Chapter two. Thank you to those who have reviewed so far. :)
It was a beautiful spring day, and Frank Burns had a spring in his step as he walked home from school. He'd gotten his report card back, and he had straight A's.
Mother will be so pleased, he thought with a smile on his face. Perhaps she would even bake him a cake. That's what she had done when his brother had gotten an A on his chemistry test.
The thought of a cake made him walk a bit faster. It had been ages since he had a cake.
He rounded a corner and kept walking, not noticing his brother standing there with a group of his friends.
"Hey Ferret-Face!" his brother's voice rang out. "What's the rush? Gotta go home and show mommy the report card?"
The boys he was standing with laughed and as a group they moved closer.
"I have a lot of homework." Frank kept walking, ignoring the heat on his cheeks from the others hearing his brother's nickname for him.
"He has a lot of homework," the others taunted. They were closer now, those boys were bigger and had longer legs than ten year old Frank. Frank put a little more into his step, he was almost trotting. If he could make it to the end of this block, he'd be safe. They couldn't touch him in view of the Burns house. His brother may be the Golden Boy, but even he knew better than to beat up his little brother in full view of his mother.
He was nearly there when they caught up to him. He felt a hand grab the back of his cardigan and pull him back. He held tight to his books-his report card was in his math book, he had to keep it safe!-and tried to pull away, but they were stronger.
Someone slapped him, and then they were all hitting him, taunting him, trying to pull his books out of his hands. He had one arm up, trying to protect his face while he kept a grip on his book with the other.
"Leave me alone!" He shouted.
"Cry for mommy!" One of the boys said.
His book was wrenched away, and then Frank lost it. He was outnumbered and outweighed, but he was mad. He started kicking and punching, and from the yowl he heard, he knew he hurt one of them. Evidently they decided this Frank wasn't as fun to beat up, so they regrouped and ran away.
Wiping blood from his nose, Frank gathered up the scattered books, looking for his report card. It wasn't there.
No, he though, where did it go? He looked around the immediate area but saw nothing. Then he noticed a piece of paper skittering along the ground about half a block back. He ran for it, but just as he was near catching it, the wind out shove it out of reach. He was four blocks in the wrong direction before he gave up.
Suddenly he was very tired. He hurt where their fists had hit him, and, he knew, there would be no cake.
He went back to where they had assaulted him, picked up his books and went home.
"Francis Marion Burns! You come in here this minute!" His mother ordered from her sewing room when she heard the door close.
He sighed. He had been hoping to get cleaned up before she saw him.
"Yes, Mother?" He came in the room and the first thing he saw was his brother sitting there, while he mother lovingly applied antiseptic to a cut above his eye.
"Did you beat up your brother?"
Frank blinked. She would never believe that he had attacked Frank. So he did what he had to do. "No, Mother, a group of boys jumped us on the way home from school."
Mrs. Burns put her eyebrows together. "Then why did he say that you did this?"
"I don't know, Mother." Frank looked at his brother, who was thinking about the story that Frank had concocted. Frank could see the gears turning in his brain. If he went along with Frank's story, he wouldn't have the fun of seeing his brother punished, but it might give him some valuable future leverage.
He arranged his features into a look of contrition. "I'm sorry, Mother, I just didn't want to tell you."
Mrs. Burns shook her and smiled at her eldest. "That's alright, son."
She turned back to Frank. "Well, where's your report card? Robert gave me his today."
Frank hung his head. "I'm sorry, Mother, but I lost it during the fight."
Her lips compressed. "A likely story."
"Really, Mother. I had straight A's too."
"Did you see him loose his report card?" She turned back to her other son and asked.
He shrugged.
"Well, Robert, since I saw a nice list of A's and B's on yours, you shall have a cake." Mrs. Burns said. "Frank, however, did not show me his, so unfortunately for him, no cake.
Frank swallowed. No cake. How had he seen that coming?