Quietly, Quiggly stepped into the darkness as he stealthily approached and steeled himself for the confrontation ahead. He closed his eyes as he felt his pulse racing. _You've got this,_ he told himself. _A fight's a fight, and no one can resist you._ Quiggly focused on the darkest part of his night vision to help sharpen his vision. He crept stealthily up behind the boy. "Hey!" he yelled, his sudden voice a little bit too loud. "You don't want to get angry. You'll get hurt." The boy spun around. "What did you say?" "Nothing. You know . . . just saying." Quiggly tried to hide behind a nearby tree, but the boy started to run away. "Just keep on running if you want to get hurt," he said, and he darted toward the other boy. A moment later, they were a foot away from each other, pushing against one another in a brief wrestling match. "Get off of me, you jerk!" yelled the other boy. "You're just trying to hurt me!" "Hey!" yelled the kid who had been bullying him. "Did you do that?" He poked his nose into Quiggly's face. "No. It wasn't me. It was your friend, the one with the long hair and the short pants." "He's a girl," shouted the kid with the nose. "You're messing with a girl." "All I was saying is that you don't want to get hurt. I just want to help you with the bully." "The bully?" "The one that's making you do all of that fighting. All you have to do is let me help you." The boy scowled and looked into Quiggly's eyes. "You're lying," he said with a slight growl. "How'd you like it if I hit you?" "I'd like it," said Quiggly. "But you wouldn't. Your coach would think you were afraid of me." The kid hesitated. "What are you going to do?" said Quiggly. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. You look pretty tough. How come you don't think you can fight me?" The boy lowered his head and looked to the side. "Uh oh," whispered Quiggly. "Something's up. No one's that good at bullshitting unless he's one of your little buddies. Something's coming, and it's not going to be good." ## Chapter 6 As Quiggly had been talking to the boy, he saw a few of the kids start to play a game that he'd seen at school. They were making signs with their hands, mouthing the signs, and throwing signs at one another. The only thing Quiggly didn't recognize was the sound. All the sounds of the game seemed to start or end with a _dibbing_ sound. With another _dibbing_ sound, a tall kid with an odd build began to run at the kid with the nose. The other kid stopped talking to Quiggly and looked around him at the approaching bully. "Hey!" said the boy. "Who are you talking to? You can't talk to me!" " _Dib,_ " said Quiggly to himself as he knew the other boy was about to take a poke at the kid with the nose. _ _ The other boy ran right over Quiggly, running straight into him and sending both boys to the ground. "I thought that guy was with you," said the bully. "Why is he here?" Quiggly pushed himself up off of the ground and said, "Uh, this is my friend, Gummy. I thought he was cool. I'm glad you're not a bully." The bully looked around as if he were going to let someone know that he had been wronged. "Why, you little _b-_ ," he said. " _Dibbing_ , dude," said Quiggly. "Now who's being a bully?" He was angry that the bully had hurt the kid with the nose, so he wasn't scared of him anymore. " _Dib,_ " said Quiggly. "Hey, it's you!" "Huh?" said the bully, his jaw dropping. "The guy who did this to you," said Quiggly, pointing. "It was me." "You?" said the bully, his eyes wide as he tried to imagine who could have been that rough with him. "I'm sorry I had to hit you so hard," said Quiggly, feeling embarrassed about how much power he had over the bully. "It's all right," said the bully, smiling. "You see, you're a bully too. You could make someone fight, right?" "Yeah," said Quiggly. "But he wasn't a bully." " _You_ weren't, _you_ were?" "Yeah, my old man taught me to fight. But _you_ weren't really. You just let other people bully you." "Yeah." The bully looked around nervously, his hand rubbing his jaw. "Well, thanks for hitting me in the face." He smiled again. "It'll keep me from getting back up." "You're welcome." Quiggly looked at the other boy. "Where'd he come from, anyway?" "I told you," said the kid with the nose. "He's a girl." "There, you see, you're not stupid," said Quiggly. The bully looked at the other boy. "Yeah, I saw him in my room." " _You_ didn't see me in your room," said the boy. "Yes I did. And he was trying to help me," said Quiggly. "And you did. You told him the truth about yourself, didn't you?" The boy shrugged. "My old man's been telling me to watch out for strangers," said the bully. "He said a bunch of the kids in town have been bullying us. You know, picking on us." "Well, I know that you didn't have any bullies in town," said Quiggly, nodding. "So you must be from somewhere else. You know, the place with the funny kids." "What's that?" said the bully, looking around at the other kids. "Bizarro World," said Quiggly. "Like in those old cartoons my uncle used to show me." "I think I saw one of those cartoons once," said the boy. "But I think we'd rather be here. I hear it's a great place. I wish we could be here." Quiggly stopped talking and watched the boy thoughtfully. "What do you mean, it's a great place?" "I don't know if it's _great,_ but I hear it's not as bad as people have been telling us that it is." Quiggly looked at the bully, who was glaring back at him. "Is that true?" asked Quiggly. "I don't know," said the kid. "I just know that I got beat up my first day here. By two kids, two kids that I never met before. That's why I want to stay away from _him_. All those kids are scared of _him_. But I don't like those guys. I don't know what's going on. But I think I'm going to find out what it is." " _You_ wanted to know about me?" said the kid with the nose. "Well, here I am!" The boy walked right up to Quiggly, ignoring the bully standing nearby. He glared at him, then said to Quiggly, "What did you want to tell me?" "I know you," said Quiggly. "But I don't know where I know you from." "I'll find out. And I'll get you back for what you did to me!" "That's bull," said Quiggly, "I didn't do anything. I just want to know why you're really here." The bully glared at Quiggly. "Why you're here is none of your business." "It _is_ my business," said Quiggly. "I thought I could help you." "What? How are you going to help me?" "I don't know," said Quiggly. "But I think if I just keep telling you the truth, you'll find out." "No," said the boy, grabbing Quiggly by the shirt and pulling him close to him. "The only thing you have to do is stay out of my business. I don't like being followed." The bully looked down at the bully beside him. Quiggly said, "Come on, Gummy, let's go. I'll be right back." He didn't want to leave the kid who wanted to know about him. He liked him. He started to follow him as Quiggly looked back and saw the bully still watching him. "Good luck, you guys." As