• It was a Monday morning, and just like a whole lot of other people, I hated Mondays. This particular Monday meant running around on a track a lot more than other classes because the P.E teacher happens to also be the football coach. That also meant he expected us to "hustle" down to the track before he got there, but hey, I'm not complaining. As my friend and I jogged towards the track beginning, I noticed my class was bunched in a group. Not that it's unusual (thank cliques for that), but this group was tighter than usual. Perhaps it was a fight or something.
    "What's going on?" I asked someone as I arrived.
    "There's a lizard right there," the person replied.
    I tried to look where they were pointing. Sure enough, there was an actual lizard on the ground, a dark, black common lizard. The poor dude was going to get hurt if the class started jogging.
    "All right, step aside everyone," I said professionally (which is funny, because I'm not the best lizard catcher, but I am decent), "I'll get it."
    I crouched down to pick him up, but he ran to the other side of the chain linked gate. I walked around to the other side, and cupping my hands on either side of him, proceeded to pick him up by gently lifting his torso and then holding my hands around him. There came the taunting comments of:
    "Squish it!"
    "Stomp it!"
    "Kill it!"
    "Guys?" I said, focused on the lizard entirely, "Shut up."
    I carried him over to the dirt slopes surrounding the track, where no one actually jogs, and placed him on some shrubs in the sun.
    "You did a good thing," my friend said as we jogged.
    "Yeah, and I bet someday, he's going to turn into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Lizard. They'll see."

    Came Wednesday, and everyone was once again at the starting line on the track. Several boys in front of me were making fun of me for being a Pokemon fan by pretending like they knew about it.
    Suddenly, one of the girls screamed bloody murder. A black blur was running down the hill at a lightning speed. Everyone tried to scatter, but this newcomer moved amist the panicking class. In a minute, ten classmates were out cold. In two more minutes, the whole class was out cold, including the teacher. This creature had used a complicated form of martial arts. But now, it had stopped moving, and I got to take one good look at it.
    It was a lizard, standing at six foot eleven, with powerful muscles, tough skin, and a thick tail, which had also been used in the martial arts.
    He finally noticed that he left one standing, and he turned his golden rimmed eyes towards me. He lowered his claws at seeing who I was, and spoke. "Thanks."
    "Pardon?" I asked politely.
    "You remember that lizard you saved two days ago?" he said.
    "Ah yes!" I nodded. "I assume that was you?"
    "You assumed right," he replied. "I was hanging around some weird type of ooze, and before I knew it, this happened."
    "I see that." I thought for a minute. "Lizards transform differently than turtles, right?"
    "'Course they do. We can get pretty big. It's not like turtles are our enemies, though, so me and the other Teenage Mutant Ninjas are cool."
    "That's good. So are you named after a famous painter?"
    The lizard laughed. "That's a common mistake. Lizards are named after philosophers."
    "So then what's your name?"
    The lizard looked around him to make sure everyone was still out cold, then he said, "My name is Beccaria."
    "After the philosopher who fought against cruel and unusual punishments?" I surveyed his handiwork. "Kind of ironic, isn't it?"
    "Just because I'm named after the guy, doesn't mean I act like him. Besides, I didn't kill them. And I didn't hurt you since you saved me."
    "I'm touched," I said with a grin.
    "Anyways, I've got to go meet up with the Turtles. Maybe I'll see you around."
    "That'd be nice. I could use your help, and I can see you hit the guys who made fun of me harder than the others."
    He smiled as a lizard would. "Benefits for the both of us. Take care!"
    "Bye!"

    I walked back to the locker rooms. Everyone else didn't come around until second period started.