The clock on the wall ticked, a quarter to eight. Spot pulled out a match,
propping his left foot up on his right knee. He lit the match and lit his
shoe on fire and pulled out a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out with his
mouth and bending down to his shoe and lighting the cigarette on fire with
the aid of his shoe.
Rave sat there thinking, resting her head on her hand staring off into
space. David looked around nervously and then slid his hand down the front
of his pants and started to play with his balls. Denton looked up, taking
notice from the angle he was at, and watched David rubbing his privates.
Jack had taken off his jacket and was now wearing a blue hooded sweatshirt.
He grabbed a hold of the strings and started pulling them back and forth,
and now and then wrapping them around his ears and tugging at them until
the slid off.
Chord sat in the back wrapping a string around her finger making it turn
purple. Spot suddenly slapped his hand down on his shoe putting the flame
out. He leaned back and started to play air guitar with his cigarette
hanging out the side of his mouth. Curly Fry sat there playing cards again
with Race. He was showing her a shuffling trick, making the cards fly from
one hand to the next. Chord pulled out paper and a pencil and started to
draw while Jack made a paper football and kicked it in front of him. He
threw his hands up in the air in the "it's good" way and cheered silently.
Chord put her hands in her hair and leaned forward, rubbing her hand
through her hair and knocking dandruff out onto her picture to make it look
like a snow scene. She looked down at it, pushing her hair back and smiled.
Within minutes the whole library was completely quiet, as everyone fell
asleep.
* * * Pulitzer stood in front of the sleeping kids, looking around. "Wake up!" he said as everyone's head remained on the desks, eyes still closed. "Who has to go to the lavatory?" With this everyone rose their hands without skipping beat, their heads still resting on the table.
* * * The clocked ticked 10:22 as Jack stretched on the railing in the library. Spot walked around tearing pages out of a book, tossing them around as he walked around. " That's real intelligent." Jack shook his head looking at Spot. " You're right.it's wrong to destroy literature," he continued to tear pages out throwing them to the side. " It's such fun to read.and, Molet, really pumps my nads!" " Mol-yare." Rave pronounced it correctly. " I love his work." David commented. " Me too," Denton agreed, watching David and then going back to his notebook. Spot tossed the rest of the pages at David and picked up the card catalogue drawer and began to take cards out. " Big deal.nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy." he let his sentence trail off. " Speak for yourself. "Jack huffed dropping his leg off the railing and looking at Spot. " Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language!" Spot laughed pulling more cards out and inserting them in another place in the catalogue. " Mind if I help?" Curly Fry asked, taking another card catalogue drawer and pulling cards out and replacing them with other cards that she grabbed from Spot's drawer. " You're a smart girl," he leaned in closely to her. " I ain't smart, I'm bored." She replied back, sliding over away from him. " What are you writing?" Race asked Denton as he pulled his notebook away from sight. " Nothing," he smiled and blushed. Race shrugged and pulled out a pair of dice and started to roll them on the table. " Hey, you grounded tonight?" Jack asked Rave. " I don't know, my mom said I was, but my dad told me to just blow her off," she shrugged. " Big part at Spec's. Parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild." Jack invited. " Yea?" Rave asked, picking at her nail and looking at Jack. " Yeah, can you come?" " I doubt it." " How come?" " Well, 'cause if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it's because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute. divorce." Rave sighed.
" Who do you like better?" Spot asked suddenly. " What?" Rave asked. " You like your old man better than your mom?" he asked. " They're both strict." She shrugged. " No, I mean, if you had to choose between them." He said trying rephrase it so she would understand. " I dunno, I'd probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. it's like they use me just to get back at each other." " Ha!" Chord yelled suddenly from the back of the room. Everyone stared at her in shock. Chord blew her hair out of her eyes and grinned. " Shut up!" Rave yelled. " Don't tell her to shut up," Curly Fry hissed at her. " You're just feeling sorry for yourself," Jack told her. " Yeah, well if I didn't, nobody else would." She snapped back crossing her arms over her chest. " Aw.you're breaking my heart." Jack mocked. " Sporto." Spot tried to get his attention. " What?" Jack snapped turning to look at Spot who jumped down next to him. " You get along with your parents?" Spot questioned. " Well, if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" Jack asked. " You're an idiot anyway. But if you say you get along with your parents well you're a liar too!" Spot turned and started to walk away as Jack followed him and pushing him from behind. " You know something, man.if we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you!" Spot pointed his middle finger down at the floor. " Can you hear this? Want me to turn it up?" Spot asked flipping his hand up so that he was now giving Jack the bird. Race started snickering at this joke and looked back down at his dice in hand. " Hey, fellas, I mean." David started, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. " .I don't like my parents either, I don't. I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko." David went on as Jack shrugged him off. " Dork," Spot muttered. " Yeah?" David shrugged looking at Spot and placing his hands in his pockets. " You are a parent's wet dream, okay?" Spot shot at David as he started to walk away. " Well that's a problem!" David said turning around. " Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kind of clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie! What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?" Spot asked turning back to face Spot. " Why do you have to insult everybody?" Jack asked. " He has yet to insult me," Denton piped in, looking up, and pointing his finger in the air as if he was making a very valuable point. " I'm being honest, asshole! I would expect you, to know the difference." Spot replied. " Yea, well he's gotta name." Jack snapped. " Yeah?" Spot asked sarcastically like he cared. " Yeah," he replied, turning to David. " What's your name?" " David," he answered pointing to himself. " See," Jack shrugged turning back to Spot. " My condolences," Spot mocked to David as he walked away. " What's your name?" Rave asked Curly Fry who was still standing against the card catalogue, placing the drawers back in. " What's it matter to you?" she questioned, turning her back to Rave. Rave sighed and looked around. " I think the question would be, how old is that guy?" Spot said pointing to Denton who was hunched over his notebook again. " I've seen you before, you're a teacher, aren't you?" Race asked looking at Denton. " Yeah," Denton shrugged scribbling again. " So what are you doing here?" Spot asked walking over and leaning on the table as Denton covered up his notebook. " I got in trouble, like the rest of you," he replied. " No, they don't send teachers to detention." Rave shook her head. " I know, that's why I don't understand why I'm here. I'm only a student- teacher." He shrugged. " What's your name?" Spot asked looking at Rave. " Rave," she answered. " Rave?" he questioned. " What? It's a family name." " No, it's a fat girl's name!" Spot shot back. " Well thank you." Rave said rolling her eyes and turning around. Curly Fry giggled slightly shaking her head as she walked over to where Race was sitting and picked up his dice. " Hey," Race complained as Curly Fry began to roll the dice between her fingers. "That's mine, I was playing with those." " Oh shut up," Curly Fry rolled her eyes Race and turned to look back at the fight that was starting. " You're welcome," Spot replied to Rave sarcastically. " I'm not fat!" Rave shouted looking down at her thin frame. " Well not at present, but I could see you really pushing the maximum density!" he teased. " You see, I'm not sure if you know this, but there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat. So when you look at them you can sorta see that thin person inside. You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then uh." he starting miming someone getting fat, making strange noises as he did this. Rave shook her head and gave him the finger. "Oh, obscene finger gestures for such a pristine girl!" "I'm not that pristine," Rave shot back resentfully. Spot leaned in closer to Rave. " Are you a virgin?" he asked letting the word virgin trail. " I'll bet you a million dollars that you are! Let's end the suspense. It's gonna be a 'white weddin'?" he sang laughing when he finished. " Why don't you shut up?" Rave asked trying not to look uncomfortable. " I'll bet she is," Curly Fry laughed, as Rave stared at her with cold eyes. Curly smiled and waved and looked down at the dice, then tossed them back to Race who was looking at Curly Fry waiting for his dice. " How much you wanna wager?" Race looked up at Curly Fry. The two started to make their bet as the conversation rolled on. " You ever kissed a boy on the mouth? Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to God your parents don't walk in?" Spot interrogated her. She bite her bottom lip in frustration, trying to ignore him, but not succeeding. " Do you want me to puke?" she asked. " Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?" he continued. " Leave her alone!" Jack shouted as Spot stood up and looked at him. "I said, leave her alone." He repeated. " You gonna make me?" Spot questioned. " Yeah." Jack said making a fighting face, curling his lips slightly and cracking his neck. " Jock-strap's gonna get his ass kicked," Curly Fry whispered to Race who was playing with his dice again. He rolled them on the table and looked up. The number on the dice was snake eyes. Spot walked over to Jack and stared at him cold. " You and how many of your friends?" he asked, his face almost in Jack's. " Just me. Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, and you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready pal!" Spot took a swing at Jack, but Jack grabbed his arm, twisting it and pulling Spot to the floor. Denton sat there watching, grinning to himself, and scribbling another note in his notebook. " I don't wanna get into this with you man," Spot said through gritted teeth under Jack. Jack stood up, looking down at Spot. " Why not?" he asked as Spot stood up. " 'Cause, I'd kill you." He said shrugging. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother." " Chicken shit," Jack shook his head not believing a single word. " Oh, I bet it's not," Curly Fry shook her head as Race stared at them wide eyed as Jack turned away just as Spot pulled out a switchblade, flicking it open. With one swift downward motion he stabbed it into the chair that was at his left. " Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her and you don't even think about her! You understand me?" Jack asked seeing the switchblade, but trying to act like it didn't bother him. " I'm trying to help her!" Spot yelled just as the janitor, Weasel walked into the room. " David, how you doing?" Weasel asked glancing over at David. " Your dad works here?" Spot asked as David started to blush. " Uh, Weasel?" he asked. " What?" Weasel asked moving his cleaning cart further into the library. " Can I ask you a question?" " Sure," Weasel shrugged. " How does one become a janitor?" Spot mocked. " You wanna be a janitor?" Weasel asked surprised. " No. I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Jack here, is very interested in pursing a career in the custodial arts." He replied placing his hands on Jack's shoulders. " Oh really? You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon, huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shit-heads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers, I listen to your conversations, you don't know that, but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends." He replied back smugly. "By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast!" he pointed to the clock on the wall. Everyone groaned expect for Spot, who stood there grinning and nodding at Weasel. " Shit," Jack said shaking his head as they all took their seats. Spot sat down and started to whistle a marching tune as Curly Fry joined in. Soon everyone was whistling to the tune as Pulitzer walked in. Just then everyone stopped as Spot began to whistle Beethoven's 5th. "Alright girls, that's thirty minutes for lunch," Pulitzer said looking at them. " Here, sir?" Jack asked looking at him. " Here." Pulitzer answered. " Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir." " Well I don't care what you think, Jack." Pulitzer shot back at him. " Uh, Dick? Excuse me, Joe, will milk be made available to us?" Spot piped in. " We're extremely thirsty sir," Jack agreed. " Uh, while we're at it, I'm not exactly sure why I'm here, really." Denton said looking up at Pulitzer, who again ignored him. " I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." Rave nodded. "I've seen her dehydrate sir, it's pretty gross." Jack agreed. " That's a crock of shit," Curly Fry mumbled under her breath. " Relax, I'll get it!" Spot said standing up from his seat. " Ah, ah, ah. Grab some wood there, bub!" Pulitzer yelled pointing at him as Spot grinned at him. "What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" Pulitzer pointed to Jack. "You," he said looking around the room. "And you. Hey! What's her name? Wake her! Wake her up!" He said pointing to Chord. "Come on, on your feet missy! Let's go! This is no rest home!" he ordered as Chord stood up. " And you." He pointed to Race. "There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!" he ordered. Jack, Race, and Chord walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. " So what's your poison?" Jack asked looking at the two. " I'll have a coke," Race nodded. " How, 'bout you? What's your poison?" Jack asked Chord. When she didn't say anything he asked again, this time rephrasing it. " What do you drink?" Chord just stared at him. "Okay, forget I asked." He said looking at Race as they both shrugged. " Vodka," Chord answered, shocking the two boys. " Vodka?" Race mouthed to Jack. " Vodka? When do you drink vodka?" Jack asked in a half-laugh. " Whenever." Chord answered rudely, throwing her arms out in exaggeration. " A lot?" Race asked eyes wide.
" Tons," Chord smiled smugly.
" Is that why you're here today?" Jack questioned. Chord ran her fingers down the wall, not answering. " Why are you here?"
" Why are you here?" Chord snapped back at him, tossing her hair behind her. Jack and Race stopped, both leaning on the wall.
" Why are you here today?" Race agreed.
" Um, I'm here today, because uh, because my coach and my father don't want me to blow my ride. See I get treated differently because uh, Coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my old man. I'm not a winner because I wanna be one.I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a racehorse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me." Jack answered. Race smiled at him, shaking his head and stared down at his feet.
" Yeah? That's very interesting. Now why don't you tell us why you're really in here?" Chord questioned, not believing a single word that Jack had said.
" Forget it!" Jack shook his head as he started to walk away.
" Hey, I believe you," Race called as he watch Chord and Jack walk down the hall.
* * * Pulitzer stood in front of the sleeping kids, looking around. "Wake up!" he said as everyone's head remained on the desks, eyes still closed. "Who has to go to the lavatory?" With this everyone rose their hands without skipping beat, their heads still resting on the table.
* * * The clocked ticked 10:22 as Jack stretched on the railing in the library. Spot walked around tearing pages out of a book, tossing them around as he walked around. " That's real intelligent." Jack shook his head looking at Spot. " You're right.it's wrong to destroy literature," he continued to tear pages out throwing them to the side. " It's such fun to read.and, Molet, really pumps my nads!" " Mol-yare." Rave pronounced it correctly. " I love his work." David commented. " Me too," Denton agreed, watching David and then going back to his notebook. Spot tossed the rest of the pages at David and picked up the card catalogue drawer and began to take cards out. " Big deal.nothing to do when you're locked in a vacancy." he let his sentence trail off. " Speak for yourself. "Jack huffed dropping his leg off the railing and looking at Spot. " Do you think I'd speak for you? I don't even know your language!" Spot laughed pulling more cards out and inserting them in another place in the catalogue. " Mind if I help?" Curly Fry asked, taking another card catalogue drawer and pulling cards out and replacing them with other cards that she grabbed from Spot's drawer. " You're a smart girl," he leaned in closely to her. " I ain't smart, I'm bored." She replied back, sliding over away from him. " What are you writing?" Race asked Denton as he pulled his notebook away from sight. " Nothing," he smiled and blushed. Race shrugged and pulled out a pair of dice and started to roll them on the table. " Hey, you grounded tonight?" Jack asked Rave. " I don't know, my mom said I was, but my dad told me to just blow her off," she shrugged. " Big part at Spec's. Parents are in Europe. Should be pretty wild." Jack invited. " Yea?" Rave asked, picking at her nail and looking at Jack. " Yeah, can you come?" " I doubt it." " How come?" " Well, 'cause if I do what my mother tells me not to do, it's because my father says it's okay. There's like this whole big monster deal, it's endless and it's a total drag. It's like any minute. divorce." Rave sighed.
" Who do you like better?" Spot asked suddenly. " What?" Rave asked. " You like your old man better than your mom?" he asked. " They're both strict." She shrugged. " No, I mean, if you had to choose between them." He said trying rephrase it so she would understand. " I dunno, I'd probably go live with my brother. I mean, I don't think either one of them gives a shit about me. it's like they use me just to get back at each other." " Ha!" Chord yelled suddenly from the back of the room. Everyone stared at her in shock. Chord blew her hair out of her eyes and grinned. " Shut up!" Rave yelled. " Don't tell her to shut up," Curly Fry hissed at her. " You're just feeling sorry for yourself," Jack told her. " Yeah, well if I didn't, nobody else would." She snapped back crossing her arms over her chest. " Aw.you're breaking my heart." Jack mocked. " Sporto." Spot tried to get his attention. " What?" Jack snapped turning to look at Spot who jumped down next to him. " You get along with your parents?" Spot questioned. " Well, if I say yes, I'm an idiot, right?" Jack asked. " You're an idiot anyway. But if you say you get along with your parents well you're a liar too!" Spot turned and started to walk away as Jack followed him and pushing him from behind. " You know something, man.if we weren't in school right now, I'd waste you!" Spot pointed his middle finger down at the floor. " Can you hear this? Want me to turn it up?" Spot asked flipping his hand up so that he was now giving Jack the bird. Race started snickering at this joke and looked back down at his dice in hand. " Hey, fellas, I mean." David started, placing a hand on each of their shoulders. " .I don't like my parents either, I don't. I don't get along with them. Their idea of parental compassion is just, you know, wacko." David went on as Jack shrugged him off. " Dork," Spot muttered. " Yeah?" David shrugged looking at Spot and placing his hands in his pockets. " You are a parent's wet dream, okay?" Spot shot at David as he started to walk away. " Well that's a problem!" David said turning around. " Look, I can see you getting all bunged up for them making you wear these kind of clothes. But face it, you're a Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie! What would you be doing if you weren't out making yourself a better citizen?" Spot asked turning back to face Spot. " Why do you have to insult everybody?" Jack asked. " He has yet to insult me," Denton piped in, looking up, and pointing his finger in the air as if he was making a very valuable point. " I'm being honest, asshole! I would expect you, to know the difference." Spot replied. " Yea, well he's gotta name." Jack snapped. " Yeah?" Spot asked sarcastically like he cared. " Yeah," he replied, turning to David. " What's your name?" " David," he answered pointing to himself. " See," Jack shrugged turning back to Spot. " My condolences," Spot mocked to David as he walked away. " What's your name?" Rave asked Curly Fry who was still standing against the card catalogue, placing the drawers back in. " What's it matter to you?" she questioned, turning her back to Rave. Rave sighed and looked around. " I think the question would be, how old is that guy?" Spot said pointing to Denton who was hunched over his notebook again. " I've seen you before, you're a teacher, aren't you?" Race asked looking at Denton. " Yeah," Denton shrugged scribbling again. " So what are you doing here?" Spot asked walking over and leaning on the table as Denton covered up his notebook. " I got in trouble, like the rest of you," he replied. " No, they don't send teachers to detention." Rave shook her head. " I know, that's why I don't understand why I'm here. I'm only a student- teacher." He shrugged. " What's your name?" Spot asked looking at Rave. " Rave," she answered. " Rave?" he questioned. " What? It's a family name." " No, it's a fat girl's name!" Spot shot back. " Well thank you." Rave said rolling her eyes and turning around. Curly Fry giggled slightly shaking her head as she walked over to where Race was sitting and picked up his dice. " Hey," Race complained as Curly Fry began to roll the dice between her fingers. "That's mine, I was playing with those." " Oh shut up," Curly Fry rolled her eyes Race and turned to look back at the fight that was starting. " You're welcome," Spot replied to Rave sarcastically. " I'm not fat!" Rave shouted looking down at her thin frame. " Well not at present, but I could see you really pushing the maximum density!" he teased. " You see, I'm not sure if you know this, but there are two kinds of fat people. There's fat people that were born to be fat, and then there's fat people that were once thin but they became fat. So when you look at them you can sorta see that thin person inside. You see, you're gonna get married, you're gonna squeeze out a few puppies and then uh." he starting miming someone getting fat, making strange noises as he did this. Rave shook her head and gave him the finger. "Oh, obscene finger gestures for such a pristine girl!" "I'm not that pristine," Rave shot back resentfully. Spot leaned in closer to Rave. " Are you a virgin?" he asked letting the word virgin trail. " I'll bet you a million dollars that you are! Let's end the suspense. It's gonna be a 'white weddin'?" he sang laughing when he finished. " Why don't you shut up?" Rave asked trying not to look uncomfortable. " I'll bet she is," Curly Fry laughed, as Rave stared at her with cold eyes. Curly smiled and waved and looked down at the dice, then tossed them back to Race who was looking at Curly Fry waiting for his dice. " How much you wanna wager?" Race looked up at Curly Fry. The two started to make their bet as the conversation rolled on. " You ever kissed a boy on the mouth? Have you ever been felt up? Over the bra, under the blouse, shoes off, hoping to God your parents don't walk in?" Spot interrogated her. She bite her bottom lip in frustration, trying to ignore him, but not succeeding. " Do you want me to puke?" she asked. " Over the panties, no bra, blouse unbuttoned, Calvin's in a ball on the front seat past eleven on a school night?" he continued. " Leave her alone!" Jack shouted as Spot stood up and looked at him. "I said, leave her alone." He repeated. " You gonna make me?" Spot questioned. " Yeah." Jack said making a fighting face, curling his lips slightly and cracking his neck. " Jock-strap's gonna get his ass kicked," Curly Fry whispered to Race who was playing with his dice again. He rolled them on the table and looked up. The number on the dice was snake eyes. Spot walked over to Jack and stared at him cold. " You and how many of your friends?" he asked, his face almost in Jack's. " Just me. Just you and me. Two hits. Me hitting you, and you hitting the floor. Anytime you're ready pal!" Spot took a swing at Jack, but Jack grabbed his arm, twisting it and pulling Spot to the floor. Denton sat there watching, grinning to himself, and scribbling another note in his notebook. " I don't wanna get into this with you man," Spot said through gritted teeth under Jack. Jack stood up, looking down at Spot. " Why not?" he asked as Spot stood up. " 'Cause, I'd kill you." He said shrugging. "It's real simple. I'd kill you and your fucking parents would sue me and it would be a big mess and I don't care enough about you to bother." " Chicken shit," Jack shook his head not believing a single word. " Oh, I bet it's not," Curly Fry shook her head as Race stared at them wide eyed as Jack turned away just as Spot pulled out a switchblade, flicking it open. With one swift downward motion he stabbed it into the chair that was at his left. " Let's end this right now. You don't talk to her, you don't look at her and you don't even think about her! You understand me?" Jack asked seeing the switchblade, but trying to act like it didn't bother him. " I'm trying to help her!" Spot yelled just as the janitor, Weasel walked into the room. " David, how you doing?" Weasel asked glancing over at David. " Your dad works here?" Spot asked as David started to blush. " Uh, Weasel?" he asked. " What?" Weasel asked moving his cleaning cart further into the library. " Can I ask you a question?" " Sure," Weasel shrugged. " How does one become a janitor?" Spot mocked. " You wanna be a janitor?" Weasel asked surprised. " No. I just wanna know how one becomes a janitor because Jack here, is very interested in pursing a career in the custodial arts." He replied placing his hands on Jack's shoulders. " Oh really? You guys think I'm just some untouchable peasant? Peon, huh? Maybe so, but following a broom around after shit-heads like you for the past eight years I've learned a couple of things. I look through your letters, I look through your lockers, I listen to your conversations, you don't know that, but I do. I am the eyes and ears of this institution my friends." He replied back smugly. "By the way, that clock's twenty minutes fast!" he pointed to the clock on the wall. Everyone groaned expect for Spot, who stood there grinning and nodding at Weasel. " Shit," Jack said shaking his head as they all took their seats. Spot sat down and started to whistle a marching tune as Curly Fry joined in. Soon everyone was whistling to the tune as Pulitzer walked in. Just then everyone stopped as Spot began to whistle Beethoven's 5th. "Alright girls, that's thirty minutes for lunch," Pulitzer said looking at them. " Here, sir?" Jack asked looking at him. " Here." Pulitzer answered. " Well, I think the cafeteria would be a more suitable place for us to eat lunch in, sir." " Well I don't care what you think, Jack." Pulitzer shot back at him. " Uh, Dick? Excuse me, Joe, will milk be made available to us?" Spot piped in. " We're extremely thirsty sir," Jack agreed. " Uh, while we're at it, I'm not exactly sure why I'm here, really." Denton said looking up at Pulitzer, who again ignored him. " I have a very low tolerance for dehydration." Rave nodded. "I've seen her dehydrate sir, it's pretty gross." Jack agreed. " That's a crock of shit," Curly Fry mumbled under her breath. " Relax, I'll get it!" Spot said standing up from his seat. " Ah, ah, ah. Grab some wood there, bub!" Pulitzer yelled pointing at him as Spot grinned at him. "What do you think, I was born yesterday? You think I'm gonna have you roaming these halls?" Pulitzer pointed to Jack. "You," he said looking around the room. "And you. Hey! What's her name? Wake her! Wake her up!" He said pointing to Chord. "Come on, on your feet missy! Let's go! This is no rest home!" he ordered as Chord stood up. " And you." He pointed to Race. "There's a soft drink machine in the teacher's lounge. Let's go!" he ordered. Jack, Race, and Chord walked out of the room and headed down the hallway. " So what's your poison?" Jack asked looking at the two. " I'll have a coke," Race nodded. " How, 'bout you? What's your poison?" Jack asked Chord. When she didn't say anything he asked again, this time rephrasing it. " What do you drink?" Chord just stared at him. "Okay, forget I asked." He said looking at Race as they both shrugged. " Vodka," Chord answered, shocking the two boys. " Vodka?" Race mouthed to Jack. " Vodka? When do you drink vodka?" Jack asked in a half-laugh. " Whenever." Chord answered rudely, throwing her arms out in exaggeration. " A lot?" Race asked eyes wide.
" Tons," Chord smiled smugly.
" Is that why you're here today?" Jack questioned. Chord ran her fingers down the wall, not answering. " Why are you here?"
" Why are you here?" Chord snapped back at him, tossing her hair behind her. Jack and Race stopped, both leaning on the wall.
" Why are you here today?" Race agreed.
" Um, I'm here today, because uh, because my coach and my father don't want me to blow my ride. See I get treated differently because uh, Coach thinks I'm a winner. So does my old man. I'm not a winner because I wanna be one.I'm a winner because I got strength and speed. Kinda like a racehorse. That's about how involved I am in what's happening to me." Jack answered. Race smiled at him, shaking his head and stared down at his feet.
" Yeah? That's very interesting. Now why don't you tell us why you're really in here?" Chord questioned, not believing a single word that Jack had said.
" Forget it!" Jack shook his head as he started to walk away.
" Hey, I believe you," Race called as he watch Chord and Jack walk down the hall.
