Mr. Harrison's science class was usually boring, but today was project day.
The classroom was loud. Kids were dragging their desks together to form groups of four across the room. Donovan and Jake pushed their desks into a corner by the window, waiting to see who they would get paired with.
"Please don't let us get Leo," Jake whispered, seeing the annoying kid walking around looking for a spot.
"Mr. Vance, join Blackwood and Gyllenhaal," Mr. Harrison called out from the front of the room.
Jake groaned. Leo smirked and sat down at their cluster of desks, immediately kicking his feet up onto an empty chair.
"Great. Do the heavy lifting for me, guys. I'm busy," Leo said, pulling a handheld Tetris game from his pocket and ignoring them completely.
"We need one more," Mr. Harrison said, looking at his clipboard. He pointed to a kid standing near the door. "Chris, you're new. Go join that group in the back."
A kid with short blonde hair and a huge, friendly smile walked over. He had pure golden retriever energy. He looked like the kind of kid who was always in a good mood.
"Hey guys! I'm Chris," he said, pulling up the fourth chair. "I just moved here from Boston. What are we building?"
"A suspension bridge out of popsicle sticks and wood glue," Donovan said, sliding a massive pile of wooden sticks to the center of the desks. "It has to hold five pounds of weight by the end of the class."
Chris rolled up his sleeves, looking genuinely excited. "Awesome. I'm pretty good at building stuff. I helped my dad fix our back porch last summer."
Leo rolled his eyes, not looking up from his blinking video game screen. "Nobody cares, Boston. Just glue the sticks together so we can get an A."
Chris blinked, his smile dropping a little bit. "Uh, okay. We should probably sketch a design first, right?"
"Whatever. Don't bother me," Leo scoffed.
Donovan sighed quietly. He was tired. He had stayed up late the previous night reviewing code structure for Rogue Entertainment, and right now, he just wanted to finish this stupid bridge so he could go home and play video games.
Jake and Chris started laying out the sticks. Chris was actually really helpful, suggesting a smart triangle pattern for the supports. But every time Chris reached for the bottle of wood glue, Leo would bump the table with his feet on purpose, messing up the alignment of the sticks.
"Oops," Leo sneered, clearly doing it on purpose. "My bad."
Chris sighed, trying to fix the sticks again. "Come on, man. We only have thirty minutes left."
Leo scoffed. "Make me, new kid."
Donovan put his pencil down on the desk. He was hungry, his patience was thin, and Leo was being incredibly annoying.
Donovan looked directly at Leo. He didn't do anything dramatic. He just let a tiny bit of his power slip out—just enough to make the air around their desks feel uncomfortably still. His voice was quiet, but it carried a strange, heavy weight that demanded absolute obedience.
"Leo," Donovan said.
Leo froze. He slowly looked up from his video game. His hands suddenly felt sweaty. He remembered this feeling from the last time Donovan had looked at him like that.
"Put the game away," Donovan told him, his tone completely flat and bored. "Take the glue. Put a drop on every single joint Chris points to. And don't say another word until the bell rings."
Leo swallowed hard. The smug look completely vanished from his face. "Y-yeah. Okay."
Leo quickly shoved the game in his pocket, grabbed the glue bottle with slightly shaking hands, and sat up straight, waiting for Chris's instructions.
Chris stared at Donovan with his mouth slightly open. He had never seen anyone shut down a bully that fast, especially without yelling or getting a teacher involved.
"Whoa," Chris whispered to Jake. "How did he do that?"
Jake just smirked, gluing a stick into place. "Don't question it, man. Just enjoy the peace and quiet."
For the rest of the period, their group worked perfectly. Chris pointed, Leo glued silently, and Donovan and Jake built the main structure. When Mr. Harrison came around to test the bridges with heavy metal weights, theirs held up perfectly without bending or snapping.
"Excellent work, boys," Mr. Harrison said, writing an 'A' on his clipboard. "Very sturdy design."
The lunch bell finally rang. Kids immediately jumped out of their seats and grabbed their lunchboxes from their cubbies.
Leo practically sprinted out of the classroom, desperate to get away from Donovan's desk.
Chris packed up his backpack, looking incredibly happy. "Hey, thanks for the help back there," he said to Donovan. "That guy was being a jerk."
"Don't worry about it," Donovan said, grabbing his own bag.
"You guys want to sit together at lunch?" Chris asked hopefully. "My mom packed me like, three extra peanut butter sandwiches. I can't eat them all."
Jake's eyes lit up. "I'll trade you a bag of Doritos for one."
"Deal," Chris laughed.
The three of them walked out of the classroom together, heading toward the cafeteria. Donovan walked alongside his new friend, feeling pretty good about the day. He just hoped the cafeteria was serving the good chocolate milk today, because he was genuinely thirsty.