David was an average kid, another blurred face in the background of everything. But David felt even smaller than the rest, he was practically invisible. At home his parents mostly ignored him, they didn’t care that he got good grades or won awards in school. The only thing that mattered was his older brother, James. James was the school’s star lacrosse player, and easily the most popular kid in school. He never got bullied or pushed around, in fact people actually moved out of his way. David was a different story. David was only five foot two and weighed a measly 85 pounds. He wore glasses and walked around alone without making eye contact with anyone. He was basically, the perfect target for any bully.

Derrick, who played tackle for the school’s football team, picked on David relentlessly. He stopped David on his way to school every morning, roughed him up a little, and took his lunch money. David had tried everything he could think of to stop the problem. He’d tried bringing enough money for two lunches, but Derrick had just taken all of it. He’d tried running, but Derrick was faster than he was. He tried telling on him, but that only made Derrick angrier.

One day, David was going to school, running along at top speed. Sometimes he could get past Derrick, and into the safety of the school courtyard if he ran fast enough. He looked over his shoulder constantly, with his body hunched into a defensive posture. Along he went until the school was actually within sight. But, David wasn’t safe yet. Derrick had been waiting. Derrick stayed crouched in hiding, and just as David had finally relaxed, Derrick pounced. Derrick knocked David easily off his feet, but for once, David actually got back up. Today was different than any other day. Today David was ready.

He had been working out for quite some time now, and with the help of his brother James, he had gotten stronger and stronger. He had also tried to self teach himself karate, practicing his moves before he went to bed every night. Derrick was still stronger, but that didn’t matter as long as David could get the first hit.

Just as expected, Derrick approached David with his arms spread out wide. Why would he ever defend himself, nobody ever attacked him? But today was different.

David punched Derrick right in the gut, and then ran. It wasn’t a particularly hard punch, but Derrick was so shocked that he never even bothered to chase David. After that Derrick never bothered David again, there were plenty of other easier targets for him to pick on.