From IF I EVER GET OUT OF HERE: Evan landed on my back and began whaling on my face and head. My quickest instinct was to protect my glasses. I was wearing a welfare pair and we would in no way have the cash to get them fixed if they were broken. Once I had my glasses in hand, I spun backward and slammed us against the lockers. This was hard enough to drop Evan, but not hard enough to get him to reconsider his decision to target me. "Truck!" he yelled, hitting me more rapidly. "This little freak is actually fighting back! What's he thinking?" "Better teach him a good one, Evan," the helpful Truck said. "Come on, they announced that we got to go back to homeroom." Evan delivered one last kick to my butt as I put my glasses on. "Yeah, summer's almost here, but we got a whole long year ahead of us for that lesson," Evan said. "Can you believe it? Fighting back?" Excerpted from If I Ever Get Out of Here by Eric L. Gansworth All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.