Chapter 8: Defend Me

Charlie and Luke were just dropped off at school. They started to walk towards their first class that they had together, Algebra. They both hated it, but they were good friends, so they liked having it together. But, after school is when the story started.

Charlie and Luke always walked home together. They did have classes with some of their other cousins, but they walked by themselves. As they passed by the park they noticed one of Brooke's friends was running home. They looked over at the park and saw a bully tormenting Brooke. They immediately went over there and said to the 14-year old bully, the same age as they were, "Back off!" "What are you going to do about it?" The bully said in a "ha I'm so much better than you" voice. Just then Charlie said, "This is exactly what I'm going to do!" And he punched the bully right in the face. Then Luke started to fight.

Just then, Tanner was running past the park. He loved fights, but he never ever joined in. He went over there and watched. But, as soon as he saw his brother, sister, and cousin, he immediately joined in. He told his sister to go home, and she did.

Then, all three of them were fighting the much bigger bully. The bully pushed Tanner on to the ground, and then punched Charlie, and he fell onto Tanner. That whole time Tanner was screaming as loud as he possibly could. "Owwwwwwww!!!! It hurts, it really hurts!" Then, the bully tripped Luke and he fell down. Charlie, knowing how "tough" Tanner was, knew it was strange that he was crying, because he hardly ever did. Charlie asked Tanner, "What hurts?" "My," he sobbed, "My arm...I can't move my arm!!!" Luke was terrified, so he got his cell phone (because now they weren't all living in the biblical times) and called 9-1-1.

"9-1-1 operator, what's your emergency?" The operator asked. Luke told her that he thought his cousin broke his arm. She told Luke to keep Tanner still, until an ambulance was there.

When the ambulance came, they all got in the back. Tanner was still screaming all the way to the hospital. He had had injuries before playing baseball, but he had never screamed so much. When they got to the hospital, they called their parents. In an instant, Matt, Sarah, Mary, and Carlos were there. Tanner, Charlie, and Luke all had black eyes, bloody noses, scrapes all over their bodies, and bruises.

Once Tanner stopped screaming Mary and Carlos went into Tanner's hospital room. He was getting x-rays. "It looks like you broke your arm in two places," Doctor Brown told Tanner looking at the x-rays. "What?!?! So I can't play baseball?!?! This sucks!" And with that he stormed out of the ER.

Everyone who knew Tanner knew how much baseball meant to him. He's the best player on his team. They had won the championship every year since Tanner joined the team. Tanner was devastated that he couldn't play baseball, and he decided to do the unthinkable.

He was only 13 but he didn't care, he was going to shoot that bully. He had a broken arm, a sprained ankle, and many cuts (that he needed stitches for), and many bruises. He looked like he had been beaten. But, he didn't care at this point. He looked for the bully and when he found him, he pulled out a gun. The bully put his hands up scared to death. Tanner moved the gun over and pulled the trigger showing the bully the gun was real. The safety was on. Tanner turned the safety off and...."Sentar le en el terreno ahora!" It was his father, telling him to put it on the ground now. All Carlos' kids could speak and understand Spanish. Most of the time, all of them spoke English. And, A lot of the time, when Carlos spoke in Spanish to them, they were in BIG TROUBLE. Tanner set the gun down on the grass. He kicked the grass at the bully, and Tanner gave him one last glare. The bully was still shocked and terrified, but he went home. (The bully thought he dreamt it, and was so scared that he didn't report Tanner.) Carlos picked up the gun, wondering where Tanner got it, because they don't own guns.

Back at Mary and Carlos' house, Tanner was being lectured. No surprise there though. "What were you thinking?" Carlos said pacing back and forth across the floor of Tanner's room. Mary was sitting in a chair, while Tanner was sitting on the bed scared to death. He was always scared win his father got really angry with him. He was a really good kid, and hardly ever got into trouble. Most of the time, he was always happy, as long as he could play baseball. "I guess I was thinking that that stupid person deserved to be shot." Tanner very angrily said. "Why did you think he deserved to be shot?" asked Mary. "Because I can't pl" Tanner cut himself off, knowing if he said anything about baseball it would only make his parents more mad. "I wasn't really going to shoot him," Tanner said, not knowing if that was the truth or not. "Hmm, THEN WHY WERE YOU POINTING A GUN AT HIM!?" Carlos asked. "BECAUSE I FELT LIKE IT!" Tanner screamed and walked out of his room, downstairs, and out the door. "Where did he get that gun?" Mary asked her husband. Carlos shook his head, "I don't know." But, as soon as they heard the front door vigorously open and then slam closed, they immediately stopped all conversation. Mary ran downstairs along with Carlos, and they told Tanner they would talk about this later. He went back inside and ate dinner without anyone saying a word.

At Matt and Sarah's house, Luke was also being lectured. "Why were you fighting?" Asked Sarah. "Some idiot was tormenting Brooke." Luke truthfully answered. "We told him to stop, but he didn't so then we started fighting," he continued. "Then, Tanner was going by the park, where we were, and he saw us and he started fighting, and then he pushed Tanner and he fell. Then he pushed Charlie and he fell right on top of Tanner. Then he pushed me and I fell. After that, Tanner was screaming, so I called 9-1-1 because he never cries like that." "Wow!" replied Matt and Sarah in unison. "I know that fighting's not the answer, but I didn't know what else to do." He continued. Sarah & Matt decided not to punish him because they felt he learned his lesson.

Back at Mary & Carlos' house, Tanner was doing his homework. Charlie had already told the whole story to his parents, and Brooke was confused because she was very popular and never got picked on. She was also wondering why a 14-year-old would pick on an 11-year-old. Tanner was "down in the dumps" and could hardly do his homework. He wanted to play baseball so bad. It meant everything to him. He just forgot about it though, and started to learn how to write with his right hand. (He broke his left arm, and he was left-handed.) His family helped him get through it all, and soon, he was happy. Not as happy as he could have been if he were playing baseball, but he was happy. Brooke thanked her brothers and cousin for sticking up for her, and she told Tanner she was sorry that he broke his arm.

A/N: That was kind of a sudden ending, I'm really sorry, but I truly didn't know how else to end the chapter. PLEASE R&R It makes me feel good. ï