Wyvern and Company by Connie Suttle Page A

football team faster than he got on it," I snapped,
standing up to defend us.
    "I second that," Gina rose beside me.
    "Yeah. Me, too," Mack stood. His words, however,
definitely contained a growl. I'd have to figure out how he did that—it was
becoming seriously cool.
    The rest of our lunch table rose to show their solidarity.
Randall, Todd and the other bullies decided to leave. For once, we actually
outnumbered him and his horde.
    "You know he'll try to get back at us—again," Mack
said, shaking his head before sitting down to finish lunch.
    "That's guaranteed," I sighed.
    "Don't worry about him, he's a jerk," Gina said,
taking her seat at my side.
    "Oh, he's more than just a jerk," I said. "He's
a stupid jerk. Feckless. Moronic. Ineffective. Unproductive. Injudicious."
    "I'd add dense and slow to that list," Mack said. "He
doesn't understand multi-syllable words, you know."
    Gina laughed. It sounded amazing and was just what we needed
to hear.
    "If my mom's Jeep is in one piece after school, want a
ride home?" I asked Gina as we headed toward calculus class after lunch.
    "Yeah. I'll let Mom know she doesn't have to pick me up
today." Her eyes shone and she giggled—she was excited to be riding with
me. For the first time in my life, I considered that I might have a steady girlfriend.
    * * *
    Sure, I should have thought twice about stopping at the local
hangout for a soda, but hey—it was expected if you had a girl. Besides, Mack
was all for it—he wanted a Dr. Pepper.
    We pulled in and placed our order at the kiosk. That went just
fine. What didn't go fine was the four who waited at the end of the
drive-through, blocking our way. Randall and his horde had eggs, paint and a
baseball bat with them.
    Honking did no good at all. They approached the front of Mom's
Jeep. Eggs and paint flew while Randall took his frustrations out on the
vehicle. Gina cowered in the front passenger seat as rocks joined the eggs and
both headlights were broken by the bat. A hailstorm might have competed with
the noise of the pelting rocks and eggs as they pounded the metal vehicle with
regularity.
    Honestly, I was so mad I could have taken all of them on, but
the police showed up in less than thirty seconds. I have no idea how they got
there that fast, but I was more than grateful to see Officers Barton and Francis
get out of the first car to respond.
    More police arrived as Randall and his friends began to back
away. Did he think his dad's being a member of FPD, even a suspended one—would
get him out of this mess?
    Mack and I exchanged looks before opening our doors and
getting out. Randall was resisting arrest, it looked like, while his friends
stood quietly, waiting to be loaded into nearby police cruisers.
    Gina got out, too, and came right to me. I wrapped my arms
around her while we watched; Randall was shoved to the ground after he kicked
Officer Barton. He was handcuffed after that and still fighting when he was pushed
into the back of a patrol car by four officers.
    "We had a call on this attack, plus the footage from the
school parking lot," Officer Francis walked up to talk to us. "You
all right? Do you need assistance?"
    "I think we're okay," I said. "Gina?" I
tilted her face up with a finger.
    "Yeah. Just a little shaken," Gina's smile wavered.
    "I'll need information on this vehicle to file an
incident report," Francis said. "It'll help with the insurance
company, too. Know any reason why he wanted to attack you?"
    "Just a guess, and I have my license here," I pulled
out my wallet. "Insurance stuff is in the car."
    "I'll get it," Mack offered and went back to the
Jeep.
    "What's the guess?" Francis asked, writing the
information from my license on a piece of paper.
    "He's mad because some of his friends died and Mack didn't.
He started out bullying him," I said. "Then his dad got suspended for
putting Mack where he did at the jail. Since I was with Mack all the time at
school, I got included in Randall's attack. He upped it when