Wrestling Against Myself (3 page)

Tony shook his head, there were some people he had yet to reach and John Sharp was one of them. It wasn't that John was a bad kid, quite the contrary, but he played the role of the bad kid as often as possible. Most of it was just talk, but Antonio wished that the sophomore would be more genuine and not put up the tough guy facade, especially when it wasn't needed.

Walking through the halls of the school was always an issue for the student athlete. It was never as simple as going from point A to point B, but a series of never ending conversations that repeated themselves. The first day of school was going to be the worst of it as students and teachers alike stopped him to ask him how his summer went and to compliment him on his new physique. Tony always stopped and acknowledged a person's existence, no matter how much of a rush he was in. It was the price that he had to pay for being popular. He realized that he had put himself into the position he was in. In fact, being a role model was one of his goals the year before and he accomplished that with reckless abandon.

Finally he made it to building B2. The short walk took three times longer than it would have if he was comfortable living in obscurity.  He double-checked the piece of paper in his hand, making sure he got the locker number right. Luckily it was an odd number-215. That meant he had a coveted top locker. Though the school made claims that lockers were assigned by random chance, Tony figured that upperclassmen got the top lockers and others got the bottom.

Somewhere in the middle of the hallway was his locker. He would use it today, but doubted he would use it much during the year. He always used his car to hold his books and belongings. He never worried about anything going missing from his car, even though he left the doors unlocked and the keys in the ignition. A few times when he forgot to roll up the windows and it rained or he didn't turn off his headlights, he appreciated the fact that others looked out for him.

Antonio worked the combination to his lock, easily opening it. He looked up and down the hall and grinned as some of the freshmen struggled to work out how to open their lockers. If anyone would ask, he would help them out. But, if they didn't ask, he would enjoy watching this rite of passage.

Tony was leaning against his locker, watching a chubby freshman all the way on the other side of the hallway kneeling on the floor struggling with the lock. Immediately he thought that this could be the wrestling team's replacement at heavyweight when he was gone. He would let the kid try a few more times before making his way over to help.

The door to the building burst open, striking the wall with a loud clang as the metal hit the concrete. Two guys bulldozed in, rushed toward the potential replacement and knocked the kid from his knees down to his hips and then proceeded to make their escape.

Tony took a step into the middle of the hallway to block their path. “Hey!” his voice boomed, causing the entire hall to come to complete silence and turn towards him.

The two bulldozers, juniors if Antonio remembered correctly, came to a halt, stood up straight and the large smiles that they were wearing on their faces went away.

“Oh, hey Tiny,” Peter, a lanky kid with long straggly brown hair that appeared never to be washed, said as his body tensed. Peter was one of those students who spent more of his time smoking in the boys' bathroom and behind some of the rear buildings than he did in class.

“What do you think you're doing?”

“Come on Tiny,” Jason, a short haired red headed kid who was a few inches shy of his partner in crime, began to confess. He and Peter were often found in tandem no matter how the administration tried to arrange their schedules to keep them apart. “We were just having fun, it's Freshman Friday.”

“Today is Monday,” Antonio said calmly, refusing to raise his voice or appear threatening.

“Freshman Friday is supposed to last all week.”

Antonio shook his head. Freshman Friday was one of those myths that some students wanted to make a reality so they could harass those that didn't know better. “Go and apologize.”

“But, Tiny,” Peter tried to object.

“Go and apologize,” Antonio said again, using the exact same tone and inflection as the first time he said those words.

“Come on Jason,” Peter said as he turned around. “You know Tiny, always sticking up for the little guy and never letting anyone else have any fun.”

Jason followed his friend the short stroll back up the hallway.

“Sorry for knocking you down,” Peter said as politely as he could, knowing the stronger senior was watching.

“Yeah,” Jason spat out, obviously not pleased with how the situation played out. “Sorry.”

The chubby kid rocked back to his knees, looked up at the two boys and then at Antonio.

“Tell them you accept their apology,” Tony called out, hoping this boy wasn't a lost cause.

“I accept your apology,” the kid said in a shaky voice.

“Yeah, right,” Peter said. “Come on Jason; let's find someplace else to hang.”

Antonio watched the pair retreat the way they had entered. He was sure that they would find someone else to bother, but he could only be in one place at a time. He looked down the hall and saw that the chubby boy was still staring at him.

“You're welcome,” he called out and then laughed. It often took some time for freshmen to catch on to the way things worked at a new school.

Tony returned to his locker. There were still five minutes before the warning bell would ring and his first class was just in the next building. The hustle and noise began to return to the hallway as students began to realize that the latest episode was over.

“That was cool,” Carl Stevens, one of the middleweights on the wrestling team said as he stood next to Tony. “You should have pinned them against the wall.”

Antonio chuckled. “Yeah, stop bullying by bullying; I don't see any hypocrisy in that.”

“Would've served them right, they can be real jerks sometimes.”

“What would Pastor Bob say about that?” Tony asked, referring to the youth pastor at First Baptist Church of Dunedin who ran the youth group that both of the seniors attended regularly.

“I know, but a guy can dream, can't he?”

“In the end it all works out,” Antonio said as he watched one side of the hall.

“Always seems to work out well for you,” Carl said with a tinge of jealousy in his voice.

“Good diet and clean living, my friend.”

Their conversation died down for a second as they watched the activity unfold before them.

The door to the hallway opened up on Carl's side of the building.

“Hey, Tiny,” Carl said as he elbowed Antonio to get his attention. “Check this out.”

Antonio turned his head and saw the small figure shuffle through the door. He sucked a breath of air through his teeth as the girl tentatively took a step forward and allowed the door to close behind her.

“Completely out of her element,” Tony said sympathetically.

“This one might need all the help we can give her, Tiny. Hey, I got to go; I got world history in D-wing.”

“I'll catch you later. Don't forget, prayer meeting tomorrow morning.”

“Gotcha,” Carl said and then made his way up the hall, passing the girl on his way.

Antonio kept his eyes in his friend's direction, keeping a watch on the girl as she occasionally looked up from watching her feet to check the numbers on the lockers.  He could see certain students take a glance and make a comment to whoever they were near. Two words crept into his mind and he assumed those were the same two words that most of the students were thinking when they looked at her – Fresh Meat.

Tony cringed. It was a word he didn't like thinking about, but he knew that high school could sometimes more represent a shark tank than it did a Koi pond. When some students sensed a weakness in another, it could be a feeding frenzy and someone always got hurt. 

He watched the girl shuffle her feet as she made her way down the hall with a mixture of curiosity and awe. Something didn't quite add up but he couldn't put his finger on it. Her looks and her actions contradicted one another. She was certainly pretty enough, for a freshman, but didn't display the confidence that often went along with that.

'Late bloomer,' Tony guessed to himself as he shrugged.

The girl still made her way towards him. She had long flowing dirty blond hair that hung loosely around her shoulders, with a pink headband to keep the hair at bay and out of the girl's face. On the few occasions when she glanced up and to the side, Tony was unable to determine the color of her eyes.  

Antonio checked his watch- four minutes until the first bell. He wondered if the girl was going to make it to wherever she was trying to in time. He picked up on a few murmurs and hushed whispers as she took small step after small step. The way she tried to appear inconspicuous made her stand out all the more.

Still he watched the small being as she got ever closer. 'Foreign student,' he made another guess in order to explain the behavior. She didn't dress like a foreigner. She wore a simple white blouse that had little blue embroidered flowers scattered about it and a blue skirt that came to the knee. Maybe not the coolest fashion statement, but certainly not far out there.

The girl made it to Tony and glanced up. Her eyes were blue. She looked off to the side and then down at the crumpled piece of paper in her hand and then back towards the wall again.

“Can I help you,” Antonio said softly, afraid that if he spoke in his normal tone that the delicate flower might faint and the amount of attention this poor girl would've gotten would be too much to bear.

The girl's lips moved, but Tony didn't hear a sound.

“Excuse me,” Tony said to the small girl. “I didn't catch that.”

“I said,” the girl spoke in a whisper quiet voice that shook with fear, “this is my locker.”

From the few words that she spoke, Antonio couldn't distinguish any noticeable accent and decided that she wasn't a foreign exchange student. The lack of any signs as to why she felt like she wouldn't fit in only made her extreme fear more perplexing.

“Oh,” Tony said as his face lit up. He took a half step to the side to give the girl full access to her locker. “Sorry if I was in your way.”

The girl didn't say anything in return. Instead she tried to smooth out the paper to get the combination to the lock. 

“I take it you're a freshman,” Tony said as he felt the students in the hallway behind them return to their normal behavior.

The girl meekly nodded yes.

“I'm a senior,” Antonio said, though he didn't know why. After all, he was wearing his varsity jacket and his graduating year was sitting plainly on his sleeve.

The girl looked towards him, gave a frail smile, and returned to opening her locker. Amazingly she worked the combination on her very first try.

“You know, we have ways of welcoming new freshmen to the school,” Tony said as he tried injecting a little humor into the situation.

The girl's head snapped towards Antonio. His little joke seemed to intensify her fear, though he didn't think that was possible. Her hands and knees began to shake noticeably.

“Kidding, just kidding,” Tony said in a rush before the freshman wet herself. “I was making a joke. Sorry. My name is...”

“Everyone knows who you are Tiny,” the girl said as she tried to compose herself.

Antonio scrunched his face in disappointment. “Would you have known if it wasn't stitched on my jacket?”

The girl made an attempt to smile but didn't quite make it. She simply nodded.