Danielle Paige - Dorothy Must Die

I first discovered I was trash three days before my ninth birthdayone year after my father lost his job and moved to Secaucus to live with a woman named Crystal and four years before my mother had the car accident, started taking pills, and began exclusively wearing bedroom slippers instead of normal shoes.

I was informed of my trashiness on the playground by Madison Pendleton, a girl in a pink Target sweat suit who thought she was all that because her house had one and a half bathrooms.

Salvation Amys trailer trash, she told the other girls on the monkey bars while I was dangling upside down by my knees and minding my own business, my pigtails scraping the sand. That means she doesnt have any money and all her clothes are dirty. You shouldnt go to her birthday party or youll be dirty, too.

When my birthday party rolled around that weekend, it turned out everyone had listened to Madison. My mom and I were sitting at the picnic table in the Dusty Acres Mobile Community Recreation Area wearing our sad little party hats, our sheet cake gathering dust. It was just the two of us, same as always. After an hour of hoping someone would finally show up, Mom sighed, poured me another big cup of Sprite, and gave me a hug.

She told me that, whatever anyone at school said, a trailer was where I lived, not who I was. She told me that it was the best home in the world because it could go anywhere.

Even as a little kid, I was smart enough to point out that our house was on blocks, not wheels. Its mobility was severely oversold. Mom didnt have much of a comeback for that.

It took her until around Christmas of that year when we were watching The Wizard of Oz on the big flat-screen televisionthe only physical thing that was a leftover from our old life with Dadto come up with a better answer for me. See? she said, pointing at the screen. You dont need wheels on your house to get somewhere better. All you need is something to give you that extra push.

I dont think she believed it even then, but at least in those days she still cared enough to lie. And even though I never believed in a place like Oz, I did believe in her.

That was a long time ago. A lot had changed since then. My mom was hardly the same person at all anymore. Then again, neither was I.

I didnt bother trying to make Madison like me anymore, and I wasnt going to cry over cake. I wasnt going to cry, period. These days, my mom was too lost in her own little world to bother cheering me up. I was on my own, and crying wasnt worth the effort.

Tears or no tears, though, Madison Pendleton still found ways of making my life miserable. The day of the tornadoalthough I didnt know the tornado was coming yetshe was slouching against her locker after fifth period, rubbing her enormous pregnant belly and whispering with her best friend, Amber Boudreaux.

Id figured out a long time ago that it was best to just ignore her when I could, but Madison was the type of person it was pretty impossible to ignore even under normal circumstances. Now that she was eight and a half months pregnant it was really impossible.

Today, Madison was wearing a tiny T-shirt that barely covered her midriff. It read Whos Your Mommy across her boobs in pink cursive glitter. I did my best not to stare as I slunk by her on my way to Spanish, but somehow I felt my eyes gliding upward, past her belly to her chest and then to her face. Sometimes you just cant help it.

She was already staring at me. Our gazes met for a tiny instant. I froze.

Madison glared. What are you looking at, Trailer Trash?

Oh, Im sorry. Was I staring? I was just wondering if you were the Teen Mom I saw on the cover of Star this week.

It wasnt like I tried to go after Madison, but sometimes my sarcasm took on a life of its own. The words just came out.

Madison gave me a blank look. She snorted.

I didnt know you could afford a copy of Star. She turned to Amber Boudreaux and stopped rubbing her stomach just long enough to give it a tender pat. Salvation Amys jealous. Shes had a crush on Dustin forever. She wishes this were her baby.

I didnt have a crush on Dustin, I definitely didnt want a baby, and I absolutely did not want Dustins baby. But that didnt stop my cheeks from going red.

Amber popped her gum and smirked an evil smirk. You know, I saw her talking to Dustin in third period, she said. She was being all flirty. Amber puckered her lips and pushed her chest forward. Oh, Dustin, Ill help you with your algebra.

I knew I was blushing, but I wasnt sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. It was true that Id let Dustin copy my math homework earlier that day. But as cute as Dustin was, I wasnt stupid enough to think Id ever have a shot with him. I was Salvation Amy, the flat-chested trailer-trash girl whose clothes were always a little too big and a lot too thrift store. Who hadnt had a real friend since third grade.

I wasnt the type of girl Dustin would go for, with or without the existence of Madison Pendleton. He had been borrowing my algebra almost every day for the entire year. But Dustin would never look at me like that. Even at forty-pounds pregnant, Madison sparkled like the words on her oversize chest. There was glitter embedded in her eye shadow, in her lip gloss, in her nail polish, hanging from her ears in shoulder-grazing hoops, dangling from her wrists in blingy bracelets. If the lights went out in the hallway, she could light it up like a human disco ball. Like human bling. Meanwhile, the only color I had to offer was in my hair, which Id dyed pink just a few days ago.

I was all sharp edges and angleswords that came out too fast and at the wrong times. And I slouched. If Dustin was into shiny things like Madison, he would never be interested in me.

I dont know if I was exactly interested in Dustin, either, but we did have one thing in common: we both wanted out of Flat Hill, Kansas.

For a while, it had almost looked like Dustin was going to make it, too. All you need is a little push sometimes. Sometimes its a tornado; sometimes its the kind of right arm that gets you a football scholarship. He had been set to go. Until eight and a half months ago, that is.

I didnt know what was worse: to have your shot and screw it up, or to never have had a shot in the first place.

I wasnt . . . , I protested. Before I could finish, Madison was all up in my face.

Listen, Dumb Gumm, she said. I felt a drop of her spit hit my cheek and resisted the urge to wipe it away. I didnt want to give her the satisfaction. Dustins mine. Were getting married as soon as the baby comes and I can fit into my aunt Robins wedding dress. So youd better stay away from himnot that hed ever be interested in someone like you anyway.

By this point, everyone in the hallway had stopped looking into their lockers, and they were looking at us instead. Madison was used to eyes on herbut this was new to me.

Listen, I mumbled back at her, wanting this to be over. It was just homework. I felt my temper rising. Id just been trying to help him. Not because I had a crush on him. Just because he deserved a break.

She thinks Dustin needs her help, Amber chimed in. Taffy told me she heard Amy offered to tutor him after school. Just a little one-on-one academic counseling. She cackled loudly. She said tutor like Id done a lap dance for Dustin in front of the whole fourth period.

I hadnt offered anyway. He had asked. Not that it mattered. Madison was already steaming.

Oh, she did, did she? Well why dont I give this bitch a little tutoring of my own?

I turned to walk away, but Madison grabbed me by the wrist and jerked me back around to face her. She was so close to me that her nose was almost touching mine. Her breath smelled like Sour Patch Kids and kiwi-strawberry lip gloss.