Author's Note: Letty gets into a fight at school.

Chapter 16

Letty had never really been the kind of kid who enjoyed school. Sure there was the socialization aspect of it, and she did fine when it came to gym class and such, but she really didn't like working so hard at subjects that didn't seem like they would benefit her in the long run. When she got a job what was it going to matter if she could write an essay about Moby Dick or if she could figure out the square root of a number divided by the ratio of x. When she asked her teachers about this they always gave the same sort of answer. Well it might matter if she went into "such and such field" and wouldn't she like to be educated? Wouldn't she like to graduate high school?

She really didn't care, to be honest. Her dad hadn't graduated high school. He'd had to get his GED before joining the army, and she had no idea what her mother had done. Even if she'd finished school it hadn't done her much good.

This year she was taking a shop and mechanics class and it was the only class she liked. The only class she was getting an A in. She was the only girl in the class, and because of that she had a lot of male friends at school.

That and the fact that she was Dominic Toretto's girlfriend had earned her a few rivals amongst the other girls. Not rivals that she chose. But girls who didn't like her for one reason or another and who were too insecure to examine exactly why that was.

Letty didn't really want to fight with them because they weren't worth her time. But that didn't mean she let their comments go unanswered. In her world that would have only made her look weak.

It was Anita Campisi who started her trouble that day. She spread a rumor about Letty and this guy Charles who was in her mechanics class. He was good looking, nice and they were friends. But that was it. One, because she just wasn't into him that way, but two, because she would never cheat on Dom, no matter how many times she caught him flirting with skanks at the races (because she knew he didn't cheat on her either, she'd set that line from day one).

After school Anita and a few of her girls were waiting by Letty's locker. They had smarmy smirks on their faces and Letty rolled her eyes when she saw them.

"I'm getting tired of your shit, Nita," she said as she pushed past them to open her locker and shove away her school books. "What do you think it's going to get you to start shit with me?"

"Someone has to take you down a notch, Letty," the other girl replied, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "No one likes your attitude."

"We're not friends and we don't hang, so you don't need to like anything about me. How about you buzz off like the gnat you are before I rearrange your face."

"You talk a big game but your boyfriend isn't here to back you up this time," Anita said. "I'd say you're outnumbered."

"I can kick all your asses without any damn help at all," Letty told them, looking pissed. She didn't rely on Dom to solve her problems for her, and the mere implication that she did put her back up.

"Bring it on then," one of her bitchy little friends said, getting into Letty's face.

Letty grabbed her by the hair, it felt like a weave, and slammed the girl face first into the wall of lockers. She went down like a sack of potatoes, her nose broken and bleeding. The other girl started screaming and then she and Anita were both lunging at Letty, calling her all sorts of names and trash talking.

Someone in the background was screaming "Girl fight!" and Letty knew that meant kids were about to come running from every corner of the school campus but at the moment she didn't give a shit about that.

These girls fought like girls, like dirty little bitches, scratching and hair-pulling as they tried to pile on her to overpower her. She didn't have any qualms about fighting dirty herself, but she preferred punches to scratching. Instead she would utilize whatever was around her to do the most damage.

Letty tried to grapple the both of them at first, but when that didn't work she focused on the friend. She was the bigger of the two, and she knew Anita wasn't that good of a fighter despite her big mouth. Letty elbowed the girl in the throat hard when she tried to grab her from behind, then stomped down on the inside of her foot until she shrieked and stumbled back.

Anita grabbed a chunk of her hair and yanked Letty away from her friend. Letty leaned into it and tackled Anita to the ground, pushing her arm against her neck.

"Stop messing with me," Letty fairly snarled at her as the other girl choked and struck out with her hands, leaving a row of scratches across Letty's face and down her arms.

The other girl was up again, and she yanked Letty off Anita with a shout. Letty threw one, two, three punches, catching the girl in the cheek so hard her knuckles hurt and cracked. She didn't care. When the girl went down with a cry, throwing her hands up to protect herself Letty whirled back on Anita.

There was a hoard of people around them, chanting "fight, fight, fight." now. Letty's temper was up and she was on a high from taking out Anita's little posse. She turned to face the other girl, who narrowed her eyes and lifted her chin. She wasn't going to back down either. They came at each other at the same time. Letty ducked away from Anita's wild punch, grabbed her arm and twisted it. She slammed her against the lockers, pinning her there as Anita struggled. She kicked out, catching Letty hard in the shin with her boot, then wriggling free when that loosened Letty's grip on her.

They scuffled again, and Letty took a punch to the mouth that she felt split her lip. She spat blood at Anita, who shrieked and tried to hit her again in a fury. Letty was ready for her this time, diving head first at her so they went down. She batted away hands and scratching nails to throw punches. She wasn't sure how many times she hit her before someone was hauling her off, shouting at the other kids to clear out.

Letty struggled for a moment until she realized it was one of the stupid rent-a-cops that worked on campus. She gave the man a dirty look as the other "officer" rounded up Anita and her friends.

"Let go of me," she complained. "I'm not fighting."

He loosened his grip, but kept ahold of her by one arm, escorting her to the office. She spotted Mia in the dispersing crowd and shook her head. The other girl mimicked calling her later and took off.

In the office the principal called her house, but her mother didn't answer, as usual. She might be at work. She might be a damn mess. Either way she didn't much care what kind of trouble her daughter got into.

"I have to suspend you, Leticia," the principal told her, and she wrinkled her nose at the use of her full name.

"Whatever," she said. It didn't seem like much of a punishment when she could barely stand school anyway. "Like I want to be here."

"That attitude has to stop, young lady."

She rolled her eyes at him. Adults always seemed to talk to her like that. Like they were talking down to her or scolding her. Was it any wonder she didn't want to listen to them? There wasn't much they could do anyway, since her mother wouldn't cooperate.

The man filled out the paperwork for her suspension - two whole days, and handed it to her. "Bring that back with your mother's signature," he told her.

Letty took it, knowing she would just ask Mia to forge it for her. She stopped by the restroom to wash her face. Her lip was already swelling up so she'd have to get home and ice it. She had some satisfaction out of knowing the other girls looked a worse mess.

When she got out to the parking lot where her Chevelle was she saw Mia there waiting for her, leaning against the side.

"I thought you went home already," Letty said as she strolled up to the vehicle. Technically she wasn't supposed to drive with her friends in the car, but she never followed any technicalities.

"Nah. I told Hector to go. I wanted to wait for you." Mia came closer, looking her over. "You need ice for that lip."

"Yeah." Letty unlocked the car and got in the driver's side.

"I saw you broke Tasha's nose," Mia said, sliding in the passenger side. "Gave Crystal a black eye and really fucked up Anita's whole face."

Letty snorted. "They started that shit."

"You get suspension?"

"Yeah. But only two days cause this is my first one in High School."

"Good thing that Jr. High record doesn't count against you," Mia teased.

"Very funny," she sighed. "Why do those girls all gotta mess with me?"

"They're trying to prove something to someone. Maybe themselves. Maybe some guy. Maybe other bitches," Mia said. "You know how things are around here. If someone's above you then you want to take them down and take their place."

"Seems dumb," Letty said.

"They're dumb," Mia replied and they both laughed as Letty pulled out of the school parking lot.

"Well let's just hope they learned their lesson."

"Right? Even three against one they couldn't beat you. That's kind of sad."