Jack could feel jealousy and anger well up inside him. He could take all the beatings, name calling, and pranks that J.C. tended to dish out his way. But moving in on the girl Jack liked… that crossed a line.
“Someone’s gotta stop this,” said Jack, getting to his feet, a queer courage suddenly taking hold of him.
Everyone at the table stopped eating and looked up at Jack in surprise.
“Huh? Where you goin’?” asked Matt.
“Listen,” said Jack, “You’ve got my back if anything goes down, right?”
“… I what?” asked Matt, confused.
“If J.C. and his goons throw down, you guys got my back, right?” said Jack, looking at everyone at the table.
Matt and Chunk exchanged a worried look.
“Oh… yeah.” said Matt, reassuringly.
“Totally,” nodded Chunk.
Jack nodded and made his way toward Anna. After he left, Chunk turned to Matt.
“Um… are we really going to do anything if Jack starts a fight?” he asked.
“Are you kidding?” said Matt. “Those guys would kill us!”
As Jack walked toward Anna, he could feel his heart pounding and blood pumping behind his ears. He was scared, there was no doubt about that, but he wasn’t about to let J.C. push around the girl of his dreams. Different scenarios played out in Jack’s mind of how he was going to rescue Anna from J.C.’s sweaty clutches. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of one that didn’t end with him getting pounded into dust by the hulking upperclassman.
Then, as he approached them, he realized he didn’t have to do anything but get Anna away from J.C. If he could do that, maybe he wouldn’t have to incur the wrath of the meathead at all.
“Hey, Anna!” said Jack cheerily as he leaned against her table. Anna and J.C. both looked up at him.
“Um… hi,” she said, looking at Jack warily.
“Finnegan?” said J.C.
“Rowdey?” said Jack in response before turning his attention back to Anna. “Listen, I hate to break up whatever it is you two are doing, but the school nurse asked me to come get you and bring you to the clinic.”
“The nurse?” asked Anna. “Why?”
“Dunno. She said something about you coming by earlier, complaining about a headache that just wouldn’t seem to go away…” Jack said, nodding ever so slightly in J.C.’s direction.
Anna immediately exchanged a look of understanding with Jack. “Oh, right. Yeah, I need to get rid of this headache; it’s really bothering me,” she said as she packed up her things. She turned to J.C. and smiled. “Excuse me.”
But as she stood up to go, J.C. grabbed her wrist.
“Hold on now, beautiful,” he said. “No need to run off. C’mon, I’ll walk you to the nurse’s office. After all, we haven’t finished talking.”
“Let her go, J.C.,” said Jack, a little too forcefully.
J.C. scowled at Jack. “Oh, hey, Fishmonger. You still here?” he said tauntingly. “How’s the head?”
The bruise on Jack’s forehead throbbed at the mention. The threat was obvious – “Leave now, or that’s nothing compared to what I’ll do to you later,” he seemed to say. But Jack was sick of being bullied.
“Great,” said Jack. “Lucky for me you throw like a girl, so it really didn’t hurt all that much.”
J.C.’s smug smile disappeared as he got to his feet, squaring off with Jack.
“You wanna step to this, Loser?” asked J.C. “Try saying that to my face!”
Jack cocked his eyebrow. “I… just did. But you were sitting down, so all the blood must have been welling up in your ears. Say, that’s a nice shirt. Did your mom pick it out for you?”
“FYI, Fishgills, this shirt cost more than your dad makes in an entire year,” replied J.C. “Oops, I forgot, you don’t have one of those, do you?”
“Don’t have what? A lame over-priced shirt?”
“No! A dad!” spat J.C. angrily. “You don’t have a dad, because he left when he realized what a loser of a son he had!”
Jack had learned long ago to ignore the insults bullies used to try to hurt him the most. The “dad” thing was the first one he had learned to cope with. It was true. Jack’s father had left when he was five, with no explanation as to why. All that remained was a hand-written note saying he was gone and would not be coming back. Jack could remember his mother coming to pick him up one day after he had gotten into a fight in third grade when another kid had mocked him for not having a father. Jack’s mother had told him that as long as he knew, deep in his heart, that his dad was still out there and still loved him, nothing anyone could say would change that.
“I may not have a dad,” said Jack, nodding. “But I do have something you don’t.”
“Yeah?” smirked J.C. “What?”
“An IQ?” replied Jack. “Breath that doesn’t stink? No reason to be ashamed in the shower? The list goes on…”
“Enough!” cried Anna. Jack and J.C. both turned to her, and she was looking at them with the same look a mother gives her children when they are acting up. “Both of you. This is getting ridiculous.”
“No,” said J.C. “What’s ridiculous is you not wanting to go to the dance with me.”
“C’mon, J.C.,” said Jack. “You can’t hold having good taste against her.”
Jack could almost feel J.C.’s anger smoldering as the boy stepped toward him, inches from his face.
“You are about two steps away from the beat-down of your life, dumb-nuts,” said J.C.
“Actually, I’m three steps away,” Jack shot back. “But since I know you can’t count that high, I’ll let it slide.”
With that, J.C. grabbed Jack by the collar of his shirt, cocking his fist back to strike. Jack heard Anna squeal. Thinking quickly, Jack decided to go with his patented strategy number four of avoiding a beat down – threaten legal action.
“Do it!” cried Jack. “Go ahead! Hit me in front of everyone! I want you to. With any luck, I’ll find a great lawyer and own you for assault.”
That was enough to give J.C. pause. Jack had no idea what it would take to sue someone, or even if he could, but then again, most people didn’t either. However, J.C. didn’t let go of Jack’s shirt, and the look on his face went from a sneer to a smirk.
“Yeah, you’re right,” said J.C. “I’ll wait until after school and then mess you up where no one can see. Right guys?”
Moose, Kev, and Jimbo all chuckled.
All of a sudden, Jack became aware of the four extremely tall, mean, and beefed-up dudes surrounding him. Apparently, when J.C. had grabbed him, they had taken that as their cue to get off their fat rear-ends and join their fearless leader.
What am I doing? Jack thought. I’m totally going to get my butt kicked!
Sure enough, the odds of a massive butt-kicking were definitely in Jack’s favor. But he knew if he were to back down now, in front of Anna, he’d be marked as a loser for the rest of his life. So he did the only thing he could think of – acting the exact opposite of what he was feeling, and hoping to God it worked.
“Seriously, dude,” said Jack. “You may not know this, but in my spare time, I practice the deadly art of karate. You can come after me if you want, but I swear on all that is holy that I will get ninja on you.”
Moose snarled. Jack pointed a finger at his big dumb face. “And you,” he said. “You best back up. Don’t make me drop-kick you.”
“C’mon, Finger-licker,” said J.C. “We know you’re not gonna do anything. So why don’t you take that big wussy mouth of yours, march your big wussy butt out of here, and maybe I’ll rethink giving you an atomic wedgie and leaving your head shoved in the nearest toilet.”
“You know, you’re right,” said Jack, taking the opening and jerking away from J.C.’s grasp. “I think I will be going now. C’mon, Anna.”
Jack reached out and grabbed Anna’s hand. For a moment, he was worried Anna might not follow his lead, but it seemed as though she w
as taking the opening, as well. As Jack started to lead her away, Jimbo stepped in front of him, blocking their path.
“Uh-uh,” said J.C. “Me and Anna-bell still got stuff to talk about, Loser.”
“No, we don’t,” said Anna, turning to face J.C. “I don’t know how to make it any clearer to you, J.C. I’m not going to the dance – with you, or anybody.”
“Hey, what’s your problem?” scowled J.C., incredulously. “Ever since you got here, you act like you’re too good for us or something. I was trying to do you a favor by asking you out.”
“Thank you for your interest,” she replied, “but I don’t need anybody doing me any favors.”
J.C.’s face darkened. “What’s up with you?” he asked. “Here I am, trying to be nice, and you just throw it back in my face. Just so you know, if you weren’t a girl, I’d have probably beaten you down by now.”
“Seriously, I can’t see why she isn’t already in love with you, Prince Charming,” said Jack as dryly as he could.
Anna turned to Jack, her deep blue eyes catching his and drilling into them. “Jack,” she said. “Please, be quiet.”
Jack’s heart felt like it skipped a beat. She knows my name! he thought, happily.
Anna turned back to J.C. “I appreciate you trying to be nice to me, but I’m sorry, I’m not interested in going to the dance. I don’t know how I can make it any clearer.”
J.C. looked around him, uncomfortably aware that the scene was drawing people’s attention.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said rather loudly. “I didn’t really want to go with you anyway. I was just trying to do the new girl a favor. But if you want to be a loser, and hang out with losers, then you go right ahead you stupid, stuck-up, ugly, little b—”
Suddenly, Jack’s fist shot out, connecting square with J.C.’s face. J.C.’s head snapped back from the blow, and his hand instantly went to his nose.
All sound drained out of the cafeteria as if the punch had been as loud as a thunderclap - silencing the entire student body. It seemed as if everyone were looking at what had just happened in complete shock.
Moose, Kev, and Jimbo were shocked.
Anna was shocked.
J.C. was shocked.
But probably no one was more shocked than Jack himself, who stood gazing at his fist in utter disbelief. Jack looked up and saw blood beginning to well in J.C.’s left nostril, and from the look in the upperclassman’s eyes, Jack instantly knew that he’d made a terrible, horrible mistake.
“Oh… crap,” he said.
J.C. pounced on Jack, growling like an angry beast. His hands went right for Jack’s throat as the two boys collapsed onto the floor. Anna shrieked. Jack struggled with J.C.’s overpowering weight on top of him, but he had no leverage. He was pinned down, and above him, J.C. was cocking back his fist to begin pummeling him into oblivion.
Then Anna was on J.C.’s back – restraining him, trying to pull him off.
“Stop it!” she yelled.
Oblivious to her pleas, J.C. shoved Anna off him violently. Anna hit the floor hard, bumping her head against the wall, the sight of which triggered something in Jack again. He tried punching J.C. in the face, but with being pinned on the floor, his blows did not have much power. J.C.’s fist landed hard, but Jack continued flailing away. In the distant background, he could hear the mob of kids, once silent, now chanting in unison – “FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”
J.C. was able to land two more blows before Mr. Harwood and Ms. Jefferson made it to them and pulled him off.
Jack rolled over, his right ear ringing from J.C.’s punches. He looked up to see Anna, still on the ground where J.C. had shoved her, cradling the back of her head. Their eyes met, and to Jack’s disappointment, it was obvious Anna appeared more annoyed than grateful or impressed. Jack wanted to say something witty, something endearing, something that could possibly salvage a glimmer of good from a very bad situation, but all he could think of was…
“Well, that totally sucked…”
Before Anna could respond, Mr. Harwood was towering over them, looking down over his massive beer gut.
“Principal’s office,” he said. “All of you. Now.”
Chapter 5
Principal Montgomery was an exceptionally fat man, adorned in an ill-fitting navy blue suit and a red-and-white tie with the ghosts of old mustard stains still haunting it. He stared at Jack, Anna, and J.C. from behind thick, boxy glasses, but it was hard to tell if he was frowning since his entire mouth was almost completely covered by a big, bushy moustache with wisps of gray poking out from the rest of the light brown, tobacco-stained hairs.
The three students were sitting in rather uncomfortable chairs stationed in front of a large oak desk in the principal’s office. Behind him was a wide window that looked out over the school’s football field as well as the cornfields of the Juniper Family Farm in the distance. Principal Montgomery’s chair creaked and complained as he rocked ever-so-slightly back and forth and stared silently at the students before him.
Jack was no stranger to getting into trouble in school, but even he had never actually been to the principal’s office before. Principal Montgomery began to drum his fingers on his desk, which joined with the squeak of his chair to create some type of haunting melody that Jack imagined might be played as prisoners were sent before a firing squad. Everything from the noise the man was making, to the view out the window, to the faint smell of body odor in the room set Jack’s teeth on edge.
A million and a half possibilities ran through Jack’s mind concerning what kind of punishment Mr. Montgomery would dish out. Worst case scenario – Jack was suspended for fighting in school. He could just imagine having to explain to his mom why he’d gone from underachiever to full-on delinquent in only the second year of his high school career. Best case scenario, he was in detention for the rest of his life. And considering that detention would be with his homeroom teacher Mr. Shepherd, suddenly getting suspended seemed like the better of the two options.
“So,” said Principal Montgomery, smacking his lips. “One of you want to tell me what happened?”
Jack folded his arms and sunk lower into his seat, as if hoping that would keep the principal from singling him out. Anna was sitting up straight, her hands folded in her lap and her eyes focused on something other than the principal’s gaze. Even J.C. seemed to be staring off into the distance toward the football field, afraid to make eye contact with the man.
“I’m told the three of you were involved in a fight in the middle of the cafeteria,” Montgomery went on. “Do I need to tell any of you what the punishment is for fighting on school property?”
Again, silence.
Principal Montgomery focused in on Anna. “Ms. Shepherd?”
Anna looked up and met the man’s gaze. “Yes?” she responded.
“Perhaps you’d like to fill me in on why you three decided to interrupt lunch time with a full out brawl?”
“It was nothing, sir. Just a big… misunderstanding,” she said.
“Misunderstanding, eh?” Montgomery mumbled as he scratched his nose. “Who started the fight?”
Anna was silent for a moment. “Honestly,” she said, “it all happened so fast, I’m afraid I couldn’t tell you.”
“And what about you, Mr. Finnegan?” asked Montgomery, turning to Jack. “Could you tell me who started the fight?”
“Fight is such a strong word, sir,” said Jack. “I’d say it was more like… good-natured rough-housing.”
“Whatever you call it,” said Montgomery, “tell me who started it.”
“I’ll tell you who didn’t start it,” replied Jack. “Anna. I don’t even know why she’s here, she had nothing to do with what happened.”
At that, J.C. muttered something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like “Yeah, right.” Principal Montgomery instantly picked up on it.
“Do you have something to add, Mr. Rowdey?”
“She attacked me,” said J
.C. “Scratched my neck up something good, see?”
J.C. pulled down his collar to show three bright red scratches on his neck. Jack assumed it must have happened when Anna tried to pull J.C. off of him.
“Are you saying Ms. Shepherd started this fight?” asked the principal.
“I certainly did not!” Anna responded indignantly
“She’s right, she had nothing to do with it,” said Jack.
“Shut your face, Finnegan,” said J.C. “You both attacked me. Everyone saw.”
“That’s bull!” growled Jack. “You started the fight by being a jerk-wad, like you always are!”
“Hey, you punched me in the nose!” sneered J.C.
“You threw a shoe at my head!” snapped Jack.
Principal Montgomery pounded his fist on his desk. “Enough!” he bellowed, the flabby jowls of his face jiggling. Jack and J.C. quieted down, and soon the only sound in the room was the faint whistling of the principal breathing through his nose.
“Unfortunately, none of the staff saw what happened until after the fists started flying,” Montgomery said. “And since none of you wants to come clean and tell me what really happened, I’m afraid I have no choice but to punish all of you.”
Jack could feel Anna tense up beside him.
“But wait —” said Jack. “That’s not fair. Anna didn’t do anything!”
“Not according to Mr. Rowdey,” said Principal Montgomery. “And Mr. Harwood informed me he saw Ms. Shepherd on top of him. That and the scratch marks…”
“She was trying to keep him from beating on me!” said Jack. “I was being attacked!”
“No, I was being attacked!” piped up J.C. “I wasn’t doing anything and you and your girlfriend here jumped me.”
“I am not his girlfriend,” corrected Anna, “and you are hardly innocent in all this, J.C.”
“Quiet. All of you,” said Montgomery in a tone that brokered no argument. “You can point fingers as much as you want. It doesn’t matter now. Unless you can all come to some type of agreement over who’s responsible for today’s incident, you are all getting punished. That means detention, for a month, and no access to after-school clubs or events. That includes Homecoming.”
Earthman Jack vs. The Ghost Planet Page 4
