This is Tommie - How to turn a very bad day to a very good day

Well during that summer between 10th and 11th grade J and I hung out and got closer as we did we plotted our plan to move to the top of the social food chain. He got job at the local grocery store and told me to come up there and work with him. That's were I got my ideas on how work and employment go. I may have gotten one, maybe two jobs in my entire life on my individual merits. Every job I have gotten has been from whom I know. And as a result I make sure that people I know get jobs as well. Almost all of my good friends have gotten a job where I worked. That is by design because I have a need to reward my friends for being my friends and that's how I've always done it and that's how I will continue to do it.

At any rate J had a lot of friends that went to a school in another district called Banneker these guys were maybe a year or two older than us but he used to live in the neighborhood with them so I hung out with them and became cool by extension. They weren't geeks like J and I (and when I was in high school being a geek or a nerd wasn't the cool thing to be called you all can thank me for my sacrifice later). They were cool and they were smart as hell as well, I had never met people before that were Black and cool and smart until then I didn't think it was possible. Two guys in particular really amazed me a guy named Mike and another guy named Ed. They were fucking branics, they were cool, and they knew actual girls.

So I spent a good portion of the summer hanging with them learning their mannerisms. How they talked, how they walked and most importantly hanging around these guys I learned the art of joanin’. That’s what we called it in Atlanta some people call it snaps, or the dozens. I wasn't great at it at the time but I could hold my own. Plus the fact that I had stone skin I could take more punishment than most. The thing about these guys was that they grew up with one another and they were outright brutal when they were joanin' on one another but, it was all in fun. I took that brutality of it but I had no plans on doing it for fun. I had one goal and one goal only and that was crushing anyone that ever crossed me. People that know me know that I can be outright mean when it comes to getting on people. I've realized that if you outright humiliate someone or make him or her feel foolish then they tend not to bother you anymore. It's all part of my defensive reaction. Like I said earlier I look for people's strengths and weakness I look for there likes and dislikes and I will use them to my advantage. I'm always looking to size people up mentally in the event I have to go up against them. I know it sounds Machiavellian but it's the survival instinct that I had to develop to survive.

Well school starts up in the fall and here we are back in school. Well I had this great plan to snap back a Jason but as I have come to realize what you would like to think is not always in line with reality. Jason had me totally shook I would get nervous anytime he came around because I knew I was just one bored moment away from being his source of entertainment for the day. So for about the first quarter of Jr. Year I was still taking it in the pooper from him. Then one day I just snapped, I'll never forget this day I had just a bad day.

My cafeteria was like any other cafeteria it was mini-caste system it was separated by grade and social status of course since I didn’t rank socially I was at the outcast table next to all the retard kids. I was just frustrated it was at lunch and I was sitting there I'm not sure if I was by myself or not I just know that he came by and said to me "What happened in the news today trapezoid head". It was a scene out of an after school special.

I thought to myself he must have been running out of material, I haven't brought a newspaper to school since the beginning of 10th grade and in all honesty I didn't want to be bothered that day. He said a few other things and his pack of hyenas were of course laughing as usual (I still have no idea where he got them from were they hired help?). Well, I wasn't listen to him or looking at him I was so used to his garbage that it didn't phase me but, today just wasn't that day. I looked at him dead in his eyes and said, “Jason really why are you here bothering me today? Shouldn't you be in the gym stacking basketballs with your feet or something?”

I spent a lot of time watching him and learning him. I knew that he was extremely sensitive about his big lips and long fingers. The kid had alien-like digits. And then I heard it, the most glorious sound in the world.

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH,

The tide had turned a bit I could tell he was a bit shocked that I would dare speak to him but, now he was forced to engage me. He came back with some old tired and wack things he always would say but, I had clearly heard everything he had to say and he couldn't phase me anymore.

I said, “The reason God made you so tall is so your fingers and lips won't drag the ground.”

He was hot, I could tell he was furious and I couldn't have been happier. We went back and forth for about 10 minutes and all I know is that I finished him off with a classic yo' mama.

I said, “I did read the paper today and it has your mom in it. I didn't read the whole thing but, it was something about women that ho for skittles or skittle coupons or something like that.”

OHHHHHHH

The crowd went nuts on that one. I think I went a bit too far I know he probably wanted to hit me but, if he did he wouldn't be able to play ball. So he sucked it in. I don't think I ever saw him at lunch or dealt with him again. Maybe we were on two different lunch schedules I don’t remember but I do know after that day I rarely saw him. If I did he actively ignored me, which was fine I actively ignored him too. This is when my life started to turn around and I started becoming the person I am today.