I'm really glad that people like this story! I'm trying to play it out like an episode. I've been asked if this will be a Laya fic, and the answer is no. I was just trying to incorperate Lucas and Maya's 'game' into this story as if it were like an episode. Readers of His Moment will know that I'm an avid Liley shipper. And besides, shippings won't play a huge part in this story. This story is about bullying, and what it can do to a person. No shippings, at least not in big parts. If any at all, it will be in small things, like Lucas comforting Riley or simething. Now look at me rambling! On with the story!

Riley seemed really shaken up. Her eyes were wide and she hardly said a word the entire way to Mr. Mattews' classroom. They stopped at the lockers to get their books.

"Hey, Riles, you okay?" Maya asked. Riley shrugged.

"Yeah," she replied, obviously lying. "Just a little jumpy, that's all."

Farkle bounded down the hall, his eyes wide. "Riley! Maya! Lucas!" he cried.

"Farkle," Maya and Riley said at the same time.

"I heard that you stood up to Brock the Jock!" He said, his voice full of admiration. "Nobody's ever done that before!"

"Brock the Jock?" Lucas narrowed his eyes. As the new kid, he obviously wouldn't know who 'Brock the Jock' was. Neither did Maya, but she was able to safely make an assumption that this 'Brock' guy was the jerk who'd called her and Riley pathetic.

"Brock Miller," Farkle explained to Lucas. "He's a ninth grader. . ."

Maya tuned out the rest of the conversation. She turned to Riley, who seemed to be listening to whatever Farkle was saying.

". . . drowned a kid giving him a swirly. He was lucky to survive," Farkle finished.

Riley looked horrified. She threw her arms around Maya's neck, much to her surprise.

"Maya, you saved my life!" she yelled.

"Whoa, hold your horses, Riles," Maya said, prying herself away from Riley's grasp. "How exactly did I save your life, may I ask?"

"Did you not hear what Farkle said?" Riley looked at her as if she'd grown a second head. "Brock the Jock almost drowned a kid while giving him a swirly!"

Maya narrowed her eyes. "And you think he would have done that to you?" she asked, smirking.

"What would stop him?" Riley fretted, wide-eyed.

"Um, maybe the fact that he kind of isn't allowed in the Girl's Bathroom?" Maya suggested. "You know, 'cause he's a boy?"

Riley giggled. "That makes sense."

Maya patted her on the head. "I know it does. That's why I said it."

"Ladies," Farkle interrupted. "Shall we head to class? I think the bell will ring soon."

Maya checked her phone. "Yep. But let's walk really slowly. So we can miss as much of the lesson as possible."

She felt the hands of someone older and stronger than her. She jumped, thinking it was Brock the Jock. She relaxed when she saw the curly hair and kind eyes of Mr. Matthews.

"Now how would you learn anything that way?" he asked. Maya shrugged.

"Who said that I wanted to learn anything?" She asked him.

Mr. Matthews paused. "No one."

She grinned from ear to ear. "See, Mr. Matthews? You finally get me!"

Mr. Matthews rolled his eyes. "If there's anything I know about the world, it's that you might need to learn stuff to achieve. It's a, er, minor suggestion.

"So, you're saying that to be the Mini Mart Employee of the Month, I need to know everything about the Trojan Horse?"

Mr. Matthews paused. "No, but-"

"So when am I ever going to need to know your history lessons in real life?"

"Says the girl who danced on my desk because she made an assumption," he said dryly. Maya scoffed.

"Maya, he's serious!" Farkle pointed out. "We learn about history so that we don't make the same mistakes when we grown up."

Maya smirked. "So you're saying that when I grow up I'm gonna be the leader of some major empire?"

Mr. Matthews facepalmed. "Nevermind, Miss Hart. Just. . . get to class."

The group walked toward the classroom, laughing.

"Honestly, Maya, if you're ever the president of the United States, I'm moving to Africa," Riley said as they sat down in their usual seats.

Maya rolled her eyes. "And why is that?"

Riley opened her mouth to answer, but the bell rang and cut her off. Mr. Mattews walked in and started class.

But Maya couldn't pay attention. Not that she even wanted to. It was just review on the Trojan Horse. Nothing she needed to learn again. Maya had never gotten the point of review. Once she learned something, why did she need to learn it again? It was kind of like homework. Why didn't they just teach her what she needed to learn while she was at school?

But that's not what she was thinking about.

That guy. Brock the Jock. More like Brock the Jerk. He'd had no right to stop Riley like that. She'd had rather have him pick on her. At least she could handle it.

Riley was too innocent, too niave to handle that bully. All she ever wanted to do was fit in. She was quirky. She was awkward. But she was Maya's best friend. She had to protect her at all cost.

But maybe she was jumping too far ahead. Maybe that Brock guy would forget about Riley. And if he wouldn't, maybe Riley could handle it.

But Maya wasn't convinced that she could. Sure, Riley could stand up to Missy Bradford. But Missy was just one of those girls who was convinced she was more popular than everyone else. And Riley could surely beat her in a fight. If not, Maya could take her down for her.

But that Brock guy could easily slaughter both of them. He was older, stronger, and definitely a lot more fierce. At least, Maya wouldn't drown someone giving them a swirly.

A hand waved in front of her face.

"Earth to Maya!"

Maya blinked, and was plunged back into reality. How long had she zoned out for?

"Wha?" she asked. "What did I miss?"

"Oh, only the whole class period," Riley told her.

"Oh, so I didn't miss much?"

Riley rolled her eyes. "Come on, Maya. We wouldn't want to be late for Gym!"

Maya sighed. How did Riley stay so perky all the time?

. . .

The girl's locker room was crowed, like it always was hard for Riley and Mato get to their lockers.

The whole room was hot, and it smelled like sweat. Maya hated gym for that very reason. Why did they have to wear those stupid uniforms? It never made a lot of things didn't make any sense go Maya. She'd learned that it was just a part of life. A stupid part, but one she couldn't control.

"Ugh, what stinks?" Maya wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Locker room smell," Riley said. "It's permanently soaked in to the room. I've heard the boy's locker room is worse."

"Oh, and who told you that?" Maya asked. She already knew the answer.

"Lucas," Riley said dreamily. Maya rolled her eyes, pulling her naturally wavy blonde hair into a ponytail before leading the way out of the room.

As soon as they were out, Riley froze. Maya heard her footsteps stop, and turned around.

"You coming, Riles?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh, no," Riley groaned. "It's raining."

". . . And?"

"We can't go outside. . ." she seemed to be freaking out.

"Get to the point, Riley," Maya told her. Riley pointed to the middle of the gym, where a line of rubber balls were arranged in the center.

"Dodgeball. We're playing dodgeball." Riley groaned.

Maya was confused. " What's so bad about dodgeball?"

Riley looked at Maya with an intense look in her brown eyes. "I'm going to die, Maya, die!"

Maya put her hands on her hips. "You're freaking out over nothing, Riles. You're not going to die."

"Yes I am!" Riley protested.

"Whatever," Maya sighed. When Riley got like that, it was best to let her calm down on her own.

The game soon started. Riley and Maya were on the same team. Things seemed to be going well. Riley didn't die, that's for sure. For a while, it was girls against girls and boys against boys.

But then the coaches decided to be evil. Boys and girls against boys and girls.

The boys always took the game way too seriously. They pelted the balls and the speed they picked up through the air made it hurt like crazy when they hit. And they almost always targeted the girls when they played against them. More specifically, Riley.

Everything seemed to happen so fast. Maya and Riley were next to each other. Maya caught a ball someone had thrown before ducking under one aiming straight at her head.

"Can I have it?" asked Riley, who was horrible at catching.

"Sure," Maya handed it to her, knowing that whoever she threw it at would either miss them by a mile or be caught by someone else. Then Riley would be out without getting pummeled.

Riley through the ball. And for the first time, she actually hit someone!

But there was no time to rejoice. Had she hit anyone else, she would have been happy beyond belief. But no.

It hit Brock the Jock.

Maya froze. The huge boy was heading to the other side of the gym, like he was supposed to, because he was out. But the glare he was giving Riley was the look of someone who wanted revenge. And if it freaked Maya out, then surely it freaked Riley out.

" I'm going to die," she said plainly.

A dodgeball flew threw the air, high above the girl's heads. Someone yelled "Catch it, Brock!"

And Brock caught it. He narrowed his eyes, staring at Riley. He threw the ball with so much strength, you could hear it whiz through the air.

"I'm going to die," Riley repeated.

"Watch out!" Maya cried.

But she was too late. The ball struck Riley square in the center of her forehead. The brunette fell to the ground, hitting her head on the hard gym floor. Maya got hit, but she didn't care. She ignored the cries of 'you got hit' and 'you're out!' She kneeled down next to her best friend. She shook her gently.

The hit was enough to knock the girl unconscious.