“Never fight outside the gym. Never fight outside the gym. Never fight outside the gym...” Jack muttered to himself.

“What the heck are you mumbling, freak?” A familiar voice said as Jack felt someone kick him out of his seat.

Jack fell to the ground with a painful groan, continuing to mutter his teacher’s words. He buried the spike of anger that rose inside of him. He ignored how easy it would be to use what he’s been taught for violence. Giving in to violence is the same as allowing more violence to spread. No, he needed a legitimate reason if he wanted to use what he’s learned from Miss Devil.

She never said it out loud, but all of the kids knew there were a few situations when they could use what they learned from her. Self-defense, protecting the weak and innocent, or for sports. Her exact words were, “I'm not here to teach you how to hurt people. I'm here to give you the necessary tools to protect yourself and those you care about.” What Jack went through so far didn’t need protecting. All he needed to do was endure until they finally crossed one of those three lines. Endure, endure, endure...

“What’s wrong, fatso? You mad? You angry?” Morgan laughed along with the class.

It was unfortunate, but it seemed like Jack was the best person to bully in class just because he was a little overweight. If there were at least one person to be bullied alongside him, he’d have a legitimate reason to fight back, but nope, it was just him. What’s worse is that they never go too far in their bullying. They go just far enough to infuriate, annoy, or cause him pain. But not far enough over the line that Jack would need to protect himself.

“Stop bothering me, Morgan.” Jack got up from the ground and got back in his seat.

The teacher was out. Jack was surrounded by people who were more likely to blame him than take his side. Morgan was in one of his moods where he had nothing better to do than to mess with Jack.

“Stop bothering me, Morgan.” Morgan mocked in a high-pitched annoying voice that didn’t sound like Jack’s voice at all.

“You sounded just like him!” Someone loudly laughed.

“He sounds like a girl.”

“Fat, ugly, and sounds like a pig. Ugh, no wonder nobody like you, Jack.” Melissa said to the laughter of her friends.

“...” Jack ignored them.

Jack’s fist tightly clenched his mechanical pencil, but he did not respond to the insults, taunts, and laughter. In the eyes of his classmates, this wasn’t fun. How could they have their fun if he just sat there and took their mean words? On behalf of the class, Morgan stepped up to the plate and snatched his textbook.

Jack just looked at him and rolled his eyes. Was he supposed to chase after him and scream, “Give me my stuff! Give me my book!”? Not anymore. Jack learned his lesson after they took his stuff the first few times. He carried nothing but absolute essentials on his body. If they somehow got in his locker and grabbed his book bag, they’d find nothing but books and school supplies. He didn’t even carry money with him anymore. Just his phone, and that was the only thing in his pocket.

“Whatever, piggy.” Morgan threw his book on his desk and went back to his seat

Just as the teacher came back. Jack was glad. This was the last class of the day, and he only had to put up with his classmates for the next half hour. A small smile formed on his face as he thought about going to Miss Devil’s classes after school today.

As school was let out, Jack happily made his way out of the school building to find his bus. Thankfully, none of his classmates rode the same bus as him. He was quite grateful to God for that small price of peace. The bus ride to school and from school was another small slice of heaven for him.

“Where are you going so fast, fat bitch?” Jack heard that stupid voice as he felt someone trip him to the ground.

The fall was ugly and painful. Jack’s knees and hands scrapped the ground when trying to catch his fall. He tried to take a deep breath as he heard the laughing of all the other kids. Jack tried to remember Miss Devil’s words. Did he need to be protected? Did he really need protection? Sure, this hurt, but it wasn’t as painful as training with Miss Devil. It pissed him off but was that enough of a reason to fight back? Would his teacher be upset with him if he fought and hurt the others...?

Jack stood up with tears in the corner of his eyes. He roughly pushed Morgan out of his way as he made his way to the bus. The continuing laughter fell on deaf ears for Jack as he made it on his bus. He needed to find out. He needed to ask Miss Devil personally!

…

Later after boxing classes at the gym. Jack stood around with the other kids who liked to talk with Miss Devil after classes. He didn’t speak up but simply waited until the others were done speaking. Some of the other kids’ parents had to drag their kids away from Miss Devil, but eventually, Jack managed to talk to her alone.

“...” She looked at his body before focusing on his eyes. “What’s wrong, Jack? You looked more tired than usual when training today.” She asked nicely. It was far different from how she acted when fighting in the ring.

Jack didn’t know how she already knew he had a problem, but he didn’t wait all this time just to be quiet now. He told her about everything he’s been going through at school. Things he didn’t even tell his mom and dad about. Jack shared with her about his feelings, doubts, and most importantly... Asked her what he should do to get it to stop.

“Bullying is a terrible thing, but those who stand by and do nothing while injustice is happening are worse. Jack, you are a strong, smart, and kind boy.” She rubbed his head. “I’m happy you came to talk to me about this.” Jack felt his heart lighten at her words.

“I would love to tell you something like, tell your parents, have them set up a meeting with the principal, and discuss the issues going on in your class to solve them. But that isn’t realistic. You don’t need advice from me as your teacher, but I do know someone else who could help you.” Miss Devil said.

“Who?”

“She’s a real Devil, I hear. Are you sure, you want to hear from her?” Miss Devil smirked.

“Yes!” Jack resolutely stared into his teacher’s eyes.

Then with a flip, her entire person changed. Jack didn’t know how to explain it, but it was like she had turned into a different person as she wrapped her arms around him and whispered into his ear. She giggled as she explained to him what to do. Jack soon joined her in her giggling as he was infected by her change.

In the eyes of those watching, it looked like the two were laughing about an inside joke that only they knew. A harmless cute moment of a teacher bonding with her student. Then they broke off from their secret whispering. Jack hugged Miss Devil with all of his heart for helping him when he needed it.

“Thank me once you see changes, kid. Now go give 'em hell, Little Imp.” She told him.

“Yes!” Jack felt his entire being filled with hope, joy, and excitement.

The next day, half of Jack’s classmates were hospitalized, while the other half were traumatized by the brutality of their injuries. When Jack arrived in class after his ten-day suspension for excessive self-defense, he glared at everyone on his arrival. Most looked away, but there was a certain someone who seemed skeptical and kept her eyes on him. Jack smashed his fist on Melissa’s desk, startling her horribly to the point where she screamed.

“Shut up unless you want to end up like Morgan and his friends.” Jack threatened her.

“...” Melissa covered her mouth as she looked into Jack’s frightening eyes.

She knew some girls were even sent to the hospital by Jack. He would hit her even if she was a girl. Melissa was relieved that she didn’t join Morgan when he texted her to meet them at the park for their fun with Jack. If she went to the park like all of them, she’d be in the hospital too!

“I would’ve been happy if you showed up at the park with everyone else, but sadly it wasn’t meant to be.” Jack left her with those words as he went to his desk.

“I’m sorry!” Melissa blurted out.

Jack ignored her words and the words of the rest of his classmates as they also started to apologize. They weren’t sorry. They didn’t feel bad for what they did. They were just afraid of him. Afraid of the consequences of their actions. Afraid of being punished for doing something they knew was wrong.

As much as Jack would like to hurt them all as well, he was on thin ice. His parents had to defend him against dozens of other parents trying to sue, get him sent to juvie, or be expelled from school. The only thing that stopped them from succeeding was that Jack was one person. How could one overweight child beat up a dozen kids by himself? There were no weapons used or could be proven to be used during the fight. This defense was strong enough that even the densest of people knew something was strange.

And a strong enough defense could be used as a strong offense as well. Jack’s parents countersued the other parents for what Jack had to go through because of their children. Jack shared with his parents the same thing he told Miss Devil, and things started to go up for them. A bullying case plus a self-defense case made Jack’s defense impenetrable. A bunch of children bullying one child was a lot more believable than one fat child beating up a group of children with just his bare fists.

‘I won’t let what happened to me happen to anyone else.’ Jack promised himself. His fists were to be used for the innocent, the weak, and for sports. No longer would he stand by and let evil be.