“They’re protecting him,” Ben whispered. “No matter what he does, they’re going to protect him.”
Maya clenched her fists. “Then we protect ourselves.”
“How?” Marcus asked. “They’ll suspend us for breathing wrong, but Derrick can do whatever he wants.”
Maya looked at her friends—because that’s what they’d become, united by shared trauma and determination. Her father’s words came back to her. Sometimes you have to fight the same battle twice before people understand you’re serious.
“We make it impossible to ignore,” she said quietly. “We make it so big, so public, that they can’t cover it up anymore.”
“What are you thinking?” Jake asked.
Maya’s smile was sharp as a blade. “War.”
Tuesday after school, Maya stood before twenty-three students gathered in the abandoned maintenance shed behind the football field. Word had spread through underground networks. The outcasts, the bullied, the forgotten. They’d found a new meeting place after being banned from school property.
“I know you’re all scared,” Maya began, her voice carrying across the cramped space. “I know because I was scared too. Scared of Derrick, scared of his friends, scared of a system that protects predators and punishes victims.”
The group listened in silence. Some sat on overturned crates, others leaned against rusted equipment. All of them bore the invisible scars of Derrick’s reign of terror.
“But yesterday, something changed. Jake fought back. Emma fought back. They stood up to bullies who thought they owned this school.” Maya’s voice grew stronger. “And you know what happened? The bullies got hurt. The bullies got scared. For the first time in years, they felt what we’ve been feeling every single day.”
“What if they expel us?” Ben asked, his voice barely above a whisper.
“What if they don’t?” Maya shot back. “What if we keep taking their abuse until we graduate? What happens to the kids who come after us? Do we just leave them to suffer like we did?”
Silence filled the shed. Maya could see the internal struggle on every face—the war between fear and hope, between self-preservation and justice.
“My dad told me something,” Maya continued. “He said, ‘Sometimes you have to fight the same battle twice before people understand you’re serious.’ Well, I’m done fighting alone. We all are.”
A junior named Terrell, who’d been quiet until now, spoke up. “My little sister starts here next year. She’s tiny, barely five feet tall. If Derrick’s still here when she arrives…” His hands clenched into fists. “I can’t let that happen.”
“Then don’t,” Maya said simply. “Help us stop it.”
“How?” Emma asked. “They’ve got the administration. They’ve got their parents’ money. They’ve got everything.”
“They don’t have numbers,” Jake said, standing up. “There are more of us than there are of them. There always have been.”
Maya nodded. “The only reason Derrick has power is because we gave it to him. Because we scattered when he showed up. Because we suffered in silence. Because we let him pick us off one by one.” She walked to the center of the group. “No more. From now on, when Derrick or his friends approach any of us, we don’t run. We don’t hide. We stand together, and we fight back.”
“What if someone gets seriously hurt?” a sophomore girl asked.
Maya’s expression hardened. “People are already getting hurt, every day. The difference is, now Derrick’s going to hurt too.”
Across town, Derrick sat in his bedroom nursing a bag of ice against his groin while his father paced angrily.
“This is getting out of hand,” Robert Mitchell said. “First that Johnson girl attacks you, now other students are getting aggressive. The school needs to crack down harder.”
“It’s fine, Dad. I can handle a few losers.”
“This isn’t about what you can handle. This is about respect, about maintaining order.” Robert stopped pacing and looked at his son. “Maybe it’s time to involve the police. File assault charges against some of these kids.”
Derrick considered this. The idea of watching Maya get arrested had definite appeal. But something about it felt like admitting defeat, like he couldn’t handle his own battles.
“Not yet,” Derrick said. “Give me a few more days.”
Back at the shed, Maya was wrapping up her speech.
“I won’t lie to you. This is going to get worse before it gets better. They’re going to try to break us, to make us afraid again. Some of you might get suspended or expelled. Some of you might get hurt.”
The group exchanged nervous glances, but nobody left.
“But here’s what I know for sure,” Maya continued, her voice rising with passion. “We’re already hurt. We’re already broken. We’re already afraid. The only difference is now we’re going to make them feel it too.” She looked around the room, making eye contact with each person. “Anyone who wants to leave can go right now. No judgment, no hard feelings. But if you stay, you’re committed. We protect each other. We fight for each other. And we don’t stop until Derrick and his friends are finished.”
Ben Chen stood up slowly, his hands shaking but his voice steady. “I’m tired of being afraid.”
One by one, others stood. Emma, Marcus, Terrell, Jake—until all twenty-three students were on their feet.
“Then let’s make them afraid instead,” Maya said.
As the group dispersed into the evening darkness, Maya felt the weight of leadership settling on her shoulders. These weren’t just fellow victims anymore; they were soldiers in a war she’d started. And wars, she was beginning to understand, always had casualties. The question was whether she could live with the ones that were coming.
Wednesday morning erupted into chaos. Derrick’s football recruits struck first, cornering Ben Chen in the bathroom before first period. But this time, Ben wasn’t alone. Marcus and two other students burst through the door just as the attack began.
“Get off him!” Marcus shouted, throwing himself at the nearest football player.
The bathroom became a war zone. Fists flew, bodies slammed against tile walls, and the sound of fighting echoed through the hallways. Other students gathered outside, some filming, others running to get teachers. By the time security arrived, three football players were on the ground, and Ben was standing, bloody but victorious, supported by his friends.
“What happened here?” demanded Mr. Walsh, the head of security.
“They attacked us,” Marcus panted, wiping blood from his nose.
“That’s not what I saw,” said Chad, the linebacker, struggling to his feet. “These kids jumped us for no reason.”
Within an hour, five of Maya’s group were suspended. But word of their victory spread like wildfire. For the first time, Derrick’s people had lost a fight.
At lunch, Derrick’s table was noticeably quieter. His remaining allies kept glancing around nervously, as if expecting another attack.
“This is getting out of control,” Tyler muttered, picking at his sandwich. “Maybe we should back off for a while.”
“Back off?” Derrick’s voice was sharp enough to cut glass. “You wanna let these losers think they can beat us?”
“I’m just saying, maybe…”
“Maybe what?”
“Maybe we should let Maya Johnson turn this whole school against us?”
Derrick stood up abruptly, his chair scraping against the floor. “No way. Tonight, we end this.”
Meanwhile, Maya sat with her remaining group in the library, trying to process what had happened.
“Five suspensions,” Emma said quietly. “Ben, Marcus, Terrell, and two others. Gone.”
“But they won,” Jake pointed out. “Derrick’s football players got destroyed.”
“And now they’ll come back twice as hard,” Maya said. She felt responsible for every bruise, every suspension, every escalation. “This is my fault.”..
