High school can be pretty rough. Between the hours of studying and the time you have to dedicate to homework, projects, etc., arguably the most daunting challenge is bullying. But one sophomore decided he wasn't going to live with it. Xavier Gage was out to save himself.

"Oh, jeez," Xavier thought to himself as the popular kid Aiden Moore walked over to him as Xavier was playing a portable video game on the steps of a staircase leading to the top floor of a school building. He closed the game and put it in his pocket.

"Jordan's, about six feet tall, popular kid, talks about risque crap with friends. Maybe there's a chance he's not-"

"Having fun playing Pokemon on your DS?" Aiden asked in a belittling tone.

"Nope, he's a scumbag. Thought we could get passed the stereotyping."

"Actually," Xavier said. "This is a 3DS, and I'll thank you to remember that."

"You know you look stupid with that game is school, right?"

"And why, pray tell, should I care what people who aren't my friends think?"

"So, you don't want to be cool?"

"No, actually, I don't. Where will 'coolness' get me after high school?"

"Oh, so now you're being a smart-ass."

"Look, pal. You're the one who came up to me, and degraded me about my hobbies. How would you like it if I came up to you and made fun of you for playing basketball?"

"You can't."

"And why not?"

"One: you can't make fun of people for being athletic. Two: I wouldn't let you."

Aiden cracked his fists. Xavier saw this signal and responded to what he thought was appropriate.

"Conflict? Really?" he asked. "Do we have to settle this in a fight? Why not just live and let live? Let people be the way they want to be."

Xavier thought he had control of the situation. But, he mistakenly took it a bit too far.

"Unless of course, people are total douchebags like you. In which case, they should look themselves in the mirror, think about their life choices, and hang their heads in shame and disgust for how stupid those choices were."

"Did you call me a douchebag?!" Aiden furiously asked. Xavier looked around jokingly.

"Hm," he said. "There doesn't seem to be anyone else around here, so yes. Guess the stereotype is true. Jocks are idiots."

Aiden scowled, and threw a punch at Xavier. However, Xavier saw this coming and dodged, half-knowing he provoked this attack.

"I'm giving one chance, jack," Xavier warned Aiden. "End this now, or I'll end this."

"Don't try to get out of this!" Aiden commanded, and tried to throw another wild punch.

Xavier ducked out of the way. Seeing an opportunity, he swept the legs of Aiden, who fell to the ground with a thud. Xavier then got on top of Aiden and started throwing punch after punch across Aiden's face.

"And to make sure you never bully anyone again..."

Xavier picked him up and kicked him down the stairs.