Alex knew she was going to bust out it tears, but she fought them back.
"All I said was that we were hanging out this weekend...I didn't go into..."
she lowered her voice.
"..specifics."
she said. She hugged him then heard a guy talking to them.

"P.D.A, don't get to close now!"

Alex's temperature was slowly rising up.
"Take the dick out of your mouth so I can hear you then get your ass over here so I can rip your fucking face off!!"
she yelled. She started walking but felt Kenshin pulling her back. She walked back over to him and hugged him again.

Kenshin had wrapped his arms around her for comfort, but glared up at the guy who had spoke up, but kept his arm wrapped around her to pull her in as she turned to go after him. "It's alright, Alex. I'll figure out who's been saying this." He pulled her back slightly, forcing a smile on his face to reassure her. "Just don't let them get to you. If they want a rise out of you, don't give it to them." He back up a step, keeping her hand in his. "Lets just get to class, they'll leave us alone soon enough." He looked away, hoping she believed him. He knew he didn't.

Alex quickly kissed his cheek and nodded.
"Okay. I love you, talk to you later."
she hopped down the stairs and off to class.

He smiled as she headed off. "Love you too, see you." He headed back to his friends, who fell silent. "Now listen, I love Alex, and if I here any of you guys badmouth her or imply what we may or may not have done over the weekend, we'll see how long you guys enjoy sitting alone in the lunch room." He pointed a warning finger at them, then headed off to first period as well.

By second period, he was just as steamed as she had been. He didn't mind the idiots who though he was "cool" for sleeping with her, it was the ones who insulted her who were steaming him under the collar. He sat next to her usual desk in second period and waited for her, trying to ignore the muttered whispers around him.

Alex walked in and slammed her books down on her desk.
"I'm sick of this bull shit! If I find out who did this,"
she sat herself down in the desk and slouched, crossing her arms.
"They're already dead to me."
she said. Alex felt a tear fall down her cheek and quickly swiped it away.

He nodded, reaching over and putting a hand on hers. He furrowed his brow as someone from behind him whispered. "Nice job, bro."

He turned in his seat to face the guy. He didn't know him. "Look, I don't know what you heard, but shut up."

The guy smiled at him. "Yeah, sure, right, because you aren't proud of it or anything. Come on dude, a popular guy like you must love this kind of attention."

Kenshin's hand balled into a fist, letting go of Alex's hand in the process. His voice was a whispered growl. "I care for no such thing. I love Alex, and if I heard anyone else say anything bad about her, I'll MAKE them shut up."

The guys laughed, though quietly as the teacher had just shown up. "Yeah right. Hey, if you want to try and hide the fact your girl puts out, whatever. Probably not even her first, she looks like a sl-" He never got the chance to finish.

Kenshin was out of his seat and over the desk in a heartbeat, knocking the guys head against the desk behind his before shoving him out of his seat, and against the floor. The kid hit with an audible crack, but Kenshin was up and over his desk, straddling his chest, and started to wail on him repeatedly. Several kids, including Kenshin's friend Kevin, jumped on him, pulling his arms back and pulling him off. The teacher was watching, stunned at what had just happened.

Alex was reading what the teacher had written on the board when she listened to the conversation.
"Go get a life and stay out of mine."
she said, her teeth clenched tightly together, but by the time she had turned around to pound his face in, Kenshin had gotten him on the ground and was whaling on him like there was no tomorrow.
"Kenshin stop!"
she shouted. She waited until he was pulled off of the boy and walked over to Kenshin and grabbed his hand.
"I'm okay, you didn't have to do that."
she said as she forced a smile.

He looked at her, then his eyes widened as he looked at his hand, then at the guy, now scrambling back holding a bloody nose. The teacher snapped back to his senses, and walked over to the kid, then looked up at Kenshin. "Principal, NOW!" He turned back to him. "Mr. Connor, are you all right?"

The kid shook the teacher off, and ran from the room towards the nurses office. Kenshin, meanwhile, was being lead away by Kevin to the principal's office. Kenshin looked back at Alex, then left with Kevin quickly. The rest of the class returned to their seats in stunned silence, though soon after began to whisper about what had happened. Kenshin didn't return for his stuff by the time class ended, though Kevin came back to class shorty after he had left with Kenshin.

((This kind of wouldn't be very possible, considering there were witnesses, but just try to go with it.))
Alex slowly filled out the bathroom pass and gave it to the teacher, collecting the hall pass. She walked out of the room, where nobody could see or hear her and then ran down to the principal's office. She skidded to a stop right behind Kenshin and got there just in time before he gave anything away.
"It was all me, I did it, I punched Toby in the face, started beating on him and accidentally hit Kenshin in the face in the process. I did it to defend myself, then Mr. Quisling walked in after Kenshin was getting slightly angry at me and they were pulling him back so he didn't hurt me. It was all me, it's my fault," she blurted quickly.

Principal Hastings looked up rather shocked, as did Kenshin. He got out of his chair and took her by the arm, pulling her out of earshot of the principal as he whispered to her. "Alex, what are you doing? This was my fault, and I'll take the blame for it."

The principal sat backwards, folding his arms, and waited.

Alex rolled her eyes as she was pulled away, once again.
"If you were willing to stand up for me, I'm willing to do the same. Besides, I could use a few days off of school,"
she whispered with a smile on her face.

Kenshin looked at the Principal, then at her. "But what will your parent say? I don't want you getting in trouble with them over this." He looked at her for a long moment, then at the door to the office. "Plus, what's Toby going to say when he sees me still in school? He's gonna come straight here, and complain. You know his type."

Alex shook her head.
"My parents will be drunk when they get the call anyways. How 'bout we were both beating on him, then it's fair," she said as she looked into the office.

He looked at her, defeated. He knew he wouldn't talk her out of it, and he had tried. Then he smiled. "Hey, at least we'll have more time to hang out together if we're both suspended." He backed away from her, looking at the principal. "I'm sorry about that, Mr. Hastings, but we both feel you should know the truth. We both attacked Toby. I hit him for insulting me, and Alex jumped in because he looked like he was gaining an advantage. I was going to take all the blame for it, but she didn't want me to take the punishment alone." He looked at her, straight faced, to hope she'd play along.

The principal sat back, looking at Alex. "Is this all true, young lady?" He asked, sternly?

Alex listened to the lie and nodded.
"Yes, Mr. Hastings, it's all true. What is our punishment?" she asked.

Kenshin smiled at her for a second, then dropped the smile as he looked back at the principal, who had looked down at his desk.

He chewed his lip for a moment, then looked up over his glasses at them. "I have to say, I am disappointed in the two of you. However, you two are both bright students, and a normally good influence on the student body. I hate to have to do this, especially to you, Kenshin, with the game coming up, but I'm suspending you both for a week. I'll also be expecting you to apologies to Toby, and your parents will be contacted. Do you two understand?"

Kenshin nodded to the principal, then looked over to Alex.

Alex looked at Kenshin, then at the principal again.
"It is very well understood and I will see to it that it gets done," she said with a nod.
"and we will need passes for being late to our next class," she said.

((woot! Dragon Cave xD Just started?))

The principal nodded. "Ms. Kelly up front can get those for you. Now then, I'll see you both after school. You'll be calling your parents personally before your suspension starts. For now, get to class, and inform your teachers that you will be out for the next week. I'll need to speak to Mr. Connor to find out his side of this, but I doubt it will be much different."

Kenshin nodded. "Of course, sir." He held the door for Alex, then closed it behind him. He went to the front desk. "Mr. Hastings wants us to get passes for being late to our next class." She nodded, and started writing them out. Kenshin looked back at Alex with a smile. "Well, how are your parents going to take you calling them up and explaining that you've been suspended for fighting?"

Alex nodded and smiled politely before leaving and going to the front desk. She looked up at Kenshin.
"Not too well," her voice lowered to a whisper so the secretary couldn't hear, "Toby's going to tell a different story than ours," she said as before backing off her tiptoes. She took the note from the secretary and thanked her.

Kenshin took his own note, and thanks her as well before heading into the hallway. He kept his voice down. "Don't worry, Kevin will back up our story if I ask him to, and I've got more friends in that class then Toby does. I just need to talk to some people at lunch. Lets hope Toby takes a while in the nurses office so that the Principal can't follow up his story right away." He looked off down the hall, then towards the nurses office.

Alex nodded as she looked at the clock.
"There's only 10 more minutes until lunch." she said as she walked to her locker with him.

He nodded, then looked towards the class it had happened in. "I'm going to go grab my bag. I'll see you at lunch." He kissed her, then headed off to class.

Fifteen minutes later, he was in the lunch room, sitting with Kevin and a few other kids from that class, talking to them about what had happened while they all had lunch.

Alex nodded and waved him off as she grabbed her own books. She walked to her class and handed the not to her teacher as whispers from everyone. She just shrugged them off and sat in her seat.

At lunch, she walked over to Kenshin and his friends as they all smiled at her and sort of giggle in a childish way.
"Grow up, really? You aren't 13 anymore. Kenshin, mind if I sit?" she asked him.

((No, I have had an account for a few months, but mine wouldn't grow so I ditched it for a while then came back now. So are they going to find out now that Kevin spread it?))

((Ah, cool. No, it's Mike, not Kevin, that did it, but yes, we will be finding that out soon.))

Kenshin nodded as he scooted over, and Kevin hit the shoulder of one of the guys who was smiling. "Hi, Alex, I'm Kevin, Kenshin's friend. Listen, I'm sorry we all acted like a bunch of jerks. Can you forgive us?" He held out a hand.

Josh, meanwhile, looked over at Kenshin. "By the way, Ken, we figured out who was behind this. It was Mike, man. He spotted you guys at a drive in a while ago, so when he got to school he started spreading stuff around."

Kenshin clenched his fist. "Mike!? Mike did this?! Damn it, he's supposed to be my friend. What the hell was he thinking, going around spreading something like that?!" He looked around the table. "Where is he?"

Kyle looked over at Kenshin. "He's in the office. He helps Ms. Kelly during lunch."

Kenshin sat back, then looked over at Alex.

((...right...I knew that.))


Alex sighed and nodded before smiling and shaking his hand.
"Yeah, we're cool."
she said. Her eyes shot at Kenshin exactly as his did. She stood up and looked down at him.
"Well, are you gunna sit there like a bump on a log or do something?!"