AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Dear reader,

It is one thing to bully someone just because you think it all fun and games. It's another to constantly tease, torment and physically hurt another person because you think they're beneath you. That's where "bullies" are all wrong. The only reason bullies "bully" those who they deem a 'threat' to their reputation of toughness and somewhat dumbness, is because they don't know any better.

Remember that the next time you feel the need to hurt someone physically, mentally or emotionally.

Sincerely,

Fredward Karl Benson (author of '1001 Ways to Escape Bullying')

CHAPTER 1: Dreading School

Freddie:

Looking at the alarm clock, Fredward Benson knew that it'd ring pretty soon telling him to get up and yet again, face another tormenting day in high school.

It would have been fine, had it not been for the bullies that either; stole his lunch money, beat him up or threw him into a trash can, he wouldn't be dreading it so much. Of course, like any normal nerd, he did like to study and he loved learning about things. Such as: '1001 Ways to Escape Bullying'. It was a book he was working on. A work in progress of course, but everyday he'd get some new and improved data or "inspiration".

The one thing, though, that irked him the most was a girl. Blonde curls, greyish blue eyes and almost a tom-boy. But, she still wore her hair down, which resembled a mane (he thought) and on odd occasions, she sometimes wore pink.

His best friend was also this blonde girl's best friend too.

Yes, it was extremely weird that a lion and a mouse shared a friend, and yet did not get on at all. It drove Carly Shay absolutely insane sometimes. In fact, one time she got so mad at the two of them, that she went on strike and didn't talk them at all.

This silent treatment killed Freddie, seeing as he hardly had any other friends, except that weird Gibby kid, who was just crazy sometimes or most of the time. He sat up and threw back the Galaxy Wars covers.

It was time.

Carly:

On the other side of the hallway, was Carly Shay. She was asleep until she heard some ratting of pots and pans in the kitchen. The brunette lifted her head ever so slightly, to peek at the alarm clock. 6:45. It wasn't time to wake up just yet, but seeing as her brother was up, maybe she should go and see what he was up to.

Never was her older brother up to something normal. Maybe he was working on that duck sculpture that he was all too excited about.

When she half sleep-walked down the stairs, she was attacked, suddenly. The girl screams and elbowed the person in the ribs, who doubled over, fell to the floor groaning. Carly looked on the floor and saw Spencer, lying there, helpless and in pain. She ran to help him up but instead he grabbed her and started tickling her. He always did this, before school and to Carly it was normal.

"Hey kid, glad you're up," he said with a cheesy grin. "I made you breakfast."

"Thanks Spencer," she replied and walked into the kitchen, only to find a huge mess. "Spencer!"

The door slammed and he was gone.

Carly faced the kitchen, looking around at every inch of the room. This time, he was going to clean up his own disaster zone. She wasn't his maid or servant, or housewife. For God sakes, she was only fifteen and still in high school. Grumbling to herself, she sat at the counter and ate the bowl of cereal Spencer had prepared for her earlier.

As she crunched on the 'Fiber Nuts', she thought about what she had said to Sam the other day. It wasn't nice. But it's not like her friends were being nice. Still, she sighed. Two wrongs didn't make a right.

She would apologize today, before it got too out of hand.

There was a knock on the door. Carly dropped her spoon into her cereal and walked over to the door.

"Who is it?"

"Freddie!"

Her lips twisted into a smile and she opened the door to let in her other best friend. It was quite a shame that Sam hated Freddie so much. She could see those two dating in the future or maybe that was a little too far-fetched? They swore they'd always hate one another.

But, Carly wondered, did "hate" mean something else to both of them?

"Good morning Carly, did you sleep well?" The boy asked her, his eyes bright and shiny.

"Yes thank you Freddie," replied the girl and smiled. "Did you have breakfast?"

"Pancakes, whole wheat of course, you know mom, always fussing around with the health stuff."

Carly nodded. She did know. Once she went over to the Bensons apartment for dinner, because Spencer was at his friend, Socko's house watching ice-fishing races or something like that and she couldn't stay home alone. So Mrs Benson kindly offered for her to come and stay there for a little bit. Freddie was more than thrilled at this idea.

The brunette smiled and went back to finishing her cereal. As she finished, she told Freddie how guilty she felt about being so mean to Sam. His response:

"Oh, she deserved it!"

That wasn't the point that she was trying to make to him, but with a little sigh, she clean up her dishes and went to go brush her teeth. When she came back downstairs with her school bag, all ready to go she found Freddie, waiting by the door, tapping his watch.

"Ready to go?" Carly asked.

"You betchya," said the boy and opened up the door for her, like a gentleman. "My lady…"

She giggled and walked through, then closed and locked the door after Freddie. They both made their way to the lobby, where their crazy doorman was cleaning the floor.

"NO CHILDREN IN MY LOBBY!"

"Sorry!" Freddie and Carly said, slipping and skidding across the wet floor and slamming into the door.

"Ouch!"

"Carly! Are you alright?"

Freddie bent down and helped the girl up slowly. She rubbed her forehead a little and nodded to say she was fine. Both teens opened the door and headed outside and towards the bus.

Freddie:

He hated the bus almost as much as he hated walking through the double doors at school. One thing he loved was Carly sitting next to him and chatting animatedly the whole way. There was nothing more exhilarating.

Then he thought about the rest of the day.

Hopefully, he thought, I won't have to worry about Sam's tormenting, since she'll be thinking of ways of trying to get Carly to talk to her again. The girl hated being ignored and given the 'silent treatment', it was like an insult at its very, very worst. He knew she didn't like that he was hanging around with her best friend and that her best friend wouldn't give as much as a single glance in her direction.

Freddie smiled at this.

Okay, so it was an evil thought to be thinking like this, but Sam was vicious and spiteful. The boy thought that she deserved every little bit of bad thing thrown into her face.

Even the other day, he found her near her locker and she was crying. Carefully he walked up to her just to see what the matter was. He got a slap across the face just for asking, nicely. From that moment on, his hatred of the blonde got stronger and he resented her for being so mean.

When the bus stopped at the front of the school, he and Carly stepped out and were met by a frantic Gibby Gibson. A shirtless Gibby Gibson, which wasn't all that unusual, since the kid was pretty weird.

"Hey Carly, hey Freddie," he panted. "Sorry, can't stop. I gotta keep running around the school ninety-seven more times. See ya later!"

Freddie and Carly exchanged a confused look, and then continued walking into the Ridgeway High School grounds. He saw Justin Turner, Billy Howard and Thomas Carter all grinning evilly. They had something big planned, Freddie was sure of it.

Today was going to be a bad day. He just knew it.