A New Sweathog (A Welcome Back, Kotter Fanfic)

The Sweathogs

I walked to Mr. Kotter's class. I knocked.

"Get that for me Vinnie."

"Sure."

The door opened, there stood a cute shaggy haired boy.

"Hey Mr. Kotter, the new kid's here, a cute Asian chick."

He had an Italian American accent, like I hear in mafia films and old cartoons.

"Let her in."

Vinnie let me in.

"Hi, you must be Miss. Mei Ling, welcome. Take a seat."

"Yes sir, xièxiè."

I sat down.

"This is Mei Ling, our newest Sweathog, maker her feel welcome."

"Tell us about yourself? Where you from-"

"Horshack, don't push her," Mr. Kotter said.

"I'd be happy to. I was born here in New York, my parents are Chinese, from Beijing. They know Chinese better than I do, I know English better than they do."

I heard some chuckles.

"I moved to this school almost a month ago. I hope to get into college to study medicine, my father's a pediatrician, he wants me to follow in his footsteps."

"You don't want to be a doctor, do you?"

"No sir."

"What do you really want to be?"

"I don't know."

"Don't worry, take your time, maybe being a pediatrician won't be bad, it pays well."

I nodded.

"Ok, class has begun."

It was lunchtime, I started out all by myself but a few of the Sweathogs sat by me. 

"Hi there!" A black kid said with a smile on his face.

"Hi," I replied.

"My name's Freddie, you can call me Boom Boom."

"Hi Boom Boom."

That was awkward.

"You remember Vinnie? The guy who let you in. Vinnie Barbarino."

I shook his hand.

"Arnold Horshack," the other kid said.

We shook hands.

"I know my last name's weird, so am I. What can I say?"

He laughed, his laughed sounded like my brother having an asthma attack.

"Horshack, stop being a goof. I'm Juan, nice to meet you."

I shook Juan's hand. We all ate together.

"So, how does it feel to be the only Asian girl in the Sweathogs, your parents disappointed?" Vinnie asked.

"Very."

"I know that Asian parents seem to be strict on their kids and very involved, if you know what I mean. It's their stereotype."

"True, my parents are strict, I'm not as smart as you think. The stereotype is true on my parents. At least they don't put a tracking device on me."

We laughed.

"I like your jacket, Boom Boom, you play sports?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm the athletic Sweathog, I play basketball."

"No offense-"

"I know what you're gonna say Mei, I'm black, I can play sports. Not all us blacks are athletic. Let me ask you, you know kung fu? Like Bruce Lee?"

"Yeah, Mama taught me, for self defense."

"Can't wait for you to show it off sometime!" Vinnie said.

"Ok, I could be known as the kung fu master of the Sweathogs. Huge fan of Bruce Lee."

They shrugged.

We had a great time in the lunchroom.