"Hey! What are you guys doing?!"
A young and shrill voice echoed through the playground. Hearing the sudden shout the three boys turned to look at its source. A young girl of no more than eight years old glared at them with her hands on her hips, she wore a nice yellow sundress decorated with a floral print. A small button nose with short hair framing her bright blue eyes, she would have been very cute if it wasn't for the stern frown etched upon her tiny face.
"Nun of ya beeswax!"
"Yeah! Buzz off!"
A low groan was heard from behind them and the girl swayed to the side to see what it was. A young boy was on the ground muddied and with a bloody nose. He was on the ground in a fetal position holding onto his stomach as if in great pain. The boy didn't move an inch while they were laughing and kicking at him. The girl's frown was replaced with a fierce scowl.
"You guys better apologize to him and leave!"
She huffed and stomped her foot with crossed arms. While she didn't like wimps who just let others push them around without fighting back, she hated bullies even more. Besides three against one seemed hardly fair.
"Or what? You'll go tell your mommy on us?"
"Tattle tell!"
They stuck their tongues out at her and made funny faces, laughing as blood rushed to her face and her clenched fist shook in what they mistakenly thought was embarrassment and fear. They were wrong. It was rage.
"Or else I'm going to beat you up!"
"Pfft, you're just a dumb girl."
"No way, my daddy said girls were weaker than boys!"
She charged at them fearlessly after hearing the other's comments. She would show them who's weak!
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"Hey, are you alright?"
She crouched near the bleeding boy and shook his shoulders. The previous bully trio had prompt run with their tails between their legs after she socked them in the face a few times. Wimps she couldn't help but thought as they could only use their superior numbers to bully others.
The boy had tears trailing down his face and mud all over his clothes, he looked like a mess.
Concern flashed upon her face as she saw him still clutching his stomach and shaking lightly. She was flustered for once as she didn't know what to do to help. Should she call for help? Her mommy would know what to do, she always does, but she was hesitant to leave him alone.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
"Does it still hurt?"
A small nod was her only answer. It seems this was a quiet one. No matter, she would just have to get him out of his shell.
"Hmm, I know!"
She had on a thoughtful pout when suddenly a bright smile lit her face. She leaned over his shoulders and turned his face towards her. His eyes were unfocused and filled with tears, but he did his best to focus on her. Eyes which widened and blinked rapidly as he processed what she then did.
She had kissed him on the cheeks.
"Pain, pain go away, don't come again another day!"
The boy was so stunned that he had actually stopped crying prompting the girl to have a satisfied grin on her face. Anna to the rescue! Her mommy would be proud of the good deed she did today, and she didn't even need any help!
"There, all better! My mommy told me that super secret spell, so don't tell anyone about it alright?"
The boy didn't reply, merely stared at her in wonderment. She mistook this response for something else and hurried to explain herself.
"Ah, don't worry! I shower every day, I don't have cooties!"
At seeing the "super strong" and brave girl who saved him get flustered over something like "cooties" the boy started to smile at the strange scene and laughed, his pain was forgotten in the moment. A sudden series of soft woofs caught both of their attention. It had come from the boy's stomach.
Anna was surprised and bent down for a closer look. There was a bulge under the other boy's shirt which he had been cradling protectively. It shifted and wiggled its way upwards until a black fluffy head poked out of the shirt's collar.
It crawled out of the confines of its cotton prison and plopped itself on half the boy's face, licking his nose in gratitude. It suddenly dawned upon the girl why the boy had been unmoving on the ground when she had first met him. It wasn't that he was too scared to move or fight back, but that he couldn't. Not without risking the puppy that was. Suddenly her respect and fondness of the quiet kid jumped up a few levels.
"A puppy! It's so cute!"
She had to suppress a squeal in fear of startling the poor thing. She just hovered around the duo on the ground and looked at it from every angle, as if taking some mental snapshots and burning images of the fluffy ball into her brain.
"C-can I pet him?"
This time the boy couldn't reply if he wanted to, as the small puppy decided his face was a perfect place for a nap after the earlier excitement. So he just gave a thumbs up. It was funny seeing how the fearless girl who took on 3 big and mean boys a few years older than here without blinking was now so nervous about petting a dog.
Anna evidently had no such reservation about its slumber though, as she simply picked it up with lightning speed, though taking care not to bother the sleeping dog.
Thankfully, it didn't wake up from the sudden shift nor the hands roaming over it.
"...ou"
She was so engrossed with the soft fur underneath her fingers that she almost didn't hear what he was saying, only being knocked out of her trance at the end.
"Huh? What was that?"
"Thank you. For helping me out earlier."
"Ah, it's ok. I hate bullies! Oh, my name is Annabelle, but you can call me Anna, what is yours?"
"I-I'm Jake."
The shy boy muffled his reply as he stared at the ground. Yet unlike all the other kids he had met it didn't seem to put anna off. She merely smiled prettily and asked him a question that would change his life.
"Do you want to come over and play?"
That was how Jake Young would meet his two first dearest friends. His mom had been shocked at the state of her son, being covered in mud and with blood and snot smeared over his face, but he had never been happier in his life.