Fortunately, it was a small handful of shit to start with. There was only one of them.

Unfortunately, he elected to jump me right as I was leaving school. I hadn’t been focusing on any kind of glamor or the like. Nor, of course, was I armed.

I managed to knock his first blow aside nonetheless. “Not here,” I hissed.

“Die,” was all he responded.

A teacher was starting to come over; I hoped she didn’t plan on intervening. I was trying to just defend myself, to get the warhammer he was using out of his hand. They probably saw a baseball bat again.

“You guys have no respect for the people who own this city,” I hissed again, trying to keep it quiet.

“What is the meaning of this?”

“It’s none of your business!” he yelled, trying to knock the wind out of me with his fists. I made use of the distraction to twist sideways and grab his wrist in a move I’d learned from Kanesha and put him on the ground.

“I don’t know, he’s just nuts!”

He was still trying to pick himself up, but I put my foot on him.

“I am calling the police. Young lady, violence is never an acceptable response.”

Which meant I was in trouble, even though it was obviously self-defense. I glared down at him.

He glared back, but didn’t try to get away until I stepped back to let him up.

Then he sprung to his feet, glanced around at all the people watching, and ran. Leaving the hammer behind.

I didn’t dare pick it up with the teacher glaring at me.

“I’ll have you suspended.”

“For self-defense?” somebody called. “She was supposed to let him beat her into a pulp with a baseball bat?”

I was glad somebody was sticking up for me, but mostly just wanted to disappear. Being careful not to want that too much, in case it actually happened, I just shook my head.

“Oh, very well. We’ll see what the cops have to say about it.”

“I’ll tell the cops that he attacked her unprovoked,” the same person said. It wasn’t a student. It was probably a parent, I thought, a heavyset man.

I would gladly stay until the cops got there. I leaned against the fence, the teacher still glaring at me.

When they did show up, one of them was a woman I’d met with Mike. “Not in trouble again, Jane?”

“See…”

I could tell the teacher was about to go onto a rant about how I deserved to be at the very least suspended. Inwardly sighing, I remained silent.