I had just dropped Charlie off at school Monday morning when I decided to pass by the arcade. I wanted to pick up the posters Jack had printed so I could distribute a few around the school and the rest after school. The arcade was out of my way but I would still be on time for my first class as long as I didn't dilly dally.

When I arrived I used the key Jack had given me to let myself in. The arcade smelled fresh with a hint of lavender in the air. We had spent two whole days working on the it and I was proud to say that we had done a superb job. It looked better than it had the first time I saw it and I was proud of the effort we had put in.

We had rearranged the whole place to make more free room for people to move around as they played games. The comic book section had a table, some chairs and two bean bags. The popcorn machine was next to the counter for easier access and Jack was not allowed near it. The slushie machine had arrived late Sunday evening and was placed into the hangout room as I called it for lack of creativity so as to keep it away from all the games. The vending machine was still empty but Jack was supposed to be working on stacking it before the end of the day.

I found the stack of posters on top of the counter and was about to grab it and leave when the door opened. Jack walked in humming a tune to himself but stopped when he noticed me.

"Willow what are you doing here?"Jack asked.

"Good morning to you too Jack and I'm here to pick this up."I answered pointing at the posters.

"Sorry, morning but I thought you were supposed to pick those up later."He inquired.

"Yeah but I wanted to put a few up at school and then get started immediately after so I had to pass by before class."I explained picking them up.

"Well I won't keep you any longer. Have a good day at school."

"Thanks. Don't forget to fill the vending machine. Plus one of the games is being collected today. All the papers required are in the drawer. No negotiations, the deal is already done."I instructed backing away.

"Yes ma'am."Jack answered giving me a mock salute.

I didn't say anything back, just turned on my heel before walking out into the crisp morning air. Due to my conversation with Jack, I was five minutes behind schedule so I quickly got into my truck , placed the posters in the passengers seat and drove to school.

I arrived just in time for my first class of the week, Spanish which I was relieved for as I needed something light to ease me into the new school week. My first week hadn't been so bad, it had a lot more drama than I had hoped for but it wasn't all terrible. All I hoped for was to get by, day by day until finally I could get to the end of the school year so I could finally win my freedom.

My second class of the day was Maths, which I unfortunately shared with Matthew. We had successfully avoided each other all weekend and I was hoping to keep up the winning streak but that was all up to Matthew. Speaking of the devil, he walked into class looking all high and mighty with his posse right behind him. His gaze immediately landed on me a smirk etching it's way onto his face making all thought of avoiding him leave my mind.

He strolled towards me like a predator towards it's prey. He didn't intimidate me but I wondered why he was suddenly interested in talking after I'd told him off. One look at my the poor boy seated next to me and he was running out of his seat like it was on fire. Matthew propped himself on the seat his gaze boring holes at the side of my head as I refused to look at him.

"You know I've had all weekend to think things through and do my own digging and I've come to an astounding conclusion."Matthew started but I still refused to acknowledge him.

"Don't you want to know what I found out?"Matthew asked his voice tight meaning my ignoring him was getting on his nerves.

"It's okay you don't have to look at me because I know you are listening so I will tell you anyway. You Willow are just a scared little girl with mommy and daddy issues. You are after all a mistake so your petty threats don't scare me no more. You are just as filthy as that little poor disabled bastard brother of yours."Matthew hissed in my ear.

His words about me didn't hurt me, I'd heard them my whole life from my own mother. He just irritated me since I had no idea how he found out about my family history. I would have let it all go but the minute he spoke ill of Charlie all rational thought left my head. I felt my ears and face turn hot, my breathing get ragged and my heart felt like it was beating out of my chest.

Without thinking I took the sharpened pencil on my desk and drove it directly into the back of Matthew's hand. My other hand immediately went over his mouth to muffle his scream as I jumped on his lap to hold him down. Anyone looking at us would have thought we were two love birds lost in our own world but one of us was in excruciating pain. The pencil didn't go through his hand like it did in the movies, too bad but it did break his skin hurting him badly.

Matthew looked at me wide wide eyes as he tried to get me off him but I was stronger than I looked and he had been weakened by the pain.

"Now it's your turn to listen you fucking turd. I have no idea where you got that information from and I honestly don't give a shit. You can tell the whole world for all I care but don't you dare ever speak ill of my baby brother again. If you ever say anything negative about Charlie, I promise you I will do more than stab your hand with a pencil. I will break you Matthew, mark my words so keep my brother out of your shitty mouth."I threatened making sure he heard my every word.

"Do I make myself clear?"I asked twisting the pencil to cause him more pain.

His face contorted in pain as he nodded his head vigorously. For good measure I twisted the pencil one last time before getting off his lap and sitting down in my own chair.

"You demented bitch, what have you done to me!?" Matthew yelled jumping from his seat as he glared daggers at me.

"Mr Brown, watch your language in my class."Our math teacher Mr Sanders scolded as he walked in.

"But she...." Matthew started but I cut in before he could finish.

"Mr Sanders, can Matthew be excused to go to the nurse. He had a little accident with a pencil."I requested using the most innocent voice I could muster.

Matthew had been holding his hand to his chest and it was bleeding all over his white t-shirt leaving a red stain. The whole class was filled with murmurs and gasps as they tried to decipher what was going on. I had just kicked their football captain's ass, that's what just happened.

"What did you do now Mr Brown? Go to the nurse immediately."Mr Sanders demanded.

"But sir, she..." Matthew argued.

"Stop wasting our time young man. Either go to the nurse or sit down and shut up if you don't pass out from the blood loss."Mr Sanders declared.

Matthew huffed and with one last glare at me, he stomped out of the class looking like he was about to cry. I knew Matthew wouldn't really tell anyone about what I'd done to him so I was not worried about being expelled. Even if he did tell anyone they wouldn't believe that all 6'0 of him had been wounded by little ol me. It was quite funny if you thought about him trying to narrate the tale of how I'd stabbed him with a pencil.

"Okay class settle down, that's enough drama for one morning. Pop quiz."Mr Sanders announced dropping the papers on top of his desk.

Complains erupted around the class and Matthew was temporarily forgotten. I was happy to do the pop quiz because even if I didn't quite like math, it was an easy subject for me.

"Cry all you want but you'll still do it."Mr Sanders declared as he started passing out the papers

I forgot about Matthew as I settled down to do my quiz. I was still angry after what he had said about Charlie but proud of myself at the same time for standing up to a bully like him.

It didn't take long for the school to be abuzz with news of Matthew's little accident. Gossip really did travel fast around high school walls. My name hadn't been mentioned in all the theories floating around about how Matthew got hurt so I assumed he was keeping his mouth shut. I wasn't worried either way so I basked in the glory of what I'd done to the famous football captain. He had messed with the wrong girl and now he was paying the price. I hoped that he would take me seriously from then on and stay away from me and those that I cared about, Henry included. Not that I cared for Henry, I mean I did care, just not..... Long story short I hoped Matthew had learnt his lesson.

When lunch time rolled around I ate quickly so I could spend the rest of the lunch period distributing posters around the school.

I was putting one up in the notice board outside the cafeteria when an arm appeared in my line of vision palm up. I followed the long arm to the face of its owner and was met with a blank faced Henry. I was surprised that he was making first contact in school since I was always the one initiating the conversations between us. I had no idea what he meant by holding his hand out so I put the stack of posters I had under my arm on his outstretched one. A small smirk played on the corner of his lips and I assumed I had done what he wanted. I smiled to myself that he wanted to help me out. He had helped a lot over the weekend at the arcade which I was very grateful for.

"Did you hear about your twin brother's accident?"I asked and he nodded in confirmation.

"Everyone has a theory about what really happened. What's yours?"I inquired as I finished putting up the poster.

I started walking down the hallway looking for another notice board and Henry followed behind me silently. I looked back at him waiting for his answer but all I got was a shrug in reply. I had learnt to accept that Henry only talked when he wanted to and when it was something that needed to be said. He talked to Jack normally which I assumed was because they were very close. He was starting to talk to me more but I wasn't holding my breath about us becoming best friends and telling each other our deepest secrets or anything like that.

"Come on, I know you're not feeling sad for the turd as he is horrible to you."I egged on hoping to get a reaction from him.

It worked perfectly because Henry addressed me directly.

"He got what he deserved and whoever did that to him should be proud of themselves."He replied looking at me with a knowing look.

It's like he knew that I was the one who stabbed Matthew. But how could he know when he wasn't in the same class with us and the main story floating around was that Matthew did it to himself.

"Who told you there's another person involved? It was all him."I replied defensively to which Henry just shrugged.

I didn't know if I wanted Henry to know that it was me who stabbed his brother or not. It's not like he would tell anyone, there was no proof and Henry didn't really associate with anyone closely enough to rat me out.

"Whoever she, I mean they are, if there's such a person is a badass, that much I do agree."I conceded grinning at Henry.

His lips twitched as if he was suppressing a smile which made me realize that he actually knew it was me all along. I wouldn't deny or confirm it for him though, not because he would tell anyone but to keep the mysterious vibe we had between us going.

I found another notice board so I took a poster from the pile on Henry's arms and proceeded to pin it. With all the work we were doing, I hoped that the effort paid off and the arcade got some booming business. Jack was a good guy and didn't deserve to loose something he loved and had worked so hard on for many years.

The warning bell for the first afternoon class rang and I groaned out loud as I hadn't finished covering the school.

"I guess I'll continue after school before hitting the streets."I huffed taking the posters from Henry's hands.

"Thank you for helping and the company. Have a good afternoon Henry."I expressed.

I was about to turn around and leave when he stopped me by standing in my way.

"I'll cover the school."He offered taking about half of the posters in my hands from me.

"Really? That will be great, thanks."I said enthusiastically as he would be saving me a lot of time.

Henry shrugged in reply before turning around and leaving me standing in the hallway. He might have been aloof and mysterious most of the time but I was starting to learn that when needed Henry stepped up to do the right thing and offer his help. Maybe he wasn't so bad after all.

I snapped out of the trance I was in and made my way to the first class of the afternoon. In between trying to concentrate in class and figure out how I was going to distribute the posters around town on my own after school I managed to squeeze in thoughts of a smirking Henry. I might not have wanted to admit it but he was growing on me. I was still fighting with myself whether that was a good thing or a disaster waiting to happen. Only time would tell, I guess.

When I made it to the arcade three hours after school let out, I was dragging my feet behind me feeling tired beyond all measure. I kissed Charlie's forehead on my way in before walking behind the counter and dropping myself onto the closest seat.

"Rough day?"Jack asked handing me a bottle of water.

I smiled thankfully at him before opening the bottle and chugging it until it was almost empty.

"It's all for a good cause."I replied after feeling better with the water cooling my patched throat.

"Well I have some good news, we sold the game and I know you said no bargaining but..." Jack started.

"What did you do?"I asked hoping he hadn't allowed himself to get scammed.

"Don't jump into any conclusions, nothing bad happened. I actually managed to get more money for it. The guy started gushing over it when he arrived so I took the opportunity to negotiate by claiming I didn't want to part ways with it."Jack explained looking very proud of himself.

"Good job. We'll make a fine salesman out of you."I praised to which Jack beamed.

"I also filled the vending machine with all the snacks from your list and made an order for the slushie machine."Jack expounded further.

"That's great, today was a good day. Hopefully the beginning of a great journey to revive this place."I said with a smile.

"Amen to that."Jack exclaimed.

"I'm famished, do you have anything to eat in here?"I asked feeling my stomach start to rumble.

"A few left over pizza slices from lunch."Jack replied handing me the box.

"Perfect, you my good sir are a life saver."I said the last part coming out all muffled as my mouth was full of delicious cold pizza.

Pizza was good hot or cold and no one could ever convince me otherwise.

Jack just chuckled at my antics leaving me be a few minutes later to help a customer look for a comic book they wanted. I would just rest for a few minutes before getting to work.

To cap off a not so bad Monday Charlie and I had dinner at a diner before we went home that night after my shift was over. Minus the whole Matthew incident the day had been a successful one and I hoped they would only get better as the days progressed.