Chapter 3

Every word out of my mouth was one big humiliation.

The man was so furious he clenched his fists, his chest heaving.

His breathing turned heavy.

But a few breaths later, he loosened his fists again.

"Hmph. You're young and don't know any better. I won't stoop to your level."

He turned to head back to his seat.

I was right behind him, and I shoved him hard.

Bang.

The man never saw it coming.

He cracked straight into the seat.

Split his lip on it, drew blood.

I kept right on gloating.

"Ooh, bleeding already? I've barely touched you. You really can't take a hit, can you."

"You piece of trash!"

The man snapped completely, eyes gone bloodshot, like a beast off its leash, hand already swinging for me.

I didn't dodge.

I just stood there, still.

But his fist stopped half a hand's width from my face.

Hard to imagine how a beast off its leash reins itself back like that.

Like a car doing a hundred and ten slamming the brakes.

Like there was some reason it absolutely could not let that fist land.

I looked at the fist in front of me, and I was more certain than ever.

More certain, too, that I had to keep pushing.

I looked at him and sneered.

"Go on, hit me."

"Come on, hit me."

"Why won't you hit me?"

"I hand you the chance and you can't even take it!"

I reached up and slapped my own face three times.

"Big grown man like you, how are you such a coward?"

Reached out again, slapped his face again.

The whole humiliating spectacle turned the man's eyes red.

His knuckles cracked as they clenched.

And still he didn't move.

The more he backed down, the more it fed me.

I stretched my neck out, pointed at my own face, and said,

"I know you're dying to hit me right now."

"So come on, hit me, hit me hard, right here, do it."

"You don't move, then I'm going to!"

The man roared,

"You little punk, you're insane, I won't stoop to your level!"

He sat back down.

But I wasn't done. I followed him right to the seat.

I glanced at his woman and the baby in her arms.

"Waaah." The baby, done feeding, started crying again.

The woman shot me a hateful look and hurried to soothe the child.

Smack.

I slapped the man across the face again.

"Your kid's crying and you don't know how to calm it down?"

"It's crying this much because you're a deadbeat, and now it's bothering me!"

The man forced down his rage and turned around.

"I won't stoop to your level."

"You may not, but I will!"

I yanked at him, then pointed at the floor. "Kneel. Kowtow and apologize, or this isn't over!"

"You've gone too far!"

The man stood up again.

Kneeling looked like his last line.

And I was going to cross it anyway.

The other passengers had had enough of me, especially the two older women up front, all of them cursing at me.

"What a lowlife, what a bastard, how does the world make trash like you!"

"No manners at all. If your parents saw this, you'd drive them straight into the grave!"

I turned to the two women and smirked.

"Don't you worry. If my parents saw me like this, they wouldn't be mad. They'd clap and cheer. They'd give me a reward."

The woman looked at me like I was an idiot.

"You really are out of your mind!"

"Hey, how'd you know I'm out of my mind?"

I grinned at her, delighted.

She froze.

"You're actually out of your mind?"

I laughed. "You read people well. I'll lay it out for you. I just got out of a psychiatric hospital."

The next instant the grin dropped off my face. I grabbed a fistful of the man's hair and said, cold,

"So are you kneeling or not?"