Shawn didn’t know what hit him. My first punch caught him square in the gut, making him double up. He thought I’d be careful not to get into a fight since I was already on the thin trapeze wire for expulsion from the last few fights I’d been in. Most people didn’t think that girls could fight as well as boys could, but I proved them wrong. He wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. I’d make him pay for what he said to me, and I’d certainly make this fight worthwhile if I was going to get expelled for it.

I slammed his head once, twice, three times into the nearby lockers. I heard girls screaming and people yelling. Some of them were yelling for teachers, others were cheering the fight on. Someone grabbed my shoulders and I threw an elbow back without looking. I heard the air go out of the person behind me and their grip weakened. There were more people coming between us now, stopping the fight.

The teacher I’d elbowed in the stomach, Mr. Yupnir, took me to the office before going to the nurse’s office. I’m sure someone already took Shawn there. I’d left his face a bloody mess.

I took a seat in the office as I waited for the principal to call my parents and talk to us. It had happened plenty of times, so I knew the routine pretty well. I slumped in the seat and crossed my arms. My knuckles on my right hand were bloody, but I didn’t know if it was my blood or Shawn’s. The secretary sat typing away at her computer, completely ignoring me.

I counted the ceiling tiles. There were 36 of them. My mom must have been sleeping when they called her, because when she came in the door, her black hair was still mussed on one side of her head and her shoes didn’t match. I could see the look in her eyes was worry, before they landed on me. Once she knew I wasn’t hurt, worry was replaced with anger. “How could you Luella? You knew what would happen if you got into another fight, but you decided to anyways!”

The principal, Mr. Burbage, appeared in his doorway. “Mrs. Calder.” He stood to one side so we could both enter his office. I stood up and walked in like I usually did. My mom followed, fuming. Once we were all seated, Mr. Burbage leaned forward. “You know I have to expel you now right, Luella?” I hated how he was always so calm when we talked about my fights. I would’ve preferred the yelling and screaming.

“Yeah.” I replied simply. I didn’t try to justify myself, didn’t try to talk my way out of this or say that I wouldn’t fight again. I knew I would. I had such a short temper, and people deserved it anyways. Like Shawn. His parents were rich and held a lot of sway in our community. He thought that would protect him and let him say and do what he wanted. He thought it gave him an excuse to be terrible to everyone.

Mr. Burbage passed a hand over his face. “Just what did he do to make you so mad anyways?”

So I told Mr. Burbage exactly what Shawn said to me, even though it was one of those words on the "don't-say-in-front-of-adults list." Hey, he asked.

“Luella Anne Calder!” My mother scolded me. “Watch what you say!”

Mr. Burbage shook his head in disappointment. “Name-calling is hardly worth getting into a fight Luella.” He opened the door to his office again, signalling that it was time for us to leave. “I’m going to need you to clean out your locker and return your textbooks to your teachers.”

I nodded and left, my mother seething behind me. “I’ll be waiting in the car.” She snapped at me before leaving. Wonderful.

I ignored the stares of other students as I walked to my locker and cleaned it out. One kid--I couldn’t remember his name--was just staring at me, his mouth wide open. He was so pale and had such dark hair and dark clothes on. “What are you looking at?” I snapped at him as I slammed my locker shut.

The boy just shook his head. “I saw what you did to Shawn… That was awesome.” I threw him an irritated glance. Something about the way he complimented me just didn’t feel right.

“Whatever. I have to turn my books in now.” I slung my heavy backpack over my shoulder and picked up the textbooks I’d placed on the floor. The boy didn’t offer any help, not that I would’ve taken it if he had.

I walked away from the strange boy and luckily he didn’t follow. I returned the books to the teachers one by one, returning stares of other students with a glare of my own. They always looked away first.

Soon enough, I was walking out of the school doors and heading towards the parking lot. It was a nice day, the end of September. I spotted my mom’s old brown van and walked towards it. I was not looking forward to the lectures and shouting I’d be going through when I got home. Mom always expected me to do better and “set an example” for all my younger siblings. The hell with that, I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s role model.

It started as soon as I opened the door of the van. She shouted and yelled. I was too tired to fight with her so I just stared out the window. I’m not really sure what she said, I wasn’t paying attention. Sometime on the way home, it started raining.

I hurried inside and threw my bag in my room. My mom left again to go buy groceries and wait for my little brothers and sister to get out of school. She made it very clear before she left that I was grounded. That didn’t matter to me. I didn’t really have any friends I’d want to hang out with now anyways, and most were in school now. If they weren’t in school then they were off smoking something, or shooting up, or drinking. That didn’t appeal much to me.

As soon as she left, I opened my window and climbed out onto the roof. It was only sprinkling a little, so it was still nice. I laid down on a blanket on the shingles and made myself comfortable. While I was staring up at the raindrops coming down on me, I drifted off into sleep.

When I dreamt, I was in a small cave. The first thing I noticed was the pool of water in front of me. Then I noticed I wasn’t alone. There was a boy to my left, handsome with blond hair and dark blue eyes. When our eyes met, I tried to ask him what was going on, but my mouth didn’t move. I couldn’t move my body either, though I struggled and struggled. The boy seemed to be less than amused by my actions, or lack of action. I guess the struggle showed on my face. To the left of him stood a pure white horse that was watching me too.

I winced as a loud voice echoed through the cave. “The second Seal has been broken, and the second Rider summoned.” I noticed that the boy’s eyes moved to watch the water, so I looked too.

Out of the water burst a red horse, alive with energy. It shook itself of the water running down its body, getting a lot of it all over me. A torch I couldn't see behind me sizzled as the water droplets hit it. The red horse cantered over to me, until I thought it would run me over. It walked circles around me, inspecting me. I met its black eyes with my own, not looking away. The white horse didn’t seem to react to the other horse’s presence, and the red horse ignored him right back. The red horse snorted and pawed at the ground but it seemed satisfied with whatever it saw. It walked around me one last time until it was in the same position on my right.

While the white horse was still and quiet, the red horse was moving, stomping its feet and flicking its tail. Though it didn’t move from my side, I could tell it wanted to do something.

I looked at the boy again, wondering what was supposed to happen now. He didn’t give any kind of sign, just stared straight ahead across the pool of water to an area on my right. I glanced over there but didn’t see anything. I was starting to get as restless as the red horse, though at least it was lucky enough to be able to move and make noise.

I resigned myself to the fact that this was going to be a long and boring dream.