At the human elementary school Faris and I attended, the gym storage room was more of a shed than a room. It was located in a separate building on a big grassy field that was typically used for football, dodgeball and other such team sports during our weekly physical education class. Since the classes that could use it operated on a rotation and we weren't werewolves who were required to have daily physical education, there was almost no need for anyone to go there.

That should have been my second clue that something was wrong.

For a few months after the almost fight that broke out, a girl in our class called me out. She was a pale, sickly and mousy girl who always hid behind her bangs. Although we didn't talk much, I didn't have any negative feelings towards her. Plus I was bored from waiting for Faris to come back from the bathroom so we could walk over to my house together. So when she asked if she could ask me something in the hall, I agreed leaving my stuff in the classroom.

For a while, she just sort of looked at me, fidgeting. It was made all the more awkward from how hard it was to see her eyes from behind her large foggy glasses. Yet, no matter how long we stood in the hallway, she just kept looking at me without speaking.

Unable to take it anymore, I asked, "What is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

When she still didn't answer, I said, "Well when you remember, let me know. I'm going to go back to the classroom now."

"W-Wait!" She all but screamed the word while grabbing onto the grey sleeve of my uniform.

Trying very hard not to stare at her shaking hand on my arm, I said, "Yeah? Did you remember what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah." She licked her seemingly dry lips and swallowed. "You're friends with the Governor's son, right?"

"You mean Faris?"

She nodded.

So I asked, "What about him?"

"H-He...well he..."

Why is she so nervous? Everyone knows we always hang out together. "Did he say or do something?"

"Y-yeah." She took a deep breath that reminded me of the sort Leyla took before a particularly long dance practice session. "He asked me to tell you to meet him in front of the gym storage room. If you want, I can show you where he's waiting for you."

She spoke so fast that I didn't doubt her words. After all, it was logical to assume that she was just nervous about delivering a message to someone who's mom controlled the entire ward. Having my mind come up with such a reasonable excuse for the girl's actions, I did not stop to ask why a trip to the bathroom turned into a trip to the gym storage room. I did not stop to ask why he wouldn't have come got me first when the classroom was so much closer than the gym storage room.

No, I only nodded and said, "Thanks for the help and for walking with me."

Likewise she just nodded and started leading the way. Even when I kept trying to get her to talk to me, she just kept on walking, as if I never said anything. So after a while, I gave up and started humming the maqam to a song I was supposed to memorize by the end of the week. It still wasn't perfect, but I doubted my classmate could tell and it at least helped to pass the time until we got to the gym storage room.

When we finally did reach the storage room, the usually small wooden structure looked as large as Faris' house. I shook my head at the weird thought. It was smaller than my living room. How could it possibly be so large? To distract myself, I looked every which way, but there was no sign of my friend.

"Hey." I turned to my classmate. "Where's Faris?"

She pointed at the shed door and just when I was about to say something, I closed it and opened my mouth again. "There's no lock."

Normally there was a big metal chain with a lock as big as my fist to stop us from going inside. Although Leyla did brag to me that the lock wasn't that hard to break, but I wasn't entirely sure if she was speaking from experience or not. Still, she must have been right because there's no way any of the adults would have forgotten to lock it.

Thinking more on it, I looked my classmate as much in the eyes as her glasses would allow. "Why is he inside?"

"Why?" She looked away. "Oh, he said he wanted to show you something, but that...that it was a surprise."

Even if it was a little annoying, something like a "surprise" from Faris didn't strike me as odd. Maybe it was because he spent his home life and weekends with werewolves, but sometimes there wasn't really a reason why he did certain things. It was like a whim struck him and while everyone else had to stop and think, his siblings and parents meant that he could just act and worry about the consequences later. Besides anything that would save me from the awkwardness of this exchange had to be a blessing.

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"Thanks," I muttered.

"Your thanking me," She said. "Why?"

"For telling me that he's inside and showing me the way."

"You don't have to—" She stared at her iron-colored shoes, cutting herself off.

"I don't have to what?" I asked, not completely sure why I did.

"You don't have to...have to...say thank you."

Now it was my turn to nod, not sure why she said that. It was probably just a personality quirk. With only a single thought, I put away thoughts of my classmate as I opened the creaky wooden door. It was really dark and I couldn't see inside clearly. I frowned in disbelief that Faris was making have to search for a light switch just to see his surprise.

When I stepped inside, to do just that, my classmate from behind yelled, "Watch out! To your left."

Moving to the side out of instinct, more than anything else I narrowly missed a metal bat that would have hit me straight in the head. "What?"

At that moment, a light turned on. I blinked, not really understanding my surroundings. To the side of me was someone tied up with some gym rope and duct tape. When they started squirming, I caught a flash of familiar forest-colored eyes.

Looking at the other side of the small room, I said, "Faris?"

Loud muffled words that I couldn't make out answered me, making me look back at the spot that almost turned my head into a smashed watermelon. Just in time before another swing made its way to my side. By a stroke of luck more than any real athletic ability, I managed to narrowly dodge again.

"Aw, I missed again." I looked up into the eyes of a boy from my class—the same one Faris had punched all those months ago. "I won't miss a third time."

To his side were two other boys from our class. There's no way I would have been able to make it out the door so I dodged behind Faris, hoping that I'd at least be able to loosen the rope binding his hands.

When I barely touched the ropes, Faris tucked in both his legs, slamming them into the boy's side. He fell over and the metal bat rolled to the ground.

"Ow, that hurt. "

As the boy struggled to get up and his two friends made for us, I quickly grabbed the bat. All I knew was that if he got up or any of them got close, I was going to be a watermelon.

I don't want to die. Not like this.

Without hesitating, I slammed the bat against his head, hearing it make a loud crunch. A small trickle of blood began to slide down his head, but his hands were still twitching a bit. His ever approaching friends also looked mad. No not just mad, but really really mad.

I clutched the bat tighter, smashing it over and over the boy's head until he was the watermelon.

One of the two boy's face's scrunched up like a lemon. "You...you killed him!"

He took out what looked like a pocket knife, but where did he get one? Even the safety scissors we brought to school had to be a certain size.

I held the bloodied bat in front of me like a sword. "Don't come any closer."

From behind, someone pushed him to the ground, making his knife slide across the room. It was the girl who led me here. A part of me also remembered that she was the one who yelled out the warning. With her on top of one of the boys, I made eye contact with the remaining boy. I wasn't fast, but it was closer to me.

I sprinted harder than I'd ever sprinted in my life, a small ache growing in my side. My hand caught it seconds before the other boy did. He bit my arm hard to try to get me to let go, but I held on tight and slammed it into his neck. Unlike the bat, I had to struggle a bit to get the blade to break through his flesh and bone. When I pulled it out, his hand covered his wound so I stabbed him again and again and again. It didn't matter where as long as it was him and not me getting stabbed.

Eventually he fell limp and I pushed him off me. The other girl was still on top of the last boy but there was no telling how long she would be able to hold him down. Plus I was lucky with the other two. There's no telling how lucky I'd be with a third, much taller boy. I got up trying to look everywhere, but at the red all around me. I could throw up and cry later, but not now.

I don't want to die.

On staggering feet, I made my way to Faris and cut through his bounds. He rubbed his arms and legs before taking the knife just as the last boy finally pushed our female classmate off of him. He looked at the two bodies, tears welling up in his eyes and ran towards me. Before he could make it, Faris lunged the knife between his ribcage, making the boy's dark dark eyes widen.

Faris pulled out the knife with more ease than I could ever do and the final boy fell to the ground in a pool of his own blood. Only then did I also fall, biting on my lower lip to stop myself from screaming. If people came, there would be nothing that could save us.

I don't want to die.

As if in answer to my mental mantra, the girl said, "I'll take the blame. Let me change clothes with you and then you two can get out of here."

Unable to form words, I let Faris speak for me when he asked, "Why would you do that?"

"Because she was nice to me." She paused and me straight in the eyes. "You were nice to me and no one is ever nice to me. Even if I get arrested or die, my parents won't care so please let me do this."

What was I supposed to say to that sort of confession? I just stared at her. Yet almost against my will, my mouth moved for me. "I was the one who started this. I don't want someone else to take the blame for something I did."

"You were like a knight in shining armor," she said. "Someone like me won't ever meet someone like this again so please let me take the blame for you."

Just as I was going to refuse again, Faris said, "I think we should listen to her."

I looked to him in shock, but I was too tired and weak to be able to agree. So like a robot I wiped off all the blood with my clothes and changed into her clean uniform. I didn't even comment when I saw the bruises that covered her much smaller body. Next, I watched as she put her hands all over the bat and knife. When Faris and I finally left the gym storage shed, I was not able to even look back once.