A/N: Thanks for reviewing! A lot of POV switching in this chapter...and it's VERY long. Butenjoy anyway

JOANNE'S POV:

Joanne Jefferson pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail. She always liked her hair out of her face when she was concentrating, especially when she was doing her homework. But either way, her mind was wandering away from her math worksheet.

A certain Thomas B. Collins was on her mind.

He was so mature for his age, so smart—Joanne literally looked up to him; admired him. Not to mention she had the tiniest little crush on him. Joanne had never, ever been interested in boys—sure, she liked to play football with them, but she couldn't imagine herself holding hands with a boy...or actually kissing a boy. Gross. But Tom, she decided, was an exception.

Joanne had no intention of telling Tom how she felt. It would completely ruin her image, she thought—boys, in her opinion, were idiots who were only good for playing sports with and just hanging around with. But then again...maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be holding hands with Thomas Collins---

Snap out of it, she told herself. She looked down at her worksheet, attempting to concentrate on the math, and her eyes widened. There, in the corner of the paper, was Tom's name written with hearts all around it. Joanne hadn't realized that she had been doodling while she was thinking.

Crap...

She grabbed her big pink eraser and began furiously erasing the name of the person who, she finally admitted to herself, she really, really did like.

MARK'S POV:

Ugh...My head hurts...

Mark stepped out of his car into the brisk, cool November air. He sighed. Another long school day, another heap of big assignments, another reprimand from Mrs. Wright...Mark had woken up with a terrible headache (goodness knows he would never tell his mother—Mrs. Cohen would make it seem like he was dying and probably keep him home from school), and had a feeling it was going to be a bad day.

But then again, along with the assignments and the long six hours of the school day, he had his friends to look forward to...especially Maureen. Maureen...his crush since kindergarten who finally liked him back.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad day after all.

He sighed again and threw his heavy backpack down beside his group of friends in the schoolyard.

"Hey Marky, how ya doin', dude?" Roger punched Mark lightly in the arm affectionately.

"It's Mark. Not Marky," replied Mark, rubbing his now extremely sore arm and adjusting his glasses with his other hand. Playful hit or not, Roger could really make a mark on Mark.

Roger rolled his eyes. "Aww, dude, we've called you that, for, like, ever. It sticks, you know?"

"Yeah, but it's really...babyish," said Mark.

"No it isn't, Marky!" Tom replied. Mark shook his head and decided to give up with the name issue for the moment. He found himself blushing violently as Maureen put an arm around his shoulders. When she had ever done that before, he had always thought of it as a friendly gesture. But now they both considered it much more than that.

Mimi looked around. "Where's Angel?" she asked. Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.

"I hope he's okay," Tom said quietly, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to keep himself warm in the cold weather.

Mimi smiled at him. "You worry about Angel too much."

"...I do?" Tom was completely oblivious.

"Yeah, dude," Roger said, "Totally."

Joanne was the only one who hadn't said anything. Mark glanced over at her. She was looking down at the floor, almost sheepishly. Joanne was never as loud as her best friend Maureen, but never this quiet before.

Soon the bell rang and everyone filed inside the school.

MIMI'S POV:

A few minutes after everyone got inside, Mrs. Wright was just beginning to take attendance when Angelo Schunard walked into the classroom, looking down at the floor, his backpack looking as if it were weighing him down.

"Angelo. You're late," Mrs. Wright said curtly.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again," Angel said, still looking down at the floor. Mimi could tell there was something wrong with Angel. She had known him the longest out of all of her friends and always knew when he was upset. He took his seat in between Tom and Joanne after bringing his backpack into the coat room.

"Angel, are you okay?" Mimi leaned over and whispered to him. Angel nodded and got his pencil out to work on the Morning Work that Mrs. Wright had written on the board.

Mimi Marquez wasn't going to settle for a simple nod. She whispered to Mark, "Get Tom."

She watched as Mark tapped Tom on the shoulder and whispered something, prompting Tom to lean back as casually as possible as Mrs. Wright took attendance to look at Mimi.

"Talk to Angel," Mimi mouthed. Tom nodded. Mimi had a feeling that he knew exactly what he had to do.

TOM'S POV:

Thomas B. Collins rarely got frustrated over anything...but now, as Angel was refusing to tell him anything every time he asked what was wrong, he was beginning to get just a little bit annoyed. It was lunch time now, and he still didn't know what was wrong. Joanne, who sat on the other side of Angel, had also been desperately trying to make Angel tell them what was wrong. But Angel had said nothing to either of them.

He sat down next to Angel at lunch. He looked around at everyone, giving them a pleading look. All of them took the hint, except for Roger.

"Dude, do you have to, like, pee or something? You have a weird look on your face," Roger said. Maureen laughed loudly and had to cover her mouth with her hand. Mark buried his face in his hands. Tom sighed, and he watched as Mimi leaned over and whispered what was going on in Roger's ear.

"Oh...Ohh...Dude!...Okay. I get it."

Soon they were all leaning into the table, crowded around Angel.

"What's wrong, Angel, you gotta tell us!" Maureen chirped.

Angel was silent.

"Dude, you look, like, really sad," Roger said, "And it's, like, not cool."

"Oh, those were such comforting words, Roger," Mark said sarcastically.

"Shut up, dude!"

"Stop fighting, you two!" Mimi interrupted. "Let Angel talk to us. You can talk to us, sweetie!"

Angel looked up at all of them. "Look," he said quietly.

He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater to reveal a few bruises on his left arm.

Joanne's eyes widened. "Who did that to you?"

"My dad. But he told me he didn't mean to...he said he didn't...he said...he won't do it again and...he said..." Angel choked up and looked down at his hands.

"Oh, God, Angel..." Mark muttered. Tom immediately put an arm around Angel.

"Dude," Roger muttered, at a loss for words.

"Aren't ya gonna call the cops or something? Isn't that what you're supposed to do?" Maureen asked.

"No...he said he...wouldn't do it...again...and I...I'm just..."

Mimi ran over to the other side of the table and hugged Angel. "It's okay to be scared, Angel!"

"No..." Angel whispered. "No, it's not. My dad said boys are tough and don't get scared like I do."

"That's not true!" Tom cried. "Don't listen to him, Angel! Everybody gets scared."

"Tom's right," Joanne agreed.

Tom still had a protective arm around Angel's shoulders. He sighed and slowly pulled away.

There was too much drama being a fifth grader. Way too much.