Call for help

“Help! Somebody!”

Nate knew full well how pathetic he sounded. But he was ****.

The third crony, the one who hadn’t been tasked with holding one of Nate’s arms, stepped forward and mashed a meaty palm across Nate’s mouth.

Then, to his great relief, Nate heard: “Hey. What’s going on here?”

The guys released their grip on him. Caleb shoved him to the ground. “This isn’t over, nerd,” he snarled.

Then Caleb, Molly, and their gang fled out the door and into the quad.

Struggling onto his hands and knees, he looked up at his savior.

“Hello Nathaniel,” pronounced a weaselly voice.

Ugh, Nate thought.

“Hello Denny.”

Denny was a short, wispy senior who admired – practically idolized – Nate for his academic brilliance. And he never failed to let Nate know it. The little sycophant bragged to their classmates about Nate’s grades. He sat next to Nate whenever they had classes together. And he would pepper Nate with flattery over every little thing that happened to him, whether a grad school acceptance or a grade on a quiz.

Once he’d found Denny amusing, but these days Nate just considered him annoying, very annoying.

“What happened here? How could they do this to you?”

“It just... they took me by surprise. They’re mean, jealous assholes.”

“Oh Nathaniel. They should be expelled for this. We need to tell the dean that they had you restrained, immobilized -- that they threw you on the ground like a ragdoll. The dean will not put up with this for a moment, not when the star student of HHU is being bullied.”

Nate grimaced. Denny’s description made Nate come off like a weak little pansy.

“Enough, Denny. I know what happened. Like I said, they surprised me. There were five of them for fuck’s sake.”

“I know, I know they outnumbered you... what total jerks. And to think that girl – Molly – to think a girl was involved in hurting you like this.”

Nate stewed at Denny’s humiliating recap. “Molly.... Molly’s just resentful,” he snarled. “She would let me nail her in a heartbeat, but my standards are way too high.”

“Of course, Nathaniel. You could get the best girls in school. I know that.”

“Can you please just leave me alone now?”

“Of course, I’m so sorry Nathaniel. I don’t mean to bother you. It’s just that when I saw you – you, Nathaniel, of all people – on the ground, on his hands and knees, it made me so upset.”

It was as if years of pent up annoyance suddenly broke through. “I said enough, Denny. I’ve had it with you. You’re a half-size twerp, a complete mediocrity – who can only bask in the successes of others. For fuck’s sake. Go find a girlfriend or get better grades or go to a gym. Or something. Anything. Just get away from me.”

Denny’s mouth quivered. “O- okay Nathaniel. Whatever you say,” he blubbered before turning and hurrying back down the corridor.

Nate shook his head. Denny was pathetic, but Nate still knew he’d gone too far. Oh well, Denny’d get over it and would probably start pestering him again before he knew it.

***

Oddly, Nate didn’t see Denny at all over the next few days. And Caleb and company stopped going to class. Nate had eyed the classroom warily each day, and had made sure to leave quickly, with all the other students, when class ended. But they were nowhere to be seen.

Finally, a week later he began to let down his guard. He took a couple extra minutes that day, as the rest of the classroom emptied, to review his notes. When he arose, he saw that Caleb and his gang had returned to class. And Denny was with them. They were the only other people still in the room.

Uh-oh.