Fear Me Not (The EVE Chronicles) by Sara Wolf

simpler than that. Whoever gets hit first loses.”
    I watch the fight more closely. What I thought were hits and strikes never actually connect at all. The girls evade each other at the last minute, twisting and ducking away. It’s hard for my eyes to follow, but the Gutters seem to be having no problems at all, a loud ‘oohing’ going around when one of the girl’s hands almost touches the other girl’s shoulder. I think. It’s real difficult to tell when everything is a superhero-like blur. The girls put Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon to shame.
    “Ms. Gianca is one hell of a liar,” I say, awe tinging my voice as the second girl does a string of graceful backflips. Someone walks up to us out of the crowd. Taj, his face flushed and his curly hair askew, grins at me first, then Shadus.
    “I underestimated how much he likes you,” Taj says. “Bringing her to a patra ? You really do trust this girl.”
    “I trust no one,” Shadus snarls. “Least of all her. I merely wanted to expose her to the truth of our culture. That’s what this school is for, isn’t it?”
    “Ouch,” I pretend to be hurt, but the sting is half-real. “And here I thought we were going to be best friends.”
    Taj chuckles. “The day Shadus makes friends is the day we go back home.”
    “Quiet,” Shadus snaps. I look to Taj.
    “What brings you here, Buttercup? Thought you were all about rules, and sneaking out to have fist fights in the middle of the night is definitely not in the rules.”
    He shrugs. “I recognize and value the importance of rules. But I also value my race’s traditions, and especially at a time like this. We’re displaced – far from the reservation, far from our parents, far from our home planet. What little niche we carved out using our own culture is thousands of miles away in Colorado.”
    A look passes between Shadus and Taj. Shadus glowers. Taj shakes his head.
    “What he isn’t saying,” Shadus interrupts. “Is that before us adolescent Gutters were sent here, our elders warned us to act as much like humans as possible. They encouraged us – no – threatened us to keep our secrets and our culture to ourselves.”
    “But that’s – that’s the opposite of what this school was built to do, right? We’re supposed to cooperate. Share. Learn. Right?” I ask. Taj sighs.
    “Shadus, that’s enough. I don’t think she –”
    “We are being watched,” Shadus interrupts bluntly. “Not only by you humans, the government, and your paparazzi. We’re being watched by our own people. Every Gutter teacher has strict orders to make sure no Gutter acts impolite, or brings yali to the Gutters.”
    I knit my brows, confused.
    “Shame. Dishonor.” Taj clarifies. Shadus continues.
    “Melune very nearly got sent back to the reservation for her actions the first day. And being sent back would mean a deep yali would fall on her family. She would never mate well. She and her family would be shunned socially and politically.”
    “So you guys - you guys are forced to be nice? No, it’s more than that, isn’t it? You can’t be angry, or sad, or anything other than perfectly fine. At least not in front of the humans.”
    Taj frowns and looks away, but Shadus glances at me, that faint smirk returning.
    “Binga.”
    I burst out laughing. Some of the Gutters eye me warily, but quickly look to the fight again.
    “It’s ‘bingo’, Creeps. Not ‘binga’.”  
    “I was close,” Shadus says, clearly miffed. The more I laugh, the quieter Taj becomes. I try to focus on the patra . The girls undulate around each other, until suddenly the blows stop altogether. One girl bows to the other, and the circle of Gutters widens, people stepping back and humming. The humming becomes rapid, low chanting in Rahm, the same words over and over. It’s like an applause, almost, but more reverent and respectful. Melune and Gira step out of the circle, and take off their robes, putting them in a half-broken crate against the