started down the stairs, I saw girls from the other two units ahead of us. Beside me walked Chris, grinning her head off. Every now and then she would glance at Pit Bull and laugh softly.
âHow many girls are there in this place?â I asked her.
âThirty. Ten in each unit.â She pointed down a hall. âThatâs where the social workersâ offices are.â
Oh great
, I thought.
Social workers two floors down
. We reached the bottom of the stairs and turned into a hallway â the long hall Iâd seen from my bedroom window. Girls from the other units were watching me and whispering. I tried not to stare back. I could see Pit Bull close by, talking to girls from another unit.
Spreading the word about me
, I thought and watched my feet. The hallway seemed to go on forever. Finallya staff unlocked a door at the other end and we passed through.
âThatâs the door to the school,â Chris told me. âThe gymâs right here.â
We got the skates from the equipment room and put them on. I could hardly wait to get onto the floor. When I was a kid, I took skating lessons. I even won a few contests. I figured I could blow Pit Bullâs mind with my skating and then she would treat me differently. Maybe she would even decide to make me one of her friends. That would make life a lot easier in this place. As soon as I had my skates on I was off, skating as fast as I could. I went around and around that dinky old gym, doing all my best moves.
Sometimes skating works for me. The louder the music, the better. I ride the beat and when Iâm moving fast on skates, I almost feel free. As I skated around the Marymound gym, I forgot Pit Bull and all her lousy questions. I kept going around and around, trying to work up more speed. My moves fit me like a glove, and my heavy ugly body felt beautiful. I could tell a lot of the girls were watching. When I passed Pit Bull, she looked away. She was impressed, I could tell.
I could see Chris over by the equipment room, still putting on her skates. If she didnât get on the floor soon, she was going to miss the whole evening. About my seventh time around the gym, I got tired and slowed down. I was doing circles, going into a back corner, when a group came up behind me. They swarmed me and someone shoved me.
âPit Bull, eh?â a voice hissed.
My shirt tore, and I stumbled. I put out my hands, but the wall slammed into my shoulder. I think I hit my head â for a second everything went dark. Then the gym came back, but it was pretty quiet. Someone had shut off the music.
âEveryone off the floor,â a staff called.
I was all right, but my shoulder ached and my head hurt. As I turned, three girls skated away from me. Pit Bull was one of them. Breathing hard, I rested against the wall. Fran skated up.
âEverything all right?â she asked.
âYeah, sure,â I said.
âCâmon over to the equipment room,â she said.
I followed her, saying, âIâm all right, Iâm all right.â Another staff called Pit Bull and her friends to the equipment room. As Fran andI skated up to them, my body felt heavy and fat again. I stared at my feet. Someone put the music back on and the other girls started skating. But they were watching me â everyone was watching.
Pit Bull put on big innocent eyes, blinked them a lot and said, âIt was an accident!â Then she looked at me and said, âRight, Kelly?â She didnât wait for my answer. âWe just wanted to talk to her, but we got going too fast and bumped into her.â
âIs that right, Kelly?â Fran asked.
âSure.â I wanted this to be over. Pit Bull ran these girls. It was obvious that sheâd told one of her friends to shove me into the wall. I was lucky, really. It could have been a lot worse. If I complained now, who knew what would happen next time? Besides, I didnât like all these people watching