If Perry had known the consequences she would have to face afterward, she would have never said yes to the demands of her heart. If Perry had known people would die because of one little word she would gladly
have sacrificed the dignity she prized so much. But Perry didn’t know. Perry was doing what she had been taught her entire life – to speak her mind.
What would you have done if you saw an innocent person being harassed? Would you have looked away, telling yourself that someone else will have more courage to help the poor kid? Everything inside her told
Perry that she had to do something; that things had to change around school. So, being the confident person she was, Perry marched up to the tall kid standing in the corner brutalizing a small, fragile boy who looked
more to her like her ten-year-old brother than the junior she knew him to be. The tall kid turned around in reply to the bold tapping of Perry’s hand on his shoulder.
“Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” The tall kid grimaced at Perry and moved his face close to hers.
“Y’mean someone like you?” His breath smelt of cigarette smoke and spearmint gum.
“Yah. Someone like me.” Perry defiantly moved her face as close to the tall kid as she could without touching noses with him. He grinned and moved backward.
“I’m not going to waste my time with you,” he said, “I might get your cute little shirt dirty.”
By this time everyone in the room had noticed Perry and the tall kid standing in the corner, and, except for their two voices, everything was silent. The tall kid shook his head at Perry, grinned one more time, and
turned to leave. Perry, fearing defeat said as loudly and as plainly as possible,
“What? Are you scared you’ll get beaten by a girl?” The tall kid hesitated, and a faint snicker could be heard echoing off the walls.
“Why would I be scared of you?”
“Because you’re afraid I’ll tell you just what you are.” Perry’s friend Alex stood up as he saw the tall kid’s fists begin to clench. He rushed over to the corner and stepped between Perry and the tall kid attempting
to protect her.
“What’s this: you have to get your boyfriend to fight your fights for you? And here I thought you were little-miss-tough-girl. Well, little-miss-tough-girl, let’s see how tough you really are.” And with one quick
movement of his arm the tall kid had brought a gun out of his coat pocket. Two deafening shots could be heard, followed by the ear-splitting screams and moans from the crowd watching the scene in the corner.
Perry dropped to her friend’s side. Tears were streaming down her face as she pulled his limp body close to her. Blood was falling from his body onto the white linoleum floor, and all Perry could think was how much it
looked like crushed velvet.
“Alex…please don’t die. I’m so sorry, Alex. I’m so sorry….” But it was too late. With two fingers Perry gently closed the eyes of her friend as he lay dead in her arms, a blanket of bright red crushed velvet encircling them.
