Theme: Child who's underestimated for a physical aspect he/she has.

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     "Mom, how come I'm bigger than the other kids..?" Charles sniffled.

     "Honey, don't worry about that, there's just that much more of you to love." She answered as she hugged the crying child.

     This memory briefly flashed through Charles's mind as his bully, Scott, was making fun of him again.

     "C'mon Scott, can you just give me my lunch money back..?" Charles whined as he tried to grab it from the other boy.

     "Yeah man, it's right here-" Scott said as he held Charles's money higher in the air. "-Just grab it."

     Charles hopped in the air and extended his arms as long as they could reach, but to no avail. "I can't reach it, can you just give it to me?" Charles asked, wanting this to be over.

     "Just jump you fucking fatty! It's right in front of you! Get it and you keep it, if you don't, then it's mine. Simple as that." Scott said with a devilish grin.

     Charles continued to hop up and down in an attempt to grab his money, but he failed again. This went on for a while until the lunch bell rang.

     "Charlie, I'm helpin' you out here. I just helped you burn some calories, so I'll just take this as my payment" Scott said as he left the lunchroom.

     Charles looked down and sighed, this had been going on ever since freshman year started. Charles had already went to most of the teachers, but the coaches wouldn't make their best lineman miss a game. It's just how things would work out.

     Charles shrugged his backpack onto his shoulders and began to walk to his calculus class for fifth period.

-Break-

     "Look man, you don't have to listen to that asshole. It's not like he's going to  ruin your school career." Charles's friend Jim whispered to him.

     "Yeah, Yeah. But I want friends, you know? I have you and that's great and all, but I don't want everyone to know me as Fatty or Fat ass.." Charles whispered back.

     "You don't need a lot of friends. You only need the good ones, the ones that treat you right." Jim said as he patted Charles on the back. Jim was Charles's best friend, but he just couldn't understand what Charles was going through unless he went through it himself.

     Nonetheless, Charles nodded to confirm that he understood, and focused his attention back at their teacher, Mr. Jones. He had tried to ask Mr. Jones for help with Scott, seeing that he was the head football coach and might actually be able to do something with Scott, but that was the wrong move. Scott somehow managed to warp what Charles said against him.

      Charles continued to work on the assignment. It was pretty easy, since he was pretty smart. But no one gets to know that side of me.. All they know is Fat Charlie.. Everything just.. Sucks. Charles began griping his pencil harder at the thought. 

     He felt something hit his back and turned to see what it was. On the floor behind him, there was a slightly crumbled piece of paper. At this point, Charles already knew what it was. He didn't bother to read it and threw it into the garbage can.

     Charles turned back to his desk, only to see that there were a dozen more notes lying on his desk. He pushed them to the side, trying to work. As he wrote, his hand bumped into a slightly opened note, and his curiosity got the best of him.

     He set down his pencil and unfolded the note. It had three words, but they packed a punch.

     Go. Kill. Yourself.

     Charles choked back a sob and threw the rest of the notes into the trashcan. He held back his tears for the rest of school, only to release them at home.

     He embraced his Mother as he sobbed into her blouse. His Mom had been going through this with him, every step of the way.

     "Honey.. Honey.." She said as she patted his back in an attempt to calm him down.

     He sniffled, and looked into his Mother's eyes. "Y..Yeah..?"

     "We can't control what we're born as, but we can control what we do with the gift of life. You know who told me that?" His Mother asked in a whisper.

     Charles shook his head no. "Your Father did, and if he were still with us, he would be saying it to you." His Mother said into his ear.

     Charles wiped his nose with his shirt. Hearing about how his Father would have cared for him always made him feel better. "Thanks Mom.." Charles said as he took a step back.

     "No Problem honey, now what are we gonna eat tonight?" She pondered.

     They looked at each other and laughed. It was Wednesday, Pizza Night. Nothing could ruin dinner. His Mom walked off to call a Pizza Place for delivery, and Charles went to his room.

     The room was covered wall to wall with what some would call "Geeky" stuff. He called it awesome. He hopped onto his bed and opened the manga he was previously reading.

-The Next Day-

     Charles was waiting at the bus stop, and feeling relieved that it was a Friday, and not because it was the weekend, no, it was because he got two days off from Scott. 

     "Yo Charles!"a voice came from down the street. Charles turned towards the sound and waved at his friend Jim.

     "What's up Jim?" Charles said as Jim got closer.

     "Good man. The new My Hero Academy episode is coming out in two days, so i got that to look forward to." Jim said, stretching his arms.

     "Yeah, isn't it the one when Baku-" Charles was cut off with Jim shoving his finger into his face.

     "Hey I don't want no spoilers! I haven't read the manga, remember?" Jim said in a frantic tone.

    "Yeah, sorry. I'm just gonna say that it's gonna be cool." Charles said.

    "Better be.." Jim muttered as they both walked onto the bus.

-School-

     That Friday, Charles had to endure the usual hell that Scott always brought onto him. It started with bearable things like getting objects thrown at him slowly, but surely, escalated into a punch in the stomach.

     "Bet you barely felt that with all of that Fat you got there." Scott said as Charles held his stomach on the floor.

     "Don't defy me again." Scott said to Charles as he walked away.

     Charles coughed and pushed himself onto his elbows. "Wh..Why.. Why do you do this to me..? Put me through this hell..?" Charles mustered forth.

     Scott stopped and said in a low tone "Didn't I say not to defy me again?" Scott turned back around and kicked Charles in the gut.

    "Fucking Charlie! Listen for once! You can't do anything right!" Scott said as he was bombarded Charles with kicks.

    "S..Stop!!" was all Charles could say.

    To Charles's surprise, Scott did stop. "This is your first warning. If you even show your face around me, it'll become much, much worse." Scott said as he left the bathroom.

     Charles spent the next few minutes hugging his stomach in pain. He heard some other students walk in and out, and even saw them look at him, but why would they help him? They probably just thought he had a really bad stomach ache.

     He eventually managed to get up and walk back to his class after getting himself straight.

     "Hey man, what happened to you? You look like a zombie bro." Jim said after seeing Charles.

     "Don't really want to talk about it Jim.." Charles said. 

     "Ah, him again. Dude, you can ask for help from me, you know. We're friends and that's what friends do, am I right?" Jim said with what was probably the most serious expression on Jim's face that Charles had ever seen.

     "It's cool, I would like to deal with it myself, you know? If I didn't do that, it.. it just wont end." Charles said as he started their assignment.

     "No shame in getting help, just saying. If you ever need help, i'm your guy." Jim said as he turned to the task on his desk. 

     Charles gathered his belongings together as the bell rang and got up to leave the classroom. As he was about to go through the door, his Teacher, Mr. Jones, called him to his desk. What did Scott tell him this time..? Charles thought as he trudged to the teacher's desk, waiting for whatever was going to come at him.

     "I.. Understand that one of my players has been.. bullying you." Mr. Jones said to Charles.

     Charles was taken back, this was his chance! He might actually be able to enjoy his high school career!

     "Y..Yes! He's been doing that ever since our freshman year started.." Charles said.

     "Well, I can't do anything about it." Mr. Jones continued.

     All hope in Charles died right then and there.

     "W..What do you mean..? Why can't you help? Aren't teachers supposed to help stu-" Charles asked as he was cut off.

     "Let me finish kid. I can't do anything 'cause if I did, nothing would change. He'd call you a pussy, and continue bullying you." Mr. Jones said. 

     Charles began to talk, but was cut off by Mr. Jones. "But what I can do is help YOU deal with him. And I have an idea on how to do so.." Mr. Jones finished.

     Mr. Jones began laying out what would be the foundation  of saving Charles's social life. The idea scared Charles, but thrilled him at the same time.

-Early Morning, The Next Day-

     Charles stood shivering outside in the cold. "Why are we out here..?" he asked, hugging his arms to his body to keep it warm.

     "To see if you have a push, a drive, in you. We gotta see if you can handle Football. Is that enough of an answer?" Mr. Jones said.

     "That makes sense.. Do you think I can?" Charles asked.

     "It depends, do you?" Mr. Jones asked back.

-After Practice-

     "Well from what I've seen, you're great at this. Don't take this offensively, but you have way better stamina then I thought you would have. You'd be a great asset to the football team." Mr. Jones said as he sipped a cup of coffee.

     "I..I didn't know I could do that.." Charles said, hands on his knees and out of breath.

     "You never know until you try." Mr. Jones said.

     "Y..Yeah."Charles paused. "Why is it that you helped me..?"

     "Well you.. Remind me of myself in high-school.. You know.. Being.." Mr. Jones left the end of the sentence out.

     "R..Really? You were Fat too..?" Charles said, genuinely surprised. 

     "I prefer saying 'being bigger', but yeah. A football coach came up to me one day and offered me a position on the line. I accepted and I eventually got stronger and healthier, and my bullies went away." Mr. Jones said with a slight trace of a smile.

     "Wow.. So the help you're giving me actually worked..?" Charles muttered in awe.

     "Of course it did! Now get to school and be ready for football before I start making you do Up-Downs!" Mr. Jones yelled.

      "Yes sir!"

-After School, At Football Practice-

     Charles had all of the needed gear for football. You can do this.. Like Mr. Jones said, I just have to be confident. 'Fake it 'till you make it' as Mr. Jones put it. Charles thought as he was walking out of the locker room. 

     Charles walked out of the locker room, and almost immediately, as if from some sixth sense Scott looked straight at Charles and ran up to him.

     "Hey, I know it's hard to get through your fat skull, but this is field right here, it's for Football players. You're CLEARLY not a Football player. I mean, Just look at yo-" Scott was interrupted from his rant by Mr. Jones, Or rather Coach Jones.

     "Hey now, I recruited him. So treat him with the respect you would treat your teammates with." Coach Jones said.

     Some of the other player jogged over to the commotion.

     "C'mon Coach! He clearly can't play!" Scott whined as he gestured to Charles.

      "And what makes you think that?" Coach Jones asked in a neutral tone.

      "Well, Just look at him! He's not fit, and even if he were, I don't think he'd be able to push himself to do anything with his life!" Scott complained, clearly angry and flabbergasted.

     "You'd be surprised, Langford." Coach Jones said, calling Scott by his last name.

     "Surprised on how easy it is.." Scott muttered.

      "So you're gonna be like that? Okay, everyone gather up, we're doing Ring of Fire." Coach Jones said. Ring of Fire is when all the players gather around in a circle, two players go in, and they try to tackle each other to the ground.

       "B..But Mr. Jones.." Charles stammered.

       "You'll be fine. You have pads on, and this is a free chance to get revenge. And FWI, it's Coach Jones from now on." Coach Jones said as he smiled.

        As Charles heard the word 'Revenge', a fire lit in his eyes. Charles nodded at the Coach, and Jogged over to the circle. He had to squeeze into it since no one made room.

     "Now, any volunteers?" Coach Jones asked as he looked at Charles, obviously wanting him to go up.

      Charles slightly raised his hand and was immediately called on by the Coach.

      "Better show this Ass-wipe his place." Scott said, popping his knuckles.

       They stepped into the center. "Ready to be tackled, Fat Ass?" Scott said behind his helmet.

       Charles didn't say anything and just got into the position the Coach showed him. Scott got into a three-point stance in front of Charles.

       "You're Fucking Dead, Charlie." Scott whispered to him.

       "I think you should be more concerned about yourself." Charles said. 

        The Coach whistled and the two collided. Charles grabbed his chest piece and began to drive him to the ground. Charles felt some resistance, so he pushed harder. There was a loud thud and Scott hit the ground. Charles was rewarded with a grunt from Scott

         All was quiet. The players were stunned at what just happened. Their star lineman was just taken down by someone who had never touched a Football in his life. "Great Performance Charles!" The Coach said, breaking the silence.

         Charles walked over to Scott and offered his hand for him to get up. Scott glared up at him and got up himself. He walked away muttering about how he should have won.

         Charles ignored it and turned to the Coach.

         "Whadd'ya say, Charles? Would you like to permanently join the Football team as our starter lineman?"  Coach Jones asked.

          Charles briefly thought about how he'd be stealing Scott's position and how devastating it would be for Scott, but the thought passed by almost as quickly as it had come. It was his turn for something good.

         "Hell Yeah!"

Word Count: 2520