Chapter 11- What is it with Bullies

I thought after my first day of school, that I wouldn’t have any more issues with bullies. Silly me, of course there would be others in school. The fact that I might get caught up with another was much more surprising.

I am a placid type of person. I might have the skills to look after myself, but not much bothers me. So unless another stupid ape took a swing at me again for no reason, there shouldn’t be a reason why I would be involved.

Also in the back of my mind was the suspension issue for fighting, I wasn’t likely to get away with fighting another bully as easily as last time.

I also didn’t think anyone would be rash enough to take me on, one on one anyway, after the sparring match I had with Andy Jenks and the talk he had with me afterwards.

Unfortunately for me, things didn’t quite work out like that. Actually when it did occur, and I look back at what happened, I am pleased that I reacted to it the way I did.

It was between the second and third period when the incident occurred, I had a little bit of time, so I popped into a restroom to relieve myself.

I didn’t think anything was wrong at first, I didn’t see anyone else in there, so I took care of business. It was only as I was washing my hands, that I heard something.

“Come on hand over the money I know you have on you, or I will push your head down this toilet.” a gruff voice came from one of the cubicles.

Now that got me pissed, that was really low. I turned and marched over to the door I thought that the voice had come from. I pushed the door open, inside was a big junior or senior. He was leaning over a smaller kid, most probably another freshman like me. The smaller kid had a bill in his hand which the older guy swiped and stuck in his back pocket.

“Look at the big bad bully, stealing little kids lunch money.” I stated in a sarcastic way.

The big guys head whipped around. Taking in my stature he dismissed me as a threat. “Push off wimp or it will be your head. I shove down the toilet, just so you know, it hasn’t been flushed.” he threatened.

“I’d like to see you try!” I retorted.

He gave me another looking over, but still didn’t see anything he couldn’t handle. He turned fully toward me and advanced in what he obviously thought was a threatening way. I backed up a few steps, he probably thought I was scared, but I actually wanted a bit more room to move in, just in case it did come down to a fight.

Before anything started I called out to the other kid. “Do you want to take this to the office? I will back you up if you want to report this goon for bullying.” I could just see him around the big goon in front of me. He was shaking his head frantically. I guessed he was too scared to risk that. The goon hadn’t seen what he did, “I think little Mikey knows a lot worse will happen to him, than what he has already suffered if he even contemplates doing something that dumb.” he taunted.

“Probably, but I’m not scared, but I expect you are. I don’t fancy a suspension for fighting, which is what would happen if we fight in here. So how about if you meet me outside the school grounds after school, then we can find out who the bigger man is here.” I taunted. I really hoped he took up the offer. I definitely didn’t want another suspension, which is what was most likely to happen if there was a fight. I didn’t doubt I could fight, and given my skill I have the better chance of winning. But one of the first things you learn in approaching a potential fight situation, is if you don’t know your opponent well, expect he might have some type of skills as well. If he had some training, it wouldn’t be easy, there would be a lot of noise. This was bound to attract an adult’s attention, which would definitely lead to another trip to the administration building.

“Ha fat chance, there would be no way a wimp like you would turn up, and you’re trying to get out of being thumped.” The Goon retorted.

“Oh I will be there, ask anyone if I back down from a fight, the name’s Jack Owens by the way.” I introduced myself.

“Huh is that meant to mean something to me wimp.”

“It should, now we are all going to be late for lessons. So I guess I will see you after school, if you’re not the coward most bullies like you are.” I gestured towards the door with my hand, the other freshman made a dash for it, I gave the goon, who had had his mouth hanging open at my impudence, one more hard look, then I turned and left, rushing to get to class before the tardy bell.

By the end of school one of the three of us had talked, well it wasn’t me.

There was a lot of whispering going on. Quite a few discreet looks in my direction accompanied these.

It was confirmed that most of the student body knew what was planned, when Andy Jenks came up to me in the corridor. “Hey Jack, don’t know if you’re aware of it, but Gary Pullin is a real head case, there are rumors that he has been in several fights, he put a real hurt on one of the other guys I heard. Don’t expect him to fight cleanly, like you do when you spar. Expect it to be a real dirty gutter fight, if you’re actually planning to take him on.” He warned, “Someone told him about our sparring, and you beating me, I heard he just laughed and said he wasn’t surprised as he always knew I was a little pansy. So if you can, give him one from me as well.”

I think even a couple of the teachers had also got wind of something, as a couple gave me worrying looks.

When school was done I headed for the main entrance, there were a lot more kids than normal still about, guess they wanted to see what happened. As I got outside, there was a large crown just outside the school. In a space in the middle was the goon, who I now knew as Greg Pullin. No one else was anywhere near him, guessed he didn’t have any friends. I was actually glad of that, meant that it should just be a one on one. I was going to be very careful in what came next, like Andy said a street fight was something totally different to what I was used to. My training was meant to help me in real world situations, but actually putting that into practice didn’t always work.

I definitely didn’t want to get into a grappling fight on the floor with him, his bigger size and dirty tactics would soon put me in serious trouble. So no, I had to keep my distance and use disabling tactics against joints and pressure points. If I could slow him down and disable his limbs, then I might contemplate coming in close enough for it to get to a fist fight.

I strode forward with no hesitation, once I was on the other side of the opening that the crowd had created I stopped.

“Shit wimp, I really didn’t think you would have the guts to show up. But once everyone heard, guess you couldn’t stand the thought of them all knowing how you gave the challenge, then slinked away from it huh?” he taunted.