<strong>Michael Winters</strong><br/><br/><div class="floatleft">(http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q61/mrgerty/Characters/MichaelWinters-1.jpg)</div>The wind whipped through Michael’s dark hair as he tore down Jack Street in his 1995 Ford F-150 with the windows rolled down. Michael pressed the number 1 preset on his high definition stereo just in time to catch Mike Nelson finish up his morning weather report.<br/><br/><em>…hot out there today with the high reaching 91. I’m Mike Nelson and that’s your morning weather. Now back to the Good Morning Guys with Brian &amp; Tod on Colorado’s Best Country Music, K99!”</em>They went straight into the next song with Brian announcing the artist and title while the song’s opening instrumental bars played out,<em>”Thanks Mike. It's 16 minutes 'til 8 o'clock and a BEAUTIFUL Monday morning. Stay cool out there gang! Now, here's Jason Aldean with his latest hit title [noembed]Crazy Town (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcMLCK8Sw5I)[/noembed] off of his best selling platinum album, <span class="bbc_u">'Wide Open</span>! Keep your radio dialed in right here on K99! Colorado’s Best Country Music!"</em><br/><br/>Michael bobbed his head to the beat as he sang along in perfect unison and with the perfect accent, braking to a stop at the Fission Street traffic light. He waited for the light to turn green, still singing loudly along with Jason Aldean as he glanced over to the car that was stopped beside him. He flashed a smile and a wink at the pretty lady dressed in business attire on her way to work. She smiled back and watched him over the rim of her dark sunglasses as he sang, seemingly to her. Michael waited for a break in the traffic and merged right onto Fission Street, chuckling as the woman honked her horn after him, still stuck at the light. It wasn’t long before he came to Fox Street, but the light was green, allowing him to easily make another right hand turn, then quickly merging left into the turning lane. He flipped the blinker on and waited for a break in the oncoming traffic before taking the turn onto School Walkway.<br/><br/>He pulled into his usual parking space in front of the field house where the football players dressed for practice after school. Michael preferred parking here to the faculty parking lot because it afforded him the opportunity to walk a bit longer and mingle with the students. As the next song started playing on the radio, it was interrupted with some breaking news. Something about a riot on the west side of town. Michael wanted to listen but needed to hurry so he could unlock his classroom and prep today’s lesson before his students arrived. Grabbing his briefcase and thermos, Michael slipped from the truck’s bench seat and closed the door. He checked the driver side mirror, running a hand through his thick, dark hair, smoothing the wind-whipped mess into shape.<br/><br/>The sleeves of his long sleeved, thin, white button-down shirt were cuffed up to his elbows, the bottom tucked loosely into a pair of tight, faded jeans. A brown leather belt threaded the belt loops, ending with a slightly large gunmetal gray buckle blazoned with a Silvery<em>M</em>script. An imprint of his thick wallet was clearly visible on his right back pocket. His comfortably worn, old brown boots crunched the finely crushed gravel underfoot as he walked to the school building.<br/><br/>Hearing that pleasantly familiar beastial roar of the 1968 Mustang Fastback GT with the 390 and 4 in the floor, Michael turned his head to watch as Susan Bailey pulled into the lot at the opposite end. He paused for a moment to watch as she got out, walking towards the main building with her friends. He smiled and shook his head as he watched her walk for a few moments, muttering to softly,<strong>”God DAMN! That girl is just all *KINDS* of fine.”</strong><em>"Say what, coach?"</em>Trevor Locke had been walking past as Michael commented concerning Susan. He quickly looked to his watched and covered,<strong>"I .. uh.. I said 'Damn, I have all *KINDS* of time.' You, however, do not. Ain't your class at the other end of the building? You'd better hurry it Trevor."</strong>Trevor picked up the pace and began to jog ahead.<em>"Yes sir!"</em><br/><br/>Michael let out a soft, amused chuckle and shook his head again, looking down at his boots as he continued on to his classroom. Unfortunately for Michael, Susan wasn’t in any of his classes. He only saw her in passing between periods or at cheerleading practice while he was on the field with the team. He cleverly disguised his efforts whenever he allowed himself to sneak at peek at her during practice, but in all honesty none of the boys on the team would’ve noticed anyway because they were all too busy constantly gawking at her The coaching staff had to constantly reign them in and get their heads back into the practice.<br/><br/>That reminded him of his plans for later this evening. Since football season was over, the practices consisted mostly of calisthenics and position drills, followed by an hour in the weight room. He had made plans to take Courtney Byrd out on a date this evening. He was going to take her to<em>Stampede</em>, a rowdy little bar that featured a live country band and dancing. Courtney was a former student of his, just twenty years old and with a smoking hot body. She was a student at Rockford City College studying to become a nurse.<strong>”I should call her and make sure she’s still on for tonight…”</strong>he said to himself as he pulled out his cell phone. He pushed the button to speed dial her phone but quickly got a recording saying that all circuits were busy and to please try the call again later.<strong>”Hmm… odd.”</strong>He tried the call again, with the same results. Shoving the phone into his front pants pocket he shrugged it off and decided he’d try the call again on his lunch break.<br/><br/>Entering the main building from one of the side entrances, Michael nodded, smiled and waved to all the people who greeted him. Most of the greetings were of the<em>“Good morning, Mr. Winters.”</em>variety sprinkled in with several<em>”Hey Coach”</em>’s and hand few of<em>“Good morning Michael”</em>’s. Mrs Neuman, the Algebra I & II teacher had recently grown suspicious of Michael and she eyed him with a distrusting, watchful gaze from the doorway of her class down the hall. Michael simply smiled and gave her a little wave of his hand as he stopped at his class and unlocked the door.<strong>"Good morning, Mrs. Neuman."</strong>A few students had already gathered near the door and waited for him to unlock the door. He glanced at his watch after opening the door and ushering the students in. He was just barely on time and Mrs. Neuman narrowed her eyes in defeat as she disappeared inside her class room.<br/><br/>As he sat at his desk and prepared for this morning’s roll call, he overheard some of the students talking about the riots he had briefly heard mentioned on the radio this morning. Just then, the 8:00 bell rang and Michael got up to close the door to his classroom as he began calling roll.<strong>"Okay, everyone please take your seats. Billy Anders?"</strong>...<br/><br/><strong><em>EDIT:</em></strong>I edited some jumbled up wording that I forgot to correct while reworking my rough draft. The bit edited is near the top, the dialogue involving the radio DJ.<br/>