The Cobras- Chapter 7

Gator was already in his seat at the back of the room when Spanky walked in. Mr Barrett had already taken attendance so he had to sign in as tardy on the board. The class started laughing as he signed his name so small that one could barely see it.
"Go sit down Ronnie," Barrett said in a flat monotone. He didn't even make eye contact with Ronnie as he passed his desk.
Barrett was considered one of the "cool" teachers at WAHS. he was a laid back guy in his 40's with a 1970's perm and a 60's hippie demeanor. He dressed very casually usually wearing a smock over his simple clothes. In addition to English he also taught ceramics which seemed to be his passion. This class was probably his least favorite class of the day. It was a rowdy group of 10th graders for literature class right after lunch. But he was a cagey veteran teacher who never raised his voice in class. He had mastered the art of the stern look, and sarcasm that could cut through stone. Usually that was enough to put all but the most outlandish disruptions back into order.
The subject matter in the class held little interest for Spanky. Gator on the other hadn enjoyed reading the information about literature and what the elements were of "good writing." Secretly he wanted to become a writier himself so he figured he would have to read a lot of famous authors to figure out what they had going for them so he could do it himself one day.
Mr. Barrett gave the assignment for the day after completing his attendance.
"Open your textbooks to page 115 and read the short story An Occurance At Owl Creek Bridge. When you finish answer the questions, in complete sentences at the end of the chapter." The instructions were simple enough and the class began reading. There was silence in the room. Gator thought to himself that it was a modern classroom and far better than the one he had back in his other school up north. For starters there was air conditioning, carpet on the floors, new desks and teachers who genuinely seemed to care about their students. Not that the teachers up north didn't care. Maybe it was just him he thought. Perhaps his interest in school had grown and that made him appreciate his teachers more. He definitely liked Mr. Barrett. He seemed to be one of those people who truly had dedicated himself to helping others.
Gator was about half-way through the first page when Ronnie let out an audible burp and said, "excuse me" in a flat monotone voice half mocking Mr. Barrett.
Barrett looked up from his desk where he was grading papers and lifted one eyebrow and slowly shook his head. He went back to grading papers and the class, after a brief chuckle, went back to reading the story.
Mr. Barrett was visibly agitated with Ronnie's disruption of the silence in the class. Achieving silence of that kind in a classroom filled with thirty tenth graders and a few 11th or 12th graders re-taking the course because of failing it the first time was a very delicate procedure. When somebody disrupts that silence it can sometimes be difficult to capture again.
Barrett seemed to be contemplating this as he resumed grading papers. It was as if he was walking on a tightrope and the rope had frayed and lost one of its tethers. Would the remaining rope be enough to hold the weight it was under? He slowed down the pace of his grading and eyed the classroom constantly hoping that the rope would hold until he got across the "crevice" below."
Gator finished reading the story and began writing his answers to the questions in his notebook.
Ronnie looked over at him from one desk in front and to the right side and put his hand out-the universal sign for "give me a piece of paper." Gator quietly opened his three ring binder and gave Spanky a piece of paper. He was careful not to make eye contact knowing what that could lead to and resumed his writing.
Spanky put his hand out again and Gator ignored him. Mr Barrett, seeing Ronnie's attempt to distract one of his best students put down the papers he was grading. He bored a hole in Ronnie's forehead with a stare. Clearly he meant to say "don't you dare disrupt this class again you little shit or it will be curtains for you."
Ronnie felt the weight of Barretts stare but paid him no mind. He wasn't done yet. Gator was being a "goody-two-shoes" and he would have to teach him a lesson.
Gator turned slightly away from Ronnie and continued writing. Spanky began flicking him with a finger to get his attention. He was in front and to the right of him in the next row so he could only reach his knee.  Slowly and quietly he leaned back and started flicking his knee with his left hand. Gator continued working despite the annoying behavior of his neighbor and best friend. He knew exactly what Ronnie was up to and was not about to give in and make a noise or movement.
Spanky then, seeing no success at flicking Gator's knee started flicking the desktop. It made an audible but muffled sound.
Barrett was a safe distance away, perhaps ten feet or so with several desks in between Spanky, Gator and him. Spanky saw that Barrett was back grading papers and started tapping his desk again more aggressively. Gator continued writing until he completed his assignment. He looked up at Mr. Barrett who appeared exasporated by Spanky's behavior but seemed to be resigned to the fact that there would be another disruption in his class.
Gator saw that the coast was clear so the next time Spanky tried to flick his desk he quickly caught his finger with his hand. He twisted it hard and Spanky was tempted to give out a yelp. But all the while Barrett was watching him between the students ahead of him as he finished up the last few papers he was grading. Finally, Gator squeezed as hard as he could to win the tug-of-war that had developed between the two of them with Spanky trying to get his middle finger back and Gator holding on to it for dear life. People around them started to notice and a few started to giggle at the sight of it.
Gator suddenly let go right as Spanky pulled with all of his might. The sudden release resulted in Spanky's momentum almost tipping over his desk. He balanced himself back and let out an audible "whew."
The whole class burst out laughing at this point and Gator gave Spanky a look as if to say," Don't mess with me dude you know better."
Mr. Barrett stood up and told the class to finish the questions for homework and to prepare an original short story of their own for class on the following friday. That gave them one week to write and edit the story and to turn it in for a test grade.
The bell rang and everyone started filing out. "You're a dick," Spanky said to Gator. "I just wanted to borrow another piece of paper.
"Yeah whatever Spanky. You just can't stand quiet can you?" Gator said.
"Only when I'm stoned, " Spanky said half jokingly.
"Noah," Mr. Barrett said, "Can I have a quick word with you?"
"Here we go," Gator thought. "Now I'll get my ass chewed because of you're dumb shenanigans."
"Later dude," Spanky said. "See you after school," he added.
Mr. Barrett, seeing that everyone had gone walked over to Gator and said," I wanted to tell you that I am recommending you for the journalism program next year. I have read your journals and your projects and I think you would do well in it."
"Yeah sure I'd like that Mr. Barrett," Gator said.  Although he was a bit uneasy with the compliments he liked the fact that someone had recognized some talent in him.
"Make sure," Mr. Barrett added, "you take your time and give me your best work next week and I'll use that for a writing sample to go along with your recommendation.
"Sure that sounds great. Thanks a lot Mr. Barrett." Noah said with all sincerity. Then he turned and walked out the door.
Gator was only steps from his next class but he decided to go have a quick restroom break first. He walked around the corner to where the boys room was and saw three football players going into the restroom. He knew the kind of jocks they had at Wild Acorn High School. The were cool if you saw them one on one like in class or at a party or something but for some reason they were total jackasses when you put three or four of them together somewhere without supervision.
Gator changed his mind and decided he didn't really have to go that badly and instead turned around and walked the other eay. As he passed the corner where his class was he saw Johnnyboy toe to toe with some cholo dude. The guy was new to Wild Acorn High. He remembered seeing him once or twice in the smoking area. He looked like a typical cholo to Gator. He wore khaki pants, and a white t-shirt along with slip on shoes like the ones they give you in juvenile hall.
Johnnyboy was dressed in his typical uniform. He ahd on dark brown corduroy pants, a belt with a silver buckle and a black t-shirt that said AC/DC on it. He also sported a suede vest over his t-shirt and black combat boots on his feet. He looked like any minute he was going to use his boots to kick this guy's ass who was harrassing him.
There were about three guys and two girls yelling at the new guy to come along and go to class. The two of them were sizing each other up and hurling insults at each other. Johnnyboy told the joker to meet him after school. Not wanting to look like a punk the guy agreed and then disappeared to beat the bell. Johnnyboy then turned and ran to class as not to be late himself.
Gator turned and walked back to his drivers ed class and made it in just befor the bell rang. He thought aboiut Johnnyboy agreeing to fight this guy after school. He hadn't ever seen Johnnyboy fight but knew he as a pretty good athlete because they had PE together and he was a pretty good football player in class. Like Gator though he was more interested in "sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll at the time than he was in sweating his ass off with a bunch of dick jocks. The football program at Wild Acorn was a "factory." They had won state titles in the previous two years and were still riding the wave. Everyone liked the coach. He was a winner and their PE teacher. But somehow students like Johnny Boy and Gator never made it out on the field despite some athletic ability they both possessed. Bobby was another example of those who rejected the allure of being part of the so called "in-crowd." High school was a cut-throat environment and unless you drove the right car, lived in the right neighborhood and had the right friends you were shut out of the circle. At least that's what the people in the smoking area thought.
Gator sat in class and thought about Johnnyboy's appointment with destiny. They hadn't really know each other that long but he considered him a friend. They worked at the same lab table in Biology class and they had PE together. Johnny lived up on the hill though, so hanging out with him wasn't much of an option like it was with Spanky. But now this guy had gone and agreed to fight one of the cholos at the school. This was not good Gator thought. At his other school he'd had personal scrapes with this guy's kind. They never fought alone and if you fought one you generally had to fight them all. Now it was 6th period and Johnnyboy wouldn't get a chance to go to the smoking area after school to get some back up. Gator also knew he wouldn't get a chance to see Spanky before school let out. He had to make a choice whether to go out front and watch the figh, knowing if somebody jumped in he would have to get involved, or thake the sure thing and ride home with Spanky. Although there was a pretty good chance he would get an ass whipping he decided to go out front anyway to make sure Johnnyboy wasn't alone. He at least wanted to make sure nobody jumped in. He wasn't sure what they were fighting about, but he'd seen enough fights in his day to know that you always had to have someone there to "watch your back" in case somebody tried to jump in. He'd seen a few cases where somebody got into a fight, started winning and then the guy's friends jumped in and finished the job. Personally, Gator hadn't been in a real fight since he left his home up north. That hadn't been much of a real fight. Some senior had basically punched him in the face while two of his friends watched doing nothing. He'd tried to avoid fights as much as possible because he was basically a coward at heart and afraid to get his butt kicked. He had been successful most of the time but now here he was and he knew he would have to show up to support his friend.
When the bell rang he got up slowly as if he was carrying sandbags on his back. When he walked out of the room and started heading towards the front of the school he had a queesy feeling in his stomach like he used to get when riding a rollercoaster.
He arrived out front and immediately began to regret his decision. He saw a large group of people, all similarly dressed in khakis, t-shirts and wearing bandanas and hairnets. There were about five or six girls and three boys standing behind the guy and they all looked pretty touch.
Johnnyboy waked out with a small entourage of his own. Mostly friends from up on the hill. Gator knew Lurch, the tall blond string bean of a guy who was also in their biology class. There were a couple of other guys there too from up on the hill but nobody from the smoking area. Gator sized up the guys he was with. They were all pretty lily-white upper middle class rich kids from up on the hill where most of the "in-crowd" lived. This didn't look good. It didn't look good at all. Gator stood at a distance but was clearly visible to everyone who was gathered for the fight.  Just as Gator was trying to pick out the most likely opponent if it turned into a melee the guy who started the mess with Johnnyboy walked out and started getting accolades from his group of assembled friends. He had a big smile on his face and had a look of confidence about him like a bullfighter entering the arena.
Johnnyboy didn't say a word. He just started swinging on the guy and hit him with a flurry of punches before the guy could react. He hit him in the face and the head. The kid tried to lunge at him but Johnnyboy got out of the way and pummelled him with another volley. The guy slipped and Johnnyboy waited for him to get back on his feet and hit him again in the face and head. Just then the vice-principal walked out of the office and broke it up. He was a large man and grabbed them both and dragged them into the office. It was over in less than an minute. Johnny had restored balance to the system of respect and territory within the school. He had stood up to a bully and won.
Gator walked over to his bus and got on. He figured Johnny would get a few days suspension but he was proud of his courage on that day. He had faced down an enemy and been successful at it. Gator smiled as he got on the bus and went to the back.
Gator rarely rode the bus. Mainly he hated the fact that it took about 45 minutes to get home instead of 15 in a car if he rode with Rosco or Spanky. But Rosco was working today and since he didn't show up at Spanky's car right after school he knew he was stuck on the "cheesewagon" with a bunch of countryfucks who thought they were cowboys.
He had a rough time with some of them when he started school. But he wasn't as bold as Johnnyboy and would have to find another way to earn their respect he thought. One way that he had avoided in the past was to challenge authority in a direct way when given the opportunity. That bus driver had been quite a bitch lately he thought to himself.  Friday afternoon was the most feared and hated day for schoolbus drivers. The students had been caged up like lions all week in the classroom and once that final bell rang it was like a champagne cork going off-unpredictable and dangerous if pointed in the wrong direction.
Gator had pretty much forgotten about his plan to disrupt the bus while drifting off to sleep. Suddently out of nowhere  he felt something hitting him in the back of the head. Someone was throwing paper at him. He recognized that he was next to his stop so he turned and looked at the likely suspects. There were three of the local yokels from South County. They weren't all that tough looking but there were three of them. he stood up and said "knock that shit off can't you see she's trying to drive?" With that, the driver, a heavy-set lady in her mid 30's slammed on the brakes. Gator almost fell over at the sudden stop.
"You get off this bus and don't come back for two weeks," she shouted as he calmly walked off the bus smiling. When he got off he turned back and said, "you don't have to be such a bitch about it." She closed the door and drove off in a cloud of diesel smoke and dust from the side of the road. He was only a block away from his house so he felt pretty good about things. Maybe now he'd be accepted. It wasn't easy being the new kid.