After the Battle

[Deamon]

Gray looked out across the playing fields and all the lying around on them and sighed. It looked like his three hours of detention was basically litter duty. The cafeteria would have been more interesting even if it was messier. But then again at least picking up litter was easier, even if it was more boring. As he got to work he started to reflect on what he had done to end up outside picking up litter for three hours of his life. Not to say it wasn't his fault, because it was and he'd cost Kyran the chance to go to prom which made him feel worse. That was mostly due to the fact Kyran had got involved to prevent a fight between Gray and Adonis. Gray doubted if a fight would have started or if Adonis would've just hit him repeatedly. Gray would've been lying to himself if he thought he could take Adonis, unless Adonis tired himself out with punching or Gray got a lucky shot.

He picked up a crisp packet using the claw he'd been given and put it into the bin bag. It was going to be a tedious three hours that was for sure. It didn't even matter if he made good headway and finished cleaning the playing fields. He'd just be moved to a different area and made to pick up litter there as well. So he decided to take his time picking up the litter around the playing fields. Since the whether was alright and he enjoyed being outside when compared to being inside the school right now, that may have had something to do with the fact Mrs Freeman looked like she would suspend him if she saw him again.

His mom had been less then impressed when he had called her to let her know that he was in detention for three hours. She had been on his side right up until he caused the food fight. Then she had been fully behind his detention; even threatening to confiscate his skateboard. Gray was slightly worried about that because he didn't like the idea of the new skateboard that he'd built specifically to suit him being taken away. He knew what his mom was like though and was also relying on the fact that he'd done it to try and help a friend out. Normally she would forgive him for that, the fact that his iPod had been nuked by a bowl of jelly probably helped too. But that's what he got for leaving it out on the table and now he'd have to buy a new one.

The memory of the food fight still made him smile though, along with the look that Adonis had on his face as Gray had left Mrs Freemans office. Even though he'd ended up with the detention he still counted it as a good day, because how often did anyone get to start a food fight. Plus Adonis had gotten what he deserved while Gray himself had managed to walk away relatively unscathed. It still sucked about Kyran though. He'd have to find a way to make it up to him, since he'd gotten involved to protect him and all.

[BROseidon†]

(Cassandra continued from F is for Finance and Future)

It was rare to see Cassandra near any athletic facility that wasn't a basketball court. She never played sports growing up, and the only one that she had ever taken any interest in watching was basketball. It was her interest in the sport that had helped her form some of the only friendships she had back home. Cassandra was only walking around Aurora's playing fields because she decided to take a break from her studying today. Cassandra's work for the next day was mostly done, and she didn't really care to do any more reading about finance or economics today.

Cassandra saw a boy, picking up the litter scattered across the fields and placing it in a garbage bag. I wonder who th– wait a minute, I recognize him. Cassandra paused for a second. Where did she recognize him from? He wasn't someone who had a lot of classes with her, since she probably would have been able to at least put a name to the face.

Wait, he's the guy who started that food fight.

Cassandra had been in the cafeteria when the food fight had broken out. She had heard the shouting and seen the fight break out between Adonis and Kyran, and she had managed to notice Gray incite the fight. Before the fight broke out, Cassandra had been reading Jacques le Fataliste, which she had started reading the previous night. When the fight broke out, Cassandra had to quickly give refuge to the book and get out, which proved a messy task.  Cassandra was not particularly happy with this boy.

Just ignore him. Walk away, and ignore him. No need to say something mean.

But Cassandra was upset, and Cassandra wasn't the best at hiding that she was upset. She had to say something, something to irk him just ever so slightly. Cassandra decided to walk up behind him and tap him on the shoulder.

"Hey, it's too bad they aren't making you help clean the cafeteria. That would have been a little more apt, don't you think?"

[Deamon]

Gray had managed to find a rhythm and was managing to pick the litter up and deposit it in the bin bag efficiently enough. He had no idea how long he'd been picking up litter for but he knew that if he wasn't humming the tunes to songs as he worked he'd have gone insane. That said it wasn't like he had too much to worry about. He would be fine as long as he didn't check what the time because then he'd know how much time he had left and that would just make things feel like they were taking forever.

One of the other bonuses of being outside was that the weather was good, which Gray appreciated. The sun was warm but there was a nice cool breeze that stopped it being too hot. Sure the punishment was tedious but he could have had the punishment that Kyran and Adonis did, so Gray would have been lying if he said he hated picking up litter. It wasn't what he wanted to be doing but it was better than the alternative, which was being suspended from school for five days and being banned from prom. Gray didn't really mind about the being banned from school, the catch-up work would suck but it wasn't all bad. Missing the prom however would have been gutting and Gray was glad he'd still be able to go. It was funny actually because he never realised how much he'd wanted to go to prom until he'd seen other people's opportunities taken away from them.

Gray had just started to clean up a large pile of litter when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's too bad they aren't making you help clean the cafeteria? That would have been a little more apt, don't you think?"

Gray turned to see a girl who was just shorter than him. The first thing he noticed was the wavy brown hair that framed her face and green eyes. He blinked quickly to keep himself focussed. He was struggling to put a name to her face until he noticed that she was standing up perfectly straight. Then he realised that it was Cassandra Black who was trying to get a rise out of him. Gray had never had any problems with her before but from the sound of it she had been in the cafeteria when he had started the food fight. That or she had heard from someone that he had started it and just wanted to make fun of him, which made no sense. Gray thought it was a well-known fact that he was amazingly laid back, but it seemed he was wrong. He decided not to rise to the bait and instead just play along.

"Yeah I would've preferred cleaning the cafeteria. It would have been more interesting that's for sure." Gray pretended to wipe sweat from his brow, before grinning and continuing to pick up litter. Sure it may have been a dickish thing to say but she had decided to come over with the sole intent of messing with him. So he was going to give it back. It only seemed fair. It wasn't like he had just been able to walk away...well that was slightly true but he was being punished for what he did, of course she wasn't aware that his iPod had been destroyed by his own actions or that he could potentially be losing his Skateboard for an undetermined amount of time. All she had seen was him picking up litter, which to someone who had been caught up in the food fight may not have been considered enough of a punishment. It even seemed that him starting the food fight was more well-known than Kyran and Adonis's fight. He didn't quite know how to feel about that.

[BROseidon†]

One line. The boy responded with a single line, then went back to picking up his trash.

The simplicity of Gray's response irked Cassandra a bit more. No rise, no apology. He just kept picking up trash as if barely anything had happened.

But the truth was that, to Cassandra, ruining that lunch period was a big deal. Cassandra worked hard, and was always pushing herself to work more. She didn't want to end up like her mother, a single mother raising a child in a dangerous neighborhood, and dead before she could see her daughter graduate from high school. Cassandra knew that the only way to guarantee herself the comfort of knowing that she could raise her kids in safety was by pushing herself to be successful, and that required hard work. That hard work had been made easier for Cassandra by the fact that she didn't connect well with most of Aurora, so she could easily keep to her books. For Cassandra, meals were some of the few times that she could relax and enjoy herself.

So for Cassandra, losing a large chunk of her lunch period meant losing much of her personal time. She would go home, eat dinner, finish the remainder of her school work, check it over, and then do some of her personal finance studying before going to sleep. She could take some of her finance study off, but that would feel uncouth. She had taken time to herself the previous night already, and doing that two nights in a row seemed like a bad idea. When she became an investment banker, she would have to work even harder than she did now, and Cassandra was thus preparing for that time.

So Cassandra decided to give Gray a piece of her mind.

"Look, I saw that Adonis was causing trouble and that you were only stepping in to help your buddy, but you dragged the rest of the cafeteria into your little quarrel. That lunch period is just about the only 'me' time I get most days, and losing it because some idiot boy decides that it would be a good idea to diffuse a fight by starting a food fight really, really sucks. So, go ahead and smile as you pick up this trash, but know that you aren't the only one suffering from your rashness."

[MurderWeasel]

((Steven Salazar continued from The Party Was Over Then, Too))

Steven was cruising the athletic fields after school for lack of anything better to do. Crossing the fields took him in the direction of his house, and it was a lot nicer than walking along the street. On most days, the fields were pretty deserted unless some team or another was practicing. Today, though, Steven saw two people close together, one apparently picking up trash. That was an interesting break from the usual, and so he angled towards them, trying to see what was going on.

He could hear them from a good ways away. There was nothing else around to make noise, and Steven was good at picking out conversations by now. It wasn't exactly eavesdropping, wasn't like they were whispering or anything. It seemed that Gray had started that big food fight earlier in the day. Steven had missed it, much to his dismay. Nothing interesting ever happened in the lunch room, and so he avoided it, and now he had missed what was probably one of the closest things to an actual news story to occur this year. Besides, the idea of Alba catching some justice was so very appealing.

But, just perhaps, he might be able to get a little action out of it after all. It looked like Gray was having to deal with a heckler. Cassandra seemed a good deal too serious about this whole thing. Her words were rubbing Steven pretty wrong, too. It was one thing to be annoyed by a disruption, quite another to lambast somebody for being selfish while at the same time coming up with one of the more self-centered justifications possible for doing so.

Commenting on that, tempting though it was, would not have been the right way to enter the conversation, so Steven just called out, "Hey, guys. What brings you out here today?"

[Mimi]

** Andi Victorino, continued from...You Hit Like a Girl

Anything to stay away from home just a little longer.

This was what Andi Victorino inwardly chanted as she fought off the fatigue that had been biting at her for the past five minutes. There were times when she wondered why she still did this to herself, between the discomfort of basically exposing herself in the all-to-tight clothes and the hard work in general, practically having to kill herself to accomplish anything. Whether it was an excuse to stay out of the house, or because she used to do it with Sven, it was a habit above all else. Something she did when she needed time to herself.

Her feet beat against the hard concrete track surrounding the football field, almost in tune with the poppy music blaring through her ear buds. She quickly smoothed a sweaty strand of hair back into her ponytail and downed the last bit of water left in her plastic bottle as she rounded one of the curves. In the distance, she could see Gray, whom had evidently moved down from his earlier spot on the lawn, accompanied by two other kids that she couldn't make out from the distance.

Making her way down the straight-away, Andi instinctively sucked in her gut (which she was sure did not look appealing in her form-fitting workout shirt) and tried to avoid staring at the trio. She'd seen Gray earlier but had managed to ignore him despite his presence offending each of her senses, especially 'sight'—Andi catching herself caustically wondering if there was a hobo running around Seattle naked after Gray robbed him of his clothing.

Andi had been in the cafeteria when Lunchgate 2012 had gone down, unfortunately, and was down a phone and a blouse because of it, both of which becoming casualties of an ill-placed bottle of Coke. To some people that was nothing, sure, just a phone and a shirt, no harm no foul, but Andi wasn't so gracious. First of all, that plain old shirt? Eighty dollars. Gray probably hadn't spent eighty dollars on his whole wardrobe all together. But most importantly, her phone was like an extension of her being, the only thing saving her from her real life was texting and looking at old pictures. And, ugh, she didn't even want to get into the pictures. Gone, all gone, every last one of them.

Blood suddenly boiling, Andi smirked as she closed the gap between her and the three (one of which being that gay Mexican kid). Slowing down as she approached, Andi tossed the water bottle with more force than she expected, hitting the side of a waste-bin with a clunk. Pulling one of the ear buds out, she smiled venomously at Gray and what she assumed was his associates and simply said,

"Mind picking that up?"

[Deamon]

Gray blinked as Cassandra's rant came to an end. He'd never been called an 'idiot boy' before so that was something new. When he thought about it yeah the food fight had been a bad idea and people would have been caught in the middle. But he guessed he just got caught up in the moment. Granted Kyran was the one who had planted the idea in his head but that wasn't exactly his fault. He couldn't blame Kyran for something he'd done. At the same time though he did wonder what would have happened if Kyran hadn't gotten involved. From what he had been imagining it didn't seem like it would have been pleasant. That was in the past however and now Gray got to pick up litter due to how it had gone, which seemed like the better result to him.

He was brought back to reality when he realised Cassandra was glaring at him. It did to seem to him that her reasoning had been slightly selfish when it came to why him starting the food fight was a major disturbance and annoyance for many of the people involved. Of course it hadn't seemed to disturb anyone that had joined in, but that was another matter entirely. Even if the school wanted to punish everyone involved it would have been next to impossible because of the amount of people that had been involved. Instead they had just caught the main causes of the food fight/fight and punished them, which was a much better idea.

Gray didn't want to make a scene but it did seem that Cassandra could potentially cause one. So he decided it was best not to mention that she had slightly selfish reasoning. Unless he wanted her to yell at him. But he seemed to have rubbed her the wrong way by just being present so he couldn't really help that. He could have left but he really didn't feel like continuing his punishment inside. He decided it would have been best to play it safe.

"I know lots of other people got caught up in the food fight. But I can't change what I did. So for what it's wor-"

"Hey, guys. What brings you out here today?"

Unfortunately for Gray he was interrupted by a yell from across the playing fields. He glanced in the direction it came from to see a boy standing a little way back on the fields, Gray acknowledged him with a short wave. He couldn't quite make out their face but the voice sounded like Steven Salazar who was involved with the school newspaper. Obviously he wasn't coming over to talk to them because of the school paper because school was over. So he must have been leaving school and just spotted them. Not that Gray minded, although he would have preferred to finish what he was saying to Cassandra but considering what had happened during the day he wasn't too surprised that someone else had turned up.

That was when the water bottle had flown past Gray and crashed into the bin.

"Mind picking that up?"

Gray looked in the direction the bottle had come from to see Andi Victorino smiling at him, but it was far from a friendly smile it was more evil than anything else. Like Cassandra before her Andi was trying to get a rise out of Gray by mocking him. It was a more vicious attempt though since Gray was also around two others so Andi was trying to embarrass him as well. Obviously she had been caught up in the food fight. Gray hadn't interacted with Andi much so he didn't know what she was like personally but he knew that the current situation wasn't the best way to start proper interaction.

"Sure." Gray said with a shrug. "It's kinda why I'm here." He picked the bottle up and threw it into the bin. "Might want to work on your aim though."

[BROseidon†]

"I know lots of other people got caught up in the food fight. But I can't change what I did. So for what it's wor-"

"Hey, guys. What brings you out here today?"

Ugh. Cassandra was just about to get the apology that she wanted, when that nosy brat Steven Salazar had to come in and stick his nose into her business. Cassandra didn't interact with Steven much, since she didn't really like the idea of people probing too deeply into her personal life, and their general social behaviors were pretty much the exact opposites. Steven very obviously loved journalism, loved probing around other people's affairs. Cassandra kept to herself. What her classmates did or accomplished mattered very little to her, since the reality was that she would never see any of them again once she left for college, and that they wouldn't be useful for her future endeavors.

Actually, that was a lie. One of them would be useful, but Virgil was too nice of a guy and everybody knew it. All Cassandra had to do was mention that they were going to the same college next year, and he was already bending over backwards for her.

Cassandra didn't want to answer Steve's question. She had just wanted to take a simple walk around campus before going home, but was sidetracked when saw a good opportunity to give Gray a piece of her mind. That latter action was somewhat hypocritical. She was complaining to Gray about him wasting some of her precious free time during the little free time that she gave herself.  Cassandra realized the internal inconsistency in her logic, but decided to keep it to herself. She had approached Gray to blow of a little steam, and that didn't need to have a perfect justification. Still, she couldn't give any explanation to Steven that wouldn't make her look bad, so she would just decline to comment.

Before she could articulate her lack of desire to talk to Steven, she heard a loud crash as a bottle slammed into the nearby garbage bin. Cassandra turned to see where the projectile had come from, and it was none other than... Wait, what's her name again? She was that girl who got pregnant, right?

This other girl definitely had an axe to grind with Gray, possibly over the food fight. Whatever that beef was, she was sure being meaner about it than Cassandra had been.

Spoiled brat. Stop being a passive-aggressive bitch instead of articulating your point.

[MurderWeasel]

Before the conversation could go far, Andi Victorino turned up. It seemed to distract everyone, since neither of the people there when Steven had asked his question bothered to answer. A little frown creased his lips. He could understand Gray getting distracted, since he was currently bearing the brunt of some serious harassment. For all he knew, Steven could be there to aid in the hassling. Andi hadn't been around to hear the question. Cassandra seemed to have decided to just stand there in awkward silence, though. That wasn't cool, not for someone who'd been so bold in her anger seconds ago, not for someone who seemed so serious much of the time. That sort of thing got to Steven. Decency wasn't a lot to ask for, even among people who didn't like each other overly much.

For a second, different possibilities for responses flickered through his mind, ranging from the downright rude to the passive aggressive to the overly gentle. In the end, he settled for the subtle lead in.

Giving a nice big smile, lacing his voice with a hint of concern, he asked, "Is everything alright over here?"

Better not to assume anything was wrong just yet. Better to go ahead and give them a chance to explain themselves. Still, Steven wasn't about to be blown off entirely. He rolled his shoulders, got closer to the group—being sure, of course, to give everyone adequate personal space—and stuck his hands in his pockets. He'd given them the opportunity to vent, which just might let them cut out all the nonsense and get to the heart of what was going on.

[Mimi]

Andi wasn't sure how to respond when Gray willfully pick up the bottle with little complaint. She'd anticipated some kind of resistance, deliberately looked for a battle, any excuse to use him as a lightning rod for her grievances and aggression. Annoyed, she wiped her brow with the back of her hand and unconsciously began swinging the free ear bud.

"I mean, I'm personally not too thrilled that my shit got wrecked because some kid decided to live out his playground wetdream of having a foodfight," Andi responded to Steven's query as she stared unblinking at Gray, "I dunno what her deal is." She finished, focusing her attention on Cassandra, whom appeared visibly troubled.

She didn't really know much about Cassandra, or Steven for that matter. She wasn't really the type to talk to people outside her immediate social circle, though it probably wasn't a stretch to assume Steven and Iselle did gay things with one another. Cassandra, on the other hand, was little more than an ant on Andi's radar. She knew next to nothing about the girl, her knowledge limited to knowing that Cassandra was something of a brain and could really use some make-up and maybe a decent haircut.  

That said, Andi wasn't really a fan. People who didn't open their mouths annoyed her. Why sit and stew when you could say what you feel and get shit done? Maybe it was just because she was used to women who knew how to voice their opinions, between her mom and the softball team. If she was going to hang around a girl, she expected them to be strong and never buckle. But hey, maybe Cassandra liked rolling over like a dog, who was Andi to judge.

"And for the record," Andi added pointedly at Gray, "I don't miss."

[Deamon]

Gray's attempt to actually serve his punishment was getting more difficult. First Cassandra had showed up and had a go at him for pretty selfish reasons, then Steven had shown up but he didn't seem to be there to take a shot at Gray, Andi however had decided to come over for one reason only and that was to mock him. Gray didn't appreciate what Cassandra or Andi were doing but he could see it from their point of view and so had let them take their shots. Cassandra had now fallen silent since Andi had shown up, which Gray found weird but it wasn't really any of his concern.

Steven had approached with a big smile on his face and had asked if everything was alright. It seemed Steven was neutral when it came to the food fight. That or he hadn't been in the cafeteria at the time. Otherwise he'd have been another person who had come over just to yell at Gray. Andi had used the opportunity to vent some more. Gray returned her stare as she spoke it was what he had done with Adonis and that hadn't exactly gone well but if he hadn't been intimidated by Adonis's stare there was no way he was going to let Andi try and death glare him.

Cassandra for all her talk earlier was still silent, not that it mattered to Gray at this point. It was almost as if people were taking turns to rant at him. He half expected someone else to walk across the field and throw a bottle at him since that seemed to be the only logical step up from what was currently happening. No matter what happened though his idea of cleaning the athletic fields had been a bad one and he should've just gone with cleaning the science rooms since he doubted people hung around them after school was finished. Then again judging by how his day had gone up until this point he would've probably found someone who wanted to have a go at him.

Andi then replied to his earlier comment by saying that she doesn't miss. Gray couldn't help smiling at that. Like Cassandra before her Andi had also been annoyed by his refusal to rise to the bait. In the end Gray decided to answer Steven's question since he'd yet to properly acknowledge him. "Not much. Just serving my detention." He turned to Andi. "My stuff also got wrecked. If that makes you feel better. If not then..." Gray shrugged. "There are more bottles over there."

[BROseidon†]

Steven had asked if everything was fine, and the other girl had, much like her, failed to get a rise out of Gray with her response to Steven's comment. Gray acknowledged her gripe with something of an apology, but it was fairly half-assed. He went so far as to joke about the girl throwing more bottles at him.

Cassandra was getting irritated. Very, very irritated. For one, there were a lot of people, and Cassandra didn't really like any of them that much. She didn't like that Gray had started the food fight or that Steven was probing into everyone's business. Andi's actions were a bit more in line with what Cassandra respected, but she didn't know the girl and probably wouldn't have like her much outside of this context. After all, a girl who had gotten herself knocked up and didn't just want an abortion couldn't be that smart, right?

Cassandra had to vent. She was just too frustrated with how the situation had played out around her. She had imagined herself walking over to the boy that had started the food fight and giving him a lesson about being considerate, and then leaving. Other people hadn't been part of that plan, and Cassandra didn't like it when things didn't go according to plan. There was no other way for her to walk away from this encounter feeling at all satisfied.

"Well, at least your stuff also got wrecked. Look, Steven, everything here is not all right. I just came over to vent a little and then you had to come in and poke your nose in everyone's business and then this girl had to come make a big show out of expressing herself and," Cassandra paused for a second, realizing how much she was rambling.

"I'm irritated. Today's just been a bad day."

[MurderWeasel]

It seemed that Andi was upset about the food fight. Apparently, some of her stuff had gotten damaged. Cassandra, on the other hand, said she was mad because she'd come over to vent but then other people had turned up and made that hard for her. She said she'd had a bad day. She reveled in the destruction of Gray's property. And, of course, Gray just meekly stated that he was serving his detention.

Steven could respect Andi, even if he thought she was carrying her grouchiness a bit too far. He could sure respect Gray. Cassandra, on the other hand, had managed to get under his skin in a remarkable hurry. She'd thrown the first blow, lashing out at him, claiming he sticking his nose into her business. That was getting pretty personal for a reply to some polite inquiries. Steven's smile was gone. He felt a bit cold. He always felt chilly when he got mad.

He raised his right hand and rubbed his thumb and index finger together.

"This is the world's smallest violin, playing a sad, sad song just for you and your irritating and bad day," he said.

Now, his smile had returned, wider than before.

"I mean, come on. Taking stuff out on everyone else just because you're having a rough time? If everyone did that, there'd be nothing but bad days. Unfortunately, some people just delight in the suffering of others anyways. Tell me, do you keep a bullwhip under your bed?"

This was probably not the right way to take things, but Steven had sort of slid past the point of caring somewhere in there. Now, as he saw it, he was the only one standing between Gray and some really lame sadistic bullying, and he was more than willing to trade a few barbs over that.

[Mimi]

Andi, further proving her inability to conceal her emotions, struggled to hold back a satisfied grin as Steven ripped into Cassandra. It was like all her favorite trashy TV shows with their catty cast and volatile behavior playing out right in front of her eyes and she was eating it up. Drama was always so much better when it wasn't orbiting her, that was for sure.

It was strange how fast things could flip. While she hadn't forgiven or forgotten Gray's indiscretion or lost the disappointment at how quickly he'd folded, Cassandra had managed to earn her ire in ways Gray wouldn't be able to with just the one statement.

Just having a bad day?

The ear-buds she'd been swinging had come to a halt at that point, unable to focus on it as she was caught off-guard by the reckless statement, immediately raising a questioning eyebrow at the girl. A bad day? Try a miserable two and a half years. Try having to go to school heavily pregnant and try to ignore the judgmental gawking of people who didn't understand anything. Try being saddled with a kid before you can even drive. Try chasing the only thing that ever worked in your life.

Then talk to her about a bad day. You didn't see her waddling around with her giant stomach throwing knives at people. Andi knew better than that, and she knew better than to get involved in the exchange between the Steven and Cassandra. Instead, she'd sit back and let Steven take the responsibility while she enjoyed the show.

If nothing else, at least it was satisfying to watch her get some immediate karma. And hey, maybe she'd prove herself, take a stand instead of playing the poor-me card and rolling over like a dead dog.

What's it gonna be, Cassandra?

[Deamon]

Everything had changed remarkably fast. Instead of Cassandra and Andi having a go at him, Steven was having a go at Cassandra. That was because Cassandra had said that her entire reason for coming over when Gray was originally picking up litter was because she had a bad day and wanted to vent. Gray could see how he had become the perfect target for her venting but that didn't make him feel better about putting up with it. It had started as her being annoyed about the food fight and Gray was fine putting up with it because of that. But if what she had said was true and she only came over to vent and the fact that Gray had started the food fight was only being used as an excuse...Gray didn't exactly like the fact that she thought that having a bad day meant it was perfectly fine to come and harass him as he was serving his punishment. It let a bad taste in his mouth.

Steven it seemed had shared Gray's thoughts on the matter and openly mocked Cassandra to tell her how he felt about her bad day. Gray actually found it kind of funny that he'd been involved in more drama over one day than he had over the course of the entire school year. It was almost impressive. Until he realised his school life was amazingly uninteresting so it wasn't much of an achievement.

Gray could just make out a smirk forming on Andi's face; she was clearly enjoying what was happening in front of her. He wasn't exactly surprised she was enjoying what she was seeing. Because she seemed like the kind of person who enjoyed watching drama unfold and she was certainly getting to see plenty of drama.

Gray had continued to pick up litter and had been holding his tongue the entire time. He wanted to say how it was great that he was being used as a scapegoat so that someone he barely knew could vent their annoyance at their bad day and have a reason for doing so other than just venting. It was as if neither Andi or Cassandra had even considered that there had been consequences for Gray beyond having to pick up litter. They didn't care. All they saw was the guy that started a food fight, it didn't matter that he'd been caught up in the moment, it didn't matter that Adonis had shoved Kyran, it didn't matter that Adonis had been trying to intimidate him. They didn't know anything beyond him starting the food fight and that was enough of a reason to come over and have a go at him.

One thing was for sure though. Things were about to get interesting. He didn't know what Cassandra's reaction was going to be but he couldn't help smiling. Something was about to happen, he could sense it.