Then she reached for the hose.

Sadie pulled back.

Kendra grabbed the nozzle with both hands.

For several seconds, the two girls struggled over it.

Water sprayed wildly between them.

A stream shot upward.

Then down.

Across the pavement.

Against the blue sedan.

Students moved away.

“Let go!” Sadie shouted.

“You let go!”

“You came at me!”

“You were spraying me!”

Sadie pulled harder.

The hose twisted.

Kendra maintained her grip.

Neither was punching or striking.

It was an awkward tug-of-war over a green garden hose while water blasted in unpredictable directions.

Sadie laughed suddenly.

“You really are crazy.”

Kendra’s expression changed.

“No.”

She tightened her grip.

“You wanted crazy.”

Sadie stared.

Kendra continued.

“You’ve been waiting all year to make me look angry.”

Sadie’s smile disappeared.

“You think everything is about race.”

Kendra froze.

She had not mentioned race.

Paige realized it too.

So did several students holding phones.

Kendra spoke quietly.

“I didn’t say race.”

Sadie’s face changed.

“That’s what you meant.”

“No.”

Kendra pulled the hose again.

“That’s what you heard.”

For a second, Sadie lost her grip.

The nozzle moved entirely into Kendra’s hands.

Sadie stepped backward.

Kendra now controlled the hose.

She could have dropped it.

She could also have sprayed the entire parking lot.

Adrenaline chose before reflection.

Kendra squeezed the trigger.

One strong stream hit Sadie across the upper chest and shoulder.

Sadie screamed.

Kendra moved the stream across her jacket and hair for barely two seconds.

Then she released the trigger.

Water stopped.

Sadie stood soaked along one side.

Kendra lowered the hose.

She did not spray again.

The parking lot went silent.

Not completely—the music still played, water still ran from another lane, and a sponge fell somewhere behind them—but the people immediately surrounding the girls stopped talking.

Sadie stared at Kendra.

Kendra was breathing hard.

The hose hung at her side.

“You sprayed me.”

Kendra looked down at her own soaked clothes.

“Yes.”

“You attacked me.”

“No.”

“You grabbed the hose!”

“You kept spraying me.”

Sadie turned toward the phones.

“Everybody saw her!”

Paige stepped forward.

“Sadie.”

“What?”

“You started it.”

Sadie stared.

Paige swallowed.

“You sprayed her from behind.”

Sadie’s expression hardened.

“She grabbed me.”

“She grabbed the hose.”

“Same thing.”

“No.”

The distinction mattered.

Kendra placed the nozzle on the pavement.

Then she picked up her notebook.