K

In this chapter titled 'K' young Sebastian(narrator) goes to school for the very first time with his cousin Antoinette and faces an enemy he didn't expect; he meets his bullies.

The Pursuit of Paperface
K


As I listened to Antoinette's mother speak about her first day of school earlier that night, I could pick up a certain longing from all of them that wished they were still young.

She started the conversation off with the words, "IT WASN'T EASY BEING A KID, AND DEFINITELY NOT A RUN IN THE PARK BEING AN ADULT."(Sighs)

It was the first day of the rest of her life her grown up life, she said. Her stomach was in
groaning for food, and she couldn't seem
to do anything with her hair. She had all her
pens, papers, notebooks and other miscellaneous items stuffed into her spanking new blue book bag. Her mother was down stairs on the patio drinking her morning mug of coffee, yelling at her to hurry up. She gave those brand new Nike's of hers a quick whitening, checked to make sure she had everything; money for lunch, all her
books, paper, pens, and a calculator. Her mother continued to yell at her from downstairs throughout the morning.


You're going to miss the bus!' Her mother yelled, frustrated.

"The bus! I couldn't believe my ears. I
couldn't show up to high school on my
first day by riding the bus!' She exclaimed, silently. Perhaps she had doubts.

She was nervous.


So she asked her mother to drive her to
school. Somehow knowing her mother was
going to be there part of the way made it a
little bit easier for her to go. It was nice to
have a close relative there to set her off on
the grown-up part of her life. Her childhood
was over, and she would soon be an adult. Not to
mention the fact that she hated the bus and
used any excuse to get out of riding it.

Well her mother ended up giving in, and
drove her to school. The drive to the newly
built high school was just under fifteen
minutes away. As they travelled, her mother
gave her some tips to make it through the
day.

"She told me to introduce myself to my
teachers on personal bases, to sit up front
and to eat a good lunch', Antoinette's mother said, mundane.



As they arrived at the entrance, she said she felt her breakfast wanting to jump out of her stomach. She hated grits. She was shaking and on the verge of tears, well maybe she was exaggerating just a little bit, but she was nonetheless a bit shaky. Her mom then gave her a
hug and a kiss on the forehead, told her she had nothing to fear, and that she'd have a great time. She jumped out of the car and stood on the sidewalk waving goodbye to her mother.

I could tell Antoinette seemed excited, as she overheard the story. In a way, her own mother probably wanted to let her know and remind her of the same words her mother had told her when she had to go to high school for the very first time. And she re-phrased that very same words to Antoinetted, saying," You have nothing to fear, trust me. Everything will be alright, you'll have a great time."

Then she kissed her on the forehead.

Just a few minutes after I saw the huge smile on her face, after that it was off to bed.

The night went by quickly then morning came and we had to get up early. William and Ignatius were so excited for our part, and so were Antoinette's parents. Perhaps they always looked forward to taking me, their son, well...their adopted son, to school. It was my first day, I was totally nervous. Well, not mine alone but Antoinette's parents also had found a way to get her to attend at this new school as well.

Antoinette looked nervous, I however looked forward to being a student and finally get to learn of things I had not the knowledge of before; Antoinette and I stood at the bus stop, we preferred to go there on our own. Not that we were ashamed of our parents but just so we could blend in more easily in that way.

I could see the looks on the faced of Ignatius and William.


I thought to myself, when they had finally reached its peak, I'd tell them all about my first day at school, and whilst we stood there and myself thinking of them, and what they must've felt, Antoinette and I stood next to this one guy that seemed like he was two feet taller than we were -- a "big middle school guy." We got on the bus not knowing one particular person, and Antoinette and I were in the midst of strangers, not friends. When we got to school, I felt like it was a zoo! Perhaps Antoinette had felt the same.

There were so many halls and classes, and we didn't know our way around or any of these people.
Ay! I said when I found the classroom and Antoinette was just next door; there was an empty desk right in front and I just sat there, so that I don't draw any attention to myself, I preferred to not be the centre of anyone's attention which would be to me a very dis-comforting feel.

Our class teacher, made everything really easy for everyone, since we were all juniors. She
explained everything and answered any and every question of each student. Eventually, I made a friend who sat next to me, his name was Justin, he showed me all his art and I immediately connected his art to my novel 400Rome, it felt great.
I asked him why he loved drawing so much, he told me his father said: "The only losers are the ones who let life, liberty, and the pursuit of fun pass them by."


I sat there thinking of a recap of my day and how I got up 6am in the morning, got done for school and I left home at 6:45, from thereon out Antoinette and I walked 20 minutes to catch the bus to school. The bus was a special one just for kids going to our school. The journey on the bus took an hour because it had to keep stopping to
pick up other students along the way.

When we arrived at school, we were all handed each a brand new Tablet PC from the Flexi (Learning Centre). Then Antoinette and I went to our separate Tutor Rooms for registration at 8:30.
We listened to announcements to see what
special things were happening at our new school for the week.
At about 8:50 we left the Tutor Room to go
to our first period. Justin whom I met during that time, told me that every day we'd receive a different lesson the first period. He said, normally
it was Humanities but we'd also have Maths,
Drama and Music, and French on the other
days. Each period lasted an hour.

All our lessons would be in different rooms and
places around the school. Each Room either had a three digit number or a name.

The numbers were very hard to remember!.

We had different teachers for each lesson, apart from the class Antoinette found herself in; have different teachers. We had a locker where we could store some of our stuff but otherwise we had to carry it all around with our luggage in our bags.

I noticed that every student carried a swipe card. We swiped into every lesson to let the school
know that we had attended that certain
lesson and to know where we were in case
of emergencies.

On the Swipe Card there were two stripes, a
black and a blue. The blue was to swipe
into lessons and the black was to get into the
toilets and buildings.

We could put money on our Swipe cards
instead of carrying cash around. When we
wanted to pay for snacks at the Tuck Shop or
canteen we just handed our cards over then
they deducted the money.

I received a table of our subjects, and that was the time Justin and I spoke of art. The kind teacher had explained that we'd get Maths, English Science ICT Drama Music Art PE Humanities (History, Geography, and Religion) French or Spanish

I noticed on the timetable had shown the following:

9:00 1st Period
10:00 2nd Period
11:00 - 11:20 Break

During break, Justin, Antoinette and I had a snack and played and had a chat about art and music. We played 'IT' a chasing game.

11:20 3rd Period
12:30 4th Period
1:30 - 2:10 Lunch

Luckily Antoinette and I brought enough lunch to school but occasionally we had school dinners in the School Canteen.

2:10 5th Period
3:10 End of School

Justin introduced me to the idea of staying after school for clubs. But I never considered staying behind, due to the fact that some older students always followed us wherever we walked.

The Canteen was open at Lunch Time and
Break Time. Most hot food was served only
at lunch time. Chips were only available on
Mondays and Fridays, or so I was told.

We didn't use our Tablet PCs in all lessons
because some rooms did not have enough
power sockets. We used the Tablets to do
our work on and to search the Internet.
Our Tablet PCs were connected to a
Network so we could send our work straight
to our teachers. and they could send them
back with their comments.


And the fact that we went to such a school, led me to believe that Ignatius and William had enough money to last a lifetime.

When i think about my first day of high school experience, there were many things that came to mind. Some of them would probably be:
good memories, bad memories, mistakes, lessons,
happiness, heartbreak, misfortune, joy, drama, and most importantly, fun. Well, I had hoped for the best.

I would probably learn many valuable life lessons as well as make life long friends, such as Justin whom I had grown so fond of immediately. I saw it as a place where I'd learn the value of hard work, dedication, and also how to tell your real friends from the others. I knew it would be tough but overall it would probably turn out to be a great experience that i would either miss or hate.



When i listened to William who spoke about his first high school experience and all the memories, although some being good, while the rest of his endeavours or time on school were bad.
Most of the good memories involved his good friends and most of the bad memories involved just him always finding himself trapped in a deep depression. Some of his good memories in high school was just like going to the different sports games with his friends. He said his friends and along with his female girlfriend at the time attended many of the football games, basketball games and some baseball games. The sounds,
the atmosphere, and the company of your friends was what made the events so fun and exciting. Just good memories for him in general in high school included just the basic seeing people in the halls during passing period, doing class projects, attending assemblies, as well as just
seeing people in class everyday. Some of the bad
memories in high school for him included other girls!!!


Although he had a girlfriend in high school, he had 2 other girlfriends as well and both had a very special place in his heart, but they were the ones that caused him the most grief in high school, which led him to find a liking in guys and it was only when he became a cop, when he truly embraced the fact that he was gay. Surrounded by drama, fights, and disagreements most of his worst memories had something to do another girl. He probably enjoyed the relationships he was in, but there was one girl by the name of Pecola Talbot. She was beautiful and they were together for only 8 months and he had felt like he had found a great girl. Some of the mistakes,
lessons, happiness, joy and fun were all in direct
relationship to the time he spent with her. She made his high school experience enjoyable as well as difficult. He said one of the biggest life lessons he had learned from this high school relationship was that she taught him that he. should always be true to himself, right before she died. She always told him, that people respect and enjoy the person that you really are inside, and if they don't, they are not really your friend." He said as she had told him right before she died in a tragic car crash.
After her death, and going to college; since being a freshman, he had changed in a major
way. Coming into high school he suffered from depression and had suicidal thoughts and felt very dogmatic about a lot of things ,mostly an unmotivated young man that didn't really know what he was getting into. He however left high school a man who was mature,not very outgoing anymore, and also very silent. If high school had
taught him anything it was that you should always have confidence in yourself. If you believe in yourself and you believe that you can achieve anything you want in life, good things will happen to you. Knowing that he'd be
graduating high school and never going back hadn't really hit him yet.


But there comes in every man's life where he has to make ammence with what occurred, just so he may be be prepared for what's to come.



The day before Antoinette and I came to school, I'd lay in bed thinking through my mind what it might have been like if Paperface went to school. What he would do. Would he be nervous? What would go through his mind?

Would he be anxious?or perhaps just unhappy about the whole idea.

I replayed a certain moment, more of my own version of his experience through my mind.

And I imagined the beeping of his alarm clock sounding like a countdown. The first day of high school was only two hours away. He'd probably as I know him would not be excited, but a lot more prepared than nervous. He'd get out of bed, get ready, and then be on his way to the bus
stop. All he'd think of would be the stories he heard about high school being so horrible with all the strict teachers, the really hard tests, and of course being a freshman probably wouldn’t help either. The bus ride to the school would presumably be about ten minutes, but to Paperface seem a lot more longer. When they'd finally get there, he'd be much more prepared than ever. Perhaps all the students would become an enemy.

The day ahead of him would presumably about to get a lot more complicated though, probably with locker trouble, finding a seat at lunch, and getting lost. But the way I knew Paperface, he'd pretend he knew the school as though he were a senior.
Before long, it was time to get off the bus. When he'd get off, he'd come to two doors. He'd perhaps won’t be sure which one to go in so he'll eventually just pick one, as did I the same. Turns out I picked the one that led me to the C hall, when I was supposed to go to the A hall. He'd walked around for about fifteen minutes
until he'll finally find his locker. When he'll get there, he'd struggle how how to open it. Then after five minutes of trying to figure it
out, he'll finally get it open. Paperface would then grab his books and from thereon go to
class.



The next locker break he'd probably struggle finding his locker combination. He'll then realize that he wrote it down on his hand, because knowing Paperface. If he had written it down on a piece of paper, he'd accidentally leave it in his
locker. In that way he'd have to go back to his home room teacher and ask for the combination again. That would then make him late for his next
class by ten minutes, which would not be a very good start.

Afterwards, it'd be lunch time. He'll dropped off his books at his locker, and walk down alone, not wanting to make any friends.

Paperface was a loner.

He felt as a Nomad.
He'd probably be a little late when he'll get there he'd by then end up sitting somewhere he didn’t want to because the tables would already filled up. He'll go up to get his lunch and come
back to find other students sitting where he sat, of course he'd be furious but he'll say nothing. He soon finds out the hard way, that getting up meant risking your seat, whether it was a chair or a huge rock. So he'll have to walk to find. another place to sit. The whole lunch period everyone would be talking about how their day went so far. Most of them would complain, except for Paperface, he'd look at then with a certain disgust. Then the bell would ring and it'd be time to go to sixth period. He'd of course really not prefer to be in class with all the other students whom he felt were all beneath them, but on the other hand, at least there'd be only 3 periods left of the day.

Finally, it'd be the end of the day. Finding his next 3 classes would be easy. However he'd still won’t be in time, but neither would the other kids. When their 8th period end, knowingly to Paperface it'd be a huge relief. He'll be so happy that the day was finally over. But he'll still have to get on the bus again to go home, therefore it still wouldn’t be completely over . He'll go to his locker, check his on which he wrote the number and make 100% sure he didn’t forget the
combination in there again. After that he'd have no clue which way to go, so he'll followed the other people. When he'll get outside, all
the buses would be in line. He'll walk back and forth trying to find his, or at least someone who was on the same bus as him, someone whom he had noticed early in the morning. After most of the kids already found their bus, he'll only stare at them, thinking of either seeing them as the enemy or allies. He still couldn’t find his. Finally someone, a girl or boy would sit next to him in the bus. He'd probably sit there clueless too. After a couple minutes, he'll finally say something. Their bus would perhaps not be in line like all the others, perhaps even behind some of the other buses. When he got on, he'd know
the day was really over.
In conclusion, his first day of high school would've been a challenge. It had seemingly had been a new school with new people, new
teachers, new subjects, and new schedules. He'd also miss the school orientation so he knew he was less experienced than most of the other students. He faced many problems such
as locker trouble, finding a seat at lunch and keeping it, and getting lost. It was a long day, but he could now say he survived freshman year.


That's how I saw it. Or at least presumed it would me.


But something else awaited Paperface.

Meanwhile I had my own battles to face, one...being the son of two men who were married and that being noticed by one of the students who told a few other students about it.

But to come to point, on that first day of high school, there was no one else with braces and freckles, or brown bushy hair. The metamorphosis I had gone through at the orphanage, before Ignatius and William had adopted me only made me a neon target at the
new school. Words like “f*g” and “gay” were re-merging by the fifth hour since my arrival at the new school just because one kid noticed I had two fathers as parents, instead of . I sometimes wished I could've dyed my hair brown when I was still an orphan, but it seemed every thing I did, from how I wore my uniform to the
way I walked, was deemed a nerd by my new peers. And now that they knew my parents were gay, I knew that I was public enemy number one.

“You walk like a pato, I bet your dads always shower together” one girl told me.


“Walk like a man. You don’t want to be gay do
you?” I'd eventually make friends in high school, but there were always plenty of kids ready to bully me. Some were overt about it, but the moment this big indian boy shoved me in a locker like a sad cliché. But there were others and they were more coy, sending me anonymous IMs with the word pato. But that specific boy was the one person who’s bullying made me feel
helpless, and I carried his cruelty with me for that entire first day, and probably would for the years
following high school. All the kids on school called him Guss. And it was then where I discovered that the one who started the rumour about my parents being gay, which of course they were, was Ishmael. That very same Ishmael who were my so to say cousin.

Although Guss was not the meat-head, he
was a straight A student, in AP classes, and constantly on the morning announcements for
his accomplishments. They had control over all the other students. If there was anyone who was going to be valedictory someday at this High School when we'd on a day graduate, it was
going to be either Guss or Ishmael. All the other students both at the same time feared them and worshipped them; they never ceased to tell the other kids just how ugly they were and how this school would be nothing without Guss and Ishmael. Ishmael then again reminded me how I became to about the son of a family of means and that he was also charming, able to win over
large crowds with jokes and sat at the head of his lunch table like a king. And to him, I would remain a peasant, a disease.

In his eyes I were the enemy.

It was easy to see and say Guss, but especially Ishmael was taking some buried insecurity out on me. That wasn’t true. In fact he was the
opposite of insecure. He was confident, but also angry that I was now part family.


I could tell he hated the idea.



During the last period, Ishmael and Guss
chased me to biology class, storming the classroom, and exclaiming in front of
everyone, “You’re a f****t, Sebastian.”


They wrote on every classroom board that myself and others like me, that included Justin. That we were losers and geeks. Because to them we were the enemy, outcasts to a world we were born in; there was even a thread dedicated to my parent's sexuality and that of mine, and they also humiliated the fact that I was adopted, they then beat both Justin and I, then threw us in the garbage bins and they afterwards labelled us with notes that were taped to the back of our shirts, and as we walked down the hall that was filled with almost a hundred students, we became victims of a peer pressure a lineage of great minds went through; and we had to walk with shame and were mocked with usual slurs being thrown.
It was written everywhere, that I was the son of the f**s.



Everyone stared at me as though I were a disease.



I felt as if I could die, as if my world had just collapsed. I became but another victim.

Would I ever find the courage to fight back? Or would make an attempt flee at the first opportunity I get; just after the thread was
started, our dean pulled me aside to say, “Don’t worry, they won’t call you gay on the Internet anymore.”


I felt shocked.

I never knew kids were so cruel.

The founder of the message board was never revealed, but I knew who it was; it was clear who
started it �" or at the very least who had a hand in its creation. It was all Ishmael and Guss, and Ishmael had it in for me. It was a modern day Ishmael vs. Sebastian, all over again. But this time in reality; hmmm...ironic. It seemed my book had this time come alive.

After they had all Ganges up on me, and myself being viciously beaten by Guss and Sebastian, I forgot about the message board and biology
class, but what stuck was the humiliation. Not the
humiliation of being embarrassed, but rather the
humiliation that Ishmael knew me better than I knew myself. He announced to everyone I was a
f****t and that I was raised by such; before I had the chance to explain myself, the entire school laughed at me. And I first-hand witnessed their cruelty; and I had to defend myself without
knowing exactly what a f****t was. They forced me to say in front of everyone, “No! I’m
not a f****t!” as if being a f****t was the worse thing imaginable.

At that moment, to me...my high school experience ended. I sat there hoping that my college years would truly be the best of my
life, and after graduating I'd then probably move to Canada or Europe.


My friend Justin told me to let it go, and rather just hang out by their spot. The part in school, everyone knew as the 'the nerd lounge."

He told me, he and a few other students from high school always sat there, to hide from the bullies, and they'd just play video games or just read novels by Jane Austen or Shakespeare. So I agreed and we just sat there, laughed and got along.

I felt a comfort for once.

They made me consider the possibility that someday, no one would call me a f*g or the son of one, but instead congratulate me on my accomplishments. They made it seem that any ill feelings were in the rear-view mirror.

Then Justin exclaimed, “Guss is
on his way.” (Fearful)

I pretended not to hear him, and acted as if I didn't know Guss, nor Ishmael at all.
I spent my time, whereby I could've hidden playing scenarios of running into Guss in
my head, and how I would confront him and Ishmael as an adult someday, hopefully. And
yet I was trembling with both fear and anger at the thought of seeing the both of them, where I wish I hadn't.

Ishmael made eye contact with me when he made his way down the stairs. I ignored him and pretended not to hear him as he came yelling my name and my parents being gay, and confidently I went back to my conversation with Justin and the others whom I had just met, and I could tell they feared for the worst.

Finally, I saw it. The post-high school stereotypes would probably true. Bullies were everywhere, they stalked us as if we were prey, and envied us for they knew the potential we had and what great pupils we'd become someday and they unfortunately would bask in the disappoint that all of them do become overweight. I don’t say this out of spite but someday I'd find it amusing to witness a demonstration that from the second I'd see Guss or Ishmael, I knew for a fact that they wouldn’t seem mythological anymore.


They took me out of what they called 'the nerd lounge" and stuffed my head down a toilet pot, then kicked me in my stomach and busted my lip open against the wall. I was their main target, not only because Ishmael hated me, but also because I looked vulnerable and were to them an unsuspectingly human. They kicked my face and I immediately felt drowsy. Blood spilt on my shirt but they continued to ignore the fact that I might end up having trouble standing up or even seeing.

When they were done, they spat in my face, called me a f****t and at that moment I began to feel anti climactic. I felt like a coward, as if I couldn't defend myself; what have I done to make them hate me so much?

How could I not confront Ishmael? I
owed it to myself and the pride within me.
Antoinette then saw me, and she stood there with Justin, both shocked at how I looked and at the moment when they approached me to see if I were okay, I ran down the hall with tears in my eyes and didn't look back.

I ran in anger.

In some certain retrospect as I had ran, some images played through my head that someday, when I'd be a successful writer, I'd show off, when I'd meet Ishmael and we apparently both be adults, and due to the fact that I'd show off might even give away that I have something to prove, but at the time a different thought arose an I thought it was pivotal in establishing self respect. I kept mentioning
I will have my revenge and make Ishmael pay and to let him know he made a huge mistake when he decided to insult me in front of everyone in high school. And that on my first day, because I wasn't a f****t but I was proud that I not only had one father, but at that moment I realised I was blessed with two.

I was angry as I made my way out of the school gate, and ran down the street with tears in my eyes. In a way where I'd hated him so much, the both of them, I at the same time had pity for them, because they were but two boys
in need of love that they so desperately needed.



And as I ran, leaving my back pack behind, I ran into this old woman, who kindly just spoke to me and with a simple smile on her face, erased all the anger from my mind in a split second.
This old woman lived on the farm near the town in which we lived. All country and small-town people had seen this old woman, but no one
knew much about her. When I asked William and Ignatius about her! After she had quickly wiped the blood off from my face, after I was beaten up by the other students. Just because Ishmael went and told all of them that I had two fathers.


The kids laughed at me!


I still can't get it out of my mind.


Just to think, he had the audacity to make my life a living hell on school on my very first day, perhaps it were just to get back at Ignatius.




The old woman came into town and saw me walking angry at the world. And as she drove pass me with this old worn-out Ford Mustang offering me a lift home.

So given that I did not know her at all, I hesitated for an instant, but she persuaded me that I was in safe hands.




I then got into her car despite its condition and despite me not knowing her, and I shut the door behind me, buckled up with the seatbelt. And I noticed that she had went shopping, her eye caught me staring to the back and she told me that on her farm she has a few hens and had eggs to sell. Then she'd put them in a basket and take them to the grocer. There she would trade them in. She'd then take that money and buy herself some salt pork and some beans. With a laugh she said to me, she was more of the old school type, she didn't trade like the other farmers.




She kept staring at me as she drove and said she had no choice but to offer me a ride, right after she went to the butcher's and asked for some dog-meat. She'd then spend ten or fifteen cents, but she said, she knew her way around the city but preferred to stay on a farm.
Formerly the butchers gave liver to any one who wanted to carry it away. I suppose that's what she meant when she said she knew her way around the city.
So we went to her house that was on a nearby farm.

She then cleaned me up then gave me two big slices of her chocolate cake she had made the previous day, and I had it until I was full of it. It was so scrumptuous and delicious. I have loved the thought of being in the midst of a lady who made me feel as though I were a grandson to her.

While I enjoyed the chocolate cake- the old woman got some liver and a soup-bone. It made quite a load for such an old body. I couldn't believe she made such a big pot and that for one person. It was kind of sad that she was living alone, all by herself.
People drove right pass her farm house and never notice and strangely there weren't anyone visiting her, or perhaps I might've insinuated wrong.
She then took me home and dropped me off in front of our doorstep then drove off and went home later. Our neighbour then looked at me from his front-porch and it was the first time I saw him, I presumed instantly that he was our neighbour, but he was not alone, he had these two or three large gaunt-looking dogs that followed at his heels.

Right then, Ignatius and William came out.


They seemed worried.



As they came and hugged me, checking my swollen eye and broken lip, I could see that William didn't look happy, not at the least.

Then as they took me inside I couldn't help but think of the old woman, compared to the old man next door she was something special.






To the people in our town she would always be one of the nameless ones that hardly any one knew, but she got into my thoughts. I had just arrived home and already I missed her, in some strange way I saw her as some kind of grandmother. Her name I never knew, and there weren't much I knew about her but I knew she lived alone and perhaps were a widow to deceased husband and perhaps her sons and daughters were all grown up and she ended up staying alone in a small unpainted house on the bank of a small creek a mile from town. Or perhaps she never had any children, but I did notice the many photos of various pupils against her walls.

Perhaps her husband and sons/ daughters were a tough lot.

I then asked Ignatius about the man next door, whilst William was busy on the phone arguing either with the principal from the school I attended or my teacher. Meanwhile Ignatius explained to me that the old bitter man's son was but twenty-one,he had already served a term in jail. It was whispered about that the bitter old man's wife stole almost half of his many millions and travelled to Argentina with her lover.

Now and then, the old bitter man would stand on his front-porch smoking his pipe. No one ever caught him smoke, he seemed very discrete.

Ignatius said he once saw the man's mother passed away sitting on his bench in front.




He completely changed after that and had become really bitter after the death of his mother and at the time of her passing away, two or three other men were there, but no one spoke to
him. Perhaps they didn't know what to say. He sat for a few minutes and then got up and went away. When he was leaving he turned around and stared at the men. There was a look of defiance in his eyes. "Well, William and I have tried to be friendly', said Ignatius. He then suggested that I rather don't talk to the old bitter man.
When my father was finally done speaking to the principal or my teacher, he sat down with us, although still a little bit upset because of what had occurred at school. William told me that he too was bullied on school, and It has been so wherever he went in his years as a teen.


"But you're a cop now, so no one can hurt you now right?" He did not say anything actually. "I'd like to have bust one of them on
the jaw," was about what his eyes said.
I remember how the look in his eyes