You Must Remember This

Chapter 7: The Epoch of Incredulity

Ted crossed his arms and tried his hardest to look contrite while Ms. Stevens yelled at him and Tom. He didn't see what they had done wrong—they were just a bit chattier than normal that day as they ran laps. The only people they were distracting were each other. She must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Tom chose instead to appear aloof, especially as Ms. Stevens was directing most of her attention toward Ted. He stepped away for a moment to grab a drink of water, which Ted noticed and immediately thought disrespectful, but Ms. Stevens did not seem to notice.

"Ted, detention during lunch! Tom, 20 pushups!" she concluded, then turned away to inspect someone else. This wasn't fair.

"Tough break," Tom said, and shrugged as he dropped down to start doing pushups, slackening his arms whenever Ms. Stevens turned away.

"What did he do wrong that I didn't?" Ted asked Ms. Stevens, who refused to make eye contact with him.

"Life's not fair. Today isn't your lucky day," she responded with a sigh, as if to indicate that she knew she was saying something stupid but didn't want Ted to call her out on it. Tom finished his pushups and brushed off his hands, before ambling to another group of his friends. Ted didn't think he was crazy here for thinking that irrational. He went to ask Jason for his opinion, who said something similar:

"You win some, you lose some. It's a hot day anyway. You'll be cooler inside."

Jason clearly had never gotten detention before in his life. Ted assumed it was inevitable: Jason had many habits Ted suspected would lead to his ultimate downfall. Jason was defiant, extremely willing to say no to unreasonable requests. When Ted did this, he was being snarky and talking back to his superiors; when Jason did this, he was being innovative and demonstrating leadership. Jason patted others on the head as a form of greeting, particularly girls Ted thought, although he reconsidered his initial hypothesis when Jason did the same to him. Nobody considered this behavior normal, and eventually, someone would topple the first domino in the chain that would lead to consequences for Jason and maybe something positive for himself. Ted had no choice but to finish class that day without taking any sort of decisive action. In the locker room, nobody commented on what had happened; Ted believed this was because he was being ostracized, but in reality, nobody else had noticed.

A second hypothesis came to Ted as he sat inside, watching the clock tick away and the future juvenile delinquents around him carve their initials into the desks: Tom had bribed Ms. Stevens. Tom's father was a lawyer, and apparently a litigious one too; he was nicknamed "Bulldog" by his peers, which Ted found quite evocative. Tom certainly had the wealth to slip Ms. Stevens a check at some point to keep her on his good side, which was a step too far even for Ted. Ted was not opposed to unethical behavior, but he did not view his teachers as investments. Jason was right, at least: the classroom where detention was being held that day was air-conditioned. Ted looked at his sandwich, which suddenly did not seem that appealing—he needed better food. Ted also did not like being a spectacle; other students walked by the door and stared inside, just like he had done in the past, undoubtedly thinking what scoundrels were imprisoned in there. Ted considered himself better than a scoundrel, and he did not deserve to be embarrassed like this!

While Ted stewed in his own misery, John wandered the hallways searching for somewhere to sit. Occasionally, some spot in the school would draw John's attention, as if there were a neon sign above telling him to come and relax a little. Beth walked by to see John sitting facing a wall; even for him, this was unusual.

"Are you OK, John?" she asked, and John turned around, appearing like he had just woken up.

"I'm fine, yes. How are you?"

"I'm enjoying life. Louis isn't here today, so I was looking for something to do. Mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead, I never mind the company."