Since I hadn’t wet that night I felt that I didn’t need to take a shower, but I did have a wicked case of morning breath. I’m sure, that late night chilidog was partially to blame for my rancid breath.
As I stepped into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I saw a used, yes I mean wet, GoodNite sitting on the vanity counter beside the sink.
That puzzled me to no end and the only conclusion I could come to was, that I must have got up in the middle of the night and changed into a dry GoodNite without remembering that I had done so. Well, so much for my dry night, huh?
I skipped breakfast because I was just too upset about having to go back to school. With every step I took while walking to school, I had to convince myself, that everything was going to be alright. However, once I was within sight of the school, I started to panic, I mean really panic. My heart raced, my breathing was labored, and I felt like at any second I was going to be sick. It felt, like everyone knew that I had the GoodNite on and I kept screaming at my mother inside my mind for talking me into wearing it. Of course, no one could see it, but the irrational mind cannot be made to believe in rational things.
I was sure that everyone I passed was eyeballing me and whispering behind my back. It was probably just my imagination, or at least that is what I kept telling myself all the way to my locker. Then I saw it. Taped on the outside of my locker door, was a piece of notebook paper that read,
GOO-GOO! GAA-GAA!
BABY NEEDS HIS
DIAPER CHANGED!
Quick as a flash, I ripped the paper off my locker and crumpled it up, but there was nothing I could do about my glowing red face.
As if nothing was out of the ordinary, I spun the combination lock, opened my locker, stuffed my jacket in, and slammed the door closed again.
In those few seconds, I became surrounded by students who were staring at me. I turned to go to class and saw them. When I realized I was cornered there in the hallway, a stab of pain shot through my chest, as if someone had just rammed a wooden stake through my heart. Then it started…
“Does the widdle, bitty, baby need his pee-pee pants changed?” someone mocked.
Someone else then chimed in with, “We better stand back or we might all get pissed on!”
Embarrassment was slowly morphing into unrefined anger, but before I could begin fighting my way free, someone from the far side of the crowd whistled incredibly loud!
Everyone turned on the spot and, as if someone had just yelled fire, the mob of hecklers scattered in every direction, leaving me standing there with my knees knocking together and my back plastered against the row of lockers.
Now I had expected to see a teacher, but what I saw was Larry, BB, Fish, and Bertha. All four stood there, looking tough and firing mental daggers at anyone who dared to look back or hesitate to run away.
Fish came over to me and picked up my books, which I had dropped. I hadn’t even known I had dropped them until he was tucking them under my arm.
Larry glanced to Bertha, and I was beginning to understand, that she was the leader of their little gang. Then she walked up to me, put a hand on my shoulder and smiled.
“Relax,” she said, patting the front of my shoulder once, “We got your back.”
“Huh?” I said.