There was a kid I used to be friends with (I'll call him Steve) originally because we lived a few streets down from each other and we would ride our bikes after school and on weekends.

Fast forward to fifth grade and while Steve and I weren't really hanging out outside of school and had drifted apart as friends, we were still in the same class.

I can't even remember what he had been doing to me or calling me (probably a mixture of the two things), I just remember he had been egging me on a lot for a couple of weeks and by the end of this particular school day he had really gotten to me and I was holding back tears as i started walking home from school.

As I was in the final stretch of my way along this footpath that ran along side a fairly steep hill into a creek, I hear the sound of scooters and bikes approaching behind me, which I already knew from experience it was the same kid along with his 16 year old brother and one of the other mutual neighborhood friends.

Not even wanting to acknowledge him I moved to the side to let them past, Steve gets right up to my ear and shouts a name or something thinking he can speed past.

My whole life I've always been very introverted and pacifist in nature, but in that moment I just felt the biggest surge of adrenaline run through my body, and before I could even process what I was doing I had ran up to him and tacked him off of his scooter, sending him and myself rolling 10 or so metres down this steep hill.

At the bottom we are both still on the ground and I begin throwing in a punch or two expecting him to dish it back, but looked at his face that had a look of terror and he just began apologizing repeatedly.

We both get to our feet and he heads back up the hill while I hung back, half expecting his older brother (who I remember being quite brawny) to come down and pick a fight, but luckily I got off scot-free.

I wish I could say in that moment I felt remorse, but really I was just proud of myself because I knew he would stop egging me, on and sure enough from the next day onwards he never picked on me again and eventually we became pretty good friends again before going to different high schools.