“I started the physical part that day.”
Malik frowned.
“You’re defending her?”
“No.”
Jada closed her laptop.
“I’m refusing to lie about myself just because she did worse.”
That answer stayed with him.
It stayed with Jada too.
Returning to school was uncomfortable for different reasons.
Students who had barely spoken to her suddenly wanted to congratulate her.
One boy raised his fist and said, “That kick was crazy.”
Jada walked past.
A sophomore asked whether she had martial-arts training.
She did not.
Within days, the student who had spent months being stereotyped as angry had acquired a new stereotype.
Dangerous.
She hated both.
Maya understood immediately.
“People want a character.”
Jada nodded.
“Before the fight, Scarlett gave them angry Black girl.”
“After the fight, the internet gave them action hero.”
“I’m literally trying to finish calculus.”
Maya laughed.
That was the first time Jada had laughed about anything connected to the incident.
Scarlett returned after suspension quieter than anyone expected.
Some students mocked her.
A few made fake kicking motions when she passed.
Others whispered loudly about Merit Watch.
Jada did not enjoy it.
One afternoon two boys followed Scarlett through the hallway repeating, “Diversity points,” in exaggerated voices.
“Stop,” Jada said.
They turned.
One looked confused.
“She did that to you.”
“I know.”
“So why do you care?”
Jada stared.
“Because racism doesn’t become funny when you aim the joke back at somebody white.”
The boys walked away.
Scarlett had heard everything.
She said nothing.
Two weeks later, a handwritten letter appeared through the counselor’s office.
It was from Scarlett.
Jada almost threw it away.
Instead she read it at home.
The first page frustrated her.
Scarlett wrote about losing the fellowship, feeling embarrassed by school discipline, and believing teachers automatically sided with Jada.
Jada nearly stopped.
Then Scarlett wrote, None of that explains why I kept making race the explanation every time you succeeded.
Jada continued.
Scarlett admitted the fellowship loss had embarrassed her because she had assumed her grades, family connections, and activities made her an obvious choice.
When Jada won, Scarlett needed another explanation.