Rivals

It was kind of tricky holding on to Perkins the bully. He squirmed a lot and he knew how to throw his center of gravity around, so that Brent had to keep grabbing his arms or his legs to get him back under control. Brent managed somehow to get him up the hill to where Lucy was sitting with her binoculars.

"Get him away from me!" she squeaked as they came closer.

Brent dropped Perkins heavily on the grass and then sat down on him. That seemed to do the trick - as much as Perkins tried to heave and buck to get free, it was easy for Brent to keep him from getting away.

"You didn't beat him up," Lucy said, once she'd gotten over her fright. "Because you see I was thinking that you should beat him up, so that he won't beat up any other kids, because - "

"Yeah. I got it." Brent stared at the cars in the parking lot. This didn't make sense. It should be easier. Cleaner. "Except it wouldn't work. Do you know why Perkins bullies freshmen? Tell her, Perkins."

The bully grunted and heaved but couldn't get his knees under him. "Because it feels good," he said. "Because I'm bigger than they are."

Brent rolled his eyes. "No. It's not that. It's because his dad beats him up. That makes him angry but he can't fight back against his dad - apparently the guy was a football player in college and he's huge. So that's what Matt learned at home. That if you're bigger than somebody else, it's okay to beat them up and take their stuff."

"That's messed up," Lucy said.

"Yeah. But it raises an interesting question. Which is what I should do with him. See, if I beat him up - that just proves he's right. That just because somebody is bigger, or, in my case, stronger, then they can do whatever they want."

"But it's different! You'd be helping people! Do you know how many kids want to see him get hurt? Do you know how much misery he's caused? You'd be getting revenge for a whole generation of underclassmen!"

"Does that make it okay? Should I beat up everybody those kids want me to beat up?" Brent shrugged. This was getting so complicated. "Who decides when it's okay to beat somebody up? Me? You? I don't think I have the right to make that decision. And even if I do beat him up, then what? Do I have a responsibility to beat up his dad?"

Perkins growled under Brent. "You could. You could take him!"

"That seems kind of... messed up," Lucy agreed. "Beating up somebody's dad."

"Even if they are a bad person." Brent rubbed at his eyes. "I don't know, Luce. I keep thinking about my dad. I keep thinking he wouldn't want me to do this. It wouldn't make him proud. And I owe him, a lot."

Lucy frowned. "What are you going to do?"

Brent stood up. Perkins took the opportunity to jump to his feet and try to dash away. Brent stopped him by grabbing his shoulder before he could escape. "Listen," Brent said, "I'm not going to hit you. But if I hear that you're hassling any more kids, then - "

"Then you'll beat me up?"

Brent shook his head. "No. But I'll stop you. Just like I stopped you today. I'll be watching you from now on and if you try anything, I'll stop you. That's all. You've seen I can do it."

"You can't watch me all the time," Perkins said.

Brent let him go. He ran around the side of the school and disappeared.

"I need to get home," Brent said. "I need to talk to my sister about this. Maybe she has some ideas about what we're supposed to do with these powers. She's smarter than me, maybe she's already figured this out."

Lucy walked with him. Normally he took the bus home but it had already left without him. It was a good half hour walk back to his house, and part of it was along the highway where there wasn't any sidewalk, just a narrow little path worn down in the grass. Cars honked at them as they rocketed past and twice he had to pick Lucy up and get her out of the way of a driver who was too close to the curb. With her legs in braces she couldn't jump away as fast as he could. After the second time he just slung her across his back and carried her piggyback. She didn't seem to mind and her weight didn't bother him at all.

As they walked they tried to think of ways Brent could actually help people with his powers that didn't get morally complicated. "What if you saw somebody stealing somebody's wallet on the street. It would be okay to hit them, wouldn't it?" she asked.

"I guess," Brent told her, "but when was the last time you actually saw that happen? You hear about crime all the time but it tends to happen in dark alleys and really late at night."

"You could rescue people who get lost in the desert," she tried. One of her hands was absently rubbing his chest. It felt good so he didn't tell her to stop.

"Sure. If I could find them." He thought about it for a second. "I could spend the rest of my life patrolling the desert, looking for people in trouble. But that would get pretty boring. I mean, how often does somebody actually get lost out there? Once or twice a year? I kind of wanted to go to college instead."

"I guess you could carry little old ladies across the street. Or carry their groceries for them." Lucy laughed. "They'd probably like that." She leaned her head on his shoulder and he wondered if she was getting tired.

"I don't seem to get tired," he said, because he had suddenly realized this fact. "I suppose I could go to the power plant and turn a big crank on one of their turbines and generate electricity all day. That would use less oil and it would be good for the environment."

Lucy chuckled. "I could bring you sandwiches every day. And maybe read to you while you turned your crank, so you didn't get bored."

Brent grinned. That was hardly how he'd seen his life going. But it was a cute thought.

"Here we are," he said, when they finally got to his house. He climbed up the steps to the porch and stopped before the door. "Um," he said, "maybe you should get down now."

"Oh, sorry," she said, and slid down off his back. "It was just so comfortable up there."

"I'll give you a ride anytime," Brent said, searching in his backpack for his key. "You want to come in, maybe have a snack or something before you head home?"

She didn't get to answer him, though. Before she could open her mouth to reply they both heard Grandma screaming for help.