Gang Bangers or Just Boys

That is my question today.

I have several children that ride my transit route each day. To be exact on my first middle school run in the morning I have about 50-60 each morning. Then my high school route has about 50-60 also. The afternoon middle school has about 60-70 and the high school route...holy crap lets just say that A: i'm over capacity 99% of th etime and B: it gets pretty stinky...I'm at about 75-85 capacity. Then I have one more middle school route w/about 10 kids max (today there was no one).

On the PM high school route it is 20 minutes of pretty much pure hell. I can do anything for "20 min". I can get them to the "East Transfer Point"...Then it is just "5 more minutes"...It really is breaking it down because there are so many 'not so good kids' on this bus.

I have 2 boys that are in 9 and 10th grade (I asked them today how old/what grade they were in..more on that in a moment). It is pretty obvious to me that they are in 'some sort' of a gang. They wear the same white shirts, baggy denim shorts, same color shoes, socks, and have their hat tilted the same way. EVERY SINGLE DAY!!! I kid you not. Their shorts are even "freshly pressed" every day along w/their shirts.

These 2 boys have the most foul mouth of any teenager I've heard. I can get pretty foul - specially when I'm in a bad mood, depressed or whatever...but wow...they can go at it. About 90% of the kids get off at the transfer center. Leaving these 2 boys and about 5 others on the bus. They are obnoxious and I really don't like them. Yesterday, I was listening to their foul discussion w/this other girl. She wanted to know if they were "white or black or mexican or what". LOL. They are both said "my momma's white, my daddy's black" Bothh are rather fair skinned. Just like Corry. If it were not for how they wore their hair and talked you probably wouldn't know that they were mix. Just like Cor...you wouldn't know by the color of his skin that he was a different race than caucasion.

Anyway, on to my point.

These boys have given me more shit and have been more intimidating to me than just about any other child in the last 2 weeks. I had this black kid standing behind me and he was VERY big. Asking me a million questions. These 2 boys were sitting right next to me also. They were going to get off 'early' and I was sosoooooo thankful about that. Then the one kid said "no...I have to be home at 4:12 and no later. I'm grounded...remember". The other kid said something on the line 'just tell ur momma the bus was late'. I said "now..you know that your momma can call the City of Madison and verify what time the bus actually got to your stoop don't you?" "NOOOOO HOW..." I said "GPS". OH they said...and decided to stay on. Dang..>I should ahve shut my mouth and they would have got off.

So it was just them and I after this other big kid who was asking me 100% questions go off. My mind went right to "what kind of shit are they going to gtive me today." They give me shit and harrass me every day because I will not stop at the YMCA. So today I had this overwhelming sense of "you need ot show them you are on their side....they are just another Corry....about the same age...you don' tknow their home life, their situation, what if that was Corry...would you think the same way?". So I very casually said "So boys what grade are you in?" They answered w/9 and 10th grades. I said "ahh so that makes you what about...14 and 15?" They both smiled and said "yep". Then the shocker came "Do you ahve any kids?" I said "Yes, I do. I have 3...." They asked how old, boys, girls. I told them that I had 2 boys and a girl. They were 6 and 9 and my other boy would have been 14. They looked perplexed and said "would have been" and I just said..."yes, I only have 2 children at home w/me now". There were no more questions.

I then told them "just so you know..it isn't that I don't want to drop you off at the Y..I did ask/verify w/the supv. and was told that is an unsafe road and we don't make stops on. So here it is..." They said "ohh...okay". When they got off...they shocked the heck out of me. They said "THANK YOU and HAVE a nice day."

So...are they gang bangers or just boys?

Probably both....but if I stay on 'their' side and stay cool I'm hoping I can gain some respect...

That is at least my hope for today.