fleets: I apologize if it's taking a while for the story to get going. If you're feeling impatient, believe me when I say I am as well. Ugh, introduction chapters bore ME. Thanks for your patience, and I hope things will become more interesting in the next chapter. And AGAIN: this may seem like a typical bully story but I swear I swear I swear that it won't be.

Chapter 3: Dealing with a Jerk

Vaati stared at the hand Delta had offered, glanced at the other watchful eyes on him, and then looked at the Minish boy in the eye. If he took the offered hand he would be taking Delta's insult with it. Therefore, Vaati stuck to staring the other boy down.

After several minutes, Delta pulled back his hand with a look of disgust on his face. "Not very friendly, are you? I don't think I was ever refused a handshake after introducing myself." Delta turned and addressed the other kids gathered behind him. "Did you see that? He wants to be a loner. Don't bother trying to be friends with this loser."

Vaati grit his teeth and tried to hide the fact that his bottom lip was trembling. He hadn't expected Delta to be able to alienate him so well. He now realized that whether he took the handshake or not, Delta had set him up so that he came out as a wimp accepting the insult or a loser who didn't want to be friendly. I don't believe it. What does he have against me? I never did anything wrong…

"What kind of a name is Vatee anyway?" Delta asked, purposely contorting his name. "That's such a weird name."

Vaati continued to stand in silence, afraid to speak a word lest he gave Delta another opportunity to make fun of him. He found himself backing up against the blade of grass and curling up around the shoulders as Delta managed to gather some collective jeering from some of the onlookers.

"Lookit, his hair's a funny color," someone piped up, pointing out Vaati's odd pale purple hair from the normal browns and reds. Delta used this to encourage laughter.

"And long like a girl's! Hey Vatee, why do you grow it long like that?"

"Can he even see anything through that hair? He's a walking mop!"

Vaati didn't think of himself as a crier, but he felt some moisture pooling around his eyes. The last call wasn't even a reasonable thing to attack him for: sure his hair was a bit longer than normal but he'd seen some other Minish have something that was close to his length. Confused and hurt from the negative attention he was receiving on his very first day of school, he almost began to cry. Almost. He bit his lip hard in a snarl to hide it.

Delta decided to continue picking on him about Vaati's abnormally colored red eyes. He leaped over to a shy looking girl with his teeth bared. "Look how red his eyes are. Watch out, he'll probably go and eat you when you least expect it! He's snarling at you already."

The girl nervously giggled but played along with Delta. It was hard to tell if it was out of fear of the bully or if she was getting a kick out of butchering poor Vaati as well, but the miserable boy didn't really care. "Eek! Red eyes! He's got the evil eye!"

"Run away!"

"Hey wait, let's play a game. We can play Monster Hunter! We'll be the hunters, and Vatee can be the monster. Vatee, do you want to play?" Delta turned around with a nasty little grin.

Vaati froze up. He was pulling the same handshake trick on him again. If he refused now he would just be giving Delta more reasons to keep everyone from trying to be friends with him. Why don't you want me to be friends with anyone Delta? Vaati wanted to ask. What did I ever do to you?

Instead, Vaati gave one slow nod.

"Great! run off now, we'll come and hunt you." Delta gave him a thumbs-up and started to organize the other kids into teams as Vaati ran as fast as he could out of there.

XXXXXXXX

That afternoon, Vaati lay face down in his bed, his head stuffed against his now tear-stained pillow. He could hear Miss Britta knocking on his door outside, asking if he was all right and where he had received the bruises and mud spots along his arms and shoulders. He felt bad about ignoring her and locking himself in, but he didn't feel like talking about his day.

After he had run from Delta and the rest of his classmates he had hid himself behind some rocks. He knew things weren't going to end well when he had first felt a dull pain on his shoulder and felt mud splatter all over him. After the first mud-ball had hit, dozens more had followed from every angle so that he had had no place to duck and recover. Not knowing what to do, Vaati had given up standing and had fallen on the ground with his hands over his head to protect himself.

"Aww, he's down already."

"Vatee, come on, monsters are supposed to be vicious. Play your part."

"This is boring. It's no fun hunting a weak monster."

"Yeah, let's go play something else. Vatee, you'd better stay away."

And that's what it had come down to. Delta had still managed to make him out to be some boring, unfriendly loner who hadn't been interested in making friends. The only comfort he had had from the experience was that not everyone there had decided to take part in Delta's 'monster hunter' game and only two or three other kids had decided to join. Still, he had lost almost all confidence of fitting in after today's experience at school.

Vaati heard Miss Britta walk away from his room. He cried a little more freely now that he knew no one could hear his sobs. Always a little prideful he resented crying, but some days it just felt good to let it all out and break down in his pillow. He had held it all in while he had still been at school: he had been determined to not give Delta the luxury of seeing him cry.

He let himself calm down after he was done, and he sat up gently and sat hiccupping quietly on the edge of his bed. He reached over his bedside and picked up one of the books Ms. Tutari had given him. Some mindless reading would get him thinking of something other than what had happened today…

There was a knock on his door. "Vaati? Hey, are you alive in there?"

Vaati looked up from his book but stayed sitting where he was. After a while, he went back to flipping through the pages without really paying any attention to the words. There was another knock, this time a little more insistent.

"Vaati…can I talk to you for a sec? It's Glen. Miss Britta's been worried about you." There was a pause as he waited for Vaati to answer. When there was only more silence, Glen continued. "All right Vaati. If you don't open this door and prove you're still alive I'm claiming the right to pick your door open. You're killing everyone with worry."

Vaati grinned a little despite himself. "Glen, I bet you don't even know how to pick locks."

"I bet you I can." Glen sounded relieved to hear Vaati's voice. "Come on Vaati, please let me in."

"Pick the lock and open the door yourself."

There was an audible sigh from the other side of the door followed shortly by metallic clicks in the bolt. In a bit, a young freckled Minish walked through the door with his arms spread wide. "See? Told ya I could do it."

"Wow." Vaati awed, impressed. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"A friend of mine in Holodrum taught me." Glen walked over and sat next to Vaati. Vaati hung his head in disappointment.

"Is it true you're going to leave the orphanage?"

Glen put a comforting hand on Vaati's shoulder. "Yeah…I can't stay here forever. I need a job, a new home…a new life. " Vaati said nothing and sat staring at his feet rocking back and forth along the bed. Glen remained patiently quiet as well and watched the distraught younger boy who wore an expression of dismay. "Vaati, you've been crying," Glen remarked after some time. Vaati shook his head, but the older boy wasn't convinced. "Your eyes are red."

"They've always been a weird red," Vaati said bitterly.

"Vaati what happened to you today?"

Vaati clammed up and tensed. Finally, he whispered quietly. "Everyone at school hates me."

"…What makes you say that?"

"Are you kidding me? I don't think you haven't noticed these blue spots on my arm?!" Vaati held out his arm so that the bruises from the mud-balls that had been thrown at him were more visible. Glen let Vaati rant on. "The kids decided it would be fun to throw mud at me! They hate me, especially that one kid named Delta. He got everyone together to make fun of me!"

"Who is this?" Glen asked, his face full of concern.

"Delta. His name's Delta Esen," Vaati mumbled. He took a deep breath and began to tell everything that had happened at school that day. He talked about how uncomfortable he had been when he had arrived to class, how he had made a fool of himself during introductions, how boring the class seemed compared to what he had been learning at the orphanage, how Delta had distanced everyone from him, and how the kids had thrown mud-balls at him. During the story, Glen's expression became sterner but he kept quiet until Vaati finished. When Vaati was done, Glen shook his head in disbelief.

"Does Ms. Tutari know about this?" He frowned when Vaati told him she didn't know. He sat thoughtfully and seemed to be thinking of something, and then he appeared solemn after reaching a conclusion. He stood up while giving Vaati a comforting pat. "Try not to worry about this too much. We'll figure something out for you." Vaati stood up and followed him a few steps towards the door.

"Glen…I don't want to go to school tomorrow."

Glen stopped and looked back. He walked back to Vaati and knelt down in front of him so they were eye level. "Hey kid, don't let this bully get to you." He smiled. "Do you want me to teach you the secret about bullies like this Delta fellow you know?"

Vaati nodded.

"Well for one thing, the most effective way to get rid of them is to ignore them. Show them that whatever they're doing to you isn't affecting you at all." Glen waved a finger in the air. "Also, try to think of why they've singled you out. Usually it's because they're insecure and unsure of themselves so they find a target to attack to hide their own fears. Or maybe Delta had something to be afraid of in you."

"Yeah right." Vaati rolled his eyes and held out his thin hands out in front of him. "Afraid of me? That's the funniest thing I've ever heard." He watched Glen smile and stand back up as moved towards the door. "Hey Glen?"

"Hmm?"

Vaati looked down at his feet. "Can you tell Miss Britta I'm sorry for making her worry and for…and for getting my clothes muddy?"

"I'll tell her you're sorry about making her worry," Glen chuckled, "but I won't tell her you're sorry for getting your clothes muddy. That wasn't your fault."

Vaati closed his eyes. "Hey Glen?"

"What is it?"

The Minish boy smiled a little. "Thanks for the advice today. I think…I'll go take another shot at school tomorrow."

Glen grinned. "That's great! Show that Delta he doesn't bother you one bit."

"Definitely. I'll do that."

Vaati watched the door close shut and then plopped back on his bed again so that he was staring at the ceiling. He was glad Glen had come to talk to him. He was like a brother to him, and was the closest thing Vaati had to family. He liked Miss Britta, too, but he didn't think she understood him too well. Nor did she have the time to be with him with all the things she had to take care of in the orphanage by herself.

As he had grown older, Vaati had also noticed that try as he might to get rid of it, there was always a distance between him and anyone else he'd ever tried to get to know except Glen. There was always that split-second hesitation when people first met him that, though not really noticeable, was sure to send a subconscious message that they were uneasy around him. Vaati knew it was his looks. He couldn't deny that he was a little unsettling to look at with his sickly color and crimson eyes.

My parents must've looked hideous, Vaati thought jokingly. He didn't mind making fun of his real parents; he'd never met them anyway. He used to wonder if they'd ever come looking for him, but then after a while he gave them up for dead or worse, irresponsible. Vaati had figured that it wasn't worth his time wondering about his relatives if he was perfectly happy at the orphanage.

Glen leaving was going to change things a bit. He had really looked forward to making new friends at school this morning so he would have someone to talk to after Glen had gone. Vaati sighed. He was going to be strong in school tomorrow. Delta you jerk. Vaati flipped the bed covers over himself and buried his head under so that only his ears stuck out from beneath the sheets. I don't know what you have against me, but you'll see…

I'm not afraid of you.

fleets: Btw, some of you who've read my other story may recognize this scene in the flashback I'd written in BC.

Diablo1123: Nope. Those kiddies aren't nice. D:

Shadow Rukario: Yay, thanks for the encouragement! I highly appreciate it!

Velk: Considering that this is a tragedy, it's most likely going to get worse too... D:

Astral S. Kepeire: That's interesting. I think I agree with you. :) Er...I hope the 'picking up' part will meet expectations. I'm not really sure. Of course, I haven't gotten to the plot yet so that's something I can strive for.

Bishieluver01: This'll be my first tragedy piece...let's see how I do. Ah, don't worry, I'll keep writing the other one! I want to see it finished as much as you. :)

H-bomber: Thank you as aways. The friend will be a crucial character in the story. If there's no friend, there's no story, and there'll be no evil purple angsty Vaati. He's going to be THAT important. ;)

Peka the Corsair: Embarrassment is such a horrible emotion. Me too, I've experienced it more times than I'd have liked to. :(