[Rissa]

Matt looked at his mother sadly, wiping his face with his sleeve and wincing slightly as his hand brushed against his bruised eye. "Y-you f-forgive us t-then?" He asked meekly, tears still in the corners of his eyes. Eli frowned a bit as their mother told them she had to punish them at least a little, worried about how Matt would handle that. He noticed his twin's eyes go downcast when their mother stated they deserved detention because she didn't want them using violence to solve the problems, adding on that they'd had this conversation in the past. She wasn't wrong... He looked surprised when she said they'd only get lines to write and the bullies would get more, in a way. Eli nodded as he was told to go back to class. "Okay..." he muttered in a tone that hid some sadness he still felt, heading for his classroom. It was the last class, so the boys didn't have to hide their sadness for long, but Eli knew it would be difficult for Matt to contain his emotions.

After getting ice from the infirmary, Matt was sent back to his own class, although he heard a few snickers from the bullies in the back of the room as he went to his seat and the teacher continued the lesson. After class let out, the bullies, still unaware of their fated punishment awaiting them bumped his shoulder as they left to head for detention. The teen didn't really care what they did at this point and went to meet up with Eli, arriving at the detention hall as the bullies were smirking at them. "What's wrong? Did you charity cases upset your mommy?" Colton smirked, expecting Matthew to rage so he could get a punch in for making him have to stay after school. Matt ignored him and sat in the front beside Eli. Melinda wasn't in the room yet, but she had heard the boy mock the twins, walking in as Jackson threw a rubber eraser, catching it before it hit Eli in the back of the head, giving the twins an approving nod, before looking to the bullies sternly. "That's enough!" She snapped, both bullies shrinking back as they hadn't expected her to be their detention watch. "Elijah, Matthew, start writing." She said sternly as she dropped two notebooks on their desk. "I want that notebook full by the end of detention. You will write 'Violence is not an acceptable reaction.' until I say otherwise. And in addition, Elijah, you will give me a paragraph of the rules I have in my class for taking your training outside of sparring. You know better..."

The twins nodded silently, Eli feeling a bit more upset again to see his favorite teacher disappointed in him. The number one rule she had in the martial arts classes she ran was not to use their taught training outside of the gym.She heard the boys snickering in the back, Jackson and Colton, and her eyes narrowed at them. "You two. Up front. NOW. I have a different punishment for the both of you in mind." The two once snickering prideful bullies shrunk back as she folded her arms over her chest and glared at them. "Do I need to repeat myself? Come here. NOW!" Eli winced as he sensed the anger in her voice, but continued writing, not wanting to be on the receiving end of any extra punishment. Matt glanced up a bit as the bullies passed him, Colton sneering at him: "What are YOU looking at, freak?"

Melinda grasped Colton by the ear at that point, dragging him over to the desk and seating herself gracefully on the edge before she pulled him over her knee, pinning him in place with her other leg. "I warned you. I was only going to give you and your associate here the fifteen minute spanking I'm happy I'll be able to deliver, but that little stunt earned you a harsher sting, boy." The woman opened one of the desk drawers and pulled a heavy paddle out, setting it on the desk where Colton saw it and his eyes went wide. Proceeding to yank his jeans down and not even hesitating in following with the boxers coming down, she raised her hand back and landed a sound, echoing: WHACK! One of many to come. She looked up to Jackson and pointed to the seat up front. "You sit there and don't move a muscle. You're up after Mr. Smartmouth, here." She warned. "Try to run and I'll send you to the office and you'll get MUCH worse, believe me."

"Hey! OW! STOP IT, YOU WITCH!" Colton yelled, kicking back to no avail as she had his legs locked in place and was far stronger than him. After a few more insults from the boy and seeing Jackson try to make a run for it, the woman had put up with enough. "Alright, you two have gotten on my LAST nerve. You clearly need more than I've been given permission to deal to you." She scolded, fierce anger in her voice and eyes. Looking to the twins, specifically Eli, she said in both a stern warning voice and calm tone for their moods seeming down, she didn't want to add to it. "Can I trust you two not to leave here until I return?" She asked calmly as she dragged both of the bullies to the door by their ears. "Eli?"

"Y-yes, ma'am..." Eli replied, Matt simply nodding in agreement as he continued to write the lines over and over in the notebook, a few tears staining the pages. "Good. I will be back in a bit." She sighed, returning her attention to the defiant boys trying to free themselves from her strong grasp. "Alright, you two. Come with me. I believe you'll be more apologetic answering to the principal herself..." She grumbled as she dragged them off to the office. Eli glanced over to his twin who seemed almost hypnotized by his sadness, looking broken up over their actions. "Matt, you know mom forgives you -- us, right? She clearly defended us in this situation... Miss Melinda is not a woman you want to anger. I've learned that myself, unfortunately. Try to cheer up a bit... She's not mad at us and she'll be happier if we do as she's told and all will be forgotten by the time we head home..." The usually quieter twin sighed, patting his brother on the shoulder affectionately. Matt smiled a little, prompting a relieved sigh from Eli. "Thanks, big bro..." He replied. No-one would know it by the way they acted, but Eli was the older twin by two minutes. Eli smirked a bit in response. "What a difference two minutes makes..." he mused, before the two went back to their silent writing, finishing up as the detention bell went off. Eli had done more than just the lines and paragraph to try to make amends with Miss Melinda. He wrote a personal apology to her in addition, expressing his regret in upsetting her, and his thanks for her support. The boys waited for their mother to come get them since they hadn't seen Melinda since she left with the bullies. "I don't even want to imagine what those two are going through. Even if they deserve it..." Matt sighed, finally speaking without tears, since detention was over and they were allowed to talk until their parent came to tell them otherwise. "When mom's mad, she's MAD. And I can't imagine your teacher not going through with punishing them, too. And from how ticked off they both were, Colton and Jackson won't be sitting right for a day or two..."

"Yeah...I get what you mean. Hopefully the guys'll leave us alone from now on, though... I can't stand what they say about her... Or about me... err... us..." Eli slipped up in his response, getting a suspicious look from his twin in reaction. "N-nevermind, forget I said--"

"Spill it, bro. What have they said about you? Since when do we keep secrets?" Matt replied flatly. "Are they calling you out again because you like both guys and girls? Honestly... You need to stand up for yourself more... I guess we'll have to be logically verbal instead of physical, though. Unless we want to tick mom off again. And I really don't want that..." Matt continued. "You really should tell mom what they call you..."


"N-no! Mom can't know that they've called me those things! You swore not to tell! You CAN'T tell! She'll freak out if she knows about my..." Eli went quiet, but Matt shook his head, neither twin noticing Melinda had re-entered the room with the bullies who were now in hysterics and pointed them to the corner, both bullies with their cherry red butts out as they stood with their noses to the corner. "If anyone other than them or you know my 'preference', I'd ... I .... I don't know what I'd do..."


Melinda suddenly coughed, attracting the twin brothers' attention, prompting Eli to jump in his seat slightly. "Are those notebooks full as I instructed? And did you write me that paragraph, Eli?" She asked calmly, noticing Eli had left his notebook open to the last page which was his apology to her. Arching an eyebrow, she took the notebook from him and read the letter, her eyes softening as she looked back down at the nervous teen, lightly thumping his head affectionately. "Apology accepted, squirt." She said in a warmer voice, before her eyes went stern again. "Now what's this about something your mother can't know about?"

Eli dropped his head onto the desk in frustration. "I c-can't...." He started to tear up, but Miss Melinda stood her ground. "You're going to have to tell me before I let you leave. Now spill it. What are you keeping from her?"

Eli remained silent, so Matt placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, looking up to the teacher he knew Eli favored as his favorite teacher, and alongside their mother and him, his favorite person in the school. "It's okay, bro... You trust her, right...?" Eli nodded silently. "And you trust mom, don't you?" He asked, Eli nodding silently again. "And I KNOW you trust me. So out with it. It's not a big deal... No-one that you trust, no-one that loves you will disown you for how you feel..." Neither of the brothers noticed their mother in the doorway, but Miss Melinda did, as she went up and showed Eli's additional formal apology to her with a smile, before her smile faded and she gestured to the twins and Matt trying to get Eli to talk about something she couldn't get out of him, hoping their mother could get to the bottom of the issue. Before their mother could speak to announce her presence, Eli blurted out his secret without noticing she was there. "It's not easy to be attracted to girls AND guys, Matt! How do you think people would react if they find out I'm bi?! My friends would FLEE from me! And don't give me that crap that if they're my REAL friends they'd stay by my side! I'm fully aware of that!" he half-yelled. "W-what if mom freaks out?! I can't stand the idea of losing her!" He now had blurted out his secret, unknowingly in front of his mother.