One part about Cody's difference is dealing with the bullies. See how this came to be.

Chapter 11: Dealing with Bullies

A year later, Cody was eight years old and still has that Big Z necklace he's got hanging on his neck that Big Z gave last year, which is an amazing feat for him. So far, most things haven't changed much. He's still a little small, but he's dealing with it in a sense that he was expecting. Other than that, he's growing a little bit, only by an inch and a half.

Cody was walking towards the ocean, just looking at it, thinking that he might practice surfing the waves one of these days, when he gets a little older.

The wind starts blowing through short rockhopper brows and he stands there with his arms crossed and just thinking about one situation after another. He just had a really tough day, because of some bullies picking at him, because of his size and also, because he was wearing the Big Z necklace, which grew a little envious and also irritated by some other penguins.

Earlier that day

"Hey, Maverick!"

Cody turns around and sees two young penguins, taller than him, looking for some trouble to cause young Cody.

"What, you ain't gonna speak to us?"

"Can you guys just leave me alone?" asked Cody.

"What if we don't want to?"

"We might want to mess you up, short stuff!"

The young penguin laughed hysterically and so did his friend, which made Cody grew a little irritated. He scoffed and then walked away from them, but the penguins weren't through with him yet. He yelled, "Hey!!"

Cody already stopped and then turned to the other penguins and one of them got rolled up his knuckled flipper and his eyebrows were lower and he said, "No one walks out on us!"

"Well, I just did." Cody said.

"Since when did Big Z gave you that necklace, anyway? He probably felt sorry for you because you're small."

"Yeah, and so puny!"

"That's a lie! Big Z only gave it to me, because I was standing in front of him."

"Big deal!"

"How come he gave you the necklace and we didn't?"

"He saw me first!"

"Listen, Maverick. Why would anyone give you this necklace, especially a dude like Big Z, anyway?"

"Because he's my hero and I will grow up to be like him someday!"

The two penguins looked at each other and they burst out laughing. Cody grew really mad and started to walk away, but the penguin caught him by the ankles and he started beating him up, giving him a black eye and then, he yanked the necklace out of his neck, prompting him to throw it to his friend, in order to tease Cody with it.

"Go long!"

Then, his friend saw the necklace and he threw it to him and he caught it to him. Cody has tried everything he could to get it back, which made him more ticked as ever.

"Come on, you guys! Give it back!"

"Make us!"

Then, Cody saw the fish piles and then, he climbed towards the pile and he saw one of the bullies throw it in the air and all of a sudden, Cody jumps up and catches it with his flippers and he got down on the ground.

"Hey! You're gonna pay for that!"

Then, he starts running behind him and hee caught him and grabbed him by the flippers and then, him and his friend went in and beat him up in more ways than one, then he picked him up and threw him in the river. Both of them laughed hysterically at Cody and he shouted, "Hope you can paddle!"

Then, they walked away without a bit of remorse, feeling good about themselves for tormenting Cody. All of a sudden, Cody's head starts popping out of the water and he starts swimming back to shore, coughing a little and then, he starts panting heavily.

He felt super-mad that those guys treated him this way, because of his size and everything.

Back to reality....

He views this day as the worst thing he's ever faced with and has to deal with it, every single day of his life. There was nothing he could do about it and he just felt like this whole situation with his size and being different from everyone else has taken its toll on Cody.

He looks down on his Big Z necklace and tries to make a positive outcome on it, but it's hard to do that, because his father wasn't present in his life and has very little memory of his father and has to put up with his older brother's constant teasing and taunting, because of the way he is.

For Cody, life just wasn't fair for him and he starting to believe that maybe being different is not as easy as it is.

Is that unfair or what? I feel so sorry for him! Stay tuned for the next chapter!