Page 6 - My FlipBook

“Mari!” Leo, her older brother, yelled from farther down
the hall, motioning for her. “MOVE!” But it was too late.
Two hulking bodies barreled into her, fists and knees
flying, and Mari was caught in the middle. No one connected.
They mostly just bounced off of her and continued down
the hall, pummeling one another. But the back of her head
slammed into her now-closed locker, the force of the impact
caused Mari to see stars and sink down onto the hallway’s
gross carpet.
“Well, shit,” she said, stars swimming in her vision.
“You okay?” Ellie, her best school friend, ran to Mari from
her locker down the hall.
A teacher—Mari thought it was the Spanish teacher—and
Leo were also at her side. Other teachers were breaking up
the fight while a large section of the student body continued
on with their lives, ignoring the hallway drama.
“Yep.” Mari blinked hard, and the stars moved out of her
field of vision. “No big deal.” She let Leo help her up, and he
handed over her pink forearm clip crutches.
“You sure?” Ellie asked, taking her bag for her. “They
slammed right into you.”
“Never better,” she lied. “We gotta go. Delufuente will not
give me a break for being tardy.”
“I’ll write you a pass.” The Spanish teacher shook her head,
smiling.
Mari was sure the teacher was thinking about how preco-
cious and inspirational she was. Teachers did that. This one in
particular had stopped Mari more than a few times last year
to tell her how “brave” she was and how much “harder” things

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