SOME NIGHTS
Elliot Jenkins was just plain weird. Sam Thompson had known Elliot since third grade, seven years now, and in all that time he’d never seen Elliot act like a normal kid. Most people just ignored him, but it was hard to ignore a guy walking up the science wing hall wearing women’s boots with high heels clunking so loud against the floor that they echoed. Other kids glared but didn’t say anything. Elliot didn’t even look at them.
“He’s going to get it.” Sam opened his locker to take out his fifty-pound history book. “He’s never worn anything like that before.”
“Elliot always gets it.” His friend June turned to watch Elliot. “He walks better in heels than I do.”
“Hey, queer!” Down the hall, a tall guy shoved Elliot against the wall. “Why don’t you walk like a real man?”
Elliot mumbled something. In the noise of the hallway, Sam couldn’t hear him but guessed Elliot was begging the junior to leave him alone.
I should do something. Sam hefted his book and closed his locker.
And stopped. He didn’t want to take on Warren Morris. Warren probably wouldn’t do much to him. People just didn’t mess with Trouble, the band Sam and his friends had started in elementary school. They were too well-known. But Sam didn’t want to take the chance. He didn’t owe Elliot anything. Besides, if the guy hadn’t been walking around in high heels, Warren probably would have left him alone.
“Hey, go to class.” Mr. Tucker, the biology teacher, stomped out of his room and grabbed the bully by the arm. “Don’t start, Warren. You know better.”
“Yeah, give me a hard time. What about him? You just going to let him walk around looking like a girl?”
“Come on, Sam.” June tapped his arm. “We’re going to be late.”
The late bell rang, and Sam groaned. He was always late for history. Now he’d end up with detention. Just what he needed.
He followed June up the hall and forgot about seeing Elliot shoved into a locker. It didn’t have anything to do with him anyway.
****
In detention that afternoon, Elliot dropped his backpack on the floor and slumped into the seat beside Sam. “I shouldn’t even be here.”
“What did you do?” Sam didn’t really care. He and Elliot weren’t friends. Talking to Elliot just gave him something to do until the detention monitor showed up.
“I was late for class because some gorilla tried to pick a fight.” Elliot sighed. “Mrs. Doherty gave me detention for being late, and Mr. Sterling gave me another one for breaking the dress code.”
That didn’t even make sense. Sam didn’t see anything wrong with what Elliot was wearing, at least not anything that violated the dress code. And it hadn’t been Elliot’s fault he was late for class. “Did Sterling do anything to the kid who pushed you around?”
“Of course not. I deserved to be pushed, apparently.” Elliot picked up his backpack and put it on the chair beside him. “That’s pretty much the way it always goes. Someone gives me a hard time and I get the flak for it.”
“That sucks.” It didn’t matter if he liked Elliot or not. No one deserved to be bullied, and Elliot definitely didn’t deserve to be punished for it. “This school’s stupid sometimes.”
“Yeah.”
Mr. Tucker walked into the room. “Hello, boys. I’ll be your monitor today. You know the drill.”
