Free Fire Maiden by Terri Farley Page A

couple of hours and the next thing I knew I was getting tossed around like a frog in a blender….”
    â€œYuck!” Darby shoved Ann down the hall andshe was about to dart off toward the gym and P.E., one of only two classes she didn’t share with Ann, when something really unpleasant crossed her mind. “Hey, what’s up with that kid Tyson?”
    â€œTy’s not so bad, but…” Ann’s red hair bounced as she shook her head.
    â€œBut what?” Darby asked.
    â€œHe’s a little bit of a bully. He thought he might scare you with that crack about Pele.”
    â€œHe called me a haole, too,” Darby pointed out.
    â€œThat’s not always bad,” Ann said. “It depends on how he said it. I remember at my first rodeo here, I heard someone say, ‘That haole girl barrel racer? She’s pretty good.’ And they were talking about me. Sometimes it’s just descriptive.”
    â€œTyson didn’t say it in a good way, that’s for sure. Besides, I’m not—” Darby broke off, shrugging. She wasn’t comfortable talking about race. In Pacific Pinnacles, kids pretended to ignore ethnicity unless they were filling out some kind of form, or were racist.
    â€œProbably you’re a hapa -haole,” Ann said in a consoling voice.
    Half white, Darby defined the words for herself. That wasn’t right, either. And Tyson’s tone hadn’t been descriptive, but sarcastic.
    â€œSee you in Algebra,” Darby said with a wave.
    Ann waved back and walked with a slight limp from her still-healing soccer injury in the direction of the office. Darby had veered toward the gym and wasmulling over what Ann had said when Duckie appeared again, right in front of her.
    With her feet slightly apart and hands out level with her shoulders, Darby’s cousin blocked most of the hallway. She stood so close, Darby almost walked right into her. Now, looking up to see her cousin’s face, Darby had a pretty good idea of how Jack felt when he got to the top of the beanstalk and encountered a giant.
    â€œHey!” Duckie said.
    Darby glanced over her shoulder. Duckie rarely sounded so friendly except to other swimmers and rich kids. But as long as she was here, Darby couldn’t resist asking, “Are you all okay, over at Sugar Sands Cove? Did any of the guests get hurt? What about the horses?” Darby’s mental picture of Stormbird, the cute foal she’d helped rescue, wiped out most of her worry over the luxurious resort run by her aunt Babe.
    â€œThings were kind of crazy, but we’ve got plenty of help.”
    â€œWhat about Stormbird?” Darby asked, even though Duckie gave an impatient roll of her eyes.
    â€œHe stayed with all those white horses.”
    Safety was with the herd, Darby thought. As she thought of Hoku standing up for Tango, Luna looking up at Jonah but not going to him, and Lady Wong calling Hoku back to the horses, she knew it was true.
    Suddenly jittery to get back to the ranch and check on Hoku, Darby jumped when Duckie interrupted her thoughts.
    â€œI’m going to give you some advice.”
    â€œOkay,” Darby said carefully, though Duckie clearly wasn’t waiting for permission.
    â€œI saw Ty giving you some trouble.”
    â€œNo big deal,” Darby said, though she enjoyed a brief fantasy in which her cousin pinched Tyson’s hood between two fingers and lifted him off the ground so that his legs pedaled in midair.
    â€œIt’s because he doesn’t know who you are,” Duckie said.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Darby asked. “Of course he does. Mr. Silva calls me by name all the time.”
    Her cousin winced as if her stomach hurt. Then, in a tone indicating Darby wasn’t very smart, she enunciated, “You need to find a group. You’ve been here two weeks, and what are you?”
    â€œWhat am I?”
    â€œLike jock, nerd, surfer, drama llama,