I was running down the street with the sound of the school bullies who I could never get away from but I always had a trick up my sleeve. Last winter in the winter they were chasing me down in a alleyway when I remembered a patch of ice on the sidewalk and it just around the corner. then after I turned the corner and had jumped over the ice then I looked back just in time to see them slip onto their backs and start whining on the ground while others tried to get back up but only to fall back down on their friends.

This time it was different I couldn't remember any places to set a trap. All of the sudden I saw two dogs jumping at the fence trying to get out and on the fence was a sign that read BAD DOGS. All of the sudden as I ran past I slipped out the lock and pulled the gate out and immediately the dogs ran into the bullies and began to bite at them. I looked back to see a cop car turn the corner to come down the street and I knew that I would have to make it seem that I wasn’t part of the scene so I ran to try and get the dogs away from them. When I got there I kicked one of the dogs in the ribs just as it about was going to jump on one of the bullies. Then the dog began to whine and realize that if he kept on trying to hurt the people he was going to get hurt. Soon the dogs began to go back because of how many there were against them so I shoo them back.

Once they were inside the fence I pushed the gate shut and slammed down the latch just as the cop pulled up. As the cop stepped out of the car I realized who it was, it was my uncle Paul and I realized how lucky I was. I ran to him but instead of saying what really happened I told him that the gate was unlocked and so the dogs got out  and began to attack the other kids and how I was going for a walk and saw them from farther down the street and how I came to help them. At first I thought he wasn’t going to buy it but at the the end he just sighed and told me to go on back home before it got to dark.

I was walking home and taking some detours because schoolwork was not close to the top of my to do list. As I was walking I pasted a UHAUL trailer full of boxes when suddenly someone tumbled out of the trailer holding some boxes and knocked me over. As I got up to see who I was about to beat up because of that I was stunned to see a girl my age, with long blond hair pulled back in a ponytail with blue eyes and freckles covered her nose, almost in tears. I quickly lifted her up and began  to pick up the boxes she had dropped.  I was to stunned to speak but she made stifled, “Thank you” as I put the last box on the sidewalk. I said quickly,”I am so sorry here let me carry the boxes for you” but she didn’t object. I soon realized why she objected because when I lifted the boxes I felt like my arms were going to fall off but I tried to mask the pain so I didn’t look weak. As we started walking towards her house which was a tan two story house which I realized was only down the street from my house. I tried not to make it awkward so I said,”My name is Ephraim Tucker but my friends just call me Eph, what your name?” She said while wiping away the last of her tears,”I’m Jane Buckner and I just moved Utah two days ago but my parents want me to go to school tomorrow. My parents both have to work early in the morning so I have to walk but I don’t know how to get there.” I set down the boxes with relief and without thinking I said,”I could walk with you to school tomorrow and show you how to get there” jane thought about this for a moment then said,”ok then I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When I started walking again back towards my house and since I was so lost in thought about what had just happened.  When I went inside I found my family all sitting around the table eating dinner and I realized how late it was so I quickly sat down because I realized how hungry I was. As I began to put food on my plate  my mom said,”Uncle Paul called and said that you helped some boys get away from some mean dogs and said that you were on your way home but that was an hour ago where have you been?” I felt my ears turn red but I knew I couldn’t hide anything from her so I told her about how I met jane on my way home.  When I was done telling her she told me that if I was going to walk Jane to school I had better get to sleep.  I wanted to protest but I realize that my eyelids were getting heavy so I didn’t disagree. When I went to my room I crashed on my bed without taking off my shoes and before I knew it I was asleep.

I woke with the splash of freezing water in my face. When I looked up I saw my mom holding an empty glass then she told me,” You better hurry so you can meet her on the corner of the street” So I quickly changed into some clean clothes and grabbed some toast on the way out. I saw her waiting at the corner so I quickly ran to catch up with her.  When I made it to the corner I apologized to her and we both decided we better get going so we wouldn’t be late so we had to run. When we got to school I showed her the teachers she had but the bad part was we didn’t have any classes together.

Once school was over we both met up at the bus lane and we began walking. When we were almost a block away and we turned a corner the three bullies were ten feet away from us. Their leader Drew said,” Nice friend you got there  only she isn’t going to be that nice looking after what we do to her.” I knew I had to keep her safe and without thinking I said,”You won’t even get close to her” even though there was three of them and only one of me but I couldn’t let them hurt jane. I put my fists up and got ready to fight when Drew had his two thugs come at me. The first one punched at my face so I ducked and punched him back in the crotch and with that the first one fell over and began whining. The second thug hesitated for a second but then came at me slower than the first. At first he punched at me the same way the first one did but when I ducked he kicked me in the chest knocking me down. Then he was about to hit me in the face when I grabbed his arm and pulled him so his head hit the sidewalk and I saw his eyes roll up in his head. When I got back on my feet and I was going to look at drew I a fist hit me on the nose making me stumble backwards. I realized Drew had snuck up while I was distracted with his thugs.  As Drew came to finish me off his legs were kicked out from underneath him as he was hit on the back of the head and crumbled to the ground and standing  behind Drew was Uncle Paul.

Once Paul Had taken care of all of the bullies telling their parents what they had done he picked us both up and began to drive us home. When it was quite Paul said,” That was brave of you Eph to stand up for Jane like that” and with that we got out. I walked Jane back home and when I was coming back I realized how much I changed. I realized that the tricks of childhood were over and that now I could face my challenges and I could take responsibilities.