Sunshine and shadows

Idiocy

'Hey! Leave him alone!'

Six pairs of eyes turned to Nil as he stood tall in front of them, a light breeze ruffling his hair. He felt a shiver of fear run down his spine when the tallest and meanest boy from the six, Aadi, lumbered towards him with a menacing growl. Nil narrowed his eyes at Aadi and stood his ground.

Kal, the victim trapped in a cage of human bodies, shouted, "No, come on, don't do it!" When Aadi didn't respond, Kal called out to Nil instead, 'Don't do it, Nil. Step back.'

Nil was far too caught up in his act of heroism to stand down, though, and he could easily picture it in his mind; he was going to save the innocent boy from the bullies with thrilling music playing in the background.

Aadi, trying to heed Kal's words, yelled at him to walk away, but Nil intentionally provoked him in order to garner all of his attention. It was common sense that the victim would try to escape by now, and Nil certainly hoping that Kal would get the idea. But Kal didn't even try to make a run for it. He just looked at Nil with an irked expression.

Nil huffed and crossed his arms, That ungrateful boy. It's ok, I'll still defend him.

He stayed true to his word. Even when he got a punch on his nose for acting too smart and sticking his nose in places he didn't belong, he didn't budge. He just glared at Aadi as he clutched his bleeding nose.

He was startled when his assailant began to laugh, walking back to his group of friends. Aadi jerked his head to the side, indicating that they should leave, before turning to Kal and saying in a low tone, "Remember our deal."

In his haze, Nil couldn't make sense of it all. A deal? He was shocked when Kal nodded and replied. "I will. And don't forget what I told you."

Aadi nodded as well and left with his friends. Just then their mutual friend Dru came running towards them. He had been hanging around nearby when he heard the commotion, and had only managed to intervene after the group of six had left the scene.

"Wh-what... why... why... why is your nose bleeding?" Dru asked in shock, seeing his friend's bloody nose.

Kal ran up to the pair and helped Nil sit down. He made a sound of distress before responding, "Because he's an idiot."

"I didn't know being an idiot gave people spontaneous nosebleeds," Dru said

Kal just shook his head at the ridiculous discussion they were having. "It's a new phenomenon."

Nil had been quiet for a while, but when he registered what Kal had said, his blood boiled. "Me? An idiot? Wow, that's certainly one way of thanking someone who just saved your life!"

Kal swatted his forehead. "My life was never in danger, you dumbo. Those guys weren't bullying me."

"What then? Are they your fan club?"

"Guess you could say that. Aadi has a crush on a girl I'm friends with. Her name is Khil. He was just asking me to discreetly talk to her and find out if she likes him too."

Both boys stared at Kal in disbelief.

"Yeah, don't look at me like that," Kal said, "that's what happened. I even offered him advice on how to win her over. And in exchange for helping him, he agreed that he wouldn't physically hurt anybody in this school again. I couldn't get him to abstain verbally, though I'm sure with time, he will mellow."

"Let me guess," Dru said. "Nil saw you surrounded by them, thought you were being bullied, and tried to come to the rescue?"

Kal burst out laughing and Dru joined in. They laughed so hard that Nil hid his face in embarrassment.

At one point, Kal sobered up enough to choke out a few words. "This.... guy... even insulted the bully so he could give me a chance to escape. That's what earned him the bloody nose."

At that, they just started laughing harder.

"Oh, shut up."