The Ballyhoo in the Alley
“So why aren't we taking the bus home like our moms said, Therma?” The eight year old girl asked as she walked beside her friend, a girl of the same age with pinkish skin and blonde hair.
“Crossfire rides the bus everyday if you hadn't noticed, Pinto.” She paused as the two slipped through a hole in a fence and snuck through an alleyway. “For whatever reason, she's made it her goal in life to make mine a living nightmare. I wager that in the time we walk to get home, the bus will have already dropped her off some time ago and she'll be at home and not even notice us.”
“Why can't we go to your mom's house instead? It's nicer there and it has less chance of getting beat up.” Pinto, clutched her backpack tightly as she looked at the surrounding neighborhood that made her uncomfortable.
“I told you. My mom is out of town. Besides, my aunt Aria's house isn't so bad.” She gulped as she thought for a bit. “Even if it is...right across the way from Crossfire's house, where she probably lurks like a lion...waiting to gobble up little lambs like us.” She laughed nervously as they turned to see the girl they had been attempting to avoid awaiting them at the mouth of the alley that led to their destination. Accompanying the blue skinned, purple haired girl were two other girls that Therma assumed were Crossfire's minions.
“Well, well, well. What do we have here?” The girl rapidly advanced on Therma until she was almost right on top of her. “If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to get out of your beating. Silly, right?”
“You and those ugly shoes too.” She turned her attention to Pinto and began to kick dirt and gravel over the other girl's white and pink shoes.
“Come on, my grandma gave me those!” Pinto cried as the other girl kept on and her friends joined in.
“Leave her alone!” Therma spoke out before she quickly realized her mistake and Crossfire targeted her again.
“Wanna be tough, huh?” Therma could do little but mutter to herself and turn her gaze downward as the bigger girl pushed her around. The bully grabbed a clump of her hair and violently yanked on it and forced her to her knees. The girl's bare knees scrapped against the loose gravel as tears filled her eyes. “Yeah, stay down there where you belong. And you're gonna get worse tomorrow, just for that. Let's get out of here.” Crossfire and her friends left the two bruised and humiliated as the girls did their best to dust themselves off and headed home. Therma paused for a moment and looked to see Crossfire enter her home where a woman stood watching from one of the windows.
Later
“We're home.” Aria walked into the house, a duffle bag over her shoulder and her six year old daughter, Azure close by her side. “Sorry I was late. Training was a killer today.” She looked around the room and spotted Sonata sleeping face down on the couch, a blanket covering her. “Knew I should have left a real adult in the house. Therma, you still alive in here?”
“Yes.” She heard the call from upstairs.
“How was school?”
“Good.”
“Oh, okay. Well, what do you want for dinner? Pizza, burgers, ugh...tacos?”
“I'm good.” The girl answered simply as Aria gestured for Azure to sit on the couch as she went upstairs. She knocked on the door of the room that Therma shared with Azure during her stay with them. Aria knocked once before she opened the door to see Therma under her blankets and turned toward away from the door.
“You know, I promised your mom I'd made sure you went to school, bed time at eight o'clock and fed you. Pretty sure those terms aren't negotiable.” She pulled the covers off of her and found the young girl with an over application of band-aids on her face arms and knees. “What happened to you?”
“I-I got scrapped up at baseball practice.” A fake smile ran across the child's face.
Aria's eyebrow raised almost through the roof from the claim. “You? Baseball? Really?”
Therma looked down as she curled her knees up to her chest. She forced the next few words out of her mouth as she was far too embarrassed to tell the truth. “I...wanted to be an athlete, like you. I fell. They-they all laughed at me.”
“Hey, come her,” Aria scooped her up into a hug. “Don't beat yourself up about it, kid. You just need to get better. Practice makes perfect, right?”
“Yeah,” Therma gave a half-hearted answer but the tone in her voice didn't alert Aria.
“So how about that dinner?”
“Shawarmas!”
“Hey, watch the language.”
“It's food, Auntie Aria.”
“Of course it is. Alright, go get cleaned up and I'll look up an order-in place.” She watched the young girl walk out of the room and made her way out herself. As she cleared the door, she found Sonata standing just outside.
“Aww, so cute.”
Aria's arms dropped to her sides in annoyance. “Shut up. Sonata.”
The Next Day
At the local gym, Aria was busy in her regular workout of pounding on the heavy bag. She still had a few hours to go before she had to head to the house to relieve Sonata of watching Therma, which when she realized it was probably an irresponsible thing to do to begin with. Looking at the clock briefly confirmed that the bus should have already dropped Therma and her little friend, Pinto at the house by now. Sitting on the ring nearby her was Azure, lightly kicking her feet. “Thank goodness for home schooling.” She thought to herself as she hit the bag again before the sound of the gym's front door bell rang as someone entered.
“Hey Ari,” One of the other gym trainees called to her. “I think you got visitors.”
“Huh?” She turned to see a bruised Therma who sported a black eye and a similarly roughed up Pinto. “Therm, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be at the house with Sonata.”
Meanwhile
At Aria's home, Sonata had turned the house upside down looking for the girl. “Therma, come out, come out wherever you are. You're really good at hide and seek but I will find you.”
Gym
Aria leaned down to look at Therma's eye. “You know, you probably want to swing the bat when the ball comes your way. What happened, you slide for the bases or something?”
Pinto tightened her fist before taking in a deep breathe and broke down. “Therma and I are getting bullied and she's too ashamed to say anything and I'm too much of a wimp!”
'Pinto!” Therma yelled as she threw her hands up.
Her friend responded by bursting into tears and promptly ran into a corner. “Wah!”
Aria looked over to her young charge and leaned down to meet her eye to eye. Therma almost fell back as she motioned away from her. “Is that true?” The girl shifted her gaze away and Aria put a hand under her chin and forced her to look into her eyes again. “Is. It. True?” She got a light nod of confirmation which was all she needed and let out a sigh. “How long has this been going on?”
“A few weeks.”
“And your teachers just let her do this? What good is this fancy, prep-schooling stuff if they let you get beat around?”
“They-they don't know. Crossfire says if I tell them, she'll get us.”
“So why not tell me?”
Therma looked down in shame. “Well, it's just that you're really tough and strong. I didn't want you to think I was a loser cause I was scared.”
Aria scooped her up in a hug. “Hey. I'd never think that about you. You shouldn't ever be afraid to tell me, your mom or your dad if something is bothering you.”
“What should I do?”
“You gotta fight her, kid.” A white haired man with gray skin said as he leaned over the ropes of one of the gym's rings. “Only way these bully types will leave you alone.”
“Stay out of this, Night Train.” He waived off Aria's order and got back to training as she turned back to the little girl. “But he's right. And for that, I'm gonna train you and teach you how to defend yourself.”
“But mommy said fighting is wrong.”
“Therma, I love your mom and she's a smart woman but she's not the one getting beat and bullied. I know it doesn't feel right for you but neither her, me, your dad or anybody is gonna be there to take up for you every time someone bothers you in life. You know I'd never tell you something that was bad for you, right?” The little girl looked up to her for a moment before giving a confirming nod. “Alright, now here's what we're going to do...”
Aria spent the next few days picking Therma up from school and taking her directly to the gym to train her, teaching her how to throw and avoid punches and letting her spar with the kids her age in the gym where she could. That Friday, Aria dropped her off in front of the school where Pinto was waiting for her. Before she jumped out of the car to head into school, Aria sat with her for a minute. “You good?”
“Yeah.”
“You're ready for this. Just remember what I taught you. Defend then counter punch. Keep those hands up and keep your stance solid.” She surprised Therma with a kiss on the forehead. “Have a good day, okay. Wish your sister luck, Azure.”
“Hope you don't die.” The little girl said from her car seat in the back.
“That's about as good as you'll get from her. Go on now.” She watched as the blonde child joined her friend and the two headed inside before closing her eyes and giving a short prayer and opened them with a bit of surprise and a chuckle. “That's new.”
Hours Later
Therma and a very nervous Pinto once again made their way down the alley. As much and as hard as she'd trained, she was still hoping that she wouldn't have to use what Aria had taught her. A quick look at Pinto's face and a glance down the alleyway made her realize that all hope of avoiding conflict had gone out the window as Crossfire and her two friends again stood in their path. Therma took in a deep breath and continued walking. “Stay here. If I get beat up, run to my house.” Pinto followed the instruction and ducked behind a pair of trashcans as her friend advanced on the trio.
While Therma had a nervous but faced pace to her step, Crossfire had a lax to her walk as a bright grin stretched across her face. Therma suddenly stopped about ten feet or so as Crossfire continued to advance and stopped about a foot and a half in front of her. “Well, well, well. Look who's back. What happened, you're mommy decide to stop carrying you in a papoose?” She roughly brushed Therma's hair with her hand.
“She's my aunt.” Therma said under her breath. The murmur got her a shove from the bully.
“Speak up, Goldie Locks!” She shoved her again. “Guess I gotta beat an answer out of you.” She balled her right hand into a fist and threw it straight for Therma's forehead. Instinctively, the blonde haired girl brought her fists up to her face, moved her feet into position and shifted her upper body to the left, completely slipping the punch. Crossfire was a bit put off by this but threw another punch only for the same thing to happen. “What?” She threw again and again, every punch missing the mark entirely as everything that Therma had learned over the last week rushed to the front of her mind.
Crossfire's friends as well as Pinto stood in shock and awe as another reaching punch, thrown by the bully was evaded. This time however, Therma threw back a hard left hook that struck home on her target's body and caused the girl to stagger backward only for her to dive back in and respond with a flurry of angered punches. The blonde girl evaded them all and responded with four more punches that hit their mark.
“Stop that!” Crossfire shouted as she moved in and countered the upper body movement and shoved the girl to the ground. She then kicked up some dry dirt into Therma's eyes that blinded the girl which caused her to panic and scramble away from the direction of Crossfire. “Not so tough now are you? Where's all that fancy Street Fighter stuff now, huh?!”
Not able to see at all, Therma could hear the girl approaching faster than she could get away. Soon she felt Crossfire's hand grip her leg and start to drag her back to her. Reaching out her hand, she grabbed the nearest thing she could feel and swung it wildly as she felt it make contact and heard the scream that came from whoever it made contact with before another scream came from a distance away. “Therma!” she heard a voice cry out as someone put their hands around her and she began to fight. “T, it's Pinto! Here, let me help.” She felt something soft wipe against her face as her sight began to come back to her.
“Pinto? What happened?” She asked as she blinked a few times and let her tears wash away the remaining dirt and dust from her eyes and she then saw her handy work. Crossfire was on the ground, crying and screaming, blood pouring from her nose and a metal trashcan lid with traces of red on it as well. Then Therma saw someone racing down the alley where Cross' friends once were as they had seemingly run away. Though not being able to see fully, she could still recognize her as the woman that had stood in the window of Crossfire's house the last time that she'd been beaten up down here. The woman screamed loudly as she picked up the bully to look at her face.
“Oh my God! Baby, are you okay?” She barely got an answer through all of Crossfire's non-stop crying. Before long she turned her attention to Therma and Pinto and marched over to them. “You little brat! How dare you?” She raised her hand as if to strike the two as they held each other and closed their eyes in fear. When nothing happened, they looked up to find the woman's wrist being gripped tightly by the hand of someone behind them. Turning slightly they saw Aria with an angered look on her face.
“You're not putting your hand on my kid. Got that?” She twisted the woman's wrist and shoved her backwards. She looked down at the two. “You alright? I hung back to make sure you had things handled. Probably shouldn't have waited that long.”
“So you saw what your little demon spawn did to my little girl?”
Aria stepped passed the two girls to look her in the eyes. “Yeah, and I also saw you in that window watching your punk of a daughter threaten and bully my kid. She told me about your little spectator seats over there. You knew exactly what was happening the whole time. You're lucky I don't press charges against you. Now if you don't want to join her in the E.R. I suggest you get her to the hospital. So you better get out of my face and teach your kid some manners.” The woman stared at her furiously for a moment before tending to her daughter and carrying her home.
“You two. House. Now.” The two girls picked themselves up and walked to house. Inside, Pinto sat with Sonata in the living room as Aria tended to Therma in the bathroom. She held her head over the tub and washed out her eyes with water to rid them of any remaining dirt. “Eyes up, eyes up. There we go. All good now?” She handed her a towel.
“Aunt Aria?” She asked as she dried her face.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for helping me but...I don't think I like fighting. I want to defend myself but...after what I did to Crossfire...”
“Hey, it's alright, kiddo. Sorry I put you through that. I just know how strong you can be if you put your mind to it. What do you say we go over there tomorrow and apologize. Would that make you feel better?”
Therma nodded. “Can we invite her out for ice cream too?”
“Sure kid.” She patted her on the head. “Better enjoy it, too, because that will probably be the last fun thing either of us do after your parents find out about this.”