Page 196 of Scrimmage

“Am I stupid?”

“You’re fuckin' six. Of course you’re stupid.”

“Momma said I’m stupid.” I look down at the dry dirt and dig my finger in. “That I’m stupid and ugly. She says I make her rot. Did I kill her, Bubba?”

He sighs. “You’re little, so you don’t understand, but you don’t have that kind of power, Yinny. Momma liked her drugs, and that’s it. It ain’t got nothin' to do with you.” He wraps his arm around me. “You’re really smart for a six year old. Like, a fucking genius. I’m startin’ to think your brother might have brain damage.”

That makes me giggle.

“You’re not ugly, Yinny. She said that ‘cause she was jealous. Someday, all the boys at school are gonna be knockin’ on our front door, and I’m gonna have to shoot ‘em.”

I watch as they roll out a bed with my momma on it. They have a white sheet over her. I’ve never seen a sheet that white.

“Memphis,” I say, my bottom lip quivering.

He’s watching her, too. “Sup?”

“Will she rot?”

“We all rot, Yinny. The good. The bad. Everyone. Some people just expire faster. Don’t worry about all that. You have a whole future.”

“Do you think I could grow up to be a drawer someday?”

“I think you’ll grow up to do whatever the fuck you want.”

Memphis. Stupid fucking Memphis.

I’m peeking around the trash cans at a group of kids gathered in front of the ferris wheel at the town carnival. They’re bullies.

“Remember what I told you?” a boy whispers to me.

“Girls go to college to get more knowledge, and boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider.”

“Precisely. You’re the smart one, and I’m the stupider one.” He gives me a devious grin. “So, when people are mean to you, you tell me. I’ll take care of it for ya, okay?”

“Okay.”

Yang stands and walks over to the group of boys and girls. I follow behind him. He taps the meanest boy on the shoulder.

“Hey,” he barks. The mean boy turns around as Yang pulls back his fist and slams it right into his nose. Within seconds he’s onto the next.

The girls scream as I pull Stacy’s pretty blonde hair, yanking her to the ground and jumping on top of her while the others run. “You’ll never be anything but a worthless white trash whore,” I sneer. “Just like your momma.”

It's not long before Yang has their little ring leader on the ground with his face inches from the mud. "Give me your wristband. You too Stacy."

"Fuck you, you white trash losers," the boys snaps. Yang shoves his face into the mud then flips him over, pulling off the laminated plastic bracelet before he recovers.

My fist tightens in Stacy's hair, threatening to do the same. We don't even have to tell her before the wristband slides right off and is placed in Yang's outstretched hand. Then he grabs my hand and we run.

“I told you I would take care of it,” he huffs out of breath when we make it to the the other side and get in line for the Scrambler. He hands me a wristband and we both slip them on.

“Boys can’t hit girls,” I point out.

“I’ll hit anyone who hurts your feelings, alright? I don’t give a shit. You gotta get outta here for the both of us.”

“Did you see the look on her face? She didn't even fight after you shoved her stupid boyfriend in the mud,” I laugh.

“Fuck yeah I did. Looked scared shitless. She's gonna go tell her momma." He rolls his eyes. "If she bullies you again after that, tell me. Next time I’ll break her stupid nose, too, and then she’ll really look like her momma.”

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