"Won't somebody hold me and tell me it'll all work out, Say that there's nothing to worry about now, Cause I'm so sick of the drama and I hate to shout... Say something before I go crazy now"

[Song: "I Go Crazy" - Orla Garland ]

RECAP:

Taking advantage of the confusion of the three transfers hanging out with Naomi, Jordan came up with a brilliant plan: they were going to pretend to bully Naomi.

Trigger Warning: Depictions of verbal and physical bullying.

~

I dropped my binder.

This was bound to happen when you have been shoved to the ground from behind. I crashed onto the floor, having a rough landing on my arms. Wincing at the ache of my arms that took the force of my fall, I managed to sit up.

I turned around and looked up to see them- the three transfer students. Declan wore his signature scowl, his dark brown eyes felt piercing in his glare. Bennett stared at me with cold blue eyes that could bring a shiver down one's spine. And finally, Jordan whose bright green eyes had a particular glint in them. With his kind smile on his face, Jordan moved forward and held his hand out to me to help me up.

I hesitated, for a slight moment, I hesitated, but I knew I didn't have to. I felt the smile on my lips fighting to break free. My hand reached out to his own- a welcoming, comforting hand of a friend.

"Sike!" Jordan exclaimed, having pulled his hand away and instead used it to run it through his hair.

Well, who was supposed to be my friend.

Jordan laughed. "I'm just messing with you, Lorraine."

He reached out and grabbed my hand, pulling me back to my feet, but just when I was about to manage my footing he instantly let go. The students filling the school halls surrounded me in laughter. I would have either been embarrassed or furious at them if I wasn't too busy cringing at the smooth landing of my ass to the ground.

"Then again..." Jordan mused, cocking his head to the side as he looked down at me. "You look better on the ground. I'd even think you two would make a good match." He smiled at Bennett. "What do you think is a good ship name? Floornomi? I'm thinking Floornomi."

Bennett sighed and looked away. "Just get this over with, Jordan. She's a waste of time."

"Au contraire," Jordan said lightly as he smirked at me. "She's our cute little toy we can bully anytime we want."

The hall was filled with whispers of the bystanders. My eyes flitted to see the students around me, catching their snickers and sneers.

"I can't believe I actually thought they were friends. This makes more sense now."

"This whole time the transfers just wanted to mess with her."

"Why does seeing them put Naomi in her place make them even hotter?"

I gritted my teeth at the whispers and turned my attention back to Jordan. "I'm not your little toy, Wallace," I snapped at him.

Jordan narrowed his eyes at me. He leaned down to me and with a hand jutted my chin upward to force me to look at him.

"I'd beg to differ, Naomi, although I'm not really one to beg, I can imagine you're used to it."

"Aw Jordan, don't tell me," I told him. "You're so insecure about your height that you're that desperate to look down at someone."

A scowl appeared on Jordan's face. He tsked and let go of my chin. "Stand up, toy," he ordered me.

I glared at him. "I said I'm not-"

Jordan snapped his fingers. "Declan."

Declan moved forward and grabbed my wrist to yank me up. I tried to fight back against him as I hissed out, "Let go of me!"

When Declan got me to stand up back on my feet, he told me, "You should start learning how to be obedient. After all, you're a girl. It should be second nature."

I yanked my wrist out of his grasp. "Like your second nature of being sexist?" Declan glared at me for my retort.

A guy passing by came up to us and scoffed. "When she talks back, you just need to remind her why she needs to shut up."

When the guy raised his arm poised to hit me, but just as he began to move, Declan grabbed his arm. Declan's hand visibly tightened as he glared at the student who realized their mistake.

"Who said you're allowed to bully her too?" Declan demanded, each word sounded like it was a punch to his stomach. The guy quickly yanked his arm back and backed away.

Jordan smirked and casually put his arm around Declan's shoulders. This was amusing because Jordan was a few inches shorter than Declan meaning he pulled Declan down in order for it to work. However, Declan didn't agree with me given the annoyed look on his face.

"Now now, Declan," Jordan mused, letting go of Declan. "No need to be so possessive of Naomi here." He then looked back at me. "But then again, I wouldn't want anyone else to share in on the fun."

"I don't know about fun, but she is useful," Bennett told Jordan before handing me his textbook.

I narrowed my eyes at the textbook then at the person holding it. "First I'm your toy and now I'm your servant?"

Jordan took the textbook from Bennett and weighed it in his hand. "This textbook is pretty heavy. Well, if you don't want to carry it, we can always work on our target practice."

I instantly snatched the textbook from Jordan. Once again, the halls were filled with whispers and snickering.

Jordan smirked. "Good girl," Jordan said as he handed me another textbook.

-

I put my head down, my forehead meeting the cold surface of the textbook. "Toy? Seriously?" I asked Jordan in disbelief. "You had to choose the most demeaning thing to insult me with? Declan even had to say that line because of you."

"Please don't remind me of that," Declan grumbled as he took out his notebook from his backpack. "I'm still trying to forget it."

"Oh c'mon, it's not that bad," Jordan defended. "Anyway, you made it even by calling me out on my height, which was pretty fast by the way. I almost had whiplash."

I shrugged at that. After dealing with insults on a daily basis, my comebacks come naturally at this point.

"Anyway, that insult didn't make any sense," he huffed. "I'm not even that short. I'm 5'8"!"

Declan frowned to himself. "Are you rounding up a couple inches or... "

Jordan shot him a glare. "Keep talking, Lynch, but I'm just waiting for my chance to cut you down to size."

There was a curt laugh. "That doesn't matter. I'll still be taller than you."

Suddenly, Jordan and Declan jerked forward in their seats as if they were moving to start a fight, both of them matching a glare.

"Enough," Bennett said curtly without looking from the textbook, making the two of them freeze.

I looked around in the classroom to catch a few stares from the tables, but surprisingly the teacher was in the middle of helping a student to notice. Declan and Jordan always seemed to be at each other's throats that I don't understand how they can be friends. Moreso, it was a wonder how Bennett got stuck having to be the mediator between them.

"Also what's wrong with being a toy? You're just seeing toys in the negative light. Think of legos!" Jordan paused then smiled to himself as if he came up with a brilliant plan. He then looked at me with a smirk," Hey, if you like playing with legos, let's try building a relationship."

I looked at him incredulously.

"Speechless, aren't you?" Jordan said humbly. "You don't have to deny the fact I just made your heart flutter for-"

"I just can't decide between punching you or asking Declan to punch you for me," I said bluntly before looking down at my hand closed into a fist. "The former just seems more satisfying."

"It could be both," Declan offered with a shrug.

I continued, "I don't know what you hoped to achieve with that excuse of a pick-up line, but it only showed how inept you are in-"

"Alright, alright," Jordan said with a huff, straightening himself up in his seat. "You really don't pull back on your punches with those insults. You make it worse when you know big words."

"We're still in class," Bennett reminded us as he continued reading the textbook. "According to your plan, Naomi should be on the receiving end of insults, not the other way around."

"Well, Jordan makes it easy, he just opens his mouth," Declan and I replied in unison, having us look at each other in confusion after we said that.

"I wanted to say a line in unison with you Naomi," Jordan said in disbelief. "Why did it have to be with Declan? And an insult to top it off. Say something with me. 'Jordan is the best.' Say it with me. 'Jordan is the...'" Jordan paused and looked at me expectantly.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier," Declan told me, giving me a great reason to ignore Jordan who wore a dejected look on his face.

Bennett looked up from his textbook. "I'm sorry too," he said.

"You shouldn't have to apologize every time," I assured both of them. "Especially since it's Jordan's script making you say all of that."

"You're right. Jordan should be the one saying sorry," Declan pointed out.

"Why must the artist apologize for his creations?" Jordan asked as he placed the back of his hand against his forehead and looked away dramatically. "In order for us to pull this plan off, we need to be believable, which means we need this to be dramatic. And who better to do that than me? I'm French after all."

"You're French-Canadian," I corrected to which I can't believe I had to. "That means you should be apologizing for your creations."

"Gasps dramatically in French," Jordan said just before he gasped.

I stared at him. "Did... Did you just narrate yourself in subtitles?" I asked in disbelief.

"You already know that there are times you need to ignore him and this is one of those times," Declan said before glancing away, his eyes narrowing at something or someone. "We should just go back to working on our free responses. A couple of our classmates keep eyeing us weirdly for talking so much."

"Quick," Jordan said before handing me a piece of paper. "Pretend you're doing my work for me, and if you love me, maybe actually do my work."

I rolled my eyes then halfheartedly made actions that seemed like Jordan was forcing me to do his work before getting his piece of paper before continuing to write my free responses. Jordan frowned when he saw I wasn't actually doing his work.

I told them, "The only, scratch that, the one of many problems with this plan is that we have to constantly act like you're all bullying me so we can't even act like we're friends."

"You're right," Jordan grumbled as he wrote some on his paper before immediately erasing whatever he wrote. "I mean I'm not friends with Declan so that isn't really a problem."

"For once I agree with you," Declan told him.

"And we can work something out for that part of the plan. Although I think the fake bullying is enough to make up for it." Jordan paused. "Wait, the main character's an unreliable narrator right?"

"Yeah," I told him before pointing a line in the passage of the textbook. "You can use this line for evidence. You can see he doesn't have a good mental state because he rambles and goes off topic a lot."

"Does that mean Jordan's an unreliable narrator?" Declan asked dryly.

"Wow, you think you're so clever," Jordan said mockingly.

"It's only been the first day of Operation Pretend We're Bullying Naomi In Order for All of Us to Not Be Bullied by the Whole School- We should come up with a shorter title," I suggested.

"But that was the shortest title we could come up with," Jordan countered.

"As I was saying, it's only the first day so we'll have to see if this will actually work," I finished. "Speaking of work, Bennett, are you free afterschool to continue working on our project?"

"I am, although I also have AP Economics homework due tonight."

"We have homework?" Jordan asked.

The three of us looked at him in disbelief.

"Ok, I know that makes me look bad but I had coding homework for AP Comp Sci. I mean I didn't finish it because I've been procrastinating it but..."

"But what Jordan?" Declan asked. "What could possibly be an excuse for that?"

"I have a great excuse," Jordan defended before glancing away. "Just give me some time to think of one."

"How about you use that time instead to work on your free responses?" Our AP Language teacher, Mr. Wilkens, offered while he was doing his usual patrol around the classroom in case any students needed any help during our classwork.

"That's such a great idea, Mr. Wilkens," Jordan agreed brightly. "Can I also just say you've been looking great lately. I saw you biking to school this morning and it has really been paying off."

Our teacher didn't even bother fighting back a smile. "You're actually the first one to notice. I've actually lost weight and-" He stopped and frowned. "Nice try Wallace, get back to work."

"Caught," Jordan said with a grin.

"Mr. Wilkens, I have a question about this part of a passage," a student asked, having stood up from her seat and walked up to the teacher.

"Yes, Rachel, what do you need help with?"

I had to admit, she was pretty smooth. As Rachel showed the teacher the handout and explained her interpretation of the passage, she swatted my pencil case off my desk which made its contents scatter across the floor.

Rachel stopped talking then looked down at the mess. "Be careful, Naomi. You should clean that up before someone slips on that."

Mr. Wilkens gave a curt nod. "Be more mindful of your things. As you were saying, Rachel?" The teacher asked as the two of them walked away from the mess.

I gritted my teeth but said nothing. I left my seat and knelt to the ground to begin picking up my things. Bennett, who sat across from me in our four-seat table, and was therefore closest to the mess (the pencil case, not me) moved to help me out when Declan suddenly grabbed his arm to stop him. It was then I became aware of all the eyes on our table. Everything was just a test.

And all we have done was study the night before.

Jordan eyed the teacher who was still engrossed in conversation with the student before saying, "Hurry up and clean up your mess, Lorraine. My worksheet won't finish itself."

"Have her work on mine next," another classmate sitting at a table adjacent to ours said.

"Get back in line, Chris, she has three on her plate already," Jordan said with a laugh. "Anyway, I think it would be too obvious if you get a high score for once."

At that, the neighboring tables were filled with light laughter that instantly stopped when the teacher looked at them. When I finally found my eraser, I went back to the seat. Hopefully, this is the last thing that will happen in this class. But I knew I spoke too soon when Jordan gave me "the look".

Bennett and I shared a look and all I could do was let out a sigh.

"Go for it," I grumbled halfheartedly.

Bennett, having to make up for almost helping me pick up my stuff, pushed my binder off my desk. It just so happens that my binder also had my pencil case that was left open because I hate myself. I could only watch as papers and pencils decorated the ground.

"Naomi Lorraine, I would appreciate it if you can take better care of your things," my teacher said, shaking his head at the mess.

"Aw Naomi, you can be so clumsy. It's almost cute," Jordan said with a smile.

The teacher frowned at him. "Wallace, you shouldn't tease your classmate like that."

His jaw dropped. "It was a joke, teach," Jordan defended. "Naomi thought it was funny."

"I'm afraid I don't have the same sense of humor. Naomi seems to have a lot on her plate. Help her pick up her things."

Jordan let out an exasperated sigh then begrudgingly went up to help me.

He knelt down beside me to pick up some of my papers. "Of course master Bennett won't be cleaning up his mess," Jordan grumbled with a huff.

"Be quiet," I whispered to him.

"At least you don't have to clean this up by yourself." I could hear the smile in his whisper.

For some reason, a small smile appeared on my face. "At least," I agreed, finding the eraser once again.

-

"Don't forget your scene in your Calc class together," Jordan reminded us.

"I hate how thorough you are," Declan grumbled.

"Y'know, there's a thin line between hate and love," he pointed out.

"We'll see you at lunch," Bennett cut in before Declan could respond. Bennett immediately pulled Jordan's backpack to make him walk away so he wouldn't provoke Declan any further.

"Bennett's a good mediator," I commented.

"Jordan would be dead if Bennett wasn't one," Declan informed me.

"But you're right, Jordan is surprisingly thorough for the things he does pay attention to," I said. "He made a shared document in Goggle with a schedule."

"Sometimes, well, all the time, I don't get Jordan," Declan told me. "He procrastinates so much I forget he does stuff like this."

"I can agree with you about the procrastinating stuff. But then again, everyone has some level of procrastination." I decided to spare Declan from telling him how long my reading list is.

Someone abruptly shoved past my shoulder, having me bump into Declan in the process.

"Watch it, Lorraine," Starbooks barista, or if you're feeling technical, Henry, said with a laugh.

The girl hooked around his arm smirked at me. "Yeah, watch it, nerd." She then grinned at Henry. "That was so cool, babe."

Declan glared at the two of them. "Hey watch where you're going," he snapped at them. Like any normal person valuing their life, the two of them scrambled away.

He looked like he wanted to chase after them, but I stopped him. "Don't. If anything, you should've laughed with them."

Declan gritted his teeth. "I hate doing this."

"Well, it's comforting to know that being cruel doesn't come naturally to you."

Declan eyed the crowd then motioned his head to the side. "Let's take a different route with less traffic to our next class," Declan offered. "I think we both don't want to make you trip again just for show."

"I appreciate your consideration," I said with a smile. "My locker is on the way and I want to exchange my books. Do you think I should at least carry your textbook to look like you're bullying me?"

"I don't want you carrying any of my stuff. I'd rather hear Jordan act like he can lecture me than make you do that."

I grinned at Declan. "I don't mind. I mean, I am a girl, afterall. It should be... second nature."

Declan froze when he heard me throw back the words he said when he was fake bullying me. He frowned, scratching his head out of frustration before looking away and saying, "¿Qué? Perdon. No hablo inglés."

I chuckled at his failed attempt for pretending not to understand me. After a slight pause, I repeated what I said in Spanish. It's been a year since my required language class, but I think I can still manage a short conversation if I was forced into it.

Declan looked at me incredulously. "¿No hablo español?" He offered weakly. The two of us laughed at that, but abruptly stopped when we got weird stares.

"I'm sorry again for saying that to you even though it was Jordan's stupid script," Declan told me before saying casually with a grin, "If you want me to make it up to you, I can teach you Spanish so you wouldn't sound like a gringa."

I felt my cheeks turn warm. "Do I sound that bad? Two years of Spanish really gave me no justice..."

"I was kidding," Declan assured me. "Well, sort of." Declan smiled when he heard me laugh at that.

"But then again, my Spanish is a bit of a mess," he admitted. "So I might not be the best teacher."

"What do you mean by a mess?" I asked. We reached my locker and I quickly exchanged my books so I don't have to suffer carrying them during lunch.

Declan thought about it. "When I was younger, I was exposed to different Spanish speakers so I adopted different slang either because I'm used to it or I liked how it sounds better. And we were all pretty young so we weren't exact on the rules either." He cracked a smile. "In my Spanish class, my teacher would've ripped his hair out if he wasn't already bald."

"Is Spanish your first language?" I asked as I closed my locker door shut

I looked up when there wasn't an immediate response from Declan, and saw the hesitancy on his face.

"You don't have to answer that if you don't want to," I quickly assured him. I knew there was something in Declan's past to the point he has a preferred name completely different from what the teacher had called him during attendance. Given his reaction when someone didn't respect his privacy, it was better to just avoid asking about his past altogether.

He shook his head. "No, it's ok. Yes, Spanish was my first language. I'm Cuban-Venezuelan. But if I met someone who's Cuban or Venezuelan, they wouldn't know what to make of me since even my accent is different."

I didn't know why I felt happy he was comfortable enough to tell me that much. "I get what you mean. It's been a while since I had a full conversation in Filipino so sometimes my relatives jump at the chance to correct me to prove a point."

"Prove what point?"

"That I'm not fully Filipino," I said after a weak chuckle. I regretted saying that, moreso when I saw him frown.

"Well I mean they're right. I'm only a quarter Filipino," I explained. They don't have to remind me every time they open their mouth to talk but-

"How many languages do you know?" Declan asked me.

"Well, it's been a really long time so it's just English-"

"No, that doesn't count. I don't speak Spanish as often as before but I still consider myself bilingual."

"Well, then I guess four languages. My grandparents taught me Hawaiian, Tagalog, and Bisaya." I decided to hold back on telling him that other language until another time.

"Dio, four?" Declan asked in disbelief. "I don't know why your relatives get on your case. Your identity isn't decided just because you know a language or not. I believe that it depends on you, not anyone else."

I smiled to myself. "Thanks Declan. I really like that mentality."

He shrugged. "I didn't come up with it, but I'm glad to pass the knowledge along."

"Speaking of passing knowledge, are you ready for the calculus quiz?" I asked once we arrived at the classroom door.

Declan let out a short sigh. "All I can say is that at least I didn't procrastinate studying for it."

-

"You're planning on cutting your hair?" I said in disbelief.

Erinma chuckled softly, adjusting the green and white headwrap that still showed her wave of black natural curls. "Yes, in a couple of months all of this will be gone."

After seeing me hang out with the three transfers so much without being bullied, Erinma must have figured it's safe now between all of us, aside from the "Carmen" incident yesterday. She may have not heard about Operation Pretend We're Bullying- Well you know what I'm talking about. Anyway, she may have not heard about it given that she's sitting across from me, although I knew that'll change the moment she does find out. I wouldn't blame her of course. It's every man, or well, woman, for herself out here in high school.

"Of course that's your choice," I told her. "But can I just say that I always love your hairstyles. The highlight of my day would be seeing what new hairstyle you have," I said before realizing how weird that may have sounded.

"You never told me that." She paused and glanced away. "Now I feel a bit embarrassed. Have I done my hair that many times for you to say that?"

"No, no," I assured her. "I'm pretty basic with my hair. I just tie it into a bun or ponytail when I'm studying. So I would notice a hairstyle that isn't either of those two. Well, that and since you had so many hairstyles, I figured you wake up early a lot and I admired you for the dedication."

Erinma let out a light laugh. "No, it's kind of the opposite. I don't know if I ever told you but my mom's a hairstylist so she always wants to do my hair as a sort of a warm-up. But she always has to drag me out of bed early in order to try out different hairdos."

I pushed the lunch tray away. It being mystery meat, I couldn't really consider it food anyway. I would much rather have this conversation. "You're right, this is the first I ever heard about it."

"She owns a hair salon called Curl Queen," Erinma said, her voice filled with excitement. "We specialize in coiled and curly hair, but we can do any hair type as well. If ever you want to have your hair done, you can drop by and I can give you a friend discount. I'm usually there helping her."

"Can I get the friend discount?" Jordan asked with a grin as he sat down next to her. Erinma scooted away from him, either to give him space or give herself space- either way, there was a lot of space.

"Don't make it awkward for her," Declan told him, taking a seat next to me. "You have to be her friend. But then again, you don't know what that is."

Jordan rolled his eyes. "Of course I know what it means. Naomi, we're friends right?"

He looked at me to catch me awkwardly sipping at an apple juice box.

"I prefer random strangers," I quipped.

"You know what, I can just leave," Jordan offered. "The lunch line was long and I waited all that time for mystery meat that would make PETA scream, but I find the lunch ladies to be more friendly than all of you."

Jordan then eyed Bennett who perhaps made the mistake taking a seat next to him given the smirk on Jordan's face.

"But then again..." Jordan mused. "I know a certain someone who would love to teach these people what food actually is-"

"I would like to eat in peace, Jordan," Bennett informed him. "I had an AP Statistics test last period and I'm not going to help you in the AP Economics homework due tonight."

Jordan huffed, "Well I don't need your help anyway. Last week, you left me on read."

Declan and I let out a snort at that. Jordan narrowed his eyes at us.

"It was 20 minutes before midnight," Bennett told him.

"I know, plenty of time to copy you."

"I was already asleep."

"It showed that you read my text."

"Like I said, I was already asleep."

"Well, let me all tell you," Jordan said proudly to me and Erinma. "Bennett here would never fall asleep for his favorite hobby of-"

"I'm going to enjoy driving past you when you walk to and from school from now on." Jordan looked visibly concerned at Bennett's words.

Declan snickered. "You can always expose him for his own thing, Bennett."

Jordan laughed mockingly at Declan. "You mean my art? Nice try but you can't out what's already been outed."

"Naomi, has Declan ever told you about his music?" He asked slyly with that mischievous glint in his eye.

I looked at Declan, now amused. "No, I haven't. Music, you say?" Jordan was definitely rubbing off on me.

"He meant my playlists on Lookify," Declan quickly explained, before shooting Jordan a glare. "Jordan thinks it's funny when he changes my playlists after I took all that time organizing them."

For once, Jordan took it as his cue on changing the subject and smiled at me. "If you're ever bored, you should visit Mr. Jenkins' art class to see some of my work." He winked. "Who knows, maybe you'll even fall in love me and end a certain article."

At the sight of the visible confusion on Erinma's face, I rolled my eyes at Jordan. "My mind is never going to change after reading that news article on art."

He shrugged, catching on quickly. "You'll change your mind eventually."

"Didn't Naomi say that you need permission to speak yesterday?" Bennett asked as he opened the plastic wrapping of the spork.

"You're right," Declan agreed. "Jordan, how about you shut up so we can finally have a quiet peaceful lunch for once."

Jordan rolled his eyes but didn't look like he was going to retort back for once. But that all changed when the fire nation attacked.

"Is this seat taken?" A chipper voice asked. Before anyone could respond, she took a seat anyway.

Suddenly, a bunch of people came to the table, surrounding the three transfers. With Erinma sitting across from me with Jordan next to her and Declan next to me, two or three people squeeze between us making Erinma and I sit away from them.

"I've never really sat at this table before. The lighting here is so much better. Oh, and definitely cleaner since no one really sits here."

"Are you going to eat that? I don't care if it's mystery meat. I just need to eat something or else I'm going to drop during football practice."

"I'm texting the group chat telling them we're sitting at that table, y'know the sad people one. They're still waiting at the lunch line for whatever the school considers food."

Ignoring the rest of their chatter, I looked at the transfers to see if they're still alive. Everyone talked with each other as if they didn't just invite themselves in and start a dinner party. The transfers themselves looked lost and didn't know what to do when they're in the middle of this bombardment of conversations. Three girls seemed to have already attached themselves to the transfers and I'm sorry to inform you that this will be the last time we'll be seeing them. Once they've been trapped by those three, there's no letting go.

"Bennett, I heard your research project is on business. Are you planning on majoring in it?" She pressed provocatively close to Bennett who did his best to ignore her.

Rachel Lane held no position of power in the school unlike the others but was still the leader of the clique. Most believe it's because of her "powerful" personality, that, and because her father is a major donor to the school. But it's probably the former. Probably.

"You have to do an interview with us, Jordan," she said excitedly while Jordan graced her with a smile despite looking uncomfortable. "Everyone would want to learn more about the cutest of the transfers." Of course, that piqued Jordan's interest.

Alyssa Li runs the gossip column of the school's newspaper The Knightly News. Get it? Because our mascot is the dragons, but keeping up with the theme of knights and dragons they- Well, I thought it was pretty clever. Anyway, her gossip column "I Heard a Rumor" is notorious for ruining reputations. In my case, you can't ruin a reputation if it's already been ruined.

"I always see you during my cheerleading practice, Declan. Whatever team you pick, you should definitely be the captain, just like me."

Trisha Lewis is the captain of the school's cheerleaders The Dragonettes. That name? No comment. Her clique often calls her after the American gymnast "Simone Biles" for her ability to do a backflip which awarded her the position as captain in sophomore year. I've seen it and I have to give credit where credit is due, that backflip is insane.

Rachel Lane, Alyssa Li, Trisha Lewis. People call them the Three L's simply because they were adjoined to the hip since freshman year and high schoolers aren't exactly known for being clever with the nicknames. But knowing how clever I am, I would have called them the off-brand Heathers and called it a day.

But since they were here, that means that she should be as well. Sitting a few seats over there was Carmen González, an honorary "L" if you will. It was either sophomore or junior year when she was invited into the clique. However, at the moment, she seems to be a fellow outcast. Each of the girls has latched onto one of the transfers leaving her to be glaring daggers at each of them. Suddenly her attention was on me as if I was to be blamed for being a matchmaker.

Not only that, all of the people who took over this table were popular kids - cheerleaders, jocks. Oh no, jocks. Even Raymond is at this table. Everyone at this table is a popular senior in this school, many who have bullied me or are just friends with the ones who do. This is bad. Erinma and I shared a look. I needed to get her out of here.

Rachel gave me an innocent smile. "Aw, sorry for invading your table. Hope you don't mind."

Said every colonizer ever.

"It's ok. You can have it. We're just going to go now," I said quickly.

I glanced at the guys who were still in the middle of the confusion. It was better if Erinma and I left right now. She shouldn't have to be dealing with this because of us. At least then the guys can establish their standing with these "popular kids" during the time.

"You shouldn't leave just because we're here," Trisha told me. "You should stay."

"I have something for my next class-"

"Stay," Rachel snapped, "and don't even think about it junior."

Erinma flinched at her words when she tried to sneak away. I motioned to Erinma with my hand and she quickly moved to the other side of the table next to me. She knew better to run away or else it'll be worse when they see her again. If she's going to be here, I'll at least do my best protecting her.

"Glad to see that you chose the right side," Raymond said with an arrogant laugh but was cut short when he matched a glare with Declan.

"Did you know what Lynch here did during our Calc class?" Another football player named Parker asked the table. "He tripped Naomi when she was asked to solve a problem on the board. Classic."

Yes, that was the "scene" Jordan scripted for us. It wasn't exactly creative but it did the job.

"You really had us fooled pretending to be friends with poor little Naomi," Alyssa cooed.

"I only wish I was there when you started messing with her," Parker said with a laugh. "Her face must've been priceless."

Bennett and Declan glanced at Jordan whose mouth was a thin line but quickly changed into a grin.

"Nothing beats your first time," Jordan told him. "Next time, I'll make sure to make a video." The chatter rose up in the table like a wave.

"You're so smart," Alyssa said in disbelief. "We should make videos and maybe make a contest out of it. That would be so fun. Let's add you to our group chat."

That's it. I'm going to kill him. I'm so going to kill him.

"I heard you and Lorraine are doing a project together in your research class," Rachel told Bennett. "What's your plan there? Make her do all the work and humiliate her in the presentation?"

Bennett let out a sigh. "You're correct on the latter part, although it's a lot of trouble having to do all of the work since I don't trust her in doing anything right. It's still my grade after all."

Trisha looked at Declan thoughtfully. "What I don't get is why you protected her back when the soccer team was messing with her."

"That was just to gain her trust," Declan said cooly.

Raymond scoffed. "I'm not buying it. You were pretty protective of her back at the nurse's office."

"If everyone keeps bullying her, she won't show enough of a reaction for it to be any fun, have you ever thought of that?" Declan asked dryly. "That's the problem with everyone bullying one person." Besides the lack of humanity? A couple of people murmured in agreement.

"And," Declan added, glancing at me to flash an apologetic look, "after being her knight in shining armor, she confessed to me."

Jordan laughed. "Oh right, we were right there. That's when we revealed we've been messing with her the entire time. Even we had our limits and she looked so pathetic like that." Everyone burst out laughing hearing that. I looked down at the table, trying to hide my embarrassment but failing miserably.

"Then why did you have a fight against Marco and Adrian afterschool?" Carmen asked.

The table went silent at Carmen's question.

"Because they disrespected me." Declan's eyes scanned everyone with a hardened glare. "And by then I decided that I should be the only one who can mess with her."

Trisha looked displeased by his words. "What? So you think only you can mess with Lorraine?"

"No," Declan said, looking at Jordan and Bennett, "just the three of us."

"You can't be serious," some soccer player, David I think, told him.

Rachel let out a light laugh. "We can mess with her and she does our work," Rachel informed him. "She's the perfect target. Don't think we're going to give her up that easily."

I'm flattered.

"Aw c'mon, relax everyone," Jordan said, holding a smile and motioning with his hands for everyone to calm down. "You've been messing with her for three years. Don't you think we should have our fun since we only have a year left?"

"But to have her all to yourself?" Alyssa asked. "That's kind of sick. I like it. I need to put that in my column."

"Like what Declan said, if everyone bullies her and she doesn't show much of a reaction, it takes the fun out of it. Three's already a crowd," Jordan pointed out. "Plus, there's other fish in the sea."

"Well, you're right about that," Rachel said. "Like that junior." Erinma was clutching the fabric of my sweater, tugging it to tell me that we should leave. But at Rachel's words, that tug became more forceful.

Jordan's face quickly fell at her words.

"We should bring that junior Stella over here," Rachel said with a smirk. "She always has so much playing with this one. She's almost like a mini me."

"You're too mean for your own good," Alyssa told her. "You think she'll get bullied like Naomi once we all graduate?"

"That would be so funny if that happened," Carmen said. "Although she's definitely not as smart as her."

"If you're going to bully someone, bully me," I snapped at them. "What? You feel better making fun of someone younger than you?"

"Wow, how noble," Raymond mused. "You do know that we've got you surrounded, right? Learn to pick your battles, Lorraine."

"You some kind of masochist?" David said with a grin. "I know a couple of guys who're into that." When everyone started to laugh, he defended, "What? Not me! I meant like Will, Emilio, Victor-" He proceeded to call out several other guys.

"Now that we've all gathered here today for this conference meeting, you guys need a reality check," I told them. "Don't think you'll be able to keep on bullying people after high school."

The whole table was silent and for a moment I thought I got through to them. That was until they all burst out laughing. Heat inflamed my cheeks for even bothering to reason with a bunch of sadists who lacked empathy.

"Welcome to the real world, sweetie," Rachel told me. "Do you really think anyone's going to care? It doesn't end after we walk the stage for our diplomas."

Carmen rolled her eyes. "Grow up, Naomi. We're not bullying you. It's not like we're stealing your lunch money. We're just having a little fun."

"I suggest another hobby. Maybe getting a life?"

The whole table oohed at my comeback that made Carmen glare at me so hard I thought lasers were going to come out.

"Practice what you preach, Lorraine," Jordan said with a laugh. "You're the only one who doesn't have a life. You only wish to be in Carmen's shoes and out of yours."

Carmen smiled at Jordan for defending her, then exchanged glares with Alyssa who hugged Jordan's arm to stake her territory. One look from Jordan told me that this is the time to get out of there before anything worse happens.

"The only thing I want to get out of is here," I stated, standing up and grabbing my bag.

"If you value your life, you won't leave here," Rachel told me, making me stop in my tracks.

I didn't even bother looking back. "I thought I don't have one."

I grabbed Erinma's hand and pulled her away from there. We quickly left the cafeteria and went down the hallway. I only wished that I did it sooner. Was that even a good decision? Was any of that? Leave there, get bullied. Stay there, get bullied. We were never going to win.

Erinma and I stopped when we reached a small space in the hallway where people who ditch class usually hangout. Finding no one, we decided to take refuge there. We sat at either side of the space, our backs against the wall. I sat cross-legged, leaning my head back until it hit the wall. Erinma pulled her knees close to her and was left staring at her shoes.

Her eyebrows furrowed together. "Why are they bullying you? I thought they were your friends."

I hesitated. Should I explain the operation? Would she even understand? I've thought about having Erinma join in on the plan, but she's a junior and we're all seniors so the only time we are all together is at lunch. If she doesn't have someone there to protect her, the bullying will be worse when she's alone. Then there's the fact that the operation itself might fail and backfire on all four of us. I can't do that to her. At least I'm a senior and it'll only be my last year in this school. It was better for me to be the guinea pig and if the operation does work then she can be part of it. Until then, it was better to keep Erinma in the dark.

"It's complicated," I told her. I was thankful she didn't press any further.

"Do you think they're right?" She asked me.

"Right about what?"

"That everyone will bully me more once you graduate," she said softly. "I know it might happen but hearing it from them felt like it's now set in stone."

My mouth felt dry but I was able to force out, "I honestly don't know."

"We're friends, aren't we Naomi. We usually don't say we are to avoid making the bullying worse between us, but we are."

"I'd like to think so."

"I think there's some irony in the fact my friend will hurt me more than just leaving."

I didn't look up. "The universe has a cruel sense of irony."

"But it's just two more years," she said solemnly.

"I said the exact same thing the start of my junior year."

"Why are you being bullied?"

"If I knew, I would have already changed that part of myself."

There was a pause. "Why are we being bullied?"

"Because our bullies don't want to change that part of themselves."

Wanting to change the subject, I asked, "Does that friend discount still stand? I'm due for a trim," I admitted as I moved my hair over my right shoulder and combed it through my fingers.

There was a light chuckle. "Of course."

"But now it got me thinking. With your mom as a hairstylist, won't she be against you cutting your hair? What about her daily warm ups?"

When I saw her smile falter, I regretted asking. "My aunt recently lost her battle against cancer," she said softly.

I stared at my sneakers, worn from use. I couldn't believe I didn't know that. Of course, I knew that shouldn't be a surprise. All we do is sit on the table at lunch for each other's company, rarely having a conversation unless the school lunch was especially bad and couldn't eat it to fill the silence. But it hurts knowing that she has been dealing it quietly this whole time.

"She worked with my mom and had such beautiful type four curly hair. She loved to teach customers about proper hair care even if their hair wasn't curly," Erinma said with a light chuckle that slowly faltered.

"When she lost her hair to chemo, I wanted to cut my hair. She stopped me though because seeing me with my hair was enough for her. Now that she's gone, I want to at least donate my hair to cancer patients." Erinma let out a small sigh and hugged her knees closer to her chest. "I hope she won't be mad at my decision."

"I would think she'd be proud. I know I am." Erima looked up in surprise at my words and saw my smile. "Everything you did and will do are for good intentions. And I think your aunt and I would agree that you'll look great in any hairstyle."

I've known Erinma for two years ever since she first started school as a sophomore. Everyone is always interested in a new transfer student in this small school, so I noticed her when I walked past her in the hall - laughing and smiling with friends. But ever since she started getting bullied, her friends leaving her, her laughter growing silent, her smile had faded, today was the first time I saw her with the biggest smile since then.

-

"So... what do you think?"

"No Jordan."

"C'mon. Seriously?"

I sighed. "No, I will not let you fake bully me by ruining this physics lab. This is our grade."

"We're killing two birds with one stone. People in this class will see that I'm bullying you and we won't have to do the experiment."

"Mr. Ford has extra equipment. If anything, he'll make us pay for breaking his equipment. And by us, I mean you."

"Fine whatever," Jordan said, slumping in his seat.

"So..."

I closed my eyes and sighed. "What Jordan?"

"What are we even doing in this class?"

I looked up to the ceiling. No, the sky, the stars, the heavens. The universe has done worse things to me, but what is God testing me now?

"We're still in unit two with Newton's Laws of Motion," I explained as I scanned the paper of our lab instructions before handing the paper to him. "The lab is on projectile motion. We're supposed to compare the theoretical with our calculations with the practical from what we observed in the experiment."

"Right Newton. Apple guy. Like Steve Jobs."

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to determine if he was serious or not. "Just help me out with setting up the experiment. I want to get the calculations so we don't have to do a makeup lab like table four over there."

The two of us turned to see one classmate throwing marbles at his lab partner who was twirling a meter stick like he was in a battle scene. Their fun was cut short when Mr. Ford started lecturing them.

"That looked fun," Jordan said, his voice almost wistful.

"Do you know what's even more fun?" I asked excitedly.

Jordan looked back at me, his face lit up to match my own excitement. "I don't know. What?"

"Not failing this class."

His excitement dropped as fast as the constant acceleration due to gravity: 9.81 meters per second squared.

"Funny," Jordan remarked before working on setting up the lab.

"What happened after Erinma and I left during lunch?" I asked him as I began drawing out a table in my notebook for our experiment.

Jordan sighed. "They all started recounting all the times they bullied you. I hated every minute of it. The bell couldn't have rung sooner."

"Oh," I said quietly.

I felt both furious and embarrassed. I didn't that to be the way for the three transfers to learn about all the times I've been bullied. It wasn't exactly private, but that didn't mean I want them to learn about it like trading stories around the campfire.

Jordan paused from working and looked at me. "Hey," he began hesitantly before quickly telling me "I have a short attention span anyway. I just tuned them out."

"There are better ways than that sad attempt to make me feel better."

"Points for trying?" He offered with a smile.

I chuckled to myself. "I'm feeling generous today. Maybe two points."

"Two out of two points? Wow, I'm great," Jordan said with a wide grin.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that. Jordan definitely has his strong points.

"Let me try again then," Jordan offered, tapping on a pen as he thought to himself.

"They're all idiots. And bullies. Bulliots? Idiollies?" He wrinkled his nose at those names.

For the sake of my sanity, I ignored the last part. "I already know that. I'm giving that a one."

Jordan frowned. "They don't know anything about you, but we do. We know you're great. And nothing they'll say will change how we see you."

"Hm, a little better," I mused as I read the instructions again. "Maybe a three."

"You're one of the strongest people I know, and I know Declan." Jordan chuckled then faltered. "I don't know what you've been through, but the fact that you haven't let anyone drag you down to their level is... amazing."

I stopped what I was doing and glanced at Jordan. At the moment, he glanced away, looking down at an empty page on his notebook as he rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly.

I looked back at the lab paper. "Seven," I told him, failing to fight against the small smile.

I glanced back at Jordan who was smiling to himself as he tried to figure out how to set up the lab experiment.

"I'll take what I can get," he told me.

We continued working on our in-class lab experiment.

I doubled checked the measurements. "30 degrees, 3.23 meters. Time?"

"0.49 seconds."

"That gives us 6.63 meters per-"

"This is so boring!" Jordan complained. "Let's just make up the rest of the numbers. It's a projectile function anyway so the pattern is right there."

"Speaking like a true scientist," Mr. Ford said dryly as he walked past our table.

I snatched the meter stick and pointed it at Jordan who held up his hands. "Jordan Wallace, you're an idiot with poor timing."

Jordan Wallace wore a cocky grin. "It's a comedic blessing and curse."

"Finish the rest of the lab because of that," I said, setting the meter stick down. "I'm going to figure out how to make the stupid graph of our results."

"Let me do the graph part," Jordan pressed. "The lab is so boring it's physically hurting me- I might fall asleep. Anyway, computers and data analysis are my forte."

"You're taking AP Computer Science as well, right?" I asked him as I reposition the experiment for the next angle. "Does it go that far into data analysis?"

Jordan did a half-shrug as he typed in the results into the school-provided laptop. "Not enough, it's more like dipping your feet into the water. I expect in college it will be more of a cannonball."

"So you're going to major in computer science in college?"

"Most likely."

"You're also taking that art class though. Would you double major or minor in it?"

There was a slight pause. "I'll make that future Jordan's problem." Jordan smiled. "Anyway, I bet I can predict the next results before you give me any more numbers."

I scoffed. "You sound almost proud. It's elementary, my dear Wallace. It's only simple physics."

-

"Ok so Operation Insert Long Ass Title is moving faster than expected," Jordan concluded as he was pacing the floor.

"You think?" Declan asked dryly. "Those people stormed the table. Naomi and Erinma should have left there sooner."

Jordan let out an exasperated sigh. "We don't know what they'd do if they did. I'm just glad they didn't do anything more and- Bennett, Naomi, what are you guys doing?"

Neither of us looked up.

"Knight to F3," I told him.

Bennett paused then moved his piece. "Bishop to G4, taking your pawn."

"Bold."

"Thank you."

"Um, hello?" Jordan asked in disbelief. "Bonjour? Ciao? Hola? Why are you two playing chess?"

Still not looking up from the chessboard, I explained, "Studies have shown that it's best to take a break during work in order to be more productive. Charging forward through your tasks will burn you out, thus backfiring on your productivity." I frowned then begrudgingly said, "Knight to D4."

"We wanted to include that in our research project and felt we should practice what we preach," Bennett told him. "You would rather open your defenses instead of sacrificing your knight to my bishop?" He asked.

"I doubt you'd sacrifice your bishop just to take out another pawn when I can take it in the next round. That last move was just to take my knight out of position."

"You're correct. Bishop to E6."

Jordan rolled his eyes then continued, "We can still work with this. I gotta give Declan credit for his quick thinking. It made more sense that only a small group of people will bully Naomi than the whole school simply because it takes the fun out of it. Better than my idea."

"Your idea was to make the three of us possessive misogynistic pendejos," Declan snapped at him.

"Well it would've been pretty believable, at least with you and your rumors," Jordan said casually before flinching when Declan feigned to punch him at that remark.

"Rook to A3," I told Bennett before explaining to Jordan, "The popular kids are too unstable of a factor. With this jump in the plan, we weren't able to study them enough to know how best to deal with them. If we aren't too careful you guys will have to deal with Alyssa's gossip column."

Jordan smiled to himself. "She called me the cutest of the transfers."

"I'm just not going to comment on that," Declan muttered under his breath.

"We should create a backup plan where you guys can still be with the popular kids and I'll still be bullied," I said absentmindedly, fiddling with the pawn piece I took from Bennett's side. "If we aren't careful, all four of us will be bullied if, or well, when the plan fails. You guys seem more at home with them anyway."

When I didn't hear a response, I looked up from the chessboard to see each of them looking at me with an unreadable look.

"I'd rather choose my friends, rather than have those people force me into it."

"Just because they're popular doesn't mean I want to be popular with them."

"And they bully people for fun. It's not exactly a hobby I share."

I scoffed to myself, quickly hiding the small smile on my lips. "Your funeral," I remarked.

"And well, the school sucks anyway," Declan said with a shrug. "Worst-case scenario Jordan drops out."

"Aw, so does that mean you don't want me to drop out because it's the worse- Wait, why only me?"

"It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make," Declan told him. "So do the honorable thing and just drop out."

"I swear I'll dropkick you, Lynch."

"Would you even be able to reach me, Wallace?"

Jordan gritted his teeth. "Drop dead."

"I'll still be taller than you."

Like the responsible people we are, Bennett and I ignored the two of them.

"Naomi."

"Give me a second, Bennett I'm just trying to find the fastest way to checkmate you."

"No, I just wanted to ask you. Are you still okay with us bullying you like this?"

His question made Jordan and Declan stop from almost starting another fight. He really is a great mediator.

"He's right," Jordan said. "I know you were still reluctant with going with the plan yesterday especially since it was really rushed. If we didn't decide right then and there, the plan never would have worked."

"Even if it did work with no one bullying Naomi but us, it still must be confusing especially since we haven't known each other for a long time."

I didn't give them an immediate response. Even I had to admit I needed a moment to organize my thinking. In the end, I told them confidently, "I'm not an idiot. I know that this is all fake bullying. I'm not going to get confused into thinking you're actually bullying me. I mean, we're alone together right now and I haven't had an insult hurled at me. So I call that progress."

"If we're calling that progress, I don't know what to say about humanity," Jordan said jokingly.

I didn't bother telling him I gave up on humanity a long time ago.

~

I have to admit this was a really tough chapter to write. I've known these four characters for years, so I couldn't write my bullying dialogue as easily with them. But it was definitely interesting. Also, I can't believe I just said "my bullying dialogue". I have a special part of my brain now that can just say bully stuff- terrible.

We learned a bit more about our adorable Erinma who I want to hug and protect. I really just sat down and learned about black hair from articles to how-to videos. From different types of black hair, how to take care of it, and, of course, different hairstyles. Like Naomi, I'm also pretty basic with my hair so I really admire the range of beautiful hairstyles for black women. After creating Erinma's character, I really wanted to add this detail in her background and character about her hair. A big inspiration was the 2019 Oscar-winning short film "Hair Love" by Matthew A Cherry. If you haven't watched it, please do.

We also see some familiar, but not so familiar faces. In TGGBB I created an off-brand Mean Girls clique. Here, I have rewritten them. I'm a bit excited about them since I will be giving them more substance. I should tell you that you definitely should not think much about the first letter of each of the Three L's names or anything. Totally not important.

You guys may have already heard of the N-Theory from the comment section, but let me just explain it here. In TGGBB, a reader asked if I gave the character's names on purpose. I realized that there was a coincidence that the main characters (Naomi, Raymond, Bennett, Declan, and Jordan) all have "N" in their names. So I decided that certain characters in BG will also have "N" in their names. There will be many characters that will be important to the story. However, some characters will have a lesson we can learn from.

If you haven't already known, I will be releasing some merchandise for TGGBB and BG! It might be weird having some merchandise already for BG, but it was really because of the huge base I already have for TGGBB. Pekgna created some cute designs for the BG three transfers. You can get them at RedBubble and the launch day is on September 30, 2020 (which is Bennett's birthday)! Below are some designs of the merchandise AND  Declan Lynch's character profile!

_______________________________________________________

Name: Declan Lynch

Birthday: June 7

Height: 5'10" (178 cm)

Personality: ISFP-T

Ethnicity: Venezuelan (Mother) / Cuban (Father)

Appearance: Messy medium length taper hairstyle brownish-black hair, Dark brown eyes, Almond skin tone, Has a chipped left eyebrow from a faded scar

Wardrobe: (Casual or Smart Street-Style) Leather jacket over a hoodie/Bomber jacket over plain shirt, Dark jeans/tapered sweatpants/joggers pants, Basketball/sports sneakers or leather sneakers

Likes: Strawberries, Red, Sports, Music

Dislikes: EDM, Therapists, Fights

Facts:

- He has a really extensive library in Lookify and has dedicated hours organizing his playlists. In his spare time, he would click shuffle and look for new songs to add to his playlists. He likes indie music but doesn't like EDM. He refuses to show Jordan his Lookify library because Jordan will either make fun of him or make him a spreadsheet - there's no in-between.

- He got the faded scar on his left eyebrow after falling down the stairs when he was little. He still hesitates every time he does bleachers for practice.

- He doesn't credit his affinity for sports from any hidden prodigal talent. He often played with older neighborhood kids playing basketball and fútbol / soccer and they showed no mercy for someone younger than him. If he wanted to be on a team, he knew he had to work for it. It's from that he respects hard work where it's due.

_______________________________________________________

I hope you had a lot of fun!

Rubix