“Scram,” I tell the Bartholomew twins, who stick their tongues out at me and move to another row for the morning inspection. I claim the spot next to Lottie: the first time that I’ve deliberately put myself anywhere near her in public. This morning is different: I need to be close so I can see everything. Delia, Sandi Cardoza, Peaches, and Natalie throw furtive glances over their shoulders, and their lips curl in cat smiles. The joke’s on them. At Keziah, you stick up for yourself and your friends. No one else. My underwear wasn’t stolen and Lottie isn’t really my friend, so there’s no reason for me to get between the pretties and their revenge. Except . . . Lottie stood up for me when Darnell yelled for me to go away. She pulled me through the window when the Elephant came hunting and she didn’t beat me for playing with her dreidel. Delia and the others think they’ve won the first battle in the war against Lottie but the war is actually against Lottie and me, and I cannot wait to see the change in their expressions when they realize that we have one up on them.

“Girls.” The Elephant claps her hands three times to get our attention. “Eyes to the front, and hands out.”

We stick our hands in front of us with the palms down, ready for fingernail inspection. Mrs. Thomas works her way from the front row to the back, on the lookout for dirt between the fingers and blue smudges of ink along the sides of the little finger. Girls flip their hands over to show their palms and flip them back again when Mrs. Thomas nods the all clear.

As usual, Delia and the other girls get only a passing glance. Mrs. Thomas reaches us. I hold my hands out and get a brusque nod. Lottie does the same, but Mrs. Thomas, as usual, lingers.

“Skirt,” Mrs. Thomas says, and Delia elbows Sandi Cardoza to pay attention. Peaches and Natalie snicker in anticipation. Lottie lifts her hem. The boys are all the way on the other side of the school grounds, so showing your delicates is not a sin. Mrs. Thomas blinks in surprise and I bite the inside of my cheek to stop from giggling.

“Where did you get those?” Mrs. Thomas demands.

“My mother got my cousin to get them from the hypermarket in Manzini.” Lottie stares straight ahead.

“The hypermarket?” Mrs. Thomas snorts with disbelief. “Did one of her boyfriends give her the money?”

Lottie turns bright red, and I forget that this is meant to be our big moment of revenge. This is where Delia and the others realize that their plan to get back at us for stealing their pets has failed. We’ve won.

Except . . .

“Well?” Mrs. Thomas spits the word out, and it’s lucky that she’s only lost one husband, because losing just the one man has turned her sour. “How did your mother pay for those?”