Alicia by Kateryna Udovychenko

I wanted to wipe that stupid smirk off her face.

She had hit me so hard it made me fall, and now she was standing there with that lollipop in her hand, looking at me triumphantly. Bitchy little girl, I thought. The courtyard was empty except for us. My knees were a mess. I felt my eyes fill with tears. I didn’t even care about the candy – my sole goal was to finally win. Instead, there I was, an eight-year-old boy, hunching on the ground and crying. 

‘What, Theo, can’t fight a girl?’ Her voice was full of mockery.

‘Shut up, Alicia.’

‘The lollipop’s mine anyway.’

She laughed, and I scowled with as much hatred as I could muster. She rolled her eyes at me, almost comically, then smiled again and held out her hand to help me up. I brushed her off.

‘I’m fine,’ I hissed, standing up.

‘Sure.’

Her attitude annoyed the hell out of me. She looked nice until she opened her mouth. Always so sweet around the parents, and always so mean to me. My mom never listened when I told her Alicia teased me constantly.

‘Can’t Mrs. Milton visit without her daughter?’ I would say.

‘Don’t be silly, sweetie,’ would be the reply.

I sniffed and rubbed my nose.

‘Snotface,’ Alicia taunted.

This was the last straw. I lunged at her. She ducked away and bolted. I chased her. But she had always been faster.

***

Soon after that, I was walking back from school, and she was following me. Or perhaps she thought it was the other way around. Our homes were a few blocks apart, so our routes overlapped more often than I liked. We always passed an abandoned building, and that afternoon it seemed to be luring us in.

‘Let’s go inside,’ Alicia suggested.

I hesitated a bit, but curiosity won. We stepped over the threshold and looked around. Half the roof was gone. Sunlight was pouring in. Alicia spotted a staircase and decided to go up. She turned to me, abruptly.

‘Are you scared?’

‘No!’ I snapped.

She laughed.

Angry, I dashed up the stairs past her. Suddenly, my foot slipped, and fear surged through my veins. Alicia caught my arm and pulled me back. I let out a yelp.

‘Thank you,’ I mumbled.

‘I’m sorry. If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have fallen. Today… and back then,’ she apologized.

Maybe she wasn’t so awful after all. She was still Alicia, but somehow, I didn’t mind that as much anymore.