watch my jacket for me?”
Liat studies the jacket. “Can I wear it?” she asks.
Donna seems taken aback. “Okay,” she says. “If you take care of it.” She holds out the jacket.
“Can Roxanne wear it, too?” Liat asks.
I have to stop myself from screaming.
Donna’s obviously trying to make up with Liat, because Liat’s a great athlete and Donna needs her on her team from now on. So she’s offering Liat her greatest possession.
Donna gazes at me hatefully, then pulls the jacket back toward her. “No,” she says. “Never mind.” Liat shrugs nonchalantly.
This seems to make Donna even madder. She takes a step forward. Her face is contorted with rage and shame. “I’ll see you after school,” she growls, giving Liat a meaningful look. She walks away.
An icy shudder travels up and down my spine.
Oh. No.
“Are you crazy?” I hiss at Liat, raising my arms in a hopeless gesture. “Do you know what you just did?”
“You said TV was better than real life,” Liat replies fiercely. “You said the bad guys always get beaten up.”
“Yeah,” I answer, “so?”
“So, that happens in real life, too.”
“Liat,” I say desperately, “you’ve gone mental.”
Liat lets out a chuckle.
“It’s not funny!” I snap. “Donna was trying to be nice to you! Now there’s going to be a fight after school!”
“Donna’s just using me,” Liat says.
“Now there’s going to be a fight after school!” I repeat. I bend down, placing my head between my legs, and close my eyes. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Liat touches my arm. “You don’t need to do anything, Roxanne. You just watch it like it’s on TV.”
I don’t know whether to feel insulted or relieved by this statement. I go through the rest of the school day numb. I’m faintly aware of Liat walking next to me. I avoid Donna as much as possible. I pretend it’s all just a bad dream. I almost believe it, too.
Until the last school bell rings.
It’s like a signal has been given. How does word of a fight travel so fast? A mob of kids has gathered in an empty lot four blocks from school. It’s like a carnival or something. I feel like someone should sell cotton candy and corn dogs.
ladies and gentlemen!
a must-see girl fight!
we give you: liat versus donna!
I trudge behind a group of talkative girls, my stomach doing flip-flops. Some of the kids in the mob are chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight!” I stand on the edge of
the crowd, looking in the direction of the school, wondering what would happen if I barged into the main office and told them there was a fight four blocks away. Would the principal gallop over to break it up? Or would Silver-Haired Mutant just shrug at me?
All after-school fights take place in this empty lot. Usually it’s boys fighting over girls. But girls fight dirtier. Everybody knows that. Boys have an honor code. Girls don’t. They’ll gouge each other’s eyeballs out with keys, rings, or anything else they can get their polished pink fingernails on.
I push my way through the thick crowd until I’m standing in front. Liat and Donna are hanging out on opposite sides of a circle like two boxers waiting for the first bell. I wonder if Liat knows I’m here. As if to answer my question, Liat turns her head in my direction. When she spots me, she nods. My stomach starts to hurt.
I wish someone would step out of the circle and say, “Let’s not resort to violence. Let’s talk this thing out.”
But nobody does. Instead, the chanting just gets louder. It’s driving me crazy. Just when I think I can’t take another second, Liat and Donna draw closer to one another. The chants die down. I force myself to keep my eyes open.
Liat and Donna circle each other like those animals on nature shows. Then suddenly they come together like two wrestlers. They twist and rock and push and pull. Liat kicks out her leg sharply. It lands behind Donna’s knees. Donna falls instantly to the ground.
The crowd