As I stepped into the school again, the corridors were filled with students and teachers. Classes had just ended apparently. Great. I did my best to hide my clearly beat-up face under my hood, kept my eyes on the floor and made my way to room 466. 

When I entered, Angel was already sitting on his desk again, reading something. This time, he noticed me coming in and turned around to face me. The moment he saw me, his expression turned from surprised to scared and finally shocked. Took him a while to notice my face.

“Wh-what happened?” He asked softly, while I made my way to my bed, to grab some new clothes. I needed a shower, not a lecture.

However, to scare him off the truth seemed to be the best method. “I just beat up 5 drunks in the city. They did land a few punches, unfortunately”, I told him grinning. I was not actually in the mood to smile, so my grin dropped fast again. Trading my headphones against a fistfight was not the best deal, because the anger did not disappear as it should have. Angel was just watching me slightly scared and didn’t say anything else.

The bathroom welcomed me with a peaceful silence. I sighed deeply and stepped under the shower. The cuts of my hand hurt slightly, but showering felt too good to pay attention to the pain. The water turned somewhat pink for a few minutes, until the blood was cleared from my skin. I kept showering for some time, not wanting to leave the cosy warmth, but I needed to get out eventually. 

After returning to my bed, I started to get tired. The events of the day strained my body and mind. I laid down, brought the blanket up to my chin and closed my eyes. “Shut up for the next hours, k?” I mumbled before the exhaustion took over and I fell to a deep sleep.

I don’t know how many hours I slept, but I felt surprisingly well-rested. Angel had already left for classes, so it was empty in the room. The clock told me it was a few minutes after 8 am already. At what time did I go to sleep yesterday? It must have been 7 pm maybe, so I slept around 13 hours, damn. I had only intended to rest one or two hours, but it turned to a full day worth of sleep. My body probably needed the extra rest to recover from the wounds. I strolled to the bathroom and watched my right cheek that turned into a nasty blue-green colour. At least the swelling isn’t so bad, I tried comforting myself. I brushed my teeth and got ready for my usual morning run.

My body was feeling heavy this morning, so running around was more exhausting than it usually was. I didn’t finish my rounds and just sat down on stairs, leading to the front doors of one random building on the school grounds. I panted heavily for the first few minutes, until my breath steadied itself. I was so immersed in my thoughts, that I didn’t notice the figure coming towards me, until they sat down beside me on the steps.

The principal studied my face intensely, and I knew he could see the bruises. I didn’t spare him a glance. What does he want here, anyway? Am I thrown out of here, after merely one week? That’s a new record. I mused. I heard him sigh beside me and he started to speak.

“I hope those bruises don’t have anything to do with someone in this school.”

Ah, that’s what it’s about. I didn’t answer Livingstone's question, but he couldn’t really think, one of the students here could as much as lay their hands on me. I scoffed and looked away. He continued,

“I’m going to assume, that means no. I’m glad about that.”

After he still got no reaction out of me, he sighed again, but went on nonetheless,

“I saw you running around the grounds every morning. Do you know that we have a well-equipped gym here? I’m sure you would enjoy it there.”

I finally snapped my head in his direction, staring into his eyes to make out, if he just wanted to mess with me or something. He looked quite relaxed and smiled in my direction. It surprised me a lot, he had just seen me with a bruised face and didn’t even lecture me about it but gave information about some magical gym. What did he want from me? At my reaction, his smile only grew wider.

“The gym is sometimes occupied during PE lessons, but free after 2 pm. The only condition is that you have to be a student of this school.”

I probably looked confused, but he just explained further.

“Being a student here does not mean that your name is written on some list in some class. It means you have to attend the classes, study and give it your best. So, let’s make a deal: Every day that you’re participating in all of your classes, I’m going to tell the PE teacher to let you train in the gym. How does that sound?”

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw. It wasn’t a bad deal if the gym actually was ‘well equipped’. I thought for a second and asked, “Does it have a punching bag?”

The principal snorted. Why is that funny?

“Sure it does,” he answered with a smile. I was surprised by how casual he was speaking to me right now. It was probably to make the delinquent kid – me – feel more connected to him or something.

“Deal,” I mumbled quietly. He heard it though, because again, he was smiling at me.

He added, “However, I still have to talk to your mother about your –,” he pointed at my bruised face, “– activities. This time, I must leave it with this because of the lack of information. I can’t exactly accuse you of any misbehaviour I don’t know about. Be aware that I will not be that lenient again. You should take better care of yourself.” Shortly after, he stood up and went back to the main building, leaving me behind on the stairs.

I was surprisingly relieved to know that he would only call my mother. I didn’t expect him to react this way. His reasoning made sense, though. There was no victim, accusing me of something and I doubted that the drunk guys, who started all this, would come forward and file charges against me. They didn’t know me anyway. If they were to, however, I was sure, the principal would hand me over to the police in an instant.

My thoughts shifted back to the deal I had just accepted. I didn’t even know where that mysterious gym was… Was I honestly going to my lessons tomorrow? I dreaded the idea, I dreaded the image of me being the new kid in a school full of people, I didn’t want to speak one word with. All they could do was to give me a look that just screamed, that they’re better than me. Every single one of them thought like that. I knew it. I wasn’t afraid, but I was feeling immensely uncomfortable.

I had nothing to do out here anymore, so I started strolling back to the main building as well, to get a shower. It was half-past 11 am when I arrived at my room, but to my surprise, Angel was standing inside the room, his violin case in one hand, some music sheets in the other hand. The moment he saw me, he smiled sheepishly and turned his face towards the floor. I didn’t mind him much, so I took fresh clothes and went inside the bathroom. 

When I got out again, after taking a refreshing, cool shower, Angel had already left anew. He probably had music lessons now and had to pick up his instrument. I didn’t know what to do. It was harder not having someone to speak to when one was in a completely new environment.