Farm Boy City Boy

Bobby sits quietly in the back of his Freshman Life Science class going about his usual business of not being noticed. He reasons that if he is never noticed, he'll never be picked on, a plan that has worked well the first few weeks of the semester. Bobby is a half a foot to a foot smaller than most of the kids in his class, and isn't the smartest kid either -- mostly C's and a few B's with an occasional D now and then. His dad works at the plant and his mother is a waitress. Neither one is happy with the jobs and mostly take it out on each other, with Bobby occasionally getting in the crosshairs. His teacher is going on about a science project that will be 30% of their grade. "And have your partner picked by tomorrow by the beginning of class." Project partner? Bobby knows only three kids in this class who were in his middle school last year, and none of them are prospective lab partners, or really even prospective friends. John and Joel are semi jocks and are likely to be working together. Sharon is one of the most popular kids and will have no trouble getting a partner. She is smart too. Bobby looks around at the noisy negotiating of the other students. "When you come to class tomorrow, everyone needs to pick new seats, nextto their partner. You'll be working together all semester. You will need to come up with a topic by Friday." He passes out papers. "Here are some suggestions. If you want to do it on something else, you may be able to do that; just let me know." Nobody seeks out Bobby. Mostly they don't even know he's there, so quietly staying out of the mainstream of school life. But there is another just as quiet boy on the other side of the room. Jimmy is not so much under the radar, as kind of feared. Feared and steered clear of. His brother is in jail for drugs, and his father is in jail for killing someone, or so go the stories. Jimmy isn't a bully or anything, but nobody messes with him. He too is a C student. Jimmy lives on a farm with his mother and grandfather. And so it is at Tuesday's class that being the only two without lab partners, these two unlikely boys are paired up. One ostracized from the others because of his family past; one self ostracized and pretty much afraid of the world. Both quiet, shy boys.Mr. Johnson points them to the two remaining seats in the back, for them to sit together and tells them to pick a topic. Neither one had brought the suggested topic sheet to class, so Mr. Johnson provides them with another sheet. Jimmy looks at the suggested topics, then hands the sheet to Bobby. Both boys sit in silence, waiting for the other to begin the conversation. Bobby hands the sheet back to Jimmy. "Did you see anything you want to work on?" he finally asks. "No." "Me neither." They continue to sit quietly, waiting for the teacher to restore order and the learning part of the class to begin. Each day, the teacher gives the students a few minutes of time to discuss their projects and pick a topic. By Thursday, almost everyone has decided. "So, what do you want to do it on? Bobby asks Jimmy in a low voice. "I don't care. What do you want to do it on?" Bobby shrugs his shoulders, indicating a complete lack of caring. Jimmy gets the start of a grin on his face and leans in close to Bobby. "Want to do it on sperm?" he whispers. Bobby's face lights up at the out-loud discussing of a more or less forbidden topic.....

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