Delightfully Overprotective
It's close to the beginning of 4th grade year. Carm, who was now 9 years old, was walking down the hallway with the rest of her class when she heard the familiar voice of her best friend, Laura Hollis. She sounded like she was crying.
Naturally, Carm ran to help her best friend, completely disregarding the calls from her teacher to get back in line. She just kept running as fast as her tiny legs could carry her until she finally made it to Laura.
She was right. She had been crying. Why she was crying wasn't quite clear, so she asked her as soon as she could catch her breath.
"Laura," she said through small gasps of air. "what's wrong? I heard you crying. Did something happen?!"
"Pipsqueak here thought she could just go to class and NOT give me her lunch money."
Carm recognized that voice but she couldn't place the face of the person. Whoever it was, they were right behind her and when she turned around, she knew exactly who it was.
Tall, thin, and with a head of flaming red hair. Danny Lawrence was the 5th grade bully. She thought she was the ruler of the school and she believed she owned everyone. Well, that was true with everyone who was scared of her, including tiny Laura. But not Carm. She may be a lot smaller that the giant amazon, but she was a fighter.
She stood up as straight as she could and even puffed out her chest a little. Raising her voice so that everyone could hear, "DON'T YOU TOUCH MY BEST FRIEND!"
"Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, fangface?" Danny asked in a teasing mannor.
This set Carm off. It was one thing to tease her on her size, but you make fun of her unusually sharp teeth? Crossing a line. Carm had had it.
She grabbed the collar of the giant's shirt and brought her face close to hers, almost ripping the material of the shirt with her iron grip. She was yelling now and didn't care who could hear her, "LISTEN HERE XENA, YOU SEE THESE?!" Carm lifted up her shirt to expose dark purple bruises along her ribs and stomach. "DO YOU?! IT'S BECAUSE OF BULLIES LIKE YOU THAT I HAVE BRUISES LIKE THESE. IF YOU SO MUCH AS LOOK AT HER THE WRONG WAY AGAIN, YOU BETTER HOPE I DON'T GET TO YOU. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!?!"
There are tears in her eyes as she lets go of Danny's collar. She pulls the hem of her shirt back down and backs away from the tall girl, who at that point was almost in tears herself. She was nodding softly over and over again.
Satisfied, Carm took Laura's hand in hers and walked her to the office. All eyes were on her and she walked proudly with her best friend.
Laura's grip on Carm's hand never loosened, only tightened.
---
"You know, yhou didn't have to do that for me, Carm." Laura said.
"Laura," Carm said, disbelief in what Laura is telling her hidden in her tone. "the thing is, yes, I did have to do that. I didn't like the way she was treating you, Laura. How long has this been going on??"
"Since last year..." Laura said at barely a whisper.
"SINCE LAST YEAR, LAURA?!" Carm exclaimed. "THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE LAST YEAR AND YOU'RE JUST NOW TELLING ME?!"
Carm was not too thrilled that Laura had kept this from her. But then she got a look at Laura's face and her defense immediately dropped. The look on Laura's innocent face was pure defeat.
"Laura, hey, it's okay. You don't have to worry about her anymore. I took care of it." She scooted closer to her and pulled her into a tight hug. Laura immediately hugged her back equally as tight.
When they pulled away, Laura had a confused look on her face. That was never a good sign.
Already expecting her question, Carm prepared herself for anything.
"Carm.....where'd you get those bruises from?"
"Hey, can we maybe not talk about it? It's kind of a sensitive subject for me."
"Yeah, yeah sure. We will talk about it at one point though, right?"
"Of course."
And with that, they turned on the TV and put on their favourite show. Laura eventually fell asleep next to Carm, as she always does.
Carm turns off the TV and they sit there and nap for a few hours.