SR O: Grim and the Vampire (2021)

PART ONE | Ch.1: Tall, Dark and Stormy

1932
There's nothing worse than being picked on by someone who's shorter than you. What are you supposed to do, kick them? I'm not here to be the bad guy.

In the fifth grade, Max Puissant and the other hockey-heads decided I was fair game. Something about my timid nature invites provocation, I guess.
Sitting across the room, safe in his desk, Max taunted me. "What are you looking at, TANK?" he yelled at me.
The other boys concurred. "Yeah, TANK! What are you looking at?"
Max shot, "Hey TANK, you're so big, if you went for a swim we'd have a flood!"
It went on like that for a while. I'm not big, or fat, though not especially skinny, either. Honestly, I'm pretty average, except that I was almost five foot eight when I was ten. Everyone's built different, and some of them were almost as tall as me, so I don't really understand why it mattered so much. Maybe they just couldn't find anything else. Max himself was barely four feet, by far the shortest in our grade aside from the girls. That was probably the source of the "issue".
Not wanting to give him the idea that he'd won, I decided to talk back. "If I'm a tank, what does that make you? A bullet?"
He turned up his nose. "Maybe I am a bullet. That means I can kill you in one shot."
"Not if I'm a tank, stupid. I have armor."
"I'm not stupid, YOU'RE STUPID!"
Max jumped out of his desk, and I jumped out of mine. I towered over him. I was angry, but to be honest, the little guy scared me. He was fierce, like a rat in a corner, even in the middle of the room. I didn't know what else to do, so I stared him down. Max reared his hands, and shoved me as hard as he could. His center of gravity is much lower, so he had the advantage. I flew and caught myself on some desks. I was really mad now, but I couldn't bring myself to hit him back. My mom had taught me better than that. Apparently, his hadn't. Well, Rita Powers (Max's unofficial girlfriend) came to my aid. She'd always had something of a soft spot for me, I'm not really sure why. I found it kind of patronizing, so I told her to buzz off. Everyone hated me for that – Max and Rita were the Power Couple, and nobody talked back to them. They all stared at me with judging eyes, and one kid yelled at Max to "kick his ass!"
Then the teacher came back, and everyone looked forward. He was an old man who liked to repeat the phrase "If you take a look and see..." before every fact or tidbit, which really annoyed me. He's nice enough though, and we all respected him. I climbed into my seat, my pride wounded. Max looked back at me with a cocky smile, and my blood boiled. My joints ached like crazy, my elbows on fire and my hips stinging. I didn't say anything, though. There was nothing worse than being a sore loser, even if that's exactly what you were: a sore loser.