Monday seemed to come awfully suddenly to Jake. He’d been enjoying a dream-free sleep, but his alarm clock jerked him awake with all the sensitivity of a bull moose in rutting season. To make matters worse, what followed almost instantaneously was a knock on his closed door and Mr. Scott’s disgustingly cheerful voice saying, “I’m leaving in thirty-five minutes. Today, you’re with me. After today, you can do as you like. Just like we discussed. Thirty-four minutes now.”
Jake moaned. He waited thirty seconds before getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom, not wanting to be seen in his current morning state. There he performed his morning ablutions and other rituals, then returned to his room to get dressed. He’d selected some of his new clothes the night before so there was no hesitation or last-minute worries about what to wear.
In the kitchen, he found Mr. Scott wearing an apron and taking up bacon and eggs. Toast was already on the table, as was a glass of milk for him and an empty cup awaiting filling with hot coffee for Mr. Scott. “We won’t eat like this every morning,” Mr. Scott said while bringing Jake’s plate to him. “In the first place, I’d get fat, and of far less importance, you’ll probably be sleeping till the last minute, grabbing a quick shower and hopping on your bike, skipping breakfast altogether. Maybe copping an energy bar on the way out the door. But I thought this would be a good way to get today started. Big day for you.”
“Eegh,” said Jake, or mumbled a word to that effect. He’d never been a morning person, even when he had slept rough. Now, Mr. Scott wasn’t saying anything that required a reply, and he didn’t get one.
Jake was quiet on the ride to school as well. He had no idea what this school would be like but assumed in most regards it would be much like the one he’d already attended. Just a lot of new faces to get used to, new personalities to try to unravel.
In the front office, Mr. Scott introduced Jake to Mrs. Avery, the school’s registrar, as Nicholas Karras. He handed her the transcript he’d gotten from WITSEC, with the changes he’d made with the personal information so there was no mention of anything putting Nick in NYC or involved with anyone named Derrick Winters.
Jake’s registration took only fifteen minutes, and Mr. Scott walked him to his first class, which was already underway. “You know where my office is. You’ll want a ride home after school; tomorrow you’ll have your bike and can leave when school’s out. Today you’ll have to wait. I don’t leave for at least an hour and usually an hour and a half after closing. The library stays open that long. You can come to my office, or if you’re not there, I’ll come to the library to collect you. All that sound all right?”
“Sure thing,” Jake said, feeling his nerves jangling a bit. Walking into a new classroom in the middle of a lesson and having every eye in the place falling on him was embarrassing, awkward, upsetting, unnatural and unpleasant. He’d done it before, however, and knew the feeling wouldn’t last. There’d be only the momentary irksomeness, and then he’d be ignored. He liked being ignored, so there was that to look forward to. With that in mind, and the knowledge that it was far better walking in alone than having Mr. Scott walk in with him as though he needed someone to hold his hand, he stood up a little straighter and opened the classroom door.
= = =
Jake was in the library, spending the time after school waiting for Mr. Scott to make an appearance. He’d had a typical day meeting new people, finding his way around a new school, mostly being ignored. Teachers hadn’t called on him in class, which was good. He’d met up with Jeremy a couple of times, and luckily Jeremy had called him Nick. Jeremy was in three classes with him and sat next to him each time.
Jake checked his watch. Mr. Scott had said an hour and a half after school was when he’d be finished, and it was past that now. The school librarian was making motions showing she was ready to leave and kept looking over at him. He gathered his stuff, happy to have finished almost all his homework, and stood up. She smiled and held the door for him.
Walking to his locker to drop off books he didn’t need, he was surprised to see several boys in the halls, then noticed how large and loud some of them were and decided football practice must have just ended. The team members had probably just showered, dressed and were now getting things from their lockers before leaving for the day.
He turned the corner in the hallway, heading for his locker, and stopped short. Only a short distance away, he saw Jeremy backed up against the lockers that lined the hallway walls. The large boy who had been hassling him in the mall was confronting him.
“We don’t want fags contaminating this school, asshole. I told you that before. Told you to transfer schools. You didn’t listen. Now I’m going to make sure you got the message loud and clear.”
“Come on, Grady. This is a mistake. Let’s go.” Jake saw that the boy who’d helped Jeremy to his feet in the mall was one of the two onlookers, and that he was trying to pacify the larger boy; Grady was ignoring him.
Jeremy had his hands up defensively. He tried to move back but was already as far back against the lockers as he could get.
The large boy with his hands clenched in fists took a step toward Jeremy. Jake yelled loudly, “What’s going on here? Leave him alone. What the hell’s wrong with you?” While he was yelling, he was moving. He bumped aside one of the two onlookers and shoved himself between the large aggressor and Jeremy.
The boy now staring him in the face looked to be at least six-foot four and had to weigh well over 200 pounds. Maybe over 250. Jake wasn’t little but looked small compared to the behemoth facing him.
“Who the fuck are you?” the boy snarled.
“Nick Karras. Who’re you?” Jake’s voice was just as raw as the other boy’s.
“He’s Grady Thoms,” Jake heard Jeremy squeak from behind him. He felt movement behind him as Jeremy was wriggling out from between Jake and the lockers.
Jake was staring into Grady’s eyes and kept his focus there while responding to Jeremy. “Well, he’s a piece of shit if he’s going to hit you, Jeremy. He outweighs you by over 100 pounds. And he even needs two weenies to back him up. Guess he isn’t as brave as he pretends.”
“Hey!” one of the boys standing behind Grady said.
Jake didn’t respond, nor did he take his eyes off Grady. He was watching him closely. Then he half-smiled. “You looking to hurt someone, why don’t you try me? I might not be your size, but I’m bigger than Jeremy. You know he’s not a fighter. You might be scared to fight me. Guys like Jeremy are more your style.
“You’re a bully. Most bullies are cowards at heart, and, well, if the shoe fits, you know?”
He stopped and frowned, a baleful frown. “Me, I don’t like to fight either, but I can when I have to, and this won’t be my first time. In fact, I’ve probably had more experience than you have. Come on then. I’m waiting.”
Grady smiled. “You’re asking for it. I’ll do you, then your fag friend.”
Jake laughed. “You keep talking and not swinging. That’s okay. I don’t mind talking. I really don’t think you’re all that eager to get into it, really. You probably never fought someone who’d fight back. Most people you pick on, if Jeremy is an example, are scared shitless and don’t put up any fight at all. They just hope not to get hurt too bad.”
Jake was standing with his arms loose at his sides, while Grady loomed in front of him with his fists up. But he was listening to what Jake was saying rather than using them.
“Hey, you better believe this: I’m going to kick your ass.” Jake smiled again as he said that, but only with his lips. His eyes were hard as stone. “If we’re going to do this, let’s get it on. First, though, I’d suggest we move out into the hall a little farther. You need more room. You’re going to rush me, right? Use your weight against me? Just like on the football field: use your size, smash into me. Well, if so, you’d better move back a few steps; you can’t get up much speed standing this close, and the faster you’re going when you crash into me, the more effective it’ll be.”
Jake directed a brief snort at him as though the thought of Grady being at all effective against him was absurd. “That still won’t help you, I’m still kicking your ass, but you should have a fair chance.”
Jeremy watched as Grady actually took four steps back, and Jake took a step out so he was farther away from the lockers.
“Okay,” he said. “Go ahead. Oh, just so you know, I’ve spent some time in a gym. Wouldn’t be fair if you didn’t know that going in. Karate, judo, tae kwon do—I’m down with that kind of shit.”
Jake wiggled his shoulders and arms, loosening them up, then moved one foot slightly behind the other. “Well, are you going to do something? I got things to do if not. You look like you’ve lost your nerve.”
Grady didn’t look like that at all. His face was red, his fists still clenched, and he had the appearance of a volcano about to erupt. He’d been listening but not really hearing. He was just getting ready. He was fast, he was big, and this guy was calling him out. He wasn’t even considering that he might not win. So, as Jake had predicted, he did what worked for him on the football field. With no warning, he charged Jake. He lowered his shoulder, planning to ram into him, knock him back into the locker, probably knock him unconscious in the process. Maybe break something.
He lowered his head and shoulders and charged, covering the short space between them in three steps. He was up to full speed by then. He tensed his body for the collision but hit nothing. Hitting nothing meant suddenly losing his balance. He flailed his arms for a second but felt a strong push from behind, and in the next step, still at high speed, he crashed headlong into the lockers. He fell to the floor in a tangled heap.
Jeremy had watched all this while forgetting to breathe. He’d been sure he’d been about to be knocked about by Grady before Nick had suddenly appeared. Then Nick had pushed in front of him, protecting him before calling Grady out. After Nick had done that, Jeremy had been standing a little to the side, still against the lockers but out of harm’s way. He’d seen Nick get Grady to move back, then seen Grady charge without warning. Somehow, Nick had hesitated a split second, then moved so quickly it was difficult to describe just what had happened, but there was ducking and twirling involved, that was for sure, and Grady had charged past Jake, sort of stumbled, and then, at full speed, smashed into the lockers—headfirst.
Jeremy had been no more prepared for any of that than for what came next.
Jake quickly moved to where Grady was lying, lying very still, not moving. He quickly checked his carotid artery for his pulse, then brought his hand back, and Jeremy saw the blood on it.
“Hey, you,” Jake said in as authoritative a voice as Jeremy had ever heard. “What’s your name?”
“Nelson,” the boy replied.
The boy he was pointing at was the smaller of the two boys who’d been with Grady. The other boy, the one who’d spoken to Grady and been ignored, was the one Jeremy had told him was named Gary.
“Nelson, run to the office and have them call the EMTs. Get them here as quickly as possible. Go! Now!”
The boy didn’t hesitate. He took off running down the hall. Then Jake focused on the other boy. “You’re Gary, aren’t you?” he asked.
“Yeah. How’d you know that?”
Jake ignored the question and turned to Jeremy. “You know him? Is he smart?”
Jeremy took a quick glance at Gary, then back at Jake. “Yeah,” he said.
“Good.” Then he looked at Gary again. “We have to turn this guy over. He’s bleeding badly from a cut forehead. Lying like he is, he could aspirate it.” Seeing confusion in Gary’s eyes, he said, “The blood could all run into his mouth and drown him. We have to turn him over, but we have to be very careful. He might well have injured his spine, hitting the locker headfirst as hard as he did. Do what I say, EXACTLY what I say, and we’ll get him onto his back. We can stop the bleeding then, and he won’t aspirate it. Come here.”
Gary moved over next to Grady.
“We have to move him away from the lockers. Gary, you take his feet and slide him toward you about two feet. Don’t twist him at all, just pull him straight back. He’s sort of twisted up. Jeremy, your job is to hold his shoulder so when we move him away from the locker, he doesn’t roll over onto his chest. We want his upper body to stay in exactly the same position it’s in now. Both you guys get in position.”
Both boys did as directed. The fact Jake’s voice was so confident and commanding resulted in their doing as ordered without thinking.
“OK. I’m going to hold his head so it doesn’t move. It’s his neck we’re worried about. It can’t twist at all. You ready, Gary? Jeremy?”
They both nodded, and Jake said, “Okay, Gary, very slowly and no jerking. I’ll tell you when to stop. Go slowly. Okay, begin pulling him. Hold him in position, Jeremy.”
Grady was heavy, far heavier than the three boys working on him. Gary had to get down on one knee to be able to drag him without lifting him at all. Pulling hard, he was just able to get Grady moving.
“Perfect,” Jake said. “Keep him moving. Jeremy, good. Perfect. You’ve got him. Stay with it. I know he’s heavy. Hold on.”
A few seconds later, Jake said, “Okay, Gary, stop. Jeremy, hold him steady. Gary, let go of his legs and move over on the other side of Grady from where Jeremy is. What we’re going to do is lower him onto his back. I’ll hold his head while you do that very slowly so his neck moves with his body without any twisting. Gary, as he comes down on your side, the weight you’re holding will keep increasing, so get a good hold. You both understand what we’re doing?”
Both boys nodded. “Okay, start laying him down very slowly. Hold tight. We can’t let him slip.”
Jake watched as the two boys slowly laid Grady onto his back, and he turned Grady’s head as his body turned, keeping his neck aligned with his torso. It took them almost a half minute to get him off his side and onto his back, flat on the floor.
When they were done, both Jeremy and Gary slumped down on the floor, breathing deeply.
Jake still had hold of Grady’s head, holding it so his nose was pointing straight up. Blood was still seeping from a large cut at his hairline. Jake looked around and was surprised to see a small group of kids standing silently, watching. He called out to them. “Anyone got a clean handkerchief?”
One boy stepped forward and said, “Yeah, I got one,” and pulled it out of his back pocket.
“Good. Come here and hold it on his cut. We need to stop the bleeding. Press hard enough to stop the blood. Anyone else have one?”
Another boy took one out of his pocket, and Jake said, “Leave it folded up. Slide it under Grady’s head.” Then he very slightly raised the head about a half-inch so the boy could slip the cloth under it. The boy did as asked, and Jake gently lowered Grady’s head back down on the padding.
At that point, a commotion could be heard down the hall, and Jake, still stabilizing Grady’s head, looked up to see two EMTs, the school principal and Mr. Scott heading down the hall in a hurry.
Jake gratefully surrendered care of Grady’s neck to one of the EMTs. He saw Gary explaining to the principal what had happened. Meanwhile,Mr. Scott was watching the EMTs fussing over Grady. Jake took the opportunity to pull Jeremy aside.
“We’ve both got Grady’s blood all over us,” he said softly. “Gary, too. Show me the closest boys’ room. Then go find the gym teacher and get us each a clean tee shirt from the athletic department’s store. Get one for Gary, too. I wear a large; he probably needs an extra large. Bring them back to the restroom. I want to get all this blood off me, and I’ll bet you do, too.”
= = =
Mr. Scott and Jake didn’t get home till late. Grady was checked out by the EMTs, and other than stitches being required for the laceration on his forehead, he looked okay. He regained consciousness and was able to move his hands and legs. He was transported to the ER of the local hospital to be checked out again and then stitched up.
Meanwhile, Mr. Scott, Jake, Jeremy, Nelson and Gary all went to Mrs. McKinley’s office. She was the Prescott High School principal. Each student was asked to tell what had happened, and each did so with only slight variations in their versions. Where they seemed unsure of the events was in relating the same incident: just what happened when Grady charged at Nick.
Mrs. McKinley’s eyes settled on Nick, who would be the last one to speak. With all eyes in the room looking at him, feeling uncomfortable at having an audience, he looked first to Mr. Scott, who nodded at him and said, “It’s fine, Nick. Go ahead.”
He spoke to Mrs. McKinley, answering her question.
“All right, this is what happened. I saw Jeremy in trouble when I was walking down the hall toward my locker. I’d been in the library waiting for Mr. Scott to finish his work. Ahead of me in the hall, I saw Grady Thoms about to attack Jeremy. I knew who he was because he’d been about to attack Jeremy in the mall on Saturday. He backed off there only because Mr. Scott yelled at him. Gary was there, too, probably trying to stop Grady. He also tried to talk him into leaving Jeremy alone today. It wasn’t working. Grady was about to attack Jeremy when I was coming down the hall.”
“But he hadn’t, had he? He was just talking to him.”
“Mrs. McKinley, you can say that, and it is true. What I’m saying is also true. I’ve seen fights, lots of them, many more than you have for sure. I was bullied when I was younger. I know what that looks like, I know what leading up to a fight looks like, too, and what the actual physical bullying looks like. What I saw today was Grady about to attack Jeremy. There is no question that was about to occur, and I stopped it. Ask Nelson and Gary again if you want. Ask them whether there was any chance Grady was only going to speak to Jeremy. They’ve already told you he was about to hit him.”
“But he hadn’t.”
“You’re right; he hadn’t. I stopped him from doing so. I yelled at Grady to distract him, then stepped between him and Jeremy.”
“So, you weren’t afraid of getting hit yourself? It certainly looks like you didn’t think you would be, stepping in like that. To me, it’s quite clear that Grady wasn’t anything like the threat you’re making him out to be.”
“Look, I understand you wishing to put that face on it. The fact is, if someone had to be hit by Grady, I wanted it to be me rather than Jeremy. I’ve been in fights; he hasn’t. I’ve been hit; he hasn’t. I have the ability to protect myself; Jeremy doesn’t. I’m much stronger than Jeremy and can handle myself. Sure, there was a chance that Grady would hit me. At least try to hit me. There seemed a better chance that that wouldn’t happen, that I could keep it from happening. And that’s what I did.”
Mrs. McKinley looked ready to speak again, and Jake rushed on, forestalling her. “Anyway, to continue with what happened from my perspective, which is what you asked me to tell you, I stepped between Jeremy and Grady. Then I spoke long enough to distract Grady and give Jeremy a chance to move out of the danger area. The way to slow Grady down was to talk to him, and I did. It became obvious that he was going to attack me. Both his eyes and body language told me that. But it would be me, not Jeremy, being attacked, and that had been my objective all along.
“The talk gave me a chance to size Grady up and prepare for his attack, and to be sure Jeremy was out of harm’s way.
“These guys all saw what happened and told you about it. Grady rushed me. I thought he would. He did. I waited till he was almost on top of me, then simply ducked and twisted around so he ran past me. He seemed to lose his balance then, probably because he’d been expecting to slam into me, and that never occurred. I reached out to grab his shirt and slow him down, but he was already past me, moving too fast. He ran into the lockers, knocking himself unconscious and cutting his head.
“At that point, I was worried he might have suffered a neck or spine injury, so I had Nelson run for help and, with Gary and Jeremy assisting, got Grady lying flat on his back and got the bleeding stopped. That’s what happened.”
Mrs. McKinley was staring at Jake and now grimaced. She shook her head. “So, let’s sum this up. What we have is someone new to the school, someone who tells me he’s been in fights before, on his first day here confronting one of our students, a student who hasn’t been in trouble here before. The new student gets in a confrontation with him, with Grady, leading up to Grady going to the hospital. I see you, Mr. Karras, as the aggressor in this matter. There was no fight until you created one.”
Mr. Scott opened his mouth to speak, and Jake quickly said, “No, Mr. Scott, I’ll handle this.” Mr. Scott looked very reluctant, but slowly sat back and remained silent.
Jake turned to look directly at Mrs. McKinley. “You see me as the aggressor, Mrs. McKinley, yet you weren’t there. The people who were there, who are now in this room and who did see the incident, all agree with how I described it. They say the incident started with Grady, was caused by Grady, and would have ended with Grady hurting Jeremy. You say Grady Thoms hasn’t been in trouble before, yet everyone I’ve spoken to, including the people in this room, say he does make trouble at the school, that he’s a threat to everyone here, has always been, and that he’s never been in trouble with you only because you chose to look the other way every time there was an incident.
“Everyone tells me that your pride in the football team takes precedence over your fairness in dealing with discipline at the school involving Grady Thoms.”
Mrs. McKinley looked shocked. “Well!” she said, her face now red and her shock turning to outrage. “I’ve never been spoken to in my own office like that by a student at this school. I will not tolerate it. As for you, the penalty for fighting in this school is expulsion. You started a fight. You should be—”
Before she could go further, Mr. Scott interrupted her. “Be very careful, Caroline. There are several witnesses here. They are also aware of Grady Thoms’s history. Right now, you have the chance to right a wrong that’s persisted here for some time. There’s no question of what happened here. You have his statement and that of witnesses. This boy, Nick Karras, prevented Jeremy from being seriously hurt, and it would have been a hate crime because Grady’s reason for assaulting him was stated: he hated fags—the term he used for Jeremy—and was going to do something about it. The school’s handbook is very clear about what to do in this instance. Grady must be expelled. He tried to start a fight, a fight promulgated by his homophobic intolerance. There is no quibble about what happened. Either Grady’s expelled, or the rules that are in place cannot be enforced in the future.
“Furthermore, Nick should be lauded for protecting another student. He was barely involved in the Grady incident! He didn’t start it, he didn’t strike a blow, all he did was duck. If you try to discipline him—expel him, perhaps—for ducking when a boy considerably larger than he is attacked him, it will be a travesty and I doubt you’ll survive it.
“This is your opportunity to show respect for the school’s policies and get rid once and for all of a longtime troublemaker. It’s up to you to do the right thing here, Caroline.”