Answer: What you gonna do about it?

Question: What's the first thing I heard a student say in the hall this morning?

Backstory: I live on the Freshman hall. There are a ton of Freshmen this year, and they all hang out by their lockers before first bell every morning. They come on the hall starting around 7:40, and the bell rings at 7:55. Socialization time is good, right? The teachers on this hall are greatly outnumbered - 6 of us to a bazillion of them. A couple weeks ago, I had to help break up a girl fight. This morning, it was the guy's turn.

I 'm standing outside my door, monitoring the hall. As usual, there are groups of kids hanging out by the lockers, talking about their Thanksgiving holiday. A HUGE kid (never seen him before - he doesn't belong at this end of the alphabet) comes up the hall, stops at the group of kids standing nearest to me, pushes another kid and says, "What you gonna do about it?" He got his answer pretty quickly - fists started flying.

I yelled for Mr. D (Biology teacher who was at the other end of the hall), and ran in my room to push the button. (2nd time this year I've done that - a new record!) We don't have phones in our rooms, so the only way we can contact the office in an emergency is to push this black button on the wall. When you push the button, people come running. After the button pushing, I went back into the hall, where the fight was continuing. The teachers not actively involved in breaking up the fight start herding the spectators to their homerooms. Finally, one other male teacher pulls one kid (the pushee) into his classroom, and locks the door. The other guy is still fighting, trying to break down the door. He finally gives up and heads down the hall, Mr. D in pursuit. All of a sudden, the hall is peaceful again. And here comes the office cavalry - onto an empty hall. Walkie-talkies in hand, in combat mode. Looking around for the fight that isn't there.

Happy Holidays!