Free A Girl Between by Marjorie Weismantel

supposed to be.  We don't have
control over things.  Do we?

12.  Get Through Monday
    Before I knew it, the weekend was over and we were on our
way to school on Monday.  I wasn’t looking forward to being gaped at today.  Annie
and Eve weren't doing too badly because they spent some time with Rainy on the
weekend and met some other kids at the game.  That probably would have been a more
productive use of my time, but what are you gonna do?
    Rainy and another girl met us as we got off the bus in front
of the school.  She walked right up to me and announced, "Hi, I'm Karen.
You must be Annie and Eve’s cousin."  I started to respond when she got a
second look at my face.  Her mouth flew open and she blurted out, "You're
the one that got Tonya!"
    OK, here we go again.  "Yep, that's me,
unfortunately."
    "Why would you say that?  You were great!  I was just
coming out of class when the action started.  You know, Tonya's always
bothering Mercy, and Mercy just isn't the fighting type.  I don't know why she
hates her so much.  I felt like doing something but I'm a big fat chicken, plus,
Tonya scares the wits out of me."
    Oh, great.  Tonya scares her, too.  "Yeah, I'm
beginning to wonder if I didn't make a big mistake," I remarked with a
rueful smile.
    "Just stay away from Tonya and her friends and you'll
be fine," she asserted with a friendly grin.  Oh great, I was thinking,
just stay away from her.  That sounds easy, considering I didn’t know the
school or who any of her friends are, nor do I have any friends that can help
me.
    We turned the corner and entered the walkway when, lo and
behold, there was Tonya just a few feet away with a group of people.  My heart
skipped a beat.  Rainy said under her breath, "Don't look now, but speak
of the devil."  So, of course, I had to look.  There were two guys and
three girls with Tonya.  They didn't look like nasty aliens or anything, but I
felt bad vibes just being near them.  I couldn't put my finger on it.  It
wasn’t like they were giving me the evil eye.  They didn’t even notice me.  I
couldn’t see any sign of their auras at all.  I would venture a guess that it
was because I couldn’t see enough of them.  That’s probably a good thing.  Even
though Tonya's face was turned away from me, I could tell she was animated
about something.  She’s the type to broadcast her feelings to everyone within
earshot.  We slunk past before she had a chance to notice us.
    Once we got into the building I said to Annie and Eve,
"By the way, don't wait for me after school.  I decided that I'll be going
to the Robotics club meeting today."
    Eve looked surprised.  "Robotics!  What are you doing
that for?  Talk about meeting a bunch of geeks. "
    I coolly responded, "Actually, I did learn something
from working on all those cars with Frank.  I learned that I really like
putting mechanical things together.  Plus, I don't mind geeks."
    “Suite yourself, Tessie.  You always were one to go your own
way.  Bet you’ll be the only girl there," Annie remarked as she waved me
away.
    Everything went pretty smoothly for most of the day.  I
noticed people looking at me out of the corner of my eye, but I just ignored
them.  A number of people actually smiled at me.  Maybe they were enemies of “you
know who”.  I was friendly with someone in my Algebra II class so I had lunch
with her and her friends.
    All of a sudden, Tonya was in front of me.  I could feel the
blood rush to my face because I was so nervous, but I just stayed behind her until
I got into class and she never saw me.  You can’t miss Tonya because she’s a
loud, tight dresser with major blond hair.  I was thinking that if enough time
goes by before I bump into her again, she may forget about me.  After all, I’m
not loud, or tight.
    Last period was my gym class; not my favorite.  We were
playing volleyball today and because I’m a short person I’ve always hated
volleyball.  Short people