When school started back after Christmas break, I was still on crutches. One day, Andrea and I saw a new student being bullied. The bullies had already knocked the poor girl to the floor. They were getting ready to beat her. I said, "Come on, Andrea. Let's get those bullies away from her." Andrea followed close behind. I said to the bullies, "Back off! I've got crutches, and I know how to use 'em!" The bullies walked away. Andrea helped the girl to her feet and asked, "Are you okay?" The girl replied, "I'm fine. Thanks for standing up for me." I said, "It was not a problem." She smiled and said, "My name's Marie. What are your names?" Andrea said, "I'm Andrea." I said, "And I'm her friend, Peter." Marie said, "It's nice to meet you. Let me guess, Peter, you're from Liverpool." I said, "Yeah. How did you know?" She said, "Your accent is a dead giveaway." Marie and I had the next class together. At the end of class, we had time to talk. She asked, "How did you get hurt, Peter?" I said, "I fell down a hill and broke me leg, but it's getting better." She said, "You must've taken a hard fall." I said, "Yeah, I did." Once I was able to walk without crutches, she said, "I'm glad you're better, but it's too bad you don't have crutches to shield me from bullies." I said, "I don't have to have crutches to shield you from bullies, love." Andrea said, "That's right. Peter and I have shielded each other from bullies since the beginning of our friendship, even before he got hurt." Marie smiled. She said, "I'm glad I have friends now. I'm from Texas, and I got bullied all the time. The truth is I'm homosexual." I said, "There's nothing wrong with that. Those bullies just don't know anything about anything." Andrea said, "That's right. You're safe with us, Marie."