{"id":531,"date":"2014-09-05T11:05:23","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T15:05:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/?p=531"},"modified":"2014-09-05T12:36:03","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T16:36:03","slug":"hey-tough-guy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/hey-tough-guy\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, Tough Guy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wrote a post<\/a> a while back about high school. I don't know if it's the bells starting to ring again this fall, ushering the return\u00a0to school, but I had high school on the mind again this week.<\/p>\n

I had a great time in high school, but it's not like it was a complete cakewalk. Not at all. I wasn't popular... I was notorious.<\/p>\n

Folks tried to bully me all the time. I\u00a0once had a whole hallway chanting insults at me.\u00a0I was\u00a0in my fair share of fights. I was scorned and teased and had all manner of nasty things done to me. But, it never affected me. \u00a0I had plenty of friends, and I knew that the insults and bullying mostly\u00a0came from\u00a0fear, ignorance, and their own lack of self-confidence.<\/p>\n

Last night I remembered\u00a0a particular incident. Something I haven't thought about for a long time.<\/p>\n

I had numerous\u00a0groups I hung out with, most of them a grade or two above me. I gravitated towards the shop guys and mechanics because I had more in common with them than I did with the geeky boys (listen, I love D&D. I do. But dude, I cannot<\/em> listen to you talk about your character's attributes and backstory one more time or I am going to punch something). There were a lot of \"greasers\" in that category. Guys that called themselves The\u00a0Rebels,<\/em> though the ones I hung out with\u2014the ones from a grade\u00a0higher\u2014were pretty low-key. We mostly hung out in one guy's Studebaker listening to The Big Bopper or Elvis and smoking pot and illegally-imported Marlboros. \u00a0We got along great. However, the greasers in my grade thought they were god's gift to the planet. They were hot shit. Bullied the fuck out of everyone. They all walked like they owned the fucking place. We didn't get along.<\/p>\n

So, in my\u00a0school bus, I \"owned\" the back four seats. I got to say who sat there and who didn't. I can't remember exactly how that came about, but I felt like a fucking mob boss back there. *grin* It was pretty cool, and I was always nice to the other kids.<\/p>\n

However, one day some of these fucking young\u00a0greaser guys from my grade got on the bus and demanded that I and my friends vacate the back of the bus because they wanted to sit there. The ring leader, this fuck that I will call Sil\u2014because he probably looks like Sil\u00a0from the Sopranos by now *points to picture above*\u2014stood there staring\u00a0at me in shock when I told him to fuck off. Then he started in with the insults. Finally, he punched me. Hard. Not in the face, mind you, but in the shoulder. When I didn't react and kept my eyes locked on his, he punched me again, harder.<\/p>\n

Sil: *drops fist, glares at me* You're not going to move are you.
\nMe: Would it hurt you to say \"please\"?
\nSil: *blink blink* What?? *confused* Uh. *thinks* Um. Can you uh\u00a0please<\/em> move?
\nMe: No, but you can sit with me if you like. *moves over*
\nSil: *nervous laugh and an eventual shrug* Um. Well. Ok.<\/p>\n

He sat down next to me, awkwardly. The rest of his crew just found places to sit wherever on the bus. I had won the little battle of wills. After a few minutes, Sil looked at me and said: \"You're pretty tough.\"<\/p>\n

*long silence while the bus leaves school*<\/p>\n

\"Sorry I hit you.\"<\/p>\n

From that day on, it was a weird, shaky, uncomfortable relationship with the greasers from Grade 10, but they no longer insulted me or taunted my friends. At least not as much *laughs*.<\/p>\n

So - while I had a great time in high school, I really did, it was filled with a hundred tiny battles like the one in the bus. That sort of sucked. But it helped make me who I am today. I still rarely\u00a0back down, and I still don't really give a shit about what people think of me - or at least, I don't let it get to me.<\/p>\n

+++<\/p>\n

Man, I don't know why I've been so nostalgic lately. Part of it is definitely trying to come up with things to talk about in this blog. I keep thinking about stupid stories about growing up in the 'burbs. But while it's nice to wax nostalgic on my past, it's starting to feel like Gary King in The World's End.<\/p>\n

It's not like I've been up to nothing\u00a0in the last twenty years.\u00a0I'll think of something more recent to write about.<\/p>\n

(Oh fuck - I just looked up \"Sil\" on Facebook. Yup. He's got the whole Silvio Dante thing going on)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wrote a post a while back about high school. I don’t know if it’s the bells starting to ring again this fall, ushering the return\u00a0to school, but I had high school on the mind again this week. I had a great time in high school, but it’s not like it was a complete cakewalk. Not at all. I wasn’t popular… I was notorious. Folks tried to bully me all the time. I\u00a0once had a whole hallway chanting insults at me.\u00a0I was\u00a0in my fair share of fights. I was scorned and teased and had all manner of nasty things done … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-my-life"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/sil.jpg?fit=500%2C333&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4sexs-8z","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":443,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/high-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":0},"title":"High School was a Blast","author":"Bey","date":"July 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently got an invite to my\u00a0twenty-year high school reunion. Twenty. Twenty fucking years. Jesus. So, since high school has been on my mind for the past few days, I figured I might as well write a post about it. I liked high school. I think I might have actually\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About"","block_context":{"text":"About","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/about\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/1395687887000-1985breakfastclub.jpg?fit=534%2C401&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/1395687887000-1985breakfastclub.jpg?fit=534%2C401&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/1395687887000-1985breakfastclub.jpg?fit=534%2C401&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2738,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/back-to-school-99%c2%a2-sale\/","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":1},"title":"Back to School – 99\u00a2 Sale","author":"Bey","date":"August 30, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\ud83c\udf89 Sale ends August 31 - US & UK only Sacrificed: Heart Beyond the Spires - 99\u00a2 Fated: Blood and Redemption - 99\u00a2 Better the Devil You Know - 99\u00a2 F.I.S.T.S. Handbook For Individual Survival in Hostile Environments (Sarge & Murphy) - 99\u00a2 \u00a0","rel":"","context":"In "My Life"","block_context":{"text":"My Life","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/my-life\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/cropped-newlogo-600.png?fit=240%2C240&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2636,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/harper-miller-interviews-bey-deckard\/","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":2},"title":"Harper Miller interviews Bey Deckard","author":"Bey","date":"May 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Want to know a little more about me? I was interviewed by the lovely Harper Miller and damn does she ask tough questions: HM: I always find author interviews kind of boring. We only get to see one side of an author, the polite side. If you had an evil\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Interviews"","block_context":{"text":"Interviews","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/about\/interviews\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/divider.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2210,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/max-is-now-available-for-preorder\/","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":3},"title":"Max is now available for preorder – (Releasing Sept. 30)","author":"Bey","date":"September 26, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Order from: \u261e Amazon \u261c \u261e Smashwords \u261c \u261e All Romance eBooks \u261c \u261e iTunes \u261c \u261e Barnes & Noble \u261c \u261e Kobo \u261c \u261e CreateSpace \u261c Read an excerpt And there'll be a paperback available probably sooner. 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Just plain ol' fiction with a lot of heart.\u00a0It's a departure from my\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Announcements"","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/donttouchme-promo.jpg?fit=600%2C440&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/donttouchme-promo.jpg?fit=600%2C440&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/donttouchme-promo.jpg?fit=600%2C440&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1097,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/interview-with-f-e-feeley-jr-horror-and-romance-author\/","url_meta":{"origin":531,"position":5},"title":"Interview with F.E. Feeley Jr., Horror and Romance Author","author":"Bey","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today I\u2019d like to welcome F.E. Feeley Jr. to my blog, author of the highly rated Memoirs of the Human Wraiths series. Hello and welcome to my blog, Frederick. Thank you for agreeing to answer some questions. :) First off, let me say congratulations on the new book! 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