A Good Day for a Fight

I reared back hoping to connect with all the force and frustration I’d held up to this point. I swung and missed, horribly – my worst nightmare come true. It was like those dreams you have where you’re fighting for your life only for every hit to land softly against your enemy’s body.

​The crowd jeered and cheered as we yanked each other’s plaid clothing, hoping to gain some leverage that our thin limbs couldn’t muster. 
 
“Hurry up, Ms. G is coming!” a spectator shouted. 
 
Surprisingly, we’d been evenly matched to that point, but the hasty warning from a crony was enough to ignite a flame in my opponent. Suddenly, I felt the hot sting of a slap swipe across my face, the crowd’s reaction told the tale. It was the hit that everyone would be talking about for days to come, I was sure. 
 
“Hey! Hey! Break it up!”
 
Ms. G and the crossing guard pulled us apart sending us stumbling in opposite directions yelling obscenities across the asphalt. 
 
“My office, now! Let’s go!”
 
Until that day, I’d never been on the receiving end of one of Ms. G’s berating sessions, but like I’d come to realize, there was a first time for everything.
 
“Ms.  James what in the world are you doing fighting? You don’t run in these types of crowds, I’ve never had a problem with you,” she stated in a nearly maternal tone. 
 
“She started it!” I yelled, voice shaking while trying to maintain the appearance of rage. 
 
“Mhmm, I’m sure. Ms. Simmons loves a tussle. Well… did you win?” she asked in a hushed tone, surprising me with the type of low brow question I’d expect from one of the gym teachers or maybe the grounds keepers.
 
I turned my head in the opposite direction signifying the end of my participation in a worthless conversation. 
 
“Yikes, guess not.”

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