"And you try to stop the bullies from picking on the kids who can't protect themselves, but then they just turn on you instead, and the kids you tried to help are too afraid of you to bother," John continued the thought, shaking his head in frustration. "I never would have thought I'd understand the conflict in the Middle East better than I understand high school."
Not for the first time, John compared high school to the Lebanese Civil War, down to the different cliques as specific religious factions. There really was no way to win in either situation, you just had to deal with it and hope for the best.
"It didn't look much bigger than any of the others in the neighborhood," John told her, "though they aren't small houses by any estimation. They're old colonials, usually four or five bedrooms. This looks so much bigger from in here than it did outside. I suppose it could be, though, since we're suspending the laws of physics just being here."