A/N: This chapter takes place around a couple days after the last one, Georgie in the Bull Pen.

Recess finally arrived—what would normally be Georgie's favorite part of the school day. But today, he was dreading recess, because his three friends all happened to be gone from school today. Katie was on a week-long trip visiting her family in Florida, Anna had been sick with the stomach flu for three days up to this point, and Dorsey caught the same bug just yesterday. So now Georgie was left all alone. Talk about bad luck.

Georgie went over to the swing set and sat on one of the swings forlornly. Georgie always either had Bill or one of his other friends to push him on the swings. He hadn't learned how to swing on his own yet, so he just sat there miserably, kicking at the ground.

"Whaddya doin', Georgie?" Georgie whipped his head around in surprise at the sudden voice coming from behind him and saw that it was Derek. Oh, great. "Aw, looks like all of your friends are gone today. How sad. Looks like even they don't like you!"

Georgie remembered what Bill had told him. Just ignore his words. Don't let them get to you. So, Georgie continued sitting on the swing, minding his own business.

"They probably don't want to be your friend anymore because of how stupid you are! It's no wonder; you're always bumping your head on things, probably causing brain damage. Like when you weren't looking that one time, and you bumped into that pole," Derek gestured to one of the poles supporting the monkey bars. "That was so funny! How stupid can you get?"

Remember what Billy said. Don't listen to anything he says, because it's not true. You're not stupid.

Derek noticed that he wasn't reacting, so he tried a different angle. "And you stink, too! Maybe that's why all your friends left you. Not even flies want to be around you! To be honest, your friends probably got sick because of your smell."

But…I take a bath every day. This is a lot harder than Billy made it seem. If I know what he's saying isn't true…why does it still hurt?

"What, you have nothing to say, Georgie? Did you bump your head one too many times? You have brain damage now? Can't talk?"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Georgie said with tears welling up in his eyes. He tried as hard as he could not to cry. He didn't want to look weak, especially not in front of Derek. But…he couldn't hold it back. As much as he tried, there was nothing he could do to stop the tears from flowing out.

"Oh, so you can talk after all! And you're crying, too? See, I told you you're a sissy! That's what happens when you hang around girls too much."

The embarrassment, guilt, and sadness Georgie felt was all starting to turn into rage. Hot, furious, boiling rage. Just like the tears, Georgie couldn't hold it back any longer. "SHUT UP!" Georgie screamed as his whole head turned red and his veins started bulging.

Derek laughed in response. That wasn't the reaction Georgie was hoping for. "Whoa, calm down, Georgie! You're getting way too worked up over this."

Too worked up? Too worked up?! How can anyone not get worked up after hearing all those horrible things he said to me?

"Leave him alone, Derek! Go be a jerk to someone else for once!" one kid said bravely. Georgie had never met this kid before, but he already liked him.

"Looks like you finally found a big enough loser to hang out with you, George," Derek said as he walked off.

"Don't listen to anything he says," the boy said to Georgie. "He's just a huge idiot."

Georgie laughed. "I'm glad you think so, too."

"My name's Avery," the boy said. "What's yours?"

"Georgie."

"Nice to meet you, Georgie! Do you wanna be friends?"

"Sure!" Georgie certainly needed a friend right now.

Avery sat on the swing next to him. "Here, I'll show you how to swing all by yourself! It's real easy! When you swing forward, you stick out your legs straight. When you go backwards, you tuck in your legs." Avery demonstrated this as he was explaining it to Georgie. "And just keep doing that, and you'll go higher and higher!"

Georgie tried doing it, and he realized that he actually was going higher with each swing! He was actually doing it! Without anyone having to push him! He felt freer than he ever had before! He felt like a bird soaring through the sky, without a care in the world!

"You're doing it, Georgie!" Avery cheered. "Look at you go!"

"I am! I'm going so high!"

Suddenly, the school bell rang, signaling the end of recess. "Oh, no," Avery said as he stopped swinging.

"Aw, just as I was starting to have fun again," Georgie said dejectedly.

"We can play more at lunch time!" Avery said.

"Okay! See you, Avery!" Georgie said as he went back to his classroom.

As Bill came to pick up Georgie at school, he noticed that he seemed a bit more cheerful than usual.

"Hi, Billy!" Georgie chirped as he skipped up to his brother.

"You s-s-seem like you're in a g-g-good mood today," Bill said.

"I am!"

"Good! And wh-why's that?"

"Well, today didn't start out too good. Derek was bullying me again. But then this other kid came in and told him to go away, and then I became friends with the other kid!"

"Oh, that's g-great!"

"Yep! His name is Avery! He taught me how to swing all by myself! I went so high, Billy!"

"All by y-yourself?! I'm s-so proud of you, Georgie!"

"Uh-huh! And then we sat together at lunch and talked together. Then we played Star Wars at lunch recess! I was Luke and he was Han Solo."

"I'm so happy you m-made a new friend!"

"Me too! And I'm sure my other friends will like him too! You know, he was telling me at lunch today that he also has a big brother, just like me and Dorsey."

"Really? Th-th-that's cool!"

"Well…except that he was saying that he doesn't like his big brother."

"Why not?"

"He said he's really mean to him. He doesn't think his brother even loves him at all."

"That's awful."

"Yeah, I know. And that's why he stopped Derek from bullying me; he hates to see other people get bullied, since his brother bullies him all the time."

"That's n-nice of him, then. It's a sh-shame about his brother, though. Did he s-s-say how old his brother was? Or wh-wh-what his name is?" Bill was curious if it was anyone he knew.

"No."

"Okay." Worth a shot. "Well, I'm glad y-y-you two became friends. Seems like he was in n-need of one."

"I'm glad we became friends, too," Georgie said happily as he thought of all the fun and excitement that was in store with his new friendship.