Exceptional - Part 4

This is part four of a continuing series. I initially thought the story would conclude within four parts, but it looks now as if it will be six or seven total. Hope you've been reading the previous Thursday posts so you'll know what's going on. If you haven't, please take the time to catch up. Enjoy...

James sat in English class, fuming. He was having a bad day.

It all began to go south after Mike Sutton had embarrassed him at lunch. The embarrassment he could handle. The fact that it happened in front of Shelly Abraham was what really bothered him.

James had been told by a few of the guys in Gym that he looked like he was working out a lot.

“Dude, you have guns,” one said, squeezing his upper arm.

He couldn’t remember the other comments, but figured if the boys were noticing he was developing muscle definition faster than everyone else, there must be a few girls who noticed too. In fact, he didn’t really care how many girls noticed, only if Shelly noticed.

So, after a few days of extra push-ups to make sure he looked his best, James rolled his shirt sleeves up just enough for Shelly to see the bottom of his biceps and approached her table during lunch. Tray in hand, he was about to say, in his deepest voice, “Hi, Shelly. Mind if I sit with you?” when Mike Sutton sat on her bench and slid right up next to her.

While James had become much more confident as of late, he had never put this confidence to the test in real time. His experience came mostly in front of his mirror, his conversations with himself. This is where he’d practiced his opening line, his request to sit with Shelly. He had even practiced a number of second lines based on her different possible reactions.

He tried, “What’s that? You’ve been wondering what took me so long to ask? Well I’m sorry I kept you waiting.”

Then there was, “Because I always wondered what it would be like to sit next to an angel.”

He had even planned a face saving last resort. He would shrug, being sure to highlight his shoulder muscles, then say, “That’s cool, maybe another time.”

He hadn’t accounted for anyone else at the table to say a word, especially not a potential competitor.

Instead of throwing out his planned line, or any other cheesy line for that matter, James froze. He stood perfectly still, staring at the two of them, mouth just slightly open in surprise. He stood there just long enough for Mike to look up and see him there.

“What’s with the creep?” Mike asked Shelly.

She laughed. Of course she laughed. Had he taken the time to think about it, James might have seen her laugh as coming simply out of nervousness or even the need to be polite and laugh at the joke of a boy who was showing her attention. While not experienced with girls by any means, James had noticed that some girls would laugh at jokes he knew they couldn’t possibly find funny from guys who he knew they couldn’t possibly be interested in just because that’s what they did at their age. He thought it must feel good to get attention and the girls didn’t want to discourage that. James understood, even appreciated it.

At this very moment, however, her laughter crushed him. He could physically feel all the swollen, muscle-bound confidence he possessed just seconds ago rush out of him.

A few other passersby had heard Mike’s question to Shelly and stopped to look. James dropped his head and walked past them in his best attempt to look like he had meant to do so all along.

“Stalk you later,” Mike called after him and James heard several people laugh, including Shelly.

When he sat at his usual table and Dave asked him what that had been about, James shrugged without worrying about showing off any muscle and said, “Nothing.” It was all he could do at the time to contain the rage he was feeling.

Over and hour later, during English, the rage was still contained, but hadn’t dissipated. All he saw was red. All he heard was his own pounding heartbeat. All he felt was heat and tension throughout his body. All he could taste was blood, for he had bitten into his bottom lip without noticing. He didn’t even fill out his name at the top of the quiz that sat on his desk. While everyone else scribble answers, he sat still, breathing fire.

James felt like there was a pot of boiling water inside him and the lid on top was shaking more violently the longer it was left on. James knew he must do something to Mike Sutton, but he didn’t know what.

Then, at the last break between classes for the day, James saw him in the hall, books under his arm, talking to some other popular kids. James was so focused, he didn’t even see who the others were.

James walked straight through the crowd, toward Mike and purposely bumped into him. His books fell to the ground and slid across the hall.

“What the hell,” Mike said, looking at his books on the floor, not James. Upon looking up, he added, “Real nice, stalker.”

“What did you call me?” James asked, stepping toward him.

For a second, Mike was startled. This didn’t fit James’ reputation. James wasn’t usually aggressive and the popular kids were all about expected behavior. When something didn’t fit their expectations, they were thrown off.

“I called you a stalker,” he said, after gathering himself and taking a step backward.

“Why you backing up?” James asked and stepped forward again. He made a point of taking a larger step forward than Mike had taken back, so they were even closer now. James could tell Mike was intimidated, which was just what he had been hoping for.

“Because I don’t want your face too close to mine,” Mike replied with a hint of nervousness James thought only he might have noticed. After he said it, Mike looked to the crowd for agreement.

James didn’t see the need for any more words. He wanted Mike Sutton embarrassed right here and now. He dropped his own books, lunged forward and grabbed Mike’s shirt in his fists. In a split second, James had Mike pinned against the lockers, his feet no longer touching the ground.

What James saw then was absolute fear on Mike Sutton’s face. It was exactly the reaction he’d been looking for. James stared right into his eyes and breathed heavy. Then, a smile slowly began to spread across his face.

“Teachers,” someone form the fringe of the now very attentive crowd that had circled around them shouted. James dropped Mike just as suddenly as he had picked him up and took one step back. He never took his eyes off Mike, however.

“What’s going on,” Mr. Cartwright called as he pushed through the circle of students.

James still stared at Mike without saying a word.

“They bumped into each other, all their books fell,” Dave spoke up for them both. Up to this point, James hadn’t realized Dave was nearby.

“Well pick them up and get to class,” Mr. Cartwright said, then looked around at everyone in a way that showed he knew better than to think such a circular crowd could precede anything but a fight. “That goes for all of you!”

James bent to pick up his books, but still stared. Mike was visibly shaken as his friends ushered him away.

“What a freak,” an anonymous member of the group mumbled at James.

“Yeah, you really are a creep,” said a voice James recognized. He looked to see it was Shelly, sneering at him the way only a teenage girl who hated your guts could.

James decided then that, after English, he would skip his last class and take an extra long run home.

To Be Continued...