Cole

Questions

It seemed like forever before Monday evening ended and Tuesday morning began. I had a very restless night. There were just too many questions, and too many unknowns. Here I was a young man at age 15 who did not really know who I was; and I wanted to know a pretty girl, Amanda Westbrook, but did not know how to go about it. I also knew that the quarterback of the high school football team, Lance Gordon, wanted me to find virgin girls for him so he could do his stud work on them and that the guy seemed like a lunatic as a result of losing his childhood sweetheart. To make matters even more confusing, I provided emergency first aid treatment, without training, to a man who suffered a severe concussion yet I could not tell you much about where I lived six weeks ago. My parents were also acting weird, wanting me to pretend I was fat and have me stay in the background. All of this stuff was starting to pile up on me and affect me. I could not concentrate on my homework and for the first time I missed some of my weight training sessions. I decided that I must do something and I would try to start unravelling some of these questions by asking Lenny about them as he seemed genuinely interested in trying to help me. He was probably my best friend. If I had other friends before my climbing accident, I had no memory of them. It was also weird that no friends from my past life seemed to come by looking for me. Nobody missed me.

When the bus arrived on Tuesday morning at my bus stop I was eager to jump on board. I walked past Amanda, who was sitting at her usual seat on the right side of the bus. This time she was not reading a book but instead looking through her backpack at her seat on the bus. I was careful not to stare, but she was awesome looking as usual. She had her little silver neckless on over a pink girl's T-shirt and kaki shorts with cuffs. Her dirty blonde hair spilled all around her neck in awesome ringlets and highlights. My crush on her was really bad now. I could barely stand it. Somehow I needed to do something. I was so frustrated I think I could have bent the bars holding my seat to the floor of the back of the bus as I sat down. At least I now knew Amanda by name and knew where she lived, so I made some progress, thanks to Lenny. 

When the bus arrived at school there was a sudden down pouring of rain, like it sometimes does in Hawaii for short periods. Over in the parking lot I could see Lance and his football jocks and groupies huddled in the cars around Lance's white mustang. Lance had closed the convertible top. 

Our bus door opened and we started popping out the door. I watched Amanda go outside and get hit with the rain. I would have taken the shirt off my back to protect her, but then again I have to play the fat man and can't show my true self. I hated that more than ever. I just kept watching Amanda running towards the school building as I trudged towards the door. I did not care if I got totally soaked. 

When I entered homeroom water was pouring off of me as I sat down next to Lenny. I looked at him and he smiled, but I was not smiling. 

"Lenny, I need to talk to you today or I am going to go crazy", was all I could say when a voice came over the school intercom. 

"Will Cole Hammond please report to the principals office?", was all it said.

The homeroom teacher acknowledged me for attendance and told me to go. Before I went I asked Lenny if we could talk during lunch period, and he said he could. I knew his period was just before mine because that was when he got stuffed into the garbage can. It would now be a long wait for me to endure until lunch, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had hoped to talk to him now rather than later, but now the principal wanted to see me about something. This seemed really bad. 

I did not know anything about principal Barska. He was one of those guys that was always behind the scenes and you would only see the assistant principles walking the halls or doling out punishments. I was not actually sure where the principal's office was but eventually found it near the library. When I entered the office area there were other teachers getting their mail and making photo copies for their courses. I walked up to a counter covered by an administrative assistant and told her who I was, upon which she gestured that I enter the principal's office, which was close by. A man stood inside when I entered.