“I’m not going to be riding the school bus today,” Abby said to Sophie as they gathered their things. “My mom’s car is making some kind of mooing sound, so she’s taking it to the mechanic, and since the library is right next to it, she’s dropping me off.” Sophie nodded.

“It’s a good thing—waiting at the garage is the most boring thing there is,” Sophie said as she put on her backpack.

“See you at school tomorrow,” she exclaimed as she hopped onto the school bus and waved goodbye. Abby was just looking at her watch when she noticed Jack in the corner. He was sitting on a bench holding a piece of paper, crying. After looking around to see if anyone was watching, she quietly tiptoed toward him without him even noticing. Since Jack was sitting off to the side, Abby had no problem sneaking toward him. She looked over his shoulder and saw that Jack was actually holding a picture. The picture showed Jack smiling with a woman who looked almost exactly like Abby, except older and with a different hair color. When Jack noticed that there was a girl who not only was spying on him but also saw him crying, he quickly pocketed the picture and glared at Abby

“What do you want?” he grumbled, not so nicely. “Do you want my lunch money, my allowance, my life!” Abby was quite startled but not shaken so she held her ground. Jack on the other hand was quite annoyed at this new girl hardly knew a soul but had taken over the school in less than 48 hours! He started to get off the bench, but Abby grabbed his arm. The picture that was in Jack’s pocket fluttered out and Abby quickly snatched it before Jack noticed.

“Let me go!” Jack said, who was quite surprised at how strong Abby was, and did a very bad job of hiding it. “My wallet is in my left pocket if that’s what you want” Abby let go of Jack and folded her arms

“I’m not after your money, Jack, but there is something I do want from you.” Jack emptied his pockets, revealing some gum and a few empty candy wrappers. Suddenly Jack looked really alarmed. Making sure his pockets were really empty he said in a wavering voice

“My picture! Where is it? I-I’m sure I had put it in my pocket!” When noticing how upset Jack looked Abby handed Jack back the picture. Relief washed down Jack’s face and then suddenly he gave Abby a hug. Now Abby was quite surprised at this after all, she had thought that he hated her. When Abby was finally released from the hug Abby said

“Jack, I said I wanted something from you and I do but it’s not anything you have in your pockets. The thing I want from you is answers.” Abby paused then took a breath “Yesterday in the cafeteria, when the bell rang, I noticed you were crying when you left the cafeteria, and I’ve been wondering why. Did I say something that hurt your feelings? If I did, I humbly apologize.” Jack said nothing at first and then he started to cry. Abby, shocked by this, gave him a tissue. Jack thanked her, then blew his nose, then started to tell her a long story.

“That picture that you gave me is of me and my mom, as you can see you look almost exactly like her.” Jack took a long and heavy sigh. “When I was a lot younger, I used to get teased a lot; almost every day I used to come home crying when some big kid bullied me or hurt me.” Jack paused to blow his nose again. “Every time I came home crying I would be comforted by my mom who always knew how to make me feel better. She would always give me the biggest hugs and then give me a kiss and one of the things she always said was to be the best person that you can just like you did Abby. Then one day she got very sick and never got better.” Jack paused and looked at Abby “You can probably guess what happened.” After Mom died, I had no one to comfort me. My dad works almost every day and when he isn’t he usually sleeps so he wasn’t much help. Finally, I got tired of being bullied all the time, so I turned into the bully. I thought that now I had turned the tables and I would have a better life, but I didn’t. Now no one wants to be my friend, and I get left out of parties and games.

“What about the other boys in your group—aren’t they your friends?” Abby asked. Jack scoffed and then said

“Nope, and nowhere close—they just bully other people with me. In fact, they pick on me too like one time they teased me because I didn’t want to put the extra spicy sauce on my food.”

“What did you do?” Abby asked again. Jack put his head down in shame “I put it all over my food and then had to go to the nurse’s office to get my mouth cooled.” Abby slapped her forehead

“Jack, just because someone teases you for not doing something, it doesn’t mean you have to do it! What if next time they tease you for not wearing red lipstick?” Jack blushed. “Well, actually—” he began.

“Don’t answer that,” Abby said, cutting him off before he could finish. Jack sighed for what seemed to be the hundredth time “I just didn’t want to get teased. After a few years I was the top bully in the school everyone feared me but then…” he trailed off. Abby understood. “Then I came,” she said. Jack nodded and continued

“Leaning over the seat of the bus I couldn’t see your face but when you turned to face me after the comment, I made to you I saw you were a complete reflection of my mother. Almost everything about you was the same. Every time I wanted to fight with you or bully you it felt like I was doing it to my own mom. Finally, I got fed up and I decided that I was going to teach you a lesson whether you looked like my mom or not. That was yesterday. I was planning to really threaten you into giving me your sandwich but before I could really get to the threats you saw through my plan. Then when you started talking about being the best person you can be I really saw my mom through you.

Abby felt a lump in her throat. Jack’s story was so heartbreaking she almost felt like kissing him but didn’t do it. Instead, she gave Jack one of the biggest hugs she could give. Jack was really quite surprised at this. The first thing he wanted to do was to get out of this hug but he couldn’t. It had been so long since he had been hugged like this before. It was tight but warm just like his mom’s. Finally, Abby let him go. Smiling she said

“It’s time to start over and I’ll help you.” Jack looked up and for the first time in a while he smiled. They both hugged again but none of them noticed Emma Lopez taking a picture of them in a corner.