Abel Cedeno was the first person to kill another student in a New York City school since 1993.

The person who survived Cedeno's attack, Ariane Laboy, finally faced him Tuesday in court.

"We're very happy that he was finally able to speak about this. It's been very, very difficult for him physically, emotionally," Matthew Blit, an attorney for Laboy, said outside the courthouse.

Laboy initially struggled to testify about the fight, hanging his head and crying. After all, his close friend, Matthew McCree, was stabbed to death by Cedeno. Laboy was allowed to leave the courtroom for 15 minutes to compose himself. McCree's mother also left the court room in tears. But Laboy returned to the stand.

"This gave him the opportunity to finally confront the person who plunged a knife into him," Blit said.

Laboy described that moment Tuesday. He said Cedeno challenged McCree to fight because he believed McCree threw a paper ball at him. Laboy said that when he saw McCree clutching his chest, he jumped over a desk to defend his friend.

But after tangling with Cedeno, "I looked down and there was a hole in my chest," Laboy testified.

Defense attorney Robert Feldman aggressively questioned the 18-year-old, asking if he got good grades, graduated, belonged to a gang, and even if he'd used drugs before court. The judge tossed out many of the questions before Laboy could answer them.

"Completely unprofessional and inappropriate. He was trying to attack my client, but my client was able to stand his ground," Blit said.

Cedeno's attorneys have sought to paint the students he stabbed as troublemakers, and have said Cedeno was bullied for being gay.

"For year after year after year, he just took the abuse. Until he couldn't take it anymore," said Thomas D. Shanahan, a civil attorney for Cedeno.

One of the two teachers in the history class, Nicholas Kennedy, testified that he yelled at the students to stop and eventually grabbed Laboy. Kennedy said a dean's assistant finally broke up the fight, and only then did he realize he had blood on his hands and clothes.

The second teacher in the classroom during the stabbing is slated to testify Wednesday.