Michelle had expected Luke to be terribly angry with her when she told him she had made that bit up about Jordon. She been trying to irritate him in a petty sense of whatinflicting her upset feelings from a month ago on him? How petty and obnoxious was that? Michelle deserved to be ridiculed, now that she thought it through. When he only hinted at a smile and sat back in his chair, she was so surprised, she just stood there, next to the table, staring at him with her bright blue eyes opened wide, while he righted her teacup.

The surprise she felt at his reaction, however, what nothing compared to the shock she experienced at his next statementthat Jordon had been the one to start it. Jordon had his faults, certainly, but Michelle had never seriously imagined that he could become violent without being provoked. For a brief moment she considered that Luke might very well be lying about thatbut no. Something told her that he was telling the truth.

She crossed her arms over her chest, hugging her own shoulders. The very idea of Jordon starting a duel leant a new, even scarier spin on the incident just before Christmas. Hed used turns of speech that shed found uncomfortable beforewords like Youre not walking away from me, "I told you I wouldn't take no for an answer, and even Don't think I can't, all demanding behavior from her that she didn't want. These kinds of coercive phrases were practically foreign to the gentle circles in which Michelle moved.

After shed had more time to think about it, shed concluded that Jordon was just talking big. Now she wondered if shed been wrong about that. If he could pick fights under the table like that, what else was he capable of? Michelles face paled somewhat as she considered this, and then recalled that shed been alone in the library with him only a week ago. Perhaps it was lucky that her table was within the view of Madam Pince! Michelle leaned her hands against the table as she sat down in her chair.

Michelle was occasionally teased amongst her friends, girls who thought it was silly to consider boys frightening at all. But boys were scary. This was cemented in Michelles mind once again.

Can we get out of here? Michelle asked. Maybe get some fresh air?