With Monday out of the way, it was time for round two. I got on my bike and sped down the street headed for school as optimistically as ever. As the day went on, I noticed that Megan was in my fifth period class. It was a good second day.

Late that evening Lily sent me a text.

"Hey, would you wanna go out to dinner on Friday? Celebrate your first week back at school?"

A smile broke across my face, and I giggled as I responded, "Indubitably."

"Awesome!" she replied back. After another pause, she sent a message to clarify, "Indubitably means yes right?"

This time I let the giggles roam free, "Yes!"

"Alright, well I'll see you Friday then milady."

My smile widened and I laid back and flopped on my bed, arms stretched out and enjoying the world. And yet again, I began counting down until Friday evening.

It was long, but I made it. I got my things, and as seemed to be a trend, Megan was waiting for me next to my locker.

"Hey! Just a reminder that our first meeting of the semester is next Tuesday after school!" she said ecstatically.

"I'll be there," I said with a slight bit of fake enthusiasm. She had followed me out the front doors and towards the bike rack which was a bit off to the side of the building.

"There's gonna food as well, so no need to bring a snack." She was openly trying to entice me. It worked. The day that free food stopped bringing me to events was going to be a sad day.

I was fumbling with the lock when I heard a rustling off to my left. I looked up, expecting to see maybe Kai or Sadie. My stomach turned as I recognized the face. It was our good old friend Sam.

"See you two found each other," he said with a sneer, "How quaint that the freaks are making friends."

Then something in me snapped. There was a certain amount that I was willing to take, and not only had he filled that up, but there was no way I was going to let him insult Megan.

"Hey Sam, fuck off," I said standing up. I was glad I retained my height, as I felt like it was about to come in handy.

"Oh so now you recognize me huh? No longer trying to trick me into... doing it with a guy."

Megan and I both gave him looks. Even at his most intimidating, he still wasn't very good with words. He sensed that he was losing control of the situation and stepped closer to me.

"Nice boobs. How much did you pay for them?" Then before I could stop him, he reached his hands out and slammed me in the chest. It took all my strength and balance not to fall over. Then he took the opportunity to catch me while I was off-balance, and slugged me across the right side of my face. I wheeled around and caught my balance.

"Not so tough anymore, huh Isaac?" he taunted. His attempt at using my dead name was getting me angry instead of whatever he had anticipated. And unfortunately for him, Sam had made a crucial mistake. His last few blows had caught me thoroughly by surprise, but I was after all a trained martial artist.

I fell naturally into an offensive stance, and he chuckled. "Whatcha gonna do? Use your kung-fu on me?" he laughed.

"Exactly," I replied back calmly. That made him angrier and he took another step towards me, winding his arm up for a second punch. I let him and as he threw it, I simply stepped aside letting him lose his balance. I put my hands up saying, "I'm not gonna fight you. Any more of this and you're gonna embarrass yourself."

By that point, there were two or three students that had seen him hit me and a small crowd was beginning to gather. He grunted and came in for another punch. I dodged under and around with my hands touching my chest. In case teachers saw us, I wanted to make it clear that I was taking as little part in this as I could. After his second missed attack he was getting quite visibly angry.

"You're gonna pay for this asshat!" he yelled. Megan and I both burst out laughing.

"Are you trying to be a cheesy high school bully?" I asked. That of course only got him angrier. He charged at me full force. I didn't have that much room to walk out of the way this time, but I knew I didn't need to. As he closed the distance Vice-Principal Williams had rounded the corner and could easily see the altercation in front of her. I had my hands raised defensively and just before he pulled his arm back to strike I heard her yell. Everyone stood instantly still.

"Everyone! My office, now!" The crowd quickly dispersed, but she had rounded up a few bystanders that were now forced to stay behind. We all marched into the school. The adrenaline from the fight was fading and I could feel the soon-to-be black eye already forming, but that didn't stop me from smirking the entire way to her office.

She went very systematically through the people she'd rounded up, interviewing each of them. Most had only seen the last couple of seconds and didn't have much to say. They were released relatively quickly. Finally, she had made it down to Megan, Sam, and myself.

A nurse had come while I was waiting and had handed me an icepack. Given my new found feminine charm, the icepack, and the fact that I genuinely was the victim… I played the victim.

"Mr. Cook, Ms. Baker, Ms. Page, would you three care to explain the events that recently transpired?" she asked coldly.

"Sam walked over while Amelia was getting her bike," Megan started, "He started calling us freaks, and when Amelia told him to back he nearly shoved her to the ground."

Sam attempted to interrupt, "Isaac came at me first, I was just defending myself!"

"Some defense. She could've needed a trip to the hospital if you landed all the hits you threw."

"Settle down!" asserted Ms. Williams, "Ms. Baker, there are mixed accounts of your role in the conflict, would you care to elaborate?"

I felt like I was in a courtroom, but I nodded. "Like Megan said, he started throwing around insults, I stood up to try get him to back off. He shoved me, and while I lost my balance he gave me this." I took the ice-pack off my eye to hammer everything home. "Then he kept swinging and I did my best to stay out of the way."

"She never even threw a punch!" Megan chimed back in.

Sam was growing quiet, as it was becoming clear he was the singular aggressor.

Ms. Williams looked down at what I assumed were notes from the other students' stories. She collected herself and then spoke to the three of us.

"Sam... Amelia... Your parents have been notified and are on the way to pick you up. Megan, I suggest you head home." Megan nodded, grabbed her bag, and headed for the door. She paused at the doorway and gave me a sympathetic look, which I returned with a forced smile. Then I turned back to Ms. Williams.

"Amelia, it seems as though you did your best to stay out of the conflict once it began, but I advise you to steer clear of provoking such an altercation in the future."

My eyes went huge. "Was she seriously blaming me for this?" I could see Sam sitting back in his chair relaxing as I was getting chewed out.

Then she continued and shifted her gave to Sam. "That being said, Mr. Cook. You are clearly responsible for a multitude of infractions. Consider yourself lucky you aren't expelled on the spot. Ms. Baker, you're dismissed." I gathered my things, and as I was heading towards the door, Ms. Williams gave me some final words.

"If you ever find yourself in another bad situation Amelia, you know where to find me," she said gently. I nodded and made a beeline for the door.

Mom was waiting for me outside. We hadn't been inside that long, so I knew she must have rushed over. The second she saw me she ran over and held my face in her hands as she inspected my injury.

I attempted to force out a bit of sarcasm, "Hey mom, how's it going?"

She ignored me completely, "Who did this? Do you need to go to the hospital? Are you alright? Fighting isn't the answer! Did you give it to him? Are you sure you're alright?"

I didn't have time between questions to answer her, so I waited until she tired herself out.

"I'm alright Mom, really."

She took a deep breath. "Okay, I got your bike in car already. Climb in. We're going to Foster's."

I let out a small smile. Foster's was the local ice cream shop.

We arrived, and I got myself a sundae. Mom asked me even more questions, but eventually, she asked me to recount the story. I told her and played up my innocence and heroism... just a bit of course. Finally, she seemed satisfied and we drove home.

I hadn't looked at my phone until I got back and it was full of unread messages.

Kai: Heard Sam got the drop on you. You ok?

Sadie: I swear if Sam ever gets closer than fifty feet to you, he's in for a world of hurt!

Ryan: Heard Sam was a real dick. Anyway, feel better.

Megan: Thanks for standing up for me. I heard he got suspended for almost a month. Hope your eye doesn't sting too bad.

Lily: Heard what happened. Hope you're ok. We can call tonight off if you want. Love you.

I took it all in, and if it weren't for the pain around my eye I probably would've started crying. I got myself together and sent out responses. I told Lily that I wasn't going to let Sam mess with our evening. She insisted that it would be alright, but I wanted to go.

It took some convincing from my mom, but she agreed I could go out. She made it clear I needed rest and that I had to be back by 10:00. I rolled my eyes, but I knew she was right, as always.

I had already picked out my outfit after much consideration the evening before. I was wearing a navy shirt and leggings with one of the three skirts I owned, going over the top of the leggings. I also wrapped myself in a heavy jacket as it was still January and dawned a matching scarf and knit hat. The navy of my shirt paired quite nicely with the bruise that was solidly appearing around my eye.

I sat waiting until Lily rolled up at 6:30 and I climbed in. We both waved to my mom, and she tapped her watch reminding me to back by ten. I rolled my eyes and we drove off towards the restaurant.

Lily made an extra effort to compliment how I looked, clearly trying to make up for the puffy mess that was my face. I blushed nonetheless. We split a giant thing of pasta, and I could almost swear that for a second we were about to reenact that scene from Lady & The Tramp with the spaghetti. It was a refreshingly nice evening. We talked about this and that, slammed on Sam, bonded over classes. Our waiter was a twenty-something guy. I could tell he worked out, even through his button-up and uniform. I hadn't realized I was checking him out until Lily called me on it.

"So you think he's hot too?" she jested.

"What? I, uh..."

"It's alright, I get how you feel. Bisexual, remember."

I looked her in the eye and we both gave a bit of a snort.

"I guess I can see how someone else might find him attractive," I said under my breath.

"You're right, I do find him attractive," she glared at me as she poked holes in my statement. "He is a solid 7.5 after all."

I raised my eyebrows in a feign of surprise.

Then she motioned to one of the couples sitting at a table across the room. "What do you think? I peg her as 6, and him as a... maybe an 8?"

"Oh he's definitely more than an 8," I said looking away and trying to keep myself contained. Now it was Lily's turn to look shocked as she elbowed me and giggled.

"Okay, okay, okay! Look to our right," she ordered quietly.

I turned to look at them and received another elbow.

"Be discreet!" she said. I rolled my eyes. "What do you think?"

I gave her a long look before resigning to look back over at the couple. I gave them a quick look up and down.

"I'd say a 7.5 and a 9."

"I'd agree but who is who," she teased back.

I let out an exasperated sigh. Then I pointed to the guy, "7.5" and the girl, "9... okay maybe a 9.5..."

Lily was giggling even more now. I gave her a shush, but it only seemed to egg her on.

When we finished the meal, I went to grab money to pay, but Lily insisted she pay. I protested, but I let it go when she said it was reconciliation for my getting punched in the face.

As we were walking back to the car, Lily would point people out for me to "rate". After a few, she started to guess what I would say, and she tended to be right on the money.

Eventually, we made it back to the car.

"So...." Lily said, "What do you rate me?"

I made it a point of taking a comically long time to answer. I threw in a couple, "Well!... But... Hmm... Maybe!... No....." just to tease her for as long as I could. She gave me a nudge on the shoulder. I looked her dead in the eye and smiled. Then I leaned in, caressed her face, and kissed her. Her eyes went wide, but as soon as she recognized what was happening she closed her eyes and kissed me back. We pulled apart gently and just looked at each giggling.

"I'd say a perfect ten, well maybe a 9.8 on your off days," I said. She made a fake scoff, and opened the door to the back seat, pulling me in behind her. We quickly shed our coats as she pressed me up against the window and kissed me, her hands holding my face. I might have hit my head ever so slightly, but that's how things like this tended to go. I dare you to ask anyone if they've had a make-out session without a few bumps, (in my case literally).

I put one hand on her back and the other on her thigh as I pulled her closer to me. That kiss was deeper and longer than before. Afterward, she moved my right leg onto her and I draped my arms around her neck as she held my chin and leaned in for another round. Our kisses intensified and became more rapid until she twirled me around, best she could in the backseat of her car and laid me down on the seats. I smiled at her like a kid in a candy store and pulled her close to me again. Unfortunately, I pulled a little harder than I meant to and she came at me full force, smacking into the already bruised eye.

"Ahh!" I winced, and she immediately pulled back.

"Oh my goodness! Are you okay?" she asked urgently.

I put my hand to my eye and kept it there instinctually.

"Yeah... I just..." Then I caught her concerned look and everything in me just broke into laughter. She gave me another worried look as though I were going insane, but eventually began laughing at how crazy my response was. We both began losing our breath and leaned up against the seat side by side as we recovered. Her hand found mine, our fingers interlocked, and I leaned on her shoulder.

"Well, that was one way to do it..." I said still chuckling.

"No kidding," she said. Then she turned to me earnestly, "You're sure you're okay?"

"Yes," I responded and gave her a light kiss. She gave me an eye roll.

"Alright Missy, let’s get you back before ten, or I'm never gonna hear the end of it from your mom." That gave me another short burst of laughter.

We arrived precisely at 9:58. My mom was of course waiting at our front porch, pretending to read something.

Before getting out, I turned to Lily. "This was fun. Let’s do it again sometime." She snorted and it took effort on both our parts not to launch into another laughing fit. She leaned in and kissed me for several long seconds.

"See you Monday," she said.

"Uhhhhgg," I groaned and made my way out of the car, wishing we didn't have to spend more than a minute apart. I closed the door, and she blew me a kiss as I walked towards the front door. As I walked past my mom, she simply looked at me with one eyebrow raised.

"Oh hush up," I said blushing as I made my way inside. Then it was her turn to let out a snort of laughter. It took ages for me to sleep that night as I played the events of the evening over and over in my head, savoring every moment.