Wrestling Against Myself (9 page)

“The one and only,” Stephanie replied.

“Major trouble then,” Ted said, “Especially if he headed all the way from the front office.”

“Yeah. About a dozen kids were taken to the office.”

“What is it with this year's freshmen class?” Tony said. “Looks like we got a bunch of boneheads coming into the school. Don't they realize that this is high school and it's time to grow up?”

“If Mr. Fenton is involved, they're going to learn soon,” Carl said.

Tony rolled his eyes. “We have our work cut out for us this year. Fights, pranks, trying to get someone to drop out, not what I want to see going around my school.”

“We can only have so much influence, Tiny,” Shannon said. “I can work on the guys that come out for football, usually they count for half of the messes anyway, but there are always going to be a handful that refuses to be reached.”

“I know. But we got to do our best. Its only the second day and we got our quota of moronic behavior for the month. If this keeps up, we might have to give up on the senior prank.”

“Ooh,” David said as he found something more interesting than freshmen drama. “The senior prank,” he rubbed his hands together. “Have you figured out what it's going to be?”

“Haven't decided yet,” Tony said, “but we have to top last year’s class.”

Ted was equally as interested in the topic. “Last year’s class was lame. Spray painting 'Seniors Rule' all over the place wasn't a prank, it was vandalism.”

“It'll be something epic,” Carl said. “After all, Tiny is involved.”

“I have some ideas. But we have time. Senior prank isn't until the spring anyway.”

“We could move it to homecoming?” Shannon said. “That would take them off guard.”

Tony paused for a second to give the suggestion some thought. “We could, but homecoming is only in a few weeks and to do something worthwhile takes major planning,”

“I say we steal Mrs. Reed's car,” Carl offered.

“The principal's car,” Shannon said with eagerness. “Classic.”

“We want to pull a prank,” Tony said, “not become felons.”

Carl shrugged. “We got to do something huge, something legendary, something they will talk about for years to come.”

“We'll do something,” Antonio said. He had a good idea what, and would need a couple of strong guys to pull it off. What the group didn't know was the administration always knew about the senior prank in advanced, and often approved of it. Of course, there were a few times certain students freelanced on their own, but usually the pranks were minor and sophomoric.

The table continued to discuss possible pranks, but Antonio found his attention diverted. Like the day before, Courtney was the last person to enter the cafeteria and go in line. He watched her closely.

'What could she have done for the other freshmen to want her to drop out of school?' Tony asked himself as the table continued their conversation without him.

He eyed the girl intently. She had that worried look on her face as she shuffled her feet. Her eyes scanned the cafeteria as she kept her back against the wall while making her was through the line.

“She looks more worried than yesterday,” Tony said out loud, inadvertently talking over someone.

“Who?” Tracy asked.

Tony motioned with a nod of his head towards the end of the line.

“Oh, the wallflower,” Tracy said. “You're starting to sound obsessed.”

“I'm not obsessed, just worried.”

Shannon took a swig of milk. “You know Tiny, he isn’t happy if he isn't saving the world.”

“I'm not out to save the world,” Tony said as his eyes followed the girl. Her jumper was a little askew, but that was probably from sliding in and out of the desk during morning classes. “Besides, didn't we decide we were going to make a difference this year?”

“I don't know Tiny,” Carl said sympathetically, “some things may be beyond our power.”

Dave turned towards the girl. “Yeah, Tiny. I don't know about this one. Looks like she has mental problems. Maybe she needs a psychiatrist.”

“Maybe she's Schizophrenic,” Ted added.

Antonio shook his head at the idea. “Maybe she has a group of idiot freshmen trying to make her life miserable and force her to drop out. That would make me nervous too.”

Shannon let out a loud snort. “Ha! You wouldn't be nervous,” his rambunctious voice carried through the dining hall.  “You would take on the entire freshmen class, maybe even the whole school, until they caved under your pressure. You approach life like you do your wrestling matches; you press and press until you wear your opponents out.”

Tony smiled. “Maybe so, but not everyone has that ability.”

“Tiny is part super hero,” Carl said, “You should know that.”

“Superman,” Dave offered.

“Iron man,” Ted countered.

Antonio knew another debate was about to begin if he didn't say anything. “Guys, relax. I'm not a superhero.”

“Right,” Dave said with dripping sarcasm.

“Face it Tiny,” Shannon said. “You're the closest thing we have.”

“Yeah Tiny,” Ted added. “Think about it. In a lot of ways you are like a superhero.”

Antonio shook his head and let out a heavy breath. He knew there was no way to stop this debate now that it started. His eyes continually followed Courtney as she made her way towards the front of the line, but he kept engaged in the conversation. “Okay, in what ways am I like a superhero?”

Dave and Ted both smiled. Shannon sat back, hoping he wouldn't get cast in the role as a sidekick. Carl silently chuckled to himself, he knew this conversation would make Antonio uncomfortable, but sometimes he couldn't resist the opportunity to put his friend on the spot.

“Okay,” Dave said as he took out a piece of paper and a pen. “How is Tiny like a superhero,” he said as he wrote on a blank piece of paper.

“Oh,” Ted said eagerly. “I got the first one.”

Tony didn't want this to continue, but it was in good fun. “Okay, what's number one?”

Courtney disappeared through a door and Tony shifted his gaze to the exit.

“First one is real easy. Every super hero that doesn't fly always has a cool vehicle. Batman has the Batmobile, Iron man has the suit.

“Wonder-woman has the invisible jet,” Tracy added, trying to get one female hero into the mix.

“Right,” Ted said. “And Tiny has the beast.”

The beast was the nickname people gave to his car, even though Antonio wondered why both he and his vehicle both needed nicknames. “I'll give you that one.”

Dave started writing. “Number one, cool car.”

“I know, I know,” Stephanie perked up.

Tony took his eyes off the doorway where Courtney would come out after getting her food and looked at the girl. “You too?”

Stephanie smiled. “All super heroes wear tights.”

The entire group laughed except Carl and Tony.

“I do not wear tights,” Tony countered.

“You do when you wrestle,” Stephanie said with a smirk.

“Those are not tights. It's called a singlet.”

Stephanie giggled. “Tights, singlet, same thing. You can make out your butt cheeks in them.”

“Stephanie!”

“Sorry, couldn't resist.”

Dave went back to writing. “Number two, wears tights.”

“Carl wears the same thing when he wrestles,” Tony offered.

“Number three,” Dave added without missing a beat. “Has a sidekick.”

“Hey,” Carl objected. “How did I get put into this?”

“Serves you right,” Tony said.

“You're missing the most important thing,” Shannon finally spoke up. “Tiny lives for saving people.”

Antonio scrunched his face, athletes were supposed to stick together. “Only in the Biblical sense.”

The conversation resumed around him, but as soon as Courtney exited with her tray, his attention was diverted. If anything, the girl looked more concerned than the first time he had saw her. She walked to the empty front table and sat down by herself. She looked around to see if anyone was near her and then began to pick at her food.

Antonio felt a tap on his shoulder; he turned to see Tracy had moved next to him. He gave an apologetic grin. “Sorry.”

“What is it with you Tiny?” She asked in a whisper as the others continued to list the ways they thought Tony was like a superhero. “Do you have a thing for her?”

“It's not like that,” Tony whispered back. “I mean, she's a freshman and I'm a senior.”

“It's happened before.”

“Trust me, it's not that.”

“Then what is it? You're obsessed.”

Antonio frowned. “Look at her, she's scared and alone.”

“Sometimes people are like that, Tiny. For whatever reason. It's not always your place to fix everything. It's only the second day of school, I'm sure she'll adapt. With or without your help.”

“You know me.”

“Yeah,” Tracy put her hand on his shoulder. “I do know you. You want to make everything right all at once, but that's not going to happen. The freshmen are trying to get her to leave, but you know that's not going to happen. She must have done something to tick people off, maybe during the last day of middle school. But they'll get bored and find someone else to bother, it happens every year.”

“I still don't like it.”

“Of course you don't, Tiny. You want everyone to be happy all the time and to be there for them when they aren't. That's why everyone loves you.”

Tony shrugged. “I thought it was because I was a good wrestler.”

Tracy giggled. “No, being a good wrestler makes everyone aware you exist. But it's your heart that won them over.”

Tony appreciated the compliment. He would've asked Tracy to go over and make friends right then, but the bell signaling the end of lunch sounded. All at once, the students rose and made their way to empty their trays in the garbage and leave.

The rest of his group got up to do the same, but Antonio stayed in his seat while he watched the girl across the dining hall eat part of her lunch as people filed out of the cafeteria. He saw Peter, one of the bulldozers he dealt with the day before make his way towards the girl. Tony looked to see if Peter's cohort Jason was around trying to accomplish some sort of pincher maneuver, but the other bulldozer was nowhere to be seen.

Tony abruptly stood up from the bench and left his tray behind, he would get it afterward. He maneuvered his way through the tide of students, all the while keeping his eyes on both Courtney and a potential assailant.

“Not on my watch,” Antonio said to himself and wondered if making cliché comments made it onto Dave's list.

Peter closed in on Courtney; Tony knew he wouldn't make it in time if the boy did something sudden. He watched as Peter grabbed the girl by the shoulders. He didn't grab her roughly, but at the same time he wasn't being gentle either.

Courtney about jumped out of her skin, straightened up and stayed frozen in space.