Shannon walked into Michelle’s office carrying two take-out cups of coffee. “Do you
have time to take a coffee break?”, she asked.
Michelle stood up to face her. “That depends. Are you here to apologize or to gloat?”
Shannon set the coffees on Michelle’s desk and leaned against the desk.“Gloat, of
course. Why should I apologize? Because my daughter beat you daughter fair and square?”
“Ha! You call that fair? You think I don’t know about the dirty tricks you used?”
“If you thought it was so unfair why didn’t you stop it?”
“I wanted Jill to learn a lesson about fighting according to someone else’s rules.”
Shannon snickered. “My Amanda taught her a lesson, that’s for sure. Jill got her butt
kicked.”
“You and your daughter shouldn’t get so cocky. The fight was a lot closer than you
seem to think.”
“There’s no such thing as close in a catfight. One girl always ends up on the ground,
in tears, while the other looks down on her with a big smile on her face.” Shannon put her arm
around Michelle’s shoulder. “It’s a great feeling. But I guess you wouldn’t know about that,
would you?”
Michelle pushed Shannon away. “You only won one fight in your life.”
“That’s still one more than you. Anyway I’ve always been more than willing to give you
a rematch.”
Michelle reached for one of the cups, which held a frothy cappuccino drink. “That’s
mine. This one’s yours,” Shannon said, handing Michelle the other cup. Michelle took a sip.
“Why do you get the fancy drink and I get black coffee with no sugar?”, Michelle asked.
“I was going to ask you and Jill to come hang out beside the pool this weekend, and I
thought you would need help fitting into a swimsuit.” Michelle glowered at her but did not
say anything. “You know, before we had our fight you never would have let me get away
with a crack like that. And here’s another thing you wouldn’t have let me get away with.”
Shannon flicked foam from her coffee in Michelle’s face.
“Well, I’ll see you.” Shannon stood up and started to walk away.
“Wait,” Michelle called after her.
“What?”
“Why wait until the weekend? Why don’t Jill and I come over tonight?”
Shannon smiled. “You’re on!”
When Michelle called Jill to ask her to join her at Shannon’s house that evening Jill
was not very enthusiastic. She bribed her daughter by offering to buy her a new swimsuit.
“So what do you think?”, Jill asked her mother, trying on a black string bikini.
“Very nice. I just hope you don’t leave this one at Amanda’s, like the last one,” Michelle
said, smiling to let her daughter know she was only teasing her. Jill smiled back, but Michelle
could see that there was anger behind the smile. She could not wait to see what would happen
when they got together.
She did not have to wait as long as she thought. As they were paying for their new
swimsuits Amanda and Shannon walked up to the counter. Amanda held out the bikini top she
had taken from Jill and asked the saleswoman, “Do you have this in womens’ sizes?” Jill
turned red. She started to leave. “Wait a minute, Jill,” Amanda said. She draped the bikini top
over Jill’s shoulder. “You might as well take this. back. I was going to give it to my cousin, but
she hit puberty so it won’t fit her anymore.”
***************************************************************************
Jill’s stomach was in knots at the thought of competing with Amanda. So naturally
Amanda challenged her to a “friendly little diving contest, winner gets the loser’s bikini top”.
She only wanted to watch her friend squirm She was mildly but pleasantly surprised when Jill
agreed.
Jill headed straight for the diving board. She was feigning enthusiasm but Amanda
knew she just wanted to get her dive over with before she lost her nerve. Jill had just put her
foot on the first rung of the ladder when Amanda pushed her aside.
“I’ll go first.” Jill stood back and Amanda proceeded to climb the ladder, slowly to give
Jil’s nerves time to work on her. Once she reached the top of the ladder she quickly stepped
across the diving board and effortlessly dove into the water. As she climbed out her mother
told her, “That was a beautiful dive.”
“I could do better than that,” Amanda replied. She was not being modest. She wanted
Jill to know she had beaten her without making much of an effort.
“You don’t have to. You just have to do better than Jill.”
Now it was Jill's turn. Jill climbed the ladder nervously. She walked out to the end of
the diving board and turned around to do a backflip. She took a few deep breaths to steady
her nerves. It worked. Then she made a mistake. She looked down at Amanda. Amanda
pointed to her and made a gesture as if she were removing her bikini top. Suddenly Jill's
nervousness came back, if anything worse than before.
As her feet left the board Jill knew she had misjudged her dive. Instead of knifing into
the water she hit the water almost flat. She had the wind knocked out of her a little.
Amanda helped Jill out of the pool, unnecessarilly. "You should give Jill another
chance to keep her top," Amanda's mother said.
"How about a swimming race, double or nothing?", Amanda asked innocently, as if she
had just thought of it.
"Are you sure?", Shannon replied. "Remember what happened last time."
It did not matter. Jill had not intention of accepting another challenge. She was about to
give Amanda her bikini top, then get dressed and go home. Then Amanda spoke.
"Don't worry. I'm sure Jill learned her lesson about cheating. Didn't you, Jill?"
Jill had not cheated. Amanda was the one who had cheated, leading to the fight.
Amanda had beaten Jill, with the help of a few dirty tricks. The fight had gone on for a few
rounds. Before the last round the girls had bet their bikinis. Only after the fight had Jill
remembered that Amanda had thrown her clothes in the pool. Jill had been forced to beg
Amanda to lend her something to wear to get home. Amanda had implied that she would not
lend Jill anything unless she admitted she had been the one to cheat. Jill had done so. Then
Amanda had asked, "Why should I lend anything to a cheater?" Amanda and her mother had
had a good laugh. Jill had had to cover up as best she could with her mother's blouse in order
to get home.
"You're on," Jill said. Both girls rushed to line up at the end of the pool.
"This doesn't mean they're necessarily going to get in a fight," Jill heard her mother say
to Shannon.
"Are you hoping they do or hoping they don't?" Shannon asked.
Jill's mother did not answer but Jill felt sure she was hoping they would. In fact she thought
her mother really wanted to fight Shannon, and Shannon would be more than happy to oblige. Of
course Jill knew Amanda would like nothing more than to get in another fight, not that Amanda really
expected Jill to put up much of a fight. Ever since she had arrived Amanda had been seemed to be
eyeing her like a cat getting ready to pounce on her favorite toy.
As they waited to start Jill looked at Amanda, even though she knew she should be
facing straight ahead. "Two-and-a-half laps. If Amanda wins Jill loses she loses her bikini. If Jill
wins you're even," Shannon said. "READY--SET--..."
"Go," Amanda said, lurching forward slightly. Startled, Jill dove in. By the time it sank
in what had happened she was halfway across the pool. She swam back and climbed out of
the pool, cursing herself. That was the kind of trick Amanda used to pull on her when they
were girls. .
"Watch it, Jill," Shannon warned, stifling a laugh. "If you do that again you lose, the
race and your bathing suit."
Jill and Amanda lined up again. This time, to be safe Jill waited until she saw Amanda
dive to dive herself. This gave Amanda a head start, but it did not matter. Jill was mad now.
By the end of the agreed-upon laps she was ahead by almost a full body length.
Jill glance across the pool at Shannon. Her face had the same look of frustration as
Amanda's. Both mother and daughter had been certain Jill would be humiliated by Amanda.
It's Amanda's turn to be humiliated, Jill thought. Aloud she simply asked, "Again?"
Without waiting for a signal Jill and Amanda dove into the pool again. Two-and-a-half
laps later Jill finished with even more of a lead than the first time. As she climbed out of the
pool she looked at her mother standing next to Shannon. Her mother was smiling; Shannon
looked mad. Jill came to a decision. She stopped partway out of the pool, dangling her leg
behind her.
Amanda took the bait, grabbing Jill's leg and pulling her back in the water. As Jill's
head was pushed under the water Jill realized she had made a mistake. From behind Amanda
had the advantage. She was able to sort of leapfrog onto Jill's shoulders, wrapping her legs
around Jill's neck.
Jill kicked frantically as she struggled futilely to pry Amanda's legs apart with her
hands. While Jill struggled underwater, above water Amanda was all smiles. She was close
enough to the ladder to grab onto the handrail for support.Shannon crouched down next to
her. Amanda briefly let go with one hand to exchange a high-five with her mother, then went
back to holding on with both hands.
"That's not fair," Michelle objected.
"Ask me nicely and I might end this," Shannon said. The mothers had more or less
come to an understanding: if the girls did start fighting neither mother could intervene unless
they both agreed. This effectively meant that only the winning girl's mother could stop the fight.
"By the time this is over you'll be begging me to end this," Michelle replied with more
bravado than she felt. Her confidence was rewarded a moment later when Amanda's head
disappeared under the water.
Now that Amanda could not breathe either, her grip on Jill loosened. Jill was able to
free herself. She was still in trouble, though. Amanda's body was between her and the
surface. It was relatively for her easy to block Jill's way. By now Jill was feeling the strain in her
lungs. She began to thrash around desperately, trying to get past Amanda. She felt her shoulder
bump against the pool wall. This gave her an idea. She twisted her body around so her legs were
pressed against the wall, then pushed off, propelling herself far enough across the pool that she
was able to swim up unopposed.
Both girls heads emerged from the water at about the same time. Jill had been
underwater longer than Amanda, so she needed more time to recover. Before she was ready
Amanda started to swim toward her. Jill swam away from her, trying to buy herself some time.
She reached the side of the pool. She felt Amanda's hand on her shoulder. Not wanting to be
pulled down from behind again she pulled herself out of the water.
Shannon put her hand on Jill's shoulder. "You lose," she almost sang.
"What?"
"You got out of the pool to get away from her. That's the same as giving up."
So that's how you want to play it, Shannon, Michelle thought. Well, that's fine with me.
Jill looked at her mother. "I'm afraid that's right, honey," Michelle told her. "Just be more careful
next round. There is going to be a second round, isn’t there, Shannon?”
“You better believe it.”
"Come on, let's make sure you two start even this time," Michelle told Jill. Jill followed her
mother around so she was facing Amanda across the pool. Both jumped in at the same time and
swam toward each other. They met near the middle of the pool and resumed fighting.
Both Amanda and Jill had had lifeguard training, as had their mothers. Now they were using
their training to stay in control underwater. Jill wrapped her legs around Amanda and basically tried
to climb up Amanda’s body, pushing herself up and her opponent down at the same time. Amanda
quickly caught on and tried to do the same thing to Jill. Neither was successful. They to the bottom
of the pool together. The moment their feet touched the bottom of the pool they both let go and
pushed off the bottom, rising quickly to the surface. As their heads broke the surface they both
began gulping in air desperately.
Looking at Amanda, Jill realized two things. One, it would not be safe for either of them
to continue. Two, there was no way Amanda was going to quit. Jill decided that she would
have to be the bigger woman. (As she thought this she could almost hear Amanda fill in “but
with smaller tits”.)
As Jill began to back away Amanda splashed water in her face. Amanda waited until
Jill was a few feet away, then lunged at her. Jill knew Amanda had not intention of catching
her. She just wanted to make it clear that Jill was the one who was quitting. Amanda kept on
splashing her. By the time she reached the end of the pool she had started taunting Jill as well.
Jill was sorely tempted to forget about safety and continue the fight. She put her hands on the
side of the pool and was just about to pull herself out when she realized she had lost her
bikini top. To her dismay it was floating near Amanda, who by now had also noticed it.
Amanda grabbed the top and tossed it to her mother.
Jill could resist the tempation nor more. She ducked back under the water. Pushing off
the side she swam back to Amanda and pulled her under. The struggle was brief this time. Jill
quickly realized Amanda was in real trouble. Immediately Jill stopped fighting her and
switched to rescue mode. She pulled her friend to the side of the pool and got her out, making
sure Amanda was completely out of the pool before climbing out herself. Amanda sat beside
the pool coughing and sputtering.
“I’ll take that,” Jill said, taking her top from Shannon. Then she hugged Amanda,
pleased that she was all right.
"Can you help me up please?”, Amanda asked Jill. “I want to ask you something, away
from the water." Jill supported Amanda as she walked a few paces away from poolside.
"Are we even now?", Amanda asked.
"Yes."
"Not for long.” Amanda put Jill in a headlock. Jill, who had still been supporting
Amanda’s weight, was at an immediate disadvantage. She quickly fought back. As soon as
she gained the upper hand Amanda's mother quickly moved to break up the fight.
"Come on Jill, you know Amanda is in no condition to fight now. Why don’t you come
back here Saturday and settle this, even if it takes all afternoon." Jill knew that if things
had been reversed Shannon would be insisting that Jill fight Amanda right then.
"Am I included in this challenge?”, Michelle asked.
“I insist."
"We'll be here."
"Good," Shannon replied cheerily. "Now, how about some lemonade?”
