"What a jerk," I said, as we walked to class.
"I heard that bullies are really just scared inside," Quigley said, trying to lift spirits of the situation.
"Yeah, well he must be trembling in his bed to death at home," Klaus said. We all laughed.
On the way to class, the same guy rammed Quigley into a wall. He laughed and ran off.
"Are you okay?" I asked, Isadora and I helping him walk straight.
"Yeah" he rubbed the side of his face. There was a red mark.
There was a test. As soon as I left to sharpen my pencil, the guy threw a pencil at Quigley's head.
And it was sharpened.
"Ow!" Quigley grunted.
"No talking during the test," Ms. Palm said.
After class, I confronted the bully.
"Lay off my little brother," I said.
"What're you going to do about it?" he boomed.
"This." My fist whipped out and walloped the side of his head like never before. This time he practically fell to the floor.
He got up and swung at me. I ducked and grabbed his arm, and then placed my foot on his as hard as I could, and threw him into a corner of the hall.
A bunch of kids had crowded around. He stared up at me.
"Fine, I'll quit," he grumbled, rubbing his sore elbow.
Turns out, he only agreed to quit when I wasn't around.
At lunch, when Isadora, Violet, Klaus, Sunny and I got inline, he stayed at the table to finish his homework.
The guy stomped over and banged Quigley's head against the table hard.
Quigley tried to fight back, but it was no use. He was just born not as tough as us, which as I said before, can come in handy.
When we returned, he was rubbing his head. "Did he come again?" Isadora asked.
"Yes," he answered.
"That's it. This time I'll really kick his ass." Violet clapped her hands over Sunny's ears.
"There's a six-year-old at the table, Izzy," I said, frowning.
"Oops, sorry," she said.
Anyway, for the next week and a half, it was nothing but a war. Turns out the guy's name was Gory. A pretty scary name.
One day, when Quigley returned, he had a black eye.
"Jeez, what happened to you?" Brownley asked.
"Gory got me," he said coldly.
"We could get him for you," said Andrew, coming in with four Cokes.
Quigley shook his head and went to his room.