Andy was having a very crappy first day back at school. Frankly, he was usually having a crappy day at school, but this day was particularly bad. He assumed it was because he'd been able to hide in his house from the bullies that were following him around like vultures for two whole weeks during Christmas vacation, and they wanted to make up for lost time. Still, it seemed like, for that one day, the whole universe had decided that it had a personal vendetta against him. He hoped it wouldn't last. Thankfully, it was the end of the day, and he usually did pretty well avoiding them outside.
"Hey look, it's the senior citizen," Crap. He'd forgotten to check behind himself. Andy kept walking, hoping that ignoring the bullies would make them leave him alone. No such luck. Someone grabbed him by the shoulder and roughly spun him around. Andy saw the sneering face of Randall, one of the bigger fifth graders, along with a few of his dumb friends.
"Hi Randall," Andy muttered, trying to get away. He could see his Daddy's car in the parking lot. If only he could just reach it. Randall held onto his shoulder tighter.
"Not so fast shrimp. We haven't seen you all day," the others closed in, effectively cutting off Andy's chance of escape. So much for making a break for it.
"Well, I was a bit busy…" Andy said nervously.
"No you weren't. You were hiding at the back of the classroom with your nose in one of your books all day," Randall pushed Andy against the wall.
"Leave me alone!" the smaller boy cried out.
"Yea right, freak. No normal person has white hair unless they're old. And you know what freaks get around here," Randall said. Andy nearly shot back that his hair wasn't white. It was just really light blonde, but the older boy grabbed the front of Andy's shirt just as a shadow fell over the group.
"And what would that be?" came a gruff voice from behind them. The bullies looked behind them, and Randall promptly dropped Andy at the sight of the person behind them.
"Uncle Val!" Andy shouted in happiness, able to tell which person was in charge by the cold glare that his family member was giving to the assembled bullies. Despite the fact that he knew his uncle was crazy (understatement of the year), he rushed forward and hid behind the tall man.
"He's your uncle?" Randall said fearfully, backing away. His buddies looked to him and then to Valentine and then back to him before scattering like little mice. A grin spread across Valentine's face but didn't quite reach his silver eyes. The cold glare, however, took on a slightly more sadistic glint.
"Yes, I am. Now what was that you were saying about freaks?" he growled.
"N-nothing m-mister," Randall continued to back away until he too ran off like the others.
"Aww. Now that wasn't any fun. I was looking forward to tormenting the little squirt," Valentine turned his gaze to Andy, who was still hiding behind him. "You get yourself into so much trouble shrimp."
"Why did you help me, then?" Andy had been subject several times to his uncle's feverish rants about how weakness should be purged and other crap like that. Usually it was balmed over by his father returning to his senses, but sometimes, it scared Andy. Not because his uncle made him afraid of those stronger than him but because his uncle made him fear being weaker than those around him. He'd hoped that his uncle would never see him being bullied, but it had really only been a matter of time. One way or another, Valentine found out everything.
"Your father," was the only explanation he got as Valentine turned to walk back towards the car. He stopped and turned his head to look at Andy when he realized that the boy hadn't started to follow yet. "Try hitting them back next time," he suggested.
"And how am I supposed to do that? They're bigger than me. Everyone's bigger than me," the youngster protested.
"It's not really about size, but if you're adamant about that, then the solution is plain and simple. I'll show you how to hit them back," the grin never left Valentine's face.
"You will?" Andy was taken aback. He wasn't used to all that much attention from his uncle normally, so that was unexpected.
"Sure, why not. You might be a puny little weakling now," that made Andy go red with with embarrassment, "but you have potential. I've seen how fierce you can get when you're really pissed off. You've just gotta be fierce other times too. Now come on. Jeremiah's gotta go to work soon, so we've gotta be there before he starts deciding that poking me with his needles might be a good idea."
Andy snickered slightly at that. While most people have unfounded fears in spiders or the dark or stuff like that, Andy's uncle had an unfounded fear in the sharp pointy objects commonly known as needles. Which was funny because Jeremy liked to dress up to go to Comic Con every year and usually made all of his own costumes, which involved a lot of sewing. So much so in fact that Valentine had banned Jeremy to the basement when doing so.
"Ok, Uncle Val," Andy said, following his uncle back to the car.