The Boys Who Cried Sasquatch

Chapter 9

I didn't enjoy math much, but I did okay in the subject. At the moment I wasn't paying any attention to what Mr Travis was saying about any of the equations he was writing on the board. Instead I sketch a picture of Sasquatch at the back of my grid book. I wasn't a great drawer, but I did my best to sketch him, trying to remember what he looked like when last saw him. I wasn't sure if I should have drawn him looking angry or friendly, but I manage to draw something that was cross between those two emotions. He didn't look so scary like he did when Julian and I first saw him.

"David, can you tell me what the square root to nine is?" Mr Travis calls on me.

I look up and stare at the equation he had written on the board. I calculated it in my head, and just as I'm about to answer him, the bell rings. I quickly closed my book and stuffed my belongings into my bag, ignoring my teacher as he reminds the class what he wanted us to do for homework. I race out of the classroom with the other students, relief that I was saved by the bell one more time.

"David!"

I turn around to see Lawrence making his way over to me. His friends aren't with him. He has a smile on his face, making me suspicious with what he was up to. He usually is when his friends aren't with him.

"What do you want, Lawrence?" I ask him.

He walks beside me, putting his arm around my shoulders as we walked. "Oh, nothing much. I'm just glad to see that geek isn't with you."

I push him off me. "He has a name."

"I know and I don't care."

I roll my eyes. "What do you want, Lawrence?"

"I just want to know if you have seen Sasquatch lately."

"No, I haven't. He doesn't exactly come down to the city to visit me."

"I believe yesterday you said he was driving your father's police car. So that means he was in the city."

I stop walking and turn to him. He is giving me a cocky smile. He is making fun of me even though yesterday he wasn't. I guess he can't find Julian so he mocks me instead. "That was just a dream, okay? And just because you assume I did not see Bigfoot doesn't mean you have the right to tease me. You don't know what I saw up there.

Lawrence stares at me, and then places a hand on my shoulder. "I think you need to lay off on the pot, David."

I stare at him, opening my mouth to protest but instead I find myself speechless. How dare he accuse me of using drugs? What does that have anything to do with me seeing Bigfoot? Okay, I know some drugs can make you delusional, but I know what I saw. Besides, why would I take illegal drugs when my dad is a cop?

"Look," I say when I finally find my words, "just because you assume I never saw him doesn't change the fact that I have. And drugs have nothing to do with what I saw. You weren't there, Lawrence. Anyway, my dad is a cop. I'm not that completely stupid to carry illegal drugs or even take them. Not if I want my ass to be thrown into jail by my own dad."

Lawrence holds his hands up in surrender. "Okay, I'm just saying, David. I just don't think you could have seen him."

"Well, I did see him and you can't tell me I never did. You weren't there."

Without saying anything else, I walk away and head to my next class before I was late. For the rest of my classes I didn't pay attention at all. My mind drifted off to Bigfoot, as well as to Mrs Cameron, wondering what she will write in the letter. Hopefully dad will accept what she has written.