“No! She and I were working. We were doing the assignment just like Ms. Fontana explained. He came
over
and started bothering us. When I told him to leave us alone he called me names,” Henry said.
“Who swung the first punch?” Jessica asked, knowing that would be one of the primary factors in how the principal would determine
her son’s
punishment.
“I don’t remember. I think I did. I just wanted him to go away and he wouldn’t,” Henry said.
Sensing his agitation, both parents stopped questioning him. Tom pulled onto Norway Point, their breathtaking street by the lake that featured some of Hayward’s most beautiful homes. It had just snowed
. The
lake houses
dripped icicles
,
the
pine trees
’ boughs were weighted down with snow, and the
frozen lake
glistened like silver.
Tom and Jessica
had a picturesque log cabin that sat on the lake, but
it
was modest in comparison to
their
wealthy
neighbors.
Natalie
shoveled the driveway, making it easy for them all to pull into the garage.
***
Henry
hadn’t had any discipline problems until junior high school. His first unacceptable behavior began in seventh grade. H
is
science
teacher allowed the class to take turns in holding her guinea pig. When it was
his
turn, the guinea pig nibbled on his thumb. He
angrily
whipped the rodent against the wall, instantaneously killing it. The teacher took full responsibility,
blaming herself for
deviating from their normal classroom routine.
His next brush with school policy happened i
n eighth grade
.
Henry accidentally bumped into one of the toughest boys in
school
while changing classes
. He kept on walking,
afraid of being late for class.
The boy used the incident to start a verb
al fight in the hallway. Upset with the boy’s yelling, Henry
slammed him against the lockers
and wrapped his hands around the bo
y’s neck. A teacher intervened before the boy was hurt. A
gain, the in
cident was swept under the rug because of his
disorder.
Jessica knew high school was different. They had a much tougher stance on fights, regardless of her son’s
Asperger’s Syndrome
. The pain pills she had given
Henry
made him sleepy. Shortly after dinner, he went to bed.
“Any predictions? I mean in the principal’s office tomorrow morning,” Jessica asked, alone with her husband in their bedroom watching the news.
Tom sleepily flipped through the channels. “
I think that h
e’s going to be suspended.
You’ll have to quit
your volunteer work at the church. I
might have to take some time off of work.
He can’t be home alone for the whole day. Or
, if we’re lucky,
he
’ll
be suspended inside of school. What else can they do? It’s his first offense
. The break in his daily routine is going to set him off. It took all the way to Halloween before he got used to high school.”
“I was thinking that, too,” Jessica yawned.
***
The next morning
Rio
and Henry along with their parents waited in the reception area of the main office. Both boys had dark purple shiners and disjointed noses.
Rio
’s left arm was in a sling, and a shoulder brace jutted out of the collar of his
shirt
.
“Glad you all are here on time. Come in. We can talk in private,” the principal gestured. Everyone piled into his large, sparsely furnished office.
“I was up all night thinking about
a fair consequence for both boys
. Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, Henry is autistic.
As
p
erger’s actually.
Not that that’s an excuse to fight, but his disorder is given special consideration. This fight was particularly
bloody
. If we didn’t stop it, who knows how badly hurt these boys would be. Normally, each boy
would receive a
month suspension. Henry threw the first punch, so
he would have been out for
a longer period of time, maybe even an alternative school.”
Jessica and Tom winced.
“But
Rio
provoked him with some insults.
Rio
will be given a two week out-of-school suspension, and then a one week in-school-suspension
, whereas
Henry will have a four week in-school-suspension. Both boys will cross paths in the in-school or ISS room on that third week. They
will have
to demonstrate a mutual toleration for each other. If they still can’t be in the same room together, more time will be added to their suspensions. Am I clear?” Principal Schafer asked. He had a commanding presence that both student
s
and adult
s
didn’t want to tangle with. Everyone nodded except Tom.
“Once the suspensions are over, what will happen with the seating arrangements in both lunch and math class? I understand they have these classes together. Can
the
boys be separated
?
Put o
n opposite sides of the room?”
“Mr. Novak, we don’t do restraining orders here at Freemont,” Mr. Schafer snidely answered. “I realize that Henry is special, but he needs to execute some self-control. I doubt they will be sitting next to each other, but it’s not mine
n
or Ms. Fontana’s responsibility to keep them as far apart as we possibly can throughout the day.”
“I see,” answered Tom.
The principal explained the terms of both out-of-school and in-school suspensions while both boys waited in silence for their next move.
Rio
was given a stack of worksheets
then
left the building with his parents.
“Henry, come with me,” the principal
said as he
motioned
with his arm
.
Jessica could see the fear in his eyes. “Can I go
with?
I want to see the room that he’ll be spending the next few weeks in.”
The principal nodded. Tom and Jessica walked with their son to the ISS room. They
looked through t
he small rectangular window inside of the door.
“This is temporary,” Jessica said, seeing
Henry’s
eyes tear up in frustration.
“I don’t like this. I don’t know anybody. Why can’t I just go back to my classes?” Henry cried.
“Stop crying,
S
on. Someone might see you. You’re setting yourself up to get teased. It’s because of yesterday, the fight. That’s why you got
to
be here. It’s only
four
weeks. You can do this,” Tom stated.
“An
d
your teachers will be stopping by to visit
. They’ll give you
homework throughout the day. For lunch, Ms. Fontana offered to let you visit her in her room, like you always do
, for the whole lunch
period,” Principal Schafer added. This seemed to appease Henry. He slowly walked in and took a seat.
The snowy, frigid January day should have been a snow day. Many students had their mommies call in for them because of the weather. Not Jake’s. He could have pneumonia, pink-eye, strep throat, 105 degree fever, and
MRSA
at one time,
and his Aunt Leah woul
d make sure he got on the
school
bus.
On
the second day of his sentence, he sleepily sat in the
Z
oo, too tired to do his
classwork. He was drifting off
with a pencil in his hand
,
pretending to be writing
down vocabulary words
when a new
classmate
took a seat a few feet away from him.
Jake did a double take. The new Zoo-mate was none other than the
recently famous Henry Novak
.
He
quickly finished his classwork, wanting to use his afternoon free-time for a chance to ask Henry about the fight.
According to
hallway whispers and
Facebook
, the
weird,
nobody
freshman beat the crap out of
Rio
Garcia.
Impressive
.
Big boy, but has a look about him…vacant, yet h
is eyes are red, like he was
crying
,
thought Jake in admiration
.
Rio
was strong, smart, handsome, and popular. Every girl in the school wanted to be with him
,
and he knew it. It was guys like
Rio
who
thought they were better, entitled, above it all, with
their whole life planned out
.
Henry was
brave to take him down a notch. Jake instantly
felt a connection with
his new
Z
oo
-
mate
.
***
Henry cried off and on du
ring his first day of In-School
Suspension
.
His teachers would periodically drop by throughout the morning when they had a plan period, giving him classwork and pulling him outside in the hallway to talk. They
believed
he didn’t belong in the self-contained room and didn’t want him to explode.
He
liked the attention and stopped crying before lunchtime.
Ms.
Fontana escorted him into her classroom for lunch. His anxiety softened. The established routine was a relief. She felt responsible for his predicament. Brittany
had seemed like
such a nice girl, the perfect, understanding partner for Henry. But the cheerleader ended up being no different than most of the kids at Freemont High, uncomfortable with those
who
were
different. Henry couldn’t see her disdain. He shrouded himself in a fantasy about their imaginary romance.
Henry sat in his usual desk and nibbled on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich he brought from home.
F
or months all he ever ate was peanut butter
and jelly with a side of Fritos
and Coke as his beverage.
“So, how was this morning? Will you be alright?” she asked.
“No. I hate it,” he answered without expression, fixated on his sandwich.
“It won’t be too much longer. Any questions on your math work?” she asked.
“No. The worst part is that I won’t see Brittany. Someday we will get married,” he stated.
“Henry, she’s one of the reasons
why
you got into all this trouble. You’re too good for her. When you come back to class, I’m going to beg you to stop staring at her
. Leave
her and
Rio
alone. Maybe you don’t understand, but they are
the reason you’re stuck in ISS
.”
“She’s
not the problem. Rio is.
Soon we’ll be married, like my mom and dad. Did you know that the movie Patten is on tonight? That’s one of my favorite movies. He’s my favorite General…” Henry blabbered. His obsession with WWII was something Ms. Fontana had gotten used to and even appreciated.
He had ignored her
mini-warning, but it was nice to see Henry back
to being himself.
“Henry, once the bell rings, can I trust you to go back downstairs to the ISS room? Tomorrow I’ll come and get you for lunch, just like today,” Ms. Fontana reiterated.
Henry’s demeanor changed from bubbly to angry
. He
gathered up his books and left the classroom. As he exited the door, he brushed passed Brittany.
“Hi Brittany. I’ll be back soon. We can do our math work together again,” he said.
She rolled her eyes and walked away while he was in mid-sentence. Not picking up the social cue, he tried to impress her with his knowledge on the Normandy Invasion.
“Henry, the bell has rung. You need to be downstairs now or you can’t come up here anymore for lunch!” nervously reprimanded Ms. Fontana. She wasn’t prepared for extra trouble.