The next morning, while on the bus, Abby told Sophie about Jack.

“That is so sad,” she said, “I never really realized it, but I guess even bullies have feelings too.”

Abby nodded.

“Jack has decided to change but it won’t be easy after he has built this huge wall of the practice of bullying. Tearing it down will not be easy.”

Sophie paused, then said, “How do you tear down a wall then?”

Abby thought for a moment, then said, “Well, I guess go for the foundation. You know that’s how the leaning tower of Pisa got its tilt because the soil was soft and unstable. Also, there are some less famous leaning towers in the area as well.” Sophie’s eyes got wide, then she said, “Cool, how do you know all this stuff anyway?” Abby smiled.

“My great grandmother was from Italy and so is my grandmother who was born there, so I know quite a bit.”

“Even cooler!” Sophie exclaimed. “I guess if you’re going to tear down a wall you could go for the foundation, but that could take quite a while. For me, I would go with a battering ram, bombs, dynamite, rockets, that sort of stuff.”

Abby repeated the stuff Sophie listed but stopped at rockets.

“How are rockets going to bring down a wall?”  Sophie thought about this, then said,

“I would launch the rockets from a side, that way it would hit the wall. There! Problem solved.”

Abby smiled for she wasn’t completely sure how rockets were going to help their situation, but it was quite creative. When they got off the bus, they saw Jack holding the door for two girls.

“Good morning, ladies, and how are you today?” he said in a cheerful voice.

The girls looked at Jack in shock, then one of them said, “We’re fine, but what’s wrong with you?” Then they walked off without another word. Jack’s face fell. You could tell he was trying to be polite, but nobody seemed to be paying attention at how hard he was trying.

Jack tried again. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, then said the same thing he had said before. That was a mistake. By accident, he had greeted one of the boys in his own gang. The boy looked at Jack in shock but soon the shock was replaced by laughter. The boy called Jack names like Captain Courtesy and Mr. Manners. Jack’s face turned bright red; you could see the embarrassment in his eyes.

Finally, Abby had enough. She marched right over to the boy and looked at him right in the eyes. Now one thing that Abby was good at was staring. Now this wasn’t any ordinary stare; this was her own dark stare that made people think twice about what they were doing. Abby only did this stare rarely and had never done this on Jack. As soon as she did this, the boy froze, his laughter stopped, and he became quiet. His expression changed from fierce and taunting to scared and small.

“Okay, okay,” he said, “I’m sorry, just please don’t hurt me!” the boy quickly reached for his sunglasses and ran off. Abby stopped staring and looked at Jack; her face had returned to the quiet and calm Abby. Sophie’s and Jack’s mouths opened in shock, for they had never seen Abby look at someone like that. Finally, Jack said something,

“Where in the world did you learn to do that?” Jack said, still in awe.

Abby smiled then said, “My mom used to be a champion at staring contests, and she taught me a thing or two. I can teach it to you, if you want, but it takes a lot of practice.” Jack and Sophie nodded and stared. That’s all they could do with all the shock that they were in. Finally, the bell rang and they all rushed to class without another word.

⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳⨳

Later that day Jack joined Abby and Sophie for lunch. Abby tried to teach them both how to do her dark stare, but they just couldn’t do it. Suddenly, Emma Lopez came to their table holding something that looked like a rolled-up newspaper with a sly grin. At first Abby thought Emma was coming to apologize for her rudeness the other day, but quickly changed her mind when she saw Emma’s face.

“Hey Abby, I wanted you to be one of the first people to see the first dispatch of my new newspaper, The Wonder Watch.” Emma was smiling at Abby the way wolves look at a helpless baby deer that’s about to become lunch. She tossed the newspaper in front of Abby and Jack, then walked away with a huge smile on her face. Abby stared after Emma. There was something about her that just didn’t seem right. Abby opened up the newspaper so Sophie and Jack could see. There on the front page was the headline “Couple of the year! New girl hugs school bully! Could this be the exposure of a secret relationship? Find out more below!” Right under the headline was a picture of Abby hugging Jack from the day before. Jack quickly snatched the paper from Abby’s hand and studied the paper. The whole story was about Jack and Abby hugging each other, saying that they might be in love. Jack’s eyes started to turn a fiery red. Quickly, he marched over to Emma’s table, the newspaper in his hand folded up into a weapon. Jack was going to war.