((sorry about the whole 'period' thing . . . I think I got it now!!! Heh heh))

Marco stopped in his tracks. Jimmy looked at him and said, "what is it?"

"I - Oh no . . ." Marco began to shake all over.

I looked down the street. I didn't know exactly who they were, at the time. But then I realized it. They were the bashers.

There were only two of them, probably not as many as when they bashed Marco. I could tell they saw us, too.

Spinner was oblivious. "Hey guys, watch this," he bounced the basketball through his legs, and it rolled down the sidewalk.

Jimmy ran after it, but it was too late.

"This your ball?" one of them said, with a creepy grin.

"Uh, yeah, thanks," he reached for the ball, but they moved it out of his reach.

"What's up man?" Spinner said, following Jimmy. "Give us the ball."

"Oh, you want your ball back?" they laughed, and one of them spotted me and Marco. "Hey look - it's our old friend!" They proceeded to walk down the street with the ball, towards us.

Jimmy and Spinner looked at each other. "What's going on?"

Marco began to walk backwards. "Just. . . just leave us alone, I don't want to fight."

"OK, so how about this - WE can fight, and you can just sit there, like last time," they laughed. One of them got even closer, but I stepped in the way.

"Back off," I said.

"Ooooo, I'm so scared," one of them sarcastically whined, pushing me out of the way.

Jimmy had had enough. "Listen, just take the ball, and go." He said, pushing one of them to the ground.

He got up and pushed Jimmy back.

"Cool it, Roy. But uh, it's not the ball we want. Ironically enough, it's the no-balls that we want," he said, grabbing Marco's shirt collar and swinging him around like a doll.

Spinner ran up behind him and jumped on his back. "Let go of him!!!" he put his around the guy's neck, and squeezed as hard as he could. They both fell to the ground.

I could hear him choking, and I saw as Spinner's face turned red. Marco ran as fast as I had ever seen him.

"OK, OK," the guy managed to cry out.

Spinner got off his back, and ran after Marco.

The two looked as us, strangely. "You better watch your backs," I could remember one of them say to us.

As soon as they took off down the street with the basketball, me and Jimmy stood still.

"What . . . what just happened?" I asked, my face turning pale.

"Those were the bashers," Jimmy said. Well obviously I knew that. It was a 'hypothetical question'. He rubbed his arm and looked at the ground. "You should have seen Marco when I found him. . . the day it happened. He had so many bruises, he was crying like crazy." I saw a tear trickle down his face, and a smile formed on my face.

"You're a great friend, Jimmy," I modestly stated. I saw the look in his eye when I said this, and I began to walk down the street.

"Uh, Spinner and Marco are probably. . . uh, talking. . . so we should probably head on without 'em. I mean, we'll see them tomorrow." Jimmy said, catching up to me.

"Uh, yeah," I replied. "Who knew Spinner would stand up to Marco?"

"I don't know what Spinner's problem is. I mean, I thought it was awesome, I mean, what he did for Marco back there. . . but why does he act differently at school?"

"Well, maybe he will act differently now." I said, grinning.

We finally reached Jimmy's house. I hadn't been there before, I knew that he had a huge party last year, but I decided to non-conform and see a movie with Marco instead. It's a shame . . . I certainly have seen a different side of Jimmy. He's not so power-hungry, as I suggested he'd be. He was actually. . . kind of decent.

As I approached his front steps, I didn't know what to say. What do I do? Do I shake his hand? Or possibly hug him? AHH! No way, no how. I'm not Paige. But I admit, I had the urge to.

"So. . ." I yawned, realizing that it was already almost five.

"Uh, this is my house." Jimmy said. He looked kind of confused, too. So there we were, standing on his front porch, making eye contact, and having little conscious of where to go from there. "So. . . I'll see ya." He walked to the door, but lost balance and fell towards where I was standing. I was up against the wall. His arms were pressed against the wall, holding himself up. It kind of reminded me of something you would see Paige and Spinner doing. . . but not me.

Little did I know that this was an ACCIDENT, so I took it the wrong way, and kissed him. Why. . . I am such an idiot. He just stared at me, and I ran like he//. Oh man. . . I HAVE been hanging out with Paige too much. . .

((please R&R!! thanks))