Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to a new chapter of Bayley's Universe. Last time, we saw a number of things happen with the biggest thing being how Shayna decided to blow off some steam after the day at school she had, a way that seemed ...oddly familiar. Will we find out why? Only one way to find out. Read on, and I hope you all enjoy this chapter, my dolls. =)

(Like with an earlier chapter, the bold text is meant to be an indicator of Sasha speaking Korean.)

After a weekend filled with completing various bits of homework, Monday came around. And with it came the start of a new day of school.

"You'll have to tell Mia that Dreamcatcher's music was so good," Bayley said as she and Sasha made their way to school after having eaten breakfast.

"I'll be sure to do so," Sasha agreed with a light laugh. And she wasn't lying about that. At first, she wasn't sure what to expect when it came to listening to the music of Dreamcatcher. After all, she was thinking it would've just been a series of lullabies parents would play to help their children sleep at night; so she was fairly surprised when she heard the opening beats of one of the group's songs. 'Who knew the music some humans create could be so catchy? And the singers are all just a bit older than Bayley and some of the others are. Quite the talented bunch they are.'

Walking along with Bayley to school and talking with the brunette along the way, the pair then came across the person they had mentioned in their prior chat.

"Ooh. Morning, Mia!" Bayley chirped, waving at the blue-haired teen, something that caught her a bit off guard.

"Oh. M-morning, Bayley. Morning, Sasha," Mia said with a wave of her own as she found herself joined by the two.

"How's Monday been going for you?" Bayley asked.

"Well, it's been good so far. I mean, the day hasn't really started yet, so we at least have that in our favor," Mia responded with a bit of a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, true, true," Bayley nodded. "Oh yeah! Sasha agrees with me when I say thanks for recommending Dreamcatcher's music as part of her learning Korean. That was pretty cool of you."

"Oh, i-it was nothing really. I was just thinking about something that I thought would help Sasha with better learning the language," Mia said, a slight warmth starting to climb up her cheeks.

"I'd say it did!" Bayley chirped. "I think there were some parts where Sash paused the video long enough to read the lyrics."

"Well, it was just my way of trying to get the hang of pronouncing some of the words correctly," Sasha defended herself. "And I must say I think I've gotten a bit better with saying some of the words."

"Oh really now?" Mia asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'll be the judge of that during Free Period today."

"Yes, I suppose you will," Sasha responded with a slight smirk.

The walk to school was only a few minutes, but it almost seemed shorter to the trio later joined by Becky, Paige, Finn, and Sami, conversations swirling around among the group.

As she walked with the group, Sasha found herself looking over to Mia and was feeling surprised to see the blue-haired teen talking to Bayley, Paige, and Becky. 'It would appear as though Mia's starting to open up a bit. That's good. Here's to hoping she won't have any problems with Shayna today.'

…

Yawning as she stretched and walked along with Lana and Nia to school, Shayna began bracing herself for the start of a new school week.

'I really don't even know why I still bother with coming here. I feel like I've learned everything I need to know. …Maybe I should just quit. Besides, I'm sure Tamina wouldn't care. Maybe I could use learning some of her recipes as my out,' the brunette thought as she and the others finally reached the schoolyard.

"Well. Time to start a new week of school. You guys ready for it?" Lana asked in a bid to break the slight ice among them.

"As ready as I can be," Nia said. "I've got a test in First Period that I'm really not looking forward to."

"I don't see why you didn't ask me to help you study. It's not like I was busy with anything."

"Yeah, I know, Lan. I just wanted to try solo studying. I know that's crazy dorky to say, but it's just something I wanted to do to try to stand on my own. After all, there will come times where neither of you guys'll be around, and I just …I just wanted to do this by myself."

"Oh, Nia," Lana said before giving the taller girl a hug.

Listening to this back-and-forth between her friends, Shayna couldn't stop herself from lightly tapping Nia's shoulder with her fist. It was something that the brunette would do as a way of saying "Don't worry"; weirdly enough, this gesture seemed to be something that would help with calming others down.

A light laugh escaping her, Nia said "Thanks, you two. I guess I just needed a pep talk."

"Hey, it's nothing really. After all, that's what friends and teammates are for, you know?"

"Yeah. I guess you're right about that, Lan," Nia agreed with a light laugh.

Hiding the scoff that threatened to escape her, Shayna just walked along with the others as their recent talk swam around in her thoughts. 'Friends. Those two say it so easily. …I mean, I guess that's one way of looking at what we are. …If only I could show that twerp my friendshi-'

"Sorry, Shayna. Didn't think you, Lana, and Nia would be here at this time," a slightly nervous voice in front of the brunette apologized.

While she wanted to snap at who it was that bumped into her, the brunette managed to take a few breaths before saying "No, Liv. It's my fault. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."

While Liv would've tried to say something else to the brunette, she knew that her upperclassman had a reputation for having a bit of a short temper. So, instead of trying to apologize again, the pink-haired teen instead turned and dashed away from the older trio.

First sharing a look of surprise with Nia, Lana then said "Wow, Shayna. I'm impressed. When that's happened in the past, it would usually take either me or Nia to calm you down."

"Yeah, well, let's just say that I'm working on trying to keep my temper under control. Can't always be going around trying to fight people, y'know?"

"I know. I'm just glad about that. At least you decided to act on the smarter and better of the choices you had."

"Yeah, I guess so," Shayna said with a shrug.

The bell would soon ring to signal the start of the day.

"There's the bell. Time for class. Meaning for me, History awaits," Nia said.

"Right. And just relax. You're going to do well on your test. You got this," Lana offered up as one last bit of motivation.

Nodding at the blonde saying this along with feeling another tap on her shoulder from Shayna, Nia said "Thanks again, you two. I guess I should go get this over with."

"That's the spirit," Lana smiled. "Make sure to tell us how it went after class. And, Shayna? Try to have a good class. I know Math isn't exactly your favorite class, but at least give it a try."

"'K, Lan, I'll do my best. Probably just going to be getting a lecture, so no big deal," Shayna shrugged.

"Well, I suppose that's fine. But, at the very least, make the effort to pay attention. After all, hopefully, maybe this'll be the year we can finally be promoted to the next grade up."

"Yeah, sure, I'll keep that in mind," Shayna said, sounding slightly bored.

Wanting to say something to that, Lana instead turned on her heel and headed off after Nia to her own first period class.

Watching as the others walked away, all she could do was sigh. As she stood among the sea of students heading to their classes, the brunette decided to go with the thought that was most prevalent and headed outdoors, going to first period being the furthest thing from her mind. 'I'll deal with old man Rotunda getting on me later. I just need some air. That, and some time to think some stuff through.'

…

Around Noon the Same Day

Mia was making sure to be careful after she left her third period class, as she had somewhere to be. And something to do when she got there.

'Maybe it's about time I tell Shayna how I feel about how she is to me. I know she is technically the first in the way of a friend when I first moved here, …but I just don't think she really is. Not after the way she talked about Sasha. Not after how she's been with me in the past. I have to end things. And I'm going to do that toda-'

"Good morning to you too, Mimi. And here I was thinking we were gonna have to come looking for you," a voice from the blue-haired teen's right could be heard saying.

Taking a breath as she turned to look at who joined her, Mia forced a slight smile as she said "Well, I guess you can take that as a sign that I didn't want to keep you guys waiting."

"Smart thinking there," Shayna said with a slight smirk. "Now. I do believe you have something you want to give us."

"W-Well, Shayna," Mia began before nervously swallowing. "About that."

…

A shield check before lunch was something that had become a usual part of Sasha's school days, but she didn't mind, as it was something she'd use to check in with Bayley and let her know how her days had been going; it had initially started off as something from her first few days of school, but it had become a habit that she didn't mind having.

"That's awesome that Ms. Moore thinks you'd be great on the school's softball team. Do you think you'll join?" Bayley asked.

"I'm …honestly not sure," Sasha said as she and Bayley left the girls restroom. "Softball is a pretty fun game, but …I don't know yet. I at least have time to think her offer over, so that gives me time to think it through."

"That's good, Sash. Don't feel like you have to rush it, and I'm sure you'll come to a decision," Bayley smiled reassuringly.

"Thanks, Bayley. I'm sure I'll have my mind made up on that soo-" the magenta-haired Gem stopped as she saw something that immediately derailed her current train of thought: Down on the ground, curled up under one of the bulletin boards was Mia, backpack still on her back. Breaking away from Bayley, Sasha ran over to the blue-haired teen and did an immediate check. Seeing that everything appeared to be okay, Sasha cautiously shook the teen. "Mia? Mia?! Are you okay? Who did this to you?!"

Vaguely hearing someone calling her, Mia coughed a bit before managing to open her eyes and seeing Sasha and Bayley in front of her, both teens seeming fairly worried about something. "H-Hey, you guys. What's up?"

"'What's up'? I come out of the restroom with Bayley only to see you lying on the floor here, and all you can say is 'What's up'?!" Sasha asked, trying to keep her voice level.

"Sasha? Easy, Sasha, calm down," Bayley said in a bid to try to calm the magenta-haired teen down. Turning to look at the blue-haired teen, Bayley asked "What happened to you, Mia? Did you trip on something?"

"No, no, nothing like that, Bayley. I just …was in a bit of a hurry to get to the cafeteria before lunch lines got too long," Mia said, fidgeting a bit after she managed to push herself up to a sitting position.

Something didn't seem right here. As she watched and listened to Mia talk, Sasha could almost tell that the blue-haired teen was lying. She wanted to call her out on this, but Sasha didn't want to scare Mia away. So, in a soft voice, Sasha said "You know, Mia. If something's bothering you, you can talk to me and Bayley about it. We may not look like it, but we're pretty good listeners. If you want and feel like it, you can talk to us. We're your friends, after all, so don't feel like you have to keep things secret."

This touched Mia. Never before had she had anyone be so gentle with her. She knew she should tell someone about what was really bothering her, so the fact that Sasha-one of her new friends-was trying to get her to be open about her troubles had her feeling pretty shaken. It wasn't until she felt Bayley wrap her arms around her for a hug that it seemed as though tears she didn't even know she was holding in started to roll down her cheeks. A shaky breath escaping her, Mia said "I-I-It was Shayna."

"What was? What was Shayna?" Sasha asked, starting to feel a sudden rise of anger building within her.

"I-I decided to finally tell her that I wasn't liking how she'd be with me at times earlier, a-and," Mia managed to say before a slight sob escaped her.

"And what?" Sasha hesitantly asked.

"And …that's when she punched me in the stomach," Mia got out before more sobs escaped her.

"She did what?! Ohmygosh, Mia, I am so sorry that happened to you," Bayley said, feeling bad for the blue-haired teen as she pulled Mia close to her and rubbed her back in a bid to try calming her down.

Hearing this made Sasha's slowly building anger almost reach a boiling point. 'This has gone too far. Shayna hurt Mia? Unacceptable! This cannot stand!' the magenta-haired Gem thought, trying to stop the sudden trembling that threatened to rip through her.

Looking up at Sasha, Bayley was not liking how she appeared. "Sasha? Sasha! Calm down please! Yes, I know what Shayna did to Mia was bad, but you can't let that get to you too much!"

Hearing what Bayley was telling her, Sasha managed to find it within herself to slowly calm down just as the bell could soon be heard ringing to signal the transition to Fourth Period from Lunch. Helping Bayley help Mia off of the ground, the trio walked along to their Fourth Period classes in silence, save for the "See you later" when they each made it to their own classes. Sitting in her Fourth Period as she listened to the chatter among her classmates, all Sasha could do was find herself thinking about what Mia said. 'Punching Mia was completely uncalled for. I don't know what Shayna's deal is, but I'm going to find her during Free Period. And when I do, by my oath as a Gem warrior, I'm going to make her pay for hurting one of my friends,' the magenta-haired Gem thought as she felt one of her hands curl into a fist.

Oh no. Oh no! OH NO! Sasha's seeming pretty mad after she heard what Mia said Shayna did to her (which I think we can all agree is beyond not cool), so mad that it would appear that her violent side may be trying to peek out. Again, OH NO! *nervously bites my nails* This may or may not end well. How will this confrontation go? We shall all find out...next time. Until then, don't forget to RR please. =)

(Once again, like in an earlier chapter, quick shout-out to xXLadyRachelXx. Thanks so much for your help with this chapter, dear.)

(Stay safe, cool, and healthy out there, lovelies. *sends love and positive vibes out to you all*)