Chapter 12

Wednesday was a strange day. I was getting high fives from some people and dirty looks or smirks from others. I guess I was confusing the jocks. I had helped the school win an athletic contest which made me a good guy. But the football players (which of course were the most important people in school) hated me. It looked like I might be lettering in two different sports but I hung out with the geeks and nerds. Even the ones that disliked me were divided. The ones smirking were sure that the school board would see things their way and expel me. The smarter ones were afraid I would get away with beating up several football players and cause a revolution. I just tried to be nice to the ones that were nice to me and ignored the others with varying degrees of success. I am getting a little less popular with the academic students also. Now that Lana and I were studying together, we were aceing most of the tests. With two perfect scores, there is no excuse to grade on a curve. This was making a few people unhappy. But we were getting invites to form a study group so I guess it will all even out in the end.

The School Board meeting that evening was rather anti-climatic. I know everyone was hoping for high drama but really my opponents didn't have a leg to stand on. Since the tape had been introduced into court as evidence, the School Board could not ignore it. Misters Smith and Brown had been charged with Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The tape clearly showed that I had tried to stop the fight and that my attackers had introduced the weapon. Besides since it happened off school property, the Board decided it had nothing to do with them. The VP and Coach Reid tried to say that I had started the other two fights but I had a dozen witnesses that said I had never struck a blow.

My attorney, Mr. Goldstein explained that he felt I had an actionable case against the school. But that I had agreed to take no action as long as there were no reprisals against me. In the event that I had any further problems, we would sue the school and school district for ten million dollars and likely win. In the end it went pretty much the way Rube said it would. The School Board censured the VP and Coach Reid. They were told that any more actions of that kind would result in a formal hearing and possible dismissal from the school. The President of the School Board apologized for their actions and assured me that it would not happen again and that no mention of it would ever be on my permanent record. Oh, and he congratulated me on the recent win by the swim team, lol. Really the only reason people get away with acting like that is that no one stands up to them. Admittedly it helps if you have money and a good attorney.