Chapter 11
1054 Words
The twins were just starting to like Cheryl and were having a better time dealing with her when someone new was added to the mix.
"Okay, everyone," said Ms. Dunley as she headed over to the door. "Please give a warm welcome to the newest addition to our class."
She opened the door and began to lead the new student in.
Everyone watched with burning curiosity as a boy came in.
He was a little bit bigger than the other children. He still had quite a bit of baby fat on him. His hair was blonde, maybe a little darker than the twins, and he had blue eyes that stared down at the floor. He nervously rubbed his hands together as the teacher continued to introduce him.
"This is Bryce Spencer. Say hi to Bryce, everyone!"
"Hi," said the class.
Everyone heard when Billy loudly chuckled. "Hey," he said, leaning forward. "You like cake, Bryce? What about chocolate?"
Bryce's face turned a shade of pink. He quickly lowered his head to look at the floor.
"Can you really ask that?" Cheryl asked, turning to Billy. "You look like you like cake and chocolate way more than he does."
Everyone laughed and watched as Billy's face turned a shade even brighter than Bryce's.
The laughter grew even louder, causing Ms. Dunley to have to intervene and explain why they needed to be kind to others.
"Now, Bryce, would you like to say a few things about yourself so everyone can get to know you?"
Bryce shook his head, and Ms. Dunley assigned him a seat and began to teach the lesson for the day.
For the most part, the new student's day seemed to be successful from what the twins observed. Everyone in the class, besides Billy, was kind to him, and he was invited to join in many activities during recess; all in all, the twins thought the boy would be fine.
When class was over, the twins quickly began to pack up their things. Cheryl had an errand to run for her grandmother, so they would get to head home by themselves.
As they started up the hill, the wind began to blow.
"Oh, it's so cold," Esther said as she rubbed her arms.
"That's the end of summer for you," replied Eli. "It's a good thing we decided to wear long sleeves today."
"Yeah."
As they reached the top of the trail, usually the place where Cheryl would divert from them, they heard talking.
They turned their heads in the direction of the chatter.
"Hey," started Eli slowly. "Is that-"
"Billy," Esther finished.
They both groaned in disgust.
They could see Billy and two other children standing side by side, laughing.
"What are they looking at?" Eli asked.
"I don't know," answered Esther.
They looked closer and then saw the reason for their laughter.
The new student was lying on the ground; his backpack was open, and all his possessions were scattered in the dirt.
With a wide grin, Billy said, "That will teach you for embarrassing me!"
"But I didn't say anything to you," replied Bryce.
"Let this be a lesson to you," Billy continued, "If you try to do anything, it won't just be your pens and notebooks that gets ruined."
His buddies chimed in with threats of their own.
Billy crossed his arms and said smugly, "I already taught two kids a lesson. Don't make me teach you the same one. You can ask them what happens when you cross me. Dumb boy and ugly girl never saw it coming."
Billy didn't know it, but he was about to learn he had made a huge mistake in saying that last part.
"I thought I was short, not dumb."
Billy's blood suddenly turned cold as he turned around and saw the twins standing right behind him.
"I thought the one who was taught a lesson was you," said Esther.
"Maybe we were bad teachers," replied Eli.
"You think?" Esther sighed as she raised her fist. "I guess we'll have to teach you the lesson all over again."
Billy backed up.
"Come on, Billy," said his friend as he grabbed his shoulder. "We can take them!"
The other boy joined in too, "Yeah, they can't beat you! You're the strongest and the coolest kid ever!"
They continued to urge the scared boy forward until he shouted, "Enough! Let's go!"
However, his friends were more persistent than he thought. They didn't let up even as Billy was dragging them away.
The twins watched with still raised fists and determination until Billy and his friends were completely out of earshot.
"Ugh," groaned Eli. "I can't stand that kid."
"Isn't that the truth?" sighed Esther. She lowered her fist. "But still, he's getting pretty creative with the nicknames."
"Yeah, with mine!" hissed Eli. "He's said nothing about yours."
"Would you rather be the ugly girl?"
"It's better than short pants and dumb boy."
The twins continued on as if they were the only ones in the world.
"Um!"
Hearing the voice of another person brought them back to reality. They eyed the mess of his belongings.
"Are you okay?" Esther asked. "Did Billy push you?"
"Did he hurt you?" Eli chimed in. "If so, you should tell us, and we'll deal with him."
The boy seemed shaken.
"Th-that was. . ."
They waited patiently for his response.
"That was awesome!" he shouted. He looked at them with a big smile on his face. "At first, that kid and his friends came out of nowhere, and then bam! They pushed me and stole my bag and then dumped all my stuff out, and then you guys came over here and scared them away!"
The twins were at a loss for words.
Bryce continued as he began to exaggerate what had happened.
Esther looked at Eli. He was at a loss for words more than she was.
She replied awkwardly, "We-we didn't do anything."
"Yes, you did!" exclaimed the boy. "You saved my life! I've seen lots of movies! You two are heroes!"
"Heroes?!" they both said, surprised.
"Yes, heroes!" He inched closer to them. "Can I become friends with my heroes?"
Esther and Eli suddenly felt like they had made a mistake. Against their will, they had added another troublesome person to their ever-expanding group.
- Writer
