A/N: More writing homework. Write something from the past, then find an event similar that occured a few years later, or just recently. Put them together. And before you ask, 'Selene' is just as much my name as 'Mer' was, or as 'sheeps' is. Meaning it's a nickname on here. No more.

"Do it…." they whispered, the sharp, breathy words echoed by the others. "Do it… do it…"

I remember biting my lip and looking around. Crystal was on the other side of the room talking with Teacher. My teeth tore of a bit of skin and nibbled on it in indecision as I looked back at the tower of blocks. It was a bad habit of mine… sometimes I would taste blood from doing it so much. Sometimes I still do.

"Do it…. dooooooo it…" they said, begging and ordering at the same time.

I remember wondering if I should… Crystal had spent a long time trying to get the blocks to balance on each other just right. And the tower looked so nice, like the palace from Aladin. I wished I could take a picture. Maybe if I had a picture of it, I could do it.

I remember feeling guilty as I looked around. Guilty because I knew it was wrong and it would hurt Crystal's feelings, guilty because I knew I was going to do it anyways; guilty because I didn't like Crystal, and wouldn't care too much at first if she was sad, even though I should. She spoke in Spanish to her friends while pointing to me and giggling, and she had pulled my hair a lot when I first came to school in the middle of the year last year.

I remember resolving my conflict quickly, locking out the guilt as I grinned to my class mates. I had no idea how big a role the towers would play later in my life.

"Should I?" I asked, reaching for a block in the middle. Their faces turned eager.

"Yes! Yes! Do it!" the chanted quietly. I stole a glance at the teacher again.

"Are you guys sure?" I asked, moving my hand closer. One of the boys groaned and threw himself backwards, landing flat on his back, arms flung out in despair.

I looked around the room. The rest of my classmates were looking down at their games, but their eyes kept peeking out to see if I had pulled it yet.

I heaved a dramatic sigh and reached to pull the block, reciting the words that were my excuse for everything:

"All right, but you guys made me-"

In the instant before the palace collapsed I felt the guilt swarm me, take me by surprise. I remember the bricks tumbled slowly through the air, drifting to the ground like leaves. Gravity vanished, and my classmates ran through the air like they were running through Jello. Sound disappeared, and while I knew my classmates were shouting, I didn't hear them. I knew the teacher called my name, but I didn't hear her. All I could do was watch as Crystal's tower of blocks slowly collapsed to the ground.

Crystal shoved me away, breaking my trance. No sooner had I hit the floor then the Teacher grabbed my arm and dragged me back up.

"Go outside! That was very wrong of you, Selene! Shame on you!"

I looked at my shoes as the door slammed behind me, cutting off Crystal’s wails. I shivered. My jacket was still in the class room. I sat down outside the door, curling up against the cool September morning. Crystal was going to really hate me now, I thought. We had hated each other before, ever since I became the new kid at school a year ago, but this was big hate, now. This was war. I sighed and climbed on the railing of the ramp that led to the door. Dangling my feet, I remember not wanting to go back inside. If I went back, everyone would stare at me, and I would have to look at Crystal…

For crying out loud, they were just towers. They weren’t even real towers, they were just bits of wood. I knew I shouldn’t have done it, but for that moment, it felt so good to finally get one over her. To finally do something to make Crystal upset… until she started crying. I felt like throwing up. Teacher was going to tell my parents. Then I was going to be in really big trouble. Again.

The bell range, announcing the end of breakfast. A moment later, Teacher came and opened the door, holding it open for me. I hesitated a moment, then sucked it up. I went back inside and acted as if nothing had happened. I ignored the whispers and giggles paired with glances my way. I felt horrible, like I was going to be sick at any moment. I caught Crystal glaring at me with tear streaks down her cheeks before she jerked her head away to face the teacher again. I wanted to crawl inside my desk and hide forever and ever, until the end of the school year. Everything would be all better then.

Watching the towers collapse on TV on that day in September, Crystal's blocks somehow wormed their way into my mind. Mom had been driving me to school that morning. We were having our usual debate over why school had to start so early now, when we have all the time in the world, day and night. She was saying something when the news came on the radio. She froze, and I remember her naturally pale Irish skin turning grey as the reporter repeated the information. No mistake. We heard right. Not only had foreign military forces set foot in our country without our consent, but they bombed us. They took down one of our logos, one of the things that made America America. It wasn’t as bad as if they had taken down the statue of liberty, but boy, if I had a bomb at that moment, they would be dust.

While my mom’s response had been disbelief and then fear, mine had been disbelief and anger. How dare they? How could they possibly think to bomb us, us, and get away with it? What made them think they could? What made them think we wouldn’t go bomb their whole god-damn effing country? Huh? After a moment, I remember the terror hit. We had been bombed, and we let it happen. And there would be more. America was attacked on her own home soil, and it could happen again. I didn’t care that I was a few minutes late when the report ended, only that we were now unquestionably at war. There was no debate to be had.

I can’t remember her exact words, but Mom wanted me to tell people what happened just now. I busted into every class room on my way to my own, denting every wall where the door hit it.

“Turn on the radio! Turn on the news! We’ve been attacked! The World Trade Center’s gone!” I said every time, overlapping the words with each class I slammed, never stopping for longer than it took me to say the first part. By time I reached my own class room, I was out of breath. Before the teacher could lecture me, I gasped out the lines, desperate for her to know what had just happened.

The news spread through the school like wildfire. After the first break, everyone knew. We all went to a lecture on what to do if we were bombed. Later that night, Bush announced on the news that we were at war.

We were at war.

Crystal and I had been at war with each other even before I took down her towers of blocks. My actions only increased its ferocity. Nobody had really won it. I haven’t seen her since the second grade. I had moved to a town three hours away that summer. We left at a truce, I guess. So long as we didn’t see each other, we wouldn’t, we couldn’t, fight each other.

But a country? Two seven-year-old girls are easy to forget, to turn a blind eye to. It’s a lot harder to not see a country, no matter how small it is. And even if it was easy, those guys took down our towers. Even if we could turn a blind eye to them before, we’ll always see them now. It’s an unforgivable crime, to take down towers. And we won’t be the ones to change how unforgivable it is.

We are at war.