Wrestling Against Myself (15 page)

Without knowing if his friend was joking or being serious, John straightened up. “Come on, Tiny, lighten up.”

“I just want to know something. Where you involved in yesterday's little plot to make that girl's life a living hell.”

John looked offended. “What are you talking about?”

“I find it interesting that you just so happened to show up at my locker, delayed me enough for those goons to find the girl and pick on her. Then, when something was about to go down, you happened to be in the vicinity.”

“You think I set you up?” John was shocked.

“The thought ran through my mind.”

“Come on, Tiny. We're friends. I wouldn't do that to you. I was heading towards detention and then remembered I had my video games in my sister's car. I figured I could at least play them while I waited. I got an awesome season going in Madden. I went around the outside of the building and when I came up front, I saw you and Peter about to mix it up. You know I'm not going to pass watching that.”

Tony was unsure if he believed the kid. He wanted to, but knew that John had a panache for causing trouble and liked seeing people get into fights, whether physical or verbal. “I certainly hope so.”

“Come on Tiny, I think its lame they're picking on someone so small. I mean, four of them against one little girl, kind of chicken shit if you ask me.”

“But I also know you're friends with Peter and I think you know more about what his problem is than you're letting on.”

“Honestly, I don't know what his beef with the girl is. I don't even know why he knows her. I mean, yesterday he was going on and on about getting a ticket, but that's his fault.”

“I tried telling him that.”

“I know. Next time he should try to outrun the cop,” John said with a huge smile.

Tony knew when his friend was trying to goad him into an argument. For all his big and bad talk, John was a good guy. Even the fights he talked about where nothing more than wrestling around, not a real throw down, throwing wild hay-makers while trying to destroy the other guy battles.

“I swear Tiny,” John Sharp raised his right hand. “I had nothing to do with what happened between Peter, that girl, and you yesterday. Honest.”

Tony chuckled. “Okay, I believe you. Let's not have this misunderstanding again, okay?”

“You sure,” John said as he got back into a fighting stance. “We can always go a few rounds?”

Tony popped the lighter weight in the chest with an open palm, causing the boy to stagger back two steps before regaining his balance.

“Maybe not,” John said as he rubbed his chest.

“Catch you later.” Tony decided he spent enough time dealing with something that may not have been an issue in the first place.

Tony headed towards he locker to see if Courtney showed up to school. Part of him doubted that even if she was there that he would see her. She liked showing up early and then hiding somewhere.

He walked through the busying corridors, being greeted by everyone as he made his way by. There was a down side to being
popular; it always took longer to get anywhere. He shrugged it off and remained cordial as people gave their hellos and what's ups.

Tony waited at his locker. Andrew, the chubby kid that he approached about wrestling, was kneeling on the floor, fiddling with his books. But there was no sign of the freshman that he was looking for.

Figuring there was only a few minutes before the starting bell rang, Tony grabbed his books, closed his locker and made his way to his potential replacement.

“How's school treating you, Andrew?” Tony said while towering over the kid.

“Like I said something bad about its mother,” Andrew replied.

Tony laughed. He wasn't expecting that response. “Anyone bothering you?”

“Only algebra,” the kid lamented. “It's the first week of school and we already have a test this Friday.”

“Let me guess, Coach Nichols?”

Andrew nodded as he stuffed his backpack into his locker, deciding to give up on being neat about it.

“Do you know that girl that has the locker next to mine? The short one, blond hair?”

“Oh yeah, the weirdo. Everyone knows her.”

Tony took a deep breath to keep from verbally lashing out at the boy, especially since he wanted him to go out for the wrestling team. “It's not nice to call people names,” he said. “I'm sure you don't like it when people call you names.”

The kid looked up at Tony. “Sorry. It's just how people talk about her; I didn't mean anything by it.”

“How do you know her?”

“She has English and Earth Science with me. Always sits up front, right in front of the teacher. She never says nothing at all and never looks at anyone.”

“I wouldn't look at people either if they went around calling me a weirdo.”

“I guess. No one likes her though.”

“I like her,” Tony said pointedly.

Andrew rose to his feet. “What is she, like your girlfriend or something?”

Tony laughed once again. “No. I didn't mean I like her in that way. I meant I like her, the same way I like you. Almost like friends”

Andrew smiled, being liked by the most popular guy in school never hurt anything. “A lot of the other kids don't like her. They say she's corroded.”

“She gets picked on a lot, huh?”

“I guess. It sure beats everyone calling me fatty.”

“Not really,” Tony said sympathetically. He could remember his freshman year, before he got involved with the wrestling team, when people poked fun at him for his weight. “I'm sure you don't like being made fun of the same way she doesn't and it would be better if people kept such words to themselves.”

“I don't call her names,” Andrew said, as he figured Tony was making the comment to him.

“Do you know why people in your class don't like her?”

“Not really. I didn't know her until school started this year, so I don't know what she’s is like other than quiet. During my first day of class, someone told me not to be friends with her or they'd beat me up.”

“Who told you that?”

Andrew pointed down the hall. “Him,” he said as he fingered Henry, the freshman he already had dealings with far too many times this year.

“Do me a favor, would you?” Tony said, deciding that he would wait to deal with Henry another time.

“Anything, Tiny.”

“You be friends with whoever you want. If someone tells you not to be another person's friend, you send them to me and I'll have a talk with them.”

“Um, okay.”

With that Tony walked down the hall, passed Henry, who had a scowl on his face, along the way but decided to hold his tongue for now. There were a lot of people ostracizing one small student, but nobody seemed to know why.

Tony was glad he followed through with his plan to bring some trail mix for right after prayer meeting. He wasn't nearly as hungry as he had been the two days prior when lunchtime came. He got in line and took note of the cafeteria. Peter and his group were already hunkered down at a table off to the side in the middle of the dining hall. They weren't their usual carousing selves, each looking serious as they discussed something. Even if Tony were right on top of them instead of being on the other side of the cafeteria, Tony
doubted he could make out what they were saying. But, whatever they were discussing, it wasn't pleasant and occasionally he saw one of the group point his way.

Tony shrugged it off. They got in trouble two days in a row, this time by the vice principal, and they weren't happy about it. Hopefully, they would let things be and let everyone live in peace, especially the small girl that they singled out for some unknown reason.

He would figure it out sooner or later, but there was no need to give it much thought right then and there. Tony got his hamburger and made his way to his table. For the first time this year, most of the group was there before him.

“There he is,” Shannon said after swallowing a mouthful of fries. “Superman.”

“Able to leap small Firebirds in a single bound,” Carl added.

“He still needs a cape,” Dave said.

“You think the school would let him wear that wrestling getup to class?” Ted offered.

“It's called a singlet,” Tony said as he sat down. “Now what is this all about? I thought we already made that list?”

“Just a rumor we heard after prayer group,” Carl informed. “Did you really fight four guys at once?”

“I heard two of them went to the hospital,” Tracy said.

“I did not get into a fight,” Tony said firmly.

“Not what I heard,” Stephanie said as she picked out some wilted lettuce from her salad.

Tony looked off to the side. “What are you doing here on time?” he asked with a chuckle.

Stephanie made a face at Tony and then stuck her tongue out at him. “I told you I was trying to be on time more often,” she said. “And today I wasn't held up in D-wing by freshman Cretins.”

“Be nice,” Carl said before Tony could. “So, what did happen, before we hear that you fought off a battalion of Iraqi terrorist?”

“They were picking on that girl again. I stepped in and broke it up. No punches were thrown, no one was choked out, it was all talking until Mr. Fenton showed up and took them to his office.”

Carl rolled his eyes. “Should have known it was the girl.”

“Not her fault that she's getting picked on. You know how some kids can be when they want to make a name for themselves,” Tony said as he assembled his hamburger. “Sometimes they go about it the wrong way.” 

“She gets picked on a lot, Tiny,” Tracy said. “My dad has a saying, 'sometimes it’s not everyone else.'”

“You think she is bringing this upon herself?” Tony asked.

“Makes sense to me,” Shannon said.

“Yeah, if you're a part of the Imperial Guard, you should expect to be shot at with lasers,” David said.

Upon hearing the Star Wars Ted perked up. “Yeah, there is a reason people don't like Klingons.”

David and Ted gave each other a look. The battle between which was better, Star Wars or Star Trek still raged. The group could only hope that they didn't get into an extended conversation on the subject.

“I don't see it,” Tony said before the battle could ensue. “She seems too timid to be a trouble maker. Maybe they think they have a reason to be mean, but I doubt it's valid.”

“That's because you only see her now,” Carl said.  “You don't know how she was when things got started. I doubt it very much that this began the first day of school.”

“But shouldn't we encourage forgiveness?” Stephanie added.

Tony nodded. “Good point. Let bygones be bygones. Plus, four guys against one small girl, hardly an even fight. Also, trying to get the whole school in on it seems wrong to me.”

“It is wrong,” Shannon said. “But we can't make people change the way they behave because we don't like it. It’s still the first week, I'm sure it'll blow over in a little while.”

“I hope you're right.” Tony took a sip of milk. “I figured it would be a month before we had any real drama at the school, but, POW, right off the bat.”