His Best Friend

However, in this jungle, John was not high on the food chain. In fact, he was basically dead last in social standing, beat only by his best friend, and the primary target of the school's bullies, Melissa Larranse.

Melissa was not a pretty girl, by conventional standards. She was overweight, speckled with acne and scars, and had been born with a condition called craniofacial microsomia, which gave her an incredibly asymmetric face. But John had never let that get in the way of their friendship (and his blossoming crush on her). Behind her less attractive appearance, was a smart, kind girl, top of the class every year they'd been together and captain of the debating team.

And, just on time, she arrived. Today, she was nearly being dragged into school by two of the boneheaded jocks, Elliot and Emily Meers. Twins that, despite being different sexes, were nearly indistinguishable from appearance. The six-foot bullies were carrying Melissa on their shoulders, while their entourage of the football team carried her stuff behind them, rummaging through her bag for money. With a grunt, the twins let her down at the feet of Kasey Miller, the Alpha Bitch and current ruler of the schoolyard.

"Well, what do we have here?" she sneered, placing one stiletto heel on Melissa. Melissa, ever the fighter, just stared stoically back at her. "Tell me, Miss Lard-Arse, would you happen to anything about the thing that was stolen from my locker yesterday?"

"And what would that be?"

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Melissa pretended to look thoughtful for a second. "Oh, do you mean the signed nudes that could get you expelled from the school if they ever got out? Sorry, I don't know anything about those."

That was the wrong thing to say. Kasey suddenly grew bright red in the face, moving her foot from Melissa's stomach to a quick, and brutal kick to the forehead that sent her flying backwards. She disbelievingly put a hand to her temple. It came away red.

John had seen Melissa being bullied before. He'd never thought Kasey would be the type to get physical, though. He was just about to step in when Melissa did something unexpected.

She stood up, calmly wiped the blood off herself, and threw a mean left hook in Kasey's face.

There was a sickening crack followed by a deafening silence. Blood ran in rivulets down the prima donna's face, her nose at a very wrong angle. John could almost see the steam coming out of her ears. "You- You bitch!" she shrieked. "You will never - and I mean never - be able to show your face in this school again. Meers! Make sure she gets the message."

Uh oh, he thought. It was one thing to take on the plastic queen, but the two muscle-bound goons were far above her ability. And though he had no chance in taking them on himself, his powers were more than a match for Elliot and Emily. Now he just had to figure out what to do with them.