Unexpected Friends

Rushing to study hall, Jake held tight to his papers.  He had to beat the bell.  Three, Two, One. He made it.  His frail, little, freshman body plopped into the old, wooden desk ready to begin his boatload of homework. Jake was a kid who worked hard in school, earned good grades, listened in class, and respected his peers. Although the good qualities he attained, he didn’t fit in much. Jake tossed his head into his books and got to work. A few minutes passed. He started to twiddle with his pencil in confusion.  So stressed about not knowing the answer, he lost control of his pencil and it flew a handful of desks over, skidding to a stop. 

Unfortunately for Jake, it landed in front of the star quarterback’s feet. Jake’s heart started racing a mile a minute. Sweat rolled down his rosy cheeks. The long arms and broad shoulders of Chris reached down to grab Jake’s pencil. Jake believed his life was over.  A wimpy little nerd interrupted the quarterback, the most popular guy in school, from his work. Chris lifted his head from the books and stared blankly at the pencil, trying to guess who it belonged to.  He kicked back his chair, stood up and bent over to grab the writing utensil. He walked over towards Jake. Terrified, Jake embarrassedly gulped and hid in his seat.  Chris gently placed the pencil on Jake’s desk and calmly returned to his seat. Jake sat motionless, as his eyes didn’t dare to look around the room. What just happened? Jake thought. Why didn’t he snap the pencil and start threatening me like a football player would? Football players aren’t supposed to be nice.  Jake believed the movies that portrayed their character as huge, belligerent giants. Jake, perplexed by the situation, attempted to carry on.

The following period, Jake wanted to reveal his courage by thanking Chris.  Chris stood six feet, two inches tall, smothered in a brown mop of hair on his head. His sky blue eyes and the way he performed on Friday nights had all the girls raving. Despite his frame and abilities, Chris is relatively quiet.  Stuck between fame and shame, his life was torn. All the fans screaming his name under the lights and the praises he receives in the hallways meant nothing to him. On the other hand, his teammates are the stereotypical jocks who torment smaller kids, slack off in school and seek attention. They are the ones who get to him.  Chris is an outlier in the locker room.  He receives criticism for the music he listens to, the preppy clothes he wears, and his goody two-shoes behavior. Every time a player has a question, they jokingly get sent to Chris because he knows everything, his teammates pretended. Each practice there is constant muttering and disapproval thrown at him behind his back. Chris believed that nobody would believe him or be able to relate with him, so each day he shoves his aggression and depression back down his chest and carries on with the day.

Jake, shyly, sneaks his way over to Chris as he stands tall at his locker.  Like a toddler asking a question, Jake pokes at Chris’ side and murmurs a thank you.  Chris nodded his head and continued on like it was nothing.  However, Jake walked tall and felt as if the monkey had been ripped off his back.  For a few seconds, he was the most confident kid in school.

That night at the dinner table, Jake shared his day with his family members. The enthusiasm and excitement he added about his encounter with Chris proved to his parents that he was taking a step to come out of his shell. Jake’s parents started worrying about him a few weeks ago when he continuously came home and would head straight for his room, not coming out the rest of the night. Seeing him like this is reassuring for his parents as they continued to listen as Jake narrated his day.

On the other hand, when Chris arrived at his house after practice, he was met by his parents eating dinner. Chris dropped his book bag, slowly walked to the kitchen and gathered food from the counter. With a big sigh, he took a seat next to his dad. “How was school Chris?” his mom asked. Chris kept his head down and piled more food into his mouth. His dad questioned, “Anything new happen? Did you meet with a teacher or talk to someone new?” The day was a typical school day for Chris. Nothing stood out.

The following day, during a lunch period, Jake was rushing through the cafeteria to get to class when he was stopped by a host of people who were circled like sharks in water. A brawl between the football players broke out.

Chris had walked over to take his seat next to his running back with his lunch tray in hand. His other teammates offered a trade to Chris: “Yo, Chris.  I’ll give you a slice of pizza for your turkey sandwiches.” Chris was in the mood for turkey, not wanting to give it up. “Nah….I’m good.” His teammate stood. “What did you say?” “I’m good,” Chris replied. “No you’re gonna give it to me!” the lineman scolded. It was then when he chose to attack Chris.

The students stand, acting as if it’s entertainment and a competition to see who can knock the other’s head off faster. It was a rare occasion for a scuffle on a Friday afternoon: game day.  Jake wanted no part of it as he tried to elude the situation, but as he was walking through the door, he heard a familiar voice.

He frantically turned back around and began to squeeze his way through the rather hefty crowd. As he reached the center, he found Chris, with a red face, struggling on the cold ground being strangled by the arms of one of his massive offensive lineman.  Jake gasped and panicked. There was a sense of urgency in him as his anger started to rise. He had never felt this feeling before as it came over him like dark, stormy clouds on a summer’s night.  Dropping his books, Jake sprinted to the villain of the situation and wound up to throw his strongest punch with all his might.  His fist flew in the air, his aggression passed through his veins into his right hand to deliver a forceful blow. At the point of contact, his fragile wrist bent and his knuckles cracked as his powerless tap seemed to upset the lineman.  The overpowering force stood from the ground and looked down at Jake, ready to maul him. “What did I get myself into,” Jake thought. He was bracing himself for a harmful strike as his rival swung his arm back and started on a path directly for the center of Jake’s face. The crowd stood gathered, egging the lineman on as Chris rose from the ground, regaining his strength with each breath. He quickly threw a jab at the beast to knock him of balance.  As he face planted on the table, Jake and Chris stood, staring in disbelief.

 When the big man rose, a faint cry was heard from the halls. A teacher came sprinting in to the cafeteria to break up the dogfight.  The kids instantly scattered and left the three warriors alone.  Chris quickly glanced down at Jake as if to say thank you. Jake, standing tall, gave him a simple nod.