A Hero's Friendship

Bullies and a Tattler

"You couldn't just let me copy your answers, could you?" 

The posse of middle school boys advances upon the walking disease known as Steve Rogers, cornering him in the only part of the playground where Mrs. Eagle-Eyes Myers cannot see. Steve stumbles backward over the thick patches of dying grass that have pushed up from between the rocks that litter the ground.

"Come on Rogers, you gonna say something?" 

The head bully shoves him in his thin chest. The force of the blow sends Steve flying backward—arms pinwheeling—into the hard siding of the kindergarten building. The air whooshes out of poor sixth-grader Steve's asthmatic lungs. 

Steve comes up wheezing, the world shifting in and out of focus. His heart beats sporadically, a slight concern but one that is normal for Steve—especially when engaged in physical exertion. 

Breathe, he tells himself, repeating his mother's kind reminder. But as he beholds his bullies standing before him, his father's voice overrides that of his mother's. You gotta say no Steve, his father's voice echoes in his head. Otherwise, they'll just step all over you. 

A fist flies into Steve's swirling vision, landing in his stomach, or what he has of one. Steve can almost feel the individual organs now bruised by the much bigger boy's knuckles. He immediately collapses in the dirt, the rocks jabbing painfully into his back and face and arms.  

Laughing, the circle of menacing boys all join in to teach the skinny little snot what happens when Eddie Baker doesn't get his way. Their thick treaded shoes leave bruises on every available part of Steve's body—the boy who bruises so easily. 

"What are you boys doing? Get away from him now!" the deep-throated croak of Ms. Burgess is like the whistle ending a play in football. Steve's assailants immediately clear out, turning to glare at the small woman with the boy by her side. They collectively ignore the teacher and instead stare down the unfortunate tattler beside her. 

"Now go on! Go play some kickball or something you heathens! Get!" Burgess is not to be ignored. They shuffle away, not even glancing back at their victim still curled in on himself in the dirt. 

"I'll get you later, Barnes," Eddie mutters under his breath as he passes the boy that ruined his schoolyard fun. 

Steve looks at his rescuer through eyes squinted against tears. He can't make out who it is—what with his lack of oxygen and blurred vision. 

Ms. Burgess takes Steve's arm, simultaneously clucking her tongue sympathetically. "James, get over here and help me," she commands. 

The stocky boy with slicked-back brown hair—James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes—steps forward to drape Steve Roger's other arm over his own shoulder. Steve takes a sideways glance at the boy helping him to the nurse but turns away to concentrate on not tripping and remembering to breathe.