Glory Alley and the Star Riders (The Glory Alley Series) (21 page)

“Just be
cause your brothers are bullies
,
don’t think I’m afraid of you,” boasted
Mandy
.
“I’m trained in the martial
arts
.
”
When
Mark turned to watch the scene, Mandy
tossed back her
shiny
black hair and puffed out her chest
.
“The Alleys are nobodies and everybody knows it.”

Mandy’s
mother owned and ran the martial arts facility in town,
a fact Glory had forgotten until just now.
Oops. But, h
aving fought against
the likes of Brandon
, plus the
twins
, she was confident of victory.
First
,
she’d
tell her off
.

“
You flippin’ waste of flesh
.
Don’t talk to my friend that way.
”
A
line
of
p
rofanity
gushed
forth like water
burst
ing through a
dam
, shocking even Glory
.
Mandy suddenly looked uncertain
.
A
ll
eyes we
re on the two of them,
so
neither
could back down
without losing face
.

Mandy
adjusted her coat collar
.
“Nobody talk
s
to me that way.
”
She
rais
ed
her palms in
a
n
intimidating
martial arts stance
.

Glory raised her fists
in the old-fashioned way
, stepping
forward to meet
her, savoring the thought of
pound
ing
something
,
anything—
yes;
Mandy’s face
would do nicely
.
P
owerful
feelings
strained
at the leash, wanting to
tear into
pampered
flesh.

“C
’mon
on,
Mandy
,”
Glory
encouraged, showing a
curled
fist. “Let’s see what ya got under that fancy designer coat.”

Pain flashed through
Glory
’s
head
.
The
next thing she saw were black stripes of rubber running over the bus floor
.

“That’s what I got under my designer coat,”
Mandy
replied
.

Glory
saw little stars circling around her head
.
Slowly, she
pulled herself
off the floor
, feeling dizzy, holding her
mouth
.
Dang, she
hadn’t
even s
een
it coming
.

“
T
oo easy,”
Mandy laughed
sounding delighted
.
She pointed.
“The girl doesn’t even have shoes
.
A
nd
look
—
she’s wearing her pajamas
!
”

“Mandy
Filmore
!
”
she heard Olivia hiss
.
“
Insults
are
one thing, but
knocking her senseless
is another
.
Glory
’s younger and smaller than you
.
”

“Shorter, but not smaller,” Mandy pointed out. “I bet she outweighs me by thirty pounds.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Boo hoo,” Mandy said
.
“
A
ll mouth and no brains, typical
Alley
style.
”

Fuming,
Glory
lunged
.

The pair of them fell to the ground, but somehow Ma
tthew
was there, pulling her off Mandy
.
Olivia and
Clash
sandwiched themselves between the
two aggressors
.

“Ladies,
”
Ma
tthew
said, holding Glory back
.
“The school has a zero violence policy
.
Do
you want to be sent to a federal opportunity
school where you’ll
be
doing
marching drills until your eighteenth birthday
s
?
”

Glory
dabb
e
d
her lip
.
Fingers
came back bloody
.
“
You threw the only punch, Mandy,
” she pointed out
.
“A
nd
I’m the one
bleeding, so I’m in the clear.
One word from me and
it
’
s
federal
school for you
.
”

“That’s true,” Ma
tthew
said, looking at Mandy.
Mat
t
hew and Mandy
had been an item at one time, but nobody seemed to know if they still were.
“You better say you’re sorry.”

“No way,” Man
dy
said.

“I got the fight stored right here
.
”
Clash held up h
is
Sliver.
“
How ‘bout I replay it for the director?”

“Sorry.”
Mandy
said, rolling her eyes.
“
Alley
.”

“
Shove
your phony apology where
it stinks
, Filmore.”

“Take it as a compliment
,” Mandy said. “A
t least I acknowledged your existence.”

“
You’re so full of yourself I’m surprised you can
breathe
.
”

“
You’re
the
one
who
came at me
with
a
bad attitude
.
Sure, I threw the first punch, but only because
it was clear
you were
determined to battle me
.
If I’m brought before the director I’ll plead self-defense.
”

“D
on’t worry,
” Glory said, still holding her lip
.
“
I’m not going to say anything
.
Clash won’t either
.
We’re not like that.”

“
You got spunk, A
lley
,” Mandy replied
, looking relieved. “
I suppose that ought to
count for something
.
I won’t say anything either, but don’t think we’re friends.”

“Not
if
you
paid me.
”

Mrs. Spud’s voice came over the speaker. “What’s going on back there
?
”
She was eyeing their reflections in the big rectangular mirror mounted over the windshield
.
“
Miss Alley,
why are you holding
your
mouth
like that
?
”
The students on the bus all looked to
Glory
in expectation.

“I tripped and hit the corner of the seat,”
Glory
said
, noticing her front teeth felt loose
.
She tested
all of
them
.
Maybe a little wiggly, but they’d probably tighten up on their own.

Mrs. Spud tsk
-
tsked, then
pointed to the list of rules printed over the windows
.
“Rule number three:  No
standing in the aisle when the bus is
in motion
.
That’s not there just
for decoration.
Now everybody please take a seat.
”