The Falls by Eric Walters Page A

is!” I protested. “It sounds like it got really ugly. Did I actually fight anybody?”
    â€œI wouldn’t call it a fight. One shot and you went down like a sack of potatoes.”
    â€œWas it Justin who hit me?” I asked. He was a year older and big—real big. One shot from him would have practically put down a bear.
    â€œNo, Justin wouldn’t hit you. He’s your friend.”
    â€œIt was Tommy?” Tommy was my age, but so skinny that a good wind could have blown him away.
    â€œTommy? Tommy never hits anybody.”
    â€œThen if it wasn’t Justin and it wasn’t Tommy, who hit me?”
    Timmy started to chuckle.
    â€œI’m glad you think this is so funny. Who hit me?”
    â€œCandice.”
    â€œCandice? Candice hit me?”
    â€œShe kept telling you to shut up but you wouldn’t listen. You kept going on and on and on, telling everybody she was a kid and not to give her alcohol or touch her or anything.”
    â€œI was drunk.”
    â€œYeah, I think we all know that. So finally she jumps to her feet and gives you a shot to the head and down you go.”
    â€œNo way. No way could she hit me that hard. My head is all cut up.”
    â€œShe was holding a rock. She hit you with it.” Timmy started laughing some more, like he was watching it happen again. Maybe if it hadn’t been me I would have thought it was funny too.
    â€œAnd then she stood over you, swearing and spitting. She even tried to kick you but Justin held her back.”
    â€œI guess I should thank Justin.”
    â€œYou should. If it wasn’t for him you would have had the crap beaten out of you by a girl . . . a twelve-year-old girl.”
    â€œThanks for pointing that out. At least that explains why I can’t remember anything.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?” Timmy asked.
    â€œYou know, because I got knocked out.”
    â€œNo you didn’t. You got back to your feet, blood all over your face, and started yelling at Justin because youthought he was hugging Candice when he was just holding her back.”
    â€œThis gets worse and worse.”
    â€œIt would have, if I hadn’t gotten you out of there. That’s when I took you home. Me and Tommy.”
    I sat down on the curb and Timmy sat down beside me. I didn’t know what to say. It would have been better not to have known any of that. It would have been better for nobody to have known, but I figured it was probably the talk of the town by now.
    â€œDon’t sweat it,” Timmy said. “It’s no big deal.”
    â€œNo big deal?” I couldn’t believe my ears.
    â€œYou got drunk and you got stupid and you got beaten up by a twelve-year-old girl. So what? It could be a lot worse.”
    â€œIt could? How?” I asked.
    â€œShe could have been ten years old.” He paused. “Or even worse, it could have been
me
she beat up.”
    Timmy was laughing so hard now I couldn’t help laughing along with him.
    â€œSo, what are we going to do tonight?” he asked.
    â€œI don’t know what you’re going to do, but I’m going to be staying home.”
    â€œDid your mother ground you?”
    I shook my head. “She didn’t do anything. I wish she’d yelled at me or punished me or done something.”
    â€œYou
want
to get punished? Just how hard did that girl hit you?”
    â€œNot hard enough. It was just the way my mother looked at me. She wasn’t mad as much as she was . . . I don’t know . . . disappointed.”
    â€œDisappointed?”
    â€œYeah. Haven’t you ever felt that way?”
    â€œNo way. My father expects the worst of me and I hardly ever let him down. I always set the bar so low that if I ever make a mistake and
don’t
screw up he’ll be surprised and shocked. That’s the secret.”
    â€œNot much of a secret.”
    Timmy shrugged. “Works for