The Ogre 09 (Patreon)

“You gonna be OK by yourself for a few days Ty?” my dad said as he finished packing.

“Of course, Dad. It’s just gonna be a few days. Besides, I already fix my own lunches,” I said between bites of cereal.

“Are you sure? I’ve noticed you coming home with bruises lately. You aren’t getting bullied, are you?” he said with a worried look on his face.

“No, nothing like that. I just… uh… joined a martial arts club. The training is a little rough.” It was the best lie I could come up with. Hopefully he didn’t pry any further.

“Well, that’s good! I always said you should get more exercise. All those comics and video games have been making you kind of chunky.”

Way to call me out Dad…

“I’m sure the double lunch portions don’t help,” he said pointing to the two sandwiches I already prepared. “Just try not to injure yourself OK, son?”

“OK, Dad,” I said with a saccharine grin that hid the sting of him calling me fat.

His taxi arrived soon after. He left me a decent amount of cash to tide me over for his business trip, enough for food and some extra expenses. It came in handy after Holly made me spend all my money recently. It was going to be nice to have the house to myself, if only for a while.

A short while after I gathered up my books and two lunches and headed off toward school. As usual, I saw Matt just a few blocks away, waving me down.

“Hey Ty!” Matt said, running over to me and jabbing his finger into my side. “How’s the training been? Losing weight?”

“I’m not sure about that,” I said nervously laughing at the second weight comment I received today. “But I can definitely take a hit. I last a lot longer these days. Holly only ever stops hitting me when I start crying.”

Matt just looked at me with a blank expression. “Uh, dude, I’m not sure that’s a good thing. You just got promoted from pet to living punching bag.” He took out his notebook and started scribbling something down. “I have the contact info for a good lawyer, you know, just in case you want to draw up a will…”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Because, one day she’s inevitably going to kill you. You do know that, right?”

“Harr harr,” I laughed sarcastically. “I survived this long. I don’t plan on dying any time soon. Besides, how do you know a lawyer?”

“Buisiness stuff?” Matt said, putting his notebook away.

“What kind of business?”

“None of your business,” he said with a laugh.

The two of us chatted as usual before we entered the main hallway of the school, where I felt a heavy hand fall down on my back.

“Look what we have here, it’s the insect… pet…” the voice of Billy Corrigan said from behind me. I turned around. Sure enough, he and his two henchmen loomed over me.

… I was too sore to deal with this.

“Not today Billy…” I said with an exasperated sigh.

“What’s the matter DONKEY, where’s FIONA? Two lovebirds not walking together today?”

“Can you at least stick to one type of insult? Am I an insect or a Donkey?”

That took Billy by surprise.

“Uhh, y-you’re, uh…”

I heard matt burst out in laugher next to me but when I turned to see if he was there, there was nothing but a few scraps of notebook paper left.

“Of course he’s gone…” I said under my breath.”

“What’s that?” Billy said, his henchmen circling around me.

“I said you’re lucky Holly isn’t here because she’d kick your ass!”

I don’t know where this boldness sprung forth from, but for some reason, I wasn’t afraid. Holly had beaten me twice to death and back. There’s nothing that Billy could do that was worse than her kicks and punches.

“Little bunny rabbit’s all grown up? Thinks he can hang with the big boys?” Billy taunted shoving be back down the hall. I fell backward, cradling my bag to protect the sandwiches within. I could hear Billy and his pals laughing like a pack of jackals.

“Stick… to one… INSULT!” I said, getting up and pushing Billy back. He was shocked. He was used to his victims begging, running, or crying, not resisting. He gritted his teeth and shouted in rage, slamming into my chest with a forward kick. It knocked the wind out of me, but I didn’t fall down. I was right. It was nothing compared to what Holly could dish out.

Students started to crowd around us. I could hear them murmuring “fight fight fight” under their breath. Billy looked around nervously. He had already drawn too much attention to himself. His reputation was on the line. He signaled his lackeys to grab my arms. I struggled against them, wrestling to keep my guard up. Billy cracked his knuckles and reeled back for a haymaker-

“HEY!” I heard from down the hall. It was Holly’s voice. “What’s the matter asshole. Can’t knock this weakling down without your friend’s help?” Billy looked past me behind the crowd to see Holly coming toward him. His expression was a mixture of rage, frustration, and fear. The crowd parted ways, letting Holly walk through. The chanting stopped. Holly got right up in Billy’s face. “Go ahead Billy. Keep fighting. Everyone wants to see it.”

Billy, rightly took that as a threat. He turned and punched a nearby locker in frustration. “Come on guys,” he said calling off his friends. “This bug isn’t worth wasting our time.” He and his small posse waded through the crowd to the back hallway doors, kicking it open and moving into the yard. Meanwhile, the rest of the students just stared at me and Holly dumbfounded.

“GET OUT OF HERE!” Holly yelled at the top of her lungs. It sounded like the roar of a tiger.

The crowd, predictably, scattered like ants.

I slowly dropped my guard and sucked in a large gasp of air. I had been holding it anxiously and didn’t even know.

“Looks like you learned something after-all,” Holly said with a grin.

“Everything hurts…” I said between gasps. “But I didn’t fall down.” I shakily reached to unzip my bag. “Here, take your lunch. I hope it’s not crushed.”

“Thank you pet,” Holly reached into the bag and took out a semi crushed sandwich with a frown. However, I had the feeling she was frowning at my predicament, not the lost lunch.

It was just then that I noticed she was wearing the ankle boots I bought her the other day.

“Y-you’re wearing the shoes that I-“

“THEY ARE MORE COMFORTABLE THAN MY OLD SHOES!” She roared. “I JUST WANTED A CHANGE! DO YOU HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT!?” she screamed. A couple weeks ago I would be scared. Not now.

“No,” I said with a small chuckle that send a sore pain through my chest. “They look good on you.”

Holly blushed ever so slightly and looked away.

“Tell the truth, you thought about me when you jacked it the other night, didn’t you.”

“WHAT!?” I said practically stumbling back from her accusation. “H-how do you even know I-“

“You’re a high school boy, you all jack it nearly every night…”

Well… she had me there.

“So tell the truth. Did you think of me?”

“N-no! Of course not!” I replied immediately. “Why would I!?”

“Why would you!? Oh I get it! It’s cause I’m not attractive huh? Because I’m just some stupid Ogre huh!?” She said leaning over me with a fire in her eyes.

“N-no I… I…” I struggled to find the words. “I… am just… not worthy of imagining you when I… m-m-masturbate.” I winced and prepared myself for the inevitable blow… but it didn’t come.

Instead she put her hand heavily on my shoulder. “I’ll accept that answer… for now.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. Owww… even breathing hurt.

“Dude that was amazing!” Matt said enthusiastically. We had met up later for lunch. “That was a moral victory for all the skinny nerds, although maybe you aren’t so skinny anymore.”

“Can you please not bring up my weight?” I said. It was getting tiresome and I had already been through enough today.

“Billy must be furious,” Matt said, again scribbling down something in his notebook. “I wonder what he’ll do to plot his revenge.”

“You know,” I said. “You’re always writing in that notebook? Just what are you writing anyway?”

“Notes…” Matt said without missing a beat.

“Right… ask a stupid question…”

“There are no stupid questions Ty,” Matt said looking up from his notebook. “Just stupid people…”

There was no talking with him sometimes.

“Well, anyway, I’m not scared of Billy. I stood up to him once I’ll stand up to him again. Maybe I’ll ask Holly to teach me some counter punches.”

“You know,” Matt said biting the end of his pen. “It’s one thing to take punches and another thing to throw them. You tanked his kick, but you didn’t do any damage back, and you won’t with those weedy arms.”

“Come on, am I weedy or fat?” I asked in frustration.

“Not mutually exclusive,” Matt said scribbling something else down. “How hard to you think Holly punches? 1850 PSI?”

“Isn’t that was Ivan Drago clocked in at during Rocky IV? Don’t tell me your notes are all based on movies.”

“My notes are based on the latest in both scientific and forensic techniques to accurately assess the capabilities of other students in our class.”

…

We started at each other in silence for a long while.

…

“So movies?” I asked.

“Yes movies,” Matt said, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t know how hard she punches, but I think she holds back against me.”

“Of course she does!” Matt laughed. “If she hit you full force you’d be nothing but pulp. You’d be dead. An ex-person. She’d send you on your own private Isekai adventure and she wouldn’t even need Truck-kun.”

“I get it Matt…” I said with a groan.

But he did have a point. If I wanted to win against Billy I was going to need to get stronger.

That afternoon me and Holly met as usual. I asked her to try and walk me through some simple strikes. She said I was going to have to “beef up those sad noodles you call arms.” So I did push-ups, lifted weights, she even had me try to punch her. It was like punching a brick wall.

With our training session over, I walked Holly home. Her house was on the way to mine, but we never walked home together. She would usually force me to take a roundabout path, to avoid being seen by me. I guess she didn’t mind anymore.

As we rounded the corner, she clenched all four of her fists and punched a nearby fence, cracking it. “Goddammit!” she grunted.

“What… what’s wrong!?”

“See that car,” she said, pointing a finger. “That’s my mom’s jerk boyfriend’s car. She knows I hate him. I hate how he talks and looks at me, like I’m some sort of monster girl from a sex catalog. He’s a perv and a bigot and I know they are gonna spend all night fucking.”

Holly turned and walked aweay.

“Hey! Hey wait where are you going!” I said as I jogged to catch up with her.

“Back to my gym. It’s better than stepping foot in that house with that douchebag.”

“You can’t spend the night in your gym!” I pleaded. “There’s no electricity or heating. There isn’t even a lock on the door!”

“Still better,” she said stomping off. I tried to grab her bag to stop her.

… of course I couldn’t stop her. She dragged me around as if I weighted nothing. This went on for blocks before she eventually gave me a frustrated glare.

“Get away worm! I am not stepping foot into that house! I’m not welcome there anyway!” She started shaking her bag to try to throw me off. I held on for dear life.

“Then come to my house!” I blurted out.

“What?” Holly said with shock. Her eyes narrowed and her cheeks went a little pale. I had actually surprised her.

“Come to my house. My father is traveling so he won’t mind, and it will be safer than staying in the shed.”

Holly’s shock look turned to a look of skepticism. “What are you trying to pull here, having me stay over your perv house?”

“NOTHING!” I protested. “Nothing at all. Besides, if I tried anything you’d kill me anyway. I just think It’d be safer and more comfortable.”

Holly paused and closer her eyes before giving a long sigh of surrender.

“Fine, you win worm. Let’s go to your house. But try anything weird and you’ll regret it!”