"Hey you, Asian boy." Sherman ignored the jerk who was always making fun of him all the time. It was super weird why they'd mock him all the time. He was stronger than most boys his age and was by far the faster runner in his class.

That kid mustn't of known.

"Come on guys let's go a bit faster." He hissed under his breath to Lance and August.

"Hey Asian boy, I was talking to you." The jerk cut in front of him. He was tall, possibly the tallest ten-year-old his age. Even though Sherman was average height, he was at least a head taller. Intimidating yes, but possibly a lot more stupid.

"Hey Sherman, Roc's talking to you." A smaller jerk pointed out. He must be a minion.

"Oh really, because I don't respond to Asian boy." He hissed, pushing past his way through the two, with Lance and August following close behind.

"Hey where do you think you're going Asian baby." Roc caught up again, and Sherman but his lip. He was almost at his class and he hoped he'd get there before he dumped August's stinky tofu salad on Roc.

"Hey will you leave him alone?" Lance snapped, glaring at the bully. He widened his stance and Sherman smiled gratefully.

"Oh look Asian boy, relying on you friends to defend you? Such a weak and fatherless baby."

Sherman's face was now reddening in anger. His hands clenched into fists and August seemed to notice, quickly pulling him away. "Come on hurry."

"Yea run away weak loser. I bet your mom raised you to be this weak. She must be at the bar shaking her but at everyone."

Sherman yanked his arm away from August and marched up to the boy, throwing his fist across Roc's face. The sound satisfied him so he started to walk away.

His shirt was suddenly snatched up and he felt his airway constrict. "You didn't do that retard."

Sherman's face continued to grow red. "Yes I did."

"Your mother should have taught you better. Probably doesn't care about you anyways. You're pretty much an orphan." He mocked and threw his own fist towards Sherman's face.

Without flinching, Sherman prepared for contact and threw his foot in between Roc's leg right as his fist was about it meet his face.

"Sherman stop!" Cried August. Sherman didn't hesitate to tackle the tall bully even as he clutched his side. Despite the one foot height disadvantage, Sherman threw all the punches and even when the opponent was on top, he always had a way to avoid each blow.

He didn't know how he could do but it was pumping up his adrenaline more than it had even been in a gym class.

"Sherman! Roc! What on earth do you think you're doing."

Roc had a bleeding lip and was out of breath but once Sherman's focus was distracted, he leaped in Sherman and tacked him again. Still, he avoided the punches of Roc and managed to get on top.

The principal pulled the two apart. Sherman was without a scratch except for the few specks of dirt from the floor. She looked at the height difference, and became very solemn. "This behaviour isn't tolerated in our school boys."

Roc was on the floor, holding his nose in pain. "Roc, get to the nurse's office then come to mine. You boys too."

She pointed to Lance, August, and Roc's little minion.

They hesitated but obeyed, walking into the principal's office immediately. After waiting for a few more minutes, Roc walked in and his nose was bandaged up. Shooting a sharp glare at Sherman, he walked into the office with a the rest.

"Ok someone better explain what happened."

"Sherman attacked me." Blurted out Roc without hesitation.

"Oh really, why is that?"

"I dunno, ask Sherman." He glared at the poor boy and Sherman furrowed his eyebrows. He knew this wasn't gonna go well.

"Sherman?"

"I did fight him ma'am, however I give you my word I had a good reason to."

She seemed taken back by how formally Sherman spoke and it seemed to benefit him. "What was your reason Sherman?"

"He referred me as weak and fatherless." His mother always taught him to speak like he was speaking to the queen when he was in trouble with teachers. She said it made him seem properly educated.

However this principal was still unimpressed. "Couldn't you have ignored him?"

"I did at first but however he was mentioning my mother in inappropriate ways where it really hurt me. I'm sorry and I know my behaviour was inexcusable but I couldn't ignore what he was calling my mom."

"Is this true Rocky?"

"No of course not I'd never do something like that!" His voice was completely innocent like nothing ever happened.

"Yea right, if I was Sherman I'd kill you completely." Fired Lance, who stoop up from his chair and glared.

"Yea, Sherman didn't call anyone names or make fun of their parents. He tried to ignore it until he was pushed to his peak." Cried August.

"Rocky called Sherman Asian baby. And weak and fatherless. And I don't think I would get out of this room if I said what he called Sherman's mom." Pointed out Lance.

"Ok that's enough boys, now Rocky do you have any evidence that he had no reason to attack you?" The principal sternly looked at him

He glared at what seemed to be the whole room but never answered. "That's what I thought. Both of you will be suspended for three days. I hope this never happens again."

Sherman nodded and sighed, walking out of the classroom as the secretary called his mother. He didn't want to explain anything that happened that day but the chances were pretty low. There was no way his mother wasn't going to ground him.

He sat down and a couple of girls in his class walked up to him and sat down on either sides of him. He recognized them as Charity and Lindy. Two girls who were pretty and popular in their grade.

He liked the two, they were nice to everyone and weren't like the way popular girls were perceived in books.

"Hey we heard about what happened, you ok?" Asked Charity. She was blonde, with dark brown eyes and a slightly plump figure.

"Yea, not a scratch. Ask Roc though. He got a broken nose."

"Why ask him." Growled Lindy who happened to be a little more aggressive than he was. "Rocky Mountain is a jerk."

"No kidding." Sighed Sherman.

"We're sorry about what he said." Charity attempted. She looked into his eyes and he only nodded.

"It's ok, my mom's coming now, she'll understand." He assured.

"How did he end up with a broken nose when you didn't even get punched?" She asked as if she still couldn't believe it.

"I may be smarter." He shrugged.

"But you're like that much shorter!" Lindy raised her arms in comparison to the height difference.

"I only really know, maybe it's because of the ADHD." He said looking out the window to see his mom's black car pull up along the rainy highway.

"My mom's here, I gotta go." He told them as he waited at the double doors for his mom to pick him up. She walked out in a white t-shirt with Sebastian who was trailing her in a hurry.

She quickly opened the door, bending down to hold his face in her hands. "Oh my goodness sapling, are you ok? Did you get hurt? Did he hurt you?"

Sherman nodded and sighed. "Yes mom I'm fine."

"Did you win?" Asked Sebastian, a bit of curiosity sparkling in his green eyes. Caroline glared at Sebastian and he stepped back a little. "Hey I was just wondering!"

Sherman grinned and laughed, a bright smile forming on his thin lips. "It was like squashing a big beetle."

"That's my man." Sebastian sent him a high five and his mother rolled her eyes in frustration.

"Really Sherman, are you ok?"

"Mom, the only thing that hurt me was the sitting in the principal's office for ten minutes straight. Do you know how hard that is for a kid burning with ADHD?" He turned to the doors and ran right to the car, jumping in the backseat.

His mother bit her lip in worry and they drove home. He burst into the building and ran up to his room.

Then it all came.

All the emotions Rocky wanted him to feel hit him and his heart was falling into a million cracks. He felt empty, he felt angry, and it really didn't help much.

It wasn't easy being any of it.

Especially fatherless.