Eager Beaver

Chapter Twenty-One - A Helping Hand

There was a bright dinging noise - bicycle bells! Nate stopped with his foot in mid air, gaping in surprise as he looked fearfully down the road. I looked behind and saw Kiana riding as fast as she could on her green mountain bike. "Nate!" She hollered.

Nate winced and took off running without saying another word. At the same time, Nick and James gave Alex and Charlie a shove sending them tumbling to the ground as well. Running after Nate, their apples were abandoned in a basket by the bridge. Kianna stopped in front of Zach, letting her bike crash to the ground. "Zachary!" She exclaimed and knelt down beside him.

The five of us were all on the ground from the incident. Zach was still on his knees with one hand covering his nose and mouth and the other propping himself up. Kiana took some tissues out of her pocket and handed them to him, the white fabric turning a bright red as he patted his nose. "Thanks." He said, quivering, clearly on the verge of tears. "Are Laurie and Coop okay?" He asked.

"We're okay." I told him in a shaky voice. Laurie didn't say anything, just fumbling to his feet and rushing to his brother's side, falling to the ground again and pressing his face into Zach's shirt. His big brother pulled him into his chest and held him tightly - like he was holding his favorite stuffed animal.

Kianna was accompanied by three older scouts - all boys - as well as Brad. They had all caught up on their own bikes, huddling around the group to form a rather sizable crowd around us. I looked down at my hands, wincing to see that they had been scratched and had a bunch of little red scrapes all down one palm.

Brad didn't ask my permission before putting a strong arm around my shoulder, practically picking me up as he hoisted me to my feet. "You okay Coop?" He asked me, taking my hands in his larger ones for examination. "These scrapes look pretty bad," he commiserated. "But you're a tough kid though, aren't you?"

"Uh-huh..." I agreed in a tiny broken voice. I was much too shaken to care about Brad's mawkish tone, wrapping my hands around his torso and giving him a self-soothing hug - trying to slow my haggard panicked breathing. He gave my hair a ruffle, showing me a sweet smile. I frowned back, suddenly feeling very embarrassed. Brad was a full year younger than me! Why was I letting him comfort me like I was his blubbering little brother? I pulled away a little, though I kept holding his hand.

"Is everyone okay?" Kianna announced as she looked around at each of us, taking charge. "What happened?"

"Nate was picking on Laurie and Cooper." Alex reported dutifully.

"And then he hit Zach!" Charlie butted in.

The two other Kindies looked entirely unfazed by their brief scuffle with Nick and James, holding up their hands to the attentive scouts by their side to show that they were fine. I was relieved, if unsurprised. The kids weren't exactly prized fighters, they were only seven and eight, but the way the two of them liked to wrestle with each other I sometimes thought they were made of rubber!

Alex did give a disapproving tug at her Beaver vest, it had always looked a little disheveled but clearly the tumble to the ground had caused a fresh tear in the fabric.

Zach was still cuddling Laurie, cupping his golden curls, rubbing his back, and rocking him like a mother bear licking clean the wounds of her injured cub. The contrast between his body language and the look on his face could not have been more different, however. His face was all red, partly just from rage but partly stained with the blood from his nose; his features were all scrunched up; and his teeth were bared like that same mother bear might growl in rage at an intruder in her den. "He's dead." he seethed furiously, scowling in the direction the bullying sixer had run. "Next time I see him, he's dead."