abbreviated raze ikey had hair that looked like a wig. i'd see her sometimes when i was eating lunch in the hall with adam and dave and evan and pete. not the pete i've known since i was eight. the pete who put on a fake southern accent just for me. pained face and everything. he said he was my son. pa, he'd say. pa. all i ever knew about ikey was that she was afraid of me. adam was the one who told me. i asked her once what it was about me that rubbed her wrong. she didn't look scared. she looked disgusted. she wouldn't tell me. we never shared a single class. we never said six words to each other. maybe i've just got the kind of face that strikes fear into the half-melted minds of girls who shorten their names for fear of being left behind. 230124 what's it to you? who go blather from