I hate bullies...although technically, I was kind of a bully myself...you see, what they didn't know was that I liked to fight and was trying to use every ounce of restraint I knew not to hop over the table strangle is scrawny little neck...I remember that before I started school that day, my dad said to me "Son, have fun, don't get into trouble and try not to get into any fights"...2 out of 3 wasn't so bad...
My locker was on the 2nd floor, near the back of the school, and coincidentally only 3 down from the Urchin...I made my way to my locker and was about to pick up my lunch when BAM, I was shoved from behind into my locker...I turned around and saw him standing there with 2 of his flunkies flanking him on either side...the next few minutes seemed to last forever...him and his friends were laughing, calling me wuss...I didn't have anything to say or do with them, so I ignored them...it was then that they made their final mistake, you see one of the guys reached out, took my lunch box from me and threw it down the hall...now, no one takes my food, and I mean no one...the next few seconds are a blur, but I remember throwin one of them down the hall, breaking the nose of the second fellow and holding the Urchin by his shirt well off the ground...he was begging me to put him down, and all I could think of was how mean he was to me earlier...I started to slam his head over and over into his locker until eventually he started to cry...at this time, a couple of teachers had arrived and I was dragged away, down to the Principal's office...it took a few minutes before I came to the realization that I stood a good chance of being expelled from school on the very first day...that must have been a record...I was expelled or suspended, but I did have to make an apology to each of their families and was told to stay away from there...as for them, they were gone for the entire week, trying to heal up...
For the next week, things went slowly for me...my little rumble caused quite a stir and no one wanted to be seen next to me because they were afraid that when the Urchin and his posse returned, that revenge was in order...personally, I didn't care but I could see why I was avoided the entire week...I ate lunch in the library, went to class and as soon as school was done, boarded the school bus and went home...
When they finally returned, nothing happened...they went back to their obnoxious ways, picking on the socially awkward, making snide remarks...they even went back to insulting me, but as soon as I would stop in front of them, or look at them, they would stop right away and look away...I thought that my fighting them was the worse thing I could have ever done, but what I found out was that after standing up to them, people started seeing me in a different light...it wasn't long before I made my first friend and things started to get better for me...
High School life was pretty boring for me...I wasn't good enough for the Basketball or Volleyball team...I wasn't smart enough for the Chess or Debate team...I wasn't good looking enough to hang out with the good looking, smokers and I wasn't rich enough to own a car or spend my lunch time at the local mall, eating McDonalds...My existence was one of going to school and going home...I didn't fit in anywhere, even after being at this school for over 3 years...then I had a moment of clarity...
Up to this moment, I had resigned myself to a very lonely social life...so, at the beginning of my 3rd year, I decided to take Semestered English, that way allowing me to fast track and be one year ahead in English...now, this idea wasn't based on my desire to learn or to grow intellectually...the way I figured it, I fast track English, and then next year, I can be in Michelle Kao's class the next year...who knows, maybe by then she would see me in a different light and perhaps we would have our kodak moment...hey, it was a long shot, but at least for the first time in my life, I decided to take control of something and go for broke...
When I walked into my English class, I nearly stopped dead in my tracks for sitting in my class was the hottest girl in my class year...if I had to write a list of the top 3 hottest ladies in all the school, it would have went 1) Michelle Kao, 2) Rachel Leung and 3) Somebody else...why Rachel Leung decided to take the Semestered English was beyond me, but I didn't care...all I cared about was that for the next year, I was going to be sitting next to a woman who could have easily been a model...I settled myself down and was about to sit next to her when she looked up and called out to a male friend of hers...he scootched into the room and sat right next to her...oh well, at least she was in my class...
I thought that I was on the right path, that perhaps I was going to make something of myself and get some of those great high school memories that people keep on talking about...Little did I know that my next memory would be one of suspension and social exclusion...
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