Suddenly David

A/N – FYI: I'm not going to do EVERY grade.

Grammar School

Nobody ever treated me kindly. Daddy left early, mama was poor. I'd meet a man and I'd follow him blindly. He'd snap his fingers. Me, I'd say "sure"

After kindergarten, Kurt learned the hard way to stay away from the playground during free time. He stayed inside with the teachers as much as he could. There were always boys waiting to taunt him for reasons ranging from the clothes he was wearing, to the food he brought for lunch, even to how he spoke. Dave did his best to keep the tormentors at bay, but he wasn't always able to prevent the attacks. The boys always seemed to know when the monitors weren't looking and would pounce.

He tried to talk to his parents. But his father was taking on extra time at the garage. His mother was always sleeping. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer when he was 7. She was exhausted from the treatment so he didn't want to burden her (or his father) with what could be seen as normal school troubles. So he went to school each day and managed the best he could.

One spring afternoon in third grade, he had been forced outside by one of the teachers. "You can't stay inside on such a beautiful day." So he had positioned himself on a bench right outside the door with a magazine.

"Hey Kurt." He looked up to see one of the other boys in his class standing in front of him. Finn, his name was. "We need another player for the game to make the sides even."

"You don't want me." Kurt shook his head. Everyone knew he wasn't good at sports. He didn't mind being picked last in phys ed.

Finn shuffled as if he was nervous or something. "Well, not really. But we're kind of out of guys. At least you would make the numbers even. "

Kurt sighed and put his magazine down. Maybe if the teachers saw him playing with the other kids, they'd let him stay inside tomorrow. He followed Finn to the side of the playground where the other kids were gathered. He knew at once something was wrong. First there were no balls and all the other guys were lined up facing him. The first egg hit him square in the chest.

Instead of going back to his classroom when the bell rang. Kurt ran to the boy's bathroom. He took off what amounted to be his ruined sweater and tried washing the egg out of his hair.

"Don't use hot water. It'll cook the egg and make it hard to get out." Suddenly a voice came from behind him. Because of the running water, Kurt hadn't heard the tell-tale squeak of the door opening. He looked up to see Dave standing just inside the doorway. "I wish I could have been there to help you. But Mrs. King kept me inside cuz I hadn't finished my book report."

"It's okay." Kurt said. Taking the paper towels Dave had rolled out of the machine. "You can't be there all the time."

Picking up the egg-encrusted sweater, Dave smiled ruefully. "It was a really nice sweater."