How could I have been so stupid! I should have just taken my dad's karate lessons and been done with it!

He and his friends had spent their last semester of middle school bullying the new kid, Kenny Payne. They teased him, stole his clothes, and even beat him up for fun (the latter of which Anthony did feel a little bad about). Of course he'd known it wasn't "exactly" the right thing to do, but if it was necessary to maintain his popularity amongst his peers then, he had to.

"I mean, it couldn't have been THAT bad," Anthony had thought.

But he couldn't have been more wrong.

Here it was, the last day of middle school and he was even less popular than when he'd started.

Not only did I get grounded for an eternity by my parents and got a black eye but, I'm no closer to Lia than I was when this started.

"You gonna come back to reality, LaPusso," sneered Zack.

I told him to stop salling me LaPusso.

Anthony shook his head and turned his attention back to his friends who stood next to his locker, laughing rambunctiously.

"So, end-of-school party at my house tonight," stated Anthony, slamming his locker shut.

"Nice!" high-fived a short, stout kid named Marcus.

"You mean, as long as his dad says it's okay," mocked Zack, pretending to suck his thumb.

"Very funny," replied Anthony, rolling his eyes.

As they walked into the gym, they saw rows of kids lined up, eagerly waiting to try out for the high school basketball team. The school had decided to let the middle schoolers show off their skills to the freshmen early on so they could pick the right candidates.

If I can just make the team then, I'll be able to prove to my friends that I'm not a loser.

Anthony and his friends joined the back of the line on the left side of the room.

He watched the line slowly get shorter and shorter until it was just himself and three other kids whom he couldn't quite recognize from across the gym.

"LaRusso, Smith, Johnson, Payne, you're up next," instructed the gym coach, gesturing towards the center of the room.

Wait, did he say Payne?!

Anthony stood still, hesitant to move.

If Lia sees him beat me again, there's no way I'll get her.

"C'mon, LaPusso!" shouted Zack from the bleachers.

Anthony put on a fake smirk before waltzing over to their designated playing field. He was sure Zack had caught his hesitation from the sneer on his face.

Hopefully, Lia didn't see that.

Kenny's face wore an unsettling smirk that made Anthony shift uneasily in place.

He's seriously a psycho.

"Everyone ready?" confirmed the coach.

The four players nodded.

The first few minutes of the game went pretty well for Anthony as he scored four points against the other players with relative ease.

"Yay! Go Anthony!" cheered Lia from the sidelines, clapping.

Yes, I'm doing it!

But he was so happy to see Lia that he didn't notice Kenny extending his foot.

And with a sudden thud! Anthony hit the ground, the orange striped ball rolling across the court.

"Don't look at Lia again," commanded Kenny as he ran past Anthony, leaving him lying on the cold gym floor, humiliated.