It was a normal day in the Taylor house. Tim was in the garage, working on the hot rod, Jill was in the kitchen putting away her groceries she had just bought, and Brad and Randy were on the couch watching TV. Mark wasn't home from school yet.
"Honey!" Tim shouted from the garage, "Did you get the stuff from the Harry's Hardware that I needed?"
"Shoot," Jill mumbled to herself, "I forgot, do you want to go together so I don't do anything wrong?" Jill asked sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact, I would like to go with you." Tim said entering the kitchen, "I forgot to put some stuff on the list."
Jill scoffed and pulled out a list about five feet long. "What could you have possibly missed?" Jill said.
They both laughed and walked towards the front door. Once they were leaving, Jill shouted back, "Don't break anything, no parties and don't fill up on snacks. I'm making dinner when we get home."
"Wouldn't that be the perfect reason to fill up on snacks?" Randy said. Brad and Randy laughed.
"Bye! Love you!" Said Jill before closing the door.
"Love you too!" Said Brad and Randy in unison.
The moment Jill and Tim left, Mark entered through the backyard doors, wearing ginormous sunglasses. He saw his brothers on the couch and tried to avoid them, but the door accidentally slammed shut. Brad and Randy looked back and laughed.
"Mark…You look different. I can't put my finger on it" Randy joked. "Did you get a haircut or something?" Brad added. At this point Brad and Randy were laughing hysterically.
"Shut up." Said Mark.
"Why are you wearing those?" Asked Brad.
"No reason…" Mark said nervously while grabbing a soda. He saw his brothers get up to go to him and he tried to walk to his room, but he tripped on the stairs and knocked his sunglasses off. Revealing his black eye.
"Mark, oh my god, what happened?" Randy asked concerned. Brad was equally concerned.
"I…um…ran into a door." Mark said, he didn't want his brothers to know what really happened.
"Did you at least fight back" Brad said. Both Randy and him started chuckling. Mark got up and walked to his room and locked the door.
The next day, after school, Mark was walking out the door when he saw him. The reason he had a black eye. Eddie Carver. He was the toughest guy in school, rumor has that he broke some guy's arm once, just for looking at him weird. Mark saw Eddie looking around for him so he could have his 'Afternoon fun' as he put it. Mark scurried to the back of the school so he could avoid Eddie. He knew a route home that way. It smelled awful behind the school. That was where all of the dumpsters were. They were filled with leftover lunches from about two weeks ago. Mark stood as far away from them as he could.
"Leaving so soon?" Asked Eddie, who was a short distance away from Mark.
Mark's first instinct was to run. He tried running away but Eddie caught up to him within seconds and pushed him to the ground. You would think that Mark could fight back, but there was no use. Mark was an orange belt, while Eddie was a purple belt. Eddie kicked Mark in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him. With that, he picked up Mark and threw him in the dumpster.
"See you tomorrow." Eddie smugly said while walking away.
Mark waited until he was completely out of sight before he got out of the dumpster and walked home. He tried to think of an excuse to tell his brothers for why he smelled so bad. He figured he would just wing it.
Meanwhile, in the Taylor household. Jill was starting to get worried on the fact that Mark kept on coming home late. Was he doing drugs? Drinking alcohol? Finally, Jill asked,"Where is Mark?"
"I don't know," Tim said on the couch while watching his Tool Time from earlier today with Brad and Randy. "Probably just hanging out with his friends."
"What friends?" Randy quipped. Brad laughed.
"He would've asked me, or he would've called." Jill said
"Oh yeah, sure," Tim said, "Hey, wait you guys, I have to go tell my mommy that I'll be gone, because I'm playing with my friends." Tim said trying to mimic Mark's voice. Jill laughed.
"Do you guys know what's going on?" Jill asked Brad and Randy.
"Well, yesterday, Mark did come home with a black eye," Said Brad
"but he said he just ran into a door." Randy added.
Just then Mark walked in. He looked awful. His hair was messy, his clothes were stained with food from the dumpster, he looked like a hobo. He tried to run to his room but Tim called him down. Mark walked to the table and looked down.
'What happened here?" Tim asked Mark, gesturing towards his appearance.
"Ummmmmm…" Mark said, "New look?" Mark said hoping that his parents would let him go to his room.
"Try again." Tim said.
"What's wrong, sweetie?" Jill asked Mark, worried.
"Nothing…"
"Mark, you're covered in stains and you reek, something is wrong." Jill said.
"Nothing is wrong with me!" Mark said angrily. He didn't want his family involved. If his parents were involved, they would tell him to run, that obviously didn't work, or they would tell him to tell a teacher. But that would make people think he's even more of the dork they think he is. Mark stormed upstairs and slammed the door shut.
"He apparently doesn't want to talk to us. You guys want to try?" Jill asked Brad and Randy.
"No, we're good." Randy said.
"That wasn't a request." Jill said warningly.
Brad and Randy walked upstairs and knocked on Mark's door.
"Go away!" Mark screamed.
"It's not mom and dad." Brad answered.
There was a pause.
"What do you guys want?" Asked Mark while opening the door.
"We just want to talk." Said Brad.
"About wha-" Mark was cut off by Randy,
"Look, we want to know what's up? Why are you coming home with black eyes and garbage all over you?" Randy said sternly.
"I told you…I got that black eye by running into a door" Mark said defensively.
"Yah, right, is that why you have a ring imprinted on your face?" Brad said, equally as stern as Randy.
"Look, I don't have to take this from either of you." Mark said. He was pissed. "It's not like you guys care about me. All you ever do is make fun of me. You don't even treat me like a person, let alone a brother! I bet you guys would be happy if I wasn't your brother." Mark said. He could feel himself tearing up. But he wasn't going to cry in front of them.
"Mark," Randy started to say, "you know tha-" This time Randy was cut off from Jill.
"Boys! Dinner!" Shouted Jill. Mark ran out and Brad and Randy looked at each other. They couldn't believe that this is what their brother had thought.
The next day Tim offered them all a ride to school, but Mark said he would rather walk. He walked out the door and headed for school.
All he could think about was the fact that his brothers were trying to talk to him. Was it a joke? Do they really care? Are they planning to make fun of me later? Mark didn't know what to think. All of a sudden he heard someone say his name. He thought it was just Tim passing by him along with Brad and Randy. But no. It was Eddie Carver. 'Oh god, what does he want now?' Thought Mark. This time, he had his friend with him, Chad Davis. He wasn't nearly as good as Eddie was at fighting. Mark could take him. But sadly, Chad was equally intimidating as Eddie.
"Hey, look who it is. It's Mark The Dork" Chad snickered to Eddie.
"Why it appears so." Said Eddie, who was standing with his arms crossed, smirking. Mark tensed.
Chad walked up to Mark to push him around a little bit, while Eddie stayed back a little bit. Mark thought that this could be his chance to get a punch or two in. Chad pushed Mark to the ground, Mark scraped his elbows but that didn't stop him. He got right back up and sucker punched Chad. He immediately regretted that decision when he felt himself being turned around and punched right in the nose by Eddie. He felt the blood coming out, he was completely defenseless. He felt another punch from behind, Chad was pissed, he was so much more stronger than usual. That punch knocked the wind out of him and he fell to the ground. He was being kicked and punched repeatedly. Whenever Chad was kicking, Eddie was punching and vice verca.
Mark was now sobbing, "HELP!" He would scream but they would just say "Shut up wimp!" or "You want your mommy?"
Right when Mark thought he was out of luck, he heard a someone shout, "STOP!" He looked with all the energy he had and saw that to his surprise, Brad and Randy had followed him and were coming to his rescue.
Brad and Randy ran over to Mark to help him.
"What's this? The dork's protectors?" asked Eddie. Him and Chad laughed.
Within seconds Brad and Randy were up and fighting Chad and Eddie. They were even more pissed than Chad was when Mark sucker punched him. Before Mark even knew it, EDDIE had a bloody nose. Eddie and Chad were getting the beating they deserved. Eddie and Chad begged them to stop. Brad and Randy made them promise to stop bullying Mark and to promise that this would never happen again. They quickly promised and then sprinted in a different direction.
Brad and Randy heard Mark groan from pain and hurried to his aid. Mark could barely talk. His black eye that was fading away is back and more black than ever. His nose was still bleeding. He thought he was going to throw up considering how many times he was kicked and punched in he stomach.
"oh my god, are you okay Mark?!" Randy asked frantically.
Mark just groaned.
"Here, let's get him to a place where he can sit." Brad suggested.
They helped mark over to a park bench. Mark could walk, but it was more of a limp.
"Mark. MARK. Buddy, can you talk? Say something." Brad said.
"That. Was. Awesome. Thank you." Mark said very weakly, but smiling.
This made Randy and Brad smile as well. "For you, anything." Randy said, still grinning.
"Really?" Mark asked happily.
"Mark, we love you," Brad started to say, "we had no idea, the effect we had on you while teasing you,"
"We didn't even think about your feelings, and for that we are deeply sorry." Randy finished.
"Does this mean that you guys are never going to tease me again?" Mark questioned.
"No, it just means that we will think about your feelings this time." Randy said, chuckling afterwords.
"Good." Mark said, stilling smiling as one single tear streamed down his face. Brad and Randy both hugged Mark.
Randy said, "And we will always be happy to have you as a brother,"
"we love you." Said Brad.
"I love you guys too." Mark said.