Greetings, dear readers, and welcome back to Bayley's Universe. Many many many many MANY apologies for my freakish lateness with this update (*insert one of my apologies for my chapter lateness post*). So, last time saw story time for Mia go pretty well. Speaking of Mia, our blue-haired cinnamon roll finally told Shayna just how she felt about how things were between them (Hooray! *throws up some confetti in celebration.), and she even joined everyone for the tasty sapasui feast. And now, with Shayna showing that she's willing to make nice, sure looks the next day at school's gonna be an interesting one. So, will Shayna heed everyone's advice? Let's see, shall we? Read on to find out below, lovelies. =)

The next day came. And with it saw a certain group of teens heading to school.

"I just hope Shayna'll keep in mind what we all told her yesterday," Bayley said as she, Sasha, and Mia made their way to school.

"After everything that happened yesterday, I think she'd be crazy not to," Mia said. "I mean, I get that she's probably just really shy, but, hopefully, she'll realize that us humans don't mean her any harm."

"We can only hope," Bayley nodded in agreement. "Which reminds me!"

"What? What is it, Bayley? Did you forget something at home?" the blue-haired teen asked, feeling a bit caught off-guard by the brunette's sudden outburst.

"No. I just wanted to say that I'm proud of you for yesterday! …I'm not saying that about when you got punched. I mean about you standing up for yourself against Shayna. That must've been quite nerve-wracking for you."

"W-Well, I figured yesterday would've been just as good a time as any to tell her. And I gotta say I'm just so glad I finally got all of that off my chest," Mia said, feeling a slightly proud smile start to tug at the corners of her mouth.

"I'd imagine you are. That was just so awesome for you. Congrats, Mia!" Bayley smiled with a bit of applause before she gave the blue-haired teen a hug.

As she watched and listened on to all of this-even after the trio were joined by Becky, Paige, and Finn-Sasha found herself thinking ahead to what this new school day would bring. 'Shayna did seem open to hearing what the others had to tell her yesterday. Let's just hope she'll keep that in mind moving forward.'

…

"Now do you remember what you told Tamina you'd try to do at school today?" Lana asked as she, Shayna, and Nia made their way to school.

"Yes, mom, I do. Try to work on making up and apologizing to everyone I haven't been that nice to," the brunette said, trying to fight back a sudden eyeroll. "I still remember what you all told me yesterday."

"That's good," Nia said. "Make sure you do. After all, you wouldn't want Tamina to find out you went back to bullying people, would you? …Don't forget about what she's capable of for a human."

Thinking back to some of the instances Nia alluded to, some of which showing levels of ferocity she didn't know a human could possess, like with her ways of somehow making a metal ladle seem even more intimidating than Nia's hammer was or even some of the more artifactlike objects she owned. Shaking away the sudden shiver she felt, Shayna said "Relax, Nia, I got this. I know not to act like an ass anymore now that I've …had a day like I had yesterday."

"You mean when Sasha Ambrose had you evenly matched during the fight you two had?" the slightly taller brunette asked with a slight smirk.

Feeling a sudden warmth threaten to climb her cheeks and hearing Lana's stifled snickers, all Shayna could bring herself to do was give Nia a firm punch on the shoulder, something that only seemed to draw a laugh from her. Shaking this away, she walked along with the others, her thoughts moving to the school day ahea-

"Ouch! Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry, Shayna. I-I didn't know you, Lana, and Nia would be here at school so soon," a female voice could be heard saying from the ground.

Looking down to see who it was she had bumped into, Shayna took a breath before letting it out. "No, Bianca, this was my fault. Here, let me help you up," the brunette said as she held out a hand to help the younger student up from the ground.

Well, this was certainly weird. Bianca Belair never would've guessed that she'd be getting an offer of help from one of the school bullies. And, while she would've normally said something to defend herself, …she carefully reached out and took hold of Shayna's hand before letting her upperclassman help her up. "Uhh, th-thanks, Shayna," the younger girl said, still feeling surprised by the gesture from the other brunette.

"No problem. Like I said, that was all my fault, so I figured I should've helped you up," Shayna said. Feeling a light nudge in her left side, she then said "Also, while you're here, I just wanted to say …sorry for threatening to cut your hair last year. I guess I was just having a bad day when I said that."

This sounded even weirder. Shayna Baszler? One of the toughest and meanest students in school? Was actually apologizing?! Shaking her head, Bianca said "Well, I do admit that my hair has been getting long. Maybe it's about time I cut it at least a bit" as she lifted her ponytail of impressive length that went down nearly to her waist.

Letting out a whistle upon seeing that, Shayna said "Impressive, Bibi. Your hair's looking good."

"Uh, w-wow. Thanks, Shayna," Bianca said, feeling both flattered and still in disbelief over hearing all of this. With a momentary lull in conversation, the younger brunette took that as a sign that she should leave. "Well. I, uhh, I should be heading to school now. Gotta see one of my teachers about a project we have coming up soon. I guess I'll see you guys there."

"OK. See you there, Bibi," Shayna waved to the younger brunette as she headed in

the direction of the school. Letting out a breath of relief, the Gem actually couldn't believe how well that just went. She actually managed to apologize to another one of her fellow students. 'Huh. That went better than I thought it would've. Guess this whole apologizing thing isn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. …OK, one down …a lot more to go.'

…

"That's awesome that you're starting to like playing tennis, Sash," Bayley said as she and Sasha left the restroom after their usual shield check. "I'm guessing Ms. Moore's been pretty impressed with how well you've been doing at it."

"You could say that," the magenta-haired Gem smiled as she thought back to the game they played in Physical Fitness not too long ago where she found herself surprisingly evenly matched with one of the opponents she was up against-'I'll give Dakota this. She was pretty quick on her feet for a human of Bayley's age. Maybe she's had some experience playing the game in the past.'

"Well, just keep up the good work with your tennis playing. And who knows? Maybe you could eventually try out for the tennis team if you'd want."

"OK. I'll keep that in mind," Sasha nodded at the idea as they came across a familiar yet different sight. The magenta-haired Gem was almost set to make a move towards this group whe-

"Hey, guys!" Bayley chirped as she dashed ahead to where Mia, Shayna, Lana, and Nia were all gathered. "What's got you all here right now?"

"Well, I was making my way to the cafeteria after my third period class when I heard Shayna calling my name. So, I turned around and saw her, Lana, and Nia walking up to me," Mia began as the group made their way to the cafeteria.

"And, let's just say that there were a lot of confused and surprised humans around us watching us chat. I mean, really. You'd think people have never seen two friends talk to each other before," Shayna said with a slight scoff.

"Well, there's still the whole 'you being a bully' thing, so that could be one reason why people were so surprised seeing you talk to someone like Mia," Lana added, drawing a snicker from Nia while Shayna could only blush a bit at that. "But, you've at least been working on trying to apologize to everyone you haven't been all that nice to, so I'd say you're at least taking steps in the right direction with trying to change things about your attitude towards others."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Shayna said with a shrug. "At least now, I can lower my guard here …a bit, at least. Plus, I can now say that I don't need to get lunch money from you anymore, Mimi."

"Really?" Mia blinked in surprise upon hearing this. "That's great. But, what changed that? I'm guessing Tamina found out about all of that?"

"Yeah, she did. But only because someone decided to let that cat out of the bag," Shayna said as she cut a slight glare over to Nia, who simply shrugged with a grin. With a shrug of her own, the brunette said "Probably for the best about all of that anyway. Plus now, at least I can bring some of her leftovers for lunch. So, big win there if you ask me."

Having just noticed the lunchbag Shayna had, Bayley asked "Ooh! Did you bring some sapasui? I'll bet it probably tastes just as good today as it did yesterday."

A laugh at the ponytailed brunette's excitement escaping her, Shayna said "It does actually. But, I'll let you be the judge of that."

"Great!" Bayley chirped as they reached their destination. An idea coming to the ponytailed brunette, she asked "Hey. If you guys don't have anywhere to sit in the cafeteria, why don't you three come sit with me, Sasha, Mia, and our friends?"

Blinking in surprise at this proposal, Shayna shared a look with the other two Gems before saying "Um, sure. But, aren't you worried that we're gonna scare your friends away?"

"Oh, don't worry about that," Bayley said, waving this off. "Besides, if you've been mean to any of them, they'll be three more people you can apologize to."

Taking a bit of time to think over this proposition, the brunette said "Sure, why not. …But, I'm saying this now. If things go south, I'm leaving."

"As long as you at least try, Shayna, that's all we ask," Lana said with Nia nodding in agreement.

Looking around from her friends to Bayley, Sasha, and Nia, the brunette Gem saw that the other three had similar looks on their faces with Bayley giving her two thumbs up in a show of support. A scoff of a laugh escaping her, Shayna said "OK, sure. Let's go do this."

"Awesome!" Bayley chirped with a bit of applause. "Now, come on, you guys. Let's go have lunch!"

Well, it's looking like Shayna's road to forgiveness has started off on a good foot (although I will say shame on her for what she threatened to do to poor Bianca...Don't mess with her magnificent and long hair, ya bully!). And it looks like now she's got another test ahead of her, said test being...*insert dramatic music sting here*...having lunch with those she bullied. Just how will all of this go down, exactly? Will she end up having more sapasui-enjoying friends? ...Or will she end up having some manner of hiccup that derails? We'll see about that...next time! Until then, don't forget to RR please. =)

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