Sonora: And The Eye of the Titans

by T. S. Hall

“Miss, you will raise your hand in my classroom,” Ms. Benfield ordered.

  Allora rolled her eyes and put her hand up.

  “Yes, Ms. Smith?”

  “First of all, it’s ‘Allora,’ and second, I don’t think I should have to repeat my question since you obviously heard me the first time,” Allora snapped back.

  “Young lady, I don’t know what you’re used to around here, but I will not tolerate rude behavior,” Ms. Benfield replied. “You will repeat your question, and you will show me some respect and use manners.”

  The abrasive retort piqued everyone’s interest. Allora hated when authority figures tried to control her.

  She took a deep breath and asked with a scowl, “Please tell me, where the hell is our real teacher, Mr. Swan?” Allora said, leaning back and smiling.

  The whole class erupted in laughter.

  Ms. Benfield, on the other hand, found nothing funny about it. She marched down the aisle to Allora’s seat, grabbed her by the ear, and dragged her to the door.

  “Hey, you evil witch!” Katie said, standing up in protest. “Let go of her right now!”

  Ms. Benfield maintained her grip on Allora’s ear and motioned to Katie. “If you have anything to say about it, you can join your friend in the principal’s office,” she threatened.

  Allora could have easily gotten out of the teacher’s grip, but it would have meant possible expulsion or even criminal charges, so she resisted. Ms. Benfield eventually let go and pushed them both into the hallway, then pointed to the front office.

  “I will not be disrespected like that.”

  With that, she stomped back into the classroom and slammed the door. Allora made an inappropriate gesture in the small window slit, and the students burst out in laughter again, some of them giving her thumbs-up.

  Ms. Benfield spun around, but Allora had vacated the window before being caught. The two girls walked in the opposite direction from the principal’s office and roamed the halls for the rest of first period, gossiping about the horrible substitute. They had made it around the back of the school to the end of the sophomore hall when they saw three sophomore girls standing around a petrified freshman with glasses, tightly holding her books. As Allora and Katie moved closer, they saw that the young girl against the wall was Bell.

  Allora watched as the sophomore girls knocked her sister’s books out of her hands. Fueled by anger, Allora ran up and knocked over the first girl. “What do you think you’re doing?” she said in a threatening manner. “The only person who gets to push my sister around is me.”

  The tallest of the girls, Suzy Moore, stepped forward. She was on the girls’ basketball team and a well-known bully. “Maybe I should ask you the same thing,” she said, pushing Allora. “Butt out.”

  “Hey,” Katie said. She stepped between them and placed her hand on Suzy’s shoulder. “Trust me, you don’t wanna start something with her—not today.”

  Suzy grabbed Katie’s hand and squeezed it, then pushed her into the lockers like she was made of toothpicks.

  Allora stepped forward, dodged Suzy’s punch, and placed a brutal fist into the right side of the tall girl’s lower abdomen. Then she spun around with one leg extended and kicked the girl in the knees, sending her plummeting to the ground. Suzy wiggled on the floor in pain as the other girls tried to sideswipe Allora. Katie deflected the attack and moved to exact her own vengeance.

  Before they could do any serious damage, Allora and Katie froze, their bodies tight, unable to move a muscle. The sophomore girls knew they were outmatched and took the opportunity to quickly retreat. Allora’s eyes darted back and forth, trying to find the reason for her immobility. Aunt May had demonstrated a similar trick. No matter how hard she tried to move, her muscles would not respond. All of a sudden, Katie and Allora fell to the ground. When they were finally able to move their limbs again, they looked at each other in confusion, trying to figure out what had happened.

  When they saw two black stilettos step onto the carpet in front of them, they both turned their eyes upward to see a figure standing there, rigid and stern, with hands on her hips.

  “Uh… hi, Principal Winters,” they said in unison, their monotone voices revealing their guilt.

  “Bell, go on to your class,” Mrs. Winters said to the frightened freshman who was still pressed against the lockers.

  Bell looked at her sister and moved her lips to silently apologize, then scurried down the hall.

  Allora picked herself up, followed by Katie. The two girls were embarrassed, not because they’d been beating sophomores up, but because they’d gotten caught.

  Mrs. Winters directed them to go immediately to the front office. Once they got there, they sat in seats facing Mrs. Winters’s desk and waited for the angry principal to join them.

  Mrs. Winters sat down in her chair, placed her arms on the desk, and clasped her hands. Wearing a look of disappointment, she said, “You two have been busy today. The first day of school, and you’ve already managed to get kicked out of class and beat up some underclassmen, and it’s not even second period yet!” She sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. “Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”

  The two girls remained silent.

  “What did I tell you about saying under the radar?”

  “But they were picking on my sister,” Allora argued. “I had to do something.”

  “Yes, but you could have used diplomacy. I get that May is training you in combat, but the word is far more powerful than the fist.”

  “Didn’t really see it that way Principal Winters,” Katie added.

  “Considering your lineage, I wouldn’t expect so,” Principal Winters responded, prompting Katie to cross her arms and lean back in the chair. “Look, I get that you two are under additional stress, but the situation in town has gotten a little more serious.”

  Principal Winters continued to lecture them on the importance of discretion. Silently, the girls listened to every word their principal said, but they didn’t quite understand all of it. Nevertheless, they nodded their heads in agreement to satisfy Mrs. Winters, then quickly made a break for the door.

  Just as they were about to run off, Mrs. Winters halted their escape. “By the way, as punishment, you both can plan on volunteering to set up for the soccer games all season long. I’m sure Mrs. Mondrach can use your help.”

  They nodded their heads, accepting their punishment, and hurried to their second-period class.

  After fourth period, Tanner, Dax, Katie, and Allora met in the middle of the hall.

  Allora turned to Tanner. “I heard you broke up with Jenny,” she said, looking to make sure the evil soccer captain wasn’t around.

  “Yeah, well, I heard what she did to you that night at camp,” Tanner said, causing Allora to blush a little. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “It wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m fine,” Allora responded. Even though she was trying to play it cool, part of her took some delight in the fact that she was the reason Tanner had come to his senses and gotten rid of Jenny. “It was just a stupid prank.”

  A serious look came over Tanner’s face, and he softly took hold of Allora’s shoulder. “You could have been seriously hurt. What Jenny did was inexcusable.”

  Allora gazed up into his eyes, and in that moment, she felt completely at ease. Her heart felt like it had fallen into the back of her body. Her limbs were numb as she stood there, paralyzed.

  Tanner was inches away from Allora’s lips when both of them caught a glimpse of someone out of the corners of their eyes. Tanner let go of Allora and pivoted toward the front double-doors, and Dax couldn’t help but follow his line of sight.

  A long-haired, beautiful brunette with sparkling blue eyes entered the school, someone they’d never seen before. The wind pushed through the heavy metal doors behind her, tousling her hair. She was dressed scantily in a very short denim skirt and a white tank-top. Her long legs were accentuated by her black designer heels. She walke
d by, glaring at Katie and Allora, as if trying to project her dominance. Then, she winked at the boys, whose mouths seemed to have fallen to the floor. Dax and Tanner dumbly smiled back and stared at her as she strutted to the front office.

  Seeing the boys’ hormonal reactions led Allora to slap Tanner on the back of the head, while Katie hit Dax. The girls left, rolling their eyes as they walked away, and the boys remained perplexed.

  “Hey! What was that for?” Tanner asked as Allora exited the school.

  “Yeah,” Dax added, rubbing the back of his head.

  Allora spun around. “For being an idiot,” she said.

  “I just felt like smacking you!” Katie added as the doors closed.

  Ignoring his sister, Dax walked up next to Tanner. “I got dibs, man.”

  “What? You can’t call dibs when you haven’t even met the girl,” Tanner replied.

  “Guy code says if you see a girl and claim her, she’s yours,” Dax rebutted, grinning emphatically.

  “Maybe in the Neanderthal days,” Tanner said, shaking his head. “What do you plan to do, club her and drag her back to your cave by her hair?” He grinned when Dax couldn’t think of a suitable comeback.

  Outside the school, Katie said, “She must be new,” as she climbed into the driver side of her car.

  “Did you see the way she was dressed?” Allora said.

  “I wonder if she’s good at soccer.”

  “Sure. I bet she’s got some great ball-handling skills.”

  They looked at each other and laughed.

  “I guess we shouldn’t judge her though. I’m sure she’s a nice girl,” Allora said, not really believing it herself.

  “Right,” Katie said. “Nice girls in black heels? Gimme a break.”

  After Katie dropped her off, Allora went inside and waved goodbye. She grabbed a cold soda out of the fridge, flopped down on the couch, and spent the rest of the night alone, reading a book in her room, happy to have some time to herself in a safe, quiet place.

  Six

  GIRL

  The following day, Katie and Allora arrived at school, dreading the eventual confrontation with Ms. Benfield. The thought of having to apologize was revolting.

  Much to her relief, though, Allora walked into her history class and saw a different substitute teacher putting her name on the chalkboard. “I wonder where Benfield went?” she whispered to Katie as sat down.

  Tanner leaned forward from his seat behind the two girls. “Principal Winters fired her.”

  “Really?” Allora asked, enthusiastically spinning around in her chair. “But why? I mean, I liked her so much. We were just getting to know each other,” Allora said sarcastically, drawing a smile out of Tanner.

  “I was in the office after school, and I saw Ms. Benfield go in Mrs. Winter’s office. I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but I heard some yelling, and a few minutes later, the substitute teacher stormed out.”

  “Good morning, students,” The pretty brunette woman said. “My name is Ms. Norman, and I will be your substitute teacher until Mr. Swan returns. I don’t know when that will be, but let’s hope we can get through as much material as possible before he gets back.”

  Someone opened the classroom door, and a familiar-looking girl poked her head in and then swung the door open. “Uh… hi. I think this is my class,” said the new girl, looking just as beautiful and confident as she had the previous day.

  “You’re a little late, darling,” Ms. Norman said.

  “I know. I’m so sorry. I’m new here.”

  “Well, what’s your name?” Ms. Norman asked.

  “Kim.”

  “Well, Kim, I’m Ms. Norman. Your schedule may say something about Mr. Swan, but he’s going to be out for a while. Please have a seat so we can get started,” the teacher said, directing her to an open desk near the front.

  Kim strutted over to Allora’s row on the other side of the classroom, as if she was some kind of princess about to address her court. She was an obviously audacious individual, and Allora felt strange as she watched the new girl take her seat.

  Ms. Norman began the class by talking about the Roman Empire, discussing Gaius Julius Caesar and his great military victories in Gaul.

  “In the Battle of Alesia, the Romans were outnumbered five to one and still came out on the winning end of the confrontation by erecting fortifications and traps to slow down the attacking Gallic army. Eventually, the Gallic army was defeated by Caesar’s cavalry, which outflanked the Gauls. Soon after the victories in Gaul, Caesar was ordered by the senate to disband the army and return to Rome. Does anyone know who was leading the Roman senate at that time?” Ms. Norman asked the class.

  Allora was about to answer the question when Kim interrupted her without even raising her hand. “That would be Pompey, Ms. Norman.”

  Allora glared at Kim, unhappy with being upstaged. History was her subject, and she’d always been the top gun when it came to history trivia.

  “Good job, Kim,” Ms. Norman said, then continued with the story. “Caesar chose to take one of his legions and march with them to Rome. This ignited a civil war, since no Roman army was supposed to be there. Does anyone know what happened to the Roman senators who defied Caesar?”

  Again, Allora was about to give the answer, but Kim blurted out, “Most of them were pardoned, ma’am, but a few of the traitors were killed.”

  “And what happened to Caesar?” Ms. Norman asked.

  Kim smiled. “He became a great Roman dictator.”

  Allora jumped in, “Actually, he was a tyrant who wouldn’t give up his power over the Roman Empire, which was probably why he was assassinated.”

  “An obvious tragedy,” Kim responded.

  “A tragedy? What about the thousands of people who were oppressed, killed, and raped by the Roman Empire? The Romans burned, pillaged, and murdered their way across Europe.”

  “A necessary evil, if you think about the barbaric weaklings the Roman Empire destroyed,” said Kim. “In my opinion, they did this world a great service, a sort of taking out of the trash, if you will.”

  “A service? What gives you the right to call people trash and—”

  Kim was, quite literally, saved by the bell when Allora’s tirade was interrupted by the end-of-class buzzer.

  “All right, class,” Ms. Norman said, cutting off the argument, “great discussion today. I’ll expect those papers on the history of Caesar on my desk on Monday.”

  Allora marched across the room, eager to confront the new girl, who was busy putting her notebook away. “How can you possibly think it’s a good thing for one man to have absolute power over so many?”

  Kim continued putting her things away and didn’t even give Allora the courtesy of eye contact. “Because it’s an efficient system when one man, one mind, is making all the decisions. Look at what he was able to accomplish in such a short amount of time. The Roman Empire controlled half the world,” Kim said, putting a glittery red pencil in the zipper pocket on the front of her designer bag.

  “Yeah, but in the process, they killed thousands, if not millions, of people,” Allora argued.

  Kim moved closer to Allora and shrugged. “If you’re gonna make an omelet, you’ve gotta crack a few eggs, right?” she asked, wearing a sinister smile.

  Katie walked up as soon as Kim exited the classroom. “What’s with her?”

  “I’m not sure. The one thing I do know is that I don’t like the new girl very much.”

  * * *

  On Thursday, the soccer team began their last full practice before game day. Tanner and Dax stretched on the field, while loudmouth Jenny led her underlings in wind sprints near the track.

  In the equipment room, Allora and Katie received an extensive tour from Mrs. Mondrach, the parent volunteer for the Pioneer Club. Most of the funding for equipment, uniforms, and setup for the games came from the club’s fundraising efforts. “So, uh… well, this is where you can make signs. You should make a big o
ne that the players can burst through when they run onto the field for the season opener,” she instructed. She was understandably excited, since her son Robert was the first-string running back.

  “I thought the cheerleaders would do that,” Katie said. “Isn’t it sort of… their job?”

  “Not this time,” Mrs. Mondrach replied. “Just like our boys on the field, they need as much practice as possible.”

  As Mrs. Mondrach explained where to place the long tables, Kim walked out of the girls’ locker room, dressed in very short tight shorts, and a loose tank-top with shin guards.

  “Mrs. Mondrach,” Allora said, yanking Katie by the arm in the direction of the field, “we’re gonna go, uh… get some water from the fountain.”

  “That’s fine, girls, but make it quick,” Mrs. Mondrach replied. “I still need to show you where the chairs go.”

  Allora and Katie hurried down to the field just in time to hear Coach Laurent introducing the new girl to the rest of the soccer team. “Everyone, this is Kim, a transfer student from Florida. She’s been a varsity soccer since her freshman year, so I am sure she’ll be an asset to our squad.”

  “An asset, huh?” Allora said, rolling her eyes. “Well, she’s half-right.”

  “I hope ya’ll will welcome her with open arms,” Coach Laurent announced.

  Jenny pushed her way through the crowd, which parted like the Red Sea to make way for their fearless leader. “But, Coach, she wasn’t even here for tryouts,” Jenny said. “She shouldn’t just automatically be given a spot. That wouldn’t be fair to all the other girls who tried out.”

  “Fair?” Katie whispered, nudging Allora. “Since when does she care about fair?”

  “Since somebody hotter and more talented came along to upstage her,” Allora said.

  “It also wouldn’t be fair for us to rob her of her senior season,” Coach Laurent said. “Besides, Jenny, when you see how talented she is, I think you will change your mind.”

  “Not likely,” Jenny said, only loud enough for the rest of the squad to hear, causing them to giggle.

  Hearing this, Kim lined up next to the girls, facing the field, and grabbed a soccer ball from the bag. From forty feet out, she struck the ball, sailing it high over the soccer players, and right into the corner of the soccer net.