It had been a few days and Sonata had gotten better. Sonata had came back to school and life was back to normal. However, somethings can never stay the same now can they?

It was lunch time and I was currently walking around the schoolyard by myself. Flash and his other friends were playing football (American football, you know Super Bowl? Tom Brady? You know what, just look it up if you still don't understand). As for Adagio, Aria, and Sonata, they were taking their sweet time eating lunch, so I was alone.

Not like I had a problem with that, I kinda liked being a lone wolf. Being in solitude was peaceful, ever since the girls started living with me and mom moments like this was hard to get. So here I was taking a walk minding my business, but then again I wouldn't be writing this chapter without something crazy happening.

Out of nowhere I was pushed onto the ground. I quickly got back up and looked at who pushed me. Surprise, surprise, it was Snails and his friends. All of them looked at me with smiles on their faces, by the looks of it, this wasn't going to end well. I was outnumbered 5-1, however I wasn't scared and I kept my ground against them. Snails didn't scare me, neither did his friends, expect for the fact that I was outnumbered that's what scared me.

"Hello, Joshua." Snails said. The way he said my name, was like pure venom. The way he was looking at me, yeah he was pissed at something.

"Hello to you to, Snails." I said, with the same amount of venom as he said my name. I gave his one of my stares as well.

So here we were, staring each other down. One of his friends tried to move forward but Snails stopped him. I was confused, what had I ever done to Snails to make him not like me? I never did anything to him, okay maybe to Snips but he deserved it.

"What do you want?" Snails looked at his friends and they laughed. I didn't say anything funny did I? "What's so funny?"

Snails continued to look at me, he then looked back at his friends and smiled. As if it was some sort of signal his friends smiled back and started walking to me. Not to soon after one of his friends tried kicking me however he was too short to make the kick hit me and fell down because of it.

I was confused, what were they up to? Now at the time I didn't understand what was happening, looking back I should have known they were going to beat me up. But I was young and stupid, I didn't know any better.

One of Snails other friends then tackled me and forced me and him to the ground. And they all of his other friends ganged up on me and started beating me. Sure, I tried to put up an effort but when someone is literally sitting on you and when your against 4 people there's not a lot you can do.

After they finished the beat down, I was down for the count. I was on the ground, everything hurt. I felt like I was going to die, but yet I wasn't. Tears were in my eyes, I didn't need to see myself in a mirror. I could tell I had a black eye, probably a bloody nose, maybe even a broken bone. I look up at all of them, I did a number on them but nowhere near as much as they did on me.

Snails looked down at me and smiled. This was his plan all along, to get me alone so he could beat the crap out of me.

"You should get use to this, it's going to happen a lot more." With that him and his friends left me on the ground.

I stayed on the ground for the rest of lunch until the bell rung. Once the bell rung, I got up and rushed to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror, it wasn't as bad as I thought but it still could be noticed. I washed my face as best as I could and headed back to class. Once I got in class I went to my desk and looked down at my desk hoping no one would see my face.

School came to an end and I was walking with the girls home. Aria and Sonata were in front of me and Adagio talking, Adagio was a bit ahead of me looking at Aria and Sonata, while I was in the back hoping they wouldn't notice my "problem."

"Hey, Joshua?" It was Adagio, I wasn't sure if she was looking at me or not so I kept my face down.

"Yes Adagio?"

"How did you get like that?"

Shoot, Adagio had noticed, what was I suppose to do now? Make something up or just tell her the truth? Would Adagio tell my mom and her dad about Snails and his friends beating me up?

"I fell off the slide during lunch, fell on my face." Yeah, like she'll believe that.

I could feel Adagio's eye burning at me but I continued to look down.

"Okay if you say so. You're not hurt are you?" I could tell she was worried for me, I hated the fact that I lied but I didn't want her or anyone for that matter to be worried about me.

"I'm okay, it hurts a bit but hey I'll live."

Adagio laughed and turned around. "Okay, just making sure. Come on, Aria and Sonata are waiting for us." With that me and Adagio caught up to Aria and Sonata and went home.

That night my mom and their dad asked about my face, and I said the same thing I told Adagio. I don't think they believed me but they didn't ask about it anymore for the rest of the night. However when they said we had to go to bed, I was worried. Was Snails and his friends going to beat me up again?

However the next day I got my answer. Today I was by my friends so Snails and his friends couldn't beat him, but that didn't stop them from making my life terrible. During first recess, Snails had pushed me into a trash can and said I had tripped. During lunch one of his friends made me drop my lunch, and then his other friend stole my pencil during class. It was like that during the rest of the week and more a long time after that.

When I wasn't alone they would do little things that would bug me but if I was alone they would beat me. My life was never the same after that day, I hated going to school and it was all because of Snails and his friends. The only days I liked was the weekend and when school was over. Ever time Snails and his friends would beat me I would just lie and say I fell or something.

From that day forward my life was never normal. What Snails and his friends did to me everyday became...

The New Normal.

Author's Note

If bad things are happening to you don't be scared to tell someone. Tell them the truth and hopefully something will be done. Don't lie and be honest, tell a teacher, a parent, or an adult.