My apologies for taking that unannounced break. A myriad of things happened that didn't allow me to update this story, none of which are impersonal enough to disclose here. Anyways, enough with the pretense. Let's get going.

DISCLAIMER: Everything is owned by someone else. I own nothing.

Chapter 2 - A Load of Bully

What the heck just happened?

Irving repeated this to himself as the halls began to fill up with the usual amount of traffic. The red piece of paper was in his hand, still shoved in the same spot Katie had forced it into.

But that was the last thing on his mind.

Where did all of that come from?

It didn't make any sense.

Katie wasn't what he would call a close friend. Sure, they would talk sometimes at school (at lunch, mostly) but the previous conversation was easily the most they had ever said to each other. The few times that he had been over Phineas and Ferb's house to help with a Big Idea found him in the company of the brothers' friends, including her.

And it wasn't that he didn't consider her one at all. He did. Isabella's troop was, if nothing, cordial to him at school.

But this?

Irving couldn't wrap his head around it.

The kids continued to walk past him, not bothered by Irving's little mind trip, instead heading off to either their next class or lunch. The good thing about his nerdiness was that besides the bullies, everyone else pretty much stayed out of his way.

Irving shook his head, bringing his mind back to the present. There was no point in thinking about it anymore; the bustle of the crowd was starting to overwhelm the hallway, and it was time for him to go to his next class.

Unless...

He glanced at the paper in his hand. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to go talk to the principal; he had talked to Mr. Humphries once before, and he seemed to be a nice guy. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea.

He slipped the paper into his pocket, turning his attention to the task at hand. Thinking about Katie any longer wasn't going to get him anywhere. He would be sure to bring her up the principal, though, since he would have to explain where he got the pass from.

Irving headed toward the front of the school, where the administrative offices were. He was still thinking about what he was going to say to the principal; it wasn't as if he was looking to get Dylan in trouble, but even he was beginning to realize the situation was getting a little out of hand.

"So there I was, sitting in the bathroom, when all of a sudden, he shows up!"

He stopped, his ears perked up. The voice around the corner was the very last one he wanted to hear right now. Unfortunately, that was the exact way he needed to go in order to complete his walk. He peeked his head around the corner...

Just as he suspected.

Dylan was with a group of his friends, blocking the majority of the hallway. It was one of his most annoying pastimes, granted people he liked access through and people he didn't like a difficult time. Usually he would just bum a dime or quarter out of them, but for the special few (aka Irving), they were left to take the long way around to the other wing of the school.

Irving looked him over. The greasy black hair, the heavy-set build, the stupid steel-toed boots he wore all of the time, the grandiose way he was animating his arms, no doubt describing his encounter to all of his stupid friends. The raucous laughter that was accompanying them drowned out everything else from Dylan's diatribe, but it didn't take a rocket scientist (or Ferb) to figure out what he was talking about.

He could feel his face getting hot. Everything about Dylan just rubbed him the wrong way, and it was making him mad. He was a punk. He was a jerk. He was a grade-A-

Irving took a deep breath to try to calm himself. Yes, he was all of those things, but none of that changed the situation at hand, or the fact that Dylan still was a head taller and had about 30 pounds on him. He had to get to the office, and the quickest way was through Dylan. But if the bully stopped him and got the nerve to search him, he would find the slip. And then he would be in an entirely different world of hurt.

"Dylan!"

The yell drew the attention of the gang in front of him, as well as almost blasting out the eardrums of Irving. Whoever it was, they sure knew how to make their voice heard. Craning his neck, Irving drew his attention down the hallway to see Katie stomping toward them, with a resentful look on her face.

Crap.

Sensing a confrontation, most of the students left in the hallway did what a lot of kids would do: gather around to see what sort of shenanigans would erupt. Carefully, Irving walked behind a pack of interested students as to avoid detection. He arrived at the edge of the makeshift circle just as Katie arrived, hands on her hips as she gazed up at Dylan.

"I've been informed that you were skipping class again, Dylan. Is that true?"

Dylan stole a look at one of his gang, apparently surprised that someone would talk to him so directly. Receiving a shrug in response, he replied "Yeah, what of it?"

"You know I'm going to have to report you."

"Whatever," Dylan replied nonchalantly. "You can report me as many times as you want, Missy. It's still not going to do anything."

"Perhaps if I put a count of bullying on your record as well, you would care."

"Really?" Dylan leaned forward into Katie's face, who from Irving's viewpoint was not backing down from him. "Did little Irv run off to his girlfriend and tell him that?"

Irving could see her face get the slightest twinge of pink, but her voice was still as steady as ever. "Whoever told me that prefers to remain anonymous, as it is their right to do so." She pulled out a small blue sheet of paper out of her pocket, and with the click of her pen, began to write. "That's irrelevant anyway. You can bring it up at the appeal meeting with the principal if you want."

"Whoa, hey!" Dylan held his hands in front of him. "What are you doing?"

"Writing you up, of course," Katie replied, not looking up from her paper. "I did tell you I was going to do that."

"I thought you were joking!"

"I'm the hall monitor, Dylan; I don't joke about my job."

The bully thought for a moment, and Irving knew that mischievous look on his face never lead to anything good.

And it didn't.

Dylan reached down and yanked the half-complete form from Katie's grasp, holding it high above his head. "Can't report me if you don't have the form, can ya?"

Katie rolled her eyes, pulling out the ream of additional blue slips from her pocket. "I have more than one slip, Dylan."

"Crap!" He paused, then quickly grabbed the bundle, putting it with the other slip. "There, now ya don't have any!"

Irving saw Katie jump to reach her papers, but to no avail. The crowd that had gathered was beginning to laugh at the situation. Taking a quick glance around, he couldn't see any of her troop or Phineas and Ferb around. Surely one of them was going to stop this nonsense, right?

The blonde stopped jumping, smoothing out her hair. "Fine. You want to be like that, Dylan?" She turned on the spot, getting ready to walk off down the hallway. "Let's see how Principal Humphries likes the way you handled this situation."

Dylan, who had been busy reveling in his earlier triumph, did not immediately register her comment until she had taken a few steps toward the office area. In a flash, she grabbed her arm and lifted her up to his eye level, staring her down with his most dangerous face. "No one's going to rat me out. Not even you."

Katie, to her credit, kept a straight face, although Irving could tell that she was getting a little apprehensive about being in the clutches of the bully. He couldn't see how this was going to end anything short of bad.

Unless someone did something about it.

Irving looked to his left and right. No one in the crowd seemed inclined enough to intervene. And her troop and friends were somewhere else, not able to break it up either.

There was only one option left.

His hand instinctively went into his pocket, grazing the slip Katie had given him earlier. Sighing, he began to make his way through the students. He was going to regret this later.

Oh, how he was going to regret this later.

"Dylan, you can't just do whatever you want all of the time," Katie said, squirming in his grasp. "There are consequences-"

"And they send out little know-it-alls like you to say what's right and what not?" Dylan retorted. "Yeah, like that's ever going to work. There ain't no one out there that can touch me."

"If you want to believe that, that's fine." Katie looked him square in the eye. "But we both know that's not true."

"It is true, smarty-pants. Whether you like it or not." He looked at his gang, who all nodded in silent agreement. "You know, I'm in a giving mood today. I feel like I can help you out with your 'job' and all." He waved a finger across Katie's sash. "You can do a lot better job monitoring the halls if you can see all of it." He stepped forward to the wall, reaching for a vacant locker. "Let's see how you like the view from in here-"

"Let her go, Dylan."

The bully, as well as the rest of the crowd, turned their heads to see the person who had just spoke. Irving had finally arrived in the middle of the crowd, dusting off his shirt. For a moment, Dylan looked stunned, but he collected himself in an instant.

"Well, well, well! Look who finally decided to show up. Did you like your bath, Little Irv?"

"Let her go," Irving repeated.

"We're just hanging out here, Irv," Dylan said, motioning to Katie. "No reason for your girlfriend to go away, right?"

He looked at Katie, who was glancing between the two of them. For the first time since this started, she seemed rather nervous. The feeling was not exclusive to her, however; he had had a bad feeling from the start, and his current conversation was not helping matters.

"Your beef is with me, Dylan," he said, trying not to let his anxiety show. "She's not involved in this."

The bully cocked his head to the side, staring at Irving intently. "Oh, but I would disagree with you there, Irv. She is, and I would like to know how she knew what was going on."

The crowd was whispering amongst themselves, trying to dissect the situation, and Irving again took a quick look around to try to see anyone that he knew that could help. Seeing no one step forward, he shook his head slightly.

Yep, most definitely going to regret this.

"It was me, OK?"

Now he had everyone's undivided attention.

Dylan's face warped into an expression of triumph. "That's what I thought. So you did tattle on me. I didn't think you had the guts."

"I did, but I didn't ask her to go find you or anything. I was just frustrated." He exhaled, holding his arm to his side to avoid it noticeably shaking. "Look, just come with me, and you and I can talk about this somewhere else. No need to make a scene here when we don't have to."

The bully tilted his head, lost in thought. After a moment, he slowly nodded. "You're right, Irv. No need to raise a hoopla over a little misunderstanding. I'll just put this here..." He opened the locker door, ready to deposit the wiggling Katie inside. "And then we'll be on our way."

"Dude!" Irving, without a second thought, grabbed Dylan by his free arm. "You don't have to do that. Just let her go."

Scoffing, Dylan shoved him away. "I would love to do that, Little Irv, but I have a reputation to uphold. Surely you understand my obligations to make sure people know their place."

Had the rational part of his mind been in control, Irving would have gone along with everything, leaving Katie to fend for herself. But seeing her about to enjoy a stay in the locker, especially after what she had done to help him, brought forth a side he had never been aware of. He re-grabbed Dylan's arm, a little firmer this time.

"Let. Her. Go."

Dylan narrowed his eyes, stopping in his tracks. "Well, this is a surprise. Didn't know you had it in you, Irv." He glanced at Katie, who seemed detached from the argument. "I also didn't know you had a crush on Blondie here."

Irving couldn't help but flush at his statement. "It's not like that."

"Really? Well I guess we'll soon see about tha—OW!"

Turns out that Katie wasn't really helpless after all.

A swift kick to the knee interrupted his proclamation, causing him to let go of Katie in a hurry. The blonde nimbly landed on her feet, holding out her hand to catch the book of papers from Dylan's other hand.

"Thanks for the save, Irving," she said, grinning at him. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I have a report that I need to finish. And everyone needs to head off to class!" she added to the crowd, who had been transfixed by the showdown. "I would rather not have to give out late slips to-"

Her words were cut short when all of a sudden, Dylan grabbed her by the shirt and rammed her into the wall. His foot went careening into her shin in an attempt to pin her legs down.

Irving always knew that there was a line that bullies were to never go over. Buford had informed him (as well as Baljeet) of this on a slow day at school. Bullies, as per the code, were to never cause major, severe, or permanent harm to their nerds, or to anyone else for that matter. It was somewhat of a backwards way of thinking about things, but Buford had said that as weird as that rule may have been, he knew that he would never approach that line with Baljeet.

But from the loud cracking sound that emanated from Katie's leg, that line has unmistakeably just been crossed.

Katie let out a yelp of pain, tears beginning to well out of her eyes. Dylan paid no heed to her, his eyes sparkling with a dangerous glint.

"You little bitch."

Maybe it was the curse word that set him off. Maybe it was seeing Katie in an incredible amount of pain. Maybe he was just fed up with everything. Whatever the case was, Irving found himself stepping forward, shoving Dylan out of the way. The bully, not seeing this, stumbled to the side, almost landing on his butt. Katie crumbled into a heap on the ground, her tears now freefalling.

"Are you all right, Katie?" Irving asked, getting on his knees to look at her. He immediately regretted asking this, because one look at her face answered his question. The crowd, in the meantime, recognized what was going down and instantly began to disperse; no one wanted to get caught being a bystander to a fight going on in the hallways.

"C'mon, we need to get you to the nurse's office." He tried to help her up, but a sudden yank on his shirt sent him careening in the opposite direction. Dylan had collected himself and had grabbed him. Irving found himself staring at his furious face, all sense of self-control lost. He did not register Katie's desperate "Irving!" call. Not that it would have helped any.

"Oh, you are not going anywhere, Irv. Not until I'm done with you."

He angrily tossed Irving forward, into the same wall Katie had been pinned on. Irving felt his back connect with the combination lock, sending a sharp pain down his spine.

And then his head smacked hard against the metal locker.

And then everything went black.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: All righty.

This...was hard to write. I've been bullied a lot. I know what it's like to feel helpless and at the mercy of someone else. It is not a pleasant place to be.

And people may bemoan me using a curse word here. C'mon now, you don't think kids that age know those words, much less use them? It's a sign of the times, I assure you. And it's suppose to punctuate the situation, kind of like Candace's "damn" in A Call to Arms.

This story, like I mentioned in the first chapter, will not stay with this sort of seriousness for its entirety. You'll find out what exactly happened to both Katie and Irving in the next chapter, and although that will still be of a serious tone, it won't be at the same level as this. Also, for those people who are wondering when other people are going to show up, several of the other characters will be appearing in Chapter 3. Won't say who exactly, though. That's for you to guess.

Read and review, if you like. Until next time.