"You'll have thirty minutes for this exam," my teacher noted as she squinted at the clock. "Begin!"

I quickly went through the first few questions in my exam and got to one of the reading sections. I nervously tapped my pencil to my teeth continuously. I brushed the persperation off my brow and remembered what a big test this was. If I screwed up, I might not pass high school. As I got farther along, the exam became much more difficult than expected. Suddenly, Frank walked through the door and over to my desk. I looked up at him curiously.

"What are you doing here?" I whispered.

"Gerard," he responded. "It's Mikey. I didn't see what happened, but he ran out of class crying and into the courtyard. He won't talk to any of us. I think he's hurt."

"Screw high school!" I shouted, and ran out the door.

I made my way down the hall, through the cafeteria, and out into the courtyard. My heart was racing and I ran out of breath, but my lungs could wait. I looked around until I saw a dark figure in the far corner of a bench. The cold air was burning my throat as I tried to catch my breathe. I sat down on the bench.

"Mikey?" I whispered. No answer. I scooted closer to him. "Mikey, it's just me, Gerard."

He sunk his head lower into his arms and spoke to me in a muffled tone, "Four years."

"What are you talking about?"

"Four years of pure Hell. That's what I'm looking at."

"Why are you talking like that? What even happened today?"

"This morning, before homeroom, a couple of douchebags grabbed my arms and a third kneed me in the crotch. I doubled over and one of them stood on my back. The largest of the three took my glasses and..." he pulled a fist out of his pocket and handed me a mixture of bent wire and glass. "did that. That was all okay, I was used to it, but then it got worse. They got off me, and I started running to the door. Then, one grabbed me by the hood. He then punched me in the face several times and shoved my face in the snow where they left me to bleed and freeze."

Mikey finally looked up at me. His left eye was swollen shut and black, while his other was bright red, probably from tears. He started to tear up again.

He spoke again with a shaky voice, "I can't handle this anymore. The constant beating, the neverending horror. I wake up every morning fearing for my life." He began sobbing uncontrollably. "Gerard?"

"Yeah Mike?"

"I love you."

I put my arm around him, "I love you too."

It was silent for a while. There was no sound other than the hushed cries of my little brother. I felt horrible, but what could I do? You can't stop a bully. I started humming a song I used to sing to him when he was scared. It was the same song my mother sang to me. I was humming the tune to the song Isn't She Lovely. I was going solo for a while, but Mikey joined in. At the end of the song, he looked up and smiled at me.

"Hey Gerard?" he said.

"Hey Mikey?"

"You are the greatest person I could ever know."

I looked over to him and said, "You can't let these asses get to you any longer, Mikey. Don't worry, it gets better. Now, let's get going."

"I am NOT going back to class," he stated clearly.

"No, no of course not."

"Then where?"

I got up and said, "Home, we've got some work to do."