Charlie's Fight

I punched Charlie in the face once

We were in the cafeteria
And he was sitting behind me
And I say to my friend
I say--

Sometimes I wanna punch that kid Charlie
In the face

And my friend was like--Do it!

So I look around
And there are only about five people in the caf
Because it's last period
And most people just leave
When they have it free
But I had soccer practice
And Charlie had, like, gay practice or something

The thing about Charlie was that he always had this look on his face
Like he knew something you didn't

It was like--What do you think you know?  You don't know shit!

You know?

So I turned around
And said--

Hey Charlie!

And when he turned around
I clocked him

Not really hard
But just enough to--you know?

And before I could even laugh about it
Or enjoy myself
I feel him grab my shoulder
Spin me around
And start wailing on me

I couldn't believe it
Who knew the little prick had it in him?

Next thing I know
Some teacher is pulling Charlie off me
And we're both being sent to the principal's office
Even though I should probably be sent to I.C.U.
Because I feel like Charlie
Busted my spleen

Somebody gave me an ice pack
So I wouldn't swell up like the Elephant Boy

Charlie didn't even have a bruise
Fuckin' figures, right?

I don't want to talk to him
But I can't help it
I say--

'Where'd you learn to fight like that?'

He kinda shrugs and says--

'My aunt.'

I say--'Your aunt?'
Thinking he's busting my balls
And he says--

'Yeah.  I spent a summer at her and my uncle's farm and she taught me how to box.'

Leave it to me to pick a fight
With a fuckin' gayass boxer

So we're sitting there
Outside the principal's office
Because he's at some meeting
About how to stop kids
From giving head in the art supplies closet

Meanwhile I'm looking at Charlie
Thinking--

You know, I feel kinda bad about punching him

When I was a kid
I used to get the urge
To just do that
To just haul off
And clock somebody

When I got older therapists
And anger management counselors
Tried telling me
It was because my mom used to hit me
But I think some people are just born angry

I always felt like
The anger was just inside of me
And the only way to get it out
Was to hit people

After awhile I realized
I probably wasn't letting it out
I was probably just feeding it

But the worst part was always after
When I'd start to feel bad

I couldn't even remember what I was mad about
So it always felt like I was feeling bad about something
Somebody else did

I said--'Hey Charlie, you want to get out of here?  Nobody left a note or anything.  They figure we're just going to sit here and then explain to the principal why he should suspend us.  Why don't we just go?'

He looked at me and said--'Just go?'

And I said--'Yeah, you know, like when you're in a car accident and you both look at your cars and realize there's not enough damage to make it worth starting shit over.'

I looked at him
And he looked at me
Like we were both trying to see
If there really was any damage

And I think we both figured out
That there wasn't anything there
That hadn't already been there before

'Okay,' he said, 'I guess we can go'

So we went to the new supermarket a few blocks away
And hung out in the Frozen Food aisle
Just talking and shit

I'd love to say we became best friends or something after that
But I got expelled two weeks later
For throwing a stapler
At the home ec teacher

If you know anything
About reading between the lines
You can probably tell
That there's a lot more to my story
Than what I'm telling you
But I'm not here to tell my story

I'm just here to give you a part of Charlie's

Charlie could throw a punch
That's the part
I'm here to tell

It's funny how when you're gone
You need so many people
Just to put together
A little bit of you
That everybody can look at
And feel like
They know the whole story

There are two things I know a lot about
Fighting and life

And both are similar in one way

A million people can watch a fight
And a million people can watch a life
But when you start trying to figure out
What happened
And who was to blame
And who threw the first punch
And why it started

Well...

You never get it

You never get the whole story