My name is Maria Santiago. I’m a member of the Mathalites at St. Bernard’s High School. We have the highest grades in the school, and the teachers love it. The students on the other hand aren’t as accepting. I told my friends they pick on us because the lowest grade any of us has gotten is a ninety-eight.

My new friend Daron isn’t as accepting of the other students as the rest of us.I know why it wasn’t even his fifth day at St. B and he was already in over his head. “You think you so smart don’t you,” the leader of a group of ten said.

“You ain’t better than my dog,” his right hand man had said.

“I’m not going to let this happen,” I said to my friend Amber.

“Just let it be, there’s nothing we can do,” she responded. She had been pulling hard on my right arm. It was starting to hurt, but if I couldn’t handle that I’d never be able to take on all those boys. I ripped my arm away from her, and marched over to the boys. I pulled a large folder out of my knapsack. I swung that folder as hard as I could hitting the leader in the back of his head.

“That was my homework and unless you wanna know what my text books are like. I suggest you leave.”

“No thank you,” he said pushing off the ground. He swung at me. I pushed his wrist making him miss my face. Most people don’t know this or maybe they just can’t do it. It’s a lot easier to redirect a punch than it is to take it or catch it. He threw another punch and again I moved it. He was behind me, which is what I had wanted.

I swung my arms around at a diagonal performing a move I call the Falling Flower. I do this move with such accuracy and grace; that if it lands it knocks the person out cold. Sure enough he falls to the ground again, but this time he didn’t get up. “Well that was fun.”

“Maria you scare me when you do stuff like that,” Amber had said.

“Yo that chick just knocked out Jeremy,” one of the boys had tried to say quietly.