Jessee Ray Boyle
Woopus
You can never understand him Hardly can I His pink skin and feathered hair Makes him look like he’s been high
What is a Woopus? And who is to say? He, she, it- extemporaneous We just know that a Woopus is gay
Indeed they’re happy creatures I know because I have one Never traitors or deceivers Like a Woopus with a gun
When you picture a Woopus what do you see? He sees I in you in all that you see in me.
Reputation of Criminals She was marched out of the building in handcuffs. She could feel the blood arising in her face as the policemen firmly gripped her arms while they made their way down the stairs. One had a hold of her shirt sleeve, which she thought was rather unnecessary. She didn’t know whether to wear a look of dignity on her face or one that said, “This is all just a big misunderstanding, please someone believe me!” One thing she didn’t have to nor wanted to think about; she had never been so embarrassed in her life. Alex had scarcely turned seventeen and she had never exactly been her teachers’ favorite. Her hair was naturally dark. She sported the style of clothes she did because she liked them, not to represent anything. She didn’t stalk away to her bedroom each night to worship Satin or slit her wrists. When people passed her in the hallway she would hear whispers as many people have had to deal with. It was no big deal but sometimes she would catch a word or two as they drifted by her ears. The girls in the bathroom and occasionally a couple of teachers would talk about her relationship at home with her parents and why and how it would pertain to the way she would behave some days. But none of that was right. She and her mother had a great relationship. They would even play golf sometimes on the weekends and came to each other with all their problems. Her gigolo of a father had left them when Alexandria was an infant, which they occasionally talked about, but to be perfectly honest none of it bothered her. She could easily blame her father for all this and just have to sit through a few hours of pointless counseling, but preps and jocks who poked fun at her for not having two loving parents knew better by her unaffected reaction than to be fooled into thinking she was actually that tormented to do something like this. They had never intended for it to go this far and frankly it didn’t. Sam, Devon, Tristan and herself had simply planned to send a message to the biology teacher by placing the rubber frog with a plastic knife stuck in its chest in her drawer. Agreed, they may have gone a bit far with the fake blood they’d splattered all over it but that’s not what Mrs. Smits saw at all, no. Mrs. Smits, weather she really assumed it was a threat or not took action immediately. Hence the reason Alex Bailey was now being ducked down into the back seat of a police car. As they drove through the crowd of astounded and angry teenagers Alex made herself look out at them but was unable to make eye contact good enough to tell what they were really thinking. In the police station as they waited Sam and Tristan colorfully talked about how they hated Mrs. Smits. Tristan had always been the first to open his mouth when it came to speaking his mind and that got the rest going. His long blond hair swept over his freckled face as he spat out his teacher’s name. Devon had black hair but light friendly eyes. He preferred to keep his thoughts to himself until he was sure of what would happen. Only when trouble was impossible to stir up again would he jump into it. Sam on the other hand looked more like Alex. If people didn’t think they were twins separated at birth they agreed they would make the cutest couple in the school. They discussed how a safe and yet somewhat demented example had been turned around on them and made into a way bigger deal than it was. Story of their lives, the world was out to get them. Alex could hardly think other than, “Oh my God, oh my God, this will follow me for the rest of my life.” Her whole body was numb and her mind hurt. What would her mother think? Surely she would believe her. After a hearing and a community sentencing of 150 hours Alex and her friends decided to lay low and simmer down but that didn’t stop the looks. While the soccer team thought it was funny what they had done the cheerleaders, the divas, and academic teams, who were all particularly good at sucking up to the teachers did not and they were the people that can make your high school life living hell. The four friends tried to stay spread out from each other. It was a big school and the less they were seen together the less people would try to pick a fight with them and get them into even more trouble. They took separate ways to class and met up at noon for lunch behind the tennis court. Now and then one of them would blow up. “Do you know what it’s like to be treated like a criminal?” Tristan would often point out to his classmates. The truth was they all needed someone to vent and gripe to and all they had was each other. Alex was fortunate, her mother understood. Her friends weren’t so lucky. Devon’s mother had stopped speaking to him after the embarrassment he had caused her. Tristan’s father nearly threw him out and would have, maybe not permanently but enough to scare him if it wouldn’t have made him look bad. Sam’s parents were making him pay the bail money back to them plus gas money to drive him back and forth to community service of picking up trash along the highways and helping work on the new elderly home on Maple Street since they’d taken his license away. None of it made sense in Alex’s head. Life eventually would return back to normal for the four friends but the rest of the year was never the same. Teachers always took a particular interest in what they were doing. Every move was watched. If they stopped in the hallway to whisper something to one another or to anyone really they had to be sure no one was paying attention. That mark would be on their record for the rest of their lives. Some of the teacher’s (especially Mrs. Smits) would never let them earn their trust back. Their reputation would never be the same and all because of a what they though was a harmless act was taken the wrong way.
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