But he did. He leaned up against the lockers and tried to engage her in small talk. This consisted of the statement, "Hi there, I'm Jerry Jones. When do you want me to pick you up Friday night?" Very suave and sophisticated. I had seen him around school already, and read his stats in the school paper as well as the sports section of the Baltimore Sun. He was a shoo-in for a scholarship when he graduated this year.
Tessa was a nice girl, and very shy. I knew her parents wouldn't allow her to date, probably not until after the Second Coming of Christ. Unless that happened Friday afternoon, Jerry was shit out of luck. Tessa simply smiled and said, "I don't think so.", and put her books in her locker.
Jerry was not to be dissuaded. "What's your name?"
"Tessa.", she said quietly. She tried to push her locker door shut, but Jerry had a hand on the door, holding it open. "Excuse me, but I need to close my locker."
"There's no hurry, Tessa. We're just starting to get to know each other. Besides, you'll get to class in time. Tessa, how old are you?"
Tessa had definitely figured out Jerry's plan, and pushed hard against the locker door. It almost caught his fingers, but he just smiled and kept her door open. "Let me close my locker.", she asked.
"As soon as you tell me when we're going out, baby. You're awfully pretty. Too bad you don't have anything nicer to wear. Maybe you can wear something nicer on Friday." At that point Jerry moved so that he was trapping her against the lockers, and he traced a finger along her arm, and across her blouse. He actually had the gall to slip a finger into the breast pocket of her blouse, though he didn't go so far as to grope her.
Tessa was starting to panic. She's not a very big girl, and Jerry was probably twice her size. Just as bad, she could see his two friends behind him, and they were as big as he was. "Please, let me go."
"But Tessa you haven't told me what you're going to wear on Friday." He was leering at her like a shark eyeing fresh chum. Nobody turned down Jerry Jones!
I had pretty much had my fill of Jerry. Somebody needed to get Tessa out of there, and it looked like it was going to have to be me. I pushed my book back into my locker and stepped closer. I pushed in between them with a smile. "Sorry about that. Tessa, you should be getting to class."
She gave me a terrified look and tried to sidle away behind me. Jerry slammed an arm forward, blocking the path, while saying, "Who the fuck do you think you are?" I wasn't sure which one of us he was talking to.
I leaned forward, and Jerry leaned backwards slightly. "Jerry, Tessa needs to get to class." I looked him straight in the eyes (well, upwards anyway, he was at least three inches taller than me) and kept my gaze there. "Tessa, you should go to class now."
"Tessa is staying here talking to me, asshole." At that point he reached out to grab her. Tessa moved back against the wall, but Jerry's fingers grabbed the pocket of her blouse and tore it. Tessa shrieked and tried to back away.
I grabbed Jerry's arm and twisted it up and away from her, and used his momentum to push him backwards, where he fell on his ass. "Tessa, get out of here!", I said.
Tessa scampered out of the way and ran down the hall, while Jerry's two teammates helped him to his feet. "You're dead, asshole!" He ran at me and swung wildly. I received the attack using the technique of munetsuki koshinage, whereby I grabbed his wrist and swung him around from outside of the body, and ultimately used his momentum to flip him up and over, dropping him on his side and shoulder. Jerry was out for the moment, but one of his stooges decided to help out. He tried grabbing me, so I used katatetori kokyunage, another gripping move, to twist him up and over and slammed him into one of the lockers. He slid to the ground.
The second stooge had now gotten Jerry up and both decided to attack. I'd never really done any two-on-one training at the dojo, but while these guys were big, they were untrained and there was enough time differential that I could still defend myself. Jerry punched at me again, so I used munetsuki kotegaishi to put him down a second time. This did open my rear to an attack by his friend, so I had to break this with an ushirotori kokyunage defense, which put him into the lockers upside down as well.
That was the end of it in more than one way. Jerry had really screwed up by trying this little stunt in the middle of a crowded hallway with a teacher at one end of the hall. While she couldn't hear what had started it, she could certainly see Tessa running away with a torn blouse, and three much bigger guys attacking me. She came running up yelling at us to stop, which I did by backing up against my locker. Jerry and his two friends were shaking their heads wondering 'What the fuck?!' as they got to their feet. Tessa also returned with a couple of large male teachers.
A few minutes later all of us were down in the principal's office, along with the school nurse. All three of the lacrosse players started in on how I had attacked them, but nobody was buying it. There were two school teachers as witnesses along with Tessa. Tessa had already slipped into her jacket and was holding her torn blouse, which was more than evidence enough. I didn't have to say hardly anything, and they didn't even call my parents. Tessa's folks were called to take her home, and the lacrosse team's parents were called to take their kids home. They all had three day suspensions, which they protested loudly, earning them five day suspensions.
The funniest part was when their coach, who happened to be one of the teachers Tessa had snagged, asked if I wanted to try out for any sports. I stared at him in disbelief and said, "I'm not real big on team sports. Do we have an unarmed combat team?" He just laughed at that, and asked me when the wrestling coach should expect me. I just smiled in response.
"Really, it's like I said, nothing happened. It's all just been blown up.", I said, after Tessa described what occurred.
"It wasn't nothing, Carl. I had to come here and tell you thank you for saving my daughter. We owe you for this.", replied her father.
"Thank you.", added her mother, who then leaned over to kiss my cheek. I glanced over at Tessa, who laughed silently and rolled her eyes. Her parents were a lot more fundamental in their beliefs than she was, although she was fairly conservative herself, and she had a good, if quiet, sense of humor. "You should come over and visit sometime. You and Tessa would make a nice couple."
"Mother!", shrieked Tessa in embarrassment.
"Well, you would."
My parents were simply staring at me and the others, my father in wonder, and my mother absolutely appalled. I just smiled and shook my head. "That's very nice Mrs. Harper, but Tessa and I are just friends. I don't think Tessa is my type of girl. Thank you anyway."
Tessa laughed at this, and even more so when her mother pressed the issue. "What type would that be?"
I had to laugh. "Tessa's a very nice girl, and the type I'm looking for, well, they aren't as nice as Tessa." I gave Tessa a wink, which she laughed at. Tessa's mother gasped softly and my mother protested loudly. I could see a twinkle in both fathers' eyes, though.
Tessa laughed loudly at this. "I'll let some of the girls at school know that."