Chapter 8

James used his mocking voice again as he talked to Bob and Leah. “You two better be careful. The Cooper kids are homeless. They probably have the virus. Better stand back.”

“Being homeless doesn’t mean we’re sick,” said Justice. She tried not to sound scared, but failed.

The boy closest to her laughed and repeated her, raising his voice like a little girl. The other bullies laughed.

“Leave her alone!” Evan said. “You guys should just go. You can’t give us trouble today. You’re too afraid to even get close to us.”

“Hey we’re not afraid of you, little boy,” said James. “You’re just poor and dirty. We don’t want to catch whatever you’ve got.”

Just then Evan pretended to sneeze. He let out a big AA-AA-CHOOO! and he buried his face in his elbow. James’ eyes got wide and he stepped backward. As he did, he lost his balance and fell back onto the ground with a thud.

Leah laughed out loud and even one of James’ friends chuckled.

“See that Justice?” said Evan. “I learned a new superpower. I can knock over bullies with my magic sneeze.”

Justice giggled as James stood up. When everyone saw his face, though, the laughing stopped. Even Bob stepped back. He kept the phone recording though.

“You’ll pay for that, you homeless freak!” yelled James. He bent over and picked up a rock. “I don’t have to touch you to make you cry again.” When the boy talked that way to Evan, Bob felt anger rise up inside him. Maybe teaching bullies a lesson was more important than the mission.

Evan was scared now. The other boys did just what their leader did. They looked around at the ground, then picked up a rock or two.

As everyone looked at James and his rock, Bob slowly took another step back. He was now just out of the bullies’ circle. Leah was across from him and she noticed he moved. Their eyes met and Bob nodded his head. She glanced at the boy closest to her and then back at James. She got ready and waited for Bob to make the first move.

James raised his arm back to heave the rock. Evan turned his face and raised an arm to shield himself from the rocks. Just then Bob saw the chihuahua bound over a hill far behind James. The bully closest to Bob saw it too and pointed. “What in the world is that?!!” he screamed.

James stopped and looked to see what freaked out his friend. Before anyone could tell what it was, the huge dog jumped back over the hill with a playful wag of its tail.

As all eyes were on the giant dog, Bob sprang to action. Three of his six alien arms burst out from his disguise. Quick as a blink, all three arms made just one dull THUNK as they clubbed James' friends on the sides of their heads. Each boy fell to the ground from the unexpected punch.

Leah heard it and let two of her thin, green arms fly from her disguise. With a smack, she knocked down James before he saw a thing. The aliens zipped their arms back into their disguises just as fast as they had flown out.

None of the boys knew what hit them. Justice saw nothing.

When Evan realized no rocks had been thrown, he peeked up and looked all around. He saw the four boys on the ground, slowly moving. They looked as if they were waking up from a long nap. Justice was standing there with her mouth open, trying to figure out what saved them.

“Let’s go!” shouted Leah. Bob raised his phone up one last time to be sure he got a good view of the final scene, then he slipped it in his pocket.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here!” he agreed, trying his best to sound like a surprised eight-year-old boy.

Evan grabbed Justice’s hand and they ran from the park. Bob glanced back and saw the bullies getting up. They were just standing there, rubbing their heads. Bob couldn’t help but grin as he ran.

Continue to Chapter 9!!