It was over. My friendship with Amy was over. She didn't have to say all of those means things, but if that's the way she feels, so be it. She doesn't need to be in our lives anymore. Besides, she always acted so snotty anyway.

Monday came, ending our weekend fun, and we jumped into school again. Dainu, Pam, and I decided to walk to school like normal people—Dainu wore a cap to hide part of his face in case any nosy neighbors stared at him. I told Pam what had happened yesterday with Amy. I wasn't surprised that Pam would be appalled to hear about Amy saying mean things about Dainu. She said her usual "that ain't right" phrase after I told the whole story. Dainu kept suggesting that I should talk to her and forgive her, but I just ignored him.

As we arrived at the front of the school, Amy, who was walking the same pace as us but far at another direction, sped ahead of us without eyeing us, and disappeared into the crowd. I didn't bother looking at her either.

By lunch, we sat by our usual lunch table. Amy, however, was at the far end of the lunchroom, sitting by herself on the floor, eating and gazing at the floor. That's what Emo kids and loners do when they don't want to mingle with others. I remain focus on my sandwich—I was hungry anyway. Dainu kept gazing at Amy, feeling sorry for her and wanting to do something.

"Kaley, please, negotiate with Amy," Dainu begged.

I shook my head. "I'm not going to 'negotiate' with that witch." I stuffed my mouth with my sandwich.

"Such bitter words you speak behind her back," said Dainu concerned.

"Yes!" I exasperated. "I speak bitter words behind her back. She did it to you too. Everyone does it to each other. It's our nature. I'm sorry but we just can't help it. And I'm not talking to her."

"Backbiting is a part of your nature?!" Dainu said shockingly. "Kaley, do you know what you are doing? You are increasing...hate." He choked at the last, bitter word.

"So?" I said, not caring.

Dainu took a round cheese puff from Pam's bag of cheese puffs. Looks like my professor here was going to teach me something philosophical today.

"Kaley, hate is a cruel emotion, and—I should mention—a bitter word to speak of. Look at this powdery chip I am holding here." He held the cheese puff in between his index and thumb. "It is round, whole, flawless, like your world. Or it can be an example of your brain, or soul, or anything you want to imagine. As you observe, this spherical chip represents the strong ties of love, friendship, kinship, peace, and tranquility. It keeps its spherical shape so perfectly and healthy because of the positivity. But, if hate runs amuck, even if it starts out minute like an atom, then it will rapidly spread...until," he smashed the puff between his fingers, letting a few crumbs fall onto the table, "we, ourselves, are corrupted with hate, doubt, envy, violence, greed, and many other menacing acts. We will become a rampage, until we are no one."

"Kind like the story about Pandora we read in Lit.," Pam noted.

Dainu nodded.

"Well, yeah, of course that's right," I confess. "But sometimes it's really hard to get rid of those things. Some people are so mean that they purposely continue hurting you, and pushing you down just to watch you break. That's what also causes us to continue our negative emotions, because they started it and they won't stop, just like Amy. What's the point of forgiving someone, if they don't want to listen and continue what they're doing?"

"It is a matter of patience, Kaley," Dainu said gently. "Forgiveness is the key of breaking the war of hate. If you forgive, there will be peace. On my planet, we do not hate, or avenge, or react in violence. We are the people of peace. We do not—"

"Will you stop it already?!" I snapped. "We get it, your planet is the most peaceful place there is in the galaxies. You told me that on and on and on. You keep talking about it like you're bragging about how your planet is better than ours, and it's true. But you don't have to keep mentioning it. If you don't like it here, why don't you go back where you've came from?"

Now I was really pushed it. I couldn't believe I said that to Dainu. He looked at me like he was hurt badly, and it was my fault. I felt so mean, so prejudice. I didn't even know what I was saying. It just slipped out like a tsunami. I slapped my forehead hard at the act I committed.

"Whoa," said Pam. "You got some drama, sugar mama. You're like PMSing all over."

"I'm sorry," I said guiltily . "I'm so, so sorry, Dainu. I swear, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just so mad at Amy. I want to try to forgive her, but it's hard, so hard."

"Do you want me to speak with her instead," Dainu said, laying his gentle, soft, warm hand on mine. That seem to have make me feel better.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks, Dainu."

Dainu got up from his seat, and walked over to Amy. Pam and I watched Dainu talk with her. She didn't give him much eye contact, and she didn't speak much to him. Dainu seems like a professional at these things. He's calm, quiet, patience, and he never gets angry, not once since I met him.

Dainu came back to our table after their conversation had ended. He still had that sad, concerned look on his face.

"How did it go?" I asked.

"She is not being cooperative," he said. "She does not want to confess the mistake she had committed. I tried to convince her, but she refused."

"Told you," I mumbled.

"Oh, c'mon, guys," Pam said reassuring. "Let's not be all depress and everything. Amy is Amy. She's always been stubborn. She'll grow out of it."

As soon as the bell rang for our next class, Amy stormed out of the lunchroom before anyone else to avoid us.

Throughout the school week, Dainu tried to convince Amy what she did wrong, but over and over again, she would just ignore and walk away from him. Dainu had also reminded me to forgive and forget. I tried that, but I keep stalling for some reason, and it's not because of our class periods. I would text her in between classes saying that we really need to meet up and talk. Most of the time, she would not reply, or she would reply but with harsh words and insulting names. I gave up at that time.

Amy was also started to get real aggressive whenever I walk past her in the hall. She would knock into my shoulder like she never saw me. Sometimes, she would give me the evil eye look like how Carmen does to me when she wants to get me back. This was going too far now; I had no idea how long Amy was going to keep up this grudge. Dainu and I decided we had to talk with her immediately.

After school on a Friday, we followed Amy out of the school, calling her attention.

"Amy, please," I called her. "We really need to talk to you. This had gone far enough."

She stopped and turned. "Why? Because you finally realize that I'm right and you're wrong?"

"Amy, you know you're wrong. Dainu and I have done nothing wrong. I want you to stop, please. I...." It was hard again to bring out the word. Is it really necessary to forgive her when she was the one who made that mistake?

"Heed my words, Amy," Dainu said gently. "Holding this grudge is not damaging us; it is you who is damaging yourself."

"Whatever, green boy," she scolded. "I don't need to 'heed' your words; I don't have to listen to your Buddhist proverbs. Leave them at your planet, not here."

I wanted to run up to her, punch her in the nose, but Dainu grabbed my arm to prevent me from performing any violence. "Amy," I yelled at her. "Stop this right now! You're being such a witch. I hate it when you act like this. Just stop and listen to us."

She refused. She quickly got onto her bike and rode off speedily away out of sight.

"We should follow her," Dainu suggested.

"I think we should," I agreed. "But don't do your teleportation thing. You'll scare the heck out of her, if you pop up in front of her. That would be bad."

I hopped onto my bike and began to pedal after Amy. She was gone by the second. She always likes to show off her athletic skills when she rides her bicycle. We used to bike race around our block, and she would be a yard ahead of me. But this wasn't a race, or a hide and seek game, I had to find Amy and settle things out with her. I had to find her before she does something she might regret.

Dainu went sky high to help guide me towards the direction of Amy. I asked him if he saw her yet, and he shook his head no. Finally, he caught a glimpse of her and instructed me to head north. I pedaled my bike as fast as I can to catch up with her.

I followed Amy down at Downy Street. I tried calling out to her, but she ignored me. Then, she got off her bike and ran down in an alley between these two apartment buildings. I quickly got off my bike, and ran after her. My head was buzzing. What the heck was Amy thinking when she ran into the alley? Then again, maybe she wasn't. She was just trying to get away from me.

Dainu and I heard her scream, "Help! Somebody please help!"

So now she asks for help, after she stormed away from us. But I couldn't back away from her now. She was in trouble, and I had to help.

When we got to the alley, we saw Amy trapped in a circle of boys. That was bad news all right. I've seen these guys before. They're not real gangsters or anything, but they sure like to cause a lot trouble, like shoving and pushing little kids, snatching purses from elderly women, or beating the snot out of wimpy teens. They also like to scare people with their chains, pocket knives, or brass knuckles. I don't think they actually hurt people with those...at least, not that I know of.

The boys were pushing and shoving Amy around. Amy held her backpack close to her chest. One of the members snatched it out of her arms and spilled out all of her books and belongings.

"Hey!" I yelled at them. They stopped and looked towards me. "Leave her alone, or else you'll have to come through us."

Did I just say that? Great, now I'm gonna get in trouble.

One large boy with a pocket knife—I think he's the leader—walked toward us, his eyes mischievously staring at us. "You lookin' for trouble too?" he asked, flipping his knife. "I guess we can invite some more to our party."

The group laughed out loud.

I froze in fear; my heart rhythmically punched my rib cage, trying to escape and run away. Dainu stepped in front of me, guarding me like a German shepherd. The leader stopped in his tracks, scanning Dainu's looks from head to toe, looking dumbfounded.

"Who are you?" he said. "What's with the make-up, punk? Halloween's not until October, y'know. Move it, or lose your face."

"This is my natural skin, to be precise," Dainu commented. "And I should warn you, please put your weapon down. I will not engage into violence."

The boys laughed like hyenas. "Put my weapon down?" the leader laughed. "Who does he think he is? And what kind of punk doesn't want to fight? Why don't you quit bein' a wimp, and show me whatcha got?"

"No," Dainu said firmly. "I will not engage myself in a brawl, and you do not want to underestimate my power."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," he said sarcastically. He was about to charged his knife at us. I screamed and tried to pull Dainu away. Instead of dodging or ducking away from the knife, Dainu stood his ground, and slapped the knife out of his hand. I heard a faint bone cracking sound. The leader cried out in pain, squeezing his injured wrist.

Next thing I knew, the rest of the members charged all at once, ready to pounce and pummel Dainu. Dainu pushed me out of the way. Dainu leaped over the stampede of the boys, and they all landed and fell on each other like sacks of potato bags. Amy fought back at this other fat guy that arm-locked her by stomping on his foot. He was about to hit her with his chain, but Dainu caught his arm and threw him hard into the heap of garbage bags. Amy hurried to my side and watched the rumbling match with me.

The boys were coming at Dainu fast. But Dainu was even faster. They thought they would have him trapped in the middle of their group attack, but Dainu speedily dodged and blocked their attacks. He almost reminded me of the superhero Flash. Even though Dainu did not want to participate in this fight, he still defended himself by blocking, pushing, or throwing an individual attacker. I also notice that when defending himself, he still didn't throw any punches or kicks. That was smart of him to not get his hands dirty.

One of the members was about to hit Dainu with a bar. Amy and I shouted at Dainu to watch his back, and without even turning to look, Dainu caught the guy's bar and crushed it in two. He scurried away like a girl.

A guy with brass knuckles tried punching Dainu in every direction he moved. But he was too quick to get a scratch on his face. Dainu caught both of his brass knuckles, and, somehow, melted them in his hand until it drooled down like mercury. That guy ran away too, screaming like a girl.

Soon, the boys surrendered themselves and ran away until they were completely gone. Dainu cracked his stiff fingers. "I cannot bear the rage of violence," he said. "But I had no choice, they wanted to harm Amy. I just hope I did not injure them too much."

"Who the heck cares if you hurt them or not," I said excitedly. "You were awesome out there. I never saw anything like that!"

"Yeah," Amy agreed. "You were, like, a life saver. Thank you so much! I'm sorry I ran off like that. I'm so stupid into thinking of that."

"It's OK, Amy," I said. "Everything's cool now, I—"

I was interrupted when a rough hand pulled and wrapped me around my neck. I was trapped in a harsh grasp. A knife pointed me in the face.

"Get back, you freak!" said a wrathful voice in my ear. It was the leader of the gang. We had forgotten about him.

"Please, be at peace," said Dainu calmly, but worriedly. "Put your weapon down. I do not want any more of this."

"You're right about that!" the leader said. "Get back now, or I'll cut her face."

I felt the knife's silver kiss pressed on my cheek. My legs were violently shaking I could hardly stand or depend myself. I almost felt like I was going to wet my pants.

Dainu looked at the leader with pity in his eyes. "What horror I am seeing in you. You have such hate and evil in your heart. You are corrupted. And I feel sorry for you."

"You feel sorry for me?" the leader laughed nervously. "You're makin' a mistake. You're supposed to feel sorry for your friend here."

"Dainu, hlep!" I screamed and the blade pressed more firmly on my cheek.

Suddenly, the boy's knife move away from my cheek and out of harm's way. The gang leader panicked, wondering why his arm was mindlessly controlling itself. He tried pulling, but it wouldn't tug back. The knife slipped out of his hand, and it maneuvered towards Dainu. He caught the blade with its sharp tip pointing down.

"This madness has to stop!" Dainu said. He dropped the knife, and crushed it into pieces with his foot. I let out a sighed and relaxed my tensed muscles.

The gang leader was still holding me, but I knew he was scared and flabbergasted at what Dainu just did.

"What are you?!" he muttered. "Just what the heck are you? You think you could stop me? Think again, freak!"

He took his rough hands and pushed me hard into the busy street. Cars maneuvered and swirled past me. I tried to run, but it was too dangerous, too chaotic. I felt trapped; I lost hope in my courage.

A tow truck was heading my way really fast. Its horns blaring at me, warning me to move out of the way, but I couldn't move. There was no way out for me, no second hopes. Fear has overtaken me. I ready to expect pain, numbness, and bright lights.

I felt a push against my shoulders, awaking my awareness. That push got me out of the way and I rolled onto the sidewalk. My head was spinning so much I couldn't bare everything that was happening.

There were two noises that had awoken my senses, and could haunt my memories forever: first, the sound of the truck screeching to a stop and crushing something that sounded like wood snapping, and second, the screams of Amy in agonizing pain.

I sprung up, and ran to Amy's side. Dainu came to her side too; he took his hands and very gently examined her left leg. Blood soaked through her jeans looking like lava spilling down from a volcano.

"I can't feel my leg!" Amy yelled and sobbed at the same time.

"Her leg is fatally broken," said Dainu. "The damaged bone fracture is cutting the blood circulation in her leg."

"Heal her, quick!" I screamed in order.

People down the block, coming out of their cars, even the truck guy came out to see what the damage was. Too many people were crowding around. Dainu can't work his magic here, that'll draw too much attention and too much trouble.

I ordered again to Dainu to take us out of this crowd. He carefully picked up Amy, and we ran out from the crowd, into the darken alley, and teleported in Kyle's house.

Kyle jumped by our sudden appearance. But he was more concerned about Amy.

"What's going on?" he said. "What happened?"

"Amy got hit by a truck, and her legs broken badly," I explained.

Dainu steadily placed Amy on the couch. Amy was still sobbing in pain and holding her broken leg.

"Kaley," she said to me, "I'm so sorry. I was such an idiot. This is all my fault. Please, please forgive me."

"Shut up, Amy, OK?" I replied, crying. "Stop saying sorry. I forgive you, OK? I already forgive you and I'm not mad at you anymore. So let's just drop it!"

I did it. I finally said the words I struggled to say all week. They tasted like warm, sweet milk, running down my throat and draining my heart for grudges.

Dainu placed his hands over Amy's leg. We all stood silently as we watch him work his miracle. In just about ten seconds, Dainu took his hands off of her leg, and Amy exercised her leg by moving it up and down. The pain she had struggled with was completely gone, even the blood that was on her jeans vanished.

Amy lit up a smile and touched and kicked her leg in joy and relief. "The pain's gone," she said, hugging her knee. "You saved my life. Thank you so much, Dainu. I owe you one!"

"Great job, Dainu," I complimented. I patted his shoulder, but something seemed wrong. Dainu was trembling, his head swayed woozily, and his expression was full of pain and dismay.

"Dainu," I said. "What's wrong?"

Dainu tried getting up on one knee, but tumbled onto the floor. His body remained motionless.

"He fainted," said Kyle.

I got down on him, checked his pulse and tapped on his face for any signs of consciousness.

No response.