It was lunch time, just around a week after Ryan's first detention. Ryan had put the incident behind him with determination to get back on track, which he had successfully managed so far. He was currently sitting in the lunch room, poking his food around his cardboard tray as he waited for Patrick to come over.

Patrick was walking across the lunch room, smiling happily. Today he was wearing dark purple pants with a pastel teal shirt. His flower crown of choice for this outfit was a golden band with accenting purple flowers. He was nearly at his and Ryan's spot, when a foot shot out in front of him. He cried out as he was sent falling forward, crashing to the floor and crushing his lunch with his chest.

Ryan stood up, looking worriedly at his friend as he rushed over to him. Patrick was pushing himself up with his nose scrunched. Macaroni bits were smushed against his now stained shirt, and chocolate milk was dripping off of him.

"Are you okay?" Ryan asked, helping Patrick up.

The strawberry blond nodded, looking down with a reddened face. "Y-y-yea."

"Oh no! Did the flowery Stump not make it to fall?" A voice sneered off to their side. Ryan turned his head to see one of the sports jocks smirking down at them as others sitting at his same table laughed.

"Back off..." Ryan said lowly as he turned back to Patrick, helping him completely up to his feet.

"What was that?" The bully asked, raising an eyebrow to Ryan. "What, you his boyfriend or something? 'Bout time the flower crown freak started sucking some-"

"I said, lay off." Ryan said, louder, facing the bully with annoyance. "He's never done anything to you."

The bully stood up from his seat, glaring at Ryan. "I don't think I asked." He took a step towards Ryan.

"R-r-ryan, it's ok-kay, real-ly." Patrick stuttered, tugging at Ryan's shirt sleeve.

"You should listen to your boyfriend." The bully sneered, "Don't want me to kick your-"

"Lay off!" Ryan yelled, causing the entire cafeteria to fall into a hush. Ryan could feel eyes on him as he stared the bully down. It wasn't fair that this guy thought he could get away with abusing Patrick.

"What did you say to me, punk?" The bully growled, shoving his finger into Ryan's chest as he got in Ryan's face.

Ryan felt his fists clentch at his side. Why did being good at sports make people feel entitled to being douche bags? What right did he have to make fun of his friend? Patrick went through enough hell for his style choices, and he didn't deserve it at all.

"I said," the bully grabbed Ryan's shirt, lifting him off the ground, "What did you-"

Ryan wasn't sure what came over him. The next thing he knew, his clenched fist was colliding with the bully's cheek. He fell to the floor as the bully released him, eyes growing wide. Patrick squealed, stepping back with fear on his face as rage filled the bully's face.

"You're gunna pay for that!" He yelled before balling his fists and going after Ryan.

Ryan held up his arms, defensively, while the bully collided fists with his exposed skin. Ryan got in a few punches, but the bully seemed a lot more experienced with this type of thing.

Within minutes, Ryan was icing a black eye while sitting in the nurses office after a teacher had broken up the altercation. He bit the inside of his cheek as he pulled the ice away. The cold burn lingered on his face as he turned to look at the strawberry blond next to him, who was now wearing a black shirt and some sweats.

"R-r-ryan I'm s-so s-sorry." Patrick tried to apologize, tripping over his words.

Ryan shook his head, bringing the ice back up against his eye. "Don't apologize for that guy being a dick." He said, offering Patrick a smile.

Before Patrick could spout out more apologies, the young nurse hurried back onto the room. She was pulling her dark curls back into a loose ponytail as she walked over to Ryan.

"How's the eye, kiddo?" She asked, twisting her finger in the air to motion for him to move the ice pack a bit.

"Colorful." Ryan grinned slightly, making the nurse roll her eyes.

"Usually I see Patrick in here with you beside him, this is a change." She said, pushing the ice gently back up to Ryan's eye. "You're not ordinarily the fighting type."

"H-he got s-some real g-g-good hits in El-li." Patrick grinned.

Ryan laughed, "I don't know what came over me, Elisa." He shook his head, "He kept taunting Patrick and I just kinda..."

Elisa shook her head with a small smile on her lips. "I better not be seeing you in here a lot more, Ryan." She ruffled Patrick's hair as she walked past him to get to the cabinets, "I love your company, but your wellbeing is something else I love." She pulled open one of the cabinets and stood on her tiptoes to get inside.

"I'll try, I promise." Ryan half smiled as Elisa pulled some Band-Aids out from the cabinet. As she spun around to reface the two sitting on the chairs, the door to the nurses office was pushed open.

A man with thinning, combed back hair was standing there. He adjusted a pair of glasses that rested on his nose. "Mr. Ross?" He asked, looking between Patrick and Ryan.

"Here, sir." Ryan raised his hand that wasn't holding the icepack to his face.

The man nodded, "Right... Well, yes..." He adjusted his glasses again, "I couldn't contact your mother, so a letter will be sent and should be received within the next few days. In the meantime, you've earned yourself two weeks detention."

"Two weeks?!" Ryan exclaimed, looking at the man. One day had been horrible, but two weeks!? How was he going to play that off? How was he going to keep this from his mom, as if the black eye wouldn't be damning enough evidence that he was in trouble.

"You're lucky you're not getting suspension." The man said, shaking his finger at Ryan. "However, I've been informed of your family's... Issues. Two weeks is a fair trade for the suspension you would of been given otherwise. It starts today."

"Y-you're not-t-t even gunna s-s-send him home?" Patrick asked, looking at the man with disbelief. "He-he sh-should at least get th-th-that!"

The man shrugged, "He's fine enough to sit up and hold an ice pack to his face here, he can do it in the detention hall." He said before shutting the door.

"W-what the hell?" Patrick looked between Ryan and Elisa, "Who w-w-was th-that?"

"New vice principal." Elisa replied with the roll of her eyes, "He's a dick, guys. I'm sorry." She opened the box of Band-Aids as she walked over to Ryan, skillfully ripping open one of the packages inside. As she went to apply it to a spot right along Ryan's hairline, she lowly added, "He's also the uncle of that kid you got in a fight with."

"You can't be serious." Ryan felt his heart sink. The fact of getting into a fight was bad enough, but now add on that it was a relative of someone high up in the school chain? Ryan wanted to find the nearest cliff and jump. "This can't get worse..."

Patrick frowned at Ryan. "It's my f-f-fault I-"

Ryan cut him off with the shake of his head, "No it's not! It's his jerko nephew's fault... I just should've let him hit first..."

"I'm sorry." Elisa frowned as she stuck another band aid to a spot below Ryan's left ear, "I really wish I had some advice to help, but school politics are a redundant fight once they've decided that they're right."

Ryan let out a light laugh as Elisa ruffled his hair. "Is that what getting through these hell years taught you?"

"The only thing worth taking from it." She replied as she walked over to sit by Patrick. She tilted her head at the strawberry blond. "Do you need a band aid? I've got plenty." She smiled as she shook the box.

He smiled, his cheeks turning crimson, as he shook his head. She laughed pulling one out of it's wrapper anyway and reaching out to apply it to his cheek. He leaned back with laughter, trying to avoid it. "Eli!"

While those two laughed, Ryan held the ice pack to his face in defeat. How was this fair? How was he going to relay this to his mom? What the hell had gotten into him?..

Ryan shut his eyes to avoid spilling oncoming tears. This shouldn't be happening; he wasn't the disciplinary type. He followed rules and stayed in line... What was happening to him?..