21 Jump Street (Tom Hanson)

Fight Club

Doug and I turned to each other and shouted, "McQuaid Brothers!" 

Fuller lifted up his finger, "plus one." His finger dropped and he said, "you."

I followed his finger and saw that he was pointed at Mickey. She asked, "me?"

"Yeah. This is a heavy assignment so I want you all to go to the school and report back in a couple days with what you've found. We think there's more going on than just what's on the surface so I need you to bring your A-game. Just keep the profile you were given. Got it?"

"Loud and clear, Cap'n," Doug answered for us.

My favorite cover has always been Tom McQuaid. It's so fun, because he is so different from my real personality. It's almost like living in a Halloween costume that I can take off at the end of the day. I already had a white bandana in my car ready to be used.

We got to the school and went our separate ways. We came together at lunch to give each other updates, but we really didn't have much information until the third day.

We met up at an empty cafeteria table to speak freely. Mickey graciously packed a sack lunch for me, which she handed to me when we got to the table. We got there first, and Doug found us quickly.

Doug had a blue lunch tray with a carton of milk and a rubbery pizza. He sat down and asked, "have you guys heard of The Soap?"

I shook my head as I bit into my ham and cheese sandwich. "No. Why?"

"People keep asking me if I'm going to it tonight... when I try to ask about it, they completely shut it down and act like it doesn't exist," Doug said.

Mickey's eyebrows raised. "That's suspicious."

"It's tonight?" I asked.

Doug nodded, "and no one's talkin'."

Mickey suggested, "next time ask when and where. We will figure the rest out when we get here."

"Yeah, you're right," he said and took another bite of his pizza.

After school, Doug found out that The Soap was going to be in the schools basement when it gets dark. We still weren't sure what it was exactly, so we followed a few guys over a chain link fence to trespass onto school grounds.

It wasn't until we opened the basement door did we realize that it was an underground fighting ring. We stood in astonishment as we watched these high school guys pummel each other until they were bloody pulps. They were spitting teeth out on the floor, and bleeding all over the place. There was a crowd around them, shouting and cheering them on. Most of them were holding drinks being covered by flimsy brown paper bags, which was a tell-tale sign that it was alcohol.

The three of us stood frozen, not quite sure how to tackle this. Some teenager came up to us and asked, "got a fighter?"

"No," Mickey answered.

"You guys here to make some bets then?" He asked.

"No, we're just here to watch," Doug said.

"Kiss or get off the pot."

"Come on, guys, let's jam." I grabbed Mickey's shoulder and tried to pull her away from the fight. She took my suggestion and we all left.

We headed out of the school grounds and we didn't talk until we got in the car. We were all quick to agree that we needed to tell Fuller. There was nothing we could do about it tonight.

The next morning, we all huddled in his office and waited for him to come in with his morning coffee. Once he was sitting in his chair, we gathered around his desk and told him what we saw.