The Fighter pt. 2 (King of the hill)

A few years had passed and I was now in jr. high school, an enormously red bricked fortress that was gated by black bars and silver fence. In some ways jr. high was really like a prison to me. When entering jr. high school, nobody really prepares you for the level of social skills required for that type of scene. The girls all wear make up, the guys all play football, and there's about 300 more bodies than you are normally used to. Most of the teachers are jaded and uncaring, and it seemed like nobody in the entire school had a Twisted Sister album. I never had any problems after Todd, I wasn't a very confrontational kid, I just wanted to hang out and have fun, but I now felt very alone, and for some reason, felt like I had to look over my shoulder most of the time.

I somehow ended up in a screaming match about mothers with Nick miller in the middle of the entire 7th grade class and was challenged to a duel after school. There was a football rally at the end of the day, and I was to meet Nick behind the gym right after to defend my dear mothers name.

Completely uninterested with the end of the days events, I sat in the bleachers of the gym, watching cheerleaders I would never fuck, cheer on the jocks I would never be like. I felt no fear as the cold hard stare of the 6' 3 inched black man sat across the gym pounding his fist into an open hand.... There was no installation of fear for that category because it had never happened to me before. So I sat there waiting, I was going to show this dude what happens when you talk about my mother, and besides... the whole fucking school was talking about it by now so I had to do it.

The rally was now over, and my heart beat with excitement to show the entire school that the little guy was NOT to be fucked with. Back then racial tension was still kind of high in school, and it literally looked like a race war was about to happen. All Nick's black friends were waiting for me and all my white friends who completely outnumbered them. The entire fucking high school was out back, in a circle, waiting to watch the cock fight.... I was never a racist, and didn't really have any close friends in that school. So when this kid John that was walking next to me whispered in my ear "make him say his mother's white," my skin crawled. I just kind of looked at him and with my desperate need to be accepted and smirked. This was really about to happen... My first fight as a young man.

I walked right up to Nick and told him to hit me, which he did... right in the center of my fucking face. I fell to the ground and smashed my head on the hot black asphalt. My eyes immediately filled with water and the taste of blood filled my mouth. I felt a pair of knees hit my shoulders, just like I had done to Todd. I was completely stunned from the two hits I had taken. Nick hitting my face, and me hitting the floor. Finally someone pulled him off of me, I opened one eye slowly, only to see all the cheerleaders standing there with their hands over their mouths, some giggling, some crying. I had just gotten the living shit kicked out of me in front of about 400 people, thankfully I was way to lumped up to feel any sort of shame or embarrassment. I lifted my head up off the ground and felt something gooey, warm, and moist hit me. Nick had finished me off with a huge gob of snot... that landed right in my left eye. Through the pasty boogers that were running down the side of my face I could see my friend Cindy, she looked worried. I remember yelling "who the fuck spit on me!" Nick replied, "I did mother fucker!" and all I could do was say "oh ok... as long as it was you that's cool," as I laid my head back down onto the hot tar, hoping everyone would just disappear. I wasn't mentally prepared for this sort of thing, It was the first time I realized that my mind could play tricks on me...

Someone helped me up, and I remember walking home feeling like the Elephant man. My eyes were so puffed up I could barely see where I was going, and I kept chewing on the skin hanging off the inside of my lip, that was broken by my teeth. My Mother freaked out when I walked in the house, and my Stepdad was just pissed that I let him hit me first, and basically told me I got what I deserved. So from that moment on.... I never let anybody hit me first.

I learned a valuable lesson that day... Never underestimate anyone, especially if they are a foot taller than you and black.