A couple weeks have passed since the Annual Spelling Bee. It was Tuesday now, and everyone was coming out of their dorm rooms or arriving to the university from home to attend class.
It was no surprise who won this year's Spelling Bee: Russell Ferguson. He had the highest grades and scored the best on every test. It was no wonder such a committed academic like himself claimed victory.
This year, he was almost beat by another student named Hunter McSunbask, who everyone called Wiggles. He had won the Spelling Bee two times in a row, and he was about to win a third until Russell managed to spell the word "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" correctly, gaining him the point needed to win the event.
Everyone noticed how bitter Wiggles was over his loss, and soon enough people began to see Russell less and less at the university. Even Vinnie and Sunil, who both live with him in the same dorm room, have barely seen him at all. They'd fall asleep at night without Russell returning home, and even when they wake up at six in the morning, he still wasn't there. Either he'd sneak in after the two fell asleep and left before they woke, or he just didn't go to his dorm altogether. Nevertheless, Vinnie and Sunil were very worried about their friend.
At the end of the day, the students went off to do their own things once they were dismissed from class, and Vinnie and Sunil immediately headed back to their dorm, hoping to find Russell there. Not to their surprise, he wasn't there.
"Okay, this is getting ridiculous," Sunil grunted after placing his text books on his bed. "We haven't seen Russell in three days now!"
"Do you think he's okay?" Vinnie asked worryingly. "Maybe he's been abducted by aliens! Or maybe those zombie mummies got to him!"
Sunil shuddered in fear. "Please don't bring those zombie mummies up! I'm already regretting watching that horror film, it's affecting my sleep and thus my note-taking in class... Anyway, I doubt any of that happened. Perhaps Russell's at Penny Ling's dorm or something?"
"Russell wouldn't set foot in that dorm, man!" Vinnie retorted. "He's always avoiding Penny as much as he can during class changes anyway, remember?"
"It's worth a shot." The Indian man made his way to the phone and dialed Penny's number, then placed the phone up to his ear.
"Well, while you're doing that, I think I'm gonna practice some of my dancing," Vinnie called as he slipped on his tap shoes.
"Oh, no, you're not!" Sunil snapped. "I've spent far too much money replacing my magical props that you broke with your clumsy dancing. If I have to spend another penny on replacing a broken wand..."
"Okay, fine, sheesh!" the shorter man yelled as he slumped down on his bed, pouting angrily as he crossed his arms.
"Hello?" Penny spoke on the other end once she picked up her phone.
"Hello, Penny Ling," Sunil greeted, turning his attention to his friend on the phone. "It's me, Sunil."
"Oh, hi, Sunil! How are you?"
"Eh, I've been fine I suppose. By chance, is Russell over there with you?"
"I'm afraid not... Um, speaking of Russell, is he okay? I haven't seen him for a while now."
"We're not sure. We were hoping he was with you."
"Oh, I see. Well, once you find out what happened to him, will you let me know please? I'm very worried about him..."
"As am I. Don't worry, I'll be sure you're the first person I talk to regarding his state."
"Thanks! Good luck finding him! Now, I'm sorry, but I need to get back to studying. I have a test tomorrow and it'll determine whether or not I get an A or a D in the class overall."
"I understand. Good luck. See you soon."
Sunil hung up the phone and placed it down on the counter before sighing. "He wasn't there..."
"Told ya," Vinnie smirked smugly, causing his best friend to roll his eyes in annoyance. "So, where else do you think he could be?"
"I haven't the slightest clue," Sunil admitted. "He could be anywhere in a city as big as Downtown. For all we know, he could be in Uptown City or even Midtown City."
"Hey, what time does Russell go to work at Downtown Library?"
"From two to six, why?"
"Well, it's three now, so maybe he's there working."
"Vinnie, you are a genius!" Sunil grinned as he hugged his shorter friend tightly.
"But, I don't live in a lamp..." Vinnie responded, confused.
"No, Vinnie. I said genius, not genie. Oh, never mind, let's just get to the library."
"Okay." The short man slipped off his tap shoes and put on his green ones, then tossed his shoes behind him. As the two started out, a crash was heard, making them both jump. Vinnie grinned and chuckled nervously as Sunil glared down at him.
"You owe me a new magic wand..." he growled.
The two friends took the bus to the Downtown Library, and after purchasing a replacement magic wand at the thrift store using Vinnie's money, the two made their way to the library. They entered and looked around, unable to find Russell.
"Are you sure he's here?" Sunil whispered.
"Of course, this is his shift," Vinnie replied quietly. "Maybe we should ask Mr. Featherstone if he's in today."
The two young men walk up to the front counter to find a man wearing dark blue, turquoise, and green clothes, a tuft of dark blue hair on his head, and large brown glasses reading a book. He also sported a bowtie made out of peacock feathers. Vinnie rung the little bell on the counter to catch his attention and he looked up from his book, then grinned.
"Vinnie Terrio, Sunil Nevla, welcome," he grinned in a nasally voice. "It's been a while since I've last seen you two here."
"Hey, there, Mr. Featherstone," Vinnie smiled.
"Oh, please, you two know you can call be Basil. A friend of my number one worker's is a friend of mine. What can I help you two with?"
"We were actually looking for Russell," Sunil answered. "Is he in today?"
"As a matter of fact, he is," Basil replied. "I'm not sure where he is, but he told me he was going to reorganize the checked in books. I saw him heading towards the nonfiction section, so try looking there."
"Thank you," Vinnie and Sunil smiled in unison.
The two friends made their way to the nonfiction area of the library, yet there wasn't anyone in the entire section. They decided to split up and look in other areas, and in five minutes they made their way back to the nonfiction section as they had agreed prior.
"Can you find him?" Sunil asked.
"Nope," Vinnie answered with a heavy sigh. "Can you?"
"Unfortunately no."
"Well, if Basil said he's here then that means he's here. We just have to keep look-" Vinnie was cut off as he turned to walk off again, only to collide into someone else. The two of them fell over with a shout of surprise, and Sunil quickly rushed over to help his friend to his feet. "Oh, geez, I'm sorry, I didn't mean- ...Russell?"
Russell stood up with a groan and began to pick his spilled books back up, but he stopped at the sound of Vinnie's voice. His eyes widened when he saw the two there. "Vinnie? Sunil? What are you two doing here?"
"We came looking for you!" Sunil answered. "Russell, how come you haven't been at the university?"
"Yeah, and how come we don't see you in the dorm, either?" Vinnie added.
"Um... I-I've just been falling behind in my work and I need to make it up, that's all," Russell answered hesitantly, not meeting their eyes as he resumed picking up his books. "I've been working late and I have to leave early, so that's why you don't see me in the dorm or at the university."
Sunil raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "Are you sure about that?"
"Yes, of course!" Russell found himself raising his voice, and he winced at the shocked looks his friends developed. "Sorry... I'm just really tired... I'm sorry, I have to get back to work, I'll see you two later."
"Hold on!" Vinnie called, running up to the librarian before he could walk off. "I don't get it, you're always on top of absolutely everything."
"Vinnie is right, you'd never be this badly unorganized," Sunil agreed, walking over.
"Well, I guess there's a first for everything, huh?" Russell said absently before walking off again. "I'm fine, okay? Now go home."
Vinnie and Sunil were about to run up to their friend again, but the way he spoke gave them the message that he really didn't want to talk. The two walked out of the library, more worried about Russell than ever.
They had approached the bus stop when Sunil began to speak again, "I do not care what he says, Vinnie. I know he's hiding something."
"You sure?" the shorter friend asked. "He seemed pretty sure of himself."
"Vinnie, Russell would never be that unorganized about anything, he's always on top of everything. And besides, he doesn't raise his voice at us unless we annoyed him, and with this scenario it's the annoyance of trying to hide something from us. We're going to find out what it is tonight, whether he likes it or not."
Vinnie grinned, finally catching his taller friend's drift. "Yeah! We're gonna impersonate him!"
"Vinnie, for the last time the word is interrogate, not impersonate."
"Potato, tomato, whatever..."
Sunil grunted softly and rolled his eyes, then shook off his irritation. "Okay, here's what I'm thinking we should do..."
"Man, it's almost midnight and we have school tomorrow!" Vinnie groaned. "When is he gonna get here?"
"Patience is a virtue, my friend," Sunil replied calmly.
After discussing their plan, the two friends hopped on the bus to Littlest University, and they gathered the materials they needed to execute their plan: a chair some ropes, and a single feather. Currently, they were laying in their beds waiting for their friend to come home from the library.
"I ain't got no virtues, whatever those are," Vinnie huffed in exasperation. "I just wanna get this over with so I can sleep!"
"Keep calm and wait," Sunil retorted. "He will come."
The two of them waited about five more minutes until they heard someone walking closer and closer to the door.
"Here he comes!" Sunil hissed quietly. "Get into position!"
He and Vinnie both quickly got under their covers and rolled over, pretending they were asleep. They heard the lock on the door clicking as it was unlocked, and the door opened. They heard a yawn belonging to Russell and once the door was closed and the books were dropped on the ground, Russell collapsed in his bed and almost immediately fell asleep with light snores.
Vinnie and Sunil both sat up once they were sure Russell was deep in his sleep. They nodded, knowing it was time to get to work.
They crawled out of bed quietly and brought the chair from the closet into the middle of the room, then they worked together to slowly put Russell on the chair without waking him up. Finally, they used the ropes to tie his legs to the legs of the chair and his body and arms to the back.
"Should we wake him up?" Vinnie whispered.
"Yes. We need to get to the bottom of this tonight," Sunil replied softly. "I don't want to do this, however he's left us no other choice."
"I'll wake him up, then." Vinnie pulled out the feather from his pocket and began to wiggle it against Russell nose and cheeks, tickling him softly.
Russell groaned a bit as he tried to tilt his head away, but as the tickling continued he began to slowly wake up to the annoying feeling. Awake now, he growled in frustration and shook his head. "Stop it...!"
"Good to see you awake, Russell," Sunil greeted as Vinnie stopped tickling.
Russell opened his eyes and squirmed a bit, and that's when he realized he was tied up. He bolted awake in alarm and started to struggle fiercely. "Vinnie, Sunil! What is the meaning of this? Why do you have me tied up?"
"We're sorry, Russell, but we know something's wrong with you," Sunil explained.
"If you won't tell us what's going on, then that means we'll have to in... uh..." Vinnie jumped in, but began stammering as he tried to recall the word Sunil used earlier. "In... Interra... Interro..."
"Interrogate, Vinnie," Sunil sighed.
"Yeah! Interrogate!"
"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Russell snapped, glaring at his friends. "I told you there's nothing wrong and I meant it!"
"We'll see about that once we're through with you," Sunil simply said as he picked up the remote for their television.
Russell looked at the electronic in confusion. "You're gonna interrogate me with a remote?"
"Partially." Sunil turned on the TV and pressed the "List" button, sending them to the recorded shows section. He began to scroll down, listing the shows out loud. "Shake-a-Leg... Legend of Shahrukh... Magic Acts... Oh, here we go! The Duchess of Lancashire Lane!"
Russell gasped loudly as his eyes widened. "Wh-What are you gonna do?"
Sunil selected the folder for the show and smirked a bit. "What do we have here? An unwatched episode from last Saturday? Oh, how shameful it would be if... someone were to delete it."
"Y-You wouldn't!" their tied up friend cried out, his eyes filled with panic. "That's the episode where the Duchess proposes to the Duke of Lancashire Lane! I have to know if he accepts it or not!"
"I'm going to delete it," Sunil threatened, selecting the recorded episode and scrolling down to the "Delete" option.
"Please don't! I beg of you!"
"S-Sunil, I think we're going too far," Vinnie fretted quickly.
"Sometimes drastic measures must be taken if it means helping a friend," Sunil replied firmly. "I will delete it in three... two..."
"Okay, fine, I'll tell you!" Russell finally wailed, giving in.
"Okay, talk, then," Sunil said, putting the remote down and walking over to Russell's side. He noticed his friend's eyes were glistening with tears and he winced. Perhaps he had gone a bit too far after all.
Russell paused for a few moments before finally speaking, looking up at his friends in what looks like fear. "I... I'm being bullied at the university..."
"What?" the two friends exclaimed in unison, their eyes widening in shock.
"But who'd ever wanna bully you?" Vinnie asked. "You're one of the best students at Littlest!"
"You remember the Spelling Bee?" Russell began, his voice cracking a bit. When his friends nodded, he continued. "Well, I won it as you all know. I... I took away the victory from someone named Hunter McSunbask - or Wiggles - who was going to claim his third win in a row. After I won, he began to make fun of me for being so smart, calling me a geek and an egghead, and he'd also insult my appearance and call me fat.
"It was getting more and more difficult to tolerate his insults, let alone concentrate in class. So... I started to avoid him at all costs, even if it meant avoiding certain classes. I got too scared that he'd find some way to skip class and come after me, so I stopped going altogether and just hung out at Downtown Library, where he doesn't know I work; if he did, he would've found me long before now.
"I didn't come home until after you were asleep and I left before you woke up so you wouldn't end up asking me about why you haven't seen me in class. I was too scared to tell anyone... I didn't want you guys to be attacked by him, never mind him going after me again and having him call me a tattle tail."
Vinnie and Sunil were completely silent when Russell finished. They had absolutely no idea any of this was going on. How could they have missed it? They thought he and Wiggles were friends, but in reality the two-time Spelling Bee winner was bullying him to the point of him avoiding anyone altogether. They knew they just had to do something to help.
"You know what you have to do, Russell?" Sunil finally spoke, making his tied up friend lift up his head, looking up at him through teary eyes. "You have to either tell a professor or confront him and tell him to leave you alone."
"B-But I can't!" he whimpered. "If a professor tells him he'll come after me again; it'll be even worse than before!"
"Then we'll confront him!" Vinnie jumped in confidently. "We'd be willing to do anything for our friend, and don't worry, we'll be okay. Right, Sunil?"
"Usually, I'd want to back out of a situation such as this, I do not enjoy being part of conflict," Sunil admitted. "But you're right, I'm willing to do anything for a friend."
"I can't ask that of you, and I won't," Russell tried to argue. "He'll verbally beat you two to a pulp!"
"Hey, I get called stupid and clumsy all the time, I think I can take a few more rubber chicken bonks to the head, so to speak," Vinnie grinned.
"No, I won't let you..." Russell pushed on. When Vinnie was about to argue, he added, "I won't let you... because I'm gonna do it. You're right, I need to toughen up and confront him myself. After all, as Zoe says, he eats and sleeps just like the rest of us, right?"
"If you insist on doing it yourself, we will support you all the way," Sunil smiled as he untied his friend and tossed the ropes off to the side. He then stretched out and yawned loudly. "But first, let's get some shuteye."
"Yeah, I'm pooped," Vinnie yawned, walking over slowly to his bed. He crawled in and brought the covers over his body, then almost immediately fell asleep.
Sunil chuckled and went to his own bed, but he stopped when he heard Russell ask, "Hey, Sunil?"
"Yes, Russell?"
"You... You weren't really going to delete that unwatched episode of The Duchess of Lancashire Lane, were you?"
"Of course not, I wouldn't do that to you. It was just an empty threat."
Russell smiled and chuckled a bit. He then walked over to Sunil and, after some hesitation, hugged him briefly. "Thanks, Sunil, for helping me even though I was being difficult. I'll thank Vinnie in the morning."
The Indian's eyes widened in surprise for this was very out of character of the librarian. His shock quickly dissolved into compassion and he hugged him back, smiling warmly. "Of course, my good friend. Now let's get some sleep, we have quite an eventful day ahead of us tomorrow."
Wednesday morning came quickly and the three friends left their dorm after getting ready for the day. They walked into the main hall and looked around, trying to find Wiggles. They had ten minutes until the bell rung, indicating the students it would be time to head for class.
Then, the front door to the university opened. The three turned to see a tall, muscular young man wearing green, wearing his dark green hair in a double mohawk, and sporting a chain with a gold tag on the end, walk through the doors. His intimidating dark green eyes scanned the area until his gaze fell on Russell, and he smirked as he walked towards him.
"Oh, no..." Russell whimpered, backing away a bit and trembling in fear.
"It's okay, Russell, we're here for you," Sunil reassured his friend, though he couldn't stifle a frightened gulp himself.
"Well, well, well, will yous look who it is," Wiggles sneered as he approached. "Little Fatty McGeek's finally back. I missed ya, little buddy - I had no one to insult with you away."
Russell trembled before the taller man and backed up a bit. "U-Umm... H-Hi, Wiggles-"
"That's Hunter to you, geek!" the man snapped, holding up a fist. "Undastand?"
"Hey, knock it off!" Vinnie couldn't help but jump in, throwing himself in front of Russell in a protective stance. "Why the heck are you bullying Russell anyway? He's a really great and helpful guy!"
"Because, shorty, this smart-alic stole my chance of winning the Spelling Bee three times in a row!" Wiggles growled, pushing him away and causing him to stumble back and trip over his own feet. "I was gonna make my ma and pa proud of me, undastand?"
"I... I'm really sorry about that..." Russell began weakly.
"If yous were sorry, yous wouldn't have competed in the first place!" Wiggles roared, throwing himself in the librarian's face. He yelped and threw up his hands to protect himself, and Wiggles saw a blue ribbon in one of his hands with the initials "SB" on it. He blinked in confusion before growling. "Whadaya have that for? Here to gloat about your victory?"
"N-No..." Russell replied quietly. He gulped before speaking a bit louder. "I... I wanna give it to you."
"You wanna give that... to me?"
"I didn't know how much it hurt you that you didn't win the Spelling Bee this year. I thought you were just bullying me because I was a nerd, but now I know it's because you were torn up that you couldn't make your parents proud and you decided to take your anger out on the actual winner. If I would've known that, I would've pretended to misspell that word so I'd be disqualified and you'd win. It might not mean much, but I want you to have the ribbon so you can have all three of them."
Wiggles didn't answer, his eyes just stayed wide open in disbelief. He couldn't believe it, but he was actually completely accurate - he was upset that he lost and he was taking his anger out on him because he won instead.
The buffer man took the ribbon in his hands and looked down at it, then looked at Russell. "After all I've done to yous... making you avoid school because of me... you still wanna give this to me?"
"You deserve it much more than I do," Russell said, smiling warmly, yet a small tint of nervousness was still seen in his eyes as he forced himself to make eye contact with his bully.
Wiggles looked back down at the ribbon, then up at Russell again, and finally he smiled. His smile slowly disintegrated into a frown as tears filled his eyes, and he then hugged Russell tightly. "I'm really sorry for bullying you! I was just really upset that I didn't win, but I never wanted to become my high school self and bully again! I'm really, really sorry, undastand?"
"I-I undastand..." Russell choked out. "N-Now can you let go? I-It's getting hard to breathe...!"
"Oh, sorry." Wiggles let his former victim go. "I really am sorry, though."
"Eh, don't worry about it. I'm just glad you're not gonna bully me anymore to be honest."
"Of course I won't. From now on, yous and I are gonna be real good friends!" Wiggles hugged him one more time, making sure not to squeeze as tightly, and walked off.
"What did we tell you?" Sunil smirked playfully as he and Vinnie walked up to Russell, who rolled his eyes in amusement.
"Okay, okay, you were right. Thanks so much for helping me out today."
"No prob," Vinnie grinned. "Just be sure to tell us what's going on so we can help, okay?"
"You got it."
Just then, the bell for class rang, and the students started to file into different classrooms.
"Guess it's time to go to class," Russell observed. He started for his classroom and called back to his two friends, "See you after school!"
"See you soon!" Sunil and Vinnie both called back in unison as they headed for their own classrooms.