It happens in almost every school. It was the second week of the new school year at Beacon School when a new student named Lucas Grey arrived in the classroom. He had been expelled and transferred from another school for disciplinary problems, such as fighting and threatening other students. No one in the classroom knew anything about his past, but that would soon change.

Lucas Grey wasted no time showing himself to be a classroom bully, someone who likes to show his toughness or some advantage he seems to have over his classmates. One advantage he had was his large size. This proved to be his weapon in the weeks that followed. He eventually threatened every student in one way or another. Some were so affected by his bullying that their grades began to decline. Many were afraid to bring the problem to the attention of the teacher, and no one in the classroom challenged the bully.

Then, one afternoon just before school let out, Lucas Grey was surprised to find an unsigned note on his desk. He opened it and began to read. It said, “Meet me after school in the cafeteria. Come alone, if you dare.” He quickly glanced around the classroom, but no one was looking his way. Who wrote this? he wondered. He didn’t know what to make of it.

When the bell rang, everyone else quickly left the room, but Lucas Grey remained at his desk for a few moments, pondering who might have dared to challenge him. He then got up and slowly headed to the cafeteria. When he entered, no one was there. However, he didn’t have to wait long. A voice came from the other end of the cafeteria from behind the large curtain on the stage that was used for school plays.

“I’m behind the curtain, Lucas,” the voice said. It sounded like one of his classmates, but which one?

He walked carefully to the stage and up the two steps to the center of the curtain. As he was about to look in, the curtain opened up across the entire stage. There stood all twenty-five of his classmates!

“What is this, a joke?” he asked.

“No, Lucas,” said Ricky Simms, the boy who wrote the note. “You have been bullying each of us, one by one, since you arrived here. So we got together and thought you would like to bully all of us together. That is, if you dare.” The boys began to spread out around him. There was silence. Lucas Grey seemed completely dumbfounded.

Ricky Simms continued. “You see, Lucas, from now on, if you give trouble to any one of us, you will have trouble with all of us.”

It didn’t take long for Lucas Grey to get the message from his classmates. He had never faced such a situation with any of his peers. He raised both of his hands in the air and meekly replied, “Look, guys, I think we can work this out. Let’s all be friends.” He repeated, “Let’s all be friends.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say.

Ricky Simms then stepped forward and asked, “Lucas, have you ever shaken hands with any of your classmates?”

“I don’t remember,” he answered.

“Well,” replied Ricky Simms, “let’s shake hands.” And after they did, each classmate passed before Lucas Grey and shook his hand. Later, some said they saw tears in his eyes.