Sad and Heartwarming One-Shots

Chapter 4: Bullying

    Robyn Starling was always the friendly type of kid, especially at school where students and teachers alike admired her for her personality traits like her sense of compassion towards others around her, but like some kids her age, she was always the victim of one thing that every kid and adult hated: bullying. She tried ignoring it of course, but she really couldn't help it. She secretly allowed those words to get to her head and didn't even bother telling anyone about it, fearing that she'd be laughed at. This allowed her tormentors to start bullying her physically and emotinally as well. She also didn't fight back, knowing full well that it wasn't allowed on school grounds. Eventually though, someone would find out about this.
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    Her two tormentors, Aaron and Bucky (not the MCU Bucky, mind you!), were hanging out at the park after school one day. They were only kids from middle school, but they delighted in bullying others. "Man, let me tell you, dude," Aaron chuckled. "I've seen a horse fly, a fruit fly, a dragon fly, heck I've even seen a house fly. But never have I seen...a human-punk fly!" The two laughed at that.

    As that was happening, Robyn happened to be passing by. "Ugh. Not this joke again," she muttered. "That's really getting old."

    "Aaron's right, you little punk," Bucky chuckled. "Your parents probably found you out on the streets. 'Oh honey, look. Here's a poor little girl living on the streets. Let's name her something stupid like Robyn Starling'."

    Aaron laughed while Robyn just scowled. "Oh that's it! That explains why you're ADOPTED!" Their mean laughter filed Robyn's ears.

    Tears were beginning to gather in her eyes. "S-Stop it," she said, trying not to cry. "That's just hitting way below the belt."

    But they didn't listen. "Hey Bucky," he said as he went over and snatched Robyn's backpack, "let's go set up some lost flyers. Some poor mother's probably looking for her lost child." The laughter following that was cruel.

    Robyn tried to get her bag back, but the two just punched her in the stomach and chest at the same time causing her considerable pain, the force of them causing her to fall backwards a few feet. They then threatened to beat her up everyday after school if she told anyone about this. Robyn didn't reply. As they laughed and took turns punching the bag towards each other, Robyn could only lay on the ground and cry, her arms wrapped around her hurt stomach while she was curled up in a ball. She heard footsteps coming towards her and didn't resist as they yanked her back up by the hair. She just closed her eyes, accepting what was about to happen next and bracing herself for it. But it never came.

    Just as Bucky was about to take her cross necklace, a telekinetic force yanked Robyn's backpack away from Aaron's grasp while at the same time, the two were tackled by a blur of super speed, making them drop Robyn. As they recovered from the surprise, there stood Dusty and Creech, and they weren't happy. Creech had Robyn's backpack and Dusty was dusting his arms off. "You better scram, you rotten bullies!" Dusty snapped. "Or we'll both make sure that lost flyers have your faces! The both of us here don't tolerate bullying!"

    "Also, your parents will be hearing about this," Creech added as she took out her phone and punched in the numbers.

    Frightened by this, the two raced home, but not after Creech told the parents where they were heading. While this was going on, Dusty came over to Robyn and knelt down beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. That made Robyn look up at him. "Why didn't you tell anyone about this?" Dusty asked gently as the little girl managed to sit up despite the pain.

    "Because they threatened to beat me up everyday after school-probably for the rest of my life if I did anything to stop it," Robyn whimpered as she started crying, the tears finaly coming out as the cries soon turned to sobs.

    Pity filled Dusty's heart as he watched the girl sob her heart out. He hated bullying as much as the next person. Smiling sadly, he pulled Robyn onto his lap in a hug, never minding a bit as her tears were soaked up in his racing jacket. They stayed that way for a long while, Creech joining in on the hug somewhere in that point, until Robyn finally calmed down enough to say something. "You two weren't really gonna hurt them, were you?" she asked, voice muffled in Dusty's chest.

    "Shhh," Dusty whispered, rubbing her back gently with one hand while the other massaged her scalp. "Tell no one."

    "And next time, please tell us if this sort of thing happens again, okay?" Creech added. "We'll all be more than happy to help you out."

    Robyn agreed to do so.

    And as for Aaron and Bucky, well, let's just say that after that (and after a long lecture from both of their parents), they never went near Robyn again.