Henry's Rejection

The cafeteria at Miami River Middle School served decent food but I still brought my own lunch most days. Today, it was a basic ham and cheese sandwich with mayonnaise and spicy honey mustard. Sometimes I would add a tomato but we used them all for the salad last night. I also drank chocolate milk and had a green apple. The lunch room was always very crowded but it was a good time to be alone and reflect on things. I would eat lunch with Fred, but he had 3rd lunch.

“Hey, man…how’s it goin?” I heard a voice behind me and a large hand on my right shoulder.

“Can I help you, Greg?” There was a bit of a pause before he spoke as he examined me…

“Listen, man…no hard feelings about yesterday. I was just messn with ya a little bit that’s all.”

“Right…messin with me? Like you aren’t truly a bigot.”

“Dude, if I was really some KKK-loving fool I wouldn’t be here now talkin to ya. I need your help actually.”

I turned and looked at him dubiously while munching on my main treat for the day. I really liked the mixture of chocolate milk, bread, mayonnaise, ham, and cheese altogether. It made me happy even as this jerk wasted my time in the cafeteria.

“Help with what exactly?”

Greg sat down in one of the few empty chairs around me and observed his surrounding carefully before he let out a sigh and looked at me seriously.

“I need a lot of help in my math class. I aint doin too good and my father says that if I don’t get my grades back up, he’s going to stop me from playing basketball.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Basketball is a game for morons. Just stop playing the game for a while and concentrate on math. It’s not that difficult.” I take another bite as I shrug my shoulders.

“Look, man. I’m not a moron. Basketball is my life! Well…that and girls.”

“Another waste of time, Greg. Girls aren’t going to help improve your grades…unless the girl’s name is Rebecca maybe. Have you considered asking her to tutor you? That’s what you want from me isn’t it?”

“Well…um…not exactly.”

“Not exactly? Which part not exactly?”

“I already went to her but she wasn’t interested…something tells me that you might be though…”

“Interested in what”

“I want you to do all of my math homework for me. I’ll give it to you in the morning and by lunch time, a genius like you can have it done. You’ll hand it back to me and I’ll turn it in to Mr. Hutchinson.”

“Mr. Hutchinson is not an idiot. He’ll compare your handwriting to the handwriting of the new homework and he’ll know that someone else did it. Nice idea though…”

Greg paused for a moment. I can tell that he really had never even considered what I had just said.

“Okay…good point. I’ll just copy your work during lunch time and turn it in with my own handwriting. That way he will never suspect anything.”

“He will find it odd that you suddenly went from failing to getting every single problem correct on the homework in such a short period of time with no remedial help. You didn’t thnk this through very well did you, Greg? Besides…why the hell would I help a bigot like you?”

“Don’t call me that, man. I aint no racist.”

“You think saying that you’re not a racist can undo what you said to me yesterday? You think you can just flip it on and off like a light switch? Well, I can’t flip my race on and off like a light switch.”

Part of me knew that I was lying to some extent. The real truth was that…I really could turn it on and off but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Dude, I really need help. I’m so sorry for what I said. I really am. I was out-of-line. If you help me, I can pay you. My dad’s got money.”

“Not really interested, man. Felicia is pretty smart. Maybe you’ll have better luck with her.”

“Look…I can give you $5 per assignment.” Greg pulls out a $20 bill and shows it to me. I’ll pay for 4 assignments upfront.”

“You’re not as bad at math as I thought.” I chuckle at him while reaching for my green apple. I kind of enjoyed this moment. I feel so much superior to Greg right now. Even if I were to accept his offer, I would drag this moment out as much as possible to enjoy the begging. Does that make me somewhat evil, I wonder.

“It’s a fair amount of money but it’s not fair to all of the other people that bust their asses actually doing the homework. Pass…”

Greg gives me a look of disappointment. I’m actually a little shocked that he didn’t try to physically threaten me as a means of motivation. He puts his money away and rises to leave but then pauses for a moment.

“Let me know if you change your mind.”

“I doubt that I will, Greg. You could always, ya know…actually try to read the material and learn the math so that you can keep your money. Eighty dollars a month is a lot of money even if your dad is a surgeon.”

“I’m not smart like you, Henry. I won’t need this kind of math when my basketball career takes off anyway. Just think about my offer.”

“Sure…”

And with that, Greg walked away towards the Thai food line. I always hated Thai food for some reason. Too spicy perhaps? I kind of felt sorry for Greg though. I know math is very hard for some people, but it’s not like he’s retarded. He can do it…he’s just a lazy rich White boy.