"Bill?" He said, alarmed, but I strode purposefully forward. Reluctantly, he followed. I had to give him credit. He was loyal, willing to back me up in the face of these six guys.

"Trust me." I assured him. "Richard's about to fall from grace, big time."

As we approached the gang of bullies Richard himself eyed us and stepped forward, blocking our paths. To our right were the chain- linked bike racks. To our left was the school's perimeter fence. It was Richard's kind of tactical situation all right, blocking his victim in.

"Hey Billy-fag." He hailed, his gray, stupid eyes boring into me. "You got change for a dollar?"

I stared back at him, barely able to suppress a smile. "Yeah." I told him, my voice full of mocking contempt. "But you ain't getting' it."

He looked at me in shock, almost stepping backwards at my boldness. I think that he would have backed down right there except for the fact that a group of junior and senior girls were happening by at that particular moment and, hearing my words, stopped to see what would transpire.

"What did you say you little fuckin' pussy?" He enquired toughly, in disbelief.

I had to search through my memory banks to come up with a statement that was suitably insulting to a high school bully from the eighties. After a moment I came up with one. "I said, why don't you suck my dick asshole, if you're not too tired from fuckin' your momma all night."

His friends, as well as the group of teenagers gave a collective gasp. "You gonna let him say that shit to you Richie?" One of them asked, goading him.

"You're dead motherfucker." Richard said, advancing towards me, his fists clenched and raised in a pseudo-boxing stance.

I snorted contempt, which again almost gave him pause. He threw a haymaker right at my face, which, had it impacted, probably would have broken my nose.