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The bell rang for recess, but Mrs. Daniels kept James and Logan in her classroom before letting them go out with the rest of the kids. The smallest boy seemed worried about this. His little body trembled as he stood by the teacher's desk waiting for her to speak up. James on the other hand fidgeted around and appeared to be bored by all of this. Mrs. Daniels turned towards the two students with concern leaking from her eyes. She looked at Logan and sighed sympathetically. It was no surprise to her, or any of the other teachers for that matter, that the child's "at-home-life" probably wasn't too enjoyable.

"Calm down, sweetie…you're not in trouble." She spoke to Logan in a soft tone. Moments later her expression changed and she faced James, "You on the other hand…" She paused, "James; I think Logan deserves an apology."

"No he doesn't." James pleaded, "Why are you mad at me when all I did was ask a question?"

"Because…you're question wasn't an appropriate one." Mrs. Daniels tried to explain, "And I think what you said to Logan might have hurt his feelings."

Logan stood listless the whole entire conversation, his heart nearly beating out of his chest.

"Logan, did what James said bother you?"

Logan nodded meekly.

"See James…I'm sure all Logan wants is for you to say sorry to him."

James shook his head, "But I didn't do anything wrong!"

"James, you don't yell at a teacher." Mrs. Daniel's relaxed tone disappeared.

"Sorry." James mumbled.

"And what do you have to say to Logan now?" She added.

"I'm sorry, Logan." James groaned.

Logan struggled to speak up, "I-It's okay."

"You boys can go outside now." She decided.

The two 8-year-olds headed out of the classroom and down the hallway, towards the backdoor. Once they were in front of the doors, James stopped and grabbed Logan's arm.

"Just so you know; I'm not sorry for what I said." He growled.

Logan sighed, "I know…"

"Why don't you care? Aren't you supposed to start crying now?" James asked.

Logan ignored the older boy and headed out the door, holding his backpack straps tightly, trudging through the snowy black top of their school's playground. Logan glanced around at tons of kids playing and having a blast; but him? He was alone, and it bothered him so much. He wanted to have some friends so badly, but being the new kid, it was an almost impossible task. The raven haired boy finally made his way to a big oak tree. The branches were covered with snow, but sunlight still shone through them. The young boy smiled at how beautiful the structure looked. He kicked some snow off of the area he was going to sit on and then pulled a book out from his bag. Reading was Logan's escape from reality. He could imagine he was in the book, living a far more exciting life than he had at the moment.

Before Logan could even get through one page his book was grasped and throw across the snow. He gulped and then shakily looked up at three familiar boys.

"You got Jamie in trouble." Kendall huffed.

Logan was frozen with fear.

"Yeah, Logan." James sneered in a tricky voice.

"I-I'm sorry." Logan sniffled.

"We don't care if you're sorry…we wanna see you cry about it."

"W-why?" Logan asked.

"Because it's funny when you cry." James laughed.

Logan squinted his eyes, standing his ground. How could people be so mean?

"Why aren'tcha crying?" James demanded to know.

Kendall and Carlos backed off this time. It was one thing to tease Logan, but a completely other if James was going to go too far with it. They've seen stuff like this happen before. Gosh…James is so selfish; it might not even be his fault. With parents who don't teach their child what's right and wrong, what do you expect?

Logan whimpered and flinched back as James kicked his ankle.

"I'll make ya cry, loser." James snickered.

"Jamie, stop." Carlos and Kendall pleaded, "That's mean!"

"You're so poor you probably don't even have stuff to put in a backpack." James began, not listening to his other friends, "Give me your backpack, Lo-geek."

Logan didn't do anything, nor did he say a word.

"Give it!" James yelled.

Still silence.

"Fine, I'll take it then." James added, snatching the boy's bag.

"Hey!" Logan cried, standing up and trying to reach for his backpack. It was no use, though, because the taller boy held it above his head and laughed as Logan tried to jump and reach for it.


"James, you're a big meanie…" Carlos pouted.

"Why do you say that?"

"Cause you bullied Logan outside today…" Carlos sighed.

"No I didn't! I didn't bully him…I just…I just was kidding around." James tried to defend himself.

Kendall budded in, "You were being really mean to him; you even took his backpack."

"But he deserves it…mommy and daddy always told me to never let anyone take advantage of me." James replied.

"But all Logan did was…uh…James, he didn't even do anything!" Carlos said.

"Yeah he did, he got me in trouble!"

"No; you got yourself in trouble…you called him homeless; that must've really made him sad." Kendall answered.

Meanwhile, Logan sat at a lunch table all by himself, crossing his arms on the table and resting his head on top of them. He didn't have any lunch and he certainly didn't have any money to buy something either. The boy hadn't eaten breakfast either or dinner the night before for that matter. His legs were beginning to feel weak and he was lightheaded, but the child dismissed it. He wouldn't want to burden anyone with his problems.

The bell rung a little bit after that, so all of the kids filed in lines and walked back to their classrooms to begin learning again. Logan's head started to pound with every step. The dizziness was growing worse and so was the fragility. His whole body now was trembling and his vision started to blur. Before he could notice or have time to stop himself, Logan blacked out right in front of everyone's eyes, though the students just kept walking.

I feel bad for making James so mean! Don't worry, he will sweeten up in the later chapters LOL

xoxo

~EMiLY