he called the school office to see if some teacher had kept the whole gang after school . `` i thought this might be a better view than the restaurant , '' he said quietly . there was no response to this save the sound of chewing . all i see is the cream-colored tile floor , wet and dirty from what my drenched running shoes have tracked in . the corners and sides where weighted with weights . still , i arrived forty five minutes early . now i was here , in the destination of my fate , i lost strength . 