by Derek Jeter
“So? I’ve scored a lot of goals.”
“Great. I know you’re a good athlete. Jimmy just doesn’t like it that a girl plays better than he does. That’s his problem.”
“But Jimmy told all the boys not to let me play anymore!” Sharlee wailed, tears erupting from her eyes. “And last week he tripped me. See where my knee is all scratched? Everyone was laughing at me! And this morning he spit on me!” Throwing herself into Derek’s arms, she sobbed bitterly.
Derek was steaming now. I’m going to teach that kid a lesson, he told himself. He’s going to be sorry he ever messed with my little sister.
“Don’t worry, Sharlee,” he told her. “I’m going to take care of this. First thing tomorrow.”
Sharlee picked up her head, staring at him with hope in her eyes. “What are you going to do?”
“I said I’ll take care of it,” Derek said. And he meant it. Never in his life had he felt so angry. “I promise you, you’re not going to have any more problems with Jimmy.”
“Oh, Derek,” Sharlee said, hugging him tightly as she beamed with love and happiness. “You’re the best brother ever!”
Chapter Twelve
PUSH COMES TO SHOVE
All the next day Derek waited for his moment. There was no chance at recess. The kindergartners took their break earlier than the older kids. So he waited, knowing that after school all the kids lined up outside by the buses that would take them home.
His fury had not gone away. How dare that punk pick on his little sister, the sweetest little girl in the world! Derek was going to teach him a lesson that he wouldn’t forget.
At the same time there was a little nagging voice in the back of his head telling him not to go through with it, that he was going to regret it. But Derek didn’t listen to that voice, because if he did, it would mean not taking action.
He’d already let Sharlee down by not finding out the cause of her problem when he’d first noticed she was unhappy—weeks ago, back on the basketball court. He knew he should have been more alert to her needs and not waited so long to talk to her when he’d known something had to be wrong. He was her big brother, after all—her hero!
How had he let things get this far?
At any rate he had no intention of letting them go any further, little nagging voice or no. After school he waited outside by the buses with his friends, until he spotted Jimmy Vickers coming out the school doors. Then he made his move, following Jimmy onto his bus.
His hands grabbed Jimmy’s shirtfront before the kid even knew what was happening, and Derek shoved him down onto the seat.
Jimmy might have been in kindergarten, and Derek in fourth grade, but they couldn’t have been ten pounds apart in weight. Jimmy was a really big kid, so big that it was easy for Derek to forget the difference in their ages.
Derek thrust his finger into Jimmy’s face and said, in a low, growling voice, “Now who’s scared? Huh? You think you can pick on anybody you want and get away with it? How dare you spit on Sharlee? That’s my little sister, okay? If you ever do anything again to hurt her—or her feelings—you’ll be sorry!”
Jimmy burst into tears and started wailing. Derek’s parents had always told him that all bullies were really cowards, and Jimmy was surely no different. And he was only a little kid. Derek must have seemed really scary in his fury.
Derek became vaguely aware of the astonished kids around him, staring at the spectacle. An instant later the strong hand of Mr. Lopez, the dean of the school, grabbed him, yanked him away from Jimmy, and pulled him back off the bus.
Standing at the curbside, Derek saw that half the school was staring at him, openmouthed.
“What in the world were you thinking!” Mr. Lopez asked Derek. But he wasn’t really waiting for an answer. Not right then. “You’re coming with me to the principal’s office, young man,” he said.
Inside the office Mr. Lopez directed him to a chair. “Sit there, and not a word out of you until Mr. Merckling gets here,” he said before leaving.
Tears sprang to Derek’s eyes, and he wiped them away furiously. Why should he feel ashamed? he asked himself. He’d only been sticking up for his little sister, like any big brother should!
But even as he thought that, he knew that everyone else might not see it quite that way. A fourth grader yelling at and threatening a kindergartner? Suddenly Derek saw that he had gotten himself into a whole world of trouble.
Part of him already felt bad about what he’d done—the part represented by that nagging little voice in his head, the voice he hadn’t listened to. And Derek knew that even worse was to come.
Mr. Merckling, the principal, came in, sat down, picked up the telephone, and dialed a number. “Hello, Mrs. Jeter?”
Oh no! Derek could not have imagined a worse thing happening! He knew instantly that his parents would not be pleased about his behavior.
“Your son, Derek, is in my office . . . for bullying.”
Bullying? But—but it was Jimmy who was the bully, not him! He had just been trying to put a stop to it!
“That’s what I said—bullying. Yes, ma’am. You’d better come down here as soon as you can.”
• • •
Sitting there with his mom on one side of him and his dad on the other, Derek stared down into his lap. He listened as Mr. Merckling explained what Derek had done to Jimmy. Derek realized that that was how everyone must have seen it, and he felt deeply embarrassed.
But if he was honest with himself, he was not ashamed. He had been sticking up for his little sister, whom he loved deeply. He had defended her against a bully who had made her feel lousy for weeks! But of course nobody knew that—not Mr. Merckling, not his mom, not his dad—not anybody else but him, Jimmy, and Sharlee.
“I . . . I just don’t know what to say,” said Derek’s mom after Mr. Merckling had finished his tale of woe. “I’m shocked! This is not like Derek at all.”
“My apologies,” said Mr. Jeter. “I thought I’d taught my son better behavior than this. I can promise you it won’t happen again.”
That made tears spring to Derek’s eyes. He knew his parents’ eyes were on him, but he couldn’t look back at them. Not yet. Not until he’d had the chance to explain himself.
“Do you have anything to say for yourself, young man?” Mr. Merckling asked. “I hope you’re ashamed of how you handled yourself.”
Derek sighed and wiped his eyes. He sniffed and did not look up. “To tell you the truth, I feel like I did what needed to be done.”
“Needed to be done?” Mr. Merckling repeated.
Derek looked up to see all three of them looking at him like he was from Mars.
“He was messing with my little sister,” Derek explained. “I had to do something.”
“What exactly do you mean, ‘messing’?” his dad demanded, his tone somber and angry.
“He was taunting her, and telling other kids not to play with her, and he—he spit on her, and tripped her so she scraped her knee.”
“I see,” said Mr. Merckling. He thought for a moment, then said, “Well. Derek, I think you know that the way you dealt with the situation is not acceptable.”
“Yes, sir,” Derek said, nodding. “I do know that. I just . . . I was just so angry that I couldn’t see any other way to deal with it.”
Mr. Merckling cleared his throat. “I’ll tell you what . . . . If I can verify that your story is true and Jimmy has been picking on your sister, since this is the first time you’ve had any behavior issues of this nature . . . since no one was hurt, and since I see what caused you to misbehave so badly, I will let it go this time without a suspension from school.”
Derek’s heart skipped a beat. He couldn’t believe he wasn’t being suspended. What a relief!
“However, since this involved our school buses, I’m going to have to forbid from using the school bus for the next two weeks.”
“What?” Derek was stunned. That meant his parents would have to drive him to school! D
erek knew they both had busy schedules and didn’t need to be burdened with the extra job of driving him to school.
“As for the rest, I’m going to leave that up to your parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jeter, I can see I’m putting Derek’s consequence in good hands.” He rose and shook their hands.
“Thank you, sir,” said Mr. Jeter.
“You won’t be sorry,” said Derek’s mom. “We’ll take care of it.”
No, Mr. Merckling wouldn’t be sorry. It was Derek who was going to be sorry—that much, he was sure of.
In a way, he understood. Technically what he’d done to Jimmy was bullying, he could see that. But what else was he supposed to have done?
“I hope you’re reflecting hard on what just happened,” his mother said as they sat in the car on the way home. Sharlee was over at Aunt Dimp’s, being babysat while the rest of the family dealt with this crisis.
“I’m really sorry, Mom and Dad,” Derek said. “Sorry that you guys have to drive me to school now.”
“Never mind that,” his dad said sharply. “What about what you did?”
“I had to protect Sharlee, didn’t I? That kid was making her life miserable! I’m being punished for bullying, when it’s Jimmy who was the bully!”
“You should have come to us first, Derek,” his mom pointed out. “You should have known to do that.”
“But—”
“But what?” his dad broke in. “There are no exceptions when it comes to doing the right thing.”
“Sharlee made me promise not to!” he blurted out.
There was a moment of silence before his mom said, “Since when does a five-year-old force you to promise her anything? Especially something that’s not good for her?”
Derek had no answer for that one. Nor did he have much to say when, after they got home, his dad brought out Derek’s contract. “We’re going to go over this again, to see just where and how you broke the rules.”
Oh no! Up until that moment, with all that had been going on, he hadn’t even thought of his contract.
Now the real impact of what he’d done began to sink in. The contract he’d made with his parents the year before was the glue that held his lifelong dream together! It was part of their solemn pact. They stood solidly behind his dreams, and he kept strictly to his agreements about his own conduct.
His dad pointed to three different rules: “Be a Role Model for Sharlee. Respect Others. Respect Yourself.” He shot Derek a glance. “I’d say you’ve broken all three of those. What do you think, Dot?”
“I agree,” said Mrs. Jeter. “By taking matters into your own hands, and being threatening, if not violent, you’ve set a bad example for Sharlee. You’ve shown no respect for school rules, or for the teachers whose job it is to enforce them.”
“Let me remind you, Derek, that aggressive and intimidating behavior is never a good way to handle problems,” said his dad. “It’s what gets many young people into trouble so deep that they never get out of it.”
“And another thing,” his mom added. “If you ever have an issue, you’re always to come to us first about it and get our guidance. No matter what other so-called promises you may make.”
“Yes, Mom,” Derek said humbly. He knew they were right, as usual. He needed to think before he acted. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”
“I’m sure it won’t,” said his dad. “Now. As punishment . . .”
Uh-oh, thought Derek. Here it comes.
“Because of this serious breach of your contract, you now lose the right to go to the Yankees-Tigers game in Detroit next month.”
“NOOO!” Derek moaned. “No, please—not that!”
“You can’t get any rewards for good behavior in the past,” his mom said. “Not after this.”
“And the next time anything like this happens,” his dad said, “there will be no more baseball this season. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” Derek said, totally crushed.
He’d been looking forward to going to that game more than anything!
“We’re also going to add one more item to your contract,” said Mr. Jeter.
“Think of it as the First Amendment,” his mom added.
“It’s a short one, so you shouldn’t have any trouble memorizing it,” his dad went on. “It reads, ‘Think Before You Act.’ ”
“Okay,” Derek said, nodding. “I get it. Will do.”
“And . . . ,” his dad continued.
Uh-oh. There’s more?
“Tomorrow morning you are to apologize to Jimmy face-to-face.”
Derek felt like he’d been punched in the gut.
“You’re going to walk into Mr. Merckling’s office, with Sharlee, and you’re going to show her the right way to handle things.”
“But—”
“No buts,” his mom said. “Now I’m going to go pick Sharlee up at Aunt Dimp’s house. I’m going to tell her that Dad and I are glad she confided in you, but that she needs to be able to confide in us, too.”
“That goes for you, too, Derek,” said his dad. “You need to be able to trust us. You know you can always come to us about anything. You never need to feel embarrassed about it, and neither does Sharlee.”
Chapter Thirteen
BREAKING THROUGH
The next morning Derek’s parents drove him and Sharlee to school. As they got out, Derek saw Jeff standing at the bottom of the steps that led to the school’s main entrance.
Jeff saw them too. “Hey, dude, what was up with that fight yesterday? You really scared the daylights out of that kid!” He laughed, clapping Derek on the back.
“It’s not funny, man,” Derek said seriously. He tilted his head toward Sharlee. “She doesn’t need to hear that.”
Jeff seemed to understand. “Got it,” he said, winking.
“No, no. I mean . . .” Derek sighed. “I shouldn’t have done it. It was stupid and just wrong.”
“What, ’cause he’s in first grade or something?” Jeff asked. “Yeah, I guess—”
Derek shook his head. “No, man. I mean it was wrong, period. I just wasn’t thinking, and now I’ve got to deal with it.” He put an arm around Sharlee’s shoulder. “Come on, Sis. We’ve got places to go. See you later, man.”
He led her down the hall toward the principal’s office. Sharlee, who’d been silent until now, suddenly said, “I don’t care what anybody thinks. I’m glad you did it. Thanks for sticking up for me, and for not telling Mom and Dad.”
Derek stopped walking. He knelt down and took Sharlee by the shoulders, looking right into her eyes. “No, no, no,” he said. “You’ve got it all wrong. I messed up, big-time. And now I’m paying for it. It was wrong not to tell Mom and Dad. None of this would ever have happened if we had. And it was wrong for me to pull that stuff with Jimmy—it’s not going to help solve your problem.”
“Yes, it will!” Sharlee insisted. “He’ll be scared to mess with me now.”
Derek shook his head again. “That’s not the best way to get it to stop, Sharlee. I’ve been thinking about it. I should have thought about it before I went after him, but I didn’t. I got mad and forgot to think until it was too late.” The bell rang for the start of classes. “Speaking of late, come on. Let’s get going.”
He led her to the principal’s office. Mr. Merckling had clearly been waiting for them. “Very good. You’re here,” he said. Pressing a button on his intercom, he said, “Please send Jimmy Vickers down here.”
Two long, long minutes later Jimmy walked in. When he saw Derek, he nearly shrank right back out of the room. Obviously nobody had warned him Derek would be there.
Derek felt a pang of regret go through him. He could see how scared Jimmy was, just as scared as Sharlee must have been when Jimmy had been threatening her.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Derek assured him as Jimmy peeked around the edge of the door. “It’s okay. Come on back in.”
Mr. Merckling nodded approvingly, and Jimmy slowly came back in, keep
ing as far from Derek as he could in the small office.
“I wanted to say I’m sorry,” Derek told him. “I mean, yeah, they told me I had to, but this is coming from me—for real. I really am sorry . . . okay?”
Jimmy stayed frozen for a moment, his terror of Derek only slowly going away. Then he nodded.
“I . . . I was just so mad—so upset when Sharlee told me what was going on with you and her that I—I kind of exploded and went off on you. I should have realized that talking to you would be better.”
Everyone was silent, their eyes on Derek as he struggled to find the right words to say. “I . . . I love my little sister more than anything,” he said, swallowing hard. “And I want everything to be good for her. I know not everyone can be best friends, but I’m her big brother, and I don’t want anybody to hurt her, okay?”
Jimmy nodded, faster this time.
“So . . . I mean . . . you should just realize, Sharlee’s an amazing kid. She’s funny, and smart, and cheerful, and really, really good at sports. So you shouldn’t make her miserable. In fact, you should want her on your team. I mean, it might help you win, right?”
Derek tried a smile, but it was hard, because he felt more like crying. He hated having to do this, especially in front of the principal, but he knew it was something he had to do. He owed it to Sharlee to show her the right way to handle the situation.
“I don’t feel good about how it all went down,” he said. “So I’m saying, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again—and I hope you’ll give what I said some thought. I mean, I was being a bully, but so were you. Maybe we can both do better . . . . Right?”
Jimmy bit his lip and gave a very quick, very little nod.
“You really should get to know Sharlee better,” Derek said. “If you did, you wouldn’t want to pick on her. You’d want to be her friend. I’m pretty sure of it.” He sighed, looked up at the principal, and said, “I guess that’s it. Okay?”
Mr. Merckling nodded appreciatively. “Okay. That was fine, Derek. Really, really fine.” He turned to Jimmy. “All right, young man. Derek is offering you an apology. Do you accept it?”
