Chapter 62 - Delinquent Diaries (6)

Ahoy Scrubs!

Today, I bring to you the King of Eraser Brawler - Lanky!

A small introduction to Lanky from my background investigations - Lanky is actually accepted into the school's track and field team. He does High Jump and is actually really good at it seeing how he was the first runner-up for the national competition in the boy's solo section. Basically, Lanky is a jock but a very tall and thin one. In fact, among all the delinquents in the class, Lanky is the most famous delinquent who is actually liked by the general school population.

Some facts I gathered about this fine specimen:

1. Lanky is completely oblivious to girls. He sees them but doesn't register in his brain that they might be fond of him.

2. Lanky is determined. He works really hard and never gives up if he doesn't get what he wants. He hates losing and cannot be consoled over a loss.

3. Lanky is the King of Eraser Brawler and also a really clever Eraser Warrior. The boys often gather around him when he gives them tips about battling with their Erasers from the shape and size to the 'upgrades' they can use during battles from pencil leads to staples. His current record - 31 won, 4 loss.

4. If you want to get Lanky, all you have to do is throw down the gauntlet. Lanky never walks away from a challenge.

Seeing that Lanky is actually quite an easily manipulated person, Casper actually baited him into studying. The jock was initially uninterested in the books but Casper made a clever statement about jocks being unable to deliver anything apart from results outside the classroom and that did the trick. Before anybody knew it, Lanky was in the top five in the class for the mock test yesterday. Nobody knew how Lanky did it but the boy replied it wasn't hard when he tried. None of the boys could understand how algebra could be mastered in one night when many of them have been trying for almost a week now.

With Lanky, I feel like he could go a long way if someone guided him. He has passion, drive and even talent. Lanky isn't unintelligent. He's actually very good at observing for patterns and details when he has to. The only problem Lanky has is actually taking interest in things outside his field of vision. The jock simply didn't care about things that didn't interest him and is blind in most things that didn't relate to sports. It's a real shame to me because Lanky actually did have the memory and the cognitive ability to understand concepts.

A good example of how he was good at understanding concepts: building good Eraser Brawlers after studying physics.

It was interesting watching Lanky give his classroom explanation about why he built his eraser battlers the way he did. Most boys usually did things because they thought it would be cooler or 'deadlier' by adding certain accessories. Some did it on all sides, some didn't care and piled as many as they could, some invested in more expensive materials hoping it would make a difference but nobody could beat Lanky.

The uses things like the central gravity force, the effects of weight and shape of the eraser to determine its optimum speed to win against his opponents. In fact, Lanky has made customised designs to overcome all sorts of designs that any of his classmates could make. Hence, Casper and I devised a plan to bait Lanky into studying.

Casper first challenged Lanky into an Eraser Battle with a Brawler he built in less than ten minutes. That was Lanky's first loss ever. It threw the entire class into shock and there was an uproar. To shake things up a little bit more, Casper claimed that even I could do such a thing easily. He also claimed that with good math and science knowledge, it was possible to fight a hundred times and never lose a battle. In all honesty, that was a partial lie. Casper and I did intensive research into Lanky's battle designs and styles. There was also a finger flicking technique that led him to his victory.

Lanky didn't believe that it was true and challenged Casper and me to a true Brawl. Out of three rounds, the winner has to win at least two rounds. We were given an hour to prepare because we didn't have any Eraser Brawlers. The class was in chaos when they heard that. Casper took the time to set the rules in place. If we won, Lanky will study and get an A score for the term-end Math test. If we lost, Lanky is free to do whatever he pleased and not attend class. Also, anybody who has the confidence to win us can challenge us as well using the same terms.

Junior didn't bother to challenge but the other boys did try. I don't know if they were seriously trying to get out of studying or if they just wanted to confirm our skills for themselves. However, Casper and I didn't bother changing Erasers. We simply used the one he built in less than ten minutes to battle everyone.

The results were non-negotiable. A complete wipeout with team student-teachers as the winner. Not even Lanky survived. Three out of three rounds on his loss but we let everyone keep their erasers. After all, what should we do with over fifty erasers? It was ridiculous!

In any case, the lesson was learnt and we gained respect from the class who hailed us as the leaders of their pack. Casper was given the honorary title of the Bancho even if everyone still saw Junior as their official leader. He was something like a warrior King who would lead them to victory and I was the trusty informant or something.

It didn't bother me because, after this display of dominance, it was really easy to have everyone co-operate. The class average is now about forty marks so in a few more days we should be able to have everyone passing with even a few showing promises of getting their As.

It's been an interesting class so far. I still have ten more delinquents to introduce to you and then we can resume with our random people watching days. Let me know who your favourite delinquent is so far and I'll see you again tomorrow.

Fair winds!

Pirate S.