Later that afternoon, Nani called out for us to start getting ready to leave. Lilo and I had spent most of the day curled up together on the couch, watching a movie. Jumba was beside us, still unable to work on the ship due to the rain.

I could feel him stroke my back every so often, though he stopped when Nani had come in. Lilo jumped up from beside me and ran to fetch her duffel bag. I looked at Jumba.

"Will little girl and 626 require Jumba to pick up?" he asked me.

"Naga tich'zaht," I pondered. "Stitch maka-maka chakaadat kizlom Naanee."

"Very well." Jumba responded, and I scurried off to find Nani.

Lilo was waiting at the door. I passed by her and she watched me, wondering what I was doing. I ended up colliding into Nani's leg as she was coming out of the door to her bedroom. I'd been going in at the same time.

"Sorry Stitch," she said to me, helping me up onto my feet.

"Isa okeytaka. Uh... asyrifah Naanee?" I asked hesitantly, not sure what her mood was like. She seemed like she was rushing.

She looked at me. "Mhm?"

"Naanee pick us up today from class too?"

"I should be able to, but I'm not sure on that yet Stitch. Why?"

"Papa can pick up."

Nani dropped her hairbrush. She quickly bent down to pick it up. Something about what I had said had startled her apparently, though I think I knew what it was.

Sure enough, she repeated what I'd said. "Papa?"

I gave a nod. "Jumba."

I thought I saw her smile. "Never heard you use that term before."

I just stared at her. "If Jumba can pick you up, then that would be easier for me considering I'm still not sure on if I've got to go to the hut today. I tried calling Old Man Wong again to find out exactly what's going on, but I still haven't heard back yet. It's honestly making me worried. Maybe something really bad happened to the hut."

I felt bad for Nani. She'd just got this job. She really didn't need to lose it because of the weather.

"Okay," I simply said, and headed back out to tell Jumba.

The weather had seemed to ease up a little by the time Nani dropped us off. Lilo gripped my paw as we headed into the classroom. Only two of the girls were there so far; Aleka and Elena. When they saw Lilo and I they just giggled and started whispering to each other, though I could hear every word.

"Idiots," I muttered, causing Lilo to look at me.

"What Stitch?"

"Never mind Lilo," I told her.

She just looked at me curiously. I knew her well enough that she was likely going to try and sit with them. I didn't want her to, after hearing the way they spoke about her behind her back, but I knew that convincing her wouldn't do anything. She was stubborn, much like myself.

So I just opted to support her with whatever she did, despite I resented it. I hated Lilo being bullied by those brats. But no matter how much they jeered her or talked about her behind her back, she seemed oblivious to it and still tried to be their friend. It was the same for Mertle.

I just let out a small sigh when she told me she was going to sit with the girls. Still, I held her hand and gave her a nod. She led me over to them and they stopped whispering and both looked up at us.

"What do you want weird-lo?"

Lilo said nothing to that. I glared at them from behind her.

"Wanna see my new Elvis statue? My sister found it for me at the thrift shop a few days ago! It's really rare!"

"No," Aleka straight up said. Elena looked at the floor. I sneered.

"Sit, Lilo," I instructed her quietly, and she did so. The girls looked annoyed but backed off slightly when I gave them daggers. Lilo continued to pull out the statue and held it up to them.

"His left arm is missing, and there's a big chip in his cape, but he's really cool. I keep him by the window because his guitar glitters in the light." Lilo continued. The girls just looked at each other with raised eyebrows and started talking to each other as if Lilo wasn't there.

I was starting to lose my patience with these brats. It was the same, all the time. For the past two and a half years since I'd met my best friend, their attitude was always the same. Lilo had literally tried hundreds of times to be their friend and they continued to not want anything to do with her.

Lilo eventually realised they weren't really interested and put the statue away. The look on her face killed me a little inside. She looked heartbroken.

Did the girls care? No. They had the sheer nerve to turn away from her, so that their backs faced her. I was furious.

I stood up suddenly. Lilo watched me. I'd startled her.

"Stitch?" she asked. I just held up my paw in motion for her to wait. I walked around to the front of the girls, standing with my arms crossed. I growled.

Boy did I want to give them a mouthful. It was very hard to hold back. All I could do was growl at them. I couldn't reveal to them that I was an alien.

They looked scared and pushed themselves back away from me. Lilo quickly rushed to my side and hugged me. "It's okay Stitch."

I lowered my ears and hugged her back. "Chooska nala," I told her quietly.

She sighed. She pulled back and gazed into my eyes and I looked back into hers. She gently pat me on the head. I just pushed my forehead against hers as we stood there.

I could see the girls staring at us. I jumped a little as Mertle's obnoxious voice suddenly interrupted us. Lilo pulled back, holding my paw. It had startled her too.

"Ew. Doesn't that dog of yours have rabies? You're such a weirdo with how obsessed you are with him!"

Lilo glared at her. I sneered.

"If anything, I say he should be on a leash before he attacks us again."

I roared at that. Lilo had to grab me and pull me back. Moses came in at that moment however, and I instantly stopped. I couldn't get banned from the class again. I could only imagine how much it would hurt Lilo if I did something that prevented me from being able to come to class with her.

I shook slightly. Lilo calmed me down by sitting me in her lap as Moses began the class. Mertle could wait for now.

Yuki arrived, and the the four girls all sat together in the corner, keeping their distance from us. I wasn't really in the mood for them, that was for sure.

"Okay girls. Today we are going to work on dress rehearsals. I hope you all brought your costumes so we can begin. I would like you to change into them. Once we finish, I want you to use the rest of class-time to continue working on your dance idea for the closing ceremony."

Lilo smiled. She looked excited. She'd been looking forward to this today.

"Come on Stitch!" she pulled me up and led me over to the toilets, opening up her duffel bag. She pulled out my costume and handed it to me before heading in to change into hers. I just pulled my costume on where I was standing. The four girls walked over to me. I watched them wearily as they passed me to also go into the toilets and change.

I sat and waited for Lilo to come out. She was taking a while. The others all came out in their costumes shortly after and I could see Mertle smirking slightly about something. When Lilo still hadn't come back out I started to worry. Ignoring the fact I wasn't allowed in there as it was the girls toilets, I pushed open the door and peered inside. "Lilo?"

I could hear her in one of the cubicles and realised she was upset. I quickly went in and pushed open the door. She was in her costume, but she was sitting against the floor all huddled up.

"Lilo?" I asked her sadly, simply just sitting down and hugging her. "What is it?"

"Stitch, you're not supposed to be in here," she responded quietly.

"I don't care," I told her. "What's wrong?"

She reached out and gripped the fur on my chest. "Mertle stepped on my headpiece. You know, the one I made with you? She ruined it."

I could not believe what I'd just heard. Sure enough, when I pulled up the mask from behind her it was flattened. The string had broken and the leaves that Lilo and glued on to the top were on the floor. The top of it had snapped in half.

Words couldn't even begin to describe how angry I was at that point.

"It-it was an accident Stitch," Lilo told me, seeing the expression on my face. "I don't want this to ruin our dress rehearsal."

"Naga. Was not accident." I told her. I knew what Mertle was like. That smirk she had on her face... Lilo would find any reason to pass it off as just an accident. She still tried to consider Mertle as a friend.

I pulled Lilo up into a tight hug. Reaching up, I pulled off my tiki mask and put it on her head, before gripping her hand and leading her back out of the toilets. Moses saw me come out of there with her and came over to us.

"Lilo, you know that your pet is not allowed in there."

"Sorry kumu," she sighed. "It won't happen again."

"Tell him," I nudged her as he turned away. She looked at me sadly. "Lilo, tell him!"

"I-I..." she went to say, but looked at the floor. I sighed.

"Stitch cannot. Stitch alien! Lilo.. speak up! Defend self! Naga nukasha."

She looked as though she was going to cry again. I didn't want to push her any further at that point, so I just hugged her tightly again.

I looked over to see the girls heading over to the front of the stage. I just shook my head.

"Quala chifa ni polo Lilo."

"I'm sorry Stitch... I just..." she trailed off. "Like you said, it's not worth it."

"Naga Lilo, this different. Mertle bully."

"I know but... maybe, somewhere there is good in her Stitch?" she just looked at me sadly.

Poor girl. I gave another sigh and just led her over to the front of the stage, sitting her down beside me. The brats came over and sat behind us, and we started the dress rehearsal.

Aleka was first up. I had no idea what her dance was supposed to be about, but I didn't really care. I was bored. She was wearing a ridiculous looking costume with pineapples sticking out the sides of her head. I felt something hit the back of my head and turned around swiftly. Elena, Yuki and Mertle were staring at me. I heard Mertle whisper to Yuki about hitting me on the head by accident. She'd been aiming for Lilo.

I looked at Lilo. She was watching Aleka up on the stage, as was Moses. I reached behind me and picked up the piece of scrunched up paper, making sure they were watching and they seemed surprised. I knew they expected me to unravel it. Instead, making sure that Moses wasn't watching, I whipped around, unloading the paper ball as hard as I could at Mertle's obnoxious head.

It hit her and she looked stunned for a moment or so, but then glared at me. I just beared my teeth at her, turning back around. I wasn't sure how much longer I could put up with them at that point.

It came to our turn next. Lilo looked at me and smiled. She held my paw. "Ready Stitch?"

"Ih!" I responded.

"Oh brother..." Mertle groaned. Aleka went to sit back down beside them.

Lilo heard that. She looked in Mertle's direction and paused. I squeezed her hand. "Ignore her. We do together!"

She stood like that for a moment longer before I pushed her forward gently.

Lilo was nervous. She looked across to me as she went to stand in position. I gave her two thumbs up.

"Heegata no feebee!"

She smiled and nodded, although she kept looking across to make sure I was there. I knew why. The last time we'd done this, I'd glitched and hadn't responded to her calls.

She looked out at our small audience. "Our hula is about an ancient friendship..." she paused momentarily, looking at me again. "Which proves that love... really is, more powerful than death!" she gave a small smile at that.

"The great goddess, Hi'iaka. That's me!" Lilo looked across to me and gestured with her hands. "And the brave and handsome mortal, Lohiau. That's my best friend Stitch!"

This time, I was there. I walked forward and stood beside her. I smiled at her, reaching out my hands and she reached out hers. We started our dance.

Lilo gazed at me as we followed our routine. We didn't break eye contact as we looped around and then broke apart to begin the opening of our dance. The bond between us was very strong. I could tell what Lilo was thinking from the moment we began. We reached up and pressed our hands together in an arch, before progressing into our 'hula 2.0' dance.

I watched Lilo as we danced. The song really was very fitting to our friendship. As we faced the audience, I saw Mertle pretending to be asleep and Elena was giggling beside her.

I tried to avoid looking at them. Moses was giving us a heartfelt smile. He was enjoying it. Lilo and I arched our hands together again, before I swung both my arms over my head as if making a rainbow, and she continued it. We made up this part to represent what had happened to our family. The arches were part of it too.

Once we finished, I could see Lilo had tears in her eyes. I hugged her tightly on the stage. She would never be able to finish this dance without thinking back to what happened.

We stood like that for a few moments. I could hear Mertle giving an obnoxious yawn.

"Beautiful, Lilo," Moses clapped. "Wonderful dance and such an inspirational story. I like the additions you have made from your original dance. You and your dog have worked exceptionally hard."

"Give me a break," Mertle bawled loudly.

At that, something inside me snapped. I'd finally had enough. It had taken a lot for my best friend to do what she had just done with me, and it meant a lot to her. I wasn't about to let Mertle ruin it because she was a petty bully that had nothing better to do than make Lilo's life miserable. I pulled back from Lilo and jumped down from the stage, heading straight for Mertle. Lilo cried out and tried to pull me back. "Stitch, no!"

I wasn't going to hurt her. She looked terrified as I leered over her.

The girls all stared up at me, curling up against each other.

"Lilo!" Moses cried out horrified, quickly standing up and going over to the girls and trying to block them from me. "Your dog, what is he doing?"

I looked at Moses, before looking at Mertle. Lilo was instantly at my side. "Stitch...?"

The room was tense. I knew they remembered what I had done when I'd glitched. All of them were scared of me. I just growled before picking up the piece of crumpled up paper from the floor and lobbing it at Mertle's head again.

Moses was shocked. Lilo grabbed me and dragged me back. "Stitch!" she said, sounding shocked as well though I could hear a crack of laughter in her voice.

"Stupid dog!" Mertle retorted to that, rubbing her head.

Moses just basically face-palmed. I could tell he was relieved though, if slightly.

"I think it's time for a break, girls," he said.

Dress rehearsals eventually finished. I had noticed Moses watching me intently for the remainder of the lesson, even when the other girls did their dances. When Mertle had done her dance, I couldn't help myself. I yawned as loudly and as obnoxiously as I could before giving a loud snore. Lilo giggled beside me.

Mertle glared at me from up on the stage. She wasn't doing a dance, she was doing a promotion for her mother's real-estate agency. It was quite hard to watch.

Moses didn't know what to think. Not just from my snore but from her dance. As Mertle finished her promotion, he clapped awkwardly.

"Uh Mertle... it was a nice dance. But I think we need to talk after class today."

I started to laugh, making Lilo laugh too.

"Dinko te fabba baka!" I said to Lilo, and she laughed harder.

Mertle growled at us as she walked past us from the stage. I growled back at her, making her jump and run back to her posse.

Moses instructed the girls to work on the dance idea for the closing ceremony after that. Lilo got up and went over to sit with them. Mertle kept her distance this time. I could see a red mark on her forehead. While they sat and talked, I pulled my camera out of Lilo's duffel. I walked around to Mertle and shoved the camera in her face, taking a polaroid.

"Stupid dog! Go away!" she cried out. I grinned and looked at the picture, before showing it to Lilo. She giggled at the obvious red mark.

The girls eventually decided on a simple dance. Moses came over to make sure that Mertle wasn't talking over the top of Lilo this time. Lilo was able to suggest her ideas without the brat making her feel worse. I was going to be in this dance as well.

As the lesson finally drew to a close for the day, Lilo went back to change out of her costume. She came back shortly after holding the broken mask.

She looked sad. I'd already put my costume back in her duffel and was ready to go, but when I saw that I went over and put my paw against her arm. "Come now, Lilo. Tell Moses."

She looked at me. "Now?"

"Ih, now."

I gripped her by the hand and pulled her over to Moses desk. Moses smiled down at us. "Yes, Lilo?"

She looked at him and then looked at me. She went to speak, but then hesitated. I nudged her.

"I-I..."

Come on Lilo! I nudged her again and she sighed.

"Mertle broke my mask today, kumu. She stepped on it when I was changing. I left it outside on the floor."

Moses looked shocked. Lilo handed him the mask. "Oh Lilo..." he said, sounding disappointed. "I will be talking to Mertle now that class is finished. You can head outside and wait with your dog. I am proud of you for having the courage to tell me."

I was proud of her too. I nuzzled my cheek against hers.

Lilo smiled at me. Moses watched us both as we gripped hands.

"You and your dog have such a special bond, Lilo. I can see how happy he makes you and how much he defends you when you are down and upset. It has been very evident to me, especially today."

So that's why he was staring.

"I know that Mertle and the three other girls are... quite mean spirited at times. But I want you to be assured that you are one of my best students, Lilo. You remind me all too well of your mother. She was very graceful and timid, just like you. She also had to deal with some nasty girls in the class. But she held her head high and kept dancing. You should too."

Lilo went quiet at hearing that. I gave her a big smile. "Hear that? Lilo is best!"

She stared at me and for the first time in a while I noticed that she looked genuinely happy again. Today had really lifted her spirits.

"You too, Stitch," she responded quietly hugging me tightly as Moses went over to address Mertle.

"You too."

A/n: For those wondering, in Stitch has a Glitch, Teresa's name is actually Aleka. For some reason her name was changed to Teresa in the series.

I would like to acknowledge Fanficteller for the review and thank you to those that have faved/follow this story so far.