Riley felt anger - boiling, blistering anger - but before that she felt a twinge of pity. It only lasted a split second, of course, but she felt it nonetheless.
It was the day after her third hockey game with the Foghorns, and Riley Andersen started it out with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. They'd won a whopping four-to-one. It was no contest; they'd completely dominated the rink, and the vibrant glow of victory still clung to her all morning. As she ate her cereal, she remembered the feeling of hitting that puck. As she got dressed for the day, she remembered taking off her helmet after the victory. As she walked to school with her parents, she remembered celebrating with her team afterward, cheers and cries of joyful victory swarming through the air like so many bees.
Inside her head, Joy was still celebrating. Dancing around the console in bliss, she recalled several shining golden (and sometimes red) orbs that Riley replayed over and over in her head. Most of the game was a blur, but these few highlights stood out, telling the full story; There was Riley snatching the puck from an opponent. There she was passing the puck right past another and to a teammate, with perfect form. And (Joy's personal favorite) the sound of the bell as Riley shot the puck down the ice, past the goalie, and into the net.
Joy wasn't the only one celebrating, of course - every emotion was thrilled. 'Sweet Victory' blared over the speakers. Anger hummed happily along while reading the sports section. Fear was sitting next to him, reading along eagerly. Even Disgust and Sadness were celebrating. Seated on the ground, Sadness had a wonderful smile while Disgust helped her apply face paint, decorating her blue features to be the Foghorn's colors.
"Hold still..." Disgust was saying, "And... done!" she picked up a mirror and spun it around for Sadness to see. The blue emotion looked into it and made a deep, happy giggle at the sight.
"Thanks," she said.
"Of course," Disgust replied as she began putting away her near-endless supply of cosmetics, "It's not every day you're this happy."
"Yeah, heh," Sadness said, "Usually I just think about how we lost the game, but this time we won!"
"Yeah we did!" Joy called out with a cheer.
As Sadness got to her feet, her eyes trailed off into the distance. "It felt so nice when we won... but..." her smile - like a shy little cat - receded and hid away. A frown took its place. "Too bad for the other team... they did awful... we really let them have it..."
Joy sighed, but didn't say anything else - Sadness was right, of course; somewhere in the back of her head, Riley did feel sorry for the other team... but not nearly enough to stop her from enjoying her victory! The twelve-year-old waved goodbye to her parents and skipped merrily into the school, whistling to herself and high-fiving teammates whom she happened to pass. She slowed her skip to a walk, and rounded the corner to her lockers.
Inside her head, the music stopped. It wasn't a loud, noticeable stop. It was just a stop, as if someone had hit the mute button. Anger's jaw was dangling open, expression matching Fear's as the two stared numbly at the monitor. Joy was frozen, speechless, stunned into disbelief. She blinked and rubbed her eyes, but couldn't think of a thing to say at what she was witnessing. Sadness and Disgust scurried up to the console. They - too - were at a loss for words. The only noise came from the monitor; laughter and mockery.
Riley stood about four feet from a horrible sight.
A towering mountain of a kid stood there, his face locked into a sneer as he chuckled and shoved a shorter boy back. The bully's spiked hair and freckled face was all-too-familiar to Riley. She never knew his name, but she did know that he was always bullying, always looking for a chance to get a kick out of someone else's misery. His current victim? Someone who - after a split second - Riley recognized. She ran into him at the game last night.
His hat was off his head (courtesy of the bully), and he was nearing the point of tears as the bigger kid's meaty hands grabbed his shirt, swallowing the faces of Mike and Sully in an iron-tight grip. "Please, man!" the kid cried out, voice cracking, "Just let me go!" The bully obliged, shoving the kid back and letting him stumble to the ground once more. Another laugh erupted, and some of the passing kids joined in with jeers of their own.
In Riley's mind, Disgust was the first to speak, and she did so with an indignant scoff. "That creep again!" she shouted, dropping her makeup bag, "I am sick of seeing his face around here, picking on everyone! Ugh!" she flipped a switch. Riley made a repulsed scowl.
Sadness was next. "Ohhh, that poor kid..." she moaned. Tears were flowing now, ruining the face paint, but she didn't care in the slightest. Sadness's whole world was suddenly swallowed up as she felt every shove, every mocking word, every harsh laugh that was directed at the poor brown-haired kid. The little ball of an emotion began crying out loud. She shoved past a still-petrified Joy and went next to Disgust, tiny hands gripping the levers and pulling. The console became green-and-blue. Sadness leaned into Disgust as the tears kept flowing. Were it not for the situation, Disgust may have scolded Sadness for smearing makeup on her dress, but as it was, the awful situation had their full attention.
Riley's brows furrowed in pity, but - not even a second later - they shifted. Anger jumped off the couch, crumpled newspaper flung into Fear's lap, and shouted, "Enough!" as he stomped towards the console.