It had been two years after their encounter with Tarantella and the Andersons' life was beginning to return to normal. The Andersons became regular kids or so it seemed. Life soon became too boring for Sam. He didn't know whether it was because of his adventure with Tarantella or not. Sam was hoping for another adventure as he sat in class that morning.
Sam was talking to John, John Anderson, his cousin and best friend who was seated behind him. Sam sat beside an empty chair and table. He was just about to tell John what he was thinking when Mrs Amy Jacobsen, his geography teacher entered the classroom. Beside her was a young pretty girl, just a little younger than Sam with blonde wavy hair and a radiant smile.
"Class, I would like to introduce you to Jane Powers. She's the daughter of Mr Peter Powers, the famous lawyer who just moved to this city" Mrs Jacobsen said.
Everyone smiled at her.
"You may sit at the empty table there, but first I would like everyone to introduce themselves one at a time starting from Kristy" Mrs Jacobsen said.
After Sam had introduced himself, Jane walked quietly and sat next to him. Sam heard John say,
"You're a lucky guy" which made him blush in embarrassment.
Dave, the coolest guy in the class said,
"Why did she have to sit by that geek?"
Sam said nothing more than "Hi" to Jane.
She didn't answer. She didn't even look at him and soon the whole class started booing and jeering at him. This made Sam a little angry. After the class had finished jeering at him, Mrs Jacobsen said to Sam,
"Try to help her with the classwork".
"No problem" Sam said and Mrs Jacobsen smiled.
Jane turned to Sam and whispered
"Don't even bother" and that began another round of jeering.
The girls found Jane to be kind of cool and soon all of them had made friends with her. The girls introduced the boys to her.
"That's Dave, the coolest guy in the class" they began during breaktime.
"That's Dick, the clown of the class. The boy you're sitting by is Sam and the boy behind him is John, his best friend and cousin. They saved the world once from an evil witch" Kristy said.
"You're kidding huh?" Jane said.
"Yeah we are" they answered. "Ever since that experience, Sam doesn't fight and I don't remember the last time he got angry" Kristy said.
"Wait a minute. That was the time Dave and Billy stole his lunch pack. He started a quarrel and was beaten up like a shrimp" Amber said.
"Poor boy" Jane said. "I guess he is a shrimp" she said.
That started laughter amongst the girls. They hadn't noticed Sam standing nearby listening. When they saw him, they suddenly kept quiet. Jane broke the silence by saying
"Go away shrimp".
Sam became very angry but all he did was look into her light blue eyes. That look seemed to peer into her soul. Jane was beginning to get frightened when Sam turned and walked away.
"Good going Jane" the girls cheered her.
"Did you see his face?" Kristy asked.
"Yeah" they answered. "It looked like he was about to choke".
Back in the classroom, Sam sat quietly doing his classwork. There were times that Jane asked nervously for help since she felt guilty asking for help from a boy she had so severely insulted. She didn't expect Sam to help her but he did and after helping her, he just kept quiet. She didn't even thank him though he helped her a lot. It soon reached the extent that she began to say
"Shrimp, a little help here".
He did help her each time.
At home Mr Anderson asked him.
"How did school go Sam?"
"Not too well" Sam replied.
"Why?" Mr Anderson asked.
"There was this newcomer Jane. She made it her purpose to disgrace me in front of my classmates" he said.
"Oh, you see son. That's the thing with girls. They need to be impressed" Mr Anderson said.
"Oh, I didn't think about that. I'll give it a try" Sam said.
The only problem with 'giving it a try' as Sam said was that Jane was even worse the next day. This went on for a week until one Monday during break period. Sam was going to the library when he heard Jane screaming. He rushed to the scene and saw four bullies two grades older than him in the act of snatching Jane's bag and lunch pack. One was just about to hit her when Sam arrived.
"Hey!" he shouted. "Leave her alone!"
Jane hurriedly ran behind Sam for protection.
"Don't interfere Anderson" one of the bullies said.
At that moment, the cunning part of Sam's mind began to take over.
"Okay" he said. "I'll just leave" he continued.
"What? You are just going to leave and let them beat me?" she asked in shock.
"Of course, because the last time I checked we were not on speaking terms and you're right…" Sam said with a sigh.
"Huh?" Jane was puzzled by his reaction.
"I'm just a shrimp" he whispered.
He began to walk away when Jane stopped him.
"Okay" she said.
"I'm sorry, you're not a shrimp" she said.
"Okay" Sam said. "Guys, I've changed my mind, I think I will stay" he said.
Jane breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you" she said.
"Get them!" one of the bullies ordered.
Jane was about to run when she noticed that Sam wasn't so she remained behind Sam.
"Wouldn't do that if I were you" Sam said cracking his knuckles one at a time.
"Wow" Jane thought. "This guy is really cool".
Sam removed the crucifix that his grandfather Peter Anderson gave him and gave it to Jane.
"This is very precious to me, guard it with your life" he said.
Then he winked at Jane.