Dan's Story

High school is a strange place. It is very difficult place to explain. You can love it with all the hate built up inside you. Laugh when you are sad and lonely. Find true love with a broken heart. Be strong when all you are is weak. And have your weakness have you stand up for something. There was an event that happened a while ago, that should help clarify this.

It was the talk of the school, for the entire week. Not what happened over the weekend. Not about what the popular girls and guys are doing. Not even about the parties that are coming up. All the talk was about what had happened on Monday. I talked to many people who were there in the hallways when it had happened. They all have different points of view of the same event.

My friend Ashley said it all started because the Senior, Dan, had snapped. And he had attacked Scott Mittleton for no reason, other than being “not right in the head.” Scott was just the closest person to him at the time. She kept saying how Scott was just unlucky and how she was not happy about the outcome of the fight. Ashley always had a crush on Scott, so I could tell where her opinions had come from. I didn’t want to argue with her about what actually happened. I especially didn’t want to because of her obsessive love with all the jocks in our school.

There was a group of guys talking to each other in my Chemistry class. They obnoxiously talked about what they had heard happened from their friends. I listened in to hear how wrong they were.

“I heard that Scott was yellin’ at him, makin’ fun of Dan. I think Scott was even throwing fries at him too.” Boy 1 chuckled.

Boy 2 jumped in, “Yeah, someone told me that too. After that Dan jumped on top of him and beat the crap out of him. He pummeled Scott’s face. He got a couple shots in, but he couldn’t do anything anymore after Dan broke his nose! They had to take that thick-headed jock to the hospital. Didn’t he call Dan a ‘weak piece of sh-’”

“Naw man, that’s not what happened.” Interrupted Boy 3. “Scott didn’t do anythin’ to provoke Dan. He’s never even talked to him before. Scott told me himself.” Argued Boy 3.

After Boy 3 spoke, the rest of the boys quieted down and went back to their work. I could see that they had felt awkward after the last comment. I looked away and did as they did and went back to work.

All these people didn’t know the real story of what had happened. Some forgot something. Others just didn’t see it. Everyone failed to notice the actual cause of this whole fight. No one noticed the driving force behind it all. Love. It was all based around love.

Dan was a tall lanky upperclassman, who had acne, and greasy brown wavy hair. Not the greatest looking. He was the ideal geek. He was someone who hardly anyone knew. Dan was not well liked, and his looks caused some people to be deterred. However there was one girl who would always talk to him. She would always hang out with him. They were there for each other. Her name was Meg, another Senior. In Dan’s eyes, she was perfect. Flawless in every way. He had managed to tell her that once. However it only upset her. Because, when Meg was a child, she had lost her eyesight in an accident at the age of 6. She hated to be reminded of her disability. Because all she had to hold on to was her distant memories of childhood. To Dan, Meg was the light of his life. Just her presence could make him happy. He could spend hours with her just talking. He never had to worry about his looks. With her, he knew the true meaning of happiness.

The day started out like any other day. We had our regular classes. Went to lunch. Everything was boring as it always was. However on this day, Scott Mittleton and his herd stole some French fries out of the lunchroom. As they walked through the halls they looked around to see for any victims to throw fries at. First they fooled around with their friends with them, until she caught his eye. Scott grew a nasty grin, showing his evil disgusting teeth. He watched her walk down the hallway towards them. I could hear him think: “The perfect crime.” Dan stood behind me. He had not noticed what was about to unfold. I watched as Scott cocked back his arm holding the fries in his hand. It launched through the air spinning. Dan and I could only stand and watch the fries hit Meg in the face. Her body jerked back from the scare. She understood what had happened instantly and hid her face in her hair, as she power-walked away bumping into people.

I slowly turned to Dan, knowing what he was thinking. I saw his red face boiling with anger. He grinded his teeth together, and clenched his fists. He mumbled some incoherent words, as I backed up, out of his way. He ran at Scott. No one saw him coming. Dan lunged onto him and brought him to the ground. I saw Scott’s face full of confusion and terror. What I saw in Dan’s eyes, was pure rage. Dan threw punch after punch, trying to hit every part of his face to be unrecognizable. He cracked his tooth, which in turn cut his hand. But Dan didn’t even notice. Scott tried fighting back but there was a loud crack and he blacked out. Dan stood up over Scott’s unconscious body. He looked at the blood pouring out of his broken nose and the multiple cuts on top of the swollen bruises on his face. He was done. He had let out all his rage. He let out all his hate for love. Dan’s weakness for love had made him stand up and defend it.

Teachers raced over to the scene. They pushed through the wall of students watching, and looked at the horror that was done upon Mittleton. Looking up they saw Dan’s shirt, stained with red. His fists were dripping with blood. A few teachers went and grabbed Dan, as another called 9-1-1. As I watched him get pulled away, I saw him smiling, proud of what he had down. He stood up for his love. A new wave of teachers had now arrived and started up crowd control to disperse the students.

It has been a couple days and I haven’t seen or gotten a hold of him. He hasn’t answered his phone at all. He was gone, yet his name was all over the school. Out of people’s mouths and into other kids ears. Every version of his story obscured in some way, leaving only Dan and I to know the true story of what had happened. Even though Dan was never a bad kid, I know he was in a lot of trouble for attacking one of the school’s prized athletes. But walking around the hallways I knew everything was alright. Because whenever I pass by Meg, I see her, smiling, as if in love.