Chapter 20

Danny was walking up to the school first thing Monday morning. He was a little tired since he had studied all Sunday, getting ready for final exams. His first final exam was tonight. He didn’t exactly have test anxiety, but he did want to do well on it.

“From dud to stud in one week,” Steve said from behind him.

“What?” Danny asked.

“Cell phones were running down batteries spreading the news of your date with Val and your knight in shiny armor act at the mall.”

“Oh.”

“That guy was a bruiser. I was shocked when I watched the videos.”

“Videos?”

“There’s at least a dozen of them on YouTube.”

“This is a catastrophe.”

“Then there’s the video of you standing up to the cop. You really put him in his place.”

“Oh, no!”

“Girls are swooning. You’re getting a reputation as Prince Valiant.”

“Now you’re getting ridiculous,” Danny said with a groan.

Steve laughed and clapped him on shoulder. He said, “Actually, I think your actions impressed a lot of young ladies. You stepped right up to defend your girl without even batting an eye. Not a second of hesitation on your part.”

“Oh, boy.”

“You’ve had some really good press, lately. That whole demonstration of advanced physics in your science class convinced a lot people that you are as smart as you act. Then there was that newspaper article. The deodorant poster impressed a few people. Going out with Val was shocker. Seeing you take out that monster? That is the cherry on the ice cream sundae.”

“This is so wrong,” Danny said. “That’s not me. I wasn’t demonstrating advanced physics. I was trying to get a homework problem solved. That newspaper article wasn’t supposed to be about me. It was supposed to be about the university, with just a quote from me. And the poster ... I was just trying to get a good grade on the poster. Then, well, Val asked me out, and the monster gave me no choice.”

“When the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance,” Danny said.

“What a great film,” Steve said.

“It is a great film. There’s a lot of truth in it,” Danny said.

“You’re doing a good job of changing the subject,” Steve said.

Danny said, “Maybe I better hide out in the music room today.”

Steve laughed. He pointed at the front door and said, “Here comes Val.”

“Why do I suddenly feel nervous?”

Val walked right up to Danny. She threw her arms around him and hugged him close. She then placed a kiss on him that was sure to get them thrown out of school for PDA, ‘public display of affection’. When she finally broke the kiss, Danny’s eyes were glazed over.

“My hero,” she cooed. “That was for saving me.”

“Uh.”

She gave him another kiss that was even longer and hotter. She stepped back and said, “That was the goodnight kiss that we couldn’t have Saturday.”

“Wow,” Steve said.

She gave Danny a third kiss that was longer than the first two combined. She was definitely putting her all into it. Upon breaking it, she said, “And that was good morning.”

“That was staking your claim,” Stephanie said coming up behind Steve.

“Well, that too.”

Danny swallowed heavily and said, “Good morning.”

Grabbing his hand in hers, she asked, “Why don’t you walk me to class?”

“Sure,” Danny said.

“Hello, Danny,” a girl said sweetly while walking past them.

Val glowered at her. Danny looked puzzled. He asked, “Who was she?”

“It’s better that you don’t know,” Val said.

“Okay,” Danny said.

The two of them walked to her classroom. A lot of people greeted them while they walked. She stopped at the door and gave him another kiss. Her teacher clearing her throat from behind caused her to break it off.

The teacher said, “Don’t you have somewhere else to be?”

“I guess,” Danny said.

“Bye, Danny.”

“Bye, Val.”

Val slowly walked into her classroom. Danny watched her. When she was gone, he turned and headed to the safest place he knew – the library. It was the closest place to a sanctuary at the school.

“Hello, Danny.”

“Hello, Mrs. Holmsteader.”

“You made the news.”

“There was another article?”

“Not that news. Your video is quite impressive.”

“It’s not my video,” Danny said.

“There is no celebrity quite as powerful as the local, homegrown celebrity.”

“Tony Wilson.”

“Right. You’ve become quite the celebrity as a result of defending Val like that.”

“I’m kind of ashamed to be a celebrity. I don’t understand wanting to read about other people’s dirty laundry. I think celebrity is the biggest red herring society has ever pulled on itself.”

“Jude Law.”

“What am I supposed to do about this?”

“There’s not much you can do.”

“This whole knight in shining armor is just as off base as the creepy guy label.”

“I disagree. You did something special. Not many guys could have stood up to that brute. I think you would have stood up to him even if you didn’t have all the training you do have.”

“Without the training, I would have been a bloody wet spot on the floor,” Danny said.

“The outcome doesn’t matter. You still would have stood up to him so that she could have run away. You would have protected her.”

“I’d like to think so, but you never know.”

“Come and sit down. We need to talk,” Mrs. Holmsteader said.

Danny followed her over to their regular table at the library. They sat down at the table.

“Danny, you are getting an education at college and you’re getting one here. I’m not sure which one is going to serve you best in your future. Now you’re being given a chance to learn a lesson early in life that may be the most important one of all.”

“What lesson is that?”

“How to handle being an individual in the position of influencing others.”

“Oh.”

Mrs. Holmsteader said, “It’s said that teachers can be the greatest influence in the lives of their students. The thing is, that’s an influence that is granted through authority first and example second. It’s very much a ‘power’ thing. However, you achieved that position through example, first. That’s very rare.”

“I guess.”

“Now you can act like an asshole, or you can act like a celebrity. God knows most people end up acting like both. The harder path is to act humble and to inspire others to behave in the same way.

“When pressed about what happened, you can tell people that you know they would have done the same thing if they had been in your position. You aren’t saying that you did nothing. What you are saying is that they should think of themselves as also having a heroic side.

“Remind them that inside every person, there resides that little bit of hero that will emerge when the situation requires it.”

Danny thought about what she was suggesting. He was to make it about what happened, and not about himself. The fact was, he was kind of embarrassed about all of the attention. He could see where that strategy would deflect a lot of the attention from him.

He said, “I think I can do that.”

Mrs. Holmsteader said, “Learn from this so that you can handle it better in the future. You may create inventions that make the news. Don’t boast and brag about yourself. You can sell the invention, but not yourself. Let others do that for you.”

“You’re right,” Danny said.

“Now what really happened at the mall?”

“Did you see the video?”

“Yes.”

“That’s what happened,” Danny said.

“You really made it look easy.”

Danny said, “It was too easy. I didn’t think, I just acted.”

“That’s what training is all about,” Mrs. Holmsteader said.

“That’s what my Sensei says.”

“I’m sure that he’ll make you put everything into context tonight.”

“I’ve got a final exam tonight. I’m not going to make it to training.”

“What subject?”

“English.”

“So what do you think will be on the test?” she asked.

For the most part of the next hour, she asked questions about the subject matter that was likely to be on the test. He realized that she was actually doing a great job of preparing him for the exam. She was asking the kind of questions that his instructor would ask, but it was in a nice friendly environment where she could ask follow up questions. He had a feeling that this discussion did more to prepare him than the hours of studying he had done the day before.

Looking over at the clock, she said, “The bell is about to ring.”

“I don’t have to be anywhere special at the moment,” Danny said.

“What about in front of Val’s classroom?”

“I didn’t think about that,” Danny said getting up and heading for the door.

She said, “What an interesting contradiction that boy is. So wise and yet so naive. He’s so capable in some things and yet so awkward in others. Val is going to have a fun time learning how to deal with him. I had better get a stock of tissues.”

In the classroom, Mrs. Shapiro clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. When they all turned to look at her, she said, “This coming Saturday is the Winter Dance. I want the four of you to dance the Waltz, the Tango, and Salsa. So we’re going practice all three of them every day this week.”

The Waltz went quite well. Danny and Val moved around the room gracefully. Their motions were smooth and flowed with the naturalness that can only come after hours of practice. Steve and Stephanie moved just as well. Both couples occupied different parts of the room and never came close to a collision.

Pleased with their performance, Mrs. Shapiro said, “That was excellent.”

Stephanie said, “The Waltz is so romantic.”

“That’s the right word for it,” Val said.

From a dance perspective, the Tango went quite well. From Danny’s perspective, he felt like he was dancing with dynamite. Val had never approached that dance with the level of passion as she did this time. He wondered if they’d be allowed to complete the dance. This was high school after all.

Mrs. Shapiro was smiling like the cat who swallowed the canary. She said, “That’s hot.”

“The Tango is so passionate,” Stephanie said.

“That’s the right word for it,” Val said with a smile.

The Salsa was something all together different. Val was all over him. It was like she was making love to him right there on the dance floor. The close moves were performed even closer. She rubbed against him every chance she had. Danny was struggling to keep up with her. It was almost painful.

Mrs. Shapiro said, “That was ... that was R rated.”

“Salsa is so sexy,” Stephanie said.

“You haven’t seen anything yet,” Val said.