“See ya, Laura,” he said, swinging his bag over his shoulder and starting down the hall.
I continued to my locker, trying to hold back a grin. My arms were tingling. Liam had talked to me, and this time I didn’t even need to run into him. He’d even said we could hang out at recess! It wasn’t exactly the “I have a huge crush on you, Laura Ledwick” that I’d been hoping for, but it was something.
I wish I could have told Mia and Shal.
I was just packing my books away when something caught my eye. I turned around and saw Mia scurrying down the hallway, looking terrified. Frowning, I glanced past Mia and saw Shal by her locker with Allison and two other girls standing in front of her. Shal was flushed bright red, and I could tell she was fighting back tears. Obviously Allison was teasing her again, probably about Tim or some other boy. I turned back to my locker. I didn’t stand up to bullies. Actually it was rule number one. And I had a pretty good thing going on here: I could go an entire day with just a few snickers and muted comments. But I thought back to what Shal had said: some friend you are.
I’d never had friends before, but I knew I wanted some. I guess it was time to abandon rule number one. Grimacing, I closed my locker and started for Shal.
As I closed in, I heard Allison saying, “So you do like him? I’ll tell him, don’t worry. I know Tim said you were gross, but he might come around. Or maybe you like Carl?” The other girls snickered. “Should I ask him out for you?”
“Hey,” I said, appearing behind them. I think my stomach had given up on backflips—it was too scared to move. But I’d gone this far. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” I paused and looked down at myself. “You know…figuratively.”
Allison turned to me, looking at her friends in disbelief. “Like you?”
“Yeah,” I said. “All three of you are about right.”
Allison smirked. “Why don’t you stay out of this? We were just talking to Michelle about some of her crushes. Maybe you know…does she have a thing for Carl?”
I rapidly thought back to every teen movie I’d ever seen. What was the cool thing to say here?
“She doesn’t waste her time with eighth graders,” I replied. “But if she did, she’d probably be dating Carl right now.” Ha. A classic zinger.
Shal looked at me with wide eyes.
Allison didn’t like that one. She suddenly scowled and looked me up and down.
“And what about you, tubby? You have a crush too?”
I smiled. “None of your business. Now why don’t you run along? Maybe you girls can buy new skirts and talk about eye shadow.”
Shal was slowly shaking her head in the background. Allison narrowed her eyes.
“All right,” she said softly. “I guess I’ll see you around. Come on, girls…let’s go buy some skirts. We should enjoy the fact that we can fit in them.”
With that she stalked down the hallway, the other two girls throwing me dirty looks and hurrying after her. When they were gone, Shal turned to me in disbelief.
“You just told off Allison Black,” she murmured.
“Yeah,” I said, not quite believing it myself.
“You’re going to regret that.”
“Probably.”
Shal looked away. “I’m sorry about what I said. I was just upset.”
I shrugged. “You were right. I’ll be a better friend from now on. You know…if you still want to be friends.”
She grinned and gave me a hug. “Definitely.”
—
Shal, Mia, and I decided to walk home that day to catch up on everything we’d missed in the last twenty-four hours, and so that Shal could tell Mia all about my confrontation. My mom hadn’t minded—actually she was beaming when I took off down the sidewalk.
“And then get this,” Shal said, coming to a stop, “Laura goes: why don’t you go buy some skirts and talk about eye shadow?” She grabbed her sides, giggling.
Mia looked at me, her eyes wide. “Are you serious?”
I shrugged. “It’s tough to think on the spot.”
Mia covered her mouth and giggled before suddenly turning serious. “She’s not going to ignore you anymore, you know that, right?”
“Oh, don’t bring down the moment,” Shal said.
“It’s all right,” I replied. “I’m used to it anyway.”
We were walking down the main part of town, which was just a bunch of old brick buildings that had been converted into nail salons and clothing stores and restaurants. The salon where my mom worked now was in one of these buildings—I decided I should probably drop by someday. Shal said she lived close to downtown, while Mia was about halfway between here and my house. That meant I had the longest walk, of course, but I figured I could use the exercise before training tonight. I was going to stay well clear of the woods, however.
It was a warm September afternoon, and there were quite a few people walking along the sidewalk. I decided I really liked Riverfield. You know—minus the monsters. I noticed a blond waitress serving two people in a café glance at me as we walked by. She gave me a strange look and turned away. I frowned, glancing back at her. That was weird.
“I have to ask,” I said, turning to Shal. “Why does Allison give you such a hard time? It seems like she goes after you more than anyone. It doesn’t make any sense.”
Shal immediately stopped laughing and looked away. “Long story.”
“Come on. Mia?”
Mia hesitated. “It happened in third grade.”
“Fourth,” Shal corrected.
“Right,” Mia said. “Back then Shal and Allison were best friends.”
“Best is a strong word.”
Mia glared at her. “Do you want to tell it?”
Shal paused. “Continue.”
We were out of the shops area now and into the residential section. Most of the houses here were very old-fashioned with original brick and dark windows. An elderly couple on a rickety front porch watched us walk by.
I felt their eyes
