Motivation

Chapter 5 - The Cool Kids

It was 7:00 in the morning. Matt had already gone to work over at YouTube headquarters. Something struck Stephanie as strange though. He gets off work at 5:00 pm, but then, middle of the night, at 12:00, he left the house. Then, at 6:00 am, he came back, fell asleep, then left for work again. It was the strangest thing. Even stranger, this had been going on for two weeks.

But in the span of two weeks, Libby and Peyton had become even closer with Nate's son, Luke. The two of them had already had two play dates at both houses.

Stephanie was helping Libby get her shoes on for school. It was late October, so they had to wear their sweaters, too. "Alright, Peyton. Mr. Smith is taking you and your siblings to school."

"Will Luke be there?" Asked Peyton.

"Of course he will be. He's there every day." She zipped up his sweater. Jake peeked his head around the corner, hiding from Peyton.

"Oh, mom! Watch this!" Peyton ran to his room and was back with a foxy mask that he got from Freddy's. Peyton hid behind the corner, waiting for Jake to come around. When he did, Peyton jumped out from behind the corner, scaring Jake. Jake curled up into a ball, crying. Stephanie ran over and comforted her son.

"Peyton!" She yelled angrily. A horn honked outside. "It's Nate." She sighed. "Peyton, take Libby and Jake. We will be having a chat with your father when you get home from school."

The three kids ran out the door, with Jake crying.

The ride over was pretty civil, very quiet, as usual, but everything changed during recess.

Jake sat by the side of the building, hiding from his bullies. But then they showed up. Standing above him were the bullies that had been harassing him for weeks now. Among the group, was Luke, Peyton, and now, Libby. Ever since Peyton and Libby met Luke, they had been teasing him.
You might think that a group of 7 and six year olds couldn't be so bad, but these ones were ruthless. Peyton and Libby a little less than the others, but Luke was downright cruel. They had been calling themselves, "The Cool Kids."

"Hey baby!" One of the older boys teased him.

"Go away." Said Jake.

"Your sister told us about your birthday party at Freddy's." He said.

"You were SO scared of the robot animals!" Libby laughed.

"Why were you so scared, Baby?" Luke laughed.

"Go away!" Cried Luke.

They didn't go away. All of them, even Peyton and Libby, started teasing him, calling him Baby. He was crying. Then Luke went too far. Luke kicked Jake right in the face. Jake curled up into a ball and cried. Luke was about to kick him again, but Libby stopped him. "Don't kick him!" She yelled.

"Yeah, kicking is stupid. Let's go or we'll get in trouble." Peyton said.

"We'll be back you stupid Baby." Said Luke, then he ran off with his friends, but Jake stopped Libby for a few seconds.

"You're the real Baby!" He yelled. Even though it was directed at Luke, somewhere in her 6 year old heart, Libby knew that somehow, it made more sense when applied to her. And that scared her.