Wrestling Against Myself (35 page)

“And you think she can't control it?”

“I think if she could, she would. Why would anyone want to go through the hell that she has been put through already this year?”

“I can see your point.”

“We just stay the course and do what's right and everything will figure itself out.”

“I hope you're right, Tiny.”

“So do I. We better get to class, I'm sure we have hours of being asked why we hang out with Courtney ahead of us.”

Carl sighed. “You're probably right. So what are you going to tell people?”

“Simple.” Tony grinned. “I'm going to say that I hang out with her because it's the right thing to do.”

Carl shook his head. “At least you're consistent. I'll catch you at lunch.”

“See you then,” Tony said and the two split up.

Antonio was sitting in his third period class, copying down notes from the whiteboard as the teacher read them out loud. He didn't see the point of the teacher saying anything since she spoke word for word what was written and didn't add any additional information to the bullet points.

Still, the senior scribbled down the notes and tried to follow the teacher speaking in her monotone voice. If it wasn't for the teacher being so distracting as she droned on and on, he would've had the notes copied and could have gone on to doing other things, or, his preference, nothing at all.

The school intercom came to life. “Tiny, report to the vice principal's office. Again, Tiny, please report to the vice principal's office immediately.”

“Mr. LaMano,” Ms. Reynolds said as she paused mid sentence. “You are excused.”

Tony gathered his books together. He could hear the low murmurings of his fellow students and wondered
what sort of trouble he might be in. Since he was so tall Antonio always found himself sitting in the back row so he wouldn't block another student’s vision. He found it quite the chore to navigate the narrow rows with his classmates still in their seats. Normally when he left a room the entire row already filed out ahead of him.

Antonio walked through the empty corridors of the school as he heard the noises of other classes going on. He had a good idea what this upcoming conversation was going to be about and was certain Peter was involved. It was the only incident he could think of where faculty got involved.

Tony got to the waiting area of the vice principals' office. There were five in total, and Tony realized he didn't know which one he was suppose to see. Mrs. Davis, the secretary, sat behind a large oak desk littered with small stuffed animals and various stacks of paperwork that only she knew why they were grouped together.

“Hi Mrs. Davis,” Antonio said as walked up to the desk. “I heard my name over the P.A..”

“Yes,” Mrs. Davis replied in her heavy Georgia accent. “Mr. Fenton wanted to chat you up a bit.”

“Trouble?”

“Mercy no, Tiny,” Mrs. Davis said as she searched for whatever pile of paperwork she was planning to tackle next. “From what I hear it's just chewing the fat, you ain't got nothings to worry about.”

“Thanks.” Tony smiled at the lady whose eyes never looked up to receive the gesture. “He has the same office as last year?”

“Sugar, he'll have that office 'til Jesus comes, but that's just between me and you.”

Antonio let out a soft chuckle and then made his way to the small hallway that led to the offices. The far office on the right was Mr. Fenton's and Tony made his way past a myriad of filing cabinets and trophy cases. He knocked on the open door to announce his presence.

“You wanted to see me,” Tony said as the man looked up from his desk.

“Yes,” Mr. Fenton said as he closed some programs on his computer. “Come and sit down. Close the door behind you first.”

“Ut-oh.” Tony said and then turned to close the wooden door with its thick glass window. Despite Mrs. Davis' reassurances that this was some sort of informal conversation, it was Tony's experience that closing the door for administration meant that he was going to get a talking to, not a talking with.

Mr. Fenton eyed the large teen as Tony sat down in the small chair usually reserved for students that were in trouble.

“It's a good thing that I'm the only Tiny in the school or you might have a dozen kids waiting to see you,” Antonio nervously tried to make a joke to lighten the tension.

“I suppose so.” Mr. Fenton remained serious which caused the wrestler to take a deep gulp. “I'm sure you can hazard a guess as to why I called you here today.”

Tony shrugged. “I guess it has something to do with the other week when I broke up that mess between Peter and the new girl. In my defense, I didn't start anything and wasn't there when things began to go down. I walked in on the situation and did what I thought best. Maybe I should have gone for a teacher, but by then Peter might have done something before I got back.”

“There's that,” Mr. Fenton said seriously. “That's part of the problem I wanted to bring up with you.”

“So I am in trouble?” Antonio was having a hard time getting a read on the vice principal.

“Hardly.” Mr. Fenton stood up and walked around the other side of the desk and sat in a chair right next to the student. “First off, I want to offer you an apology.”

“An apology, Sir?”

“We put you in a situation where there can be no winner and we did so without informing you or even asking if it was something you were willing to do.”

“I don't follow.”

“It's about your little friend, the damsel in distress.”

“You mean Courtney.”

“That is exactly who I am talking about, Tiny. Things weren't suppose to turn out the way they did and we have a situation of our hands that we can't handle.”

“What situation are you talking about?”

“I suspect that you already know, seems like the whole student body figured it out already. Courtney is, how should I put it, a unique kind of girl.”

“You mean like the kids in special ed.” Tony knew exactly where Mr. Fenton was heading with things, but didn't want to let on that he had certain knowledge.

“Not exactly. Miss Barnes is a girl that has a physical body of a male,” Mr. Fenton blurted out. “It was supposed to be kept confidential, but the whole damn school knows.”

Antonio cleared his throat.

“Sorry about cursing,” Mr. Fenton apologized. “Sometimes a situation calls for it. I'm surprised you didn't know why the other kids were picking on her.”

“I heard the rumors.”

“The rumors are true.”

“I know that too.” Tony leaned back in the chair. “I talked to Courtney about it on Friday.”

“It wasn't supposed to get out to the student body. Not even the teachers were told of the situation. We kept it solely between the administrators, but news got out and it’s spreading like wildfire.”

“I know,” Tony wasn't happy about the situation either. “I don't see why you need to apologize to me.”

“It's like this; when we made arrangements for Miss Barnes to attend school as herself, we put a lot of thought into making her transition a smooth one. One thing we did was ensure that you would be in her near vicinity throughout the school day if any unforeseen problems arose. If there was one student that we could count on if things got out of hand it was you.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

“We knew there was a possibility, albeit a small one, that she got discovered. The reasoning was that if there was teasing or bullying going on, we could count on you to put an end to it. You have that kind of pull here. One of the first things we did was assigned her the locker next to yours and made sure your paths would cross as much as possible. Usually you two have to go through the same hallways to get from one class or the other and should pass each other on the way. We gave her the same lunch period so you could keep an eye on her. We weren't sure you were going to befriend her, but given your history of protecting those less able, the staff assumed you would take on the role of guardian.”

“How did you come up with that?”

“We did it in the past. With your friends Dave and Ted. If it weren't for you, they would be walking around here with permanent black eyes.”

“What happened?”

“It wasn't any fault of Courtney, or the staff here for that matter. All of Courtney's classmates from her middle school were suppose to go to East Lake and her parents bought the home near the school so she could attend here. We didn't take into account that one student wound up moving between parents and threw a fly in the ointment.”

“That Freshman kid Henry,” Tony announced.

“Yes, Peter Taft's younger brother. A lethal combination if you ask me. If he were here by himself we could have contained the whole mess, but, as it is, the school is in an uproar.”

“How do we fix this?”

“Tiny,” Mr. Fenton said sympathetically. “Sooner or later you are going to realize certain situations are beyond repair.”

“Then why did you call me down here if there's nothing I can do to make things better?”

“I thought I owed you an explanation and an apology. We appreciate the fact that you took Miss Barnes under your wings and we know you've been giving her rides home to keep her from being beat up.”

“How did you know that?”
 

“We have eyes and ears everywhere, though in this case that isn't going to be enough. Did you know there's a petition to keep Miss Barnes from using the
restroom?”

“I heard that the girls were doing something like that.”

“There's one going around for the boys as well.”

“I haven't seen that one.” 

“This has really hit the fan, Tiny,” Mr. Fenton said. “We got you involved and I am sorry for that. This is over everyone's head and we shouldn't have put it on your shoulders.”

“I'm not sorry,” Tony said with conviction. “You're right, I like standing up for those who can't defend themselves and I'm not going to stop now.”

“I wasn't suggesting that, but I wanted you to be aware. You have a lot of pull at the school, but you're not going to be able to stem this tide.”

“Right now it’s just the teasing, and maybe a few morons wanting to beat her up.”

“It's more than that. It's starting to be a mob mentality. Once a mob gets organized, bad things happen.”

“You think it's going to get violent?”

“I hope not, but we have to consider that possibility.”

“What do you want me to do about it?”

“We want you to be careful. There are some battles where the best thing to do is retreat.”

Tony felt himself grow agitated. “You mean not be Courtney's friend. That's not the way I operate.”

“We know. That's why I said I was sorry. You're in a situation beyond your control and the staff put you there. I thought you deserved an explanation. In the end you're going to do what you know is right.”

“One thing I've learned from wrestling is that control is important but not always obvious. The other thing I learned is that I rather lose the right way than win the wrong way. I won't abandon a friend, no matter how many idiots tell me otherwise.”

“Okay, Tiny.” Mr. Fenton walked over to the door and opened it. “Like I said, I wanted to say what I said and make sure you were informed. The bell is about to ring for third period to be over, plenty of time for you to get to your next class.”