Period 8 Read Free

teacher’s code thing where I’m supposed to give you ‘moral’ advice.” He glances at his watch. “But it’s too close to P-8 and too close to my retirement for that. Look, I don’t know the circumstances under which you committed this heinous act, and I’ll thank you to keep it that way, but I’m rushing headlong into the age of mandatory Medicare. I went on my first date at age nine, took Amy Velar to the Shrine Circus. I knew more about male-female interaction then .”
    â€œYou’re gonna have to do better than that if you want to be my guru,” Paulie says.
    â€œIf I were your guru, I’d have to share responsibility for the crazy shit you do. I have enough crazy shit of my own, thank you.”
    Paulie runs his hands through his hair, his gaze drifting to the ceiling.
    â€œKidding aside,” Logs says. “There’s not a good reason to lie to people we care about. And we should honor our commitments. In a perfect world, right? I’m assuming you and Hannah were exclusive.”
    Paulie nods.
    â€œSo if you had come to me beforehand I probably should have told you to tell her, but I probably would have asked if you thought it might happen again or if you believed you could reign in those impulses from now on.” He grimaces. “It’s likely I would have told you to give yourself another chance. Most guys would.”
    Paulie looks at his lap. “Yeah, well, ‘most guys’ are exactly who I don’t want to be.”
    â€œâ€˜Most guys’ too ethically flexible for you?”
    â€œI don’t care what anyone else does, it’s none of my business. I mean, it’s all bullshit. I don’t let my peers judge me, and I ain’t ending up like my old man.”
    The bell rings; they walk to the door and watch the halls fill. “Got about five minutes before Period 8,” Logs says . “You wanna grab something out of the lunchroom?”
    â€œI’d like to grab Hannah out of the lunchroom.” Paulie pats his stomach, shakes his head. “Not hungry.”
    â€œIf we’re getting into open water you’ll need to eat whether you’re hungry or not.”
    â€œGimme a day,” Paulie says.
    Logs grabs a brown paper bag from his top desk drawer and removes a small plastic container of green salad with ranch and four very small hard-salami-and-cheese-on-rye sandwiches. He extends one of the sandwiches toward Paulie. “Take it,” he says. “For me.”
    Paulie laughs, grabs the sandwich, and halves it in one bite. “I mean it. I don’t want to be my dad,” he says. “At least not in that way. An affair about every year and a half, caught every time. Three weeks in an apartment or a motel, then back. Mom all hurt and shit but scared to lose him.”
    â€œI guess your folks are better parents than mates,” Logs says. “Not good, but not all bad, either.”
    The first of the Period 8 kids saunter in, and Paulie clams up. He’s been with some of these kids in P-8 for four years, and they’ve been through some intense discussions. Paulie is famous for making raw disclosures, but he does not feel like airing his shit with Hannah in this room. Not yet.

.2
    â€œH ey, Tak,” Arney Stack says as he rushes into Period 8, removing his jacket. “Heard you got taken out in the semis.”
    â€œMr. Stack,” Logs says. “Missed you in class this morning.”
    â€œStudent council meeting,” Arney says. “Didn’t you get the memo from the office?”
    Logs nods. He doesn’t read office memos. Arney knows that.
    Josh Takeuchi opens his lunch sack, which contains the first real lunch he’s had since he started dropping weight at the beginning of wrestling season. “Yeah,” he says, opening a ziplock bag containing three baloney sandwiches and two Snickers bars. “I got taken out in the