And I would love to remember more, lol. Yes, it became a pretty solid friendship. That's the part I remember most. We bonded over a common interest in writing (I was writing even back then, even though I was only in middle school).

He mostly drew comics.

He was part of a larger bullying crew at my middle school. Mixed race crowd. When we became friends, they left me alone, but the friendship was all unexpected.

As to the how and why of what turned the relationship around, I honestly can't remember. I"ve always been a bit of a smart ass. So when he bullied me, I probably sassed him back enough to where maybe he just started respecting that. It never came to blows. It was all attempted intimidation.

Bullies are just looking for attention, anyway. Maybe something I did spoke to that. I know I didn't have anything to offer him in turns of bribes, lol. I came from a pretty low income background.