I had been hanging out with a kid named Dan Fitzgerald in 7th grade. Like Mark Cushner, he was a delinquent and everything, but he was nice to me and let me hang out with him.
That day we heard about a fight that was going to take place between Jim L (Flossie) and Cate M's boyfriend Craig Straiz. Of course, Dan and all of his friends (including me) wanted to see Straiz get his ass beat.
The normal spot for fights was "behind White Hen", but it was really this abandoned driveway that kind of split off from the main road. I had no reason to be home, and of course I wanted to see Straiz get beat up, so I called up my dad and lied and said I was going to after school help.
After school, a lot of kids went to the abandoned driveway. We all went in groups though, not all at once so that we didn't arouse any real suspicion.
One of the most vivid memories I have of that day is the fact that me, Dan F, Jeff B, and Chris C, were walking down the hill by the middle school together. I was on the left, of course in my big puffy blue jacket, while everyone else had a hoodie on.
We got down to driveway and there was a big crowd. Some kid made a joke and acted like a ringmaster and said "Ding ding!" and Flossie and Straiz started fighting. If was kind of dumb, all I remember is that Flossie put Straiz in a headlock and started punching him in the face. It was funny, because Dan had formed a plan that if any of Straiz's friends intervened, so would we.
Then Straiznik and Leonard started rolling around in the melting snow. Finally the two separated for a second and walked back over to their respective "sides." Once again, the ringmaster kid (Andrew S) came out and said "ding ding, round 2".
Straiz just said "No, I don't want to fight." His nose was bleeding. "I don't care if you call me a pussy at school, you can. I don't want to fight." It sounds like an honorable thing that he said, you know, all nonviolent, but it wasn't. You had to be there, and you had to know him. Going into the fight he was all cocky, and now he was scared shitless.
I don't like to see anyone like that, not even someone I hate. But seriously, don't think he was trying to be a pacifist or anything.
Anyway, the fight was over and everyone was leaving. This is the part when I usually talk about the "piece" and "caps" and stuff.
Dan Fit picked up this battery. He kind of looked at it for a second, then just threw it at the window of a house that was near us. It shattered, and we all ran like hell, yelling at Dan for being such an idiot.
I don't know how I could have thought it was funny at the time. As much as I think 7th grade was one of the best times of my life, I really hate how I was then.