That time I got rejected three times on the same day!

Chapter 24

My heart was beating hard and adrenalin seeped into my veins. My hands and legs were shaking. I had been in a lot of fights as a kid and the feeling never went away. It was like stage fright, always there, you just learned to deal with it. My strategy was simple. Hurt someone bad enough so they start screaming. Psychology was the key to winning battles that weren't in your favour. All the boys were a grade below me, but around the same age. I was small for my age so most of them were a little bigger than me. I didn't really know how to punch or kick, my Sensei said I should never raise a hand in anger. He also believed in teaching kids to solve their problems without fighting. I could have walked away from this, but I didn't want to. I wanted to hurt someone. The boys extended out into a crescent shaped formation, none of them willing to make the first move. If they surrounded me I would be in trouble. If none of them attacked in the next few moments, I would have to rush forward. Joshua was a little smaller than the other boys and he had pissed me off this morning. If anyone was going to walk away from this fight with an injury, it would be him. I started making the noise the predator made in the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. I was good at replicating noises. The boys stopped moving for an instant. Fighting was all about psychological edge. I knew they had all seen the movie, and if in their minds they were thinking about Arnold's buddies getting slaughtered, then that was enough.

The trap was closing in on me. I had to move now. I sprung forward toward Joshua, who jumped back in fright. The boy next to him moved in with a sloppy punch. I grabbed his arm and threw him over my shoulder at another boy that was coming from behind. Both of them collapsed in a heap groaning. Joshua was beyond my reach, it didn't even look like he wanted to join in. Someone grabbed me from behind, pinning my arms. The biggest boy of the group stepped forward to punch me, but I ducked down at the last moment and the punch connected with the boy who was grabbing me, but it wasn't enough for him to let me go. Another boy launched himself forward and grabbed my leg. I tried to stomp on him, but I lost my balance and fell over. My plan had failed. The other boys were piling onto me. There wasn't anything else left for me to do. I didn't have enough energy to fight, and I wasn't strong enough to beat 10 boys who were bigger than me. I closed my eyes and tried to curl into a ball. Protect the head and I'll be fine... more or less.

I heard a boy scream, then another. They were scrambling to get away. I didn't really know what was going on. In the distance I heard a hiss. It wasn't the hiss of a snake, the tone was too low.

"Are you hurt mate?"

I opened my eyes and saw Dayvo standing over me. A little bit further away was Vicky, watching the fight with her little hands curled into fists. She also wanted a piece of the action. Dayvo was holding something in his right arm. It was a crocodile, a baby crocodile. The creature was hissing, not so much to save me, but more because it was afraid. Derrick's brother and his friends had taken off and were running as fast as they could. I looked up at the sun-tanned Australian.

"I thought you said you didn't have any crocodiles?"

He tipped his hat and smiled.

"Only one mate, for emergencies."

Dayvo offered to drive us home, but I declined. He had helped enough already. We walked up to the bus stop, and I regretted not taking up his offer already. The bus we usually took had already left and the next one wasn't due for another 40 minutes. We sat down together on the bench and I put my arm around her.

"Are you okay?" I said.

She nodded.

"I was scared Henry."

I rubbed her shoulder.

"I know Vicky."

There was one thing I wondered though?

"Vicky, how did you find Dayvo so quickly?"

The fight must have only lasted 20 seconds.

"I didn't find him," she said. "I ran down to the traffic lights, but they were red. I didn't want to cross without you so I ran back as quickly as I could. When I turned the corner Dayvo was already there."

Dayvo did have a strange habit of appearing out of thin air. It was another mystery I would need to follow up. I was glad that my sister was safe. When I saw the boys I feared more for her than for myself. I would need to thank Dayvo somehow, tomorrow... or the day after.