The ‘piece’ I had first considered posting for this week was my Senior Portfolio introduction. Written during the spring term of my senior year at Knox, it was designed to explore how and why I came to be a writer, what writing means to me, as well as some of my ambitions for the future. It was a tall expectation, but in the end I was able to accomplish it, even if just barely. It’s been less than a year since I turned in that assignment and, as I skim over the pages now, I find faulty logic, incorrect assumptions, and thoughts that I would like to have rephrased in favor of something more accurate. Regardless of its problems, however, it would have allowed for an easy way to introduce you to me and my work.
It quickly became clear, though, that the introduction was not appropriate for my blog for two reasons. First was the content of the piece. When I wrote it I did so with an expectation that only a handful of people would ever read it: my peers for editing and my professor. As such, I included other people’s personal information regarding subjects that are sometimes considered controversial. It would be inappropriate for me to put that information into the public domain without their consent, which I don’t have. The second reason applies more directly to you and this. Withholding the introduction gives me the chance to update these ‘old’ attitudes throughout the life of the blog.
So I come back to where I began. Which of my pieces should I begin with? Should it be one of my short stories, a poem, or a critical essay? Should it be something that I am working on now, a piece that I have permanently put aside, or one that I plan on picking up again in the future? Should the example I choose represent my best work or not? Eventually it came down to a combination of how I wanted to present myself (which is sort of the point) as well as how I wanted to structure the blog as a whole.
When I decided to start this endeavor I did a small inventory of the works that would appear here, as well as ones that could but were, for whatever reason, questionable additions. Of these works I ran across a novel I had begun writing when I was a junior in High School called The Six. This piece most definitely fits under the later group of ‘questionable’ works and does so because it is, quite simply, very very bad. It’s a high fantasy piece (no, that’s not why it’s bad) that I used as a de-stressor during a bad year. This was largely due to a case of Bronchitis that went undiagnosed for months. I wrote for myself, and while I thought that I might be able to publish the work with significant edits, the initial drafts were only intended for close friends and family members. I continued to work on the story throughout my first two years of college. If I was ever to publish the novel it would be well after I had established myself.
When I eventually began looking at Creative Writing as a possible major I worked out an independent study that focused specifically on this novel. The idea of the independent study was to introduce me to some of the basics of writing creatively, a look at what ‘literature’ actually meant, and to help me determine if I could handle a Creative Writing major. I can’t say it was 100% successful, but it got me going in the right direction.
Below is the first chapter of that novel. Each update will include a new chapter along with another piece of my work. Some weeks I will talk about The Six as a whole or the posted chapter specifically. Other weeks I’ll limit my comments to my other writing. This way I can get my ‘start’ out there, but you aren’t stuck with 30 chapters (and therefore 30 weeks) of really bad writing.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
The Six (Chapter 1)
Chapter 1
~ Bret ~
“Bye mom, see you tonight. I’ve got cross-country, so I’d say around five-ish?” I got out of the car and turned for the response.
“Okay honey. Smooches.” Mom replied waving as I started to close the door.
I slipped back in and grabbed her hand. “Mom! How many times have I told you? No ‘smooches’ at school!”
It took a second for my mom to realize what I was asking. “Oh, sorry Bret. I’ll try to remember the next time I drop you off at school.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “Tomorrow?”
She blinked and cocked her head; I had to snap my finger in her face to bring her back. She blinked and shook her head this time. “Yeah.” It seemed amazing to her that we would be doing this tomorrow. I closed the door and watched her back out of the parking spot and leave. As I turned around I looked up to see that the day was dark and dingy; the weatherman said it would rain today, he was probably right. Hopefully practice wasn’t cancelled; I really didn’t want to have to wait for my mom in the hallway again.
I walked in and stopped at the attendance office, I was late for the first time this year. My mom had said she had called me in. “Name?” The attendance lady never really was one for friendliness.
“Bret Cath.” I replied.
“I-D number?” We had identification numbers at school, it apparently made that database easier.
I had to think about it for a second. “Um, it is 68288. My mom should have called me in.”
She typed my name and ID in the computer. “It says here that no one has called you in late.”
“But, my mom said that she had.” I looked over the counter at the screen, and sure enough my mom had forgotten. “Can I call her cell?”
“Yeah, one second.” She turned around and grabbed the phone and handed it to me. “Dial nine first.”
“Why?”
“Just do it, okay? I’m in a bad mood.” She walked away from the desk to talk to someone in the dean’s office.
I watched her back as I dialed. “Who knew?” I muttered. “Hello?” My mom picked up the phone after the second ring. “Hey mom, you forgot to call me in late.”
“I did? Well, I shall have to call you in late right now.” She hung up the phone.
“Mom…wait.” I hung it up, almost immediately it started to ring again; I started to wave my hand to get the lady’s attention, but there was no use. I picked it up again. “Hello? Mom?”
“Bret? But I just talked to you.”
“Yeah, because I was calling from the attendance office’s phone. Now, will you please wait on the line until the attendance lady comes back?”
“Okay honey.” I started to waive my hand again; this time the attendance lady saw me.
“What?” She said very half-heartedly.
“Here, it’s my mom.” I handed the phone over.
“Hello, Mrs. Cath? … No, I do not have any record of you calling in. … Okay, I will tell him, thank you…Good bye.” She hung up the phone. “She is coming over to check you in late.”
“Why is my mom soo stupid? Do I have to sit here?” I plopped on a bench across the hall knowing the answer.
“I’m afraid so, her request.” I leaned back against the wall and closed me eyes in a half-hearted attempt to relax.
What seemed like an hour later passing period started and people filled the halls getting to their next classes. “Bret? What are you doing, just sitting there? Don’t you have class?” I looked up to see Abigail standing right in front of me.
“Hi Abigail, I’ve been looking for you all over the place.” I sat up straight at my screw up. “W-Well, not really, as I have been sitting here waiting for my mom to get back.” I put my hand on the bench to get Abigail to sit down next to me. She didn’t seem to notice so I used it to push myself up.
“What were you looking for me for?” She asked.
“I wanted to ask you a question. I-I’m taking a survey for the yearbook. Can you tell me what your favorite book of all time is?” I asked. I looked away because, of course, that wasn’t what I wanted to ask.
“Sure, it’s the Lord Of The Rings series. Anything else…you seem nervous.”
“Yes, c-can we, I mean, can I…? Can I take you to the movies sometime?” That would probably have been that worst thing that could happen to an already lack luster day. This would probably ruin our friendship status if she didn’t want to go.
She looked at me, smiled, winked, and walked away. Maybe she thought it was a joke. Either way, she blew me off and I felt worse for wear.
I waited for another ten minutes before my mother finally stuck her head in the school. “Sorry, I had to stop on the way over…I got a flat tire.” Usually flat tire means ‘the essentials.’
“Really mom, it’s okay. It isn’t like I’ll miss all of my homework, and my grade will go down. Not like that at all.” I was being openly sarcastic.
“Well, sorry anyway.” She usually didn’t get the sarcastic comments and today was no exception. She signed me in, and I made it to my science class. It didn’t take me long to figure out that something was up in the social realm, something that involved me, since everyone was whispering and making glances at me.
I turned to George, my best friend, who sat next to me, to find out what was going on. He held up his hand and mouthed ‘after class.’ When class was over I made my way over to a corner to talk to him in the cafeteria, it was our lunch period.
“So, what is everyone saying about me?” I asked
“That you got rejected by Abigail.” He replied.
I choked on my Coke and had to take a moment to regain my breath. “How does anyone know about that? The hallway was empty!”
George just shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you should have looked harder. You okay?”
“Yeah. Well, who would be the one who told everybody?” I asked.
“I’ll give you two guesses. And, it’s the one with the y chromosome.” He was alluding to Eric.
“Why would he want to exploit me? I haven’t done anything to him.”
“Who knows? People actually talk to him.” Was his reply; he was referring to my wallflower status and his nerd status. I was lucky to have him as a friend; he was getting the highest grade point average in school and was testing at college levels.
“HEY EVERY ONE, GUESS WHAT!!! BRET JUST ASKED ABIGAIL OUT, AND SHE REJECTED HIM!!!” I practically jumped out of my seat when I heard that. I turned around to see Eric standing on a table looking at me and pointing. “YEAH, IT HAPPENED BETWEEN CLASSES THREE AND FOUR!!! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!!!” He pointed to his eyes as if no one knew where they were.
I ran over to him and pulled him down. “What are you doing?”
“What? All this is…is sharing some gossip. Think of it as a human tabloid newspaper.” He mocked.
“I hate tabloids.” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards me.
George grabbed me and pulled me away from Eric. “Whoa! Bret, calm down and come over here with me and we will deal with this later.”
“Eric, just watch your back. I don’t get angry very easily, you know that I have never gotten in a fight. But, if you push me too far, I will be willing to get into my first.”
The whole room had gone silent and George pulled me away as quietly as he could. I noticed that the only person not looking at me was Abigail, who also had my lunch period.
“What do you think you are doing? You could have gotten yourself into trouble.” George pulled me into a vacant hallway.
“Are you sure you want to talk to me? Eric could be eaves dropping.” I said.
“I don’t care, and neither should you.”
“You know, you should be the mediator, not me.” I complimented him on his work to calm my nerves.
“No, I’ve got a lot on my plate as it is thank you very much.” We started to walk back to the cafeteria. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to see Jane standing there looking expectant.
When neither of us said anything, she took the initiative. “Hey, I heard what happened, and I want to say I’m sorry.” She said.
“Oh, thank you Jane. I’m glad I have someone on my side.” I said glaring at George.
“Well, if you ever need to talk to someone…Well, I’ve got to go.” She turned around and went into the bathroom.
“Now there’s a sight you don’t see everyday, a girl just went into the bathroom by herself.” I turned around to see Frieda standing in front of me.
“And what is wrong with that may I ask?” She had her group of girls with her, and was obviously headed there. “Oh, wait, you have no say in what girls do, since you can’t even get a date with Abigail.” She gave a shrill laugh and headed into the bathroom.
“I thought they were friends.” George scratched his head.
“Don’t try to understand women, it will just hurt your head. Yes, even yours.” I walked into the cafeteria and was met by Eric and his friends.
“You said you wanted to fight, How about that hallway out there, in five minutes. My friends will keep out the Para Pros, you and I will do the rest.” He took a step close to me.
“I…uh.” I managed to get out.
“‘I want to do it now?’ Okay, we’ll do it now.” He motioned for his friends to grab me, and I found myself being dragged into the middle of the hallway.
“That wasn’t what I meant, really.” Eric’s friends interlocked arms in a circle around us as everyone else gathered around to watch.
“This is what you said, sometimes you have to be careful about how you phrase words.” Eric made a jab at me, which I was just able to dodge. One of Eric’s friends tripped me and I found Eric over me ready to bring down a fist.
“Okay! Break it up!” One of the Para Pros, the biggest one, broke through almost immediately. Eric went the other way, and his gang protected him. “Bret? I’m surprised to find you here. I’m guessing that there was no fight. It sure looked like there would be one. Oh well.” He turned around and walked back to his post.
“AFTER SCHOOL.” Eric yelled at me from across the hall. “BE THERE OR WE WILL HUNT YOU DOWN.”
“Bret? Are you all right?” Abigail walked up to me and helped me up.
“Yeah, no thanks to you.” I walked away, not even letting her explain her actions.
“Wow! That has got to suck.” George walked with me towards my next class. I had yearbook.
“Yeah, this day hasn’t been that good.” I replied.
“If you need any help tonight…well, you know where to reach me.” He headed for English. He stopped short. “I sounded like Jane just now didn’t I?” I nodded. He shook his head and walked away.
“What? She’s not that bad.” I yelled after him.
I went into the door and handed in my results for the poll. “I see you got lots of people to take your poll.” My teacher said, Mrs. Torsi.
“Yes, it was an easier one.”
“And, I would have failed you if you hadn’t gotten this many answers.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it was so easy.” She said as she copied the grade into the computer. I went over to one of the computers and started to fill in my answers.
Most of the class passed when I heard my name being called. “Bret, could you come here for a second?” One of the deans walked in.
“Yes?”
“I would like you to come after school, mediation.”
“Will I be mediating, or will I be the silent observer?” Generally the silent observer is an adult, but they’ve asked me to do it when no one else could.
“You will actually be one of the two parties.”
“What? Who is the other person?”
“Eric.” She said.
“Eric? Eric wouldn’t bring us together; he’s probably the one who wants to fight more. Who handed in our names?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. If he or she wants to tell you, then they can. I’ll see you tonight.” She turned around and left.
“What was that all about?” Jane was on yearbook with me.
“You know that fight that almost happened at lunch?”
“Yeah.”
“We-well, I have to go to a mediator session with the people involved.”
“Good.” She nodded and walked back to her computer. I had a feeling that she knew it was me, but didn’t want to burst my bubble.
I sat next to her. “Thanks.”
“For what? What do you think, should I take this cover or this one?” She brought up two pictures. One of the covers was of our mascot, the cougar, pouncing on the year. The other one was a little more intricate, more confusing.
“The first one is easier to look at.” I said.
“Thank you.” She put the second one in the recycle bin.
“I didn’t know I had so much influence on the cover of the yearbook.” I got up and finished my poll. The rest of the day past very quickly, mostly I saw snickers and points throughout the day.
At the end of the day I was walking down the hall when I ran smack into George. “Oh, hey! I was wondering when I would see you again. How was English? Still correcting the teacher?”
“Yeah. Are you headed to the mediation?”
“How do you know about that?… You were the one who reported us weren’t you?”
“Look, I did what I had to. At least now you won’t get in that fight.” He started backing up from me.
“I’m not going to hit you, you know that.” I said
“No, but I will.” I turned around to find Eric rubbing his knuckles.
“H-hi Eric. Headed to the mediation session?” I said, I backed up into George.
“Well, I was. But I think we can handle the problem right here right now.” He approached me.
“Hey Eric, what’s up?” Frieda rounded the corner.
“Hey Frieda.” Both George and I ran behind her.
“What are you doing?” She turned around to face us,
“Using you as…where are all of your girl friends?” I asked.
“They had to go home, and I had to get something from my locker. Get away from me!” Frieda pushed us away.
“Oh come on, can’t we use you as a human shield? Eric’s going to kill us.” I said.
“Why don’t you use your girl friend, Abigail?” Eric taunted.
“What about me?” Abigail walked up.
“Hey Abigail.” George and I moved behind her.
“Well, hi.” She didn’t move to push us away.
I looked up to her from under her armpit. “What are you doing here?”
“I was getting help in math.” She replied.
“You know, I could help you with that.” George told her.
“Not now George.” I said.
Eric tried to get around Abigail and I ran around. “Come back here Bret! I need to finish something.” Eric ran at me. I ran the other way.
“I think keeping my distance is fine.” I said. I turned around to look at him as I ran, only to run into Frieda.
“Watch it! If you break a nail I will kill you.” She yelled at me
“Calm down beauty queen, you’re not being judged here. We all have opinions that aren’t influenced by your looks. I’m sure that not all of them are good, I know mine aren’t.” I said.
“Screw you!” She made a slap at me.
“Bret!” Abigail grabbed my arm. “I wanted to ask you something, something about your question.”
“I need to hear this.” Eric stopped chasing me and everyone stopped moving.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I wanted to give you my answer.” She said.
“And you hadn’t before?” I asked
“No, I didn’t even hear you. I didn’t find out about your question until Eric started making fun of you.” She said.
“Well, then I feel stupid, not letting you explain I mean. What was the wink about?” I said.
“I thought I heard something else. I really don’t remember, but it seemed to need a wink.” Abigail said.
“I have something new to make fun of you about don’t I?” Eric said. “You got all mad about being rejected when she wanted to go out with you the whole time.”
“Well, I’d have to thank you for that.” I said in a sly fashion. “If it weren’t for you, she still wouldn’t know I asked, and I would still feel bad.” That left him speechless.
“I guess you got him. Next time you want to prove yourself, leave me out of it.” Frieda started to walk away.
“I guess you would leave.” George said.
“Yeah, leaving with you head up your butt.” I added.
“What? Do you guys have something that you want to discuss with me?” She turned back around and approached us.
“Yes, he does at least.” George stepped back.
“Thanks for your help George.” I said behind me.
“Well? What problem do you have with me?” Frieda asked. I looked at her, and noticed out of the corner of my eye movement.
“Bret and Eric! I told you to meet me after school for a mediation meeting.” The dean headed towards us and we all moved away from her. I also noticed some of the Para Pros had been looking for us as well. They moved from different halls towards us.
“Why do I feel like a felon?” I heard Abigail whisper to herself as we started backing up.
~ Bret ~
“Bye mom, see you tonight. I’ve got cross-country, so I’d say around five-ish?” I got out of the car and turned for the response.
“Okay honey. Smooches.” Mom replied waving as I started to close the door.
I slipped back in and grabbed her hand. “Mom! How many times have I told you? No ‘smooches’ at school!”
It took a second for my mom to realize what I was asking. “Oh, sorry Bret. I’ll try to remember the next time I drop you off at school.”
I looked at her in disbelief. “Tomorrow?”
She blinked and cocked her head; I had to snap my finger in her face to bring her back. She blinked and shook her head this time. “Yeah.” It seemed amazing to her that we would be doing this tomorrow. I closed the door and watched her back out of the parking spot and leave. As I turned around I looked up to see that the day was dark and dingy; the weatherman said it would rain today, he was probably right. Hopefully practice wasn’t cancelled; I really didn’t want to have to wait for my mom in the hallway again.
I walked in and stopped at the attendance office, I was late for the first time this year. My mom had said she had called me in. “Name?” The attendance lady never really was one for friendliness.
“Bret Cath.” I replied.
“I-D number?” We had identification numbers at school, it apparently made that database easier.
I had to think about it for a second. “Um, it is 68288. My mom should have called me in.”
She typed my name and ID in the computer. “It says here that no one has called you in late.”
“But, my mom said that she had.” I looked over the counter at the screen, and sure enough my mom had forgotten. “Can I call her cell?”
“Yeah, one second.” She turned around and grabbed the phone and handed it to me. “Dial nine first.”
“Why?”
“Just do it, okay? I’m in a bad mood.” She walked away from the desk to talk to someone in the dean’s office.
I watched her back as I dialed. “Who knew?” I muttered. “Hello?” My mom picked up the phone after the second ring. “Hey mom, you forgot to call me in late.”
“I did? Well, I shall have to call you in late right now.” She hung up the phone.
“Mom…wait.” I hung it up, almost immediately it started to ring again; I started to wave my hand to get the lady’s attention, but there was no use. I picked it up again. “Hello? Mom?”
“Bret? But I just talked to you.”
“Yeah, because I was calling from the attendance office’s phone. Now, will you please wait on the line until the attendance lady comes back?”
“Okay honey.” I started to waive my hand again; this time the attendance lady saw me.
“What?” She said very half-heartedly.
“Here, it’s my mom.” I handed the phone over.
“Hello, Mrs. Cath? … No, I do not have any record of you calling in. … Okay, I will tell him, thank you…Good bye.” She hung up the phone. “She is coming over to check you in late.”
“Why is my mom soo stupid? Do I have to sit here?” I plopped on a bench across the hall knowing the answer.
“I’m afraid so, her request.” I leaned back against the wall and closed me eyes in a half-hearted attempt to relax.
What seemed like an hour later passing period started and people filled the halls getting to their next classes. “Bret? What are you doing, just sitting there? Don’t you have class?” I looked up to see Abigail standing right in front of me.
“Hi Abigail, I’ve been looking for you all over the place.” I sat up straight at my screw up. “W-Well, not really, as I have been sitting here waiting for my mom to get back.” I put my hand on the bench to get Abigail to sit down next to me. She didn’t seem to notice so I used it to push myself up.
“What were you looking for me for?” She asked.
“I wanted to ask you a question. I-I’m taking a survey for the yearbook. Can you tell me what your favorite book of all time is?” I asked. I looked away because, of course, that wasn’t what I wanted to ask.
“Sure, it’s the Lord Of The Rings series. Anything else…you seem nervous.”
“Yes, c-can we, I mean, can I…? Can I take you to the movies sometime?” That would probably have been that worst thing that could happen to an already lack luster day. This would probably ruin our friendship status if she didn’t want to go.
She looked at me, smiled, winked, and walked away. Maybe she thought it was a joke. Either way, she blew me off and I felt worse for wear.
I waited for another ten minutes before my mother finally stuck her head in the school. “Sorry, I had to stop on the way over…I got a flat tire.” Usually flat tire means ‘the essentials.’
“Really mom, it’s okay. It isn’t like I’ll miss all of my homework, and my grade will go down. Not like that at all.” I was being openly sarcastic.
“Well, sorry anyway.” She usually didn’t get the sarcastic comments and today was no exception. She signed me in, and I made it to my science class. It didn’t take me long to figure out that something was up in the social realm, something that involved me, since everyone was whispering and making glances at me.
I turned to George, my best friend, who sat next to me, to find out what was going on. He held up his hand and mouthed ‘after class.’ When class was over I made my way over to a corner to talk to him in the cafeteria, it was our lunch period.
“So, what is everyone saying about me?” I asked
“That you got rejected by Abigail.” He replied.
I choked on my Coke and had to take a moment to regain my breath. “How does anyone know about that? The hallway was empty!”
George just shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe you should have looked harder. You okay?”
“Yeah. Well, who would be the one who told everybody?” I asked.
“I’ll give you two guesses. And, it’s the one with the y chromosome.” He was alluding to Eric.
“Why would he want to exploit me? I haven’t done anything to him.”
“Who knows? People actually talk to him.” Was his reply; he was referring to my wallflower status and his nerd status. I was lucky to have him as a friend; he was getting the highest grade point average in school and was testing at college levels.
“HEY EVERY ONE, GUESS WHAT!!! BRET JUST ASKED ABIGAIL OUT, AND SHE REJECTED HIM!!!” I practically jumped out of my seat when I heard that. I turned around to see Eric standing on a table looking at me and pointing. “YEAH, IT HAPPENED BETWEEN CLASSES THREE AND FOUR!!! I SAW IT WITH MY OWN TWO EYES!!!” He pointed to his eyes as if no one knew where they were.
I ran over to him and pulled him down. “What are you doing?”
“What? All this is…is sharing some gossip. Think of it as a human tabloid newspaper.” He mocked.
“I hate tabloids.” I grabbed his shirt and pulled him towards me.
George grabbed me and pulled me away from Eric. “Whoa! Bret, calm down and come over here with me and we will deal with this later.”
“Eric, just watch your back. I don’t get angry very easily, you know that I have never gotten in a fight. But, if you push me too far, I will be willing to get into my first.”
The whole room had gone silent and George pulled me away as quietly as he could. I noticed that the only person not looking at me was Abigail, who also had my lunch period.
“What do you think you are doing? You could have gotten yourself into trouble.” George pulled me into a vacant hallway.
“Are you sure you want to talk to me? Eric could be eaves dropping.” I said.
“I don’t care, and neither should you.”
“You know, you should be the mediator, not me.” I complimented him on his work to calm my nerves.
“No, I’ve got a lot on my plate as it is thank you very much.” We started to walk back to the cafeteria. Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to see Jane standing there looking expectant.
When neither of us said anything, she took the initiative. “Hey, I heard what happened, and I want to say I’m sorry.” She said.
“Oh, thank you Jane. I’m glad I have someone on my side.” I said glaring at George.
“Well, if you ever need to talk to someone…Well, I’ve got to go.” She turned around and went into the bathroom.
“Now there’s a sight you don’t see everyday, a girl just went into the bathroom by herself.” I turned around to see Frieda standing in front of me.
“And what is wrong with that may I ask?” She had her group of girls with her, and was obviously headed there. “Oh, wait, you have no say in what girls do, since you can’t even get a date with Abigail.” She gave a shrill laugh and headed into the bathroom.
“I thought they were friends.” George scratched his head.
“Don’t try to understand women, it will just hurt your head. Yes, even yours.” I walked into the cafeteria and was met by Eric and his friends.
“You said you wanted to fight, How about that hallway out there, in five minutes. My friends will keep out the Para Pros, you and I will do the rest.” He took a step close to me.
“I…uh.” I managed to get out.
“‘I want to do it now?’ Okay, we’ll do it now.” He motioned for his friends to grab me, and I found myself being dragged into the middle of the hallway.
“That wasn’t what I meant, really.” Eric’s friends interlocked arms in a circle around us as everyone else gathered around to watch.
“This is what you said, sometimes you have to be careful about how you phrase words.” Eric made a jab at me, which I was just able to dodge. One of Eric’s friends tripped me and I found Eric over me ready to bring down a fist.
“Okay! Break it up!” One of the Para Pros, the biggest one, broke through almost immediately. Eric went the other way, and his gang protected him. “Bret? I’m surprised to find you here. I’m guessing that there was no fight. It sure looked like there would be one. Oh well.” He turned around and walked back to his post.
“AFTER SCHOOL.” Eric yelled at me from across the hall. “BE THERE OR WE WILL HUNT YOU DOWN.”
“Bret? Are you all right?” Abigail walked up to me and helped me up.
“Yeah, no thanks to you.” I walked away, not even letting her explain her actions.
“Wow! That has got to suck.” George walked with me towards my next class. I had yearbook.
“Yeah, this day hasn’t been that good.” I replied.
“If you need any help tonight…well, you know where to reach me.” He headed for English. He stopped short. “I sounded like Jane just now didn’t I?” I nodded. He shook his head and walked away.
“What? She’s not that bad.” I yelled after him.
I went into the door and handed in my results for the poll. “I see you got lots of people to take your poll.” My teacher said, Mrs. Torsi.
“Yes, it was an easier one.”
“And, I would have failed you if you hadn’t gotten this many answers.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because it was so easy.” She said as she copied the grade into the computer. I went over to one of the computers and started to fill in my answers.
Most of the class passed when I heard my name being called. “Bret, could you come here for a second?” One of the deans walked in.
“Yes?”
“I would like you to come after school, mediation.”
“Will I be mediating, or will I be the silent observer?” Generally the silent observer is an adult, but they’ve asked me to do it when no one else could.
“You will actually be one of the two parties.”
“What? Who is the other person?”
“Eric.” She said.
“Eric? Eric wouldn’t bring us together; he’s probably the one who wants to fight more. Who handed in our names?”
“I’m not at liberty to say. If he or she wants to tell you, then they can. I’ll see you tonight.” She turned around and left.
“What was that all about?” Jane was on yearbook with me.
“You know that fight that almost happened at lunch?”
“Yeah.”
“We-well, I have to go to a mediator session with the people involved.”
“Good.” She nodded and walked back to her computer. I had a feeling that she knew it was me, but didn’t want to burst my bubble.
I sat next to her. “Thanks.”
“For what? What do you think, should I take this cover or this one?” She brought up two pictures. One of the covers was of our mascot, the cougar, pouncing on the year. The other one was a little more intricate, more confusing.
“The first one is easier to look at.” I said.
“Thank you.” She put the second one in the recycle bin.
“I didn’t know I had so much influence on the cover of the yearbook.” I got up and finished my poll. The rest of the day past very quickly, mostly I saw snickers and points throughout the day.
At the end of the day I was walking down the hall when I ran smack into George. “Oh, hey! I was wondering when I would see you again. How was English? Still correcting the teacher?”
“Yeah. Are you headed to the mediation?”
“How do you know about that?… You were the one who reported us weren’t you?”
“Look, I did what I had to. At least now you won’t get in that fight.” He started backing up from me.
“I’m not going to hit you, you know that.” I said
“No, but I will.” I turned around to find Eric rubbing his knuckles.
“H-hi Eric. Headed to the mediation session?” I said, I backed up into George.
“Well, I was. But I think we can handle the problem right here right now.” He approached me.
“Hey Eric, what’s up?” Frieda rounded the corner.
“Hey Frieda.” Both George and I ran behind her.
“What are you doing?” She turned around to face us,
“Using you as…where are all of your girl friends?” I asked.
“They had to go home, and I had to get something from my locker. Get away from me!” Frieda pushed us away.
“Oh come on, can’t we use you as a human shield? Eric’s going to kill us.” I said.
“Why don’t you use your girl friend, Abigail?” Eric taunted.
“What about me?” Abigail walked up.
“Hey Abigail.” George and I moved behind her.
“Well, hi.” She didn’t move to push us away.
I looked up to her from under her armpit. “What are you doing here?”
“I was getting help in math.” She replied.
“You know, I could help you with that.” George told her.
“Not now George.” I said.
Eric tried to get around Abigail and I ran around. “Come back here Bret! I need to finish something.” Eric ran at me. I ran the other way.
“I think keeping my distance is fine.” I said. I turned around to look at him as I ran, only to run into Frieda.
“Watch it! If you break a nail I will kill you.” She yelled at me
“Calm down beauty queen, you’re not being judged here. We all have opinions that aren’t influenced by your looks. I’m sure that not all of them are good, I know mine aren’t.” I said.
“Screw you!” She made a slap at me.
“Bret!” Abigail grabbed my arm. “I wanted to ask you something, something about your question.”
“I need to hear this.” Eric stopped chasing me and everyone stopped moving.
“Yeah?” I asked.
“I wanted to give you my answer.” She said.
“And you hadn’t before?” I asked
“No, I didn’t even hear you. I didn’t find out about your question until Eric started making fun of you.” She said.
“Well, then I feel stupid, not letting you explain I mean. What was the wink about?” I said.
“I thought I heard something else. I really don’t remember, but it seemed to need a wink.” Abigail said.
“I have something new to make fun of you about don’t I?” Eric said. “You got all mad about being rejected when she wanted to go out with you the whole time.”
“Well, I’d have to thank you for that.” I said in a sly fashion. “If it weren’t for you, she still wouldn’t know I asked, and I would still feel bad.” That left him speechless.
“I guess you got him. Next time you want to prove yourself, leave me out of it.” Frieda started to walk away.
“I guess you would leave.” George said.
“Yeah, leaving with you head up your butt.” I added.
“What? Do you guys have something that you want to discuss with me?” She turned back around and approached us.
“Yes, he does at least.” George stepped back.
“Thanks for your help George.” I said behind me.
“Well? What problem do you have with me?” Frieda asked. I looked at her, and noticed out of the corner of my eye movement.
“Bret and Eric! I told you to meet me after school for a mediation meeting.” The dean headed towards us and we all moved away from her. I also noticed some of the Para Pros had been looking for us as well. They moved from different halls towards us.
“Why do I feel like a felon?” I heard Abigail whisper to herself as we started backing up.
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