by Jack Brand
Suddenly it hit me. Of course!
‘Tab, I think I know.’
‘Great! What is it?’
‘They … it’s the gang … they … I…’
I think I knew what to do.
‘Let me think about it while we walk.’
‘Okay, but just remember, you can’t win by fighting. Even if you won the fight today, they would be back tomorrow. Don’t fight, no matter how much you want to.’
‘I won’t. I don’t think I need to.’
I went back to the others.
‘So what did your girlfriend tell you to do?’ asked Cooper.
‘She’s not my girlfriend!’
I’ve never had a girlfriend and wouldn’t have the slightest clue how to have a girlfriend, but if I ever did have one…
I looked back at Tabby and silently mouthed, ‘Thanks, Tab.’
I knew what I had to do. I just wondered if I was brave enough to do it.
We continued along the road towards the park. Our numbers grew. Scabs counted eighteen!
Sid came into view. He turned his bike in our direction, and so did vinnie, Toddo and Jimmy.
They stopped in front of us and started laughing.
‘So the chicken has come out of his chook house and brought all the other chickens with him.’
Sid came closer.
He towered over me.
I said, ‘I’m not afraid of you anymore, Sid.’
He leaned forward really quickly and whispered, ‘Boo,’ super softly.
I jumped back in shock.
He laughed. ‘Oh yeah? I think you might be a little scared, Tangles.’
He looked at the lot of us. ‘So you got your own gang now, eh? Looks pretty puny. Is that your gang’s name, the Punies?’
Sid’s gang laughed at that and called out,
‘PUNIES, look at the PUNIES!’
Blocker was right by my side and he growled, ‘Let’s get them, they can’t beat us all.’
Blocker was ready for a fight.
I shook my head and said quietly, ‘No fighting.’
Block exploded, ‘WHY NOT? Our gang might be puny but there’s eighteen of us!’
‘No, Block. We can’t win by fighting, and we’re not a gang.’
I knew Tabby was right. If only I could be brave enough.
I called to Sid, ‘This isn’t my gang, Sid. These are my friends and they aren’t
afraid of me like vinnie and Toddo and Jimmy are afraid of you.’
Vinnie, Toddo and Jimmy laughed at that.
They were mucking around, but I knew what it was like to be in Sid’s gang. I also remembered the look they gave me when Sid was forcing me to fight.
They were afraid of him.
I said to Sid, ‘They follow you because they’re afraid of you. That’s why I followed you too. But us here, we’re just friends. My friends don’t have to be here if they don’t want to.’
I looked over at his gang. ‘vinnie, Jimmy, Toddo, you don’t need to follow him anymore. You can just walk away and you’ll be okay. You can be friends with us.’
The three of them looked at each other.
Vinnie said, ‘What’s he talking about?’
Jimmy called to me, ‘You got your facts wrong. We ain’t going anywhere.’
Sid laughed, ‘Brilliant! Was that your brilliant plan for today, Tangles?’
‘No.’
It actually was. Most of it.
I said, ‘We’re also here to say how sorry we all feel for you.’
‘Sorry for me!’ laughed Sid. ‘You’re the one who’s about to get belted, you and all your puny friends.’
Nothing was working. I knew that I was about to get belted, but there was something Sid needed to hear first. I took a deep breath.
‘Look, Sid, I’m sorry people used to call you names at school, and I’m sorry that your parents are bullies too. We’re all sorry.’
Sid didn’t like that.
He came straight at me, pushed me over and yelled down at my face,
‘YOU DON’T KNOW NOTHIN’!’
I was left looking up into his angry face and a big fist and it was like that was all there was that mattered. It made me think that this was the same thing that Sid must have seen, once upon a time, when he was taught to be a bully.
Maybe by his parents.
I dragged myself away from his fist and stood back up.
I looked across at my friends. I didn’t know what to do.
Blocker came over because he knew I was about to get bashed, only I said, ‘No Block, stay there, this is my problem.’
‘We can still fight. I can still fight.’
Blocker was a good friend.
‘No, this is my problem.’
If nothing else, I was going to make sure that my friends didn’t get hurt.
I was scared, but there was no running from this. It had to end, somehow.
I said to Sid, ‘If you want to bash me, Sid, then bash me, if that will make you feel better.’
Sid rubbed his hands together.
‘Well, thank you for the invitation, Tangles. It will make me feel a whole lot better. And what are your friends going to do? Just watch and do nothing?’
I looked over at them all and smiled. I was glad they were here. It was weird. Even though Sid was about to bash me, I didn’t mind so much. There was something more important. It was almost as if I wanted him to hit me just to prove that being a bully wasn’t going to make me run away and hide anymore.
‘No. They’re going to watch and feel sorry for you and for your gang who have to follow you.’
Sid pushed me over again.
He pushed me so hard I whacked my head on the ground. Pain blazed through my head and I felt angry at him for hurting me. An urge came on me to jump up and throw punches, but I stopped myself, remembering Tabby’s words … ‘Don’t fight, whatever you do.’
Getting angry was his way, and would only let him win.
I stood up slowly, saying, ‘You don’t have to do this, Sid. vinnie, do you want to be like this? Toddo? Jimmy? We don’t respect this, we’re just afraid.’
Sid punched me. I didn’t even see it coming because I was talking to his gang. I landed
hard on the ground again.
‘Now will you shut up?!’ growled Sid.
My head was spinning and when I sat up I had to blink and blink until it stopped.
I touched my nose. There was blood and it really hurt.
A chant started up. Tabby was leading it.
Poor Sid, poor bully Sid…
Poor Sid, poor bully Sid…
Poor Sid, poor bully Sid…
Sid didn’t like it at all.
He yelled, ‘SHUT UP!’
But they didn’t, and some called out,
‘We’re not afraid of you!’
I stood up. I had just been punched by Sid. The thing that had scared me so much for weeks had finally happened. And yeah, it hurt and I really wished he hadn’t done it, but I was able to stand back up.
I wobbled a bit, but I was a Russian bear.
I said to Sid, ‘The hammer breaks glass but it also forges steel.’
Sid looked confused.
I really knew what it meant now.
‘Every time you hit me, Sid, I’ll get stronger.’
Sid decided to test my words by hitting me again, but he didn’t smile like he normally did. He was distracted by everyone chanting.
They were yelling, LOSER and LONELY LOSER.
I forced myself up again and called out to everyone, ‘Stop! Stop saying that!’
I was waving my hands and yelling and eventually they stopped. I turned to Sid. He was breathing heavily. His eyes were wild and his nostrils were wide open.
‘You don’t have to keep doing this, Sid. You don’t, and your gang doesn’t. vinnie, Toddo, Jimmy, you don’t have to follow Sid. You can just walk away.’
I could taste blood in my mouth as I talked.
; Sid didn’t answer me. He yelled at his gang instead.
‘GET ’EM!
Why aren’t you getting ’em?’
Jimmy, vinnie and Toddo didn’t move. They were looking at the ground, or anywhere except at Sid.
I knew why they weren’t getting us. I was showing them another way. I was showing them how to be brave. It wasn’t enough that I just ask them to walk away, I had to show them.
I rubbed the blood away from my mouth.
‘Come on, Sid. This is stupid. Come over to my house, we can all go over there, have some food and hang out.’
‘AS IF!’
He took another swing at me but missed because he wasn’t concentrating.
My mum came running up the street. I heard her yell my name but Mrs Dukarsky popped out from behind a tree, grabbed her elbow and shooshed her.
Everyone was quiet for a second.
I called out, ‘Come on, everyone, we’ll be Sid’s friends, won’t we?’
Everyone was saying, ‘Yeah,’ and, ‘We’ll be your friends.’
They were saying it to vinnie, Jimmy and Toddo too.
I really thought Sid might say okay. I really did.
‘You’re all a bunch of punies!’ is what he said. But he didn’t seem so large anymore.
He called to his gang, ‘Come on, let’s go.’
He jumped on his bike but his gang didn’t move.
‘Come on!’
They shook their heads.
‘Nah, we’re staying here.’
Sid growled at them.
‘Get on your bikes or I’ll smash youse too!!!’
Jimmy said, ‘We don’t want to be in your gang no more.’
‘Yeah, we aren’t afraid of you no more either,’ said vinnie.
Sid glared at them for a while and then rode off.
Even though Sid riding off was like ice cream to my eyes, I honestly felt disappointed that he was leaving. I wondered where he would go. Home to his parents?
Jimmy, vinnie and Toddo stayed with us. They were a bit awkward at first because they were bigger than us and had been our enemies until about two seconds ago, but Tabby went over and shook their hands and then everyone surrounded them and started cheering.
Mum came running up and gave me a big cuddle, which wasn’t too embarrassing because my head hurt heaps and I really wanted her to fix it, especially my nose. But not with Doctor Malvoy because he would probably squeeze it.
Mum whispered to me that she was very proud of me but the next time I wanted to be brave, could I please check with her first.
My friends surrounded me and we were so happy.
I looked across at Tabby and nodded, ‘Thanks.’
I also realised right then that I didn’t need superpowers to defeat bad things, I just needed friends.
Jessica even came up and asked me if my nose hurt, and when I said yes she stamped on my foot really hard and said, ‘Maybe a sore foot will make your nose feel better.’
Then I realised that maybe I could do with some superpowers after all, at least enough for one blast!
Tabby bobbed up and said quietly, ‘That was amazing, Freddy. I’m so proud of you.’
That meant a lot to me.
Then she asked really loud,
‘Who would you rather be, a winner of a fight but have no friends, or the loser of a fight and have heaps of friends?’
Everyone said they wanted to be a loser with friends – even Jimmy, Toddo and vinnie, and like, they’ve never lost a fight ever!
Mum invited everyone back to our house for a special afternoon party. She said she was going to make a large bowl of punch for everyone to drink, which we all thought was pretty funny.
On the way home I wondered about Sid. I did feel sorry for him, but he was so angry. Maybe we needed to give him more time, maybe another chance.
But that was in the future sometime, because right now we had something else to do.