Michael was frequently late for class. Not for any legitimate reason, simply because he was talking. After so many tardies, a student had to stay after school for detention which Michael hated. So when the halls were about empty and it dawned on Michael that the bell was about to ring, he would tear off for wherever he was supposed to be. Of course, running in the hall was against school rules.
Every teacher had lectured Michael about running in the hallway, but he could care less. With the volume of time he was in the Dean's Office for other stuff, the staff knew the dean wasn't going to spend any time on his hallway running. All we could do was lecture him, maybe make him go back and walk, but in the end he knew no one was going to do any thing and had an arrogant way of letting you know which made you want to punch the SOB in the head.
One day a couple of us who were coming on to our plan watch Michael tear ass by us. Before we could yell for his to slow down, he tripped and went sailing across the hall landing flat on his face. He paused a couple seconds, the bell rang, and Michael got up crying.
This kid was in fist fights once a week and had seven older siblings. It was hard to fathom that he was crying because he tripped, and he certainly didn't care about getting in trouble for being late. As he stood their weeping, he started fumbling under his sweatshirt and pulled out a (now busted) Discman (this was a hot item for kids at the time, and also against school rules to have).
We all busted into hysterical laughter. "Sorry Mike, but we've told you about running in the halls!"
Laughing was certainly a touch cruel given that his family didn't have much money and this was likely a really important object to him. On the other hand, teachers rarely get to see the real shits get their come upins. We enjoyed the moment! Remember kids, walk while your in the halls because you might trip!
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