I entered the school building the next morning, for once regretting the day ahead of me. I left Brandon's homework on top of his locker for him before heading to class.

I didn't really encounter Brandon (apart from seeing him in my math class) until lunch. After he once again had stolen my lunch, I had excused myself to go to the bathroom, and that's where I met Brandon and his gang.

Smoking!

"Gentlemen, y-your not allowed t-to smoke on s-school g-grounds," I tried to reinforce the rules, but it backfired on me, just like that one time three summers ago.

"Yeah, and who's gonna know?" One of the boys glared at me.

"Yeah, who is?" The other repeated.

"Listen, nerd," Brandon started, "Unless you wanna find yourself in worse trouble than the Incident, then you'll act like you never saw us." Brandon grabbed the front of my shirt so his face was so close to mine I could smell the smoke on his breath, "Got it?"

I nodded nervously, a pool of sweat at my feet.

"Good," Brandon threw me against the wall and, I suppose for good measure, stung me with the cigarette under my sleeve. I winced in pain as I pulled my sleeve back down. I instantly left the bathroom, a tear forming in my eye.

After school, Brandon once again dumped all of his homework on me, plus his gang's homework. My arms ached with the weight of all the work as I stumbled home.

After finally completing the homework, I turned down mine, Bella, Ed and Eddy's weekly movie night to have some time to myself.

I walked deep into the woods, not wanting to be found. I located the stream that ran through the trees and sat beside it. I ran some water against the cigarette burn and more tears formed in my eyes.

Brandon had been mean to me ever since we met. He never cared much for the smart kids in the school, but he had never been this bad. He had turned into... a thug, basically. When we were younger, Brandon had always said he would never smoke, though now that I think about it, that might just have been to impress Bella, because she detested smoking. But now Brandon was smoking on school grounds!

I had noticed that Brandon had also been picking on my fellow Mathletes, though not as much as he had been on me, but certainly more than he used to. He used to only pick on them once a week, but now it was every other day.

And he rarely left the trailer park anymore, even when his sisters left to see us. He was definitely acting very strange lately...

I stiffened as I heard a rustling nearby. I looked up from my reflection to see Brandon Kanker walking right towards the creek. He skidded to a stop as his eyes found me kneeling by the creek.

"The HECK are you doin' here?!" He yelled, his hands balled into fists.

"Oh, B-Brandon," I smile nervously, standing up slowly, "I-I was j-just w-walking. I d-didn't k-know you c-came here. Um, I-I'll just leave."

Brandon glared at me as I walked away from the clearing at into the trees. I was about to leave, but my curiosity got the better of me and I hid nearby. Just what was Brandon doing out here?

Brandon took out a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He lifted up his shirt a bit, and I was horrified to see cigarette burns! Brandon winced as he placed the cigarette against his skin, leaving a small, round burn. I couldn't stop myself as I ran back into the clearing.

"Brandon, w-what are you doing?!" I cried, still horrified.

"Hey, I thought I told you to get lost!" Brandon yelled, dropping his shirt down.

"I know but," The words were stuck in my throat, "Brandon, why are you doing this to yourself?!"

"None of your business!" Brandon snapped.

Small tears formed in my eyes. He may have been a jerk to me ever since we met, but that didn't mean I wanted this for him!

"Brandon, please, tell me what all this is about!" I begged him, "M-maybe I could help."

Brandon glared at me.

"Yeah, right!" He shouted, "Get lost and forget everything, or else!" He held up a balled up fist and my eyes widened as I ran off. Something was defiantly up with the Kanker brother, and I was going to find out what.

The next day Brandon and his gang met up with me outside the front door. I gave each of them their homework and they headed inside. I saw Brandon glare at me slightly before he entered the building.

I followed and at the bell I entered the classroom. I glanced sideways at Brandon and saw a small burn on his side. I looked away and up at the teacher.

At lunch Brandon snagged my lunch again, but he looked angry.

"Ugh, no dessert again?!" He yelled, "Nerd, you gonna get it!"

"N-no, p-please!" I begged as Brandon's two gang members pinned me against the lockers. Brandon put his hand on my chest to hold me back and drew back his fist. I flinched, fearing the pain I was about to endure, but all of a sudden I heard a sound of flesh against flesh, but felt no pain.

I opened one eye slowly then the other snapped open at the sight. Bella was standing there, seething, and Brandon was holding his cheek, where, between his fingers, I could see a bruise mark. Brandon glared at the furious Bella.

"How. Fricken. DARE. You!" Bella yelled, "No one messes with my amicos, especially my passo fratello!"

Brandon glared as he walked off with his gang to the nurse. Bella took my hand and looked me up and down. Eventually, she found the cigarette burn.

"Doppio D, did he do this?" Bella asked. I looked at her worried face, but she couldn't hide the anger in her yellow cat eyes.

"Um, no," I lied. I still wasn't going to tell about Brandon smoking, "I accidentally did that while, um, making supper the other night."

Bella sighed and rolled my sleeve back down.

"Has Brandon been doing this a lot lately?" She asked.

"Um, no, just this once," I lied once more. I did want help, but I also wanted to find out what was up with Brandon, and I knew I couldn't do that if I told anyone what was happening.

Bella looked at me, as if trying to detect a lie, but she wasn't that good with detecting lies yet, only making them. She sighed and looked down.

"Come on, Doppio D," Bella said, "Let's go get lunch. I'll but you something."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," I said. Immediately following my sentence was the rumble of my stomach.

"Nonsense, of course I do," Bella smiled at me, "You're my step-brother. We gotta take care of each other."

I smiled slightly at my step-sister's ability to care so much. We were step-siblings, of course, but that never meant she had to love me like a real brother, but she cared for me as if I was directly related.

Bella gave me enough money to buy lunch and we sat down with Ed and Eddy. Bella didn't tell them about Brandon. She said that I had forgotten my lunch again. I smiled thankfully at her.

Just then May walked over and sat down next to Ed. Now, I know it may sound strange, but over the years Ed had become less scared of May, but only to the point where they were friends, not dating.

"Hey, big Ed," May greeted with a bucked-tooth smile.

"Hi, May!" Ed smiled back, "Want an apple?" Ed held up his uneaten apple. The school lunch line had a rule where it was required to take a fruit or vegetable, but Ed still never ate his.

"No thanks," May said, "I'm stuffed!" She patted her belly for emphasis. Felice crawled slowly onto her lap. While Felice was now a bit more friendly with May since she stopped chasing Ed, Felice still didn't trust her that well. It took a while to earn Felice's trust.

"Hi, kitty!" May smiled, "Want some tuna?" May pulled out a bit of lunch meat tuna which I supposed came from her home-brought lunch. Felice gratefully ate the tuna, and afterward meowed slightly.

"She says, 'grazie'," Bella translated.

I didn't encounter Brandon for the rest if the day, except for when we passed him when he was on his way to detention.

Again.