"Move it, tardbag!" someone yelled at Don the next day at school. Whoever yelled it pushed Don over and walked on ahead. Luna hurried to her brother's side and helped him pick up his things. Don thanked her and they hurried to their next class, Math.
As always, they sat in the back of the room, and when Mr. Griffiths did roll call, they raised their hands instead of saying 'here'.
"Class, today is the exam. You remember the rules: no cheating, no notes, no phones-" and he went on with the rules. When Luna and Don recieved their exam papers, they quickly wrote their names on them, and did the math for each question. To Luna and Don, they thought some of the questions too easy. The thirteenth question asked them to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle. Easily, they finished each and every question. Then the boys next to them swiftly grabbed their exam papers off their desk, copied the answers, and ripped them up. Luna noticed Don's eyes getting red, and she patted his back to comfort him. She felt her own eyes start to sting.
"I'll ask him for two more exam papers, okay, Don?" Luna began to stand, but Don sat her back down.
"He'll ask why we need more, Luna. We'll get beat up again if we tell him those boys ripped them," he breathed, and put his head down. When Mr. Griffiths collected papers, he put his hand out in front of Luna and Don.
"Your papers, please," he said. Don shook his head, but Luna, hardly believing herself, looked at Mr. Griffiths and said, "Those boys-" she pointed to them "-copied our answers and ripped our exams up." Mr. Griffiths eyes became concerning and looked at the two boys and demanded, "Did you two really do this?"
The two protested that Luna was lying, but then Mr. Griffiths eyes shot towards the garbage can. He grabbed the ripped pieces out as Don asked why Luna did what she did. She didn't answer. Mr. Griffiths puzzled the pieces together, and came up with Luna and Don's exam papers.
"You two boys have two detentions. Each. And you both get zeros on your exams," Mr. Griffiths said, and ripped the two boy's papers in two. They stared, shocked, then as Mr Griffiths turned around and headed to his desk, they glared at Luna.
"You're dead," one boy said. Luna looked down, and Don put his hand on her back to comfort her, but it didn't help.
After Luna and Don had left the school and were heading home, the same two boys jumped out from behind a corner.
"Nowhere to run!" the tall, blonde one said. The short, also blonde one grinned. They stood in the alleyway that was a shortcut to home, and Luna knew that she could run the long way with Don, but wouldn't the two boys just be waiting for them?
Luna dropped her backpack and told Don to run home, and he protested.
"Go home!" she said harshly, and Don ran out of the alley.
"What, you think that little chicken is gonna tell?" the tall boy sneered. The short one, surprisingly fast, ran behind Luna and pinned her arms behind her back. She struggled, but couldn't get free. The tall boy cocked his fist and punched her, then again, and again. She cried out, but no one came into the alleyway to save her. More punching, and eventually, Luna aimed a kick at the tall boy, and missed. She then stomped on the short boy's foot, and he let go of her. Luna began running, grabbing her light backpack, but was tripped by the tall boy and kicked by both boys. After another long while, a police siren was heard.
"Shit, run!" the tall boy said, and the two ran out of the alley. Don came out of hiding, and the siren stopped. He was holding a toy police car he'd had since he was younger, and he helped Luna up. They went home and dressed her wounds and attended to her bloody nose. She had ice packs put on her head, stomach, left arm and right leg.
"Jeez, Luna, you really should be more careful," Don said. Luna smiled.
"It's not our fault we didn't want an F. Good thing you hung onto that car a while longer, eh? Hurry, close the curtains, lock the doors-"
"I know what to do Luna. You just rest. Need help getting to your bed?"
"No, I can handle it. When you got home did you see Mom?" Luna inquired. Don shook his head. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. After looking through the peep hole and out the window, Don opened the door. There stood Luna and Don's mother. She walked in and fell on the couch and ordered Don to get her some headache medicine, and Luna greeted her, "Hello, Mom!"
"Hey sweetie. What happened? It looks as if you've been hit by a bus," Mom replied. Luna pasted a smile on her face as Don walked in with a glass of water and the headache medicine.
"I was riding my bike and it hit a rock as I was going downhill by the river in the woods," Luna lied. Her mom downed the medicine and said, "You really should be careful on that path, Luna."
"We did the math test today, Mom. I think Luna and I did really well on it," Don smiled, changing the subject. Mom nodded.
"So, um, Mom, why did you have a headache? Traffic getting that bad?" Luna ventured, knowing her mom rarely got headaches.
"I ended up bickering with one of my coworkers. Don't worry, we agreed to settle it at work." Mom said no more, and Luna limped into her bedroom and Don walked into his, both wondering what could have made their almost pacifistic mother argue with one of her coworkers. Something strange was happening.
