cold1029
2014-09-07, 03:00 AM
Imagine in your mind a young man with pasty skin and an awful complexion, a double chin and awkward potbelly. His hair is blonde and curly, he looks sickly, and his eyes are pitch black. He has a scar on his cheek that only adds to his disturbing appearance. His parents neglect him, and every day is a struggle in a school where he is the absolute bottom of the totem pole.
TL; DR at the bottom
He's not me, and I regret to admit that I am guilty of making fun of this boy, let's name him drake. Along with everyone else in my high school, I thought of drake as an easy target for ridicule: a reminder that my life could always be worse.
So why am I writing? If you are familiar with the Saints and the Roughnecks, you are aware that perceptions in high school are likely to follow you throughout all of life. I am writing to address something that occurred, and I regret the way I handled it.
One day, in class, I sat listening to the ramblings of my eighth-grade history teacher. He is known for making up stories, one of the many reasons that this tenured teacher would not be signed to teach next year. The students are asking him questions unrelated to the class, and I stopped paying attention. Instead, I took interest in a conversation that took place near me.
Drake was an awkward boy, but he was hopeful. He had a crush on a girl, let's call her Allie. From a young age I associated her with Angelica from the rugrats, but she was in fact much worse. Her undeserved sense of superiority burst forth in every aspect of her personality, and she would not know the plight of the poor if it was tattooed on her abortionist's forehead. But Drake was also a bit... delusional.
She was talking to him, pretending to flirt. He had rscently decided that he was sick of dealing with one of his many bullies, and had channeled his best 80's protagonist, and challenged his bully to a fight after class. Allie was pretending to be impressed while he discussed it. She asked a few questions.
"So you're going to fight him. Do you think you'll win?" She asked, twirling her hair.
"Yeah." He said, feigning confidence.
"What if he brings a bunch of friends, you'll need to protect yourself."
"Yeah? Well, maybe I'll bring a knife." He concluded.
"What if they all have knives? What would you do then?"
"Well, maybe I could bring a gun." He said. Suddenly, another girl, a friend of Allie's takes her que.
Emma, as I'll call her, shouted loudly, "did you just say you are going to bring a gun to school?"
The room was immediately overtaken with shouting and accusations. The teacher quickly took Drake to the principal's office, and it became a universal truth by lunch that Drake had threatened to shoot up our school. Only I was paying enough attention to know that this wasn't the case.
I said little, because I knew that my own place in the social hierarchy was only barely above his, and I had seen what happens to them. Drake was expelled for a month, and everyone in the school knew what he had "done." His parents didn't care enough about him to make a fuss, and the faculty knew it. I know now that they had nowhere near a case, only hearsay and conjecture. Even what he did say was textbook entrapment.
So I did what any child does, I tried to forget about it. When we got to high school, every teacher already hated Drake: nothing inspires resentment like threatening to kill your loved ones. He was hidden away in the learning-disability classes because none of the teachers cut him any slack or cared to help him.
He was eventually expelled and sent to a nearby school for "problem children." It was much more of a prison than a school. I havent heard from him, I don't know what became of him, but it can't be anything good.
That boy's life was ruined by a manipulative girl and a handful of educators that wanted only to be rid of him.
I guess I'm writing to get this off of my chest, but I would also like to ask for thoughts and advice.
Thank you for reading,
Sincerely,
Cold1029
TL; DR
A poor kid from my school got totally screwed over by the faculty, and now his life sucks.
TL; DR at the bottom
He's not me, and I regret to admit that I am guilty of making fun of this boy, let's name him drake. Along with everyone else in my high school, I thought of drake as an easy target for ridicule: a reminder that my life could always be worse.
So why am I writing? If you are familiar with the Saints and the Roughnecks, you are aware that perceptions in high school are likely to follow you throughout all of life. I am writing to address something that occurred, and I regret the way I handled it.
One day, in class, I sat listening to the ramblings of my eighth-grade history teacher. He is known for making up stories, one of the many reasons that this tenured teacher would not be signed to teach next year. The students are asking him questions unrelated to the class, and I stopped paying attention. Instead, I took interest in a conversation that took place near me.
Drake was an awkward boy, but he was hopeful. He had a crush on a girl, let's call her Allie. From a young age I associated her with Angelica from the rugrats, but she was in fact much worse. Her undeserved sense of superiority burst forth in every aspect of her personality, and she would not know the plight of the poor if it was tattooed on her abortionist's forehead. But Drake was also a bit... delusional.
She was talking to him, pretending to flirt. He had rscently decided that he was sick of dealing with one of his many bullies, and had channeled his best 80's protagonist, and challenged his bully to a fight after class. Allie was pretending to be impressed while he discussed it. She asked a few questions.
"So you're going to fight him. Do you think you'll win?" She asked, twirling her hair.
"Yeah." He said, feigning confidence.
"What if he brings a bunch of friends, you'll need to protect yourself."
"Yeah? Well, maybe I'll bring a knife." He concluded.
"What if they all have knives? What would you do then?"
"Well, maybe I could bring a gun." He said. Suddenly, another girl, a friend of Allie's takes her que.
Emma, as I'll call her, shouted loudly, "did you just say you are going to bring a gun to school?"
The room was immediately overtaken with shouting and accusations. The teacher quickly took Drake to the principal's office, and it became a universal truth by lunch that Drake had threatened to shoot up our school. Only I was paying enough attention to know that this wasn't the case.
I said little, because I knew that my own place in the social hierarchy was only barely above his, and I had seen what happens to them. Drake was expelled for a month, and everyone in the school knew what he had "done." His parents didn't care enough about him to make a fuss, and the faculty knew it. I know now that they had nowhere near a case, only hearsay and conjecture. Even what he did say was textbook entrapment.
So I did what any child does, I tried to forget about it. When we got to high school, every teacher already hated Drake: nothing inspires resentment like threatening to kill your loved ones. He was hidden away in the learning-disability classes because none of the teachers cut him any slack or cared to help him.
He was eventually expelled and sent to a nearby school for "problem children." It was much more of a prison than a school. I havent heard from him, I don't know what became of him, but it can't be anything good.
That boy's life was ruined by a manipulative girl and a handful of educators that wanted only to be rid of him.
I guess I'm writing to get this off of my chest, but I would also like to ask for thoughts and advice.
Thank you for reading,
Sincerely,
Cold1029
TL; DR
A poor kid from my school got totally screwed over by the faculty, and now his life sucks.