The Hero Inside of Me

Terence

"Welcome, class, to Junior English" said an already exasperated Mr. Grinchett.

Terence Holder couldn't help but be bored out of his mind. I should be using this time to practice, he thought, not to learn about when and when not to use the bathroom during first period. He thought about his schedule for the day. His day only started after school ended. First he had a brief "start of the year captain's meeting" with the captains of all the sports teams at Rosswell School for the Gifted. It would really only be him and a few other guys there, considering the fact that he was captain of the football, basketball, and soccer teams. Though he was a junior, Terence was the best player on all of these teams. Next he would have to judge football tryouts for an hour. Then he had a dinner party to attend with his parents and their business associates. And then he would work on his homework and maybe shoot some hoops until he felt tired enough to sleep. In all of his seventeen years, that was pretty much how his life ran for most of it.

"Did you hear me, Mr. Holder?" asked Mr. Grinchett

"What? I'm sorry could you repeat the question?" The class laughed a little.

"I said, what do you think about the class rules."

"They're well-thought out and carefully planned." That's exactly what he would want to hear.

"Well class, now you see my point. These rules are here to keep everyone safe and happy, and to-" He was interrupted by a quiet voice from the back of the room.

"But sir, I disagree. If we're expected to follow these rules while you yourself do the exact opposite, I feel that such a degree of hypocrisy would undermine the so called happiness and safety of this class. For example, if we're expected to be punctual and on time to class, while you show up much later, as you have proven in the past, then that may drive us into a small degree of panic and chaos because of the lack of supervision, which would also lead to the violation of rule number twelve, which is to keep order within the classroom. So what I suppose I'm saying, sir, is that these rules should only be applied if you too plan to follow them, and if not, they should be ratified accordingly."

Everyone turned around to see who had made the brilliant accusation. Terence turned to find that the voice belonged to Caroline Jameson, the shy girl who had barely spoken a word last year, and had spoken even less the year before. Boy, she has a way with words for someone who rarely speaks, Terence thought. He couldn't have put it better himself. The entire class stood up to cheer and she seemed to turn bright red in the face. Everyone hated the tyrant that was Mr. Grinchett, and someone finally had the bravery and wits to challenge him.

"Ms. Jameson, please report the headmaster's office at once!" shouted Mr. Grinchett who was steaming mad. Caroline seemed embarrassed, but she had earned the respect of everyone in the room, except for the instructor, of course. Terence returned to his thoughts and spent the rest of the class thinking about his schedule and how the year would turn out with all of the things he had on his plate. Then the bell rang and he went to the courtyard to find his best friend.

"Dude what was the holdup?" asked Jacob Kilari, his best friend since sixth grade.

"So you know that girl Caroline Jameson?" He nodded. "Well today she finally stood up to Grinchett and gave him a taste of his own medicine. She totally told him off."

"Aw, man, I wish I could have been there to see that, but we have to get to bio NOW or Ms. Roshan will murder us." They were running through the halls when Terence crashed into something and fell backwards. He looked up to see Caroline in front of him, looking a little disoriented and upset, like she'd been crying.

"Are you okay?" he asked whilst picking up the pile of books that had spilled from her backpack.

"I'm fine", she replied as she repacked her bag.

"Jacob, go on to class without me." He did so without thinking twice. "Do you want me to take you to class?", he offered.

"No thanks, I have a note", she said, struggling with her pack.

"Okay, well, I'll... see you later, I guess." As she was walking away he added, "And by the way, that was really cool how you stood up to Grinchett like that."

"Thanks" she said as she went on to her second period class.

Stop it, Terence thought to himself as he watched Caroline walk away. She's not even your type or anything. You never even noticed her until today, he chided himself all the way to biology.