Page 90 of Between Now & Heartbreak

“Fuck you.” Etta takes a step toward Beth and pokes her in the shoulder and Beth stumbles backward.

“Oh shit,” I hear a man behind me mutter, but instead of shock or horror, it’s glee I hear in his tone. I turn around to find his eyes crinkled at the corners by a smile so vicious, it’s almost a snarl.

A quick sweep of the hallway behind me confirms that his sentiments are shared by many of the onlookers who’ve gathered around to watch. And as the tension between the two women escalates, the crowd becomes increasingly blood thirsty.

“Etta’s gonna kick her ass,” a woman behind me jeers and I turn around to find her wide-eyed with excitement, too.

“She has it coming. Her whole family does. They think they can do whatever they want. It’s about time someone knocked them down a peg.”

Alarm makes my scalp prickle.

The hate people have for her is unreal. And she’s lived with it her whole life? How in the world has she survived?

Etta takes a step toward her and pokes her in the shoulder.

Beth’s eyes move to the point of contact and then back to Etta in complete shock.

Etta smiles in smug satisfaction.

“Give me that phone or I willtakeit from you.” Beth‘s hands are balled at her side into fists.

A crowd has gathered in the hallway and there are several people with their phones out, recording this.

I move to get between them. A hand comes to my shoulder.

“No, don’t. This has been a long time coming.” A woman who looks vaguely familiar says.

“What?”

“They don’t know Lizzy. I’ve seen her fight once in high school. And Etta has had this ass whooping coming for a long time. Who knows when I’ll ever get the chance to see it happen.” She claps her hands.

I look down at the lunatic beside me and try to reconcile an image of Beth fighting. But I shouldn’t have bothered because a second later I get to see it happen in living color.

There’s a loud crash behind me and I turn around in time to see them go down in a tangle of arms and legs and hair. They land with Etta on top of Beth, trying to hold Beth’s wildly swinging arms back.

“Somebody stop her, she’s crazy.” She yells.

“This is ridiculous,” I say and walk over to lift Etta off. I wrap an arm around her waist and pull.

Beth grunts a guttural harsh “no” before she manages to grab a fistful of Etta’s hair just as I start to pull her off.

Etta howls in pain and I stop the upward motion and drop her back onto Beth, and then kneel next to their pile and focus on prying her hair out Beth’s grasp. Her fingers cling on for dear life.

“Beth, let go,” I say, but one hand remains fisted in Etta’s hair while the other one is busy grappling for the purse.

Etta reaches down to try and grab her hand, her movements frantic and desperate.

“You’ll have to kill me first you bitch,” she growls at Beth.

“Oh, happily,” she says, letting go of her hair suddenly and when Etta reaches up to cradle her free head, Beth takes the opening. She swings for her face with loud yell. Etta swerves but she doesn’t move fast enough. The flat of Beth’s hand catches her in the jaw.

She stares at Beth in shock, as if she can’t believe she’s fighting back and then, she spits in her face.

Beth, amazingly, only grins.

In the next second, her hand shoots up in the air, clutching the phone, victorious. With a swift and abrupt buck of her hips, she shoves a dazed looking Etta off her.

She jumps to her feet in a surprising display of agility. There’s a wild gleam in her eye as she slips her hand into mine, spins on her heels and starts to push her way through the crowd of people who are busy texting and posting that video.

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