FicWad

Chapter 1

"You are nothing but stupid boys!" Elena yelled after her brother and the neighbor boy as she ringed out her wet pig tails.

Adam and Pete ran off with the hose in their hands laughing the entire way.

Elena huffed and picked up her now soggy book, which got soaked in the process of her brother and his friend sneaking up on her and spraying her with the hose. The book was a higher skill level than most fifth graders her age were reading; it was even a higher skill level than what her eighth grade brother and his friend were reading. Elena had no time for stupid boys and their stupid pranks.

She huffed again as she sat back down under her tree. It was a weeping willow tree that she found comfort and shelter in since she was a little girl. Elena was never one to be a rambunctious child like her brother and Pete. She found solitude under that tree. At times she would bring her dolls and play house by herself, but she mainly sat under the tree to read. Elena never fit in with any type of crowd, but as soon as she opened a book she was lost in the imaginary world. She became those characters in those stories, and that was ok by her.

Elena glared up from her book momentarily to see her brother and Pete horse playing in the yard. She shook her head. They were such boys. Pete had been in her and Adam's life for four years now. She remembered the day Pete had moved in next door. The skinny dark haired boy looked so lost. He and Adam hit it off right away and soon it was as though Elena had two older brothers to pick on her. Pete of course was nicer than Adam, but together they made life difficult for her.

It wasn't too long that Elena found her refuge in her book and she had forgotten all about the stupid boys and their stupid games.

-----

It was the first week of summer for Elena and her brother. She of course got up early in order to get to the library to start her summer reading list. She created her own due to the fact that she read all the books on the list that her teachers had given her years ago.

Elena bounced into the kitchen and grabbed a green apple from the basket. Green apples were her favorite.

"What are you so chipper about?" he brother sat at the breakfast bar almost comatose eating his Fruity Pebbles.

"I'm going to the library," she hummed and packed an extra apple in her book bag.

"Why are you such a nerd?" her brother asked.

Elena looked over at her brother with a thoughtful expression on her face as if contemplating that question.

"Just a blessing, I guess," she said ruffling his hair as she bounced out the door.

Adam just rolled his eyes. He never understood how Elena could be so comfortable not fitting in with the crowd. She definitely marched to the beat of a different drummer. He would never admit it to her, but he admired her for that.

Elena walked slowly up and down the aisles of the library admiring every book and the story it had to tell. Her favorite section was the history section. That was her favorite subject in school. She fantasized about living in the days of the past when everything was just being discovered. She envied how they were able to experience everything as new to them, just as a new born baby. She lightly touched the spine of every book as she walked past, each one revealing a story of the past.

She found a book on ancient Greek history and picked it up. Her eyes grew large with excitement as she stared at the cover.

"Can I help you find anything dear?" an elderly lady with glasses hanging off the end of her nose asked.

"No thank you. I found what I was looking for," Elena said still staring at the book in front of her.

"Our teen section is towards the back. Maybe that would better suit your needs," the lady said in a condescending manner after noticing the extremely large book in front of Elena.

"My needs are met just fine right here," Elena said now looking the woman directly in the eyes.

The librarian nodded and walked away.

Elena shook her head and went back to the masterpiece in front of her. This would take at least two weeks to get through. Elena picked the book up and practically skipped to the check out.

Walking home Elena chomped on her green apple. She was overly excited about her latest book and she couldn't wait till she got home, so she could sit under her tree and read it.

Elena's perk in her step left as soon as she noticed the group of four boys walking towards her on the sidewalk. She stiffened up and put her eyes on her feet. She knew those boys from school. They would always make fun of her, and she hoped that they would just leave her alone.

"Hey, look at nerd girl!" one of the boys said aloud once they noticed her.

Elena kept walking with her head down. Maybe they would leave her alone if she would just keep walking.

"Hey nerd girl? What's in the bag?" one of the boys grabbed her book bag from her shoulder.

"That's mine!" Elena yelled reaching for the bag.

"This is pretty heavy. Didn't you know school was out, nerd?" the boy holding her bag out of her reach asked.

She rolled her eyes at their lack of vocabulary. All they ever called her was nerd. You would think they would think of something more clever.

"Give it back!" Elena yelled getting angry.

"You sure are feisty when you're not in school," another boy said shoving Elena slightly backwards.

"Just give it back. It's mine," she said upset.

"No," a fourth boy said pushing Elena back to the first boy that pushed her.

"Knock it off!" she yelled.

"Or what? You gonna tell on us?" the boy holding her bag laughed.

Elena didn't know what to say. She continued to get pushed back and forth until they pushed her so hard that she fell on the ground and broke her glasses in the process.

They group of boys just laughed.

"Oh, is little nerd girl going to cry to mommy?" they mocked her.

She stayed on the ground holding her broken glasses in her hands. They soon got tired of her not fighting back, so they dropped her book bag by her side and walked off. Elena kept her head down, but could tell they were quite a distance away by the softening sounds of their laughter.

It wasn't until then did she allow for the tears to fall. Elena never let them see her cry. She didn't ever want them to know that they got the best of her.

She slowly stood up and brushed off her knees and picked up her book bag. She slowly walked back to her house and found shelter under her weeping willow tree as she allowed more tears to fall. She didn't understand why people would go out of their way to make her feel so bad.

---

Pete walked towards his garage glaring at the lawn mower. It was his most hated chore, but it was staring him down. He stood there for a moment thinking if he won this staring contest he wouldn't have to mow the lawn, but to no avail, the mower was not giving in.

"Fine," he mumbled and started to walk towards the garage some more.

He stopped short in his tracks when he thought he heard someone crying. He held his breath and waited to make sure he wasn't hearing things. He heard the whimper again and decided that he was in fact not imagining things. He walked around the garage and saw Elena curled up into a ball under the tree that sat on his and her property line.

"Elena?" Pete asked cautiously walking towards her.

Elena sat up and quickly wiped her tears away. She wasn't expecting to be discovered out here.

"Are you crying?" Pete asked getting closer with each step.

"I'm fine," she tried to smile, but he wasn't convinced in the least.

Pete entered the tree and looked at Elena was sympathy. It was that look that Elena hated. That was why she never allowed them to see her cry.

"Why are you crying?" Pete asked sitting down on his knees next to Elena.

She looked up at him with sad eyes and Pete just looked down on her with concern.

"Did someone hurt you?" he asked.

"Not really," she mumbled.

"What happened?" he asked moving to sit next to Elena. He put his arm around her and she laid her head on his shoulder. It felt nice to have someone comfort her. Even though Pete and Adam were stupid boys, they did take good care of Elena.

"Some boys from my class pushed me down on my way home from the library and they broke my glasses," Elena said showing Pete her broken glasses.

"They pushed you down?" he asked sitting up to look Elena in the eye.

Elena just nodded putting her head down. It was embarrassing to tell Pete that.

"Those little jerks! Who was it?" he asked getting angry by the minute.

"Josh Anderson and company," she said quietly.

"Are you ok?" Pete asked placing his hands on her shoulders.

Elena nodded still not able to look Pete in they eyes.

"Yeah, they just broke my glasses and hurt my pride, I guess," she said shrugging.

"Well, they are not going to get away with that," he said standing up.

"Pete, please, don't do anything. It was nothing. I'm fine," Elena started to panic not sure of what Pete was capable of doing.

"No, Elena. They had no right to push you down. You don't hurt girls," he said upset and stormed out of the tree.

Elena just slumped back against the tree. She knew it was no use trying to stop Pete. Once he got his mind set on something, there was no stopping him.

---

Pete knew exactly where he was going to find that prick Josh Anderson and his asshole friends. They spent their spare time at the skate park just blocks away from his neighborhood.

Pete stormed that way ignoring the jungle of a lawn that he still needed to mow.

The entire walk to the skate park only made Pete more furious. He kept thinking about little Elena, minding her own business and being pushed over by some bullies. He clenched his fists tight as he spotted Josh.

"Hey Anderson!" Pete yelled as he walked up to the unsuspecting boy.

The boy turned his head in the direction that he heard his name being called just in time for his jaw to make connection with Pete's fists.

Josh's friends were too shocked and scared to do anything. Pete wasn't a big guy, but he did have a reputation of getting into fights and not too often did he loose.

"Dude, what's your problem?" one of Josh's friends asked as he knelt down to see if the bleeding boy was ok.

"If you ever go near Elena Sheen again, I'll kill ya," Pete said in a threatening tone.

The boys just stared at the enraged Pete with shock. He turned around and walked back to his house ignoring the pain in his right hand.

Once Pete got back to his house he noticed that Elena was pacing back and forth in front of his garage. She saw him walking up the street and she stormed towards him.

"What did you do?" she asked upset.

"Those boys won't be bothering you again," Pete said simply and continued his quest towards his garage.

"Pete, your hand is bleeding. Did you hit them?" she asked looking Pete in the eyes with shock.

"Just one of them; as a warning. They shouldn't be hurting you," Pete said now looking at his bleeding knuckle. He didn't realize he had hit that kid so hard.

"Pete, you shouldn't have done that," Elena said sounding disappointed.

"Well, they shouldn't be hurting you," Pete shrugged and walked past Elena towards his garage.

"Thank you," she yelled after him.

Pete turned around and looked at Elena. She just stood there and shrugged slightly.

"You're welcome," he smiled and went back to his dreaded chore of mowing the lawn.