A New Style of Education: Hidden Gifts
By: Annette MacGregor

An authorized story, based on the characters and environment of A New Style of Education by Karen Page.

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Part 2

Well, as it turned out, she did let me go to judo. I guess until things were decided, the normal schedule was on.

I walked into the Gym, and got ready. When I got to the mat, something in my posture or body language gave me away because Sensei called me out. We went to another area, where I'd seen him take other students for counseling sessions.

"You are disturbed."

"Yes, Sensei. Today I fought."

"You have mixed feelings on this do you not?"

"Yes, Sensei. I didn't start the fight, and only fought to defend myself, but I am still being punished for it."

"Had you to do that which caused the fight again, would you have done it?"

"Yes, Sensei, I was..."

He interrupted me. "Why, is not currently the question." I subsided and took a deep breath. "Very good, one must maintain one's center or all else falls apart." He waited a moment, while I worked to regain my center. "Now, is there anything you could have done differently which might have avoided the fight, while still achieving that which you set out to accomplish?"

"I don't know, Sensei."

"Good, acknowledging a lack of information is the beginning to identifying an answer. Since you do not know if you could have achieved the same ends without a fight, did you perhaps insert yourself into a tense situation without proper preparation or a plan to get out of the situation."

"Yes, Sensei."

"Very good. Now remain here and examine the circumstances and see if you can deduce an approach that might have achieved your ends without a fight ensuing."

I bowed from my kneeling position and responded "Yes, Sensei."

He returned to the other students while I thought about the event.

I know I was tired following the test. I know I didn't like what I saw them doing. Did I perhaps go in with the intention of teaching them a lesson? I don't think so. Could I have gotten a teacher to stop it like the Head suggested? I don't know. I'd seen many turn deaf eyes on similar activities. Not all of them, I'll admit, but several. So, maybe, was it these particular kids? Had they been causing more trouble than most when I began interfering? I honestly couldn't say they had. Was there anything other than when they had been after that girl a few weeks ago? Not that I’d seen. Others had, but this group. I didn’t think I’d seen them do more. Could I have walked away and ignored it? No, I'd already answered that for Sensei. So, what was it? Would I have gotten into the fight no matter what, once I intervened?

I thought about that a bit, and I just didn't know.

Sensei returned after about fifteen minutes. "Have you come to any conclusions?"

"Yes, Sensei."

"Tell me."

"Sensei, I believe I had to intervene personally in the situation, but given that, I see no way I could have prevented the fight by my actions alone."

"I see. You remained calm throughout the encounter?"

"I believe so Sensei."

"You took no direct action nor made verbal comments that may have increased the tension in the situation?"

I didn't immediately answer that question.

Had I actually provoked the attack? No, they were ready to go after anyone. Had my attempts to draw attention to myself instead of Chris and James inflamed the situation? Maybe, just maybe.

"I may have increased the tension by what I said Sensei."

He nodded gravely. "What we say may have many effects on those that surround us. Why did you speak words of inflammation?"

"I believed it was the easiest way to draw attention to myself while taking it away from the original target of the tension."

"Could you have said different words and achieved the same goal?"

This stopped me again.

Could I have? Yes, I guess it’s possible. Now that he mentions it, I remember how one time Kirk had defused a situation a few months before he went back to the states. He'd started clowning, and everyone laughed and paid complete attention to his antics.

At this recollection, I nodded "Yes Sensei, I believe so now."

"Good you are learning. It is best to assume that all situations have more than one solution. You are young yet, but you must learn to pick the best solution of those available anyway. I have a final question for you." He paused then before continuing. "Did you enjoy the fight?"

"No, Sensei. It was no challenge of skills. It was like doing a chore, nothing more. And, afterward, I was concerned that I might have hurt one or more of them, despite checking most of my strikes."

"Were any injured?"

"Beyond bruises, no, not that I could determine Sensei."

"Good then. Perhaps you are not hopeless." He smiled, "Come, you will now exercise with me."

He then put me through my paces, stretching me like he'd never stretched me before. Had he not insisted I center before this, I would have been much worse off than I was. As it was, I was very tired, and beginning to make mistakes when he called a stop. "You have shown me better skill today than you have in the past, young Dan. Perhaps one day, not too far off, if you can continue to learn to control yourself and to think, you will be ready to test. Now, get ready to go. I see your mother has arrived." I stood and bowed to Sensei. Then waving to mom, I ran and got my stuff so we could go.

"You appear to have had quite a workout, young man."

"Yes, mother. Sensei knew things were not good today. He had me spend the first third of the session thinking about what happened and how I might have handled things differently without actually discussing the event. I learned a lot from the time."

"I'm glad that happened, but I was more talking about what I saw at the end."

"Sensei ran me ragged today Mom. I THINK he was showing me how much I've yet to learn, and that one can always find someone that is better than you so finding a non-violent solution is to be preferred. I believed this before, but this drove the lesson home."

"Good. We can't have you getting into fights."

"I know Mom. I didn't plan on it this time; the problem is I didn’t plan not to either."

"I'm glad you learned something from this. We'll defer any further discussion until your dad's there tonight. He doesn't know yet."

"Yes ma’am."

That evening was a bit unusual. Dad kept looking at me and mom, wondering what was up, since she'd said there was something to be discussed after dinner.

After dinner was finally finished, he asked "Well, which of you will tell me what's going on?"

"George, Danny was in a fight at school today." I cringed at her bald statement.

Dad just stopped for a minute before turning to me. "Would you mind explaining that?"

"I screwed up some Dad. Two kids in my class were getting harassed by about eight upper class kids. I went over to interrupt it. I was able to get to the two the big kids had surrounded. Everything fell apart then, one of the bigger guys grabbed at me and I avoided him. The rest sorta tried to pile on me then and I defended myself. I should have found another way to interrupt the harassment." Wow, that was concise. I guess the thinking Sensei had put me through had helped me get my thoughts in order.

He sat there a minute. "You could have been thrown out of that school or started a newsworthy incident you know."

"I'm sorry Dad, but yes, I know. That's why I said I should have found some other way to interrupt it."

"I guess being my son, you couldn't just walk away. So, what punishment did the school assess? I am correct in assuming there are some repercussions, but that you've not been expelled?"

"I'm on probation Dad. I'll have to make sure I'm not in a fight the rest of the term, and there will be a letter in my school record stating the circumstances and that I'd been in a fight. The headmaster really laid it out for me, and then Sensei made me understand what I'd done, what I'd done wrong, and what kind of things I could have done instead."

"You talked over things with your Sensei?"

"Not exactly. He saw I had something bothering me, and talked me through it, without asking any details. Then he gave me the hardest workout I've ever had in my life."

"I saw the end of that workout George. He was wiping up the mat with Danny."

I nodded sheepishly at that. "I needed to have the lesson driven home I guess."

"Lesson?"

"Umm. Yes Dad. That there's always someone around that can whoop you so if at all possible, find a solution other than fighting."

"He's right, fighting usually means you lost, because even if you win the fight, the other side resents it, and you have to fight again or worse. Take a look at the middle east if you want a good example of that." Dad took a deep breath and continued. "Sorry about that, I'll get off my soap box, but we do have to decide what to do with you."

"Yes sir."

"Your mother and I will think about it. That you were protecting someone else is laudable. That you ended up in a fight, well you know my opinion there.” He took a deep breath. “Is there anything else I need to know about today?"

"Nothing bad Dad, but I took the weirdest test at school before the fight. It was like each question had no right or wrong answer, but we were supposed to pick an answer anyway. I was wiped out when the test was over, and was the last one to leave the room."

"And with the excitement that followed you don't know what the others thought do you?"

"No Dad. Maybe I can ask some of them tomorrow."

"How many kids ended up taking the test?"

"Let me count." I went over them in my mind... Chris and James, Sally, Jeanine, Billy, Nigel and Nancy, okay. "Seven plus me makes eight in all."

"That's not a whole lot, son."

"No, I guess I was a little surprised. I wonder what kind of school it's for anyway."

"George, the name was something like Haycroft Hall. The name sounded familiar when I saw it this morning.” Mom added. “If Danny gets in, we can catch the school name and find out more about it."

"Hmm that name does sound familiar for some reason. Well, we'll see.

The next day at school was pretty quiet. I got a chance to ask Chris about the test, and his questions, while off the wall like mine were very different. A lot of the other kids gave me strange looks and the guys that had tried to pick on Chris and James left me completely alone except for smug looks. I guess they figured getting me put on probation was good revenge.

On Thursday, I got another letter for my parents. My mom, on opening it said. "Congratulations Danny, you've gotten past the tests to the selection stage. You've got an interview tomorrow. That will determine whether you're offered a position or not. Hayfield Hall... That name is familiar for some reason. I'll write it down, and maybe your dad can remember why. In any event, good luck in the interview." She handed me the paperwork, and went off to call dad. I sat there with a bemused look on my face, wondering about this school. Was I about to move to yet another school? After the past week, maybe that wouldn't be a bad thing. I got up, and headed down the hall. As I was walking, I overheard mom on the phone, and not really thinking, I stopped to listen.

"So that's where I'd heard the name. That performance was wonderful! And, the kids were so polite. Maybe you should check the security there. If he gets in, it sounds like an even better school than Westminster."

Wow, if they were going to check out the place that meant they would seriously consider me going there. I wonder what it's like? Then, a bigger question hit me. Why was this state sponsored school even considering me? I mean, I'm not a citizen. I'd think there have to be plenty of citizens who were as well qualified or better. Best not get my hopes up.

I continued down the hall, and got ready for school in the morning.

About 11:00 I was called to the head's office for my interview. I saw Chris sitting there. "You got an interview too?"

"Nah, James did, but he's so nervous he asked if I could be allowed to keep him company before and after. Unless there's someone after you, looks like just the two of you got called back for interviews. I'm kinda glad I didn't really."

"Why?"

"Dad's disabled, and I need to help out at home a lot. Going to a boarding school would be a hardship for us."

"It's a boarding school? I didn't know that."

"Oh yeah, they told us that before the first exam. Wait - you missed the assembly where they described the place. That was just before you joined the school. Sorry mate, I guess we all figured you knew."

"No problem." I wondered if that would be an issue. I didn’t if I wanted to have to go off to school. It'd be strange not having my mom and dad around to talk things over with.

"Hi James, how'd it go?" Chris said.

"No clue. It was weirder than the test was. I've no idea how I did. Let's go." he said, then apparently just noticing me "Oh, hi Danny, didn't see you. Thanks for sticking up for us the other day. Sorry you got hammered by the head though."

"Don't worry about it, Chris fixed it with the head so I'm only sorta in trouble."

"Okay then. Good luck in there mate."

At that, they left, and I sat down to wait for them to call me.

A few minutes later, a man I didn't recognize stuck his head out the door "Dan Humphrey?"

I got up. "Yes, sir."

"No sir for you. I'm Dan Mathews, and from one Dan to another, just call me Dan." he said as he beckoned me into the room and to a comfortable looking chair. "Like you, I'm also just a 'Dan', not a Daniel as most seem to want to believe." he said as he sat down. It was nice meeting another Dan.

"Dan James Humphrey, father George Tiberias Humphrey, Mother Lydia Warren Humphrey. brothers George T. Jr. and Benjamin Kirk, and sister Karen Marie. Born in Vancouver, British Columbia. Lived in Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Tel-Aviv, Naples and Athens before moving to London. Your next older brother is living in the states with your mother's parents for the last four years of his schooling before Uni. Your sister's at Harvard and your older brother is a Stanford graduate, married with a kid making you an Uncle. You play the piano and have some experience in Judo. Anything in there in error?"

"Um. I don't think so."

"That's good, just wanted to get that out of the way before we got into the questions. Do you have any idea why we might want to have all that information?"

"It sounds like a background check to me."

He laughed at that. "You got it in one. I told them you'd figure that out." I must have had a quizzical look on my face, because he continued. "The selection committee."

"Oh, thanks."

"Well, let's get to the business of why I'm here and why we just don't use the tests to select candidates." He paused. "The fight you were in the other day. What brought that on?"

Oh boy. I guessed I'd already screwed things up and they were just going through the formalities. "I saw two classmates getting harassed by eight of the older kids."

"Why didn't you go for help or ignore it like most of the rest of the kids were doing?"

"You can't ignore things when there's a problem. Problems don't go away by themselves."

He waited for something and when I didn’t continue, he said, "True, but that doesn't answer the entire question."

I thought for a minute before responding. "I don't like being people picked on. Since it wasn't the first time I'd seen these guys shaking someone down I figured none of the teachers would do anything. So, I tried to do what some of the marines had described about cutting people out of crowds to protect them. It mostly worked, and probably would have had I had backup. But the way I took attention on myself probably contributed to triggering the fight."

He nodded. "So working without backup is what you did wrong?"

"Not really. The biggest error was talking to them at their level with aggression rather than acting to defuse the situation."

"Okay. How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Sensei made me think through the event a step at a time, until I was able to work it out."

"Sensei? You talked it over with your teacher?"

"Not exactly. He knew when I walked into the dojo that there was an issue, and talked me through examining it without ever actually talking about the event itself. Knowing yourself is a big part of martial arts, and guiding others to know themselves is one of the things required of masters."

"Do you aspire to becoming a master?"

"Perhaps one day, but I'm not anywhere close to ready as that event proved."

"Your piano playing? You've been playing a long time."

"Yes, I kinda started when I was five."

"What do you think of your current teacher?"

"He's nice enough, but I need a better one. He said he'd look around. At that, he's better than the teacher I had in Athens."

"What's missing?"

"He's not that good at interpreting the music and he can't help me with composition, except at the most basic level."

"Would you like to learn other instruments?"

"Time's an issue there. To become really good, requires focus. If I were to look at too many instruments, I'd end up competent at a lot, but not really good. Sorta like the music teachers I've had in the schools."

He seemed a little surprised at my reaction to that, but nodded. "Do you tune your piano?"

"Some, but professional tuners are better. The best of them actually adjust the tuning from true, to achieve a better sound from each piano. It's a real art, and fun to watch them."

"Your essay about what school is. Did you mean that to describe how it is here?"

"No. That was more what I thought a school SHOULD be. I should be a place where we're encouraged to learn rather than a place where we're taught. Sorry. I said all that in the essay."

"Yes, and it sounded like something you've thought about before. Why is that?"

"My mom's a teacher, well sometimes anyway, and she's talked about how hard some kids are to reach and stuff like that. I've seen kids in school that just seem bored all the time and I admit a lot of the material is pretty booooring. Somehow, they've lost the desire to learn or never were shown how much fun learning can be."

"Okay. Here's where we let you ask a few questions."

"Why me? Why a yank?"

"You passed the test."

"No, I mean there must be lots of kids around that qualify. Why pick an alien? I'm finding it hard to understand why a special school program would take me."

"Ahh. I thought there might be a chance you’d ask that, and I had to do some checking to be sure of the answer. I'll start by answering the latter first part of your question first. Our law states that everyone is to be educated, the program applies to any resident, not just citizens. The only issue that might come into play would be if your father were posted elsewhere during the duration of your education. As to why you, you do fit much of our profile for potential students."

"So, there is a chance and this isn't just going through the motions?"

"Yes, this is a real interview."

"I assume you're interviewing more candidates than you have spaces. How do you decide who to invite?"

"We carefully match the candidates as well as we can, to come up with a group of students that balance and complement each other."

"So, you could have an outstanding candidate that for some reason doesn't plug in with the rest and you'd have to reject the candidate?"

"That is correct."

"Are there other criteria?"

He nodded. "Yes. Another big one is whether the candidate is likely to perform better using our approaches than they are in a more traditional setting like that provided here."

"So someone that would do well in a school like this would be rejected?"

“That's not necessarily the case, but normally yes."

"What might be an exception?"

"There are several, but here’s one example. If there were a second candidate that would really benefit from our methods, but was hard to pair up, they might be rejected, unless we could find a second qualified candidate that balanced this individual well such that both became more likely to benefit from our methods. In such a case, both of their chances would be improved. That is not to say that just because someone balanced another student, if they were better off where they were, we’d not invite them. Our goal is to provide the best possible experience and environment for our students.”

"Wow. That’s a pretty intensive selection process.” He nodded at that and I thought a minute before continuing. “Since it's a boarding school I'd only get to see my folks on holidays and the rare weekend they could get up there? Well, wherever it is."

"No." He looked back at his file with a frown, and then his eyes lit up I guess in understanding. "Oh, you missed the orientation presentation we did before the first exam didn't you?" I nodded at that. "Due to many factors, including the Senseitive nature of some of the kid's conditions and our approaches to education, you would not see your family again until you graduated. After all, we need uniform rules for all of the students." I felt like my legs had been cut out from under me there. I mean my mom had always been there, and dad, whenever I needed.

"You mean no contact?"

"Not completely. There's a postal connection, and there is an emergency number they can use to contact the school for emergencies such as a death in the family. In general though, yes, you would be cut off from them for the next five years."

"This school must really be something for kids to be willing to do that."

"For some, not only is it not painful, it’s actually a relief as they come from bad environments at home. Others do find it more difficult, and we are there to help them through the worst of the pain. Your parents will I'm sure find all of this out when they check out the school, assuming we are able to offer you a position of course."

That’s interesting. They made the assumption that the school would be checked out. I guess, considering the background check they'd done on me that isn't surprising.

I continued, trying to get my mind around this place. "If you were to pick one thing that makes your school different from say this one, what would it be? Other than it's selectivity that is."

He smiled at that, and then looked thoughtful. "I'd like to answer that with two answers rather than just one, as the two are very much closely related. First, we look to help students develop as complete people. Not just academically or musically or other facets of traditional settings, but socially and emotionally as well. Second, we pair our students very carefully, as I hinted earlier, so that they enhance each other. This pairing provides built in study partners which we've found greatly enhances both students’ experience. Maybe I can help you better understand this latter with a question of my own. Have you ever studied a topic with someone else?"

"Once or twice, but not very often. It's hard getting together sometimes."

"That is one hurdle, but more I'm wondering did you find it made the material easier to comprehend when you had someone else to discuss it with?"

I thought for a minute before responding. "Well, I have found that having to organize my thoughts well enough to explain things, even to word a question, to another person, makes things clearer for me. Is that what you mean?"

"That's part of it. Were you ever uncomfortable trying to study with someone else?"

I thought back for a bit before responding. "Actually, yes, though just once. I was more frustrated than anything. We were doing a team project, and one of the guys on the team just wouldn't do his share. The rest of us had to do his stuff too, so the group wouldn't get penalized. I mean, we could do the work. However, we all felt like we were carrying someone that didn’t deserve to get the grade with us. But we couldn’t think of a way to get him to do his share."

He nodded. "I can understand that. Is there anything else you'd like to know?"

"Are you a shrink, or just a trained interrogator?"

He gave a bark of a laugh at that. "Got it in one, though you're the first to accuse me of being an interrogator, it's usually interviewer, if they twig at all."

"Twig?" Danged, caught on another term again.

That brought another chuckle. "You do so well; I sometimes forget you're American. That's slang for guessed. By the way, why is it that you sound more or less like the rest of the kids here, instead of like an American?"

I looked a little sheepish a bit and responded "I guess it's my ear, or that's what my mom says, anyway. Unless I concentrate on it, I tend to gradually end up sounding like those around me. Occasionally it's faster, even in a conversation. I'll end up sounding like the person I'm talking to. This has gotten some folks upset, thinking I'm just mocking them."

"I see. Well however you do it, you fit in well. Thank you for your time.” He stood up. “We'll let you know one way or the other Monday. If possible, ask your parents to try and be available. Should we be able to offer you a position, we need to meet with both parents as soon as possible to get things moving."

Is he hinting something to me? Nah, it couldn't be. Well I'll let the folks know what he said anyway.

We shook hands, as he escorted me out the door and handed me a pass. "As we went on for so long, and you probably have a good bit to think about, there should be a boxed lunch … ah here it is," he said, picking up a box. "When you finish eating, use the pass to return to your normal class. I'll see you on Monday, one way or the other."

That night, I mentioned what Mr. Mathews had said about them keeping some time open on Monday if I were offered a position. Dad pulled out his Blackberry, and checked something. "That should be manageable." He made some entries on the device, and then turned back to us. "Lyd, I checked the files on Hayfield this afternoon, and it is the school that gave that concert in Rome a few years ago." My ears perked up at that. I remembered that concert. Those kids were awesome! I couldn’t imagine playing at that level, but just associating with kids like that would be great. Maybe that school wouldn’t be as bad as I feared. "They also have very good security, so they get a green flag as far as Danny attending. Another factor is that it seems despite their global field trips, the kids get such good training they pass their exams a year or two early and are even taking college level classes before graduation.” Turning to me, he continued. “This sounds like a great school, Danny."

"There’s just one problem, Dad."

"Besides not being offered a spot son?"

"No, from what he said, I suspect I'll be offered a place. I’m just not so sure about the school. It's year round."

"They have to do something to help the kids achieve like that. We'll still see you on holidays.” Mom was looking at me as she spoke. Seeing the bleak expression on my face, she continued, “Wait, you're saying that we don't see you for the duration?"

"No Lyd, that's the one real negative I was able to find about the school. It's full time including holidays, and no visits either way," Dad explained.

"That's what Mr. Mathews said Mom." I said, agreeing with dad. "He said it was to provide uniform rules for all the students, and that some come from environments that make such restrictions critical for their growth and development."

"Hmmm. We'll have to think about it then. We won't force you to go if you don't want to."

"Thanks Dad. If it weren't for that, I think I'd jump at the place after you told me they were that orchestra we heard. I just don't want to leave you and mom alone, what with Kirk back in the states and all."

He laughed at that. "Danny, what makes you think your mother and I need a chaperone!"

I looked up startled, and then thought about what he'd said, and looked down squirmed a little. I just didn’t want to think about that. No, not even a little bit. I mean, they’re my parents!

"If it's us that's holding you back, you're making a big mistake. I'm convinced the school doesn't make you disappear off the face of the earth."

We all laughed at his joke, and with a lighter mood, I said, "No, he said there's a special way to get mail through, I'm assuming without the school's address. And he said there was a phone number you can use to call the school, if there's an emergency."

"Danny, we're your parents. With the possible exception of the separation, this school sounds like it’s ideal for you! Assuming you get an invitation, as you seem to believe you will, don't reject it because you think we'll be lonely! We are grandparents, after all."

No, I do not need to think about that. Parents don’t do that do they? Ewwww. I shook myself, and said, "Okay, I'll think about it. The school does really sound neat."

I ran into James the next day, and we chatted briefly. Seems his interview touched on his relationship with Chris, and was a lot shorter than mine had been. He seemed a bit down on the school, since Chris would obviously not be going, but he wished me luck. "It'll probably be safer there for you Dan. You won't have those snobs gunning for you." I thanked him and we went our separate ways.

The weekend seemed to drag on forever. I constantly changed my mind on what I wanted to do. Sunday night, I finally decided to take the bull by the horns and think it through. I built a chart, where I put down all of the things in favor of Hayfield, and all the things against it. The list was awfully long on the plus side. But though there weren’t that many negatives, some were pretty big.

Is there any way to turn a negative into a positive? I thought to myself. It took a while, but I managed to find some ways to counter the negatives, and in a few cases by looking at them differently, some of the negatives actually became positives.

Well, the separation will force me to depend on myself more for decisions than being able to fall back on mom and dad. That's a counteracting good for the same negative. It doesn't reverse it. Okay. I'll miss them. Can I keep in contact? Yes, they say so. Will that be the same? No, but with all the good, maybe it's enough.

I went to sleep, thinking that if I were offered the position, I'd probably accept it. The goods seemed to outweigh the bads.

That night was not a good one. I must have woken up a dozen times, tossing and turning. When I finally got up with my alarm, I knew it was going to be a long day, no matter the school's decision. I hoped I didn't run into any trouble. My reactions would be shot.

"Didn't sleep well son?"

Sheesh, even dad noticed. "No sir. I think I made up my mind last night before lying down, but I seemed to go through it over and over all night long."

"It's a big step, Son. What have you decided to do if they offer you a position?"

"I'll go, Dad. There are so many good things about the school, but, I'll really miss both of you."

"You'll be fine! Remember, we don't see the rest of the family all that often. I mean we've been able to get back to see Lyd's parents once in three years, and that was to take Kirk home last year. So, we can manage."

"I know, Dad. That's what helped me decide."

"Well, I've gotta get some stuff done. I’d best head in now, in case they call me to come down." He took off.

Mom was great though. She kept up a happy morning chatter. Of course she's always been a morning person. I wonder if it was just to distract me though. A little while later, I took off for school. The walk through Hyde Park and then over to the school was always a peaceful one when the weather cooperated.

I wonder what it will be like in the fall or winter when it gets chillier. Wait, I might not even be here to find out. Oh, I wish today was over, so I could know.

I had trouble keeping my mind on things during the first lecture. I guess I was hoping and dreading a call down to the office to find out what the story was.

"Mr. Humphrey, why don't you and Mr. Williams just go down to the Head's office and wait for word. Neither of you are worth much today." I looked over at James, and he looked at me.

I shrugged, and said. "Thank you sir. Sorry."

"Just get on you two. Two of you getting this far is honor enough for the school."

We headed down to the office. "You still gunna turn it down James?" He nodded.

"How about you Dan?"

"I go back and forth, and almost hope I don't get offered a chance so I don't have to finally make up my mind."

"I hear that. It'd make it easier for me too. Then Chris won't feel guilty that the only reason I turned it down was cause of him."

"He's a good guy. You two take care of each other." I said as we got to the head's office.

The door opened just as we got there, and his assistant said "Ahh, you're here so I don't have to come down and get you both. Come on in."

I saw that Mr. Mathews was in the Head’s office, as we were invited into the outer waiting area.

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Author's Note: I want to thank Karen for allowing me the pleasure of starting this story and I hope you all get as much pleasure out of reading it as I've had writing it. I also want to thank the two individuals that proofed and commented on the story as it developed. Their comments and criticisms helped immesurably! I also want to thank the person that gave the chapter a final review to hopefully reduce the mechanical errors (typos and the like). Any problems remaining are mine.