I've been in a few fights in my lifetime. Derek mentioned one a while back
where I slammed my ex-boyfriend into a freezer wall at work because he called
me the "C"-word...that's probably my most memorable fight. That guy was such a
jerk and no one liked him (WHY did I go out with him, I ask myself?) so they
all applauded my actions that night.

My first fight happened when I was in 5th grade. I had a friend named Darcie.
She, however, was friends with a bully named Seneca & Seneca dictated that on
every recess, Darcie played with HER! Well, one week Seneca was out of town so
that whole time, Darcie played with me on recess. The Monday that she came
back, she was outraged to find that Darcie would rather play with me. Seneca
hunted us down in the corner of the playground and demanded to know why Darcie
was playing with me. "Because I have more fun with her," Darcie replied.

"Oh, yeah? And what are you playing that's so fun?"

"Unicorns," Darcie answered. A side note here...ALL my friends in elementary
school played Unicorns. We always tried to outdo each other with who was the
prettiest...mine unfailingly were named things like CrystalRose or
CrystalDiamond because I would make my unicorns have crystal horns with a rose
that grew inside or crystal hooves that held a diamond inside each one. Yeah,
I know...just remember I was in 5th grade, okay!!

Sooo...Seneca sneered at us and spat, "You might think you look like a unicorn
but to me you look like DIRT!!" And she started to walk away. Suddenly, my
mouth took over my brain and I yelled "Yeah, well, SO DO YOU!!!"

You know those movies or TV shows when someone says something realy stupid
that's gonna get them beat up and it suddenly goes into slow motion and
everyone's reactions of shock & disbelief are shown? Well, that's what this
was like. I guess no one had ever stood up to Seneca before and the fact that
quiet little me was threw the kids that were around, especially Darcie. I
remember her whispering, "Oh, God, you shouldn't have done that."

Seneca walked up to me and said "What did you say?" Here was my chance! I
could say that I didn't say anything or that I said "You're right, I'm
unworthy," or something that would save me. But no. I actually repeated what
I said. So she pushed me. I pushed her back. The bell rang and we pushed
each other all the way to our class rooms. Luckily, we had different teachers
so we seperated at the door.

But! It wasn't over. No, no, no...my body freaked out at the thought of the
"fight" that I'd just been involved in and I started hyperventilating right
there in class! So tough! Mrs. Horner took me out into the hall and asked
what was wrong. Once again, I could have just said that I couldn't breathe or
I was having an allergic reaction to the monkey bars and got sent home early
but nooooo! I told her that Seneca & I got into a fight.

Of course, she went into Mrs. Gerber's room and the two teachers discussed the
situation and we had to stay after school to talk everything out. I don't
recall that session other than we both had to apologize to each other. What I
do remember is that Mom was worried when I didn't come home right away and she
walked up to the school to look for me. She ran into Cindy Mitchell (Derek's
post last week about his friend Jamie? That was his sister.) told Mom that I
had to stay after cuz I got into a fight. She was shocked! I was so quiet and
sweet...I would never get into a fight!

I do believe that they were proud of me, though, for standing up to her.
Seneca never bothered me again and Darcie & I played Unicorns a lot more on
recess after that!


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