Author Notes - Now, after the chapter taking place entirely at the hospital, we have a chapter focusing purely on the school. So, we'll get a lot of Molly, Deema, Oona, and Goby.

You'll notice that I added Mr Grouper to the character list of this story. I did this because I realised how major of a character he often is in these chapters, especially this one. Plus, I don't know any other story that actually did use that filter before me.

CHAPTER FIVE - THAT'S CALLED 'BULLYING'

Mr Grouper didn't know where to begin. After he brought the four Guppies back to school, the very first thing he did was give Molly, Oona, and Goby an order. The thought of giving his students an order like that was one he never thought he would ever have.

'Molly, Goby, Oona...'

The three Guppies hung their heads in shame as Mr Grouper called them by name. Molly in particular winced like someone was about to whack her.

'I want the three of you to wait where you normally do when class starts.' He said. 'We need to have a talk.'

They obeyed his order immediately, taking their usual places. With just the three of them, it felt so much emptier than the regular classes. It didn't feel right to any of them, and Molly was one bad thought away from an emotional breakdown.

'W-What about Deema?' Goby asked.

Deema had stayed close to Mr Grouper the whole trip back, for reasons she did not make clear. The others couldn't know that she no longer felt comfortable in their presence. She didn't deserve to be with them anymore, as far as she was concerned. Her hand covered up her injured eye as the bruise began to form, resulting in a large patch of red on her face.

'I'll be taking her elsewhere.' Mr Grouper answered. 'But she will still in earshot. I just need to find her an ice pack for her eye. And also,' He paused. 'While I still want her to listen, I don't want to be so direct with her. She's dealing with enough trouble as it is.'

He didn't dare mention it, but a small part of him was angry with his curly-haired student. As much as no one wanted to say it, Deema was indeed, at least partially, responsible for the accident. He placed the rest of the blame on himself, for not being a good enough teacher to prevent it before it could happen.

'I don't want any of you guys to leave your spots.' He continued. 'I do trust you to follow my orders, of course. You have never gone against my orders before, and I doubt you ever will. I just want to make it clear. Understood?'

Goby and Oona nodded, and it took until Mr Grouper gave her a small glare for Molly to nod in agreement too.

'Good. I'll just be helping Deema with her injury. I will be right back.'

Mr Grouper, followed by Deema, left the classroom area and headed for the kitchen. All the while, Molly's guilt only built up higher and higher as she watched Deema swimming away. That bruised eye may not have been nearly as serious as Gil's injuries, but it still made Molly wince.

Deema didn't deserve it. Molly did, as far as she was aware. All because Deema made a small mistake, she had wrongfully received what should've been Molly's own punishment. When she took Gil's fate into account, it only made her think about how the only ones being punished were completely innocent. One a boy bullied by his own friends, and the other a girl feeling crippling guilt. Meanwhile, the awful friend got away scot-free.

She almost burst into tears again thinking about what could've happened to the others. Molly always felt like the universe favoured her over the others; she was a princess for cods' sake! She had no doubt that, should fate demand it, she would have to watch all her friends get punished for her wrongdoings. Who was next? Nonny? Oona? Goby? Even Zooli?

'Molly, are you okay?' Oona asked.

It jolted her back into reality. 'Y-Yeah, I'm okay. As okay as I can be...'

Deema sat on the kitchen counter as Mr Grouper opened the freezer and fished out an ice pack from it. It may not have been as bad as disinfectant, but the sight of it still made her wince.

'Uh... d-do I need that?' She asked.

'Well, you don't need it.' Mr Grouper answered. 'Black eyes typically heal all on their own, but this will certainly help with the swelling. Now, is your vision still fine? Can you still breathe through your nose without any problems? No dizziness or anything like that?'

She nodded. 'You asked me all that before we left the hospital.'

'Just wanted to make sure in case anything changed on our way here.' He said as he wrapped it up in a cloth. 'One Guppy in the hospital is more than enough, and it's always great to seek help when something doesn't seem right. We don't want something small to grow into something big. Now, you're gonna need to move your hand.'

As she did as he said, she couldn't help but to think about what he just said. 'Something small growing into something big' seemed to sum up this entire situation perfectly. If only she didn't try to make a stupid joke...

She cringed as the cloth-covered ice pack made contact with her eye. Even with the layers surrounding it, it was still a little too cold for her tastes. At the same time, however, she could feel the pain around her eye fading just a little.

'Keep this pressed against your eye for the next ten-to-twenty minutes.' Mr Grouper said, slowly backing away so Deema could hold it against her eye herself. 'Then wait an hour, and hold it against your eye again. Keep doing this for the rest of the day if you can. I'll let you know when you should be holding it and when you shouldn't.'

'Shouldn't it be a steak?' She asked. 'They always use steaks in cartoons.'

'Most of what you see in cartoons may not be good to follow. In fact, using raw meat like that could lead to germs getting into your eye, and that will almost certainly make the problem worse.' He sighed. 'Okay, you stay here and rest. Maybe get something to eat from the fridge if you want. I'll be talking with Molly, Oona, and Goby about this... unfortunate situation. I'm being nice to you because you got hurt, but nevertheless I want you to listen to every single word I tell them. Okay?'

She nodded. With all that she had done, she felt like it was the least she could do.

Mr Grouper returned to his other three students, glancing back at Deema for a second to make sure she was still paying attention. Goby couldn't look his teacher in the eye, and Mr Grouper would certainly not force him too. Molly leaned forward, holding her head in her arms, while Oona stood up straight like a soldier.

'I think we should talk about how we've been treating Gil.' Mr Grouper said, in a tone uncharacteristically serious for him. 'Now, I want you all to think about what you've done to Gil over the time we've known him.'

Molly wished he didn't say that. She gripped at her forehead like she was trying to claw the skin off. It just brought her back to all those memories now tinged with horror. Sure, Deema, Goby, and Oona had some crimes to confess to, but they were completely innocent in comparison.

'I laughed at him when he got rained on.' She muttered. 'I laughed at him when Jupiter rolled after him. I laughed at him when those mosquitoes chased after him...'

'Little Fish!' Mr Grouper called to throughout the room. 'I know you're hiding from me.'

'No we're not!' One of the Little Fish called from her hiding spot.

The teacher sighed. 'Goby and Oona told me about what you kids did to Gil. You've done a lot to him, I'm sure we can agree. So, you'll have to listen to this too.'

Mr Grouper let the Guppies sit in silence for a moment, leaving them to think about all the things they had done. All the while, Molly continued to mutter about every single time she had laughed at Gil instead of helping him.

'I laughed at him when those chicken eggs fell on him. I laughed at him when I deafened him with those amps. I laughed at him that polar bear scared him...'

Goby and Oona were taking the process better, but not by much. Deema didn't see any point to it beyond confirming what she already knew: she didn't deserve to be friends with any of them anymore.

'Now, I understand that friends tend to tease each other.' Mr Grouper continued. 'This is fine. I myself had my fair share of friendly teasing. So, what's the difference between friendly teasing and bullying? Let's think about it. If you always laugh at someone, even when they're hurt, that's bullying. If you only target one person and seemingly gang up on them, that's bullying. If you scare someone so much that even Nonny dressed up as a dragon can scare them, that's-'

'Bullying.' Oona said, treating it like a guess when it really wasn't.

'That's right, Oona. As I have been told, Deema's joke before the accident was not meant to scare Gil the way it did. Unfortunately, it seems like you guys have been scaring him so much that anything can set him off now. And I haven't even brought up the hearing damage that he's suffered because of these little games. If I knew this kind of treatment was going on, I would've put a stop to it immediately.' His angry glare disappeared. 'If only I had been a better teacher...'

'It's not your fault, Mr Grouper!' Oona cried, getting off her seat. 'W-We never did that stuff when you were around. It's all on us.'

'Yeah!' Goby agreed. 'Don't blame yourself!'

Normally, such noble acts from his students would've gotten a smile out of Mr Grouper. In a situation such as this, however, he couldn't bring himself to do so. Giving them detentions was tempting, something he never expected, but he figured that calling their parents would be punishment enough.

Molly heard every word that they said. It just made her claw at her own skin more. It wasn't Oona's fault, or Goby's either. It wasn't even Deema's fault, even if it seemed like it. The blonde was simply telling a joke, and it wasn't her fault it went so badly. Molly couldn't hold it in anymore.

'Why are we talking about this?!' She yelled, spreading her arms out. 'It's all MY fault!'

Everyone looked to her with shock.

'M-Molly?' Goby stammered. 'I-It isn't all on you. You know that, right? We've all done things to Gil. Even Nonny has. I don't-'

'Compared to what I did?!' Molly cried, tears once again flowing down her cheeks. 'I'm supposed to be Gil's best friend! I'm supposed to be there for him no matter what! Hundreds of times I watched him get hurt, and hundreds more times I laughed at him. I was even the one who started it sometimes! Why couldn't I treat Gil the way you're supposed to treat a best friend? I treated him like a victim!'

Mr Grouper flinched. He had certainly not expected any of his students to explode into something like that. Part of him was proud that she admitted how much she had wronged her friend, but the rest of him hated how heavy the sadness was in her voice. Molly wiped her tears and gritted her teeth.

'I have to make it up to him.' She said. 'I have to start treating him like a friend should be treated! I'll do whatever it takes to make sure that Gil knows just how much our friendship means to me.'

'Yeah!' Oona cheered, perhaps too happily. 'We'll prove to Gil that we'll never treat him like that ever again!'

Deema scoffed. 'Why bother?'

All attention fell onto the curly-haired Guppy as she entered the room. Even with the ice pack covering up her eye, the defeat and bitterness etched on her face was unmistakable.

'W-What do you mean?' Goby asked. 'He's our friend, and he needs to know that.'

'After the way we've treated him? We'll be lucky if he even looks at us ever again.'

'Deema, we can't be like that.' Oona said, approaching her friend. 'Gil is one of our best friends, and once he sees just how much we love him, I'm sure he'll-'

'Did you even listen to me? If I had been treated the same way we treated Gil, I wouldn't be able to forgive.'

'I know it doesn't seem possible, but Gil's never held a grudge before. I'm sure that when you drop by the hospital again tomorrow, he'll understand.'

The sadness swelling within Deema's subconscious slowly morphed to anger as the others continued to spout meaningless words at her. Unable to contain it any longer, she threw the ice pack to the floor and showed off her bruised eye for all to see.

'I'M THE ONE WHO PUT HIM IN THE HOSPITAL!' She screamed. 'He's never going to forgive me after that! AND I DON'T DESERVE IT ANYWAY!'

Everyone else gasped as Deema quickly regretted her words the moment they escaped her mouth. In a poor attempt to pretend she didn't say anything, she picked up the ice pack and pressed it against her eye once again. If Oona's heart wasn't broken already, it certainly was now.

'Is... is that what you really think?' She asked. 'Of course you deserve Gil's forgiveness!'

'Are you just saying that cos his big brother punched me in the face? Now that's something I did deserve...' She sighed. 'My stupid little joke put Gil in the hospital. Even if he forgives his friends no matter what... I'm not his friend anymore.'

Silence returned as Oona needed a few seconds to come up with a response.

'Deema, that's...' She said. 'That's silly. Of course you're still Gil's friend.'

'I'm not your friend either.'

Oona gasped, and almost immediately began to cry once more. Goby glared at her, but Mr Grouper was the one who intervened.

'Deema, what are you talking about?' He said, with a stern look on his face. 'How could you say that about Oona?'

For a moment, Deema seemed surprised and a little confused. It was the first time in hours that any scrapping of the Deema they knew and loved was to be seen.

'OH! I'm so sorry.' She said, dropping the serious tone completely for a moment. 'I didn't explain that very well. I will always consider Oona my friend. No matter what. What I mean is...' She frowned. 'I don't think she should consider me a friend.'

'WHAT?!' Oona shrieked. 'That's... that's even worse! I-I... you will always be my best friend, Deema! Why would that change?'

'Because, Oona!' Deema yelled, returning to her uncanny serious tone before her voice went low. 'I'm scared I'll hurt you too...'

Oona became speechless, her hands shooting to her mouth as the tears began to fall once again. It only made Deema feel even more guilty.

'See?!' Deema cried. 'I can't be friends with you anymore if this is how I make you feel. And it's not just you. What if I do something stupid and get Goby hurt too? Or Molly? You guys are the greatest friends I have ever met, and I don't want you getting hurt because of me. I'll still be coming to school every day, mostly because changing schools is hard, but I'll just be a classmate.'

Goby felt just as heartbroken as Oona, for reasons that his young child mind couldn't explain. Unable to sit out of this conversation any longer, he stood up and swam over to her, leaving Molly as the only student still on the floor. The pink-haired girl was about ready to explode again, but she just barely managed to reign it in.

'You can't do this, Deema.' Goby said. 'It was just an accident.'

'That just makes it worse!' Deema replied. 'If I can get Gil sent to the hospital by accident, who knows what I could do to you guys without even trying? But... if it really is that big of a deal, I can make this work. If, and only IF, Gil does forgive me, I'll forget about this whole thing. I'm just...' She paused. 'Worried. I love you guys too much to hurt you.'

Molly furrowed her brow.

'It's alright, Deema.' Mr Grouper said. 'Goby is right; it was just an accident. I'm sure you'll never do something like that again, especially not after today.'

The natural-born leader had enough of listening to her curly-haired friend berate herself. So, she stood off the floor and put her hands on her hips.

'I will not have any of you guys talking about yourselves like that.' She said. 'Especially you, Deema. This wasn't your fault. A little joke like that should never lead to someone getting hurt, and I know exactly why it did. It's because we have been doing this since almost the beginning, behind Mr Grouper's back. But I'm the one who's been doing it most of all. Almost every single day, I've laughed at him getting hurt. Sure, I usually wait until he says that he's okay, but that's no excuse. I should not have waited until the day he didn't say it before I acted. I'm going to make it up to him, and treat him like a best friend should be treated.'

She turned to Mr Grouper, now no longer scared to look him in the eye. He, likewise, didn't look nearly as angry as he did a few minutes ago.

'Mr Grouper,' She said. 'I want to go back to the hospital right now. I need Gil to know just how much he matters to me.'

The teacher in question glanced at his watch. 'Oh my... Molly, I am very proud of you for admitting your mistakes and wanting to make it up to Gil, but it's nearly the end of school time. It's almost time to go home, and I'm certain your parents all have some, erm, choice words to give you. Not to mention, I think it might be better to sleep on this. Give both yourself and Gil some time to think about it. Mostly importantly, think about how you'll take it if he doesn't forgive you. I hate to say it, but he may not. Whatever he does will be his choice, and his choice only, and it's up to you to respond to it correctly.'

Molly gulped. She could hardly imagine Gil refusing to forgive her, but it would not have surprised her if he didn't. With a gulp, she nodded.

'Okay, Mr Grouper.' She said.

'That applies to all of you, too.' Mr Grouper continued. 'And remember that while Gil may change later his mind, he may not. So, if he doesn't forgive you guys tomorrow, don't think too hard that he might forgive you later. Don't give yourself false hope.'

Author Notes - Next chapter will be a more simple fare of seeing some of the Guppies dealing with the situation before night-time, before Chapter 7 sees everyone at the hospital again.

I really like how I'm writing Mr Grouper in this story. He doesn't get a lot of focus in fanfictions - understandable, considering that the Guppies themselves get more screen time and are more interesting characters - so I've really liked giving him plenty of scenes where he tries to take charge in this difficult situation. It lets us see another side of him for when class time doesn't go so smoothly.

BTW, don't use steaks to treat black eyes, folks. Even if it works, it's the ice doing all the work and not the steak itself. Also, that's a good way to get the wound infected, and that's always the last thing you want.