Bullied (A Tal Fishman Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

"What are you doing over here?"  Andy asked Tal, horror plastered on his face.

"I want to know why you're sitting with the ugliest nerd in school and not us." Tal responded, giving me a glare.  

"Don't call her that!  She's not ugly!  You have to stop teasing her so much! BE NICE FOR ONCE!"  Andy retorted, standing up to face Tal.  I froze with surprise.  He was really standing up for me.  Nobody's ever stood up for me before.  Tal looked shocked.  His best friends had always done what he said, but not this time. 

"Why are you standing up for her?  She's not your friend, I am."  Tal said, trying to regain his power over Andy.  For a few seconds, I almost felt bad for Andy.  Then I remembered what he did to my ankle, and I stopped feeling sorry for him. 

"I've only been her friend for a few minutes, and she's already a better friend than you are.  Come on Eva, lets get out of here."  He grabbed my arm with one hand and used the other to push Tal out of the way.  I quickly grabbed my backpack and stumbled after him.  He clearly didn't care what others thought or the fact that my lunch tray was still sitting on the table, practically un-touched. 

"Where are we going?"  I asked him, running to keep up with him.  

"Away from there."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to deal with Tal right now...or Allison and Miranda."

"Oh..ok."

"I can't believe he said those things to you."

"He always does.  That wasn't the worst of it.  Don't forget that you used to say things like that, and you even injured me."  I gave him an angry stare as he abruptly stopped to turn to me, clearly remembering that I had an injured ankle. 

"Does it hurt?  Did I make it hurt worse?"  He scrunched his eyebrows together, releasing my hand and crouching down to examine my ankle..,.which was covered by my boot.

"It doesn't hurt when I walk on it.  The boot helps a lot.  It really only throbs every once in a while."

"I'm so sorry.  I totally forgot."

"Kind of like how you and your friends forgot that I was a human being and that I have feelings?" I glared at him even more as he stood back up to look at my face.  He looked so guilty like he truly was sorry that he had hurt me so much.  

"I'm so so so so so sorry for that." He looked down at the ground, almost like he was ashamed at what he had done.

"Why did you do it?"

"I...I..I don't know.  I guess I just wanted Tal to like me.  When I came here a few years ago, I didn't know anyone.  I had no friends, and I was struggling with the subjects.  I had Tal in almost every one of my classes, and I thought he was pretty cool.  After a few days, I realized that Tal was one of the most popular guys in the entire school.  If I could be his friend, I would no longer be known as the new kid who didn't know anything.  I would be known for being Tal's friend, and maybe even be known as me, Andy.  It was over a month before I finally became a part of Tal's group.  Then, it was me, him, Tyler, and Ryan.  After Tyler and Ryan moved away, Allison and Miranda "joined".  Allison seemed to adore Tal, and I think Miranda even liked me.  I didn't like her though....I liked you.  I thought you were beautiful and I wanted to be friends with you.  When I saw the way Tal was treating you, I wanted to stand up for you, but my want for popularity over-powered.  I didn't want Tal to know I liked you, so I started teasing you too.  Over the years, it's just sort of become a routine to tease and bully you.  I didn't want to ruin my relationship with Tal.  I'm so sorry for everything.  I don't know why I didn't stand up for you all those years back.  I just don't.  Please forgive me?"  I stood there absolutely astonished.  Andy liked me?  HE WANTED TO BE MY FRIEND AND STAND UP FOR ME!!