4 Tyler
“Tyler, do you think Phillip Malloy is legitimate? Does he really feel this way?”
“How would I know Mr. Rogers, or care?”
“C’mon Tyler you’re bright, what do you think?”
Tyler felt himself becoming annoyed. Mr. Rogers wanted him to say that the character was lying and just trying to get the teacher in trouble, because that is what Tyler would do if he could. Besides, Tyler knew that there was only one right answer as far as Rogers was concerned, and Tyler had to guess how this old decrepit man felt about this stupid book. Nothing But the Truth really is a crap book to Tyler. Who cares if some fruity kid sings the national anthem too loud? But, if Tyler didn’t answer this future pedophile creep; he would bother him about this horrible book for the rest of the week. School sucks. He knew that Rogers was just picking on him because he was pissed off that the papers were so bad. He was happy when Mr. Rogers finally stopped going on about how bad the papers where, but he groaned when they started discussing Nothing But the Truth. Tyler decided to give Rogers what he wanted. “I think that Phillip Mallory…”
“Malloy,” corrected Mr. Rogers. “You would not like it if someone called you Taylor.”
“Whatever, this Malloy kid was probably just screwing around with the teacher, and she blew it out of proportion. It’s really her fault for making such a big deal.”
“Maybe, but what gives Phillip the right to screw with people?”
“He’s bored Rogers, high school blows.” This slight obscenity gets the attention of the class. Each eye that was staring blankly at books, walls, desks, and each other’s asses flash immediately to Tyler, then to Ben Rogers, awaiting a reaction from the teacher. Tyler loved this, Rogers would invariably get pissed off and they would finally have something worth doing today.
“Why do you think that is, I mean why do you think he is bored. I know why you think high school blows.” Rogers said non-plussed, teenage rebellion is to be expected, especially from a ninth grader like Tyler Jenkins.
“Well, he’s bored because we all are. Students doing the same stuff that they have done since kindergarten and teachers are bored saying the same things over and over every period every day. I mean, Mr. Rogers aren’t you bored?”
“No, what I do is important.”
“If your job was so important, you wouldn’t be making a twentieth of what my Dad makes.”
Ben Rogers got flustered, “Well, maybe there is more to life than money. Besides, you should take school more seriously; your dad wouldn’t make what he does without going to law school.”
“Mr. Rogers, you know that college isn’t that tough. Look at your student teacher, that Cameron dude, he seems half brain dead.” Said Steven Owens, a tenth grader repeating Roger’s class.
Tyler smiled, ready to twist the knife. “You really can’t blame Mr. Rogers for his student teacher. They stuck him with that idiot, because everyone knows that Mr. Rogers had an affair with that girl student teacher last year.” If anyone in the class had not been paying attention before, they definitely were now. Rogers, looking tired like he hadn’t slept in months, turned pale and locked his eyes on Tyler with a focus akin to burning ants with a magnifying glass. He balled his fists, thought twice, and went into the hallway.
“Tyler, is that true?” asked Buffy Bartlett after counting to three in her head once the door had closed.
“No, I was just fucking around with that loser. No one would screw him.” Tyler had never felt better in his life.
“Good, cuz I remember that girl he had last year, and she was pretty skanky.” Added Steven. “He seemed pretty mad though, you better watch it Tyler.”
“What’s he gonna do?” Tyler knew that he had made teachers mad enough to want to hit him, but they couldn’t do that. The worse they could do to him at this point was fill out some paperwork about him that will never be looked at or they would snitch to his parents about him. At this point, his parents wouldn’t do anything to him either; they knew that he was probably right, or there was some kind of misunderstanding and never punished him for what the school had said. Last year he was suspended in the morning for bullying and that night his mom still let him go to the Dave Matthews concert. The teachers were powerless against him, and he could manipulate his parents into almost anything. It’s their fault for being such assholes. Tyler didn’t care if they filled out some form against him. Oh no, there’s a piece of paper that says he is a bad boy. What would he ever do? Seriously, who cares?
A minute passed before Mr. Rogers came back in the room. The class was absolutely silent, waiting for the other shoe to drop, for Tyler to say something, or for Mr. Rogers to lose it and scream at Tyler and then punish him. None of that happened; Ben Rogers studied his water bottle, found it untampered with and took a big swallow. He assigned reading for tomorrow’s class and the bell mercifully rang. Tyler smiled his biggest smile as he walked out of the room empty handed. Rogers considered belting Tyler, but sat at his desk instead.
Jenkins 1, Rogers 0.