I first met John in grade 9. It was my first day of highschool and I was terrified. Why? Well a bit of a story but allow me to catch you up. Back in grade 7 there was this big jerky kid who use to bully people around. His name was Derek McNair. He had a twin by the name of Daryl. But one day after a long hot day at school I hopped on the school bus that would take me on the same route I had been taking most of the year. This was the last day of school and thus my last bus ride until September.
When I got on the bus I headed to my usual seat. All of us usually sat in the same seat and all year I had sat in that seat. But this time a big galout by the name of Derek was sitting in my seat. This was a big move on Derek's part. He knew he was picking a fight by sitting in someone elses seat. It was culturally taboo to take another students seat! What was he thinking? Well, as I felt my face growing more inquisitive as I neared him. I simply asked him to move. He said, "Go fucking sit somewhere else." I said, "Derek that is my seat, go sit in your seat." Well apparently we had a guest on the last day of the school who was taking the bus with us. It was some kid who had been labeled all year as a nerd and he happened to be sitting in Dereks seat. BUT there was an open spot still because Derek had his own bench. He never shared with anyone whereas my bench was shared with one of my good friends.
Needless to say what occurred next changed my life. Derek told me to fuck off and then said, "What are you going to do about it?" Well, having older brothers had built up my fighting ability and even though Derek outweighed me by about 70 pounds that wasn't going to stop me from putting him in his place. I reached over the seat, grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yanked him over. I put him in a headlock and was choking him. When the bus driver saw the tussle he kicked us off the bus. The entire bus unloaded to watch the fight.
And so there we stood facing each other. I was so pissed off. This guy had been riding my ass since grade 5 and now I was going to make him pay for the 3 years of crap he had put me through. He came in with a swing and grazed my lip. The problem with that was I had braces. And a simple graze created a bit of blood. I stepped to the side put my leg out and through him to the ground. He stood back up and went to punch me again. I stepped to the side and tripped him to the ground.
This time the audience was yelling, "Jump on him!!" over and over. He got up and for a 3rd time I did the same thing. But this time I jumped on his back. Bad mistake. Somehow he ended up on top of me and there we laid for about 1 minute holding each others arms so that we couldn't punch one another.
A car pulls up and out steps two large guys. I told Derek to end it. It was a stalemate. He said he wouldn't get off unless I said I lost. I told him its a stalemate. The two large guys pulled Derek off and the fight ended.
What happened next was crazy. Everyone was looking at me like I had failed. Then the statements came out. Well Derek won. Zane gave up. Zane has blood on his lip. And I went down in infamy as the boy who got beat up by Derek.
For grade 8 I transferred to another school. Not because of Derek but because my family moved. But even at the new school everyone knew about the fight. It was crazy. And then when it came time for highschool my family had moved back into the area and I would be attending the school where all the people who saw the fight would be attending.
And so when I walked up to the doors of this new school that would house 1400 students, 300 of whom looked down on me because I apparently lost, I was terrified.
It was in this setting that I first met John. He was a friend of a friend of mine. The other friend was Ken West. John and him had known each other for a while. And I had known Ken since grade 4. Surprisingly, Ken was part of another story when I was 11 where I got in a fight with some other bullies. This time I was way out of my league. Oddly enough another pair of twins. What the hell is it with me and twins??
Anyway, these two guys were down the street and one of my friends came to my house saying the twins were causing trouble and picking on them. Well Ken at 11 looked like he was 16. He was huge! And so I got pretty cocky pretty quick and said, "Ken lets go!" Ken followed along. We hopped on our bikes and went down the 5 houses to the location where the twintastrophe was taking place. One of the twins immediately drove up to me and used his back tire to hit my bike. It was hard enough to throw me off balance. I dropped my bike and without hesitation dove into him and knocked him off his bike.
For a moment I was on top of him but only for a moment. Before I knew it he had basically pushed me up and stood up. And there I was facing this guy 2 years older then me. He looked like Goliath and I had no slingshot. And then I remembered Ken. I started backing up and told Ken to step in. Ken gave me a blank stare and wouldn't get off his bike. I couldn't believe it. Ken was the same size as this guy and he was terrified. I knew I was in trouble. And as i backed away from the twin my foot found the only fricking spot where there was loose sand.
And down on my ass I fell. I was thinking, "Ah hell.... of all the friggin luck. Of course I would hit the sand. Now I am going to get my ass trounced." But then all the sudden out of nowhere comes this ominous figure yelling in a high pitched god like, fire and hell is going to fall upon us way. And these two large hands proceeded to grab my hair and the hair of the twin. And THEN the hands began to bang our heads together. It hurt like hell. And then the voice rang clear. It was my mother.
My mother was no wimp. She grew up on a ranch and now for a living worked in the smelter using 75-125 pound jackhammers. She was beautiful but strong as an ox. And when my mother got a hold of you it was an apocalyptic event.
I was terrified yet relieved. Needless to say that was the end of the fight. And my re introduction to a guy who I thought was a giant but who was still a frightened boy on the inside. It would be a couple years later that I would find out why.
And so
1 comment:
Nice story!
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