Chapter 9 2004
The fires of hell did not consume me, and the next day, I woke up so ravenous my hunger surpassed my humiliation, and I went to breakfast. It turned out, rock bottom wasn’t a terrible place to be.
It meant there wasn’t any further for me to fall.
I was already Poopface and diseased, so the underwear debacle really didn’t make things any worse.
If anything, a few girls seemed sympathetic, offering small, furtive smiles as I carried my tray past to the table in the back.
The second unexpected silver lining was that, thanks to the blow to the mouth, I lost my first baby tooth.
It came out at lunch when I bit into my grilled cheese sandwich.
Astur had already lost four of her teeth, and each time, the tooth fairy left a shiny silver elephant coin beneath her pillow.
The coin was about the size of a quarter but far more beautiful.
It had a tall elephant with a long trunk on the front and two leopards with a shield between them on the back.
Boodo said the coins were for making wishes, one wish per coin, though she also said you could never be sure when the wish might be granted, the moment you wished it or ten years later. That’s how elephant coins worked.
I was very excited, and I returned to class that afternoon thinking about what to wish for. I was trying to decide between wishing for a pair of pink Heelys like Astur had or the silver light-up ones I’d seen a girl wearing at the mall.
On the daydreams of elephant coins, tooth fairies, and Heelys, the afternoon floated by, and only when the end-of-the-day bell sounded did I think about the fact that I had to go back to PE.
Heart pounding, I shuffled behind my classmates to the gymnasium.
“Vivien.”
I lifted my face to see Coach Lee outside the girls’ locker room.
“I think this uniform might fit better,” she said and held out a brown paper bag. Her deep-brown eyes held mine, telling me she was very sorry for what happened, and the small kindness was nearly my undoing.
“Thank you,” I managed with a hiccup.
“You’re welcome.” Her eyes slid to my nevus but only for a second.
That afternoon, the sport was running. No balls or teams involved. And the girls ran with the girls, and the boys ran with the boys, which meant I only saw Bart during roll call. I avoided looking at him, though I felt him looking at me, his dark eyes boring into me across the bleachers.
Shockingly, it turned out I was really good at running.
“A speed demon,” Coach Lee said when I won my third race.
And after my final race, Michelle, my almost roommate, said, “You’re really fast.”
“Thank you,” I answered shyly as a burst of joy rushed through me, and I walked to the locker room happy for the first time since I’d arrived at Gaines two days before.
I had a gym uniform that fit. A girl in my class had given me a compliment.
And I was going to get my first elephant coin. Life was looking up.