The New World: The Awakening. Leahann Cavanaugh

their sister and cousin got her ass whooped. I guess Lunch Lady snapped out of it shortly after I did, because loudly behind me, she yelled to the other girls, “What the fuck y’all just watching for? Help Treasure.”

      All at once they bum-rushed the site where the massacre took place. Before Thing 1 and Thing 2 could reach White Girl, I tripped Thing 1 and gave Thing 2 what Jay would call a knuckle sandwich straight to the left eye socket. Them broads looked like two anorexic niggas with two-day quick weave and fuzzy cheap ass kinky twist. Thing 1 went down easy; Thing 2 was out for the count. As I quickly turned to stomp on Thing 1’s back, White Girl was finally approached by Goony Goo Goo and Biggie Falls. Biggie Falls was a freshman, five foot six, 200 pounds, and was clumsy as hell. She was nice when she wanted to be but fell so much that she rarely found reasons to be nice. She had short hair, and it was not by choice. She had caramel complexion with dark-brown eyes, and she talked really fast.

      “White Girl, watch out! Biggie Falls behind you!” I yelled, trying to warn my newly bought friend. At the time I didn’t even know that Biggie was clumsy. She turned around and kicked Biggie in the stomach and Goony Goo Goo in the crotch. Goony fell to the ground. White Girl then grasped Goony’s right cheek with her freshly manicured nails and proceeded to punch the taste out of her mouth with her right fist. I was amazed. Then Biggie Falls bum-rushed White Girl off of Goony and literally sat her fat ass on top of White Girl and started to punch her in the face—left, right, left, right, the whole time with her fat ass rocking. Overly kicking Thing 1, I lost track of thought, and that was when I tried to run to White Girl’s side when the fuckin’ little rascals came out of the blue and hit me with a nice blow to my right cheek and a jab to my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me.

      “Look at this li’l bitch,” Buckwheat said. “Think she can hang with the big dogs, huh.” Buckwheat had dreads that touched her shoulders. I guess she was trying to be different because she had some dreads that were neon green, pink, yellow, and orange, like she was artistic or something. Out of all the beastlys, Buckwheat was the only one who looked decent, or shall I say presentable. It was something about her that made me not want to fight her. Last time I got this feeling was when I was about to fight Jay. Instead of fighting her, I felt like I should befriend her and protect her because she was important.

      “I don’t want to fight you,” I said as calmly as I could.

      “Fuck that!” Big Foot yelled and ran up and sneaked a punch to my left eye. I was pissed. Biggie was still on White Girl, not really hitting her, just fucking with her. Then this big foot bitch, a freshman who wore a size 12 in women’s, just really put me on edge. Big Foot was short and skinny with humongous feet. She had very pretty black hair and chocolate skin complexion. Then Buckwheat said something I bet to this day she wished she never said: “Who taught you how to fight, yo pussy-ass mama!” I could’ve given her the benefit of the doubt. She didn’t know my mama died givin’ birth to me. I blacked out.

      I came to handcuffed to a metal railing next to the principal’s office, White Girl next to me. “Damn, mama, you a beast,” she said as she reached for my hand.

      I accepted. “Yeah, you not so bad yourself,” I replied. “What happened?” I asked, confused of how it all ended.

      “Well, all I can say is we won! I’m Denise, but you can call me KitKat.”

      “I’m Lyric, but you can call me Lyric,” I implied, trying to be funny. Not knowing the extent of the damage we did, I sat back and basked in my glory. Eleven-year-old freshman whooped the asses of four big beastly-looking bitches. I was happy, especially since I just spent a buck and made a friend. A loyal one at that. All the joy and happiness went away when I saw Lunch Lady walk out of the principal’s office crying like somebody just died.

      Come to find out when I blacked out, I grabbed a metal pole that was used to keep the metal doors closed on the lunch line and I beat Big Foot until she was unconscious. I didn’t know what I had done. She was rushed to the hospital. Thing 1 had two broken ribs, three missing teeth, and bruising on her back. Thing 2 had a dislocated jaw. Biggie had bite wounds all over her legs and arms. Goony had a broken jaw and fractured eye socket, and Buckwheat, well, she came out without a scratch. Alice had a broken rib and jaw. The lunch lady was fired because of her behavior and actions toward students. Her tribe called Quest was suspended ten days each. As for Denise and me, we both got ROY (rest of the year) due to the damage we caused to other students even though we were just defending ourselves. They did not invite us back the following year. We both did freshman year through homeschooling together, and we’ve been each other’s right hand ever since.

      When I had found out that all the shit she had said about the lunch lady was true, I asked her how she knew. She said, “My dad is a cop, and my stepmom is a beautician. Last year I went to take yo daughter to workday with my dad ’cuz my mom was sick, and let me tell you, dicks talk just as much as pussies do. The precinct is just like the beauty shop, except the shit you hear there is actually true, not just a bunch of he-say, she-say shit. They got the evidence.” She was Nancy Drewing it at a young age.

      “Yo, Lyric,” Denise said as she tried to get my attention. “Where the hell do you go when you zone out like that?”

      “What’s up?” I replied, ignoring her question.

      “You know, yo bitch gone be twenty-eight this year, so I’m trying to do something out my comfort zone,” she said as she taunted an older customer by licking her fingers and rubbing them down the top part of her unbuttoned blouse.

      “Stop it, Kit, you gone give that man a heart attack,” I said, joking around. “What isn’t in yo comfort zone?” I seriously questioned.

      For a minute she couldn’t even answer me. Then she looked at Miles flirting with another guy. “Maybe we could…”

      “Aww, hell naw, you want me to fuck you up, don’t you?” I cut her off, a little upset that she would bring up the topic again.

      “I’m just saying that would be out of my comfort zone,” she strongly suggested.

      “No! Hell no! And if I did, I don’t think I’d fuck with white chicks,” I said, letting her know if I was gay, she wouldn’t be my type.

      “How come?” Denise asked.

      “Because for one a lot of y’all don’t have ass. For two, too bitchy; three, I just don’t like white chicks. No offense,” I said, just trying to end the conversation.

      Denise always had a girl crush on me ever since we first met. I’ve never known her to mess with a female before her crush on me, but you can never tell with her and her secrets.

      As we went over our birthday plans, this light-skinned man walked up and literally stopped time. He was in an all-black suit that had a small shine to it. You could tell it was tailor-made because it fit his body to a tee. He had on a white business shirt and a black tie with a gold tie clip attached. His eyes were hazel/light brownish in color, and his hair was cut short. His beard was attached to his sideburns and covered half of his cheeks and came together at his mustache.

      “Honey dip look like the men in black,” Denise whispered to me in her “gotta get him” voice.

      “Naw, he finer than Will,” I whispered back. As I looked over this man, he looked like he stepped out of the GQ’s sexiest men under forty 2020 edition. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I’ve never stared at a man for so long except when I used to stare at Jay.

      Out of the corner of my eye I noticed Miles trying to give the signal that he was calling dibs on GQ. Usually I would let Miles have them and try his luck, but I just knew he was here for me. So I ignored Miles.

      “Lyric! Lyric, I need to see you over here real quick,” Josh said as he signaled me to follow him.

      “Fuck,” I said under my breath, mad because I knew I was gonna miss my opportunity.

      “Yes!” Denise said as she moved right into position so she would be the first person GQ came into contact with.

      “I need you to do me a favor,” Josh politely