! Stop!" Devin shouted.

The combatants slapped their opponent's fingers.

"Stop!"

They kicked at each other on one leg, over and over. Then Nate found an opening. He lunged at Rue, pinning her to the wall. She managed to shove him off a bit, but he was quickly ready to attack her again. When he finally did, she shoved her hat in his face. While he was distracted, she punched the open side of his face sending him sprawling to the side.

"What are you doing?!"

Their teacher stood right in front of them. Beside her, stood the graceful and poised curly haired girl who had been sitting next to Rue in class.

"You did the right thing telling me this was happening when you heard it." The girl nodded politely with her posture staying perfect.

"Both of you are getting detention during recess and after school! When humans spend their depleting energy hurting others, they are truly monsters! Violence is the worst form of depravity! It is not permitted on school grounds, ever!"

Rue felt angry words rising from her throat and creeping toward her tongue. She was attacked first and she had to fight back or else he might have hurt her. Wasn't that proof that this fight wasn't her fault the first place? However, the teacher's voice didn't indicate patience for anything that so much resembled an excuse. She had to use her one shot at talking to her to do something more important than proving her innocence. Raising her hand to be noticed Rue asked,

"Teacher, can I just tell my sister what happened before I leave for detention?" Rue's voice was asking for a kind of mercy one asked for when they had to protect their loved ones.

"No. The punishment is as I said. This is a consequence of your actions. In this school you will take responsibility for them."

Rue went to the library to receive her punishment, she couldn't do anything else. Nate had heated eyes that darted to the teacher, her, and then they turned to the teacher again. When Rue got to the library, the librarian got up from her desk as soon as she saw her. 

"Detention during recess?" the librarian asked.

"Yeah," Rue answered.

"The rules are simple, you must be seated at all times and you are not allowed to read any books while you are at detention."

Rue nodded in understanding. When she found a table she sat down. Rue felt the terror of last night catch up with her as her face slumped to the table. An empty silence filled her ears when she came to. The librarian was gone.