Emma waved and smiled brightly at the young girl a few days later when she saw her next. To her surprise, the girl ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"Hi, Emma!" Maddy said enthusiastically.

The blonde's eyes were wide, but her smile grew wider as well as she looked down at the young brunette and hugged her back.

"Hey, there, hun. How was your day?"

"It sucked! Some kid called me fat and-"

"WHAT?!" Emma cried. "Where is he? I'll teach him a lesson."

"It was a girl."

"Then I'll teach her a lesson."

"I can handle it... it was just really mean."

Emma sighed and said, "Yeah. You should probably just ignore it. She'll stop eventually if she doesn't get a rise out of you. It won't be fun for her anymore, and it'll stop making her feel good."

"Why does it make her feel good to pick on me?"

"Because she feels crappy about herself."

"How do you know that?"

"Because no one who really feels good about themselves would ever put anyone else down."

"Well, she seems to feel just fine about herself. She's popular and has a ton of friends."

"That doesn't change what's inside her, honey. Inside, she feels like crap, and she picks on you - and probably other people too - to make herself feel superior."

"Well, that's dumb."

"I know it, but it's the way it is. Eventually she'll stop. Trust me on that."

The girl sighed and ground her shoe into the tar beneath her feet.

"I hate her."

"Aw, c'mon, Maddy. Don't waste your energy hating somebody. She's not worth it."

The girl shrugged her shoulders and continued to avert her eyes, but Emma gently lifted her chin to look at her.

"It's gonna be alright, sweetheart. You're strong enough to ignore her and get through this."

"But it's hard!"

"I know. But it's important that you don't lash out or fight back, okay? You're just gonna get in more trouble."

"I only fight with boys. Girls just hurt my feelings. Boys are the ones that really push my buttons and make me angry."

"Yeah... I get that. I felt the same way when I was in middle school. And high school, actually. I got in fights for a long, long time. It was only when I went to college that I sort of looked at my life and said, 'You know what? I don't want that to be me anymore. That's not who I am.' Do you know what I mean?"

Maddy sighed again and shrugged her shoulders once more, saying, "I guess so."

"No, come on. Tell me the truth. Do you understand?"

"No, not really."

"Okay," Emma said, kneeling down in front of the girl and holding both of her hands. "When I was your age, all the way until I was about eighteen, I thought that the only way to get through life was to fight people. It was one of the only things that made me feel better. But when I got older, I realized that I wasn't just physically hurting the people I was fighting. I was emotionally and mentally hurting myself. I was destroying myself. So, I decided that I wanted to change my values, and I did. I decided that I wasn't okay with hurting people anymore, and I stopped. Does that make sense?"

"Yeah, but it still feels good to fight..."

"I know. But you just feel horrible afterwards. Isn't that right?"

"No. I feel great."

"Don't lie to me, missy. My superpower is detecting lies."

"Okay, fine. Maybe I do feel worse later. But it still feels good in the moment."

"But it goes away, honey. That rush goes away, and just leaves you empty. That's not what I want for you."

"What else made you feel better, besides fighting?"

"Well... more stuff I shouldn't have been doing that just made me feel even worse after."

"Like what?"

"Like... Look, that's not important, okay? It's not something we need to talk about right now. Maybe later though, okay? Let's focus on some happy stuff."

"Fine," the girl pouted. "Like what? Skateboarding?!"

"Nope," Emma answered with a smile. "Like homework."

"What? Why?"

"Because you know you need to get it done, you know you need help with it, and I'm here to help you."

"But I can just do it later! I wanna learn how to-"

"Maddy. We're not skateboarding until your homework is done, alright? If you focus really hard, we'll be able to get it done in no time, and then we can play around."

"Fine," Maddy huffed. "Whatever."

"Don't give me that attitude, missy," the blonde teased, ruffling the girl's hair. "Now, let's go to the library and get started."

Once they were at the library, Emma set them up at a table and immediately spread out the girl's books.

"So what should we do first?" she asked cheerfully.

"Skateboard," the girl mumbled, kicking the chair before sitting down beside her mentor.

"Hey, come on. Don't give me a hard time, okay? I'm just trying to help you out, and the sooner we get this done, the sooner we can have some fun."

"I hate this," Maddy whined, pushing the books away.

"Maddy. Please? For me?"

With another huff, the girl picked up her pencil and pulled her math book closer.

Then, Emma asked, "Alright. So, what's the homework for tonight?"

The girl pulled out her day planner and looked at the notes under that day's date.

"Odd problems 1-21 on page 156," she groaned, squeezing the pencil in her fist.

"Hey. It's gonna be alright. We'll get through this."

"I can't focus! It's too hard. I don't know what I'm doing, and I get really antsy when I have to sit too long."

Emma paused, thinking about the familiarity of the symptoms the girl had just described.

"Maddy... Have you ever been tested for ADHD?"

"What's ADHD?"

"Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It basically means that the chemicals and hormones in your body are a little off, so they make it really hard to sit still, focus and get things done. Usually, when people have it, they do get antsy and a little too excited sometimes."

"Oh... You think I have that?"

"I'm not sure, but it makes me curious, because of what you just told me. That might be the reason you're struggling."

"But how do you know about that?"

"Well... Because I have it."

"Can you get better?"

"I take medication for it that really helps me, yeah, but it's hard when I forget to take it. It makes me anxious and distracted."

"You think it would help me?"

"I don't know, kiddo, but I think we should talk to your mum about getting you to a doctor to find that out. What do you think?"

"I don't wanna be messed up."

"Oh, Maddy... It's not like that. It doesn't mean you're messed up. It just means that you have a harder time than other people."

"But I don't wanna-"

"Lots of people struggle with it, sweetie. It doesn't have to mean anything bad, and it can definitely be treated, if that's actually what you have, which it very well might not be."

"My teachers just think I'm stupid and lazy."

"Well, your teachers aren't around when you're doing your homework, are they?"

"No... But I have trouble sitting still in class, too, and they definitely notice that. They just scold me and get mad about it, but I really can't help it! I'm not trying to make a scene or a be a problem."

"I know that, hun. Depending on what the doctors say, I'd be willing to have a talk with your teachers about it to help them better understand what you're going through. And you might even find that it's a lot easier to focus if they put you on medication, and maybe even work through some of your anxiety in therapy."

"I don't wanna take meds, though. Or be in therapy. My mom takes meds because she gets crazy if she doesn't, and-"

"What?"

"Well, she... The doctors say she's something called bipolar, and she gets really angry or upset a lot if she doesn't take them."

"Oh... Well, a lot of people struggle with that too. It's okay to need help, sweetheart."

Maddy sighed but nodded her head, indicating her reluctant understanding, then turned what little attention she could muster to the pages of her workbook. The two spend the next two hours working through the problems, then the girl's English homework, until they were finally finished with all the work she'd been assigned for that night. It was only then that the two went outside, and Emma grabbed her skateboard out of her car.