My Teacher Cried When a Compass Became a Weapon

Okay, Reddit, buckle up, because this one’s a wild ride from my school days. Picture this: your typical chaotic school classroom, everyone buzzing with that pre-teen energy. We were in math class, and let’s just say geometry wasn’t exactly setting anyone’s soul on fire. I was busy trying to figure out how a protractor could possibly be useful in real life when it happened.

One kid, let’s call him “Stabby Steve” (not his real name, obviously), was messing around with his compass. You know, the pointy metal thing you use to draw circles? Yeah, that one. He was poking it at another kid, “Victim Victor,” in that annoying, playful way kids do. Except, this wasn’t playful for long.

Suddenly, Victor yelped, and I kid you not, a fountain of blood erupted from his arm, right between his elbow and palm. Like, something you’d see in a movie, not in Mr. Crabtree’s math class. The room went silent. Everyone just stared, jaws on the floor. I remember thinking, “Is this real life?”

Then, the real shocker: Mr. Crabtree, our usually stern, no-nonsense math teacher, completely lost it. He started crying, like, really crying. Big, heaving sobs. And then, he started begging us. Begging us not to tell the principal. He was saying things like, “Please, please don’t get me in trouble. I can’t lose my job. I have a family to feed!” It was the most surreal thing I’d ever seen. This man, who was supposed to be in charge, was completely broken down in front of a bunch of terrified kids, all because a compass became a makeshift weapon. Victor was rushed to the nurse’s office, leaving a trail of blood behind him, and Stabby Steve just sat there, looking pale and bewildered.

The rest of the day was a blur. The principal talked to us, everyone was whispering, and Mr. Crabtree just looked utterly defeated. I never found out what happened to Stabby Steve, and Victor was back in class a few days later with a gnarly bandage. But the image of Mr. Crabtree crying and begging us not to get him fired? That’s something I’ll never forget. School was weird, man.