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The bell rings in Oak Park High School to indicate the end of a period. The halls fill with the flow of students heading to their next class, getting stuff in and out of their lockers, or just hanging out with their friends.

Laney weaves through the Brownian flow of bodies, skillfully avoiding collisions even as she stares at the pattern of cracks trailing along on the ceiling.

But even her instinctive radar is unable to avoid a willful body-check. Laney bumps into an older student as he interposes himself in her path, causing her to drop the pile of books she's carrying.

"Watch where you're going, retard!" calls out the boy in mocking anger, obviously making a show of it to his two sniggering companions.

There shouldn’t be just one piece.   It’s part of a whole.  Why is there only one– ?  The cracks made soft lines, curves which formed a shape in her sight.   It was a piece of a jigsaw stretched thin and far.  If she studied it longer, she thought, she could find another to fit…

Her musings come to a shockingly abrupt stop.   Laney looks around at the jeering faces, utterly disoriented and swaying slightly.   Then down at her books.  Her mouth opens as if to say something, but there is no sound.

"What's the matter, retard? Lose you way to the short bus?" the boy sneers, towering threateningly over Laney. The two boys chuckle and titter, egging their friend on. The other students around them pointedly ignore the exchange, continuing their actions as if nothing is going on.

"Leave her alone," a voice says quietly. Alicia is standing there, behind the three tormentors, her hands loose at her sides.

The leader looks around in surprise and catches sight of Alicia. "Oh, look! It's another freak! Figures they'd stick together."

In an even, measured tone, Alicia replies, "That's right. We do. So why don't you move along and go bother someone else?"

The bully grins evilly and ripostes, oh so cleverly, "And if I don't want to?"

Alicia tilts her head from side to side, her neck making audible cracking noises. "Then you and I will get in trouble." The next second she's two gliding steps closer to the boy, their faces close enough to touch. She says, softly enough to be a whisper, "And you don't want to get in trouble with me."

The older boy jumps back a step in surprise, raising a hand as if to fend off an attack. He glances at his compatriots who've also backed away.

In an ill-graced attempt at saving face, the boy grumbles, "Aw, you freaks aren't worth the trouble." He jerks his head at the other two, and they tramp away, pushing a couple of other stidents as they go.

Alicia lets out a soft breath and, for a second, an expression of regret crosses her face. She turns to address Laney in a level tone, "You all right there, Lane?"

Laney had backed her way into a wall during the exchange, confused and frightened, only grasping what the boys had said after they were gone and Alicia was there.   The tip of her nose reddens and her eyes fill with tears.  She kneels down to blindly gather books, stammering, "S-sorry.  I'm a-alright.  Thanks."

Alicia leans down to help Laney with her books.

"You need to learn to stand up for yourself, Lane," she advises in a severe tone. "You can't just take s**t like that from a**holes like them. If you do, then you're just asking to be crapped on your whole life. I mean, jeez, look at you. You so seriously need to grow a backbone, girl."

The reprimand does nothing to help her get a handle on crying.   Fat tears roll down her pale cheeks and collect at her chin.  "Back-  I don't-  I- Th-that doesn't happen a lot.  What could I s-say to change them, Al-licia?  I s-stay away when I can.  I c-can't think when they're s-so close like th-that.  I d-didn't even s-see them.  I'm s-sorry.  I got these.  Don't be l-late for class."

"Aw, jeez," Alicia seems to realize her mode of address didn't help. In a more reasonable tone, she says, "Laney, it's mostly a matter of having the confidence to face them. Most bullies are cowards who jump on those weaker than they. That's why you gotta learn to be tough."

Having recovered all the books, Alicia stands up with Laney. "Look. How about I talk to Jack about giving you some lessons? I mean, just enough to help you deal with the s**theads.

"C'mon, don't cry," she pleads. "With my luck, John'll come by and get pissed at me 'cause he'll think I made you." She gives Laney a wink to show she's joking.

"I d-don't need c-confidence.  I d-didn't even s-see them.  Th-they're right.  You don't unders-stand. They're right.  I c-can't!"  When her own shrill yelling draws too many eyes, Laney ducks her head and mumbles another apology. 

She takes a few wavering steps in the direction of the nearest girls' restroom, sniffling.  "Oh. Twenty-five.  You guys have lessons, right?  I- Jean won't let me do that sort of thing right now, I know it.  I can't hide that kind of spending, either.  M-maybe next year I can budget um...I can't change them, Alicia.  There're too many."

Alicia looks understandably confused, not having been equipped with the Laney-talk translator.

"You can't... what? Change who? Wait!" Alicia catches up with Laney and basically guides her along to the girl's restroom. She's rolling her eyes behind her shades. I am sooooo not the person to be doing this.

She pushes the restroom door open, takes Laney to a sink and gets her a wad of paper towels. "Here. Clean yourself up."

Once she's taken care of that, Alicia tries to unravel the tangled cord of words Laney dropped on her lap. "Okay, let me see if I can catch all the bits there."

She leans back on the wall next to the sink. "Are you talking about changing those guys? F**k 'em. You can't change stupid. Those boys are f**ked in the head 'cause their mommas dropped them when they were babies, or smoked too much crack before they were born.

"They're morons. Only thing they understand is strength. you show some steel, they back off. It's in their nature."

She tilts her head back as she tries to keep track of the threads. "Jack doesn't charge. But he does have this annoying habit of checking with the grown-ups, so if your guardian's not gonna go for it, you're SOL. Hey, maybe I can teach you some!

"As for twenty-five, you got me on that one. I have no clue."

She manages freshening up much more efficiently when not conversing.  In fact, in the empty but familiar restroom, with only one distracting presence, Laney seems almost...normal.

"I kindof liked the self defense classes my dad made me take.  They were fun, but they weren't real.  You're suggesting I hurt them.  I don't want to hurt anyone. Twenty-five is Jack.  Sorry. It's a date or something.  I didn't look into it.  Do you think we could talk him into not telling?  It would be nice of you to teach me some things, but-  Either way, it'd be fun, I think.  I could just call it...um...extracurricular activ- Oh.  We should study at your place more often.  That's it.   For History or something."  She flashes a lively grin.

Alicia arches an eyebrow. "Laney, if it's a choice between hurting them and getting hurt, it's better for it to be the other guy, trust me."

She begins to gesture with her hands as she warms up to the subject. "And if you get good enough, you don't even have to fight. That's one of the things I'm trying to learn from Jack. If you establish dominance right off the bat, you don't get challenged."

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "Ask, uh, Jean to see if she's willing to entertain the idea of you taking some free training. If she's at all flexible, we'll have Jack get her on board. He's real good at convincing people."

She shrugs. "If that's a wash-out, then we'll do it on the down-low, but we won't be able to involve him. We can't let Jack get in trouble with the other grown-ups."

With a grin, she adds, "I know a couple of places we can set up a mat. Maybe get Ree-is to help out. Not that my mom will fall for the 'we're studying' scam. That one hasn't worked in years."

Laney giggles, whispering conspiratively, "She doesn't have to fall for it.  Only my family does.  I might be misjudging Jean, but I think the less she knows the better because the more she knows, the more she'll guess.  If she guesses too much, I'm out of here.  They rescheduled the test for this Friday.  I was only half joking about the studying thing.   I like living with them.  I don't want to leave.  And I like you guys.  Mostly.  I- If it's a choice between them or me, I'd rather me.  I'm not dominant enough, huh?  I can't bring knives to school!  I'll get expelled, Alicia. Geez."

Alicia pshaws Laney's concerns. "I didn't mean that kinda steel, girl. Although a fist-load might come in handy. Hmmm..."

A particular phrase finally percolates through her thoughts. "Wait. Test? What test? You don't mean...?"

Alicia slaps her forehead in incipient panic. "Ay coño! The History test is this Friday?!?"

She bounces up off the wall and begins pacing in concern as she rants. "Oh, crap, that's just f**king' great! Jack's about to kick me out of training 'cause my grades aren't up to his damn standards! Not to mention Mami's as much as threatened to ground me for the rest of the semester if I flunk another test! Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!"

Alicia punches one of the stall partitions, leaving a noticeable dent.

Laney tries to slip in a word between Alicia's outbursts. Her own head rocks in time with the stall door loosened from its hinges.

"Um...You can umm....study.  With me.  Tomorrow and Thursday.  After talking to Jack?  If you want."

Alicia bangs her head softly against the restroom wall a couple of times before she catches what Laney has said.

She looks dubiously at the girl. "Study for this test in two nights? You think that'll work?" There is a thread of hope wrapped around the core of disbelief.

Laney diplomatically replies, "You're not stupid, Alicia.  These tests are mainly multiple choice questions expecting dates, names, and places.   It's purely memorization, and you can usually guess which questions they're likely to ask on the tests, anyway."

"I know I'm not stupid!" protests Alicia. She pouts, "It's just... it's hard for me to memorize that stuff. and it's sooo boring."

She sighs and hangs her head. "At this point, I don't have much of a choice, I guess."

She straightens up with resolve. "Okay, let's do it. You help me out with History and I'll help you learn to kick ass." She adds hastily at Laney's look, "So you don't have to. Kick ass, that is."

"I'm not,"  she says firmly, "kicking any ass."

"Yeah, it's boring. You do it the right way once.  So you don't have to do it again.  Meet me after school tomorrow.  I can't do today, sorry.  I'm going out.  With John.  To the library."

Alicia gives Laney The Look. "John. In the library. With you." The innuendo is so thick you could mortar a brick wall with it.

Not so detached from the world that she didn't catch Alicia's meaning, Laney turns a marvelous shade of red.

"For books!  And to talk.  He's not avoiding me."

Alicia grins mischievously, knowing she's hit the mark. "Oh, I bet he's not. You go, girl. If you can crack that boy's steel-hard shell, more power to you."

She sobers up and regards Laney critically. "Okay, you don't have to kick ass, but you can at least learn not to get yours kicked. And I'll meet you tomorrow. Where? At the liiiibrareee?" She embellishes the last word by waggling her eyebrows and making kissy noises.

"It's the one at the college.  He was showing me around.  Did you need to- Oh."  Laney's eyes widen and her skin finds a new shade of red Alicia didn't think possible.

"Here is fine.  Parking lot.  Last bell.  I can drive,"  she squeaks.

Alicia mercifully lets Laney off the hook with a grin. "It's all cool, chica."

She glances around. "So, you all right now, or would you like me to walk you to the next class?"

"It's History.  You should probably show up, too."  She smiles, her fuzzy head tilted to one side to better look up through the tangled curls.  There in her eyes Alicia sees a perfect reflection of herself and, oddly, a swinging stall door.  Odd because it stopped swinging a couple minutes ago.

Alicia blinks but thinks better than to ponder too deeply on such matters. She opts for humor as a coping strategy.

"Ugh," she sticks out her tongue. "Oh well, those who fail History are doomed to repeat it."

She throws her head back in histrionic fervor, hand to her forehead. "Tis a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done." She waves her hand vaguely. "Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera."

"Do it the right way once, so you don't have to do it again.  Who's the one without the backbone?"  She hooks her arm through Alicia's and tugs her towards the exit.

Alicia winces. "Ouch. Payback's a bitch."

As they leave the restroom, Alicia ponders the phrase she's just spoken. Food for thought...