Whit trudged home down the sidewalk. The sun was too bright, but the wind was too cold. It had been another long day. Another long day of not understanding algebra class. Of being bullied by Antonia. And now she had to get home in time to cook dinner or her dad would be mad at her.
Things always got bad when her dad was mad at her. Only two more years until she turned eighteen and could be on her own. But she would have to take care of Sid. She couldn't just leave him behind with their dad.
Where was Sid? He hadn't said anything annoying in a few minutes. She turned around, but the sidewalk was empty.
She huffed in frustration as she doubled back to find that little troublemaker. When she found him, she was going to kick his six-year-old ass.
A minute later, she had found him in an alley. He was standing with his back against the brick wall of an old building. Antonia Woodward was holding him there with one hand grasping the front of his shirt. Sid and Antonia both looked over at her. Whit squinted at them in the bright light of the afternoon sun slanting down from the other end of the alley.
"Let go of my brother," Whit said.
Antonia just gave her an arrogant smirk.
"What do you want?" Whit asked with more bravado than she felt. She always tried to hide how much the towering 12th-grader terrified her.
"I was just asking the little pipsqueak if I could borrow a few bucks." Antonia wiped across her nose with her sleeve and sniffed deeply to clear her nostrils. "But he says he doesn't have any."
"That's cuz I carry the cash." She didn't carry the cash. They didn't have any cash. They'd been on free lunch since Whit was old enough to figure out the paperwork. Any cash they did get their hands on was hidden in the back of her sock drawer, where even their dad couldn't find it.
Antonia finally let go of Sid and started towards Whit.
"Sid, run home," she ordered her brother, and he scampered off towards the open end at the other end of the alley. Antonia looked back at the retreating first-grader, but then directed her attention back to Whit.
Antonia had been bullying Whit since freshman year at the local high school. But they weren't at high school right now. That meant no teachers were there to protect Whit. But it also meant there weren't any teachers to suspend Whit for breaking a school rule, like having weapons on school property.
Whit pulled out her father's knife. She had no idea how to use it, but it looked threatening. She held it out in front of her, hoping Antonia would see it and back down. But Antonia didn't back down.
She charged directly at Whit, grabbed her wrist and twisted it around until Whit dropped the knife. "My big brother taught me that move," Antonia taunted her.
Then Antonia used her twisted wrist to maneuver the smaller girl until she was in the same position as her little brother had been moments before. "Where's the cash?" she breathed into Whit's face. Whit said nothing. Her mouth was too dry to form words, and she had no idea what to say.
Antonia waited a few seconds for a reaction, but when Whit didn't reply or surrender the nonexistent cash, she let her go. She relaxed for a second as Antonia walked away, but then Antonia was back. With the knife.
"Where's...the...cash?" Antonia was waving the knife right in front of Whit's face. She felt all the blood rush away from her head, and sweat soaked her armpits and neck. All she could focus on was the way the afternoon sun reflected off the shiny blade. Her breathing got fast, and her heart hammered inside her quivering chest. All the little hairs on her arms were standing up straight.
Then suddenly, Antonia flew back. Up and away from Whit. She hit the brick wall on the opposite side of the alley and seemed to hang there for a second, pinned against the wall. Stone dust erupted out of the bricks all around her. Then she fell down to the concrete ground, and her legs twisted underneath her. The knife clattered harmlessly to the ground.
Whit almost fell down, too, but she managed to hold herself up by clinging to the rough brick behind her. She had been so worked up a second ago, like a coiled spring. But now she just felt tired and drained.
She had no idea what just happened, but she was safe. She felt a smile grow on her face. Her bully was on the ground.
Her bully was still on the ground. Antonia wasn't moving. "Antonia?" Whit asked. "Woodward?"