Oven Incident

+Gabriel Bush+ - who is working for the Cartel, selling marijuana in the schoolyard - is assaulted by 7 of the Sixth Graders, the Cartel's main competitors, after a period of various conflicts between the Sixth Graders and members and employees of the Cartel that never climaxed into a fight before. When Gabriel, who is, as described by Jack Dutton as "not the brighest", tries to sell marijuana in an area that is considered territory of the Sixth Graders, they attack him, strike him down to the ground and proceed to kick and insult him. Jack witnesses it happen from inside the school's canteen and rushes out to help Gabriel. He later said “So I didn’t really know Gabriel. I knew him a little bit through Wade (+Wade Bibby+) but I had never spoken to him. It didn’t matter at that time because I couldn’t see who it was anyway. I just saw a guy getting beat up by 7 other guys, nobody helping him." Jack rushed to the scene, and pulled some of the Sixth Graders away. When one of them hit Jack in the face, bursting his lip, Jack engaged in a fit of rage, exchanging blows with all Sixth Graders. While efficiently striking every Sixth Grader to the ground, one by one, Jack also received many hard hits, but it seemed like he didn't even notice, as described by witnesses. After a few minutes of fighting and four of the Sixth Graders already laying on the ground, defeated and injured, +Sean Burgess+ mingles in the brawl, too, helping Jack beat the last few Sixth Graders. When Jack furiously keeps beating into already beaten Sixth Graders that are laying on the floor, Sean and Gabriel pull him away. It takes Jack a little while to reclaim himself. In the meantime, teachers have arrived, and take him, Sean, and the Sixth Graders to the principal, except for one Sixth Grader and Gabriel who had been mauled so badly they had to be brought to a hospital.

Afterwards, all people involved (Gabriel, Jack, Sean and the Sixth Graders) had a talk with Syrus College's principal, +mrs. Mutton+. She decided Gabriel would have to do 4 hours of corvée for selling marijuana on school premises, all Sixth Graders would each have to do 12 hours of corvée for beating up Gabriel and also apologize to his parents with a formal letter, while Sean didn't get any punishment after he had his parents call up school to protest against it as he was only helping, which Jack confirmed to the principal. Jack himself also got 12 hours of corvée as well as having to apologize to the Sixth Grader who had gone to the hospital and his parents. Jack did so the same day, but just to the Sixth Grader, not to the parents, when he found him alone in his hospital bed. The Sixth Grader gladly accepted the apology, possibly realizing he had behaved poorly. Also how he was scared of Jack might have played a role in his eagerness to forgive him. At the same time, the story had already spread throughout the school, inflated by everyone telling it to their friends. The Cartel, who had not been at the scene, saw an opportunity in using Jack's newly gained reputation to improve their profits. When that was the first thing Jack heard when he was them again after the incident, he was angry with them and walked away. Knowing they needed Jack and his skills and reputation, the Cartel asked him to come back as backer as well as full member of the Cartel. They managed to convince Jack and from then on he was also part of the decision-making process.

After that, when Jack became known throughout the school as "the Oven" and everyone was aware of his anger issues as well as his fighting skills, the Cartel's business flourished even more and they became the top seller of marijuana in the school, as their competitors were scared of Jack. So were customers, and some were scared off of buying marijuana from the Cartel altogether, but other customers were attracted to the Cartel's success and to Jack's fame and respected the higher prices the Cartel issued. Even when Jack meets Gia, nearly a year later, people still remember the story.