Wrestling Against Myself (10 page)

Peter leaned in and whispered something into the girl’s ear.

Whatever he said had to have been something severe. Courtney became as white as a sheet and physically trembled as Peter calmly walked away.

By the time Tony made his way to the front table, Peter already mixed in with the crowd and was about to leave the building. Since he couldn't deal with the boy, he figured he could find out what in the world was going on.

“Are you okay?” Tony said as he stood off to the side of the girl.

Courtney turned her head and stared at him. Her mouth fell open, but she didn't say a word.

“I asked if you were okay.” Tony said calmly.

“Yeah,” Courtney answered even though tears welled up in her eyes.

Tony pursed his lips. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Um, I got to go,” she said and quickly made her way to the exit.

Tony stood alone in front of the dining hall wondering if it was the world that had turned all screwy or if it was him. He wasn't comfortable with what was going on, he wasn't comfortable at all.

Tony made a beeline out of the cafeteria, forgetting to clean up his tray. He felt guilty about that, but felt that there was something more important to deal with. He had a few minutes before he needed to report to class, and it shouldn't take too long to deal with what he wanted to.

Tony walked to the back of building. There was a group of five students out back smoking cigarettes. One of them was Peter.

“Hey Peter,” Antonio said, keeping his temper under control. “Can I talk to you for a moment?”

Peter let out a long stream of smoke and then flicked his cigarette onto the ground. “Sure, Tiny. What's up? Going to tell me smoking is bad for my health?”

Peter's group of friends laughed.

“Nothing like that.” Tony motioned the junior over to him.”Just want to talk for a few seconds.”

“Sure.” Peter said as he sauntered over to Tony, making a show out of it to the delight of his friends. “What's up Tiny?”

“What did you say to her?” Tony asked flatly.

“Say to who?”

“The girl in the cafeteria, that's who.”

Peter laughed. “That's none of your business.”

“I'm making it my business,” Tony said.

“Look. It's cool the way you stick up for all the dweebs and the losers. I respect you for that. But you have no idea what's going on.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Trust me; we don't need people like that at our school, in our town, or even in our country.”

Tony was even more confused. Normally Peter would back down whenever he was confronted about his bullying, but it appeared he had a serious beef with the girl. “Just back off, will you.”

“For your own good, Tiny, stay out of this one.”

Tony shook his head. “Are you threatening me?”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Peter put up his hands, showing he had no intentions of getting into a fight. “I didn't mean it like that. Trust me on this; I'm doing the right thing. You would probably appreciate it, but it’s not your style. It's not the way you would handle things, but it's a result you would agree with. That thing is bad news and we don't need it at our school. You'll be doing yourself a favor by not getting involved.”

The second bell rang, alerting the students to report to class immediately.

“I got to get to geometry,” Peter said as he turned away. “Trust me on this, Tiny; we're on the same side when it comes to that.”

Tony stood still for a moment. There were a few pieces missing somewhere, but he had no clue what the issue with the girl was. 'Maybe she got someone in some serious trouble by telling a lie?' that was the only thing that immediately came to Antonio's mind.

School ended quickly enough for Antonio, but he was no closer to finding out about what Courtney could have done to get the entire freshmen class angry at her. It had to be something major, but for the hatred to last over an entire summer and be in full swing so early in the school year was unfathomable. It must have been something the girl expected, that would explain her fear the first day of school. Unless, of course, something happened at the school before Tony laid eyes on her.

The issue was distracting Tony as he wondered how to respond. He had an idea to alleviate some of the pressure on the poor girl, but the question was, should he? 'If this was something she brought upon herself,' Antonio stopped his thinking before he could finish the thought. Despite what she had done, no matter how bad, no one should be run out of school. 'Perhaps she could make amends if people let her.'

Tony waited at his locker, greeting people and making small conversation while he waited. Since he saw the girl leave so late the day before, he assumed she waited until the school was empty before leaving herself.

Fifteen minutes passed. There was no one else in the hall, even the teachers left their classrooms and made their way up to the administration building or the teacher's lounge.

Antonio walked to the north end of the building, opened the door and peeked out. A few students lingered, but not many. He walked back down the corridor and out the south door, and had the funny feeling he was waiting for nothing.

“Oh well,” Tony said as he walked through the open air passageways towards his car.

As Antonio walked through the parking lot towards his car, he noticed a group of kids hanging around Peter's green Ford F150 pickup truck. Several were in the bed; he could make out Roger, Jason, and the freshman he dealt with earlier, Henry, sitting on the side wall. The deep rumble from the engine, caught Tony's attention.

“They're up to no good,” Antonio said as he walked to the driver's side of the green pickup.

The group in the bed stared at Tony as he made his way. Their faces were taut and red with rage.

“Hey Peter,” Tony said as he leaned against the side of the truck.

“Yo, Tiny,” Peter replied as he kept his eye trained on the school. “Sorry about mouthing off earlier and the stupid smoking comment.”

Antonio gave a thin smile. “Nah, I didn't take no mind. What are you guys up to?”

“Waiting on somebody.”

“Me?”

“Heck no,” Peter said. “I only got three other people with me, you got us outnumbered.”

Tony laughed. “Interesting comment. You waiting for someone to pound?”

Peter leaned over and kept his voice low. “Tiny, listen, you're a good guy and though people can find that annoying, no one holds it against you. But, sometimes, extreme circumstances require extreme action.”

“Like beating someone up? Four against one?”

“Oh, we aren’t going to beat them, just scare them.”

“Somehow I think we're talking about someone we already had a conversation about.”

“Perhaps,” Peter replied cryptically. “Maybe not.”

“Why are you picking on a girl? That's not your style.”

“I ain't picking nothing.”

“What did she do?”

Roger stood up in the bed of the truck and pounded on the roof. “There it is, one o'clock, coming down from the gym.”

Peter grimaced. “Got to go.” He floored the accelerator, spun his tires in a cloud of white smoke as Tony jumped back, and peeled away.

Tony looked in the direction Roger pointed out and took off to intervene. Sure enough, Courtney had been walking down the ramp that led to the parking lot. She must have heard the tires squeal, because by the time Tony spotted her she was in a full sprint. Tony knew he could out run the girl, but there was no way he was going to out run the pickup. There were several things the girl could do to buy them both some time.

By the time the truck was close to her, she already made her way past the first fence that led down a small stairway that brought everyone to the weight room and kept her stride.

The guys in the bed of the truck were making a commotion. Smokers normally weren't in the best of condition and the girl had a big enough lead on them that it would be impossible for them to catch her on foot. Instead, Peter swung the truck around and gunned it towards the exit.

Tony had a moment of confusion as to what to do next. Should he continue after the girl, or jump in his car and take off after the pickup. He slammed his foot into the pavement, pivoted, and made his way to his Firebird.

Courtney was freaked out.  Peter accomplished his objective if his goal was only to scare her. Somehow, Tony doubted that. It would do him no good to take after her, if she thought the school was out to get her, that would include him and he would only add to her terror.

Tony made his way to his car, jumped in, and fired it up. He looked through the window. Courtney made it to the far fence and was about to leave school grounds. He turned his head; Peter parked his truck in the grass by the southwest side of the school that was closest to the main road.

“She doesn't go that way, morons,” Tony said out loud, thankful that Peter didn't know the girl's pattern and take his truck into the ditch to catch her when she left the school.

Antonio turned his attention back to Courtney; she had run out the small opening on the far side of the school and down the ditch, a second later she was up on the other side and heading north, away from Peter and his goons.

Tony looked back towards Peter. The group was yelling something, but he couldn't make out what it was. The way Peter parked his truck, he was unable to get up the ditch and continue the chase. Instead, the teen peeled out once again and took off down the road. A second later a cop car zipped down the street after him with his lights on.

“Serves you right,” Tony said to himself, and then put his car in reverse so he could leave.

Instead of head home, which was Tony's original plan so he could get in a light workout after school, Tony decided to head towards church. Though there were no activities scheduled for the evening, he hoped he would be able to talk to Pastor Bob. Besides, he reasoned, he already got in a heavy sprint and still had his evening jog on the school's track later on.

While he was driving, Tony cranked up the radio to listen to the afternoon DJ. He concentrated hard to lower his heart rate, something he had been practicing all summer long during intense workouts. He could feel the blood rushing through his system as his temples throbbed.

Tony took a deep breath through his nose, held it and then let it out slowly. He didn't want to talk to the youth pastor while he was flooded with adrenalin.

The teen couldn't remember the last time he felt lucky to hit a few red lights, but this was the one rare time he was. He was able to settle himself down. By the time he pulled into the parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Dunedin, he was back on an even keel, which meant people would be able to understand what the problem was. 

Tony got out of his car. Since the church parking lot sat across the street from a Pinellas County Sheriff's substation, he left his keys in the ignition as usual.

The gate to the back end of the church was open, which was a good sign that Pastor Bob was still there. Tony walked past the blue painted iron gate and then up the stairs. Pastor Bob had an office at the back end on the rec room. Though some might question why a church needed a ping pong table and bumper pool, on Wednesday nights, the room was packed.

Tony walked past the enticements, which wasn't that hard since there was no one to compete against, and stopped at the open door to the youth pastor's office. He gave a light tap to alert Pastor Bob of his presence.