Half-Blood High

XII

     Hazel

"Math class at eight. Break at ten." I muttered to myself. It was only the second day of the first semester, and I was already having trouble remembering my schedule. "English at eleven-thirty."

I walked along the hallway, trying to avoid bumping into people while also balancing a stack of binders. I'm pretty sure the stack was taller than me.

I was heading for the meeting spot that Frank and I had agreed on, which was the locker hall.

I went to stand by the doorway, the best place to pick out Frank among the crowd. Not that it was super hard. The guy stood a head taller than most people. In a good way.

I was waiting there when Gwin rushed up to me. She looked worried about something.

"Hazel, you need to see this." She grabbed my arm and pulled me along behind her.

"What's going on?" I asked as she yanked me through the crowd.

"It's Frank. He's... He kind of... Well, you'll see."

I began to worry.

She took me to the lunch room, where a group of kids was circled up, huddled like ants around a piece of apple. Gwin pushed me through the wall of bodies, where I was met with a horrible sight.

Frank and Ezra, one of Octavian's cronies, were circling each other. Frank's nose was bleeding, a red line down his chin. Ezra had a black eye and a purple bruise blooming on one cheek. They glared at each other, Ezra to the best of his ability, as other kids shouted things to Ezra.

"They started fighting about a minute ago," Gwin said. "I thought as Frank's friend, you could make him stop."

I watched as Ezra threw a punch at Frank, who dodged and kicked him in the knee. Ezra yelped and backed away.

"Frank," I tried to call out to him, but he didn't seem to hear me. "Frank!"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF ROME IS GOING ON HERE?!?!"

Everyone froze, Ezra mid-punch.

Headmistress Pa. She was standing in the doorway of the lunch room, arms folded. Fury had molded her normally serene features into a portrait of anger. The temperature in the room seemed to rise a few degrees as she strode toward the circle. Kids parted to make a path as she walked toward the middle. She wrenched Frank and Ezra apart and held them by their forearms. I'd never seen Frank look so embarrassed. Ezra, on the other hand, looked as though he was mad they had been caught.

Headmistress Pa glared at the two of them. "What on earth compelled you two to fight like heathens? You dishonor our school by competing in such tomfoolery! Both of you in my office. Now." She let them go with a small push, and the two of them slowly made their way to her office.

"As for the rest of you. If I see anyone misbehaving in such a manner that discredits Jupiter Academy, you will be expelled."

Her words hung heavy in the air, like the scent of coffee and sweaty teenagers. Everyone present was stone faced, afraid. We all knew when Headmistress Pa addressed us, she meant business.

"Return to your classes at once." She walked off quickly, her heels clicking on the linoleum.

A few kids glanced at each other before heading down the hall to class. About half the students went to their lockers, while the rest congregated in groups around the lunch room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Octavian and his friends slip out.

If I had to guess, I'd say he had something to do with the fight.

I made a mental note to ask Frank later, before heading off to math.