When I was in middle school (or junior high, if that’s what you call it these days), I got into a fight with a kid. This was before I went to New Zealand – so I hadn’t had the pleasant experience of being attacked/beaten up for no reason other than I was a stranger in a strange land.
So, at the time, I think I was working in the library – and ran AV equipment to the classrooms. (Can you imagine? Me? The AV guy?) One day I ran a piece of equipment to a room, but somehow got the rooms mixed up.
One kid in the class started laughing at me. I don’t really “get” what he thought was so funny, but he did.
I’d see him in the halls, and he would kind of snicker and laugh. I don’t remember how we ended up discussing the actual fight that was going to take place? It’s kind of foggy, it’s been a few years……
So, at the end of one day, we met up at the front of the school.
So before we start to “throw down”, I’m like, “You want to go across the street? To my house? We won’t get into trouble….”
Keep in mind, that I had lived across the street from this school all my life (house pictured on the left – below).
He said, “nope”. SO, I immediately pushed him down and had my arm over his throat. I wish I could say that there was some actual knock-down punch-o-rama fight, but that’s not how I rolled. So, he’s struggling, and can’t get up (submission?).
Then the school administrators come and get us and take us to the office for fighting. I find out his name is David as well, and his mom’s name is the same as my mom’s name!?!? So we’re in the office, and I’m freaking out because I’ve NEVER been in THIS much trouble. Sure, throughout elementary school I talked back to teachers and started trouble, but never fighting.
So the principal says, “Well, it’s the end of the day, we’ve notified your parents and I’ll need to see you tomorrow morning”. I’m EXTREMELY freaked out, tears are streaming down my face, all I can think is, “What will my parents think?”.
So I get home. I’m trembling. We sit at the dinner table, and my parents are there and my dad says, “Well, what happened?” So I tell him, and he says, “Why didn’t he want to come over on our property? Idiot.” My mom really had nothing to say.
The upshot is basically that my parents didn’t care.
So, the next morning I go in, and the Principal sits us down and looks at me. “Son, do you know what advantage you have here?”
“No”
“You’ve NEVER been to the office – your record is clean. SO, I’ll give you a choice, either you can take detention for a number of weeks, or you can choose suspension”
I’m thinking for a minute, and the other David is looking at me like it’s a no brainer. Since my parents didn’t give me crap – I say, “Suspension”
David looks at me like I’ve lost my absolute freaking mind. Even the principal was surprised. It had something to do with that whole, “this will stay on your record FOREVER!” So the principal says, “I’m going to leave you two to discuss.” and he leaves the room.
Knowing that I have the advantage, and get to choose, David is really freaking out now. “Dude, we need to take detention. My parents will KILL me if I get suspended.”
Those were magic words to me.
I said to him, “Suspension”.
He begged and pleaded, but I decided to screw him over.
So the principal came in, and looks at me – “did you decide?”.
“Yes. Suspension”
David breaks into tears.
We got “Unsupervised Home Suspension” – so the next day I spent at home watching TV and eating cereal. Not so bad.
I’m pretty sure his parents made his life hell.
My parents never said anything about it – and despite it “being on my record” I never heard anything else about it.
