by Dina Rae
“Yeah, thanks. You saved us, my hero,” Brittany giggled.
“We know how to get the answers ourselves. We’re not stupid. Leave us alone so we can finish,” Henry said without eye contact, not realizing Rio offered the answers to Brittany and not him.
“Uh, Brittany’s done now,” Rio said. Then facing her with his back shoulder to Henry he asked, “So, want to come over Friday? I can rent some movies or we could play video games? Got a couple of others coming over.”
“Love to…” Brittany answered.
“I said we are still working. Quit bothering us!” Henry yelled loud enough for the entire class to hear.
“I’m not bothering her, you fucking fat-ass shit. She’s done! You should move!” Rio yelled back.
***
Ms. Fontana could smell the testosterone from across the room. This was a bad idea, she thought. Protective of Henry, she rushed over to Henry’s desk and tried to calm him down.
Before Ms. Fontana could place herself in between the two boys, Henry sprang from his desk and lunged at Rio. His adrenaline and size gave him the advantage. Rio tumbled to the floor in shock. Quickly recouping from the blow, he regained his senses and swung a right hook at Henry’s face. Blood splattered everywhere. Henry was not backing down. Both boys were fully engaged in a brawl. The class circled and egged them both on.
“I need male staff! A fight-Henry Novak and Rio Garcia!” panted Ms. Fontana into the intercom.
Chapter 3
Hayward was a decent sized town per Wisconsin’s standards. With a population of 17,000 and the touristy Lake Hayward, the residents considered themselves the most sophisticated in northern Wisconsin. However, when it came to gossip, like all small towns, no one could hold back. It wasn’t long until the whole town knew about Rio Garcia’s and Henry Novak’s fight. Henry, the weird Asperger kid, was pronounced the winner.
It took four male staff and two women to pull the two boys apart as they rolled around like dervishes on the floor of Ms. Fontana’s classroom. Blood spurt in all directions, leaving its mark on homework, backpacks, and anything else within its vicinity.
Both boys were over six feet tall, weighing somewhere over the two hundred pound mark. Rio was lean and muscular, whereas Henry was large-boned. Most would agree it was a fair fight, but Henry had a mental edge that Rio could never compete with. Once angered, he wanted to kill. Moral and social constraints were never part of his psyche.
Freemont High School’s cavalry arrived before anyone was seriously injured. Both boys were bloodied and swollen, shuttled in separate ambulances to the emergency room. Henry’s injuries proved superficial: broken nose, chipped tooth, and black eye. Rio surpassed his battle wounds with a broken collarbone and left arm. Both sets of their parents arrived and were informed by Principal Schafer there would be a meeting they needed to attend first thing in the morning.
“What happened?” Jessica Novak asked as she sat in the back of their SUV with her son on the way home.
“He wouldn’t stop bothering me. I just wanted to finish my work,” answered Henry.
“Your teacher wondered if you might have been jealous. A girl was involved?” Tom asked as he briefly turned from the driver’s seat to see his son’s reaction to the question.
“No! She and I were working. We were doing the assignment just like Ms. Fontana explained. He came over and started bothering us. When I told him to leave us alone he called me names,” Henry said.
“Who swung the first punch?” Jessica asked, knowing that would be one of the primary factors in how the principal would determine her son’s punishment.
“I don’t remember. I think I did. I just wanted him to go away and he wouldn’t,” Henry said.
Sensing his agitation, both parents stopped questioning him. Tom pulled onto Norway Point, their breathtaking street by the lake that featured some of Hayward’s most beautiful homes. It had just snowed. The lake houses dripped icicles, the pine trees’ boughs were weighted down with snow, and the frozen lake glistened like silver.
Tom and Jessica had a picturesque log cabin that sat on the lake, but it was modest in comparison to their wealthy neighbors. Natalie shoveled the driveway, making it easy for them all to pull into the garage.
***
Henry hadn’t had any discipline problems until junior high school. His first unacceptable behavior began in seventh grade. His science teacher allowed the class to take turns in holding her guinea pig. When it was his turn, the guinea pig nibbled on his thumb. He angrily whipped the rodent against the wall, instantaneously killing it. The teacher took full responsibility, blaming herself for deviating from their normal classroom routine.
His next brush with school policy happened in eighth grade. Henry accidentally bumped into one of the toughest boys in school while changing classes. He kept on walking, afraid of being late for class. The boy used the incident to start a verbal fight in the hallway. Upset with the boy’s yelling, Henry slammed him against the lockers and wrapped his hands around the boy’s neck. A teacher intervened before the boy was hurt. Again, the incident was swept under the rug because of his disorder.
Jessica knew high school was different. They had a much tougher stance on fights, regardless of her son’s Asperger’s Syndrome. The pain pills she had given Henry made him sleepy. Shortly after dinner, he went to bed.
“Any predictions? I mean in the principal’s office tomorrow morning,” Jessica asked, alone with her husband in their bedroom watching the news.
Tom sleepily flipped through the channels. “I think that he’s going to be suspended. You’ll have to quit your volunteer work at the church. I might have to take some time off of work. He can’t be home alone for the whole day. Or, if we’re lucky, he’ll be suspended inside of school. What else can they do? It’s his first offense. The break in his daily routine is going to set him off. It took all the way to Halloween before he got used to high school.”
“I was thinking that, too,” Jessica yawned.
***
The next morning Rio and Henry along with their parents waited in the reception area of the main office. Both boys had dark purple shiners and disjointed noses. Rio’s left arm was in a sling, and a shoulder brace jutted out of the collar of his shirt.
“Glad you all are here on time. Come in. We can talk in private,” the principal gestured. Everyone piled into his large, sparsely furnished office.
“I was up all night thinking about a fair consequence for both boys. Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, Henry is autistic. Asperger’s actually. Not that that’s an excuse to fight, but his disorder is given special consideration. This fight was particularly bloody. If we didn’t stop it, who knows how badly hurt these boys would be. Normally, each boy would receive a month suspension. Henry threw the first punch, so he would have been out for a longer period of time, maybe even an alternative school.”
Jessica and Tom winced.
“But Rio provoked him with some insults. Rio will be given a two week out-of-school suspension, and then a one week in-school-suspension, whereas Henry will have a four week in-school-suspension. Both boys will cross paths in the in-school or ISS room on that third week. They will have to demonstrate a mutual toleration for each other. If they still can’t be in the same room together, more time will be added to their suspensions. Am I clear?” Principal Schafer asked. He had a commanding presence that both students and adults didn’t want to tangle with. Everyone nodded except Tom.
“Once the suspensions are over, what will happen with the seating arrangements in both lunch and math class? I understand they have these classes together. Can the boys be separated? Put on opposite sides of the room?”
“Mr. Novak, we don’t do restraining orders here at Freemont,” Mr. Schafer snidely answered. “I realize that Henry is special, but he needs to execute some self-control. I doubt they will be sitting next to each other, but it’s not mine nor Ms. Fontana’s responsibility to keep them as far apart as we possibly can throughout the day.”<
br />
“I see,” answered Tom.
The principal explained the terms of both out-of-school and in-school suspensions while both boys waited in silence for their next move. Rio was given a stack of worksheets then left the building with his parents.
“Henry, come with me,” the principal said as he motioned with his arm.
Jessica could see the fear in his eyes. “Can I go with? I want to see the room that he’ll be spending the next few weeks in.”
The principal nodded. Tom and Jessica walked with their son to the ISS room. They looked through the small rectangular window inside of the door.
“This is temporary,” Jessica said, seeing Henry’s eyes tear up in frustration.
“I don’t like this. I don’t know anybody. Why can’t I just go back to my classes?” Henry cried.
“Stop crying, Son. Someone might see you. You’re setting yourself up to get teased. It’s because of yesterday, the fight. That’s why you got to be here. It’s only four weeks. You can do this,” Tom stated.
“And your teachers will be stopping by to visit. They’ll give you homework throughout the day. For lunch, Ms. Fontana offered to let you visit her in her room, like you always do, for the whole lunch period,” Principal Schafer added. This seemed to appease Henry. He slowly walked in and took a seat.
Chapter 4
The snowy, frigid January day should have been a snow day. Many students had their mommies call in for them because of the weather. Not Jake’s. He could have pneumonia, pink-eye, strep throat, 105 degree fever, and MRSA at one time, and his Aunt Leah would make sure he got on the school bus.
On the second day of his sentence, he sleepily sat in the Zoo, too tired to do his classwork. He was drifting off with a pencil in his hand, pretending to be writing down vocabulary words when a new classmate took a seat a few feet away from him.
Jake did a double take. The new Zoo-mate was none other than the recently famous Henry Novak. He quickly finished his classwork, wanting to use his afternoon free-time for a chance to ask Henry about the fight. According to hallway whispers and Facebook, the weird, nobody freshman beat the crap out of Rio Garcia.
Impressive. Big boy, but has a look about him…vacant, yet his eyes are red, like he was crying, thought Jake in admiration. Rio was strong, smart, handsome, and popular. Every girl in the school wanted to be with him, and he knew it. It was guys like Rio who thought they were better, entitled, above it all, with their whole life planned out. Henry was brave to take him down a notch. Jake instantly felt a connection with his new Zoo-mate.
***
Henry cried off and on during his first day of In-School Suspension. His teachers would periodically drop by throughout the morning when they had a plan period, giving him classwork and pulling him outside in the hallway to talk. They believed he didn’t belong in the self-contained room and didn’t want him to explode. He liked the attention and stopped crying before lunchtime.
Ms. Fontana escorted him into her classroom for lunch. His anxiety softened. The established routine was a relief. She felt responsible for his predicament. Brittany had seemed like such a nice girl, the perfect, understanding partner for Henry. But the cheerleader ended up being no different than most of the kids at Freemont High, uncomfortable with those who were different. Henry couldn’t see her disdain. He shrouded himself in a fantasy about their imaginary romance.
Henry sat in his usual desk and nibbled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich he brought from home. For months all he ever ate was peanut butter and jelly with a side of Fritos and Coke as his beverage.
“So, how was this morning? Will you be alright?” she asked.
“No. I hate it,” he answered without expression, fixated on his sandwich.
“It won’t be too much longer. Any questions on your math work?” she asked.
“No. The worst part is that I won’t see Brittany. Someday we will get married,” he stated.
“Henry, she’s one of the reasons why you got into all this trouble. You’re too good for her. When you come back to class, I’m going to beg you to stop staring at her. Leave her and Rio alone. Maybe you don’t understand, but they are the reason you’re stuck in ISS.”
“She’s not the problem. Rio is. Soon we’ll be married, like my mom and dad. Did you know that the movie Patten is on tonight? That’s one of my favorite movies. He’s my favorite General…” Henry blabbered. His obsession with WWII was something Ms. Fontana had gotten used to and even appreciated. He had ignored her mini-warning, but it was nice to see Henry back to being himself.
“Henry, once the bell rings, can I trust you to go back downstairs to the ISS room? Tomorrow I’ll come and get you for lunch, just like today,” Ms. Fontana reiterated.
Henry’s demeanor changed from bubbly to angry. He gathered up his books and left the classroom. As he exited the door, he brushed passed Brittany.
“Hi Brittany. I’ll be back soon. We can do our math work together again,” he said.
She rolled her eyes and walked away while he was in mid-sentence. Not picking up the social cue, he tried to impress her with his knowledge on the Normandy Invasion.
“Henry, the bell has rung. You need to be downstairs now or you can’t come up here anymore for lunch!” nervously reprimanded Ms. Fontana. She wasn’t prepared for extra trouble.
As he left, Brittany blurted, “I hate that freak! Glad he’s out of the class! Miss Fontana, you need to get him away from me. He’s like stalking me or something,” Brittany said as Henry walked into the hallway, hearing every word.
“You need to have some compassion. And lower your voice. He’s not deaf,” Ms. Fontana warned. The girl rolled her eyes and sat down.
***
Jacob La Rue had been suspended too many times to count throughout his high school career. As a junior, he knew Fremont High’s disciplinary policies better than most of the administrators. This knowledge combined with Principal Shafer’s sympathy gave him the boundaries that he needed to avoid expulsion.
Once again, Jake was relieved to be out of his classes. His peers either jabbed him with insults or completely ignored him, leaving him isolated. ISS gave him a sense of security that was lost both in class and at home. He looked forward to seeing Mrs. Powis, his favorite teacher, and often his only teacher.
Mrs. Powis was hired several years ago as a special education teacher’s aide. In spite of her job title, she had never spent a day inside a special education classroom. She began filling in as the ISS supervisor until the actual ISS supervisor quit. She enjoyed working with the children who were constantly getting in trouble. And they enjoyed her back. Consistency and fairness had granted her the respect needed to successfully manage the room.
The kids usually didn’t give her trouble, and in return, she would bend the school’s rules in the afternoon. Once they proved that they were finished with all of their classwork, she allowed them to switch seats, quietly talk, and play learning games.
After Jake finished all of his assignments, he sat next to Henry. Mrs. Powis nodded, confirming she knew that he had no other classwork.
“Heard you beat the shit out of Rio Garcia,” he whispered.
“Mrs. Powis, he’s bothering me. I’m trying to finish up my English work,” Henry tattled.
“I’ll move. Just wanted to welcome you into our class,” Jake said. Mrs. Powis continued to watch him as he moved over a seat and got a crossword puzzle to work on. He waited for Henry to finish, assuming the boy feared getting into more trouble. Thirty minutes later Henry was done with everything.
“Now what do I do?” Henry asked Mrs. Powis.
“I’m pretty liberal about the rules. In other words, if you want to talk quietly or do a puzzle or play a game, whatever, the rest of the time is yours as long as you don’t get out of control,” she explained.
Henry went to the wall of shelves in the back of the room and picked out a Harry Potter puzzle. Jake saw his chance to talk to him.
“Can I help
you with that one?” Henry nodded. “I’m Jacob or Jake. You’re Henry Novak. The whole school is talking about you.”
“Why? Am I in more trouble?” he answered.
“No. A lot of students can’t stand Rio Garcia. He’s a stuck-up dick who thinks he’s better than everyone. And you, a freshman, kicked his ass! I love you, man!”
Henry enjoyed the attention. “He was bothering me and Brittany. And he was mean. You need to put these pieces together.”
Jake realized something was not quite right by the boy’s mannerisms and speech. He wasn’t slow, but lacked some kind of spark inside of his eyes. He seemed void of emotion and expression. With odd determination he put together the puzzle as if a multi-million dollar prize was attached to its completion. Jake’s curiosity boiled over. “Hey, I don’t want to be rude, but there is something different about you, something…”
“I have Asperger’s. Put that piece with this cluster that I started, and then put these pieces over here…”
“What’s that?”
“I’m not good at social cues or making friends, at least that’s what the school’s psychologist says. You’re slowing me down. Put this piece over here…”
“I’m not good at social cues or making friends either. Do I have Az…burgs?”
“Maybe. You need to pay attention and start putting the edges of the puzzle together then…”
Jason appeased Henry. He found the boy fascinating and planned on getting to know him better.
Chapter 5
January 13, 2010
Jake was the first one inside of the ISS room. He wanted to hang out with Henry before the monotonous day began. He switched on the lights and sat at his desk. Henry was pacing back and forth in the hallway.
“Henry, why don’t you come inside? It’s okay,” Jake reassured.
Henry stood in the doorway and rocked. Jake couldn’t tell if he was afraid of him or entering the room without staff present. The freshman looked like a giant. Jake hadn’t noticed his immense size the day before when they were both seated.
