Mary's face was scathed, her lips were bloody and there was a black bruise forming around her

left eye. She had her reasons for why she got into a fight with Davy, the sixth grader but no one

would care— especially not the principal.

P-a-l because he is supposed to be our pal, Mary thought back to the first day of school when

she met Mr. Hanson. Too bad he is far from a friend to me.

When Mr. Hanson tried to talk to her, Mary wouldn't listen. Instead she looked down at her

sensible brown shoes, focusing on all her chores back on the farm— milk the cows, till the

ground—

"Miss Smith?" Mr. Hanson questioned expectantly. Mary was a bear too slow to answer, proving

that she was not listening. With a sigh, Mr. Hanson dismissed Mary with the wave of a hand. It

was more than clear to Mary that Mr, Hanson, like most of the educational staff at Rosemary

Elementary, had given up on Mary.

Maybe if they knew… no they won't care.

Leaving the school, Mary shuffled her makeshift backpack, made from a plastic bag with a few

small holes at the bottom. She had no regrets for her actions— in fact, Mary was more than sure

she would do it again if she had to, but Mary had missed the bus due to staying after. The long

walk was the real pain in the neck.

Mary was lost in thought when she heard her name. She looked around to find Jimmy, her

neighbor, in a tree a few miles away from his home. "Hey Mae, c'mere!"

"I'm late gettin' home, Jim."

"So what's a few more minutes?"

Mary shrugged, already sure she was to be in trouble at home so she could at least postpone

the punishment. The oak trees was oozing sap, which made Mary's hands stick like molasses.

Once she sat on the tree branch across her friend she wiped the goo from her hands on her

ratty old jeans. "A'right. I'm here."

Jimmy handed Mary a cloth with food inside. "I heard your mama'll not give you 'ny supper so I

took this from my daddy's plate at home. He won't miss it."

Taking the food in her hands, Mary gave her friend a look of gratitude. "Y'know Davy had it

comin'."

"How so? Way I heard it, you walked up to him during lunch and put his sandwich in his

underwear before y'all started fightin'."

"Well you see," Mary said, trying to hold back the grin spreading on her lips. "He deserved it. He

was messing with my brothers and they may be older than me but if I don't look out for 'em no

one will. You know how they are— Jesse is an artist and a peacemaking hippie, Gable dresses

funny, and John's got autism. No one believes that's a sickness but he's got it and needs help.

When people like Davy go runnin' their mouths 'bout 'em no one in that school'll stand up for

them so I will."

Jimmy looked at his best friend in awe. He'd seen her wrestle and do hours of labor around the

farm, all within her capabilities but never thought she'd ever fight back someone. She was two

years younger than Davy and all her brothers, which only made the situation seem that much

more unreal. "You got balls of steel, Mae."

"Family means everything to me," Mary said with tears in her eyes. "They's all I got."

"Hey! What about me?" Jimmy laughed. "You got me too, you know!"

"You may as well be, Lord knows you got my back like a brother bringin' me supper an' all."

Mary rolled her eyes. She couldn't help but feel relaxed with Jimmy after a long day of bullies,

both young and old. They shared the rest of the food in the cloth before walking home.