There was only so much teasing a kid could take, and Sam could only take about half of that. Since the first day of school Tina Mitchell and her gaggle of giggling gooses picked on Sam about everything, but their favorite thing to pick on her for was being the smallest kid in their class. Sam wasn't the type of kid to go running to an adult because she was being teased. No she was more the kind of kid who held it all in and then let it all out all over Tina Mitchell's face. Sam was also a smart kid so she knew better then to get into a fight at school. She waited until Friday afternoon when she knew for a fact that Tina, her minions, and most of their class were going to be sledding at the park.
"Hey Mitchell!" Sam called out as she approached the group.
The girl looked up and narrowed her eyes at Sam. Tina was tall and a little heavy for her age, making her bigger then Sam. "Hey look at that it's a talking garden gnome!" The other girls around Tina laughed before Tina asked, "What do you want Davis?"
Sam stepped up to the girl. "I told you at lunch yesterday that if you didn't back the hell off I was going to kick your ass!"
Tina laughed. "What are you going to do Smurfette punch me in the knee caps?"
That was it; Sam couldn't take any more of the smug, conceited, mean girl. Sam lunged at Tina, catching the other girl off guard at first, but it didn't take Tina long to figure out what was going on. The two ten year olds rolled around in the snow for several minutes throwing punches and pulling hair before Sam got the upper hand. She pinned Tina down and was sitting on her as she punch her. None of the other kids knew what to do other then watch. Sam would have continued to beat on the much bigger girl but she was suddenly picked up off the ground. Still in fight mode she started swigging.
"Easy there Slick." Luke said as he held her back. Looking at the other kids he said, "Move along small peoples. Nothing left to see here."
"Let me go!" Sam demanded as she struggled to get out of Luke's hold on her.
"You're going to pay for this Davis!" Tina yelled as her friends helped her up.
"Bring it on!" Sam yelled back. "I might be little but I just proved I can kick your ass!"
"And with that it's time to go." Luke said. "Come on slugger." He carried her off shaking his head and smirking. He took her back to his club, which was closed since it was the middle of the day. He sat her up on the bar while he called over his shoulder, "Hey Mike, can you find something to put on the slugger's eye?"
"Sure thing, Luke." Mike said with a grin.
Sam sat there still fuming with her arms crossed and an angry look.
Luke went behind the bar and dug around until he found a bottle of Lucky's root beer. He opened it and set it in front of his friend's daughter. "Rough day, Slick?"
Sam glared at her friend's dad. She snatched up the bottle of soda and took a swig. "Rough school year."
"Class bully?" Luke asked in his best bartender tone.
Sam nodded. "It sucks monkey balls being the smallest kid in your class."
"Ahh." Luke said with a knowing nod of his head and smirk on his lips. "You had to prove yourself. Let them all know that you're not one to be picked on just cause you're small."
"Damn straight." Sam said before taking another swig.
When Mike returned he had a small piece of raw meat. Luke took it from him and held it out to Sam. "Put this on that eye before it swells."
Sam looked at the meat and then at Luke like he was nuts. "That's raw."
"And ice cold." Luke replied. "It'll help the eye so just do it."
Sam glared at him but took the piece of meat and put it on her throbbing eye. "This is totally gross." She said before taking another swing of her soda. She glared at Luke with her one good eye before saying, "So are you going to call my Mom now and tell her about this?"
"Nope." Luke answered.
"You're not?" Sam asked in total surprise as her glare gave way to just plain staring.
Luke shook his head. "Nope, I'm not. You were defending yourself. Kids can be down right cruel and you had to take a stand. I get it."
"You do realize you're a grown up, right?" Sam asked the odd man. "You're not suppose to say fighting is a good thing."
That made Luke laugh. "Me? A grown up? Someone's spreading lies about me." Then he turned serious. "I didn't say it was a good thing. I said sometimes it's necessary but only as a last resort."
For the first time since lunch Sam smiled. She liked Luke. He wasn't like any of the other adults she knew, and there was something about him that was just familiar and comforting. She didn't know that Luke was a con in his own right. Once Luke was sure her eye wasn't going to swell he took her home to the lakehouse.
"Anyone home?" Sam yelled into the housed as she wiggled out of her coats and boots.
"In the kitchen!" Kristina called out.
Sam dropped her stuff by the front door and headed towards the sound of her aunt's voice. Since she was in her sock feet she ran and slid across the hardwood after jumping up the steps from the living room. Her mom didn't like when she slid around in her socks, but Sam loved it. She smiled when she saw Kristina starting to prepare dinner. "What are you making?"
"Pizza." Kristina answered as she looked up from chopping veggies. "Sam!" She gasped. "What happened to your eye!?"
"I, um, got hit in the eye." Sam replied quickly.
"Obviously." Kristina said as she went to her niece and gently titled her head back. "What happened, squirt?"
Normally Sam didn't mind when Kristina called her that or when Carly called her half pint, but she was feeling rather sensitive. "Don't call me that!" She hissed at the redhead as she jerked away from the teen's touch. "Where's my Mom?"
"She's still at the office." Kristina said as she looked at her niece with some concern. When the girl snapped at her Kristina jerked back as if she'd been bitten. Sam hadn't ever spoken to her or pulled away from her like that before. "What's going on Sammie?"
"Nothing." Sam replied and then walked out of the kitchen. She hadn't meant to snap at Kristina. She was feeling overly emotional with the teasing, the fight, and having to face her mother when Alexis came home and saw her eye. Heading down the hall she went to her room and flipped on her radio. She picked up her comic book and flopped down on her bed.
Despite being tired and having a slight headache Alexis couldn't help but smile as she stepped into her home. The house by the lake had been a perfect fit from the moment she and her girls moved in. It just felt right to all three of them and Sam had been so over the moon that she nearly floated around the house for the first week. Setting her brief case by the door she rolled her eyes at Sam's pile of stuff. She was going to have to remind her daughter about putting her things away properly again. As she hung up her coat she called out, "Offspring! Sibling! I'm home!"
"Hey." Kristina said as she came out of the kitchen a moment later drying her hands on a dishtowel.
Alexis smiled at her sister. "Something smells good."
"Ingrid's night off so I thought I'd make a pizza instead of us ordering one." Kristina replied with a weak but genuine smile. "How was your day?"
Alexis frowned. There was something about her sister's demeanor that didn't feel right. "What's wrong?"
Kristina frowned and then sighed softly. "Sammie. She came home in a really bad mood and she has a black eye."
"What?" Alexis asked clearly concerned. "What happened?"
Kristina shrugged. "She wouldn't tell me. She was fine one minute and then snippy the next. She's in her room."
Alexis nodded. She headed to her daughter's room and knocked on the door. "Sam, it's Mom." Then she opened the door and walked in. After turning off the radio she walked over and sat on the bed. "Want to talk about it?" She asked as she titled her daughter's head up and looked at the bruising on her daughter's eye.
Sam shook her head. No, she did not want to talk about it. She didn't want to tell her mother she'd gotten into a fight and she didn't want to lie, so it was safer to just stay quite.
"Samantha." Alexis said gently but firmly. "What happened to your eye?"
The look she was getting from her mother let Sam know that keeping quite wasn't an option. "I got hit in the eye."
"How did you get hit in the eye?" Alexis asked.
"Hard?" Sam offered.
"Samantha." Alexis warned, but before she could say anything further there was a knock on the door. She looked over to see Kristina stick her head in.
"I don't mean to interrupt." Kristina said apologetically. "But there's a parent, a Mrs. Mitchell on the phone, she's insisting on talking to you about Sam."
Alexis sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Tell her I'll call her back within the hour."
"Ok." Kristina said as she slipped back out of the room.
Once they were alone again Alexis turned to look at Sam who was now sitting up against her headboard. "Do you want to tell me what happened between you and Tina Mitchell before I talk to her mother?" Alexis knew that Sam and the other girl had been having issues so it wasn't much of a leap to figure out when Kristina said Mrs. Mitchell that Sam's eye had something to do with Tina. Sam just shook her head. "Sam." Again the girl just shook her head. Alexis sighed. "Alright, I would really like to hear your side of things before I speak to Mrs. Mitchell, but I'm not going to push it right this second. I want you to stay in your room until you're ready to talk to me." She gathered up her daughter's comics and put them and her gameboy in the desk drawer, making them off limits. "I'll be in the living room when you're ready to talk."
Alexis had just sat down when the phone rang. She sighed as she picked it up. She had a pretty good idea that she wasn't going to get the hour she'd asked for. "Hello?" She paused. "Yes, this is she. No, I was not aware of that. Is Tina alright?" She listened and rolled her eyes. "Well I would hardly… No of course not. I don't condone fighting…." Alexis sighed and rolled her eyes again. "I hardly think it was unprovoked. What do I mean? I mean, Mrs. Mitchell, that if my daughter did as you say jump your daughter then she had a reason." Another sigh, another eye roll, and now Alexis was pinching the bridge of her nose. When she'd had enough she said, cutting off the other woman's rant, "Thank you for calling Mrs. Mitchell I will speak to Samantha about what happened. Do have a pleasant evening."
"What an insufferable woman!" Alexis huffed after hanging up the phone and tossing it away.
"What happened?" Kristina asked.
"Sam beat up a kid at the park." Alexis answered as she stood up. She walked back to her daughter's room again, knocked and opened the door. Her headache got a lot worse when she found it empty and Sam's window open. "Not again."
Sam needed to think so after her mother left she'd slipped out of her room and walked down to the lake. She stood there skipping stones and listening to the water washing up on the shore. She knew she should just tell her mom what happened but she didn't want to make her mom mad at her. Plus, she felt as if she did the only thing she could so it would be hard for her to show any kind of remorse. Tina needed her butt kicked, so Sam did it, and she'd do it again. After throwing a few more stones Sam decided to head back up to the house.
Alexis was just coming out of the house to look for her daughter when Sam came walking up the lake path. She stood on the pouch with her arms crossed. "Samantha Kristen Davis!"
Sam's eyes went huge. "Um, hi Mom."
"Don't you hi mom me." Alexis said sternly as the girl approached her. "Didn't we already deal with you sneaking out like this?"
"I, well, um, yeah." Sam replied as she dropped her head.
Alexis sighed and shook her head as she pinched the bridge of her nose. "Inside. Now." As her daughter passed by her Alexis landed a swat on her bottom before following her inside. "I don't even know where to start." She told her daughter as she watched Sam sit on the couch. "With the fight or you sneaking off."
Sam flinched when her mother brought up the fight. Looked like she'd spoken to Tina's mom, which of course meant she had the wrong idea. Thinking this made Sam defensive. She looked up at her mom as she snapped, "She deserved a beat down! She's mean and stupid and makes fun of everyone! Someone needed to be put her in her place!"
"Don't raise your voice at me Samantha." Alexis warned. She walked over and sat on the coffee table across from her daughter on the couch. "Tell me what happened and start at the beginning."
The girl knew this wasn't a request but a demand. Sam sighed. "I got tired of her picking on me. I warned her yesterday that if she didn't stop I'd make her stop. She didn't stop, so I kept my promise."
"Samantha." Alexis sighed and shook her head. "Beating someone up is not how we deal with our problems. You should have gone to a teacher or come to me about the teasing. What is she teasing you about?"
"Everything." Sam said. "Anything. Mostly about me being short."
"You're not short." Alexis replied as she titled Sam's head up. "You're petite."
Sam rolled her eyes.
"Sam." Alexis went on. "Kids will always find something to pick on each other for. There will always be this issue or that. There is always going to be the queen bee type. You cannot handle these issues by fighting. You cannot fix you're problems with violence. All that does, more often then not, is make matters that much worse."
"I took a stand." Sam argued. "I showed them that just because I'm little they can't pick on me."
"You showed them that if they push hard enough they can set you off." Alexis countered. "And if they can set you off they can get you into more trouble." She paused a moment before going on. "There are better ways to handle things, Sam. If the teasing continues I want you to come to me and talk to me. Understand?"
"Yes." Sam mumbled.
"No more fighting, understand?" Alexis asked next.
"Yes." Sam mumbled again.
"Now, why did you sneak out of your room?" Alexis asked.
Sam looked up. This one she didn't mind answering. "I just needed to think. I like being by the lake. It makes me feel better."
"It's calming." Alexis said with nod of understanding. "Sam, you know how I feel about you sneaking out. Next time you feel like you need some space, some room to breath, and want to go down by the lake I want you to ask me, understand?"
Sam moaned softly but nodded. "Yes."
Alexis nodded. "You're grounded until further notice."
"Mom!" Sam protested.
Alexis shook her head. "Fighting, beating someone up, that kind of violence is unacceptable Samantha." When it was clear she wasn't going to get a reaction from her daughter Alexis sighed. "Dinner will be ready soon. Wash up and help Kristina set the table."
Sam nodded as she stood up and quickly left the room. She didn't say a word as she helped Kristina set the table, but she could feel the teen watching her.
"Ranga." Kristina suddenly said as she set the napkins on the table.
"What?" Sam asked as she looked up at her aunt with a confused expression.
Kristina gave the girl a little smile. "That's what the kids in junior high use to call me."
"What the heck is Ranga?" Sam asked as she set down the plates.
"It's short for orangutan." Kristina explained. "It was a little more clever than carrot top."
Sam looked confused for a few more seconds before it finally clicked. "You mean those orange monkeys at the zoo?" Her aunt nodded. "Oh, they called you that because of your hair?"
Again Kristina nodded. "All during elementary school and junior high I was picked on for the color of my hair."
"What about now?" Sam asked as she got the glasses and Kristina the pitcher of tea.
"No, not so much." Kristina answered. "High school has it's own set of issues." She looked up at her niece while they waited for Alexis. "It gets better, Sam.
"But there's always going to be bullies." Sam pointed out.
Kristina nodded. "Yeah, that's true, but you have to keep in mind that bullies are made not born. Try to understand that there's something going on in that other kid's life that makes them the way they are."
Sam thought about that while Kristina cut the pizza into slices. "So I'm just suppose to let them walk all over me?"
"No, that's not what I'm saying." Kristina said. "You need to stand up for yourself. You just need to have a little compassion while doing it."
Sam was quite as she put the salad on the table. Then she looked up at her aunt. "Sorry about before."
Kristina smiled. "Forgiven."
When Alexis joined them Sam had a very thoughtful look on her face and it made her smile thankfully at her sister. She knew that Kristina had been talking to the girl and she hoped that she was able to talk to her in a way she couldn't. Alexis didn't have the same childhood experiences that Sam would have, so she didn't really have the background to draw from as Sam went through her childhood. She was glad she had Kristina around to fill in the blanks for her.
When Monday rolled around Sam tried to keep in mind everything her mother and aunt told her, but as she watched Tina come towards her she wasn't sure she could hold back if the other girl started in on her. Sam stood with her arms crossed over her chest. She stared Tina down. The two girls glared at each other, neither flinching, and the whole class waiting for something, anything to happen. In the end Tina backed down first, and Sam smirked. She kept what her mother and aunt said in her mind, but what really kept Sam from doing something more drastic was the sound of her Uncle Stefan telling her that a Cassadine could stop someone with a simple look. Sam was beaming as she took her seat.
