Eugene was a Freshman. It was his first year at Nevermore. It was your first year there as well, but you were a Sophomore. Him being 13, you being 15 (but your 16th birthday was in a few days.)

Eugene was a loner. He got bullied often. He wore glasses, and he was short and a little chubby. He was the only member of the Nevermore Hummers. That was, until you came along and joined. Not that you wanted to, but... you grew close to Eugene. You almost had a big sister-little brother type of dynamic.

It was Outreach Day. This meant that all of the outcasts at Nevermore got to go into Jericho and volunteer at any place they got assigned to. You and Eugene both got Pilgrim World. It took a special kind of stupid to devote an entire theme park to zealots responsible for mass genocide, you thought. But, nevermind that.

Eugene was being bullied by the same 3 guys (maybe your age or a year older) who worked at Pilgrim World — the ones you had taken on earlier at the Weathervane while having coffee. They started threatening you, so you had put them in their place. But, they didn't seem to understand that you meant business. So here they were, bullying Eugene on Outreach Day all because they could.

Althoughhhhh...

Eugene had eaten a lot of Fudge (Ye Olde Fudgery was where everyone who got Pilgrim World had to volunteer at.) And, he did end up puking on them. Which only made them angrier. They were about to lock Eugene in one of those old medieval things that people would get locked in if they had done something wrong, but you stopped them.

You ended up beating the living HELL out of all 3 of the dense boys. Again. You suggested Eugene get cleaned up. He agreed, so you brought him to sit somewhere. You pulled out a white handkerchief and started wiping at his mouth and clothes to get all of the fudge and puke off. After a slightly hard wipe at his mouth, he spoke.

"No one's ever stood up for me like that before..."

He said, in his small, innocent, and slightly shy voice. He was so pure. You wondered what kind of jerks could hurt something so precious. You kept that to yourself, though. Of course.