The New Girl in Town (A True Story)

I was 13, I was new in town and it was summer. I was sitting on a big driftwood log near the waters edge in the little beach town I now call home, Indianola WA. My family had just moved there. We were renting a house a few blocks away and I was talking to a girl I had just met.

A tall, sullen boy, kicking sand as he walked by, said to my new friend “Are you wearing your big sisters bathing suit? Looks like you don’t have what it takes to fill it out up front”. She shrank back and looked down at her feet, saying nothing. He laughed a little too loudly at his own joke and kept walking.

I have always hated bullies and I took an instant dislike to him. My friend told me that he came from a big family, that they were all mean and always getting in trouble. She went home.

Later that afternoon I walked down the town’s long wooden dock to the floating platform at the end. Teenagers usually staked out spots there on towels in between plunges in the frigid water.

The same hulking kid who had taunted the girl earlier was walking back and forth along the edge of the float searching for something. Another girl, standing next to me asked “Hey, what are you looking for?” He turned to her and sneered “Your face”. He shoved her, she lost her balance and grabbed me. We both fell in. The water was freezing and I hadn’t been expecting to take a swim.

I was pissed! I was out of the water in a flash and I marched right over to this jerk and pushed him so hard that he fell in backwards.

A crowd of kids formed in an instant.

He got out of the water bellowing “I am going to kill you!”. My heart was beating out of my chest, but I stood my ground. He was bigger than me, he was swearing and he was furious as he stood above me in his dripping wet clothes. I had grown up being threatened, being hit…but this town was mine now too and this kid wasn’t my step father. My heart was beating out of my chest, but I stood my ground. Then I wound up and clocked him square in the face. We kicked and punched and brawled until he took a few steps back and yelled for his big sister. She was watching, but she didn’t move.

It was over.

I was on fire as I walked away. I held my head high. I wondered if anyone could tell I was shaking. When I knew no one was looking, I started to cry.

I didn’t enjoy my first and only fist fight but I did learn how being underestimated can be an advantage. No one was more surprised than me to find out that the new girl, with the short curly hair and the big grin had a decent right hook.