The worst part of it was that he smiled.
I told Superstar to go eat breakfast, then gave Junior a serious tongue-lashing. We stood side by side near my desk, while his two compadres circled the room and eyed us but kept quiet.
What happened? Superstar was on his way out of the room to eat his breakfast, when the Three Musketeers entered. They began to taunt one another. I recognized trouble brewing and headed over. I told Superstar to go outside and told Junior to come to the other side of the room to talk to me.
That's when Junior hurled the taunt of "little girl" at Superstar, then took a few steps past me and pushed Superstar.
I grabbed Junior's wrist. He was smiling, no doubt at having played the tough guy in front of his friends.
Neo, to his credit, tried to defuse the situation, putting an arm around Superstar to prevent a push back.
The tongue-lashing included the statement that I was going to call Junior's mother and let her know what happened, because this behavior is unsafe and unacceptable. As the tirade continued, Junior began to sniffle.
I talked to Junior's mother on Saturday, and have a parent-teacher conference set up as well.
In a way, I'm really happy that Junior cried. It tells me that he understands how unacceptable this behavior is, and regrets it. I'm looking forward to talking to his family in person.
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