On Monday afternoon, Huey Freeman sighed. Sitting in history class, this was his last class of the day. A typical Monday for him, this was going to be Riley's first actual day of wrestling. Normally, he enjoyed the class for the most part. He often read more than he had to for readings and typically critiqued his textbook for any inaccuracies or other problems he could find regarding African-American history. Today, there was a substitute teacher and Huey really wished the real teacher was actually here today; especially considering who the sub was. "Good afternoon children and nigga. My name is Mr. Uncle Ruckus, volunteer substitute teacher. Now, I understand that your nice white woman of a teacher, Miss Carmichael gave me a lesson plan. However, I have decided that for today's class, we will discuss a more pressing issue: the historical insignificance of the African nigga monkey" Ruckus said while smiling at the class yet glaring at Huey. Huey tensed in his seat and glared back at Ruckus. "So for starters, black people just aren't people. They are brainless monkeys straight from the sweaty jungles of Africa who were exposed to civilization by the prideful white man. Generous as he was, the white man gave these negroes food, shelter, and jobs."
"That was called slavery" a white boy called out.
"Yes, yes it was called slavery, young man" Ruckus replied. "This was back when the world made sense and I'm sure y'all could already see how much more efficient life was back then."
To the right of Huey, Jazmine DuBois glanced at her best friend. As Ruckus briefly turned his back to the class to prepare for another racial rant, Jazmine quickly scribbled on a piece of scratch paper and passed a note over to Huey. Huey paused in his death stare at Ruckus and glanced down at the note. 'Are you going to say anything?' the note read. Instead of writing back, Huey turned to Jazmine and nodded. He knew he had to stop Ruckus but, he needed the right opportunity to do so.
Ruckus spoke again. "Black negroes are just cursed. Once slavery was unfortunately abolished, them monkeys had nowhere to go. Where could they go anyways? There weren't any jungles in America. Starting in the early to mid-1900's, niggas started flocking like birds into the inner city ghettos. Within these ghettos, niggas congregated and lived in filth, welfare, unemployment, and poverty. Meanwhile, proud white folks soon emigrated to the cleaner, safer suburbs such as this one."
"You left out the fact that white people technically created those inner city ghettos. White politicians purposely created subsidized housing units within the cities in order to keep black people out of the suburbs" Huey called out.
"How do you interrupt my lecture with false information about my lesson, negro!" Ruckus scowled at Huey.
"Funny, you didn't say that when that white kid spoke up" Huey remarked.
"Well he's white, and you're a nigga. Simple as that" responded Ruckus.
"As president and founder of Woodcrest Central's African-American Interest Group, I am going to ask you stop saying horrible lies about my people and culture. Now, why don't you move onto something more relevant such as the passing of the Fair Housing Act of 1968?"
"That's it nigga! You have interrupted my lesson for the first and last time! I order you to haul your black ass to the principal's office now!" Huey tensed and stood up.
"No, Ruckus. If anything, my club assistant and I will report you" he said and pointed at Jazmine, cuing her to stand up. Jazmine's eyes widened and she slowly stood up.
"Huey, I'm scared. I changed my mind. I don't want to stand up for black interests" Jazmine whined.
"Oh c'mon Jazmine! It's in our best interest to get this bastard the punishment he deserves."
"Oh Huey, you dragged this poor, innocent, mulatto girl into this? Are you trying to overwhelm the fine, white portion of her brain with your negro terrorist lies?"
"I'm teaching her to stand up for her African side and interests associated with it. Your bigotry is the only thing in this room that is a terror. You're poisoning these young people's minds with your corrupt, racist history."
"Y-Yeah" Jazmine stammered in agreement as Ruckus glared at them both. Ruckus sighed.
"Lord, it's worse than I thought. Jazmine, you're half-white. As a mulatto, the white part of your brain should be listening and agreeing with my lesson, not with the ideals of this African hooligan."
"I-I don't know what to do" Jazmine said, looking frantically from Huey to Ruckus and tears began to form in her eyes.
"Well, I'll send both of you to the office then!" Ruckus bellowed at them. Sighing, Huey left his desk and coaxed Jazmine to follow him out of the classroom and head to the principal's office.
"Do you think they're going to punish us Huey?" Jazmine frightfully asked. "I don't want to get expelled!"
"Eh, even if they do, it would serve as a prime example of how white people still oppress black people to a certain extent. We can then write up a thesis and argument with as our significance and get the justice we really deserve."
"Ahhhh! I just want stay in school and get good grades!" Jazmine whined as they entered the principal's office.
"You must be the two eighth grade trouble-makers" said the secretary as Huey and Jazmine sat down in the waiting room.
"Who wants to know?" Huey snapped at her.
"Well, the principal wanted to know. He'll meet with you shortly. Your substitute called you guys down and he'll be in attendance as well. Jazmine froze while Huey glowered in his seat.
"Oh no" he muttered.
A short time later, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day. Uncle Ruckus arrived in the principal's office and sat down very far away from Huey.
"The principal will see you now" announced the secretary. Ruckus budged Huey and Jazmine and sat down before them inside the principal's small, surprisingly juvenile office. The principal was a meek-looking white man with glasses.
"All right, so, you're accusing these students of interrupting your lesson?" asked the principal.
"Yes, that's right Mr. White Man Principal" replied Ruckus.
"The afro-haired darkie over here was being the real nuisance. Claimed he was the leader of some faction."
"Faction?"
"Yes Sir. An African-American Interest Group. Sounds like a nigga gang or something that will soon be a black terrorist group."
"What?! He's lying!" protested Huey.
"Nigga, I wasn't finished!" Ruckus snapped. Huey responded with a scowl and a raised eyebrow.
"Huh. Well, it seems that this young man's club and his club's intentions are a source of class interruptions."
"Yes, yes! That's what I'm trying to say."
"So, maybe we could come to an agreement here. Huey Freeman and Jazmine DuBois, you're both great students from what I've heard. Your behavior surprises me."
Huey spoke up. "Principal Waxman, you don't understand. It was Uncle Ruckus who started this whole fiasco. He was making racist remarks towards African-Americans and he was attempting to tell the class a completely untrue version of black history. He even claimed that we have no history at all!"
"I said no such thing" countered Ruckus.
"I don't understand. Mr. Ruckus is black as well."
"No, no, no Mr. Waxman. You see, I suffer from re-vitiligo: a skin disease that turns white skin into dark skin. It's the opposite of what Michael Jackson had. I'm a white man with a white soul."
"Uh huh. Okay, I would like to hear Jazmine's point of view of what happened. Once again, Jazmine froze.
"I ummm joined Huey's club because he and I are best friends. Since you're accusing Huey of trying to be an interruption in class, I was unintentionally involved. Huey told me to speak up. This was his idea." Huey face palmed himself.
"See? That mulatto girl speaks the truth" said Ruckus. "That's the white side of her brain talking."
"Okay, so I've made a decision. Ruckus, stop teaching history class. We'll keep hiring you for other classes though. Huey and Jazmine, I am going to have to disband your little club. It appears to be too much of a distraction in school. You two are not expelled though." Jazmine breathed a sigh of relief and Huey scowled.
"What?! As an African-American, I feel that my rights to unionize in a school environment and freedom of speech are being violated."
"Sorry Huey" replied Principal Waxman.
"Oh thank you Mr. Waxman! I knew with your white judgment, we could find a suitable solution" Ruckus said, commending the principal.
Huey and Jazmine exited the room while Ruckus remained to thank Mr. Waxman some more.
"The white justice system typically yields injustice for black people" Huey muttered to Jazmine. They walked over to a set of lockers. Jazmine opened up her locker that was right next to Huey's. She wanted to share a locker with Huey but he declined.
"I'm late for wrestling. I gotta go watch the boys practice" said Jazmine.
"How are you enjoying the stat girl job so far?"
"I like it. I guess I'll be spending a lot more time there now."
"Yeah…" Huey sighed. "I'm walking home. See you later."
"Bye Huey" Jazmine replied as she skipped to the wrestling room.
Inside Woodcrest Central's wrestling room, things were underway. The first day of practice had yielded a strong turnout of 60 kids. That was enough for at least 2 junior varsity squads and a varsity squad. Riley Freeman and his new teammates were in the midst of warmups. Their wrestling room had a total area of 1,200 square feet and this offered a lot of room. All the mats were set up and most of the bleachers had been pushed into the wall. This practice gym is also going to be their competition gym. After what seemed like an endless five minutes of running, several eighth grade leaders along with Cody had everyone circle up and stretch. The group of eighth graders and Cody stood in the middle of the circle and led stretches. Normally, Riley would go on a rant saying that he, "Young Reezy" or "Riley Escobar" could go wherever he wanted but in this situation, he suddenly realized that he had no real authority here. He was a newbie to this sport and the kids around him knew that.
Once stretching was over, the team got ready for their first drill: simple setups to and finishing double-leg takedowns. Hoping to go with Cody, Riley was disappointed to learn that since he was essentially "junior varsity", he had to practice with other junior varsity kids. He reluctantly went with another first-year sixth grader named Jacob Warren. Jacob Warren hadn't come to open mats as often as Riley had so Riley had the advantage skill and experience-wise. As he and Riley drilled, Riley glanced in between go's over at Jazmine DuBois. Apparently as a stat girl, she got to come in and observe their practices as often as she wanted in order to understand wrestling more. Jazmine sat in a small desk on the side near the door. She was trying to read a book but she kept looking up and seemingly admiring all the hard-working boys in the room. Riley scowled at her, gave her a "loser" sign and thought to himself that she was a hoe.
After Riley and Jacob each got one more takedown each, Coach Moore called everyone back in order to move on. The team was given instruction on more proper shooting technique and sprawling when a guy shoots in on them. Later, around 5:00, Coach Moore announced that they could do some live wrestling. Boys such as Cody, Butch Magnus, and even Riley cheered. With Jacob Warren being an even bigger newbie than Riley, Riley knew that he was going to kick some ass today.
They were given situational wrestling: One guy is on his knees , in a double, while the other guy is standing up and beginning to sprawl. Riley chose to be in on the shot first. Dropping to his right and lead knee first, Riley got into position. The whistle blew and Riley drove Jacob down to the mat with all his might. Warren landed with a thud and sighed weakly, disappointed. Riley switched sides and waited for the next whistle. The opposite side was a little more challenging but Riley pulled through and drove Jacob to the mat, pivoting on his trailing leg and using his head and chest like a battering ram. Now, it was Jacob's turn. Jacob feebly got down one knee as Riley got in sprawling position. The whistle blew and Jacob had no answer to Riley as he slammed his hips on top of Jacob. Riley slid back on his knees and got a quick two-hand-block spin and cover takedown on Jacob. Next round, Jacob was on Riley's other side but the latter still scored on easily. Now finished with this set of live wrestling, Coach Moore said that they have one last thing to do: a match. 3 periods, 1 minute each. All around the room, guys got ready and got in their stances. Riley got into his stance, did some badass-looking squat jump that he'd seen Cody do to pump himself up and shook Jacob Warren's hand. The match began and Riley circled aggressively into Jacob. Right away, he found what he wanted: an angle into a double leg. Riley tapped Jacob slightly to get him startled, then shot in and turned the corner like a windshield wiper. He came up to his feet with the shot and brought Jacob Warren right to his back. Jacob Warren didn't seem to know what hit him. With at least 40 seconds left in the first period, Riley decided to let Jacob back up and try to get another takedown. He cut Jacob and immediately shot in on a high crotch shot (something Cody had showed him previously). Again, Riley came up with the shot with ease and brought Jacob down. This time, Jacob was smart enough to land on his stomach instead of his back. Still extended however, Jacob was then overwhelmed by Riley's hip pressure from his riding and Riley quickly got him in a half-Nelson pinning combination. The period ended with a whistle blow. Riley, Jacob, and all the other boys in the room got to catch their breaths for about 20 seconds before the second period began.
In the second period, Riley found himself pitted against a gravely frustrated Jacob Warren. Warren, with a lacking knowledge on good set ups to shots, kept diving in at Riley's slowly deteriorating legs. Luckily, Riley was able to sprawl his feeble legs back and get around Warren to score more takedowns. Eventually, Riley resorted to keeping Warren down and pinned him once more. This time, the pin was rather sloppy and scrubish as Riley in the face of exhaustion, simply muscled Warren to his back without much of a hold such as grabbing a wrist and half. Finally, the second period ended.
In the third period, it was one minute before potential freedom from practice. Riley moved in a staggered stance. For the first time in a while, he felt out of shape. Despite Huey's advice of working hard, Riley's conditioning efforts seemed to have failed. Stupid nigga Riley thought in regards to Huey. Still stuck with a kid in front of him, Riley decided to stop being a pussy and he took a shot. The shot was more of a tiring dive but Riley still moved his head up and he drove Jacob Warren down to the mat.
With his lungs now on fire, Riley went to work. Over the weekend, he had looked up cool wrestling pins on YouTube and he came across one called a tilt. Despite feeling tired as fuck, Riley knew Jacob Warren was probably even more tired. Fighting the urge to quit, Riley chopped Warren's left arm, captured it, rolled to his left while carrying Warren, and he landed with Warren in his arms and on his back. Warren kicked and flailed. Riley held him there for what felt like all of eternity in purgatory. Finally, a whistle sounded and wrestling all across the room ended.
"Time's up! Everybody rest and bring it in!" Coach Moore called out. Riley shoved Jacob Warren aside and made his way back to the middle of the room. He sat in a semi-circle with the other kids.
"I can see that everyone's tired" Moore addressed the team. "Whose tired?"
Every kid raised their hand, Riley included.
"Don't take me working you guys to your limit the wrong way. I care about all of you. I know what you're capable of now but through my training, you all will be capable of even more. There's an old saying, 'Iron sharpens iron'. That's exactly what happens in this wrestling room every day. I know some of you are beginners and I know some of you have experience. Believe me, we all feel like shit sometimes. Feeling like shit but pushing through it is part of becoming a better athlete. In time, you will feel like you are in the best shape of your life. In case any of you haven't noticed, we are short-staffed. Luckily I won't be alone soon enough. I hired 2 new assistant coaches who will coach JV and help me out in any way possible. They'll hopefully be here tomorrow. They…. were running errands today. They might be kind of in and out initially. It's 5:30. That's all I got. I'll see you all tomorrow at 3:25." Everyone got up and left. "Please, do shower right when you get home."
As Riley made his way over to his backpack and sackpack for his gear, Coach Moore approached him.
"Riley."
"What up?"
"It looks the majority of this 'JV' squad is going to be sixth graders."
"So?"
"So, I know you're a beginner but you show promise. I was watching you today. You might want to find a different kid who could be a bit more of a challenge." Riley nodded slightly.
"Uhh okay. Ya want me to become tougher?"
"Yes. But I also like how you seem to lead by example."
"Not really coach. I get straight D's C's if I try."
"Okay. In here, you lead by example with active participation. So I was thinking, back to my point, I think the other boys on JV could use a kid like you to lead them. I know you're still learning the roots and all but—"
"I'll do it!"
"Great!" Riley nodded. As he was about to walk away, he was stopped once more. "And Riley, try to work on those grades."
"Aight." Moore gave Riley a friendly yet stern nod and left Riley alone.
"Riley! You looked cool out there! You remind of Huey!" Jazmine came up from behind Riley.
"Why the hell you still here?!"
"I was watching. It's part of my job."
"Yeah whatever. Don't bother me, aight?"
"Do you need a ride home? My daddy should be here any minute." Riley suddenly remembered that it was November and it was a low of 52 degrees outside and it was somewhat dark. He definitely recalled Granddad telling him to walk his black ass home.
"Uh yeah I'll take it."
"What do you say?"
"Let's go."
"I was hoping you were going to say 'thank you'" Jazmine muttered.
"Nah Young Reezy don't thank nobody."
"Riley, I hope you're tough enough to handle wrestling. Because I'm pretty sure some kid won't listen to your thug talk and pin himself for you."
"I know that! I ain't retarded!" Jazmine rolled her eyes. Soon enough, Tom pulled up in his car.
"Jazmine!"
"Hi daddy!" Jazmine squealed.
"How was your day?" Tom asked somewhat sternly.
"I… I got in trouble…" Riley wanted to hear this for sure.
"I know Jazmine. You and Huey talked back to Uncle Ruckus in class."
"It was Huey's fault! He said we had to in the name of our club!"
"Well, from what Principal Waxman told me, it does sound like it was mainly Huey's fault."
"Yeah…."
"Jazmine, I don't like that club you're in. Huey's a good kid but he does some weird stuff sometimes. That's why I'm glad you joined the wrestling staff." Tom leaned out of his car and he noticed Riley standing behind Jazmine in the shadows.
"Riley? Is that you?"
"Yeah I'm hitching a ride Tom."
"Oh okay. What are you doing here?"
"Wrestling, nigga."
"You joined wrestling?! Wow! I thought I'd never see the day! I always thought you would stay with basketball."
"I'm giving wrestling a go."
"That's wonderful! As a kid, I never wrestled, but, I had plenty of friends who were wrestlers. In fact, I did their homework for them sometimes in exchange for them protecting me from bullies." Riley snickered. "Doing extra homework was great for me" continued Tom. "Eventually, I was on the Honor Roll. National Honor Society. What a treat! I was really respected too. That high up in the school hierarchy, I was far away from being a school hooligan. Since I wasn't some juvenile delinquent, I was very unlikely to go to jail and get anally raped!" Tom finished with a nervous laugh.
Following Tom's testimony, Riley wanted this car ride to be over quickly. Thankfully, they had just tuned onto Timid Deer Lane.
"Did you see any nice boys on wrestling, Jazmine?" teased Tom.
"What?! No!" Jazmine protested. "You ask the worst questions!"
"I'm just kidding, Pumpkin. I'm not your mother. Don't tell her I said that."
Soon enough, Tom braked in the middle of the street where the Freeman house was right across from his house. "Okay, Riley, good luck with wrestling!" Tom said with a grin.
"Bye Riley!" shouted Jazmine.
"Yeah whatever" Riley slammed the door to Tom's car and headed towards his house.
Riley entered his house. For once, he wasn't greeted by Robert. Instead, Huey was his greeting party.
"How'd it go? Huey asked. Huey appeared to be in a sorrow mood, as usual. Riley could make a pretty good guess to why that is.
"Pretty good. I think I'm getting better, fo' real."
"That's nice. Think you'll stick with it?" Riley decided to choose his words carefully.
"Man, I ain't sure. That coach says I'm good but I'm still learning. He wants me to be a JV leader. I'm tired as fuck. A lot of shit in one day nigga."
"That's pretty good. If it were me in that coach's shoes, I would never ask you to lead anybody."
"Yeah whatever" Riley replied as he headed upstairs to shower.
On Tuesday, it was the second day of wrestling season for Riley. At the start of practice, Coach Moore informed everyone that the 2 new coaches answered his phone call for once and would arrive shortly. In the meantime, the boys warmed up and stretched. During that time, Coach Moore explain the history of Woodcrest Central wrestling.
Woodcrest Central first opened its doors in 1989 so it was fairly new, even in 2014. Wrestling had been one of the original sports that Central offered. That first season, Central had its first state champion in 1990. That kid then won state in 1991 as an 8th grader as well. Following a 10 year gap, Central had a state champion and a state-runner up back in 2001. Seemingly on the downside for several years, Coach Moore became the head coach in 2009. By then, the program seemed somewhat dead. With the team's effort over those years since 2009, Central had 3 state qualifiers including Cody Warner but none of them placed. This was last season. With the new year approaching, Moore hoped 2015 would bring new life to the program.
After he concluded, there was a knock on the door. Coach Moore opened the door for the men. "Guys, meet our new assistant coaches."
"Ed?! Rummy?!' Riley spat.
"Ohhhh shit! Riley!" Rummy called over to Riley.
"Wassup everybody" Ed greeted the team.
Cody tapped Coach Moore on the shoulder.
"These guys are coaches?" he asked.
"They sure are. This Ed Wuncler the Third and Gin Rummy."
"My granddaddy built this school!" Ed bragged.
"Iraq war veterans. They were also accomplished high school wrestlers."
"Hell yeah we were" Rummy agreed. "Thanks for havin' us, y'all!"
The team gave Ed and Rummy a round of applause.
Riley grinned at the sight of his niggas joining the team. Perhaps wrestling will be even more fun now.