Boring Girls(34)

“I’m fine,” I said and threw myself into the mosh pit.

Mistake. I slammed into some huge guy immediately and almost fell over. Then as I rebounded off him, someone smashed into the back of my head and my vision went pure white, my eyes pricking with shock. I threw my arms up around my head and kept myself from stumbling. This had been a bad idea.

When I opened my eyes I saw a giant, long-haired monster careening towards me, his eyes frenzied. He didn’t even know what he was doing, I realized. Everyone in this mosh pit was insane. As he stumbled into me, I shoved him as hard as I could. He reeled off in another direction. Okay, maybe I could figure this out. Glancing around, I saw a few other girls in the mosh pit as well, holding their own. Okay. I braced myself to absorb the impact of another guy, and then was sent crashing into Fern, who laughed hard. I realized if I just relaxed and went with the motion of getting smashed into, it wasn’t as painful. And I had to push back. It started to feel surreal, with the constant motion and the deafening music in my ears. I didn’t notice any pain. It was fun. A short girl slammed into me, and I shoved her hard. She stumbled backwards and I laughed, turning to the left to absorb the impact of another guy with my back.

I noticed Fern, who had been knocked away from me, her mouth hanging open in a shriek that I couldn’t hear. Some tall guy’s hand was on her chest. I looked up at his face. The guy was grinning. Nobody around them seemed to notice what was happening. Rage streamed through my veins, and I froze for a second, staring at Fern’s terrified face and the pale, spidery hand crawling across the front of her dress.

I felt a hard push from behind me, but I was so furious that I remained planted where I was, sending whichever moron had slammed into me reeling back the way they’d come. The music pulsed in my head. I saw Craig and Edgar coming in from the other side towards Fern, but they were too far away.

I opened my mouth in a scream of rage and threw myself towards Fern. My boot slammed down hard on someone’s foot, and they cried out painfully into my ear. I felt the high-heel snap off, giving me a lopsided gait as I shoved my way towards my friend. Some oblivious girl stumbled in front of me, and I grabbed her firmly by the shoulders and shoved her aside, barely breaking stride.

Fern’s eyes were fixed on mine. I could see the panic in them as she struggled to break away from the *. I launched myself at him, pulling back my fist and slamming him right in the face as hard as I could.

I felt his nose crack and give in under my knuckles. His eyes widened in shock and blood exploded from his nostrils. The blood splattered onto Fern’s hair and his arm loosened its grip around her shoulders. Craig and Edgar finally got to us, and I watched Craig grab Fern away from the guy. Edgar’s hands began to close down on my shoulders, but I jerked myself away from him and hurled myself towards the guy once again. His hands were pressed to his nose, blood streaming. He backed away, scanning the people who still pushed and staggered around him to see which big, scary guy had punched him.

“It was me, you prick!” I screamed, even though I knew he couldn’t hear me. I drew back my leg, laughing, and kicked him in the crotch as hard as I could with my pointy-toed boot. His hands flew away from his face and he doubled over. On his way down he saw me, finally registering that it had been me, a stupid little girl, who had done this to him.

Edgar grabbed me and dragged me away from the mosh pit. Everyone was still shoving and slamming into each other, and no one apparently had noticed what had transpired. As Edgar pulled me backwards I tried to catch another glimpse of the *, but he’d been swallowed by the crowd.

We proceeded towards the back of the venue, where Craig and Fern were with Yvonne. This was a safer place to watch the show, I could see why she’d escaped back here. Better view, fewer people. The music was still loud as hell, but it was easier to hear ourselves talk.

“What the f*ck happened?” Yvonne shrieked, staring at the blood in Fern’s hair.

“It was crazy. Some guy was grabbing Fern, and Rachel punched him right in the face,” Craig said.

“Oh my god. Are you okay?” Yvonne squealed, grabbing Fern’s arm.

She nodded, obviously trying to compose herself. “Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said. “Holy shit, Rachel, that was crazy. You broke that guy’s nose.”

“That * deserved it.” I felt electric. I could still feel the guy’s nose crumbling under my fist.

“She kicked him in the balls,” Craig said. “It was crazy.”