According to a 1991 study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, approximately one in twenty-five high school students carries a gun. Geoffrey points out that every street had its fair share of violence and alpha hierarchy, but then it came to schools like Public School 99, none of that mattered. Clashes are inevitable and he later learned that Union Avenue was much safer than going through other people's streets, because that was like enemy territory. Reputation at school had to be earned, battles had to be won to stay in the hierarchy. The kids only cared if you had heart or not, having heart meant you weren't afraid, that you would fight even if you couldn't beat the other kid. As far as middle school was concerned, fights stuck to fists and the occasional knife fight off the block. The bloc had its own codes of conduct. One of these was that no man could let another man take his property, just as he was never allowed to resign, no one trusted someone who could not bear punishment, and no one trusted someone who could not bear punishment.