“I told you I didn’t see anything!” Tish choked back tears. “Please.”
“I know, I know,” Tammy mocked. “It will all be over soon. Please try to understand, this is really for the greater good.”
“No,” Tish whispered. She shook her head and black tears streaked her face.
“Be a dear, Aggy,” Tammy said. Agatha grimaced, reached out and gingerly plucked the squeeze bottle from Tammy’s outstretched hand.
“I’m going in!” Agatha moved toward Tish, holding the bottle high in the air. Tish squeezed her eyes and mouth shut.
I stepped closer to the girls, deciding that it was time to be noticed. “Practicing mental proctology without a license?”
“Mental what?” Tammy snapped, momentarily losing her Extreme Coolness. “Don’t use words you don’t understand, Peroxide.”
“The art of walking around with your head up your butt,” I said, swishing my hand. “It’s in the dictionary. Oh, I forgot. You can’t read. Love to stay and chat, but Tish and I have to go. Toodles.” I stiffened my fingers and poked a pressure point on Boot’s wrist.
“Hey!” Boot barked, and her grip on Tish popped open.
Agatha raised the Magic Mix, glaring defiantly like she was about to squirt me. So I jabbed my thumb into her shoulder. Solid impact. Nice crunch. But I should have hit her harder, so I only gave it a seven. Agatha squealed as her arm dropped and hung like an unfettered fruit rollup, scrambling to grab the Magic Mix with the hand that still had feeling.
Tish glanced at me in disbelief and ran from the locker room. I turned to follow her.
“Peroxide has come without an appointment,” Tammy said. “Boot, dear, please make her feel welcome. After all, we wouldn’t want her to leave with a bad taste in her mouth. Or would we?”
Suddenly, Boot seized me from behind, wrapping her beefy arm around my throat and squeezing hard.
Boot was Tammy’s Number One Enforcer because she was so freakishly strong. I couldn’t breathe, and things quickly started to go black. I grabbed Boot’s elbow to take the pressure off my throat, and gulped in a lungful of air. Bad move. Passing out would have been so much more pleasant. Being mauled by rabid Chihuahuas would have been more pleasant.
The instant I opened my mouth to breathe, Agatha squirted that stinking concoction into it. The stench was awful, but it was nothing compared to the taste. Garlic is good in small quantities on, say, white pizza where it belongs. But when it’s enhanced with yellow onion juice and concentrated into Mummy’s Magic Mix, I can tell you an unwashed gym sock would have tasted better. My throat burned. My eyes burned. A beautiful vision of my elbow slamming into Boot’s ribs flashed through my mind, but fear gripped me. Suspension. Fines. What if I hurt Boot? Happy thought, but my dad would kill me.
“C’mon, Rin,” a voice said as the bell rang. Kathryn rounded the lockers in her usual bouncing gait. “We’ll be late for our Language Arts test. Very uncool, ladies. Release the prisoner, please. You don’t need detention.”
“Oh, hi, Kathryn,” Boot said, letting me go.
Tammy’s Extreme Coolness returned in a heartbeat. “Hey, hey, Kathryn! We were just getting to know Rinnie, you know, seeing if she might fit in.”
“Oh, she’s definitely not Red Team material,” Kathryn said.
“I don’t know,” Tammy said. “Everyone has potential. We try not to judge.”
“Need a mint,” I mumbled as I followed Kathryn from the locker room, wiping my tongue on my sleeve. “A vat of disinfectant. A wire brush. Yuck!”
Humiliation, I decided, was not good for the soul. Humiliation stunk.
Chapter Four
The Psi Fighter Academy
After a day of embarrassment and disgrace, I really looked forward to a relaxing evening of major butt-kicking. As I climbed the white marble steps to the Greensburg Public Library, I felt as though I was entering a lost world. The library was old, over two hundred years, and built entirely of beautiful hand-carved white marble. The walls came alive with wildly detailed engravings of a great battle between humans and mythical creatures. The massive pillars reminded me of the Parthenon. A great stone lion stood between them, guarding the library entrance. It looked so real, I swore its eyes followed me as I approached.
Heavy oak doors swung inward on silent hinges at my touch. The smell of dust and very old books escaped into the sunlight with not even a hint of garlic. I always felt a sort of nostalgia, because I had dim memories of going there with my parents before they died. I breathed deeply and stood tall as I passed between the doors. Waving to the librarian, I hurried past rows and rows of books, straight for the bathroom. I went into the second stall, closed the door, and sat down on the toilet.