Some of the promises Linda had made about changing were kept. She stopped bothering any of the girls though she still quietly simmered about having been locked in the animal cage by Soon-Li. But when a new girl, Frankie, came on the scene, she went back to being a bully. Linda first encountered Frankie in the tea garden, where the girl was laying out in the sun. Linda told her to move, and when Frankie got to her feet Linda told her to move faster, pushing her. Frankie pushed her back. Linda, now incensed, punched Frankie in the face. Linda quickly found out Frankie isn't someone you mess with because the girl began throwing punches fast and furiously, completely overpowering Linda. Linda took a beating and, with her face bruised and bloody, managed to get away. She came to me and hysterically accused Frankie of attacking her for no reason. I questioned Frankie and she told me what happened. But before I could get back to Linda she had ambushed Soon-Li intending to make her pay for locking her in the animal cage. She was carrying a baseball bat and swung it, hitting her just above her left knee. Soon-Li wasn’t really badly hurt; she kicked the bat out of Linda’s hand and then kicked her in the chest, sending her flying. Soon-Li then leaped on top of Linda and, just like Frankie had done, began relentlessly pounding Linda, bruising and bloodying her face. She finally knocked Linda unconscious. As a result of being badly beaten by two girls Linda finally came to her senses. She realized that her belligerency was making the others stay away from her; even her possible relationship with Walter fizzled out. But what really hit her was my doubting her honesty when she told me she was going to change. But she swore to me that this time she would change. The first thing she did was apologize to both Chiana and Brandy for what she had done to them, then apologized to Frankie. She tried to apologize to Soon-Li, but the girl just walked away. She tried several more times but Soon-Li just wouldn’t hear it. I asked Soon-Li what would Linda have to do to get her to forgive her, and Soon-Li said the only way she would accept any kind of apology is if Linda did it publicly. So, with Soon-Li standing off to the side Linda, her face still bruised from the fight, said, “I just want to tell everyone that, like, I am so very sorry for all the things I’ve done, all the hurt that I’ve caused, you know? I hurt Frankie, and got a beating from her. But what I did to Soon-Li here was like the most horrible thing I’ve ever done. I know now that her locking me in the animal cage, which I wanted, like, revenge for, she did for my own good, you know, to keep me from bullying and maybe hurting anyone else. She was, like, fully justified for beating me the way she did because I, like, tried to break her knee, you know, when I hit her in the leg with the baseball bat. I’m, like, glad I missed. But those days, you know, are definitely over. Like, no more bullying, no more being belligerent. The beatings I had from both Frankie and Soon-Li, like, made me see the error of my ways, you know? From this day forward I promise I will be, like, the nicest, friendliest person I can be to everyone here. This girl, who had brought pain to others, is now reborn"