It was either you or me

Dear Little Sisters,

It was either you or me. And you’re damn straight to think that I would ever let it be me. As cliche as this sounds, we each walked up behind the bleachers of our high school, staring straight into each other's eyes, with each of our posse walking with the same stern faces behind us. My long black hair was braided, courtesy of my best friend, you know just in case she attempted the typical girl move and tried to pull my hair. The tension mounted as we came into the space between the bleachers and concession stands, face to face not saying anything, holding our breath and waiting for the other to say something or to make a move. It was as if time stood still as we waited for the other to say anything, flinch, or perhaps even turn away.

However, I refused to be the one to stand down, especially after how she and her friends had cornered me the previous week; I decided it was now or never to defend my pride and ego. And so out of nowhere, BAM! I punched her in the face and began the fight that felt like an eternity but was probably only a couple of minutes or perhaps even less. All I know for certain is that I was clenching my fists so tightly that I caused little cuts in the palms of my hands from my own nails. It was a blur of blows towards one another until eventually my contact got displaced from my eye and then I was left struggling to see clearly. She went for my hair just like I had expected and sought to scratch me with her nails. She did not succeed. There I was a 5’4” hundred-pound Sophomore fighting a girl who was taller and heavier than I was. Did I care? Heck no! All that mattered to me was that I teach this girl a lesson about who not to try and threaten and bully. She may have caught me off guard alone with her friends as I came out of PE wearing my nice purple skirt and a white tank top but now I was ready and would not stand down.

I don’t exactly recall how the fight ended, if one of us just eventually backed off or if friends stepped in or if it was the fact that someone shouted that a teacher was coming and so we quickly all scattered. My friends and I ran to the bathroom where I looked to quickly compose myself and clean up enough to make it to my PE class cause, of course, I still had to go to class. I mean I was a straight A honors student and class president so God forbid I miss a class.

What’s crazy is that this set off a series of incidents and another fight between my friends and hers. Until one day as I was sitting in my French class I got called into the principal’s office. The moment I heard my name I knew I was done. I scrambled to think not of what I would tell the administrators but what I would tell my parents. I was scared and my sweaty palms and pale face showed it. I walked into a conference room where both the principal and assistant principal were already waiting for me. I sat down and proceeded to answer their questions with complete honesty. They asked what had happened, who had started it and what was the current status of things. To my surprise they did not suspend me or give me any consequences at that, nor did they tell my parents. To this day while I was baffled by their decision I am forever grateful. Ultimately they knew me better than I thought they did and seemed to understand that the consequences that I would face with my parents would probably be more detrimental to my current high achieving, overcommitted and involved student that I was.

Now you might be wondering what caused this girl to want to fight me. Such a silly high school thing, she thought her current boyfriend who I “dated” for all of two weeks in 8th grade still had a thing for me. M and I had only held hands for goodness sake. So not worth it, especially over a guy, I didn’t even like.

Love,

Espe