Girl Power (6 page)

Three quiet days passed with no bully attacks and by Thursday afternoon, Amy questioned whether or not they really needed to continue their arrangement. She’d made it clear that she didn’t like arriving at school later than usual. Morgan wished Amy would lighten up. She thought their walk might be all that was holding the four of them together.

“Why not stick together?” urged Morgan as she looked to the others for support. “I mean, we don’t know what those guys are up to right now.”

“Besides,” added Emily, “we should use this time to keep working on our plans for fixing up the trailer court.”

“That’s right,” said Carlie. “My dad said to tell you guys to be ready bright and early on Saturday. He wants to get back from digging up plants by noon.”

“And we need to start some of our fund-raising plans,” said Amy, finally getting into the spirit of things. “I’ve already started collecting cans. Man, you should see how much pop my sisters and brother drink. You’d think their teeth would be rotten by now.”

“And my dad told me that he’d help us make some planters out of the old fence pieces that we piled up last weekend,” said Carlie. “So that’ll be free.”

“Cool,” said Morgan. “And my grandma read something in the paper about how the dump is giving away recycled mulch.”

“Recycled mulch?” said Amy. “Like, what is that supposed to be?”

Morgan shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s free, and Grandma said it would come in handy.” She turned to Carlie. “Do you think your dad could get some for us in his pickup?”

Carlie nodded. “And your grandma’s right. It will come in handy.”

Morgan lowered her voice and hissed through her teeth, “Don’t look now, but I think we’re being watched. Up there by the fence next to that alley … I see a bike tire.”

“Oh, brother,” said Carlie. “They just don’t give up, do they?”

“Let’s just act natural,” said Morgan. “Don’t let them think they’re getting to us.”

“I’m getting out my phone.” Amy paused to dig in her backpack.

“That’s not a bad idea,” said Morgan as they waited for her.

“Yeah, it might show them that we’re not going to take it anymore,” said Emily.

So the girls continued walking, with Morgan and Carlie in the lead and Emily and Amy following. Sure enough, there was Derrick. He was with a boy that Morgan didn’t recognize, and both of them were scowling, trying to look tough.

“Don’t act scared,” whispered Morgan as they got closer. “Show ‘em your cool face.”

The four girls continued walking, and Morgan made an attempt at light conversation. “Nice weather we’re having, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” said Carlie. “And only a week until summer va—”

“Thought I told you trailer trash to stay off our turf,” snarled Derrick, pulling out his bike to block their way.

“I thought we told you this was a public street,” said Morgan, still walking.

“Public for some people,” said the other boy with narrowed eyes. He was taller than Derrick with a buzz cut and a bad complexion. “Not for people like you.”

Morgan and Carlie were only a foot or so away from the boys, and Amy and Emily were right behind them. Morgan’s eyes fell to a piece of wood Derrick brandished in his hand. She felt a tightening in her chest and throat. Her eyes widened slightly and she prayed a quick prayer. Then she took a deep breath and pointed calmly at the stick. “What are you planning on doing, Derrick? You
think you’re going to club us with that?”

He swung the stick and grinned. “Just protecting my territory.”

“I’m calling the police,” said Amy as she pushed a button on her phone and held it to her ear.

“That’s a good idea,” said Morgan. “We have four witnesses and—”

“I’m outta here,” said the buzz-cut boy, taking off down the alley on his bike.

Morgan looked directly at Derrick now. “What about you?” she asked. “Want to stick around for when the police arrive, or should we just tell them where to find you?”

“This is Amy Ngo,” Amy said in her know-it-all voice. Then Amy very accurately described their location. “We’re being harassed by some older boys and one of them is armed with—”

“Hey, take it easy,” said Derrick quickly. “We were just fooling around. You don’t have to take it so seriously.”

“Seriously?” Morgan stepped a little closer now. “You knocked Emily off her bike and ruined her front tire. Is that not serious?”

“We were just messing around with her.”

“You hurt her!” shouted Carlie with her hands on her hips. “And you’ve threatened all of us. And we are sick and tired of it, Derrick Smith. And we are going to tell the police—”

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said quickly, and Morgan could tell that he really was scared now. “I’ll fix the bike too. Just don’t tell, okay?”

Morgan turned and looked at the other girls, and Amy winked at her. “Hold on a minute,” Amy said into the phone, then to Morgan, “I guess we could give him one last chance.”

Morgan turned back to face Derrick. “Okay, we’re going to give you one chance, but if you do anything like this again—to anyone—we will definitely report you.”

“That’s right,” said Carlie.

“And you have to replace Emily’s bent bike wheel,” said Morgan. She glanced at Derrick’s bike now. “I think it’s the same size as your bike tire. Maybe you’d like to hand that over to us right now, Mr. Smith?”

Derrick looked flustered now. “But how will I get home?”

“The same way Emily got home,” said Carlie. “You’ll walk. But at least you won’t be limping.”

“Hand over the tire,” said Morgan in a firm voice.

“Yes, I’m still on the line,” said Amy into the phone. “Yes, sir, we’re still trying to determine whether or not this boy really intends to hurt us. Yes, he’s still here. Yes, he still has the club in his hand.”

Derrick tossed the board aside and hopped off his bike. In the same instant he snapped the quick-release
gadgets on his front tire. Then he rolled it over to Emily. “Here.”

She just nodded. Then Derrick took off on foot down the alley, awkwardly wheeling his disabled bike beside him as he went. The girls stood and watched until he turned the corner at the end of the alley, then they all clapped and cheered, giving one another high fives to celebrate their victory.

“Way to go, Morgan!” said Carlie, slapping her on the back.

“Way to go, Amy!” said Morgan. Then she thought of something. “But what about the police, Amy? Won’t they come anyway?”

“Yeah,” said Emily nervously. “I … uh … I heard that if you call 9-1-1, the police will come no matter what.” She peered down the street, looking as if she was about to run. Morgan suddenly realized what Emily was doing. She knew that Emily couldn’t give her name to the police because it might lead her dad there.

Amy just laughed. “No fear; I punched in the numerals, but I never hit
Send
. I figured we should just scare the boys to start with. If they didn’t respond, I would’ve put the call through—just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

Morgan saw Emily relax and step back toward the girls.

“Maybe we should’ve done that before,” admitted Carlie.

“Maybe …,” said Amy with a sly smile. “But then we never would’ve become friends.”

Morgan stared at Amy. “So, you really do consider us your friends?”

Amy looked surprised. “Of course. Aren’t you?”

Morgan nodded. “Sure.” Then she looked at the other two. “Right?”

“Right,” said Carlie.

“Right,” echoed Emily.

Then Morgan put out her right hand, and the other three girls put their hands on top of it. “All for one,” said Morgan. And the other three joined in with, “and one for all!”

“Does that make us the Four Musketeers?” asked Emily as they walked toward home.

Morgan laughed. “Yeah. Something like that.”

“Anyone want to join in me in soliciting returnable pop cans from the neighborhood today?” asked Amy.

“Soliciting?” said Carlie. “What’s that mean?”

“Begging,” said Morgan.

So it was agreed the four girls would “solicit” their neighborhood for cans for the next two afternoons. But it didn’t take long before it turned into something of a competition. Thinking it was safer to go out as teams of two, it was soon Morgan and Emily against Carlie and Amy. And, driven to outdo each other, both teams ended
up going outside the mobile-home park as well.

By Saturday, both teams had gathered an impressive collection of soda cans. At six in the morning, they loaded numerous large garbage bags into Carlie’s dad’s pickup, since he’d agreed to drop them by the store to cash them in before heading out to the woods. Amy had tied her and Carlie’s bags with pieces of bright red yarn. “Just so we can tell them apart,” she explained as they climbed into Mr. Garcia’s club-cab pickup.

“I think the winners should get a prize,” said Morgan, certain that she and Emily had outdone them.

“Yes,” said Amy. “I agree. Maybe the losers should buy lunch.”

“But then we’d have to use some of our money,” pointed out Carlie. “And that would mean less flowers and paint and things.”

“Oh, right,” Amy agreed.

“How about if the losers fix lunch,” suggested Morgan.

“You’re on,” said Amy.

Mr. Garcia just chuckled as he dropped the girls at Safeway. Then each pair of girls took a turn at the recycling machine, carefully loading their cans one by one until it was time to print out the receipt for cash.

“Twenty-four dollars and fifty-five cents,” announced Morgan, feeling a little dismayed. “I thought it would be more than that,” she admitted. “That was a lot of cans.”

“Twenty-nine dollars and thirty-five cents,” proclaimed Amy. “We win!”

“Wow,” said Carlie, “that’s more than fifty bucks.”

“That’s exactly fifty-three dollars and ninety cents,” said Amy.

“She’s the queen of mental math,” Morgan told Emily.

“Well, congratulations to Amy and Carlie,” said Emily.

“Looks like we’ll be fixing lunch today.” Morgan winked at Emily. Then as Carlie and Amy were at the register collecting their cash, Morgan told her that she’d already warned her grandma that the girls would be hungry for a big lunch today. “She’s got it all under control.”

Emily grinned. “Sounds like we’ll be eating in style.”

By noon the girls had dug up dozens of small trees and shrubs. Mr. Garcia had gotten permits in all the girls’ names, and each one of them filled her quota. Fortunately, because of Carlie and her dad, it looked like most of the plants might survive too.

“It looks like a mini-forest,” said Carlie as her dad closed the tailgate.

“Just think how great these are going to look planted all around the trailer court,” said Amy.

“But you’ll need to get them planted as quickly as possible,” Mr. Garcia warned them as he began driving down the forest-service road toward town. “You don’t want their
roots to get dry.”

Amy sighed as she held up her filthy hands. “This is turning out to be pretty hard work.”

“But it’ll be worth it,” Carlie reminded her. “When you see how much better everything looks.”

“I hope so,” said Amy. “My fingernails are ruined.”

“That’s why you should use gloves,” Carlie pointed out.

“What’s for lunch?” asked Amy, staring at Morgan and Emily. “I’m starved.”

“Me too,” said Carlie, grinning. “And it better be good.”

“You have your cell phone on you?” Morgan asked Amy.

“Yeah, why?”

“If you let me call home, I can find out about lunch.”

As it turned out, Morgan’s grandma had already cleaned up their barbecue grill and had hamburger patties and potato salad ready to go.

“And brownies and ice cream for dessert,” Morgan added to finish describing the menu to her friends.

“Woo-hoo!” cheered Carlie. “Hurry up, Dad!”

Morgan figured it was a good thing that she and Emily had lost the can contest. She doubted that any of the other girls could’ve pulled together a lunch like her grandma. And as the long, hard day wore on, and the digging and planting continued, Morgan’s grandma continued to provide the
girls with snacks and drinks.

“You four are amazing,” said Grandma as she looked at the fully planted landscape strip at the front of the trailer park.

“And just wait until we add flowers,” said Carlie. “It will be even prettier then.”

“And you should see the planters that her dad’s making out of some old wood,” said Amy. “They’ll go over there.”

“And we still have some painting to do,” Emily pointed out.

“And my dad’s making a letter
V
to replace the one that’s missing from the sign,” said Carlie.

“No more Harbor
eeuw
,” said Morgan. And they all laughed.

But as hard as the girls worked all day, they knew they had a long way to go yet. And even though the next day was Sunday, Morgan’s mom told her it was okay to continue the work. “But
after
church.”

“No problem,” agreed Morgan. “I already promised Emily that we’d take her with us again.”

So on Sunday afternoon, after church, Carlie talked her aunt into driving the girls over to a nursery where all the flowers were on sale. “Tia Maria is kind of a flower expert,” explained Carlie as they drove across town. “She can help us to pick the right ones for the right places.”

“Why don’t we just pick the ones that are prettiest?” asked Amy.

“Because some flowers like to grow in the shade,” said Carlie. “And some like the full sun.”

“And there’s a lot of full sun out in front,” said Emily.

“We need to get some paint too,” said Morgan. “For the sign.”

“But nothing too wild,” warned Amy. “No garish colors, Morgan.”

Morgan frowned. “Are you suggesting that I’d pick out garish colors?
Moi?”

“Well, I’ve
seen
your room.”

Morgan pretended to be offended. “Well, I’ve seen your room too, Amy. And I wouldn’t just naturally assume that you’d want to paint the sign
lavender
. And you can be sure I don’t want to paint it something weird either. Actually, I was thinking of Harbor colors. Maybe tan and light blue; you know, like the sand and sea.”

“Oh, that sounds pretty,” said Emily.