Patrick Blackwell would prefer if you called him Blackie, thank you very much, and he was not a bully; merely a bold protector of his rights and advocate of peace in the hallway, thank you very much. Unfortunately, Blackie seemed to assimilate the terms “peace” and “conformity” a little too easily in his mind.

For example, take the first day of school that year. He was a sophomore, Avi Nickelssohn was a freshman, and a short, white-faced, frightened-looking one at that. Need I say more?

I do.

For goodness sakes, he possessed a canvas bag in which to keep his belongings rather than the popular monogrammed backpack, and God forbid you should see him toting around a container of Trix yogurt.