Titan

Consequences

Tim felt like he had traveled back in time. He sat in a stiff, plastic chair outside the dean of students' office. He had spent much of his high school years in a place just like this. He got into fights all the time. Now, he was waiting to hear what Eric had done. It couldn't be worse than what he did to Dan Kucharniak.

Tim had left class to use the bathroom and when he returned, Dan had been in his seat. Normally, it wouldn't have mattered as much, but Tim had shop during the lunch period and liked his seat because he could slip out fast at the bell. Tim didn't just attack Dan from the get-go. He asked Dan to get out of his chair. Dan was dismissive. "You snooze, you lose, Steele."

Tim grabbed Dan by the back of his neck and dragged him out of the seat. Tim dropped him on the floor, on his tailbone. Dan screamed like a girl and couldn't sit straight for weeks. When the shop teacher, Mr. Brokoli (or "Broccoli" as the students called him), got back and saw Dan lying on the floor cursing and screaming at Tim, he sent Tim to the assistant principal. Tim had gotten out of it with just a detention. It's not like he had beaten Dan up and taken his lunch money.

However, when Tim got the call at work to see Mr. Gibson at Eric's school because Eric had hurt another student, he was surprised. Eric never got in fights. He didn't have it in him. Eric had always been bright and funny. In Tim's neighborhood, you fought to project strength. You did it to survive. He learned to fight to survive beyond the neighborhood, too, but that's where it started. Tim wished Eric was more aggressive.

There had been kids who picked on Eric when they first moved into the neighborhood. Tim wished Eric had just punched them in their noses, but instead he just took it. Eric didn't have a mean bone in his body. Tim wasn't sure if he pitied or envied him for that.

But Eric was grown up and now he was different. He couldn't just get into fights with citizens. Eric could kill someone with only a fraction of his strength and he still wasn't in control of himself. That only made him more dangerous. Eric could stab someone with a metal spike from his armor by accident. Tim hadn't thought it was necessary to explain this to Eric since he had always been so benign.

The door beside Tim opened and Mr. Gibson leaned out. "Hey, Tim, howya doin'?"

Tim stood and shook his hand. "I'm alright, Steve. Suppose I've been better. What's this about?"

Mr. Gibson nodded with a smile. "Well, c'mon in my office and we can talk about it. Eric will meet us."

Tim followed Mr. Gibson into the office and sat in one of the two chairs in front of the desk. He noticed that Mr. Gibson's office was more than a little untidy. The desk was a mess of papers and books. The filing cabinets overflowed and there were boxes of files on the floor beside them. Tim felt a wave of claustrophobia as he settled into the chair.

"Sorry about the mess, Tim. As the disciplinarian around here, I don't quite have enough space for all the incidents I have to track. A lot of amateur lawyers for parents here."

"Ha, you don't have to tell me... Besides, little Timmy Steele woulda been in here all the time," Tim said. They both chuckled. "But Eric... this is unusual for him. Are you sure there isn't some misunderstanding?"

Mr. Gibson leaned back in his chair with his hands clasped in front of him. A more serious tone crept into his voice. "Yeah. I don't think he's been in here 'cept for once or twice, but this is a little more serious."

"Can you tell me what happened? Eric didn't say anything and he usually talks to us," Tim said.

"I got a call from Fred Calloway, Simon Calloway's dad. He told me that Simon's got a broken arm and a hell of a knot on the back of his head. Simon told him that Eric jumped him."