And so without thinking I turned around and punched Allison directly in the stomach. Hard. Like her brown eyes bulged and she collapsed grabbing her stomach hard. And Ashley and Tanya looked at me like I was a murderer hard. Ashley took off, probably to get the principal, and I just stood there as Allison clutched her stomach. She suddenly glanced up at me, and to my surprise, she was wearing a knowing little smile.
I was still standing there when the principal stormed around the corner, took in the scene, and escorted me straight to his office.
—
“It’s lucky it’s just a day,” my mom said on the way home, shaking her head.
She’d had to leave work early to come get me. She was not thrilled. Tom was. She’d taken him out early to avoid making the trip back to school again.
“She’s lucky it was just her stomach,” I muttered.
My mom glanced at me. “You should know better. After all you went through in Newcastle—”
“Yeah, well, I’m going through it here too. I’m still fat, if you haven’t noticed.”
“You don’t look fat to me,” Tom said.
“Thanks, Bat Boy.”
“You’re full-figured,” my mom added. “Like your father.”
“That’s not a good thing.”
“But you’re used to these girls, Laura,” she continued. “They’ve been making these comments for years. And you know punching them doesn’t help—”
“I don’t care about the fat jokes,” I said. “She brought up Tom.”
“Who would want to insult the captain of the football team?” Tom asked.
My mom frowned in the rear-view mirror. “What?” She shook her head. “What did she say?”
I paused. “Just that I should hang out with him because he can’t see how fat I am.”
“That’s awful,” my mother said.
“I like to think I make good company regardless,” Tom pointed out.
“The point is I shouldn’t have done it,” I said. “It was stupid. It’s just going to be worse when I go back.”
My mom seemed to consider that. “Well, then I hope you really socked her.”
I looked at her in surprise, and she tried to hold back a little smile. My cellphone buzzed. The bell must have gone, which meant Shal and Mia finally had a chance to text.
Shal: I heard you punched Allison!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mia: Are you okay?
Shal: Where did you hit her??????????
Mia: You’re not in trouble are you?
Shal: I love you!!!!!!!!! Carl laughed at her. Best day ever. Want to chill tonight?
“Who’s that?” my mom asked.
“Just Shal and Mia,” I said. “Asking if I’m all right. And if I want to hang out.” I snorted. “I guess they don’t get the whole grounding concept.”
“Who said you were grounded?”
I looked at her. “I’m not?”
She smiled. “I don’t condone punching people. Ever. But I know they can be hard on you. And you haven’t…you know…had a lot of friends come over. Why not have them over for a girls’ night? I mean it’s a school night, so you have until nine.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Tom asked from the back.
“Yes,” she said. “I’m just sick of those annoying hussies bothering your sister.”
I laughed. “Did you just call them hussies?”
She sat up a little straighter. “Never you mind. Now invite your friends over.”
I looked at her for a moment and then shook my head and started texting them back. It’s always nice when your parents surprise you.
—
“This house is cool,” Mia said, sitting cross-legged on my bed. “You have a big room.”
“Love the closet,” Shal added, peeking inside.
“Yeah, nothing special,” I said quickly. “What do you guys want to do?”
“We can creep on Carl and Liam,” Shal replied, walking over to the computer. She clapped her hands together. “I know. We can send Liam a message. You didn’t have a chance to get over there, so we’ll just write him one.”
I sat down on my bed. “I don’t know. What would we say?”
Shal paused. “Dear Liam, I am now also a felon. Will you marry me?”
Mia laughed and shook her head. “Just say hi or something.” It sounded like the idea of writing a message to a boy was enough to get her nervous.
She wasn’t the only one.
“Let’s write Carl instead,” I suggested.
Shal looked at me like I’d gone mad. “No.”
“But—”
“No.”
“Fine,” I muttered. “We can write Liam.”
“Excellent!” Shal opened my profile and cracked her fingers. “Dear Liam—”
“Hey, Liam,” I interjected.
“Fine,” she said. “Hey, Liam. Not sure if you heard, but I got suspended too.”
She looked at me for approval, and I nodded.
“You’ll be happy to know it was for punching Allison in the stomach—”
“That hussy Allison,” I added. “Don’t ask.”
Shal frowned and added it. “Hope you didn’t get in too much trouble. I’d love to come over and talk about it—”
“No,” I cut in.
“Go to a movie—”
“No.”
Shal sighed. “See you on Thursday. Love, Laura Ledwick.”
I stared at her, and she deleted the sign-off. “Not bad,” she said. “It says I care without making it clear that you stare at a picture of him all night.”
“I do not.”
She smiled. “It’s okay. I stare at Carl a lot.”
“A lot,” Mia agreed. She turned to me. “Want a make-over?”
“A make-over?” Shal asked. “Since when do you do make-overs?”
Mia flushed. “I looked up online what to do at a girls’ night.”
Shal and I glanced at each other and broke out laughing.
“A make-over sounds fun,” I said.
—
Two hours later, I was staring into a small portable mirror we’d borrowed from my mom. My chestnut hair was curled and crimped, I had black eyeliner and eye shadow on, and a whole lot of blush and concealer. I was even wearing lipstick. I hadn’t quite wanted so much, but we were having so much fun that I kind of just went along for the ride.
It was my first girls’ night ever, after all.
“I love it,” Shal said, nodding at me thoughtfully. “Next time we’re doing Mia.”
Mia looked terrified at the idea.
“I could never wear this anywhere,” I said.
It looked all right, I guess. I’d never even
