*David* Well this is different.

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Oliver was sitting in the park again. He'd been there for the past hour or so, just sitting there, thinking. So his foster parents were dead...that was it. No turning back time to fix that...he'd just have to live on his own. After all, he had no idea who his real family were...if they were alive or not. So for now, Oliver was going to just play it by ear, see what happened.

Of course, Oliver was sitting on this dome shaped climbing thing, and he wasn't paying attention, and as a result, some boys from school appeared and managed to pull him off of the dome. He landed with a thump on the grass. They poked him, pinched him, kicked him, and all Oliver could do was sit there staring.

One of the boys picked him up only to push him straight back down again. "Fight back, Oliver!" he teased. Oliver just stared at the ground, and eventually they retreated. Anger and sadness spread through him as he climbed back up on the dome and stared down at his feet. He could feel a warm sensation at his elbow; meaning he had scraped it and it was bleeding a bit, but he didn't care.

Oliver was used to this, but even then, it still hurt. He looked out across the park and he could see them; going to get ice cream, laughing at each other. They were watching him as well, and laughing at him more than themselves.

Oliver rested his head in his hands, rubbing them over his face before lowering them to wrap around his knees, which were now pulled up to his chin. Why was this so...upsetting? They were just trying to have some fun.

Right?

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Oh, well that just wasn’t going to fly. David pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips, watching with narrowed eyes as the boys began to beat on the poor guy. David huffed, her cheeks turning an indignant shade of red. Her hair was tied up in a bun, mostly hidden underneath her cap. She was wearing a loose shirt and a pair of trousers. By all accounts, she looked very much like a ‘he’, and that’s how she liked it. Luckily for the guy they’d been tormenting – Oliver, she’d heard one of them call him – didn’t seem all too hurt.

The bullies bought an ice cream and continued to laugh at them. That’s when David decided: to hell with her normal system of ignoring someone that got her angry! She rolled up her sleeves and walked defiantly over to the group of bullies, lifting her chin a little. “Oi! And just what do you think that was, then?” she demanded, snatching the ice cream cone from the biggest boy there. She glared up at him defiantly. The boy lifted a hand to smack her, but David kicked him in the shins roughly and pushed him down to the ground. “Any of ya want to try an' do that again?” she demanded, her foot brushing roughly against the boy she’d brought down.

The rest of the bullies fled from the taller ‘boy’. Sure, she was probably a good bit older than them, but it wasn’t like she had bloodied them up except for a bit of bleeding from where he’d fallen on his arse on the gravel. David looked down at the ice cream in her hands contemplatively. It was still untouched – he’d most likely been too busy bragging about tormenting that poor boy. David huffed, glared down at the bully, and walked across the park to where she’d seen them.

The boy had his head resting in his hands and his knees pulled up to his chest. She knelt down next to him and put her hand on his shoulder. “Hey, kid, you okay?” she asked, grinning up at him. She held up the vanilla ice cream. “They bought this for you. Nice, ain’t they?”

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Oliver watched the whole scene, raising his eyebrows a little. When the boy (actually girl, but Oliver didn't know that) came and sat next to him, handing Oliver an ice cream, he thanked her then shrugged. "Thanks. Yeah, I'm okay. After all, I'm used to it. They do it all the time at school. But thanks." he said.

He watched the boy for a moment before speaking. "I'm Oliver, by the way. What's your name?" Oliver asked, smiling at him. He actually found it rather touching that this boy had stuck up for him, so...

Perhaps they could be friends? He didn't really have any friends, and this could be a start.

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“Thanks. Yeah, I’m okay. After all, I’m used to it. They do it all the time at school. But thanks,” Oliver said, taking the ice cream from her. David frowned and shook her head. Well, nobody should be used to being bullied. David ignored everyone who said anything to her and they eventually left her alone after she casually mentions her father is a police officer and her mother a surgeon with a bad temper.

She sat next to him. “They should leave you alone for now, anyway. What do they pick on ya for? You should give him a right smack in the face. The others won’t fight back,” David said, grinning.

“I’m Oliver, by the way. What’s your name?”[/b][/i] the boy asked. She nodded to herself – so the bully at least knew his name. It would have added insult to injury if Oliver’s real name had been something like ‘Steve’ or ‘Bob’.

“David Callahan. Nice to meet you, Oliver. Mind if I call you Oli? You could call me Dav if you want, but… not much you can do with ‘David’,” she pondered, looking over at him. “Anyway, I used to get teased a lot to. No fun. And you know what else isn’t fun? Sittin’ here doing nothing. Come on, then, Ollie. What do you usually do?”[/size]

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Oliver shrugged. "Mainly they pick on me because I'm too shy to fight back, but I guess it also might be because I'm a bit of a 'nerd' to them. They only think that because I'm smarter than them, though."[/color] he said. Anyone was smarter than them, really. They were probably the most gullible boys on Earth. Oliver grinned at the thought.

"Oli it is, then. I like David better than Dav, though."[/color] he said, nodding. "Why did people tease you?" he asked. There didn't seem to be anything to tease about, after all. "I usually either hang out here, go to the forest, or sometimes the skate park. Nothing special. What do you usually do? Probably more fun."[/b]

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David nodded thoughtfully as he mentioned being too shy to fight back. David normally didn’t fight either – she just ignored people who angered her. But she absolutely wouldn’t tolerate someone else getting picked on. Who knew what other bad things the poor kid had going on? He could have been abused at home! His puppy could have just died! His cat! Even his goldfish! Maybe all three in the same morning! She pouted and hugged him tightly, being careful to dodge the ice cream cone. “I’m sorry about your goldfish,” she said gently, knowing that you must be delicate about matters like dead goldfish.

She grinned when he mentioned being smarter than them. “Yeah. They didn’t seem very intelligent to me. Pickin’ on you like that… who do they think they are, eh? Someone ought to teach ’em a lesson,” David grumbled. She nodded when Oliver told her she could call him ‘Oli’. She looked up as he asked her why people tease her. “’Cos I’m different. ’Cos my parents are different. ’Cos they’re bored and they can pick on me. Not like it matters anyway, ’cos one day I’m gonna be famous and they’ll rue the day they tried to bring David Charles Callahan down!”

Go to the forest? She looked over to the forest pensively. She’d never thought about going in there as a viable hangout spot. “Usually I just go exploring. Sometimes I’ll just take the bus and see how far I can go before my dad sends out an alert to the busses to bring me back to London. I got as far as Kent once. What do you do in the forest, Oli?”