Life is a Crowded Hallway

[Buko]

Blood Boy was a bathroom stall.

"Hello Bathroom Stall, today me and you shall get acquainted most intimately.", Blood Boy hummed a bit as he put his pants down to his ankles and acquainted his small white form with the cold ivory toilet. He smiled to himself as he continued the small talk with the stall, though it may have seemed odd to continue doing such a crazy thing, Blood Boy found it to be a very good alternative to not speaking and if it weren't for these conversations with inanimate objects...well Blood Boy felt that he might forget the sound of his own voice.

Something only exists if it's constantly shoved down your throat.

As he finished his business he smiled as he reached for some toilet paper and kicked open the stall door, all the while trying to get up from the toilet. To many movements and far to quickly caused him to fall on the ground with his pants down to his ankles and the cold and wet floor of the bathroom stall seeping into his shirt: the old beetle on it's back routine.

His laughter echoed through the bathroom and he knew that if someone else in the bathroom he would've gotten up and pulled up his pants and ran out, rather embarrassed by the entire situation. As he got up and hiked up his pants -rather amused at the way his day was developing- he heard something clang on the floor of the bathroom.

The back of the smiley face mask was staring upwards at him and the cool AC brushed his face.

"You are a douche bag bathroom stall."

As he struggled to tie the mask upon his face, he realized that it was useless, his well coordinated hands incapable of making a knot that wouldn't slip off his head or constrict it. He shuddered a bit as he put the mask under his arm and got up, staring at his horrid visage in the foggy mirror of the boys bathroom.

"I have to get home foggy mirror.", he paused and nodded solemnly "Your criticism is much appreciated, but whatever shall I do? Yes, I suppose I have no choice but to run to my house and fix the strap and hope that nobody manages to see my face.", he smiled softly before looking towards the sink, "Now that is a brilliant idea sink! Wrap my head up in toilet paper!"

As he methodically wrapped himself up in toilet paper, covering every part of his head (including his eyes), he noted that the paper was semi-transparent, so everything looked that it was covered in fog, the paper also ripped right above his mouth due to the saliva on his lips mixing with it.

Blood Boy blinked and resisted the urge to scratch his now itchy eyes.

Walking outside with the toilet paper turban covering his head, Blood Boy tried to dodge everyone and everything. He turned the corner to enter the poly-sci wing only for the worst possible thing to happen.

He would never forget the bell ringing in his ears.

[ZigZaggerty†]

((Continued from Slap Bass is for Chumps))

Adwin was probably, most definitely, late for class. She had spent far too much time in the Arts building practicing her music. It was enjoyable, but all good things must come to an end as her mother would always say. There was only one class she had in this building and it was one of her favorites.

Philosophy was a small time passion of Adwin's, she found herself thinking most of the time so she might as well voice her opinions in the class. When the school announced they would be having the course the following year she was sure to go sign up. The teacher was a real riot too, he constantly made the class interesting and fun for all the students but wasn't afraid to really get deep into discussions with the class on the lesson. He treated them as equals and she respected him for that.

So there she was, rushing through the halls to her class. She was late and time currently was not on her side. Through a combination of speed, thoughtlessness and probably heaps of unluckiness she turned the corner and crashed into him.

Blood Boy.

[Megami†]

((Continued from Scapegoat))

Even though the tardy bell had just rang, signifying that he was officially late for his next class, Michael Hardy couldn't have cared any less. He meandered down the hallway, his gaze falling lazily on each of the students rushing by him attempting to get to their last class before they got sent to the office. Then again, most of them were underclassmen anyway, so maybe it actually mattered whether or not they went to class. When it came to him, like so many of the other seniors of Southridge High, it really didn't matter if they showed up or not. Their teacher would give them a passing grade, even if it was one which let them slide through by the skin of their teeth, purely to get them out of Southridge.

One person who stood out in his field of vision, though, wasn't an underclassman at all. The tall, African girl was rushing through the hallway just like everybody else in some vain attempt to get to class on time. It wasn't so much Adwin Green he was watching, rather, the fact that in her hastiness to get to her next class, she was running directly toward another student who seemed to hold some sort of familiarity to Michael. Michael looked the other student over, his look of curiosity quickly turning into a cheshire grin as he realized exactly who the other student was.

Upon first glance, it might've seemed like his fellow classmate was just another helpless nerd, probably victimized by some "big, bad jock" or something... that much was pretty much apparent from the fact that the kid had a toilet paper turban wrapped completely around his head. Upon inspection of the clothes, however, the student's identity was revealed. Who else would dress like that, with the exception of one person in Southridge High School.

They called him "Blood Boy". It was a weird nickname, Michael supposed. He couldn't remember the exact story behind where the nickname came from, but he thought it had something to do with the fact that the kid was always picking at his scabs or something, and he always smelled of blood. Where he got his nickname didn't really matter at the moment, though. Michael watched as Adwin plowed into the boy and a wide smirk formed on his face. It was almost all he could do not to stifle a laugh at the sight of it all.

What a weirdo.

Michael slowly sidled up to the two sprawled out in the hallway, and in the confusion, his sneaker-clad foot deftly kicked the round, cylindrical object that had fallen from Blood Boy's hands in the confusion to the side. Michael smirked as he realized what, exactly, he had just taken from the probably befuddled student and he leaned down to pick it up. He stepped a few feet away from both Adwin and Blood Boy, and for a moment, contemplated simply slinking off down the hallway with his trophy... but that wouldn't be any fun.

"So..." Michael spoke up coyly, "I'd say you dropped something, my strange friend."

Michael held the mask carelessly, but in a tight enough grip so that if the skeletal figure standing nearby made an attempt at lunging for the mask, he could simply hold it over his head. A smug smile formed in the corner of his mouth as he looked at the other student before flipping the object in his hand around to get a better visual of it.

"You should be more careful about things like that. Wouldn't want everybody to see how much of a freak you are."

[Buko]

BAM!

Falling onto the floor at a fast pace, Blood Boy could only wince as the back of his head bounced off of the floor has his mask leaving his hands and going across the hallway, completely ignoring Adwin and the fact that the hastily put on toilet paper turban had slipped off during his fall, he crawled towards the mask on all fours desperate to have it back in his hands. As he reached for it, he noticed smooth hands picking it up and as his eyes looked upwards he knew exactly who had done the deed: Michael Hardy. He didn't associate himself with Southridge's resident womanizer, he had only known Hardy because he had previously gone out with Lauren and despite the girl not knowing it, Blood Boy had listened to her piano playing almost all of his Junior year.

Thank god for paper-thin walls, eh?

Though has he heard the taunts from Michael Hardy (who was the real threat here, not his piano playing goddess of an ex-girlfriend), his wide eyes narrowed as he got up and clenched his fists, gritting his teeth together he looked into Michael's eyes and spoke rather angrily, his face-mask off and the cool AC touching his wounded face. Of course, that didn't matter right now. The fact that Michael saw his face didn't matter. What mattered was the Michael be put in his place and Blood Boy, despite being a social outcast, figured he'd be the perfect man to do it. Though at the end of the day, that didn't even matter as much as what was truly on Blood Boy's mind.

That Hardy give him back what was his.

"I suppose I could say the same thing for you not wanting people to see how much of a dick you are, eh Hardy?"

His voice was dripping with contempt, which actually brought him confidence as Blood Boy looked up to the boy, his mind had told him to calm down and reminded him of how much bigger and stronger Michael Hardy was in comparison to him.

Whatever remained of his pride told him that it didn't matter.

[Megami†]

Michael was almost surprised when Blood Boy didn't cower down to him like most of the social outcasts did when in the presence of someone of the "popular" variety. Instead, the much smaller student actually vocalized himself, even attempting some sort of witty quip toward Michael in response to his own comment. Instead of seeming taken aback, though, Michael simply grinned that coy grin of his and stared down at the other student, the mask still firmly gripped in his hand.

"Did you think that one up by yourself?" he inquired amusedly, only, as the words slipped out of his mouth, Blood Boy, minus the mask that was always affixed to his face, looked up at him.

Michael stared down in both disbelief and disgust for a moment at the other student. He could only describe the atrocity that was Blood Boy's face as being akin to Two-Face from Batman or something. It was scabbed over and cracked and ashy looking, and his nose and teeth were busted into pieces. Despite how old the wounds probably were, they, especially the scabs and scars littering the other students face, seemed like they were in an endless state of healing, and the scabs looked fresh.

"Nasty," Michael quipped as he stared down at the other student in disgust, "I guess I was right, you really are a freak."

He tried to play it off as being his usual composed self, but really, he was almost ready to wretch at the sight of the other student's face. In fact, he was half tempted just to hand the mask back to him so he didn't have to look at the sight of his face anymore. Blood Boy had ruined that, though, when he'd made an attempt at insulting Michael. Like so many of the typical popular kids and jocks in high school, Michael had this little problem. He didn't mind dishing out the nasty words and the disgusted looks, but he had a problem when someone else tried to put him down. His ego was so big that it simply refused to take any sort of bruising.

"So, little man," Michael mused, still staring at the mess of flesh and scars that was Blood Boy's face, "It seems we have a little problem here. See, you want your mask back, and I can totally see why, but I don't think I wanna give it to you. So, I'd say we need to resolve this somehow. What do you propose we do about it?"

He was smiling mischeviously, especially now that the hallway, which had been littered with bodies only moments before, was now virtually desolate and everyone had disappeared into their various classes. Even has he toyed with Blood Boy, he couldn't seem to get over how disfigured the other student's face was. He didn't really know the story behind why he looked that way, but now he definitely knew why he wore the mask. What he did know, however, was that Blood Boy purposely hid his face from the world, and now, he was plotting to reveal it to as many people as possible.

[Buko]

"Douche bag."

The word was foreign to Blood Boy's mouth as he continued to stare upwards at the bigger male, his fear would come at a late moment, now was the time for false bravado and he hadn't had the opportunity to show it in a long time and because the hallways where empty to a normal person it would seem as if this show of bravery was merely for just that: show. But, Blood Boy had nobody to impress, he had no reason to be scared of anything Michael could do. Physically? He was already screwed. Mentally? Well even negative attention was better than no attention, the only thing Blood Boy could gain from this encounter was positive things.

"I don't know Hardy, what exactly do you want?", he said sarcastically, "My virginity?"

He snickered a little bit, before getting deathly serious. Now was the area of theatrics and the aspiring magician knew that you could make even the most unbelievable trick so with theatrics and so he continued his stare at the boy, before getting up close and pressing his own thin chest against Michael's.

"I propose that you give me the mask unless you want to be wearing one as well."

Now was the time. He couldn't give Michael time to respond and yet he knew that no matter what he did, he'd have to do something to convince the boy beyond a benefit of a doubt that he was not someone to mess with. Unfortunately Blood Boy knew very little about fighting, so he did the only thing that came to his mind. In truth it was poorly thought out and left him open for even more torment from Michael, but it was done quickly enough to even catch Blood Boy off guard.

Blood Boy sank his chipped teeth into Michael Hardy's shoulder.

[Megami†]

The small smirk that was plastered to Michael's face only widened as the insult spewed out of Blood Boy's disfigured little mouth. He had to give the other student credit for one thing, he had more balls than any of the other freakshow kids in the school, that was for certain. He was half impressed that Blood Boy wasn't just laying down and allowing himself to be kicked, figuratively speaking. Instead, the other boy seemed to be feigning some sort of bravery and courage or something, and overall, Michael just found it amusing. When Blood Boy's next response left his mouth, Michael made no attempt to stifle the small chuckle that escaped his lips.

"You know man, thanks for the offer, but you're not my type," Michael mused.

Blood Boy bowed up to him, or at least, he attempted to. The skeletal boy's chest being placed up against his own only signified to Michael how much smaller and more frail the other boy was. Internally, he wondered just what the other student intended on doing to "make" him return his mask. Did he plan on fighting him? Michael could only see it as a very large mistake on Blood Boy's part. Michael was an athlete through and through, and he took pride in his physique. Ergo, he was toned and fit, and not exactly someone to be taken lightly in a fight.

But instead of punching him, as Michael half anticipated the gutsy boy doing, he instead craned out his neck and his maimed and shattered teeth pierced the flesh of Michael Hardy's shoulder. Michael shouted out in surprise and pain, and immediately, instinctively, his fist went sailing toward the perpetrator's face. Any second thoughts Michael had been having about ceasing further torment of the small boy were out the window in an instant. Michael might have instigated the fight, but Blood Boy had initiated it, and now, it became a matter of pride. He wasn't going to go around school and let word get out that the resident class freak had managed to one-up him by biting him in the hallway and walking away from it completely unscathed. No, the much larger boy had every intention of disfiguring the little sideshow freak's face even more.

He barely even registered the next events as they occurred. He felt himself reaching out to grab the collar of Blood Boy's shirt, and then the clattering sound of a body slamming into the lockers, but he didn't really know whether he had just slammed the smaller boy into the lockers or backed into them himself, and he didn't really care. He aimed another punch directly at the boy's face, solely intent on hurting him.

[Buko]

A mistake.

Most people in Blood Boy's situation would relish the scream of his opponent, quite the contrary though, Blood Boy was almost disheartened by it as if he wasn't expecting he was capable of causing pain to another human being and surprised that his "attack" had any effect on the much bigger Michael. That is until the punch came. It didn't hurt, punches hardly do hurt at first and instead he felt a rather soft throbbing come from his left temple (the place where Michael hit) and even more disheartening he felt his mouth unhinge itself from Michael's shoulder.

Like a professional wrestler Michael bounced off the surrounding locker and went for another punch towards Blood Boy's face, this time however Blood Bo was somewhat prepared as he moved to the side (he thought gracefully, but it was actually rather clumsily) and was greeted with the well spiked blonde hair of the back of Michael Hardy's skull.

A mistake.

Jumping unto Michael's back Blood Boy wrapped his legs around the taller boys stomach and decided to try and place his fingers in something that would definitely bring pain to Michael's sculpted form. No matter how strong he was elsewhere, he couldn't bring muscle to one place: his eye sockets. Pulling his weight backward attempting to shove Michael's eyes further into his skull Blood Boy didn't notice one thing.

Blood dripping from his temple from where Michael had struck almost seconds before.

[Megami†]

His first punch connected with Blood Boy's temple with a satisfying crunch, and Michael relished for a moment in the thought of it. He stayed focused on his opponent, however, and immediately fell into another attack. However, Michael wasn't expecting Blood Boy to retaliate further, and when he simply side-stepped the over momentumed swing, it sent Michael staggering foward just a bit and caught him completely offguard.

When the small boy suddenly jumped onto Michael's back, it startled him, and immediately, Michael went about trying to knock the smaller boy off his back. His attempts at removing the skeletal figure failed, however, and it seemed like he only hung on tighter for Michael's trouble. When he saw boney fingers outstretched toward his eyes, Michael realized that he had to do something, and fast, if he wanted to keep those pretty blues in tact.

Thinking quick on his feet, Michael fell backward, slamming his back, and hopefully his opponent, into the lockers behind him.

"Fucking freak!" he gasped as he crashed into the locker.

[Buko]

If Michael thought that that being slammed against the lockers would bring an end to the assault, he would've been mistaken. Blood Boy was not picked on for a reason, people where scared and until today Blood Boy thought they had no merit to be, but now? The larger boy had slammed Blood Boy's back into the locker, but Blood Boy held on and instead moved his arms downward, his left arm going vertically and his right arm going across Michael's throat. A Rear naked choke.

The choke had all of his strength put into it and as Blood Boy smiled a bit more, he got his face close up to Michael's ear and responded rather coyly, almost laughing at the boys struggle and comment that he was a freak.

"We're going to have a bit more fun Michael, remember you could end it all by giving me back my mask.", he giggled a bit at this, at the iciness of his own voice and he laughed more as he once again opened his mouth and bit at Michael's ear, twisting and turning his head in attempt to rip a piece of the cartilage off.

Should've given me my mask, right Locker door?

[ZigZaggerty†]

Adwin, for one, had no fuckin' clue what was going on and you could probably see that fact easily on her face. When she collided with he boy she had the intent to get up and profusely apologize to the boy, but that intention was dashed when Michael Hardy came up and proceeded to do the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time.

The fight began and before she knew it, Blood Boy was jumping around and Michael was getting his proverbial ass stomped (not that he didn't get in a few good blows as well.) Adwin for one single moment had an image flash in her head, she blinked and then it was gone (she knew of course what this image was and what it meant, however at the time it would be best not to tell such an absolutely tantalizing inner secret of hers. Besides, a fight was going on and it was hardly the time and place for her to open her mouth).

"Yo! Stop that!" She said as she frantically jumped to her feet and grabbed Blood Boy by the back of his shirt and attempted to lift him off.

"He's had enough! You win!" She yelled at the boy.

[Megami†]

((Any godmodding in this post was discussed with Bukowski beforehand, so no worries.))

((Lauren continued from Nervous Much?))

Unfortunately for Michael, his idea to slam the smaller student into the locker in order to pry himself loose from the vice grip was futile, and instead, Blood Boy's grip only seemed to get tighter. It did, however, serve one purpose. The boy's arm might have been wrapped in something of a chokehold around his neck, but at least it wasn't anywhere near his eyeballs, and to Michael, that in and of itself was worth a sigh of relief. That didn't change the predicament he was currently in, though, and he simply couldn't believe that he was apparently losing a fight to a student so much smaller and scrawnier than himself.

Get it together Michael. This should be easy for you. You're leaving yourself open, you're letting this scrawny little freakshow get the best of you.

Blood Boy might have had the upper hand at the moment, but he wouldn't for much longer. The African girl -- Adwin -- finally snapped out of the daze she had been in since the fight had started and immediately started attempting to remove Blood Boy from his vice grip around Michael's neck. The girl's sudden interference in the fight must have startled Blood Boy, or something, because the searing pain that was burning Michael's earlobe began to dissapate at Blood Boy's teeth seemed to loosen, leaving a trail of blood running down Michael's neck. Not only did his teeth loosen from the bite, but his grip, which truthfully wasn't all that strong to begin with, seemed to loosen a bit more as well, and that was when Michael saw his chance.

His hands thrust themselves upward, grabbing ahold of the mess of tangled locks that was Blood Boy's hair and pulled. Hard. He used the momentum and adrenaline that was flowing through him and with little effort ripped the boy and his loose sleeper hold completely off his back. He held Blood Boy by the hair, finally letting go when the much smaller boy slammed into the ceramic floors of the school building. He didn't see anything around him. He didn't see Adwin -- truth be told, he hadn't even noticed she was still around until she attempted to pry Blood Boy off of him only moments before. He didn't see anybody else around him. The only thing he saw was Blood Boy, now laying prone on the ground, and only one thought was running through his mind, and that was that he needed to completely destroy this kid.

"Michael!"

The sound of his name through him out of the trancelike state he'd been in, and his head snapped up in search of the source of the noise. He found it almost immediately, and a faint frowned formed across his features as the source of the voice became obvious. He was personally familiar with the shapely brunette that was currently giving him a questioning glance, and he couldn't help but sigh exasperatedly at how far the situation had gone. Lauren Van Asche looked at the blonde-headed jock disappointedly and shook her head.

"What do you think you're doing?" she inquired, walking toward the small group that had gathered and reaching down to grab the mask that Michael had inadvertantly dropped at some point during the fight. She held it in her hands and simply shook her head as she walked past Michael and reached out toward Blood Boy, averting her eyes while handing him the mask.

"So you've degenerated into a common bully now?" she questioned with a slight frown, "Does it make you feel good about yourself, picking on other people like that? The poor guy has his mask for a reason, and it doesn't matter what it is... what's underneath it isn't any of your business, or mine, or anyone else's, and if he wanted us to see, he'd show us."

She continued to avert her eyes from Blood Boy's face. He'd hidden it for as long as he'd attended high school at Southridge, and she figured that whether he was the most handsome boy in school or whether something was horribly wrong with his face, it wasn't for them to know. Instead, she approached her ex-boyfriend once again, shaking her head in dissatisfaction.

"I can't believe you would do something like that."

Michael sighed irritably, "You've got it all wrong. It's not even like that."

At this point, he was just trying to save face. He didn't care if Adwin had seen the entire fight, and he didn't care what kind of story Blood Boy concocted about how Michael attacked him and he beat him up. Lauren, though, simply gave him a discouraging look, as if telling him not to continue with the conversation. She didn't really know what was going on, and more than anything, she was frustrated and a bit shocked to find the two boys fighting in the middle of the hallway. It definitely didn't look good on Michael's part, considering he was so much bigger than the boy he seemed to be attacking.

[Buko]

No.

Victory, just as it was in his grasp was taken away from him. He could taste it, he could taste Hardy's flesh and instead he was taken out of his moment of triumph, the moment he could've shown Hardy that appearances do not matter. That he was worth something! He was grabbed and pulled in both directions, once by the shirt which came from the bigger African girl and once in the hair which came from Michael Hardy himself, leaving Blood Boy on the floor with hardly enough time to put his hands in front of his face to stop the onslaught that surely would've been coming.

"What do you think you're doing?"

The voice echoed in his mind and any confidence he had from the fight disappeared, as he looked up to a figure, bronze skinned and curvy, though at the moment he was trying to keep his eyes away from both of those things and trying to shrug off the fact that it appeared he was getting his ass kicked, after all he had won the fight right? It didn't matter if she didn't think so? It didn't matter what she thought of him.

As she handed him his mask and averted her gaze from his, he found himself blushing slightly as her smooth hands brushed against his own. Tying a rather hasty knot and putting the strap above his ears as to make sure it didn't fall down he continued to look at the figure of Lauren Van Asche as she defended him from his attacker.

Moonlight Sonata.

She had played it in the auditorium their freshman year, that's when he first noticed her. It had become a favorite song of his and throughout his relationship with Haya he still had a special place in his heart for Lauren, even though she would never pay attention to him. Would talk about him hushed voices.

Even though Michael Hardy had been her boyfriend.

He stared at her through his tinted lenses, intent on not letting Michael realize that the anger and bravado he had before had been replaced by envy and self-consciousness and as Lauren continued to chastise Michael, Blood Boy felt kind of out of place, though when it seemed as if she finished he spoke up.

"Sorry Lauren, me and Michael just got a little carried away..."

It sounded lame even in his own mind, his voice quivering, though he continued to stare at her chocolate locks and her perfume radiating on his skin even though they had only touched briefly. He swallowed Michael's blood, the blood that had been in his mouth and ended up swinging from side to side a bit.

Smooth.

[ZigZaggerty†]

Adwin currently stood off to this side and watched the little drama unravel before her. It didn't take an idiot to figure out what was going on, but she kept her mouth shut until Michael began to try and defend himself.

"What?! Who the hell do you think you are? It's exactly how it looks, after I bumped into..." Adwin took a moment to think, would he care if he was called Blood Boy? She decided to be safer rather than sorry and took the best possible choice of words.

"Him, you snatched his mask and began teasing him! I have half a mind to start kicking your ass!" Adwin growled, the bitch inside welling up. She couldn't stand bullies, they were in it for themselves and thought nothing of others. Though for some reason this was a little more personal. Unlike a majority of the population at Southridge, she actually liked Blood Boy. In a weird, he's wacky but in a good way, way.

She saw him in the library doing card tricks by himself once, she was extremely amazed at the skills he seemingly possessed. She had heard he was extremely good at all sorts of magic tricks and that made her appreciate him in a weird sort of way. When she lived in the tribe one of the missionaries there loved to do small magic tricks for the children of the village. He was so nice, until he died in the raid.

"So, what do you have to say for yourself? I recommend apologizing!" Adwin growled, pressing a finger into Michael's chest.

[Megami†]

Just as quickly as things had exploded into a fit of chaos and confusion, they had returned to their original state, or so it seemed. In fact, Blood Boy spoke up as Lauren chastised Michael for his actions, reiterating that things weren't how they looked and that everything had just gotten out of hand. As much as Lauren wanted to believe the words from both the boys, she couldn't help but notice that both of them were bleeding -- she couldn't see Blood Boy's face, but little spots of it were clotted in his already matted hair. That fact alone told her that there was more to this story than either was telling, but for some reason, neither seemed to want her to know the full story.

"Out of hand, huh...?" she replied quietly, but she didn't have to say anything else.

Adwin's voice rang out, immediately leading a verbal assault on Michael for trying to defend himself. While either of the boys seemed content leaving things as they were, the African girl certainly didn't seem to be. Michael smirked as she verbally attacked him, bringing out the whole story as if she was just trying to get Michael in trouble or something. When she threatened to kick his "ass", he almost had to stifle his laughter. A light, confident grin formed on his features and he brushed a hand through his disheveled hair.

"You can try," he responded coyly, "And you'd probably succeed. I don't hit girls."

Of course, Skeletor over there looks like more of a chick than some girls I know.

Adwin was angry, and to Michael, it didn't seem to make all that much sense. Not five minutes ago, she was trying to pull Blood Boy off of Michael, proclaiming him the victor of the fight. Then again, it wasn't as if her words were actually credible anyway. Adwin wasn't exactly on the downlow when it came to the fact that she smoked marijuana, so who was Lauren more likely to believe? Two boys telling her things were fine, or some pothead that, for all she knew, could've had one too many hits that day. At least, that was how Michael saw things. Lauren, however, just saw Adwin getting in Michael's face about the fight and telling him to apologize to the other student. Michael simply looked at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"You heard him," Michael responded idly, "Things got out of hand."

And you interfering probably didn't help things any.

"It's over and done with, regardless."

Lauren sighed quietly. To say she felt awkward at the moment would be quite possibly the biggest understatement in the world. She had spoken up out of sheer shock when she discovered Michael and Blood Boy fighting in the hallway, and now, she was wishing she would've just walked the other direction and ignored the fight completely. She felt awkward around Michael now, considering they hadn't broken up on the best of terms. They still talked occassionally, mostly if they passed one another in the hallway or something, but things had just changed so much since their split a while back. The other two students, she couldn't really say she knew all that well. Not many people seemed to know much about Blood Boy period, aside from his name and all the rumors, and she had never really attempted to get to know Adwin either.

Michael's eyes went to Blood Boy for a moment, and the fact that the mask was back on the other student's grotesque-looking face was almost a relief for Michael. Really, he wished he had never seen the other student's face. It was a horrific sight, something he'd probably have nightmares about for a while. His gaze went to Adwin, who was still up in his face, and he simply brushed past the African girl and headed down the hallway. He didn't utter another word, just left, and all of a sudden Lauren found herself standing there, almost stunned into silence. She looked at Adwin, then at Blood Boy.

"I hope you're okay," she smiled, "I know it's not my place to apologize for him, but I'm really sorry for whatever it was that happened. Michael's a bit... hotheaded."

This isn't my place anymore...

Lauren offered an apologetic smile before bypassing the two figures standing in the hallway as well and heading down the hallway in the same direction as Michael. She had no intention of following him. In fact, she was purposely keeping her distance.

((Lauren and Michael continued in Fragments of Memories))