In His Defence

Regina Connolly and Jonah Parker were waiting in the main office of their school, Jonah sporting a busted lip and a torn shirt, Gina's legs and arms tightly crossed, both of them glaring daggers in opposite directions. They were waiting for their parents to arrive so that the four of them could enter the principal's office and discuss the reason they were there; that Gina and Jonah had been caught in a fist fight while changing periods.

When her father and his mother entered the office, Gina's eyes met her dad's and her expression immediately changed from one of anger to one of slightly less anger, mixed with some guilt and sadness. Guilt for punching the kid, sadness and anger for the reason she'd done it.

The coordinator pushed a button on the intercom. 'Principal Carter, Mr. O'Brian and Mrs. Parker are here to discuss today's little incident,' she said. They heard a static-y reply, and the coordinator pointed to her left at a door with a plaque reading 'Principal's Office' on it. 'Go right in,' she said.

The four entered the room and saw the principal sitting at her desk opposite four chairs, which she gestured for them to sit down in. Once they had sat down (Gina and Jonah still refusing to look at each other), Carter spoke.

'As I explained to both of you over the phone,' she said, looking from Mr. O'Brian to Mrs. Parker, 'we're here because Jonah and Regina were caught having a physical fight in the hallways between classes. This is a chance to hear both sides of the story.'

'Well all I did was make fun of some lame superhero and she just went completely nuts on me,' Jonah said loudly.

'That is so not how it happened!' Gina snapped. 'You sh—'

'Stop it, both of you,' Carter said, holding up her hands to quiet the two teenagers. 'You'll both get a chance to tell us your perspective, but nothing will get resolved if you're both shouting at each other. Gina?'

'You shoved me first!' she finished. She glanced at Carter, and when the latter nodded in encouragement, kept going. 'You were bad-mouthing a member of the Justice League, whom they chose, and so I told you to keep your fat mouth shut, and you told me to make you, and then you shoved me. Then I busted your lip.'

Carter looked from Gina to Jonah. 'Is this true?' she asked.

'Ugh,' he said. 'Okay, fine, I did push her first, but only because she threatened me and was getting all angry over nothing! Who cares what "Leaguer"'—he drew air quotes around the word—'I was talking about—'

'I do!' Gina said fiercely. 'And don't you air quote him as if he's not a "real Leaguer" or whatever—!'

'Who is this Leaguer that the both of you are so adamant about?' Carter asked—it shouldn't matter, but curiosity had gotten the better of her.

'Plastic Man,' both of them said at once—Gina's voice full of emotion, Jonah's full of disdain. Gina glanced for a split second at her father; he had raised his eyebrows slightly, but was otherwise keeping his face determinedly straight.

'Okay,' Carter said. 'You said before that you told Jonah to stop talking about Plastic Man that way, and then he shoved you. But you, Jonah, say that she threatened you. What precisely did you two say to each other?'

'She told me to keep my big fat mouth shut before she shut it for me,' Jonah said. 'Then, okay, yes, I told her to make me and pushed her—but she started it! And threw the first real punch!'

'But you were the first one to touch her,' Carter said.

Jonah let out a huff of air. 'Yes...' he said.