Stiff Drink

Whew! Yesterday during second block I was sincerely wishing I wasn't pregnant so I could partake of a stiff drink. Let me explain...I have a 17 year old student in the 8th grade. That's bad enough. His mother barely speaks English (there's a fun phone call). So about 10 minutes into class, my room starts turning into an icebox. I check out the thermostat and it's set on like 62! This has happened once before with students messing with the thermostat. I begin questioning because they know they aren't supposed to touch it. No one will fess up. But this one student's name keeps coming up. I get everyone back on track with work, then when things have calmed down, I approach him. I lean over and only to him say, "_____________, did you mess with the thermostat? Just tell me yes or no and we'll move on." He wouldn't look me in the eye, but kept saying "no" with a grin on his face. I told him, "Just look me in the eye and tell me no. That's all I'm asking." I wasn't upset or frustrated; I just wanted a straight answer. Then he says, "Man, forget you!" The entire class heard it. I froze. Do I let it go or write him up? Then he tacks on, "Whatever!" So I wrote him up, told him he knew the drill, and out he started to go. Apparently, he also dropped the f-bomb on his way out. As he was about to shut the door, he stepped back in and slammed it! I was furious! I threw my pen into a corner, stepped into the hallway, and hollered for him to come back. He refused and kept walking. Teachers were coming out of their rooms to see what was going on. I was shaking. I went back in, phoned the office with this latest development, got everyone studying for their vocabulary test, then stepped back into the hallway to calm down. It took me about 20 minutes to stop shaking and seething. I was so angry!!!