So recently Connecticut had decided to go back to highschool and work back up to the college level in his state, just to see how the schools were fairing with the cut backs and such. Some of the other states had done this as well, Arizona had tried but had to drop out three weeks in because of the fact that he was ready to beat some of his teacher's brains in. Another example was Massachusetts and New York, who were practically racing each other and seeing who could get better grades than who and whether their degrees were higher than the others.

Sadly, Maxwell Jones was not handling the school system as well as the others both of whom were either extremely popular or jocks. Yes, the smaller state was one of the lucky ones that had inherited his father's strength but he rarely used unless he had major stress to relieve. Maxwell just preferred to be brains and not brawns, which could be part of the reason that he was sprinting through the hallways and up staircases to get away from the idiots this school house. "Get back here, nerd!" Snapped the leader of the herd, a bunch of football players who had been trying to force him to do one of their friends homework or allow him to cheat on test so that he could get back on the team. Connecticut- being the stupidly smart guy that he was- immediately refused to do such an outrageous thing.

They all started to shove him after that, slowly growing more violent and unrelenting but the brunette absolutely refused to use any of his strength against them. 'They are just humans' he had thought 'What's the worst thing they can do to me?'. Apparently slamming one of their fist into his jaw with the force of a small car hitting someone was not even close to all they could do. So as soon as he found a chance to escape he made way for the emergency exit, setting off the fire alarms as he went. It was bad enough that these boys had made fun of his scars during PE when they had to dress out but now this? Was this what some of those kids had to deal with on a regular basis? If so how come there was no one doing anything more urgent to stop them and what would it take to finally stop this? Maxwell panted as he shot up another flight of stairs, though on the top step he miscalculated a bit on the height from his rush and ended up catching his foot. He tripped and fell face first into the concrete barely managing to cushion his fall with his hands, he knew for certain that he had new holes in his jeans and blood leaking from the now torn skin on his hand, elbows and knees. Shadows loomed above him, he cringed knowing for certain that the teenagers had caught up with him and that he was probably going to need some help getting home... or you know an ambulance.

"Hey pumpkin-head, whatcha doin' all roughed up? You been fighting?" The scornful voice of the last person he would expect to see here invaded his hospital plans, the usually hurtful nickname now making him smile. Above Maxwell casting shadows stood New York and Massachusetts, both looking mildly surprised at the state of there brother. "No seriously, what happened to you?" Connecticut was startled himself at the concerned- or was it anger?- that he heard in the other states tone. Half the time New York acted like he couldn't care less about what happened to the downed brunette state and the other half the obnoxiously dressed man was the one causing the trouble. So to hear what sounded like genuine worry in the blonde's tone almost made Maxwell worry.

Massachusetts was strangely quiet as the two polar opposites waited for him to answer, "Well, n-nothing..." He stuttered trying to think up an excuse, he couldn't tell his brothers what was happening. If he did they would think he was weak or a wimp or something and they might get involved, that would make the brunette look worse than if he just let it keep happening. Quickly getting to his feet and brushing himself off he saw New York's still sckeptical stare, "I fell down some of these stairs earlier okay? I'm just being-"

"Hey look the pansy's got some friends, how cute!" Snarled one of the meatheads who had finally caught up with him. "Not like you could take us on all by your little lonesome..." The terrible boy said in a tone that one would use for speaking to a baby, Massachusetts glared at them not showing it but feeling great confusion over what was happening.

New York didn't look confused at all, he seemed to know exactly what was happening even if he didn't know the reasons behind it. These kids were asking for a fight and if they kept insulting his brother they were going to get one they would never forget, "I don't know who you are but if you keep insulting my brother you are going to regret it," Connecticut brightened up Yorkie really did care- "Only I'm allowed to do that!" -and there went that sentiment. Way to ruin a moment.

The sneer across the teen's face stretched until it was a scruel smirk, "Oh, really now?" He asked, noticing the height difference between him and the color blind blonde- which was about a foot at the least- and scoffing, "So if I called your brother a queer little freak-"

CRACK!

The sound of the football player's nose being broken made all of the group- including Connecticut, not that he would admit as much- jump and stumble away from the angry blonde who stood over their leader with an unreadable expression. "If you called Maxy that then I would call you a homophobic asshole." Growled the Big Apple, the type of angry he was right then was something that neither of his siblings had ever seen before. Massachusetts unfroze from where he had been pinned in shock and grabbed Yorkie's arm pulling him away from the boys that were now screaming for a teacher- or screaming in pain. The blonde tilted his deep black fadora- with a dashing of red sparkles of course- in acceptance of the retreat and followed the redhead and nerdy brunette.

As soon as they were away from the scene- they had returned to Connecticut's home to be precise- New York and Massachusetts spun on the younger state, " What the hell was that, Max?" York snapped, hands on his slim hips and eyes narrowed behind pitch black sunglasses. The state in question shuffled his feet and wrung his hands nervously, not very well wanting these two stronger states to know of his- even momentary- weakness. His dark green eyes stuck to the floor beneath his feet and refused to lift- were impossible to lift- to meet the other men's eyes. He felt so much shame over what had happened, he was a freaking immortal state for Pete's sake! He shouldn't have let it progress as far as it had, but it was too late to go back now.

A sudden grip on his chin made Maxwell jump in surprise, he tried to back away and get far from the questing sea green eyes that he was forced to meet when Massachusetts raised his head. "Connecticut, were you being bullied?" The redhead's tone- that was usually lacking emotion if possible- was filled with shock and horror, the truth of the matter finally hitting close to home when his younger sibling's eyes widened and tried to break contact with his.

New York gasped from where he stood next to them watching the whole confrontation, he yanked the taller man out of the redhead's grip and into his own bone-crushing hug, "Maxy, why haven't you told us?" He demanded not letting go of Connecticut, pulling him closer if that was at all possible, "Tomorrow we are going and taking you out of that horrible school, I will not let you continue if this is going to happen again." Maxwell felt tears welling up in his eyes from New York's obvious worry, he didn't even know that the blonde cared about what happened about him, let alone was worried about what could happen.

"B-but I c-can't-"

"You can and you will," Massachusetts cut him off, not wanting to hear any of the excuses he could almost see running through the brunette's head. "And then we are going to tell dad that this is happening and needs to be taken care of before it escalates further." Sea green eyes were unrelenting and hard as they stared down the shorter brunette until Maxwell nodded.

Connecticut swallowed visibly, but agreed nonetheless, "Okay, but can we do it next week?"

*One Week Later*

Massachusetts pulled his trembling brother up to the podium that was situated in front of all the states as well as their father. They had all called an emergency meeting with all the states after Connecticut had calmed down enough to just tell New York the whole story and that had taken a few days in itself. To get him okay enough to tell pretty much the whole country was an entirely different story. New York gave the younger brunette a pat on the back as he walked past and smile with a thumbs up in approval, "Good luck!" He whispered.

Everyone was whispering though so it wasn't bothering anything, because they all were wondering why Connecticut of all people had called them here. They knew that the state liked to be by himself as much as possible and that socializing was a painful thing for him.

But what shock them most was the way that their usually confident sibling's hands and voice shook, as well as the first thing he said, "What do you all know about bullying?"

So yes I was going to do something with Michigan and Ohio but Bumblekat request more Connecticut so here you go! I hope it's not terrible... I wasn't sure but I know bullying is a big issue that I had yet to address in this so I felt the need to and Connecticut is my nerdiest OC so sorry to pick on him but... yeah. I've been bullied before as well and I just wish people would do something more about it because what's being done now is not enough.

I just want to thank you all for the reviews and love, I have so much fun writing these, it really relieves stress after life gets in the way.

Sorry for the depressing chappie, you'll probably see Michigan and Ohio next chapter unless I get a request before then.