Green Lantern's Protégée

7: "Pretend I was violently assaulted by a rabid squirrel."

Lunch wasn't much better than her classes. The food was just as bad and preheated as remembered from her previous year as she struggled to gulp it down. She sat outside in the cool autumn air on one of the empty picnic tables that were spread around the courtyard.

Cyra didn't have any friends in her school. They all seemed to be fine with ignoring her or tormenting her. Speaking of tormentors, Cyra saw the approaching figures of Petey Reinbolt and his cronies. Petey was a shorter boy at 5'6, only an inch taller than Cyra with greasy blonde hair and poop colored brown eyes that seemed to be sunken deep into his face. Where he lacked in height, he made up for in muscle. He was bulky and his veins stuck out in his arms. He really was a sight for sore eyes. His head seemed to be completely empty of any type of brain.

His cronies weren't but different. They tended to be quieter and observe. They were just Petey's lap dogs that attacked when ordered to. Cyra knew Petey since third grade when he decided to be my personal playground bully. Cyra knew she could beat him to the ground any day of the week, but had to keep her stupid secret identity a secret.

"Look, it's Loner Girl. Another year with no friends?" The meat-head splat, his friends snickering behind them as they stopped a few feet away from the blonde.

"Oh look, it's Meat-Head, the boy with no brain walking around with his equally stupid friends," Cyra shot back quickly, use to Petey's useless jabs.

The bulky boy growled slightly as he responded pitifully, "Well, at least I have friends!"

"I have friends," Cyra said, but her next words sounded pathetic, "They just don't go to this school."

Petey laughed, this signaling his cronies to laugh too. "Oh really? Who would want to be friends with you?"

Cyra's lip curled at them. She was friends with superheroes and some of the most skilled people on the planet that Petey probably dreamed of meeting. She is one of those heroes he would dream of meeting. But here she is, having to take heckling from some sophomore.

"You're just some loser girl with no friends," He continued to say like a third grader.

His comments continued and Cyra was about to sock him one in the nose she was getting so angry when an alien voice spoke, "Why don't you stop bothering the poor girl and pick on someone your own size."

The idiots and Cyra turned to see a boy walking towards them, coming to stand next to Cyra. The boy was around 5'9 with golden blonde hair that shone in the sunlight and baby blues that could make any girls bow before his feet. Cyra's amber eyes were wide in shock that such a perfect piece of human flesh could ever stand before her.

Petey looked at the stranger with a scowl imprinted on his face as his eyes run up and down the taller figure standing before him. "Who do you think you are?"

"Charlie McHugh at your service," the boy, Charlie, then does a silly bow as he gave Cyra a half smile.

Cyra was still staring in awe at the boy, unable to respond as she continued to stare at Charlie like an idiot. Either Charlie was nice and ignored it or he truly didn't notice her starstruck stare as he turned back to Petey, who looked like he was fuming with anger.

Petey, so filled with anger that he couldn't speak any coherent words, settled with stomping his foot on the ground like a baby throwing a tantrum before storming away. Charlie let out a laugh at the bulky boys retreating figure and turned back to Cyra with a grin that showed his dimples.

Cyra, finally able to form a sentence said stupidly, "I had that handled."

The boy snickered at her, knowing very well that she would have punched him and ended up getting expelled. "I saved that guy a broken nose, he should be thanking me. And you too. I stopped you from doing something you would have regretted."