Jason’s first real misadventure of the day occurred as he walked into the bathroom between second and third period classes. The moment he walked in, the door shut behind him, and he rounded the corner to the stalls, Jason knew he was in trouble. Zack and Razor – What a pretentious name that was, Jason thought! – were standing in front of the sinks, laughing and horsing around while pretending to be brushing their hair as they kept watch in the mirror for any of the teachers or administrators.

Seeing him come in, Zack laughed and half turned to smirk over at Jason. “Hey! Lookie what we got here Todd! It’s a rich little piggy wiggy!”

“Oink! Oink! Boy, he’s a fat ‘en, ain’t he?” Laughing, Razor brushed past Jason and leaned his massive frame against the door. When someone pushed against it to try and open it, he called out, “Sorry! We got a leak in here. This toilet’s broken. Gotta use the one downstairs.”

Gulping at his own misfortune, Jason glanced back over his shoulder, seeing he was trapped by Razor – a large, muscle-headed moron who was into motorcycles, punk rock, and death metal. Dressed in black leather pants, with a white shirt emblazoned with a “God kills. I kill. I must be God!” motif, Razor rubbed his comb through his greasy black hair and smiled evilly. Face pockmarked and scab-covered from what Jason considered a terminal case of acne, Razor relaxed against the door, blocking the way to safety.

Moving hesitantly into the bathroom, Jason nodded lightly over at Zack. “Mor.. Morning,” he stuttered nervously.

“Mo.. mo… mo.. morning,” Zack taunted back, laughing loudly. Sounds like a cow to me. “Mooooo moooo mooooo mooooorning!” Dressed in a pair of torn blue jeans, faded gray muscle shirt, and wearing camouflaged combat boots, Zack cupped his hands to his mouth and mockingly imitated Jason. “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOorning!”

“He’s not a pig, Razor,” Todd corrected, coming out from one of the stalls, blowing smoke, with a joint burning in his left hand. “I think Zack’s right; he’s a cow. A big cow… cow… coward!” Casually walking over, he took a long drag from the joint in his hand and then blew the smoke directly into Jason’s face. Holding the stub out, Todd half laughed as Jason coughed and brushed at the air in front of him. “Want a hit, or are you too cow… cow… coward to try?”

“I can’t,” Jason wheezed, sitting his books down on the countertop. “It messes with my asthma.” Digging into his shirt pocket, he pulled out an inhaler and shook it a few times.

“Share and share alike,” Zack laughed, grabbing out and snatching the inhaler. “Let me have a puff or four. I hear these things are steroids.”

“Can’t be steroids,” Razor barked. “Maybe flabby fatoids!”

Ignoring him, Zack lifted the inhaler to his lips and then pumped the release button several times in a row, while Todd casually blew another puff of smoke directly onto Jason again. “Hey little buddy,” Todd laughed, wrapping an arm around Jason as he hacked and wheezed, “you wouldn’t happen to have a little cash we could borrow from you, would you? You know we’ll pay you back for it someday.”

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“I don’t..” Jason tried to shake his head to refuse, but suddenly stopped as Todd’s fist slammed hard into the center of his chest, knocking what little air he had in his lungs out of it. Gasping, Jason clutched forward and fell to his knees, involuntarily losing control of his bladder.

Laughing, Zack reached into Jason’s back pocket and yanked out his wallet. Opening it up, he pulled out all the cash inside and then casually flipped the wallet over his shoulder, narrowly missing the toilet.

“Ya sucks Zack.” Snorting, Razor stomped over and grabbed the inhaler from him. Sticking it under his arm, he pumped the nozzle several times, using at as deodorant on first one pit and then the other. “It’s like this,” he told the others, as he half hopped and imitated a hoop shot. Yelling, “He shoots!”, Razor tossed the inhaler up into the air. Landing in the center of one of the toiler bowels, he yelled again. “And he scores!”

“That’s how it’s done,” he turned, bragging to Zack.

Ignoring him, Todd took a final drag from what was left of the joint, before flipping the stub over at Jason’s hair. Walking past Zack and Razor, he snatched the cash from Zack’s hand and headed to the door. “The bells already rung. Let’s get on out of here. What you guys think about hitting one of the fast food joints for a bit? I got the munchies.”

Whatever the others answered, Jason missed it as he was hacking and wheezing on the bathroom floor, struggling to catch his breath.

After laying on the ground for most of his third period class, Jason finally caught his breath enough to crawl over to the commode and fish out his inhaler. Lungs burning, he feebly shook it several times and then puffed as deeply from it as he possibly could. Getting a few feeble breaths of air back into his protesting airways, Jason coughed feebly a few times and then puffed another time on his inhaler.

Trying not to let tears blur his vision any more than they already had, Jason slowly got up and stumbled over to the sink. At least his books hadn’t been bothered this time. All they’d wanted was his wallet so they could ditch school, and Jason didn’t even care enough about it right now to bother to try and pick it up. Ignoring where they’d tossed his wallet, Jason held his books low to try and hide the wetness staining his crotch and slowly worked his way out the bathroom door and down the hall.

At least he was lucky this time, he ruefully thought to himself. It could’ve been worse and happened during lunch when students walked the halls; then he would’ve had to hide in a stall, wait, and miss his meal, so no one could see him. Since it was between class now, Jason could work his way carefully back to his locker without anyone noticing, get the sweatpants he wore for gym, and then wear them for the rest of the evening. He’d stand out and feel foolish wearing his gym clothes for the rest of his classes, but not as bad as he would walking around with urine staining the front of his pants.

It was the smallest of victories, but for Jason, it was one he’d learned not to take for granted.