Max Power

!!SPECIAL EFFECTS!! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter One

Max Power was a small teenage boy, standing at five feet tall, weighing 100 pounds soaking wet. His coke bottled glasses helped to complete the Clark Kent/nerd look he had. "Hey, it's Max Powerless!" a bully called out from among his friends, some of whom dressed like cowboys while others proudly wore their letterman jackets.

Max ignored the bully and kept on walking. But the boy who called him out ran up to him and shoved him to the ground, making Max drop his books. "Oof!" The smell of the freshly cut grass permeated the young boy's sense as the bully pounded on him.

"Geek! How dare you keep walking when I call you?! Next time I'll hurt you even more!"

"I don't have to do anything. Now leave me alone!" As the little boy got up the large bullying boy who was well over 250 pounds struck him hard in the face, breaking his glasses and nose in the process.

"Bitch! You'll do what I tell you to do!" !!CRUNCH!!

"Owww!" Max went falling to the ground clutching his groin in pain.

Then the large boy walked over to his friends who laughed at the hapless boy on the ground. "I think I ruined Max's balls, guys!"

"Did he ever have balls in the first place?!" Another boy called out.

As the boys walked off, laughing, Max searched for his glasses. "That's the third pair of glasses broken this month! I've tried telling my teachers and the principal what these guys have done to me but they never do anything. They always look the other way!" Max struggled to get up thinking the beating was over and being horribly wrong.

"Where do you think you're going?" an even larger boy demanded, grabbing Max by the head with his left hand, squeezing him to the point it looked as if his fingers were digging into his Max's skull, causing him to see spots.

"Aaagh! That hurts!" Max cried, his face getting red.

"Of course it hurts, you idiot! You thought you could get away from me, little man?"

"What did I ever to do you?"

!!SLAP!! "Shut up! Who says you had to have done anything? Now shut up and take your medicine."

"No!" Max screamed in defiant pain.

"Nobody says no to Bubba Jack Waller!" The large, hefty boy stood at six feet ten inches, weighing 400 pounds; all of it, rock solid, roid powered muscle that showed through his bare shoulder strapped overalls. Bubba Jack's family was composed of large men who were unusually big and strong, but Bubba surpassed them all with large meat hooks for hands. The red headed young man looked at the boy with an evil, toothy grin. His face was so close to Max that the young boy smelled his tormentor's beer laden breath and saw the stubble on his face and chin which help to make Bubba look like a hillbilly from the Ozarks.

"Let go of me!" Max exclaimed, trying in vain to kick his tormentor.

"How dare a Yankee like you try to attack me? !!SMACK!!

"Ungh! I'm from California and I'm a Los Angeles Dodgers fan!"

"That's not what I meant!"

!!SLAP!! "Ow!" At that point the large boy undid Max's pants, pulling them off including his underwear!

"What bitch ass you are! You're not a man at all! Just a little wanker."

"Leave me alone!"

"Ouch!" the boy screamed as Max grabbed one of Bubba's fingers, violently pulling it from the rest and forcing the larger boy to let go of his head. "Bitch! Now you're gonna get it!" !!POW!! The fast paced forward punch immediately sent Max a few feet back, further breaking his nose and sending him into a world of hurt and then unconsciousness.

!!CLOP!!CLOP!!CLOP!! While this was going on an average sized boy walked to the school, leaning forward as he bobbed his head downward and back up again with every step. He lazily allowed each foot to hit the ground, making a loud sound.

"Hey, Bubba, look what the cat dragged in!" The bullies turned to see Sam Hill staggering his way to class in a punch drunken state, wearing raggedy, dirty clothes, making him look like a homeless bum.

"That's an insult to cats to say something like that, Mike! But I get the point. Sheesh! I can smell his reek from here!"

"Let's go and beat him up some more and put the fear into him like we do the others."

"We've already beaten him up enough to make him despair. He's such a punch drunken idiot he doesn't care anymore. You go ahead if you want. I'll pass on that. My nose can only handle so much."

"I hear that," another bully interjected, pausing in the beating of his own hapless victim. "I bet his brains don't even work anymore!"

"Yeah. Beating up on that schmuck has gotten boring. I smashed his head in with a baseball bat after I hurt my hand, punching that coon and get this. The bat broke on his head. That was my favorite bat too," the home run hitter said upset. "One of these days I'm going to get a much stronger bat that won't get broken and really give that guy a wack on the head."

"It's like kicking a dead horse. I so hate it! I want to cause that coon so much pain even he will be able to feel it. I'm going to make him wish he was never born!" an especially cruel looking young man snarled.

Billy Bob Hatchet was a tall, lanky individual with corded muscles, making him look like a broad shouldered scarecrow. In addition to all this, he had a short beard which helped to complete the redneck look he had. In fact he looked more and sounded more like a redneck than any other redneck within a ten mile radius, a fact of which Billy Bob was proud. His features which were fairly handsome were marred by the perpetual look of hate on his face.

Running over to to Sam Hill, Billy Bob kicked him in the back. But despite the powerful blow, Sam Hill kept on walking, oblivious to the attack. "Stop there, boy!" Billy Bob demanded.

"Yes?" Sam Hill said, turning around with a smile.

"I'm going to bash your brains in."

"What brains?" Sam said with a smile to the laughter of the bullies within ear shot.

"Think you're funny, nigger boy?! !!SLAP!! I'm going to make you suffer pain the likes of which you have never imagined."

"There's no pain for scum of the earth," Sam Hill smiled at his frustrated tormentor.

"Oh, yeah?! I will show you pain!" Billy Bob said, getting into Sam's face, giving the beaten boy an intimidating look that would have frightened most boys but had no effect on Sam Hill.

"You can't destroy what's already been destroyed. He he."

"You don't know destruction yet!" !!CRACK!! Billy Bob struck Sam with a roundhouse kick he had learned while training in Thai-Kickboxing, causing his target's head to violently snap towards the right.

"The stars are so pretty."

"Fall, dagnabit!" !!CRACK!! Sam's head snapped back as Billy Bob struck him with an elbow strike to the chin that might well have killed most people. But Sam just shrugged off, standing there in a daze.

"It's obvious the hard headed idiot's given up," another bully called out. "He doesn't even cry out in pain like Max over there."

Billy Bob turned towards the offending voice with a harsh sneer, causing the other boy to cower a little while his friend, Bubba shrugged his shoulders in resignation. Then Billy Bob walked off in a rage.

"Don't fret none about it, Billy Bob!" Bubba called out to the departing figure.

At that point, Sam Hill staggered his way to class, his hideous form revolting everyone who saw him. His appearance had become worse than ugly from all the beatings he had gotten including some knife attacks. Often times bullies of the school and even some others who did not go to the school had thrown Sam into the trash which helped to increase his stench. His hair was practically gone, having fallen out when someone had poured acid on his head. He was a flea and rat bitten curmudgeon with all kinds of scars.

As Max got up and made his way to class he noticed Sam Hill. "I hate all this. But despite all that's happening to me I won't back down, and I'll always have my pride. I'll get even someday. And more importantly, I'll never turn into that poor idiot, Sam Hill. He is a walking showpiece for what a bully will do when teachers look the other way. These bullies treat Sam like crap and bitch and moan when he smells like it. But how can he cope?"

"Da, tada daa! Da, tada daa! Da tada daa! Da tada da!" Sam Hill babbled as he clopped his to class in an idiotic manner, staring off in space with a witless smile on his face. Then Max curiously walked over to him.

"What's the matter with you?!" Max demanded as the punch drunken idiot stopped and turned towards him, giving Max a good look at his horrific appearance. "Why do you just walk off as if nothing has happened? What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong with scum of the earth."

"You don't even care!"

"There's no caring for scum of the earth."

"You've given up. Why aren't you angry?!"

"There's no anger for scum of the earth."

Max looked at the hideous boy with a sense of shock and dismay. "Why are you referring to yourself as scum?! Stop saying that!" Max screamed, the tears coming out of his eyes. "The bullies are the scum of the earth. Doesn't the pain of what's happening bother you? Where is your pride?!"

Then Sam turned around, facing Max, singing a parody of an old song.

The time when I cared about pride was so long ago.

After a couple of brutal beatings I let it go.

I could never get by if I felt things through.

Therefore I can always stand to just lose.

To me everyone says, "no pride for you! No pride for youuuuu! No pride for you!"

I could have never been someone who was like you.

You cry and you're very upset when a jock runs you through.

If I had more of a brain I could not go on.

Nothing's too short; nothing takes too long.

But I always hear, "no pride for you. No pride for youuuuu! No pride for you!"

Well it's over now.

No need to fret about it.

Best to be insane.

Because if you're sane you feel the pain.

In your head, in your jaw.

Then you just can't stand the pain.

Should we care? Should we care?

When all caring is in vain.

No pride for you! No pride for youuuu! No pride for you!

There's no way I could get through all this with a lot pride.

I was already born a loser and that's all right.

Everybody says I have to lose.

There is nothing else that I can do.

Everybody says, "no pride for you! No pride for youuuuu! No pride for you!" (1)

"What?! You're not making any sense!"

Then the misshapen boy's eyes looked serious for a moment. "It does make sense. As soon as you've given up and stopped caring, you won't feel any pain either. They've already destroyed me. Wherefore, should I care anymore? Stop caring and be destroyed. Then you'll stop suffering." With that the punch drunken boy walked off.

Max stared off after the boy. Then he went to class.

While this was all going on, a beautiful young woman with long blond hair and a great figure hid in the shadows, taking stock of all that had happened, videotaping everything she saw. "Wait until the people at ABC see this! I'll be a famous reporter in no time!"

XXX

"Why are you late, Max?" the world history teacher demanded to know as the little nerd stumbled into the classroom ten minutes after class had started. He was a mess from the beating he had recently taken with his clothes torn and his glasses broken up as he dragged himself into the classroom.

"It's not as if you care, Mister Look-the-other-Way." The world history teacher was a rather large and plump man who was bald on the top of his head, sporting a beard and glasses.

"That's Mr. Hathaway! And I do care. Now answer me!" Several of the football players in the class smirked loudly as Max fidgeted in his chair, still smarting from the pain of what had happened to him.

"What do you think happened? Your bullies beat me up. Can't you tell by looking at me?"

"Watch your tone, young man. For all I know you fell. Now go to the Principal's office!" As the teacher handed Max the hall pass, many of the boys and not a few girls laughed at him, watching the beaten-yet-still-defiant boy on his way out.

XXX

During lunch a couple guys were having a quite discussion. While both of them were in great condition, the taller one was more muscular with a harsher look on his face, his natural ruthlessness showing through his blond haired good looks and ice blue eyes. The shorter one who was of average height with brown hair had a more thoughtful look to him but was not devoid of ruthlessness himself.

"I can't wait until the next martial arts tournament, John," the shorter one said.

"I understand what you mean, Charlie. I have an idea," the taller one replied.

"What's that?"

"Why don't we and the guys get some more practice?"

"What are you talking about, John? We've been practicing our kung fu hardcore for weeks now. What more do we need?"

"I was thinking of finding a new punching bag; I broke my last one."

"Master Fleetwood was both proud of you and upset with you when that happened."

"That's why I'm going to find another punching bag to use that won't upset him so much if I break it."

"Where?"

"Over there. You see that guy over there, dressed up like a bum and stinking up the place?"

"You mean, Sam Hill? That guy's a walking piece of garbage?! I don't want to even touch him!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Do you want to become a better martial artist or not? The upcoming tournament is taking place in an underground circuit and it's full contact. We need to test our punches and kicks against a living person."

"What if we severely injure him?" Charlie asked.

"So what? Nobody cares about him anyway. Besides, that guy gets beat up all the time."

"He gets beat up by a bunch of rednecks who lack any serious skill in hand to hand combat. Those guys are just a bunch of cowboys."

"You're right, Charlie. But this guy survived getting hit in the head by a baseball bat from a baseball player who hit 40 home runs last year! He can take it."

"When are we going to practice on this guy?" Charlie asked, becoming convinced.

"We'll do it tomorrow after school when Sam Hill's on his way home."

"Sometimes the guys on the football team like to beat up on him right after school. What if they get in the way?"

"I thought about that. Some more guys from our studio will show up there as well. If the football players decide they want to fight we'll have more punching bags, plenty for everyone."

"We have to be careful, John. Don't you know how revered football players are here in Huntington, Texas?"

"They're not the Dillon Panthers! The football team here is over rated. Everyone knows the 94 season wasn't a great year for the Red Devils."

"They did fairly well, John. As it was they got as far as fourth place. Even if they got clobbered in their last game, people here still love them. Football is practically God here."

"I know all about how important football is here in Angelina County. But keep in mind that the jocks in this school are cowardly bullies. All they do is pick on the weak. I'm willing to bet that just you and I could take on the whole football team empty handed."

"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Not all the guys on the football are as cowardly as you think. Besides, the captain of the football team, Bubba Jack Waller, is one of the strongest guys around. It's even rumored the guy's on some serious steroids."

"No surprise there, but we still need to prepare for the upcoming underground tournament."

"All right. Let's do it." Charlie then regarded the subject of their discussion.

"What's so interesting?" John asked.

"Look at Hill over there," Charlie replied as a couple of bullies took the hapless boy's lunch.

"What's he gonna do now?"

"I don't believe this!" The two boys watched in awe and shock as Sam Hill continued to "eat", the air, actually using an imaginary spoon, putting imaginary food in his mouth, chewing and swallowing as he went on.

Then one of the teachers walked over to the air eating boy. "What are you doing, Sam?" the annoyed teacher stood at six two inches tall. He was a husky man with a huge beer gut and a mustache. As he glared at Sam with a sense of open hostility, the boy looked up at him with a stupid looking smile on his face.

"I'm eating my lunch."

"You're eating air. What's wrong with you?"

"I guess that makes me full of hot air. Hee hee."

"Is all of this a big joke to you?"

At that point, Vinnie Fontaine spoke up. He was a light brown haired, medium sized boy with a slightly puffy face. "Mr. Snyder. Some of the guys took his lunch from him. You didn't care what happened so what do you want him to do?"

"Why you two faced, interloper..."

"Interloper?!"

"Shut up! No one's talking to you. So why don't just mind your own business?" Then the teacher turned back to the object of his disgust. "I really wish people like you weren't allowed in school, Sam. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"There's nothing else to say. Mmm. That lunch was pretty good," Sam Hill said, rubbing his stomach as if he had enjoyed a good meal. At that point the teacher walked away in revulsion at the mentally challenged boy.

"That guy is so crazy. He doesn't even know what's going on. Why is he even allowed in this school?" John stated.

"This is a public school, John. There's nothing anybody can do about his presence here. But despite that, there's going to be a PTA meeting some time in the future about Sam Hill."

"Is it going to be about how he gets beat up?"

"No. Just about how he stinks up the place after he gets beat up and how his hideous appearance is ruining the look of the school."

"I see. We need to act quickly, Charlie. I overheard that the beatings and bullying that go on this school have become so well known that ABC News is going to investigate. The last thing we need is to be on television beating this guy up."

"Right. We need to take him into a dark alley before we practice on him. We can't afford any prying eyes."

John nodded happily as his cohort got serious about their plans.

XXX

The next day after school the two martial artists met up with their fellow martial arts students then made their way towards Sam Hill who was staggering his way home. Right behind him was several members of the football team. "What do you guys want?"

"We have a tournament coming up so we need a punching bag to practice on. We can practice on him or you guys!" John called out.

When the football players saw the dozen or so martial artists walking towards them in a menacing manner they decided to back off even though they outnumbered them by two to one.

"Let's take this guy into a dark alley," Charlie called out.

"Right."

"Where are we going?" Sam Hill asked as the boys lead him away.

"Shut up!" !!SLAP!!

"What kind of attack was that, Marko?" Charlie demanded.

"I hit him because he wouldn't shut up!" the boy answered back angrily.

"We are not here to beat up on him indiscriminately. We're here to practice our martial arts. Now get back. And when it becomes your turn again, hit him with a martial arts attack not like some brainless thug!"

"That's right," John commented. "We're to help our training. It's not as if we hate this guy like those rednecks who just left. Now it's my turn. Ya ya ya!" John struck Sam with a rapid fire attack that consisted of an elbow to the jaw, a finger to the lower throat, a head-to-nose headbutt, a knee to the groin, and a powerful uppercut to the jaw. All these attacks were so fast that they took place in less than a second.

"The stars are so pretty!" Sam said in a daze.

"This guy is tough. I'm surprised he's still standing," Charlie said, astounded.

"You go next, Charlie. It's obvious I need to work on my power. I should have at least knocked him down," John commented dourly.

"Right." Charlie stepped back for a moment, spun around quickly and nailed Sam with a powerful roundhouse kick, hitting the punch drunken boy right in the stomach. The boy staggered back a couple of steps after the attack, wobbling and tottering in such a way that he leaned back but didn't fall. "That was my strongest kick and he's still standing."

"It's as if he's too stupid to realize he's been beaten up," one of the more intelligent looking of them stated.

"Of course he is. How long did it take for you to figure that out, Pierce?" one of the martial artists stated with a laugh.

"There's more to it than that, Darin. Because he's lacking in some mental aspects such as fear and pain, he therefore has a higher pain threshold."

"What?"

"He doesn't care so in his own way Sam Hill is fearless. How else could he withstand the most powerful blows of John and Charlie? Most people wouldn't be able to survive the attacks of those two."

Charlie regarded the thoughtful boy for a moment while the others took their turns using Sam Hill as a punching bag with skillful yet powerful martial arts attacks. "You make some good points, Pierce. He's really too stupid to know he's being beaten up."

"That may be so, but this piece of work has taken so many beatings that he has built up an immunity," John interjected.

"The saying, 'that which doesn't kill you can only make you stronger' comes to mind," Pierce answered.

"Yes. There's one thing that I can't get out of my mind."

"What's that, Charlie?"

"What would happen if Sam Hill were to decide he had had enough and started to learn how to fight and hit back? Who could stop him?"

"I'd stop him. Watch this." John struck the hapless idiot with rapid fire roundhouse kicks, hitting him in a helicopter fashion countless times until Sam finally went down like a ton of bricks.

"See that? School's out, boys. We need to get out of here before the sheriff's deputies show up. Since we're not football players we might actually get in trouble for this. We''ll give this guy some time to recover and practice on him again in the future." With that the boys departed, leaping onto fences and one story back to back houses with speed and finesse as they got further and further away from the scene.

"Aaaataaaaa!" Sam hissed as he stumbled up in a drunken manner, open mouthed, letting the blood drip out out. He hardly knew where he was at the moment as he walked forward, limping and wobbling more than usual, barely able to keep from falling to the ground. The scars and wounds he had previously were updated with more wounds to which Sam paid no mind.

After Sam Hill walked out of the alley, he passed by a nearby kindergarten, prompting the little kids there to stare and gawk at him. As Sam waved at the little children, some of them waved back in a friendly child like manner. Then the punch drunken boy walked on the street, noticing a familiar figure on the ground.

XXX

While Sam Hill had been getting beaten up, the football players made their away from the school. "What do we do now, boys?"

"We should go back there and take those karate guys on. They're not so tough!" In mockery of them the boy stood on one leg, mimicking something he had seen in a movie.

"I don't know, Clem," one of the larger football players piped in. "Those guys know some mean karate."

"I think they practice kung fu."

"Whatever?! I think we just should have had a rough and tumble rumble with those guys."

"Maybe you're right, Goober. They just surprised us that's all. We oughtta get some more guys together and put those fairies in their place. But right now, let's look around seeing who we can kill and destroy. What do we have here?" the quarterback said, regarding Max Power on his way home.

"Let's go kick his ass again."

"He's outside of the school. If we beat him up now we might get in trouble for it."

"Don't worry about it! Nothing will happen to us; we're football players."

'That's right!" Bubba Jack Waller interjected. "My father is the sheriff of Angelina County so this won't be a problem at all. Let's go jack up Max Powerless over there. Later on, I want to get back at those guys for threatening us."

"Yeah!" One of the faster boys on the team ran straight for Max who was crossing in the middle of the street. But as the fast boy attempted to slam Max into the ground, the intended victim sidestepped his attacker, tripping and throwing him, forcing the bully to land on his back with a thud. "Ungh!"

"Get him!" a few more boys called out as they finally slammed Max into the ground.

"Aaaagh! What do you want?!"

"Shut up!"

"Save some for me!" another jock called out as he and the others caught up.

"What are you guys doing? Leave me alone!" Max demanded as he managed to push the first two guys off of himself.

"How dare you shove me?!" a bully threatened as he kicked Max in the stomach.

"Gangbang!" one of the other boys yelled as they beat up on poor Max.

"We're gonna treat you like a king, boy!" Billy Bob called out, having caught up with the others.

"What king?!" Max cried out despite the pain.

"Like Rodney King" While the boys beat up on Max, cars simply drove around them. Some of the drivers looked at the one sided fight only to have Bubba Jack give them a vicious snarl which frightened the curious drivers off.

"The difference between you and Sam Hill," Billy Bob stated with a wicked smile as he kicked the boy while he was down. "Is that it's easier to make you suffer."

"Is it also the fact you can indulge in your asinine racism by beating up on Sam Hill?" Max asked with an air of defiance.

!!SMACK!! "That's none of your business, boy! Now take it like a man!"

"Aaargh!" Max screamed as the bullies beat up on him.

After the boys were finished they walked away, high fiving each other, feeling really good about themselves as they left their victim in the middle of the road, his clothes torn with newly made cuts and bruises on his body.

"This is getting boring!"

"At least Max puts up a fight, weak as he is."

"Good point, but it was still boring."

"Hey, Bubba!"

"What?!"

"Isn't that the girl you've been trying to get for a couple of months now?" the boy inquired, motioning to a statuesque teenage girl with blue eyes and shiny black hair that cascaded half way down her back. She stood at five feet ten inches tall, weighing a shapely, curvaceous 150 pounds with buxom 40-26-38 measurements. She had a rock hard body, being very beautiful in addition to being drop dead sexy. The young woman moved with grace and refinement as she walked away from the school, oblivious to what was about to happen to her.

"She's a hot piece of ass; I'll tell you what," another jock interjected.

"That she is. She always rejects my attempts to sweet talk her though," the large, taller than six feet boy said as he admired the object of his desire from a distance. "Well, it's high time she realizes her place."

"What if she decides she wants nothing to do with you?" one of the boys asked, getting a harsh glare from Bubba.

"She'll come along. I always get what I want."

"Yeah!!" the boys screamed in unison as they followed the large, powerful boy.

"Ambrosia!"

"What do you want, Bubba?!"

"First thing, you need to talk to me with more respect."

"Why is that?"

"Because you're my woman! That's why!" the boy said, closing in on her.

"I'm not your woman, Bubba. Now get lost."

"What we have here is a failure to communicate. Now come here and give me my due respect."

"What?! Are you insane?! I have to go. I don't have time for your nonsense," the girl said, increasing her pace in an attempt to get away.

"You're not going anywhere until I say otherwise."

"No!" Ambrosia took off running, evading her pursuer's attempt to grab her.

"She runs faster than I thought." "Let's get her, boys!" At Bubba's command, some of the faster boys chased after their quarry, catching up to her and tackling her to the ground. "Good work, guys. Now let's bring her behind this here liquor store."

"Let go of me!" Ambrosia demanded as she tried to break out of the strong grip of her captors who were complying with Bubba's commands. "Help!"

"My father's the sheriff. Nobody's going to help you. Now assume the position!" Bubba demanded.

"What are they doing to her?! Can't they leave her along? What has she done to deserve being treated like that?" Max thought as he watched the girl on whom he had a crush being taken to a back alley.

"She's rather strong, Bubba. Don't know how long we can hold her," one of the boys said.

"Won't be long now, Wyatt. Just hold her there."

"No!"

"Ouch! Bitch!" Bubba yelled after his intended victim had kicked him in the shins.

!!SLAP!! "Ow! What do you think you're..."

"Shut up! You're mine! Tits, ass and all!" !!RIP!!

"Hey!" Ambrosia screamed as Bubba tore her clothes off.

"You're gonna do what I want!"

"No!" !!SNAP!! "Eeek!"

"What a pair of assets! It's like they stand at attention. Am I right, boys?!"

"Let me go!"

!!SLAP!! "I done told you you're my property. Had you done what I told you to do sooner this wouldn't be happening. But now you're going to get it and get it good like some of the other girls I've taken a fancy to."

"You can't do this to me!" Ambrosia snapped back, struggling against the boys who held her down. !!CRUNCH!!

"Aaargh! You'll pay for that, bitch!" !!TEAR!!

"Stop it!" the girl sobbed.

"Lay her down, fellas!" Bubba ordered his cohorts as he started to undo his pants while the fellas raised up Ambrosia's feet, trying to pry her legs apart.

"Bubba, the cops are coming!" one of the more agile boys called out from the roof of the liquor store as he utilized a pair of binoculars, having taken it on himself to be a look out.

"My daddy's the sheriff! Don't worry about it!"

"They're not sheriff's deputies; they're Texas Rangers! If they find out what's going on, we're sunk!"

"Are trying to spoil my fun, Jeb?!" Bubba Jack called out.

"No I ain't! They're coming this way. You can do what you want, but I'm getting out of here!" With that the agile boy leaped from the roof onto the ground and took off running."

"Bubba, there are Texas Rangers coming this way," one of the other boys said, after having taken a look outside the alley.

"All right. Hold her for a moment, boys." Bubba walked out of the alley into the street to see what was going on while the naked girl kept on struggling.

"Ow! My nose!" one of the boys holding Ambrosia screamed after his would be victim slipped out of both his and his compatriot's hold, elbowing each of them. Then she got up and took off running again.

"The Texas Rangers are gone now. Ain't no need to worry about them. Now where were we?" Bubba said upon his return. Then he noticed that the beautiful young girl was gone. "Dagnabit! Can't you guys do anything right?"

"She gad away, Bubba!" one of the boys said, holding in his bleeding nose.

"Sheesh! Oh, never mind. We'll get her later. I'll break her legs first next time. Come on guys, let's go. But don't F*&k up again if you guys know what's good for ya," Bubba said, giving the boys a frightening glare that made the fellas shake in their boots.

After the bullies had gone, Sam Hill stumbled towards Max as he lay on the ground, the downed boy having tears in his eyes.

"Hi, Max. What are you doing down there?"

But as the two boys were in the middle of the street a passerby screamed at them from his pickup truck. "Get out of the middle of road, you idjits!"

The teenage boy looked at the punch drunken idiot with a sense of disgust as he struggled to get up. "We need to get out of the street," Max said somberly, walking away from the hideous looking boy who simply watched him get up and walk away without a care in the world.

"I suppose. Have a nice day!" the punch drunken boy called out, crinkling his face with a smile that further increased his ugliness.

XXX

"Max, what happened to you?!" an old woman said as the young boy walked into the house. It was a track house that came into existence right after World War Two. Max's late grandfather had been a veteran during that war and had benefited from the G.I. Bill. It was a nice, well kept home on the inside and out, yellow in color with white trim, standing back to back and side to side with other houses.

The mantle over the fireplace had a picture over it of Max's grandfather in his army uniform, standing next to his beautiful young wife. The recently returning soldier was somewhat handsome in his day with large arms and had broad shoulders. Max had thought he would have not been out of place in an old war movie. Max's grandmother was very attractive at the time as well, resembling one of those showgirls Max had seen in old movies with shoulder length brown hair and a fetching physique.

"I got beat up again, Grandmother. I wish my parents had never died like they did. Then I wouldn't be here in this horrible place."

"Now come on, Max. Huntington, Texas isn't so bad a place."

"I don't mean to offend you, Grandmother. But the bullies here are more brutal than the ones in California. It was hard enough for me to do gymnastics and ballet with all the boys who picked on me for that, but out here it's as if the bullies have a right to do whatever they want. Bubba Jack even tore the blouse and skirt off of Ambrosia Walther for no good reason."

"This is just a tough place to be in, Max," his grandmother said gently. "How about if we put you in a karate class of some kind? Maybe that will help you," the kindly old woman opined.

"All right. Maybe that will help. "I remember how those bullies backed down from those kung fu guys earlier. Maybe if I learn from them they'll back me up until I can get tough enough to stand up to Bubba Jack and his friends on my own. And then there's what happened to Ambrosia. I wish I could have helped her. Gosh. She's so wonderful! I just wish I could walk up to her and tell her how I feel. I'm going to have to train as hard as I can during this summer so I can protect her."

After showering and getting cleaned up Max had his dinner, did his homework and went to sleep, dreaming of becoming a big, strong man with a muscular body that put Arnold Schwarzenegger to shame with the ability to lift several tons and take on dozens of bullies at once, easily defeating them. In these dreams Max was six feet four inches tall weighing 300 pounds of rock solid muscle, looking like Superman on steroids.

XXX

"Sam!" the punch drunken boy's mother yelled as he stumbled into the house. "Where have you been?! You should arrived home over an hour ago! What have you done this time?!"

"You know the routine, Mother. I got beat up."

Then the boy's mother glared at him for a moment. "Blast it, Sam! What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong with scum of the earth." !!POW!!

"Quit saying things like that!"

"You hit me pretty hard that time, Mother," Sam said with a smile, the fact that some of his teeth were missing being obvious. But what made things worse was the fact that his smile crinkled his face, making his scars and wounds, old and new, increase his loathsome appearance. The scars and wounds on his face which ranged from the size of dimes to pencils discolored his face, making it look worse than a badly made pizza.

"Where's your pride?!"

"Isn't pride a sin, Mother? Wherefore should I have such a thing? Besides, for that to work I would have to feel good about myself. We both know you don't want me feeling good about myself. Wherefore you have despised me since birth."

"You're a bigger loser than your father. What did I do wrong?!"

"Let's see. You beat me when I was a lot younger because I came in crying after someone beat me up. Then later on you told me to not to be angry with the people who beat me up all the time. A little later I told you that what you wanted required the bully's destruction. Since you were opposed to that I gave up."

"All of this was your fault!"

"Well, it's obvious to me that you cared more about the bullies at school than me, Mother. But that's all right."

"That's not true!"

"Oh, well. The bully must see destruction ergo I stay this way."

"That's a horrible thing to say!"

Then Sam smiled like the idiot he was, looking at his mother as if he had won a victory, pointing at her. "It doesn't matter now, Mother. The destruction of the bully at school wouldn't help me at this point. That ship has sailed. You've already sacrificed me for the bully's self esteem. Therefore you have sacrificed what you want for the bully's well being."

"What's wrong with you?!"

"There's nothing wrong with scum of the earth."

"Shut up!" !!SLAP!!SLAP!!SLAP!!SLAP!!SLAP!! Max's mother struck him with in machine gun fashion or so it seemed to the already punch drunken lad. "Get out of my sight!" With that Sam left for his room without the least bit of sadness in his heart as his mother cried.

"What it is with you, Sam?" the boy's younger sister, Samantha, asked as he walked towards his room.

"Nothing."

"You know how embarrassing it is for me that you're my brother?" the rather fat, chunky girl asked, giving her brother a cold, hard look of hostility.

"I don't know; wherefore should I care?"

"Why can't you be a real man? Why must you be a walking piece of garbage?" she accused her hideous brother.

"Being a real man would have required the destruction of the bully at school. Wherefore the bully is regarded as precious while I am despised."

His sister looked at him with hostility for a moment. "What are you planning to be?"

"A homeless bum. People love homeless losers. The existence of me and others like me make people feel better about themselves.

"You ain't worth crap! Why should you suffer for the self esteem of others? More importantly why should this family suffer because of you?"

"The bully at school has sought out for my destruction. What you and Mother want requires his death. Mother refuses to understand that therefore I am scum of the earth." With that Sam walked away, his sister being very upset.

XXX

(1) The name of the parodied song is called Good-bye to You by Scandal, Patty Smythe.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: If you've enjoyed reading this, let me know with a review.