Bullying stops when you decide to fight back. Friendship is born when you fight together. 

 

“I am Leib a core member of one of the most vicious criminal gangs in the area, I won’t tell you the name just yet. And the ones following me in the morning were police officers. Nice to meet ya” and he bowed his head.

I had started to eat side by side but on hearing this I almost choked and when I could breathe normally again I just gawked at him blankly.

“Well we are not exactly law-offenders. We just get into a lot of fight with bad people. Our gang survives by trampling over weaker criminals. We don’t harm people directly. Our practices cannot be explained by words alone so don’t judge us by just this definition.” I was still staring at him. After completing his speech he sat down beside me smiling. “So what do you think-“

“What kind of a joke is that? Are you trying to act cool or something?” I came out straight with what I was thinking.

“Of course not! I may not look like it but I’m strong!”

“So you mean you have actually done some serious shit?” I viewed him doubtfully

“Not exactly…” he hesitated a little

“There! I knew it! You were lying!”

“No! I never lie! I am a member! But I myself haven’t done anything specially. Today was my first day” he admitted, embarrassed.

“How can you be a core member if you just started today?”

“Well, because my dad is the boss” he looked at me with a serious look that was probably meant to scare me. “Leave it you won’t understand. You’ve got no spunk!”

“What’s that? Do you know what that means?”

“Yeah it means guts and spirit. Why?”

“In slang language. You do know that it has other meanings don’t you?”

“No… well sorry I don’t have a good vocab but SPUNK is SPUNK!”

“Oh that’s what it is? Ok then. That’s a different story” I murmured and started eating. This was probably not the reaction that he was expecting so he cleared his throat and repeated himself.

“Ahem… BTW, like I said earlier, my day is the boss” and kept looking at me.

“Yeah ok I heard you, more importantly if you don’t eat then the food will get cold” I told him stuffing a bun in my mouth.

He kept looking at me for a few more seconds after which he shrugged and stated eating “Yeah you are right”

And so we became friends. It appeared that both of us were high schoolers and in the same grade; talk about coincidence! Leib insisted on dropping me home and on our way back we talked about many more things. Of course he told me all about his organization. It sounded dangerous but Leib seemed like a completely distinct personality compared to them. He was actually very kind hearted but not much honest about his feelings I guessed. It seemed like somewhere deep within he did not like his family business, but had submitted to it in the end; ‘the people we punished are the real bad guys’ at least that is what he said.

Further he instructed me to not be a coward and fight them seriously the next time they come at me and I told him honestly that I cannot even punch straight. This surprised him quite a bit.

“You don’t look so weak. Maybe you just need to train” he told me casually.

“You think so? Will you train me?” I asked jokingly but he seemed to take it seriously.

“Of course! You can count on me”

When we reached our house we exchanged numbers.

“Here call on this if anything goes wrong. I’ll come as fast as I can. As for the training, you can decide when you’d like to start and I’ll be glad to help!” I laughed in response and then we fist-bumped and he left.

It was already eight in the evening. I couldn’t even imagine roaming the streets alone after this time, although most of the boys of my school did do it. But I was still afraid. Maybe because I had no friends at the time. After a long and tiring day I was finally home.

 

                                                                                                . . .

(The next day)

“So you thought you can outrun us? Huh?” I lay flat on the ground with my hands over my head while Miko’s group of minions kicked the hell out of me. Technically I did ‘outrun’ them, maybe that is what had sparked this extra anger.

“Wow he really is just a piece of crap. Look at him! Such a coward.”

“He doesn’t even lift a finger” and the comments kept following so on. They were right. I was being a coward. I wasn’t even trying to defend myself.

I really wished I had a friend at the moment. Suddenly I remembered about Leib. He did tell me to fight them, but will I be able to do it?

I waited for the right moment and then extended my left arm to block a kick that was meant for my head and kept pushing on it till I had enough room to sit up. The lot had stopped temporarily due to this movement on my part.

“So you can do it?” Miko came and stood in front of me. When I looked up at him he had an uncanny smile on his face. If I didn’t know him better, I would have said that he actually looked amused and happy. “Let’s see you work a little harder now!”

Without a warning he raised his right leg and smashed it on my face, sending me flying backwards. But I knew what I had to do. Right after hitting the ground I gathered all my strength and made a run for it. It wasn’t going to go their way today.

For the first time I had refused to give my money beforehand. Today I would escape with all things preserved. My dignity was bruised a little though, but being on the offensive for the first time made my blood tingle and I liked it, so gaining my dignity back could wait.

I ran as far as I could and when they were not in sight I pulled out my cell and dialed a number that I had a feeling could help.

Leib.

I waited patiently till the last ring died out. He didn’t pick up. I was starting to panic now. After what I had done, some backing up was needed no matter what. I called again. Again. Again, and again. He never picked up. For some reason, every time there was a pause between consecutive rings, my heart pained a little for I knew that it was just a pause. I was surprised at myself. I didn’t know I had placed my hopes on him to such extent. We had only met yesterday. Maybe he was just trying to be nice. Yes, that actually made complete sense.

He was trying to be nice and I was being a complete fool. And what proof was there that he was strong. What if everything that he had said was a lie? I was angry at Leib and more so, at myself for not being strong enough. I was pathetic as a guy. Calling for help like this was pathetic. I could hear their shouting get closer. They were approaching me.

“Maybe we’ll just kill you today jerk!” someone shouted, it sounded like Sam’s voice.

My whole body started trembling. Maybe I shouldn’t have fought back and just taken the beating. Then everything would have been over till now. Anyways, standing here and thinking was not going to help me so I started looking for a way to run. There was just one way, I could only run on the road in front of me and so I took off. They spotted me pretty soon and chased after feebly.

Soon I arrived at an empty playground and decided to hide inside one of the slides. Running towards the biggest slide I saw a familiar figure sitting on top of it. The closer I got the more I could recognize the form.

“Leib?” what was he doing here. Though my voice was faint, he still heard me and turned around. There was an ice-cream in his hand and he blinked, startled. When he recognized me he slid down and came towards me running, I did the same and when he said ‘hi’ I simply punched him in the stomach.

“DON’T HI ME!” I shouted at him and his ice-cream fell down for which he made a pained expression or it might have been because of my punch.

“What’s wrong?!!!” he seemed a bit scared by my reaction.

“How can you be eating ice-cream at the moment?!”

“Why not? What’s wrong with eating an ice-cream huh?”

“You timing is wrong!”

“Is there such a thing as the right time to eat an ice-cream?!”

“Yes there is!”

“Isn’t! What’s with you?” we both looked like we would have started fighting but Miko and his minions arrived just then.

“GET HIM!” and they all started running towards us.

“Is that them? The ones who hurt you?” Leib asked flexing his neck.

“Yeah”

“They got no spunk dude. Well leave them to me! And we’ll discuss about the timing after this”

“Wait! There’s seven of them you can’t beat them alone!” no matter how strong he might think he was, but 1 against seven seemed too heavy.

“Then don’t let me go alone” Leib smiled at me. Somehow this guy had a charisma that gave me strength. ‘He could do it’, is what I felt. And maybe with him, even I could do it. Maybe I too could use some… spunk. Leib raised his fist at me and I bumped my fist onto it and so the two of us clashed with the seven of them.

You might not believe it, but we won that day. Well it was Leib who took out most of them. Miko ran away! I and Leib became inseparable since that day. The other boys left me alone and for that I earned respect in my school. Leib had kept one of his promises and now it was time for the next. He would teach me how to fight. But I declined his offer and asked him to instead join a proper mixed martial art class with me. Surprisingly he agreed.

                                                                                                . . .

To anyone who is reading this and is a subject to bullying, you need to fight back. Don’t be afraid of getting beaten up in the process, they are hurting you plenty as it is. But once you show them that you cannot be suppressed by mere fear, they would leave you alone. Or at least you might find someone else who will grow to respect you guts and fight with you.