The next day at school, I still felt numb and in shock from Mrs. Doyle's sudden disappearance. I didn't pay attention in English at all due to my wandering thoughts, and totally missed it when the teacher announced our homework. I had to ask Georgie for it later at lunch.

But near the end of the day, something finally snapped me out of it. Georgie was at her locker, putting back some math textbooks, when I saw Tristen and his gang walking up to her. He was about a foot taller than Georgie, and it seemed like his shadow loomed over her thin frame when he strode up. He slammed her locker shut, somehow trapping her with his arm in the process. She looked up, and I saw fear in her big brown eyes.

"Let me guess, they couldn't find your prescription at the eye doctor, so the one-inch-thick lenses had to suffice," he snarked with his smart mouth.

"Umm-" Georgie stammered.

I could see that Tristen wasn't going to let her finish. But before anything could come out of that big mouth, I spoke up with a surprisingly strong voice.

"Leave her alone."

Tristen plastered a look of mock surprise on his face as he turned around slowly to face me.
"Well, well, what do we have here? If it isn't Goldilocks McRainbow, sticking up for her bestie as always. And besides," he sneered, turning back to Georgie, "Why would I try to make fun of your glasses? They are at least trying to cover that hideous face."

That was enough. I took off on a run towards Tristen, clenching my fists and preparing a string of comebacks. But something stopped me. A gentle hand on my shoulder. It was Georgie.

"He's not worth it, Luna," she said calmly.

"I guess not," I replied, stealing a dirty look at Tristen's jerk face as she guided me away from the group.

When we were further away from Tristen, I said, "I just don't like it when they pick on you."

"Yeah, I know. But I don't need you to fight my battles for me anymore."

I sighed. "Whatever. But you can't just let them push you around like that."

"I know," she mumbled. "Now come on, we have to catch the bus."

⭐⭐⭐

Today I walked home with Georgie again, stealing a glance at Mrs. Doyle's empty porch. But this time, instead of splitting off at my house like we always did, Georgie came in with me so we could work on our history project.

"So, I was thinking we should make a PowerPoint about our topic... What was our topic again, Georgie?" I asked.

"We were assigned to focus our project on women's suffrage." She looked at me suspiciously. "Our professor told us in class today. Weren't you listening?"

"I guess not. I must have been thinking about Mrs. Doyle again," I replied, sighing.

"Well, you need to focus if we're going to do well on this project."
"You're right, Georgie. I'll try to keep my head in the game."

The question is, though, I thought to myself, will I be able to keep my head in the game?