Read Online Wyvern and Company by Connie Suttle - Free Book Online

you think it'll go away after a while, but
sometimes a lot of damage can be done, even if it does go away. You can't count
on that," Mom told Mack. "That's why we're here—to help you fight
your battles when you need that help."
    "I feel the same," I said. "I'd help fight your
battles, too."
    "Justin's helped me fight my battles lately," Mack
admitted. "I couldn't go to school if he wasn't with me."
    "You'd stand with me," I shrugged. It was true—we'd
stood together most of our lives. Granted things had never been this bad before,
but I didn't intend for anything to be different because of it.
    "Is there any way he can see Dr. Karzac again?" Mr.
Walters asked Mom quietly.
    "I'll arrange it if that's what you and Mack want,"
she said.
    "I'd appreciate it," Mr. Walters said.
    "He's here now, let me see if he has time," Mom said
before walking out of the kitchen and down the hall. She was back in five
minutes with Uncle Karzac.
    "Young one, would you like to settle on your bed while we
talk?" Karzac asked.
    "Yeah—I'm comfortable there," Mack agreed. I watched
as Mack followed Karzac toward my bedroom.
    "I can't say thank you enough for what you've done for
him," Martin Walters told Mom.
    "I'd do anything for that boy. He feels like one of mine,
Martin, and I hope you're not offended by that."
    "Offended? Hell no," Martin muttered. "I'm just
glad he has such good friends."
    "He has good family ," Mom corrected. "I'd
like to think we're part of it. Justin sees him as a brother—you know that
already."
    Talk turned to the new house after that, and I was glad. I
hoped Uncle Karzac was helping Mack, too, because he wasn't talking much after
the events of the afternoon. Getting attacked by Randall Pierce, even though he
was only hitting the car with a bat, put both of us on edge.
    "Honey, you haven't said what you want for your birthday,"
Mom interrupted my thoughts after a while.
    "Oh. Man, I forgot all about it," I shook my head at
her. "It doesn't matter," I said. "A cake and ice cream. Mack
will like that for sure." My birthday was less than two weeks away and
with everything else that had happened, it slipped my mind. I'd be eighteen.
Mack had already turned eighteen the first week of August, so for just a few
weeks, he was a year older than I was.
    This year, he'd been so preoccupied with the attack and
everything else that followed, he'd forgotten to tease me about it.
    * * *
    Mack talked to Karzac for more than an hour, then took a nap
afterward. He woke up around six-thirty, just in time for dinner. Mom made
chicken and dumplings, another favorite meal for both of us.
    Mack's dad liked it, too, I could tell. He'd stayed to eat
with us because Beth had classes and would grab something on campus to eat. He
and Dad talked during the meal about the construction manager job with Dad's
company. I could tell Mr. Walters was going to do just fine.
    * * *
    "You going to the football game Friday?" I asked
Gina when we walked to class together the next morning.
    "No. I have to work," she said. "I'm saving for
college. I have a scholarship lined up, but it doesn't pay for everything."
    "Understood," I nodded.
    "I don't have to work Sunday night," she smiled
shyly.
    "How about dinner and a movie?" I asked.
    "That sounds great."
    "Pick you up at six?"
    "Yeah."
    I probably wore the goofiest grin ever as we walked down the
hall, but it was worth every second of potential embarrassment. I had a
girlfriend and I was going on a date .
    The only thing that came close to making me that happy was
this; Mack and I learned that Randall Pierce and all four of his friends were
suspended from school for two weeks for what they'd done to my car in the
school parking lot.
    For as much as my Honda had suffered, it turned out to be for
a good cause. Gina told us the news at lunch, and I watched as Mack shifted in
his seat. I could almost see the weight dropping off his shoulders, and only
realized then what the bullying had cost him.
    My thought about