Time Frame: High school, Keith and Ellis are each 14

POV: Ellis

Main event: Keith defends Ellis in a fight

Did I ever tell you about the time where Keith really did save me?

This is just one of them, because the guy has literally always had my back. But this one kind of really plucked on my heart strings for the longest time.

It was back when we were in high school and we were in our first year so that was tough enough already. But there was this senior guy that was a real asshole. I didn't like him at all. He was that typical high school bully that seems to be a joke in all the movies. He wasn't a joke here, though. He was just a piece of crap to everyone.

For some reason, this guy had a girlfriend. She was in one of my classes and asked me if I understood shit about what the teacher was sayin. Now, sadly that class was Home Ec. And I only signed up for it because I thought that meant that I would get to eat pie for an hour per day but it actually sucked and the teacher was a raging drunk so nothin she said made sense. But I wrote down what she put on the board before she erased it and Mindy didn't. So I gave her my notes and that was that.

Now keep in mind, SHE came and asked ME about it. The second she walked away, that guy comes up to me, starts shoving me around and askin me why I was talkin to his girlfriend, like the girl was his property or somethin. I have NEVER liked that kinda shit so I was like, "Because it's a free country, dick." I don't remember all we said, but I was not polite to him like I usually am to people, and it led to a fight. I was not a big guy as a 14 year old, but I definitely didn't back down because Keith's dad taught me not to ever do that.

Well, the jerk got me in an arm bar and broke both my collar bone and my left elbow. Keith just came out of the bathroom and seen him on me and ran to my aid. Keith is taller than me and always has been, but at 14, he was way thinner, a bag of bones really. He knew he was no match for this guy but he jumped onto his back anyway and wraps himself as tight around the guy's neck as he could, just to get him off me. The guy shakes him off, gets his hands on Keith's arm, but that arm was weird and he could dislocate it, so he pulled out.

The guy still gets his waist and pretty much pile drives him onto the floor. Luckily he dropped him right by where he threw down all of his stuff for the next class and by the time the guy is on top of him and lands a punch or two, Keith grabs this big ass textbook and WHAM, brings it right down on Avery's head. It dazed him for a second and Keith could have tried to get free, but he didn't. He just starts swingin, punching as hard as he could anywhere he could, and Keith had a mouth on him from day one so he's sayin shit that my polite upbringing would never let me repeat.

FINALLY a teacher breaks it up. Keith has one of his adult teeth knocked out of his face and his nose and mouth are bleedin, but he gets up, goes right to me and helps me to my feet. The guy never thought of himself. He just says, "Come on, Ellis. We're gonna need to get you to a hospital." I told him that I had a feelin my arm was broke, but I think he knew that already.

For some stupid reason, we all got suspended for three days for fightin. My mom was one of the nurses that helped set my arm and that HURT. It felt worse than breakin it. Keith's nose was broke, but he was in with me tryin to be supportive. I guess seein me yellin in pain and drivin me home (illegally) -with one of those crazy casts that won't let me move my arm at all cause the cast is stuck in this real uncomfortable tight sling that makes me look like a bird with a busted wing- really got to him.

That night, he had his broken tooth in his hand and asks, "Hey El, do you think this counts for the tooth fairy even if it aint a baby tooth?"

I said, "Yeah, buddy. I think it does." And when he was asleep that night, I took his broken tooth and put one of those Sacajawea dollars under his pillow. He loved those things. He always did talk about how paper money shouldn't exist and we should all have to pay for stuff with shiny gold coins like in the old days.

The next time he saw that jerk, Keith was ready. He managed to be sneaky and spent the whole week building up for his revenge, which ended up being a collection of dog crap that he dumped into the open window of the guy's car, on the windshield, under the door handles, in the tailpipe. It was a lot of crap and there wasn't shit Avery could do about it because my mom pressed charges for what he done to me and his parents were not lookin for him to get into any more trouble for harmin another kid.

Keith waited, too. He waited for Avery to come out of the school and see what he did to the car and he yelled, "Now your shitty car matches your worth as a human being, ya piece of shit!"