Tuesday 5/21--It’s a normal day at New Century. The oppression is no more present than usual. Tim and Adam, two young boys, armed with angst and Mountain Dew, return from clubs to art class like any other day. Foster, the school’s immature, prepubescent, squeaky voiced, testosterone deficient, hormonally imbalanced freshman, was, like any other day, trying to fit in with everyone else by making a nuisance out of himself and bumping into others. This, of course, only leads to his consistent beatings by the student body and faculty. Tim and Adam, the two young defenders of good, don’t often like to see others beaten. It reminds them of their childhood. They often try to look out for the lad, preventing many a scuffle daily. So they enter the hallway, and most of the troublemaking quickly subsides. They attempt to joke with Foster and several skinhead/punk/skaters think they can do it too. They start to push him. Tim and Adam think nothing of it, as they don’t foresee it escalating into anything rough. So they joke around and Adam whips out roll of duct tape, the symbol of their Cause. Adam hands the roll to Tim who gives a hearty laugh and pats Adam on the head. Foster, laughing gayly, must have been thinking, "They like me! They like me!" The duct tape is whisked from Tim’s hands by a skinhead/punk/skater. Foster sees the roll change hands and his smile fades from his face. Thinking quickly, he decides it would be in his best interest to run like hell. The skinhead/punk/skaters quickly follow and soon catch up, as their legs are long and bones rich with calcium. Their ruffian gestures and lack of self-discipline prove too much for poor little Foster, and this small exchange of pushes escalates into a full-fledged flamefest flinging Foster to the floor. Tim and Adam, filled with mad skills, need something worthy of their attention, and divert it toward a group of other students, who warmly welcome their company. Several minutes pass when the art teacher shows up to unlock the classroom. Tim and Adam, yearning for knowledge, enter the classroom only to see Foster headed in the direction of the office. They expect this little skirmish would end with Foster and the skinhead/punk/skaters returning smiling, arms over each other’s shoulders. Foster though, to their dismay, did not return when class started. Approximately 5-10 minutes later, Foster returns, no sign of distress. He places himself directly next to the classroom telephone, seemingly waiting for something. At about 8:20, 10 minutes before school is out, the telephone rings. Foster, as if he knew exactly what to do and when to do it, picked up the phone, paused and hung it back up, immediately turning to Tim and announcing that he was to go to the office. Tim, a trusting fellow, starts to pack his bag and put away his classroom materials and is off to the office on what he thinks may be an opportunity for the principal to congratulate him on an award, a plaque, or a trophy that Tim may have won in one of the many academic programs that he has unselfishly and whole heartedly often participated in. Tim is thinking very highly of himself as he enters the building with the office in it and he sees Toni, the head of the school’s oppressive security regime, smiling as she sees him. Tim quickly thinks he may have just walked into a trap. Toni directs him into Ms. Wertz’ office where she was impatiently waiting for Tim. Ms. Wertz, the oppressive head of the school’s discipline, tells him to sit down. Tim doesn’t like the sound of that. She looks to her desk which has sitting on it, a write up, all filled out with a piece of duct tape taped to it. Tim starts to wonder just why he was there. Ms. Wertz tells Tim that there had been complaints and that Foster said he had duct taped him. How anyone could think that escaped Tim’s mind. She informs him that she had already called up his mother and told her that her son had maliciously duct taped a poor freshman and was to be suspended for two days. Tim tells Ms. Wertz that he did not duct tape Foster. She looked surprised and asked if Tim was at all involved in the incident. He told her that he did in fact push Foster and tried to tell her that this in fact was not what led up to the assault of Foster, but that it was just a warm push, exchanged between friends. Ms. Wertz interrupts Tim and tells him that the pushing is now why he is being suspended. Tim tries to once again explain his position, and is interrupted again and told to go sit in a chair by the office until the end of the day. Tim walks out of Ms. Wertz’ office wondering what went wrong, and why he was once again, not allowed to voice his side of the case like so many times before. Thirty seconds later the day is over and Tim goes to his bus which will take him home. He gets on the bus and is greeted by several jubilant students who congratulate him on doing something they have all wanted to do for a very long time. Tim though, does not feel the same. His mind is a jumble of thoughts, wondering if he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or if he was framed and Foster wasn’t duct taped at all. Tim gets home and is confronted by his loving mother who is confused about the days happenings. Tim tells her that he did not duct tape Foster. His mother then calls up Foster’s parents who know nothing about it, but later return a call saying "Tim did it, and that’s it."
Wednesday 5/22--Tim and his mother called up most of the many witnesses that were strewn about the hallway that fateful Tuesday night. Adam and his parents arrived before school that day at about the same time that Tim and his mother did. They all went into the building to find the faculty already engaged in a meeting where undoubtably his name came up several times. Tim’s mind raced with ideas about what they could be talking about. Many students passed by, wondering why there was a crowd outside the door to the office. Tim gathers up some of his witnesses and patiently waits until the meeting is over. Some of them enter the office after the door had opened and the meeting had adjourned. Toni, not making eye contact with Tim or his mother is confronted by Adam’s parents. She escorts them into Ms. Wertz’ office and closes the door. Gail McBride, the oppressive head of the school, asks Tim's mother to go into her office. Tim is asked to leave the office, and his witnesses are asked to go to class. They all stand in the hallway waiting for resolution. Tim’s mother comes out angry. She doesn’t understand how the principal of a school won’t listen to her concerns about her son. She tells Tim that Mrs. McBride talked down to her, and would only reply to her with things like "that’s unfair" and "we treat your son like anyone else." She takes Tim home and continues searching for an answer. Later, Adam tells Tim over the phone that they asked for his story. They told Adam that Foster needs ‘special attention,’ and isn’t subject to the same set of rules. They also tell Adam that Tim’s mother was verbally abusing them and had no business calling people up that night to try to work to a solution and that she was out of line. Adam was not happy with the outcome of that meeting. They told him that he was suspended for the next two days. Adam had never gotten in trouble up to that point. He had a clean record, now tarnished and stepped on by greedy oppressive trollops.
Thursday 5/23--Tim, on his last day of suspension, was wondering what to do after he was done with all of his schoolwork. His mother took him by the school so that he could drop off a resumé and list of recommendations to the occupational teacher. He put it in his box and was told that he couldn’t be on campus because he was suspended and school was in session. Tim apologized and left. Later, Chad Keip, a friend of Tim and Adam’s who had graduated from New Century in 1992, had invited Tim along to go to the mall and possibly watch a movie with him. Tim went, as he was done with all of his homework. After the movie, they decided to pick up Chad’s siblings at school. They figured school was out, so there would be no problem with dropping by to simply pick up his brother and sister. They pulled up and Chad asked Tim to find his siblings. Tim walked a couple feet and was stopped by Toni, and was told to give her his blue Air Force hat, her excuse being it was gang related. Tim tried to tell her that it was after school and shouldn’t have a problem with wearing it, but stopped, not wanting any trouble. Toni was then joined by Mrs. McBride and Ms. Wertz. They all told him he had to immediately leave. Tim headed back toward the car and was followed by the three faculty members. They told Chad that he was to immediately leave. His sister came to the car and got in. Toni was holding his door as if to close it when she wanted to. Tim got in the car and they left without Chad’s brother, who was forced to walk home. When Tim got home, his mother informed him that the school had called her and that he had been suspended for the rest of the year.
Monday 5/27--Tim and his mother filed an appeal against the long term suspension and Tim was allowed back in school. Tim was asked to wait in the office for over 30 minutes when he got back that day and was then told to go back to class.
Tuesday 5/28--Back in school, Tim requested a council with his witnesses who had been denied the chance to speak. Nathan Chateaubriand, a friend to all and witness of the incidents that led up to the destruction of Tim and Adam’s lives, told Tim and Adam that he had been dragged into Mrs. McBride’s office earlier and she asked him why he was trying to help Tim and Adam. He told her that he was there and saw everything, and Tim and Adam weren’t at fault. She wouldn’t listen and told him that he should get his facts straight. She said that Tim was a horrible student and a liar. She also told him that Foster never told them that he had been duct taped, but rather everyone that duct taped him except Tim, confessed the next day, and blamed it on Tim. This contradicts their earlier story that Foster had run to the office and told them. This also brings up the question that, if they all confessed and pointed the blame at Tim, then why was Tim suspended the day before? Tim and Adam went to Chris Curwood, the 6' tall ASB president who was active in basketball. He had his good friend Alex Lui with him. They asked Chris if he told Mrs. McBride that Tim did it, and he said of course not. He wrote the two a statement saying that he told Toni that he didn’t know who had duct taped Foster, and that he never talked to Mrs. McBride like she claimed. Nathan also wrote Tim and Adam a statement saying what Mrs. McBride told him.
Friday 5/31--Tim went to the appeal hearing. On the school’s side was Mrs. McBride and Ms. Wertz. On Tim’s side was Tim and his mother. They went over the documents, and the school tried to get Tim’s written documents of witnesses’ testimonies thrown out because they were not submitted on time. Their plan did not work. They said that Tim and Adam intimidated the 6' tall basketball playing Chris Curwood and demanded a paper clearing their name, when in fact, all Tim and Adam did was ask Chris if he could help them out. After the hearing, Tim was told that the final decision would be given to him no later than Wednesday of the next week. Tim went to school.
Monday 6/3--Tim’s mother was told by the secretary at the district office that the appeal was overturned and Tim wasn’t allowed back in school.
Tuesday 6/4--Adam and his parents went in to talk with Mrs. McBride and Ms. Wertz to ‘review the evidence.’ When they left, nothing had been solved, but Mrs. McBride and Ms. Wertz had convinced Adam’s parents that more of the blame than originally thought, lay with Adam. His parents grounded him for four weeks and told him he wasn’t to converse his ‘delinquent’ friend Tim.
Wednesday 6/5--Tim received a certified letter in the mail saying that the appeal had been overturned and he had three days to appeal the overturned appeal. It said no longer that Adam held down Foster, while Tim duct taped him, but now Tim held Foster down and directed Adam to duct tape him. This would not be the first time they changed or mixed up their stories.
Monday 6/10--Three business days later, Tim appealed the overturned appeal and was alowed back in school again. That day, a source that wishes to remain nameless, confided in Tim and Adam that on Tuesday May, 21st, the day of the alleged duct tape incident, Foster had ran to the office where Toni, the nameless source, and Jamie Porter waited. Foster blurted that he had been duct taped. Everyone had to try hard not to bust up laughing. Jamie, possibly trying to cover for her skinhead/punk/skater friends suggested it might have been Tim and Adam. Toni and Foster liked this and hammered out a plan.
Tim missed two weeks of school and instruction, and has failed several of his classes. School is now out, and Tim is waiting for his hearing on his second appeal which is planned for Monday June, 24. Tim’s GPA has been ruined, along with his chances of being accepted into a good college.
Adam is now marked as a friend of Tim’s, and is not allowed the priveledges he once was. He is now filled with angst and roaming the streets.
It isn’t known what’s become of Foster, Mrs. McBride, Ms. Wertz, or Toni. They could very well be on the loose, looking for another way to disregard student’s rights and trample the innocent.