"Stumpy Paulson, my office now!"
Nobody needed to tell Stumpy Paulson why he was tapped to teach this newly created "Peer 2 Peer" class, or why such a class existed at all.
In a normal set of circumstances, a student like him would be the dream of any teacher; he was as sharp as a tack, obedient, and punctual when it came to homework. Instead, the collective staff of RS 59 regarded the kid with calumny and consternation, like a being beamed down from a far and distant planet. At best, they gently yet condescendingly coaxed him to use one-dollar words when speaking and not go off on intellectual tangents in class. At worst, they conspired to gift wrap him to prestigious schools that (while academically his speed) looked at those under their tutelage as robots.
To their misfortune, Stumpy was nobody's robot and seeing through these attempts to clip his wings, turned down every attempt made by Principal Canker to exile him to such schools.
"Take a seat young man." Principal Canker began coldly.
"I already told you Principal Canker, I am not going to Mount Ellis."
"TAKE… A. Seat. Young. Man!" He repeated with increased harshness before drawing a sharp breath. "I am fully aware that you have yet again declined Mount Ellis' latest invitation to partake of their educational programs."
"Unquestionably precise. As I have-"
"Step off your soapbox kid, I'm in no mood for speeches today." Principal Canker snarled back. "Now. As I'm sure you're aware, your class will next year be taking a certain aptitude test designed to measure not only your collective intellectual capacities at learning things and the retention therein."
"And I assume you've called me here because you've found a way to weasel me out of taking this test lest my singular intellectual capacity taint the results away from your liking?"
"Don't think of it as 'weaseling'…more, 'leveling the playing field.'" The principal continued. "And besides, it's not like we're giving you a day pass either. I have begun a new initiative that might pique your interest. We have certain members of our student body who need…more of a push, shall we say, when it comes to their overall academic standing. Perhaps a peer-to-peer setting may get them out of their shells and maybe help them find the wherewithal to get their grades up.
"And am I to assume this peer that will help magically turn everyone's grades around is me, Principal Canker?"
"Clearly you don't have a 4.7 GPA for nothing kid."
"And how many students will be under my tutelage?"
"Just two. One of whom you may already know pretty well…"
A month had passed since this program was chartered, and part of Stumpy still felt like a monkey dancing at the base of some vagabond's organ grinder. But little by little, something in that class appeared to cause his perspective to shift…or more appropriately, someone.
"Stupid Fifi…stupid Fifi…stupid, stupid Fifi…"
If the muttering didn't draw my attention, then the noise of Fif slamming her book on the desk in frustration surely did the trick. She was…to put it gently, a slow learner, yet always made the effort to carry herself with an air of unflappability in the face of academic adversity.
"Fifi, what's the matter?"
"It's this darn 'Thello book. I'm not gettin' it at all Stumpy."
There was something endearing about how she said my name 'stUMp-ee.' It made me chuckle.
"Well, Othello isn't what one would call a light read…if I may inquire, what made you want to read it Fifi?"
"I'm guessin' because I thought it was like that game I used to play with my Gramdpa before he died last week." The girl replied sadly. "I know I ain't the sharpest crayon around, but he believed in me. And what's more we always bonded playin' games of 'Thello on the back porch. He won all the time, but I like t'think I held m'own, and I thought it'd be a book to read that didn't make me look so stupid is all…but...but it ain't like nothing like the game I played with Gramdpa. All that fancy talk hurts my head...and something about the parrot from that Aladdin book...(she slumps on her desk)... I was wrong, wasn't I?"
"No. You were not wrong." Stumpy said with a consoling sigh as he sat down next to her. "And neither is your grandpa."
"But I ain't smart like you are!"
"But I know you've got people in your corner who believe in you; in your heart, you've got your grandpa and here you've got me. And I'm willing to work with you, but first you got to believe in yourself too. Can you do that?"
Spoiler alert, she did; and between that, coupled with Peer 2 Peer sessions, Fifi managed to eke out a B- on the Othello report. Brawny also managed to pull his act together academically as well…or at least show promise. He had picked a comparatively easier read than Fifi (a collection of O. Henry stories for those wondering) and also earned a passing grade for his work. This was enough to keep Principal Canker happy enough for the moment to not shove Stumpy off to Mount Ellis. And for him, this would normally be where the story ended…operative word being 'normally.'
"AH GOTTA B MINUS!" Fifi belted to the tune of 'Pomp and Circumstance' as she skipped down the hall. "YALEVARD BETTER MAKE WAY!"
A lesser person would gently burst Fifi's bubble that one middle school English assignment wasn't exactly the key to attending an ivy league school. But this was her moment. And for those inclined to believe in whatever celestial realm exists for us upon our passing, I'm sure her grandfather would be there, beaming with pride over her.
"I'm very proud of you Fifi." I tell her.
"An' I wouldn'ta dunnit withou'ya Stumpy." She said elatedly. "This whole thing. Takin' the time for me, bein' there when I felt all low like, helpin' me find the words I needed, it's all 'causa you. You did it all, just to help me. And…and…"
I wanted to tell her that this was all her. That every now and then she just needed that gentle kick of self-assurance to get her moving in the right direction. But as I feel Fifi take me in her arms, all my intellect somehow fails me. The world as I know it becomes an all-encompassing ball of blinding radiance…and the strangest part of it all is how much I don't want it to end.
Stumpy had relived that moment regularly since then. In that time, the line between what happened and what he had wished began to blur; causing his habitually sharp and concise memory to fail him. Logically it made sense, being on the cusp of adolescence would elicit such visions and yearnings as the hormones that would shape and serve his adult relationships found themselves kickstarting. And for whatever reason, it was Fifi and the that memory of that moment which made his heart tingle and soar.
But just as Icarus had the sun to remind him of his wings of wax, the intelligent and diminutive lad had his brain to bring him and whatever burgeoning feelings he possessed for her crashing back to earth.
He was Stumpy Paulson.
The little genius.
The human dictionary.
Love was too amorphous and illogical a concept for him to grasp without reducing it to bodily chemicals that can easily be explained away. And even if by some loose thread in the sweater of human history the lad were to find someone who he could say elicit such urges, surely it had to be a yet to be encountered girl at one of the myriads of genius factories that the teachers looked to pawn him off to.
Heck, to some, the idea of him expressing such urges was more often a cruel punchline than anything else.
"…There are, for example, some species of jellyfish that can revert back to it's earliest stage of life, or polyp; a stage characterized by asexuality. So, while immortality may not work across the board, it shouldn't be thrown out the window altogether-"
"OHMYGAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWD! JUST GO CURE CANCER ALREADY YOU LITTLE CREEP!"
While the rest of his peers guffawed at the outburst, Stumpy gave a bored chuckle as he cast his attention at the student three seats behind him. Like clockwork, he could count on the class bully Shanna to shout some far-from-witty comment in some attempt to recreate 'Atlas Shrugged' in their classroom environment; clipping the wings of his brilliance and bring him back down to the excremental muck for the sake of his less intellectual peers. And while Shanna got her reprimanding from Mrs. Czek, it wasn't like Stumpy walked away unscathed.
"Stumpy we talked about this." She said with disappointment. "You're a smart kid, and we're really proud that, truly…but, there's a whole class of people with you here. And we're running out of ideas as to how to help you dial it back some so that we all can learn together-"
"OOOH! OOOH! I GOT AN IDEA!" Shanna shouted again. "Maybe if some girl kissed Stumpy, he'll 'revertify' to a point where'd he'd actually shut the hell up for a minute. So, ladies, any volunteers?"
In an attempt to fully ponder this turn of events, Stumpy briskly made his way to the water fountain. But as the faucet expelled the cool, crisp, liquid, he could feel a large set of hands malignantly yank him off the ground.