Her by Felicia Johnson

Cadence hard across her face. The doll fell to the floor. Cadence grabbed her face, looking shocked, and in pain.
    “What? You crazy bitch! You want to talk to me some more? Go ahead, so that I can punch you in your mouth this time,” Tai threatened.
    Cadence, still holding onto her face, picked up her doll and ran towards the Girls’ Unit. She ran through the double doors and disappeared.
    Ms. Mosley walked back in and yelled for everyone to go to their rooms and wash their hands for lunch. Tai stormed off. I looked at Daniel. He was laughing.
    “She’s the crazy one,” he commented.
    Chris and the new guy walked off through the double doors that led to the Boys’ Unit.
    “Why did she do that?” I asked Daniel.
    Daniel kept laughing. “Tai is pretty messed up. I guess that’s what drugs will do to you.”
    I looked at him, not laughing.
    He stopped laughing. He reached out his hand, but he didn’t touch me.
    “It’s okay. It’s just that Tai is tired of being here. Much like the rest of us.” He tried to make me smile with his smile and his sweet dimple.
    “It’s okay,” he repeated.
    His dimple kept smiling at me, so I smiled back.
     
    “So you can smile,” he said. “I guess I win the bet.” He got up and walked off towards his room.
    Bet?
    I sat there, letting his smile linger in my mind for a while. Ms. Mosley had to come over and break my pleasant daydreaming. She told me to go to my room and wash my hands. I went to the bedroom. Janine had a big, pink blanket on her bed. It hadn’t been there this morning. I threw myself on my bed and began to wander off. I forgot why I had come in here to begin with.
    My mind wandered off to Lexus. I wondered what she was doing. I wondered what she had thought when she had heard that I was in the hospital. I wondered what she had thought when she had heard about what I had done. I knew they had told her. He had probably told her. They both knew.
    Nick. What was Nick doing? I wondered if Nick was all right. He had been screaming so badly when he’d found me in my room. I did not want him to see me. I could still hear him screaming in my head. I wanted to tell him that everything was fine. Nick was too old and too smart for that. He knew it wasn’t fine. I knew it wasn’t fine. He’d seen me lying on the stretcher, bleeding and dying.

     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER 10
     
     
     
    I remember Lexus having the most beautiful eyes. Her eyes had a sparkle in the colors brown and green, making them almost amber. She had light brown hair, and she always kept her lips painted in cherry lip-gloss.
    She turned to me, smiling, and said, “How does this look?”
    I looked at her. Of course, she was beautiful. She knew it, and she didn’t need me to tell her. I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she swayed around her bedroom in her olive green tank top and soft, white Capri pants. She had on the perfect open–toe, white, wedge sandals that showed off her painted toes and pinky toe ring. While looking at her, I wondered how she could possibly be my friend.
    I tried to smile at her. I tried to feel happy for her. “You look good,” I told her.
    Lexus read beyond what she saw on my face. “What’s wrong?” she asked as she sat down next to me.
    “It’s nothing. I’m fine.”
    “Come on, girl. Don’t be like that. I want to have fun tonight. I cannot go out on this date if you are not going to be cool. That’s why I wanted you to come over. I need you to help me get ready, and I need you to be my best friend right now. Don’t be depressed.”
     
    “I know. I’m not being depressed. I told you, I am fine. I am just tired because I’m having cramps or something. I don’t know. Okay, you look great! You really do.” This time I gave her a wider smile.
    She bought it. Her re-applied smile told me so.
    “Just make sure you have fun and be safe.”
    She laughed. “I will,” she assured me.
    She leaned in and hugged me. Her bare arms brushed my face and I