Dan's Overhead

What happened to Phil was completely unacceptable. Dan knew that what was going on to this perfect boy was awful, and he wasn't going to stand for it.

Phil turned to his phone and checked the time. “The library is going to close soon. I should get going.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Thank you for today, Dan. You're amazing.”

“Phil, you are amazing. I'm just a librarian! Can I get your number?”

“Sure.” Phil quickly scribbled it down on a spare piece of paper and handed it to him. “Here.”

“Thanks, I'll be sure to call you. And you call me if anybody tried to mess with you, ok?”

“Ok.” Phil stood up, but didn't really seem to want to leave. “Um, nobody's ever stood up for me before, so thank you.”

“Of course. Why wouldn't I?”

“You didn't have to.”

Dan just stood up next to him. Without a word, he hugged him again. “Its all ok.”

Phil smiled behind him. Maybe it all actually was.

As Phil left, Dan walked over to Brooke, who looked like she was ready to leave.

"Hey Brooke, can I ask you to do something for me?"

"Well, we're about to close up but, sure, I guess so."

"Great! Did you see a few guys – tall, muscular, and ugly – come in and onto the second floor?"

"Oh! We're they Phil's friends? They came in and asked if he was around, so I told them he was up with a friend."

"You what?! Why?"

"They asked nicely! What's the deal?"

"Those guys are bad news. They're jerks, and they're trying to hurt him."

She gasped. "Oh no! Did they hurt him? I'm so sorry!"

"He freaked out a little, but they didn't do much harm. Look, just promise me you'll keep them out of the library if I'm not there to stop them, ok?"

"Dan, I can't just keep people out of the place because you don't want them there. That's wrong. They would have had to violate a rule in order for me to do that."

"But they did – they caused public humiliation and a scene, as well as punching Phil in the arm. With injuring and public disturbance, shouldn't that be enough?"

Brooke put her hand to her face. "Why didn't you tell me that they did hurt him? That changes everything! They can't be allowed in here for weeks, according to policy."

"Great! So you'll help keep them out and away from Phil?"

"It is my job, of course."

Dan hugged her quickly. "Thanks Doll-Face!" He let go of her and ran to collect his things. "Shift's over. I'm going home. See ya!" Dan called as he left.

Brooke shook her head and smiled.

~~~~~

The next morning after opening the doors, Brooke did her usual business around the library. Dan arrived after her and reinforced his idea about keeping the bullies out for the sake of Phil.

"I've got it, Dan. No worries," she told him.

As expected, an hour after Phil arrived for his usual reading, the first jerk entered, followed by his others. Dan was helping a woman look for a specific book, but caught sight of them. Unable to leave, he nodded to Brooke, who then noticed the door.

Close by, Dan overheard the conversation:

“I'm sorry,” she said kindly in her usual sense of politeness. “You can't be in here due to the scene you caused on the second floor yesterday. I'm going to have to ask you to leave, and according to policy, and you are suspended from this place for two weeks.”

“Oh come on,” he complained sarcastically. “We were just foolin' around with our buddy. What'd we do?”

“You caused a negative scene, and that is not something we here are about.”

“Just let us see our Geek, yeah?”

“No.”

If Brooke was anything, she was strong and firm. Nobody could push her around, because she would simply shove you back. It was amazing her heart was so kind.

Brooke pointed her lady-like finger towards the door. “Please leave. You are currently not welcome here.”

He got close to her face, but she didn't move. “What are you going to do about it, Blondie?”

Brooke's eyes squinted. “I suggest you leave before I make you leave.”

He laughed in her face. “Hey guys, Blondie here is gonna throw us out! What ever shall we do?”

Her face was flooded with rage and was a boiling red as the bullies laughed in her face. Things just got personal.

Dan almost felt bad for them.

Brooke's feminine fists balled up. “I said you are not welcome here. You are illegally trespassing.”

“Yeah, so?”

She very swiftly landed a quick punch in middle guy's face, bruising his eye. He yelped in pain, but retaliated with nothing but an angry glare.

“Out,” she said through gritted teeth.

“This ain't over, bitch!” he yelled, finally strutting out the door, a hand over his face. The others gave angry stares, but she only stared back, taking the authority over them. One mouthed “call me,” as he left behind the rest of them.

“Disgusting little brats,” she declared.

Dan finished with the woman he was helping and ran to Brooke as she shook out her knuckles. “Brooke! That was awesome!”

“It was ok. Jerks.” she said, still angry at them. “Good thing you've got me.”

Brooke, aside from the cute, blonde librarian, was a skilled fighter as well. Dan learned that the hard way when he tried to steal her favourite doll from her years ago. The library used her as security, though she rarely was ever aggressive with anybody.

Dan was proud of his friend. He examined her powerful hand. “Is your knuckle hurt?”

“No, just red is all. I've dealt with worse. Tell Phil that his bullies wont be back here for a long time. I'm getting back to work,” she said, walking towards her individual desk.

 Dan smiled, and ran off to find Phil.