Here’s another great story by Marie B that got lost with the crash of the board – hope you all enjoy!
Hugs
Kayla
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The Cheerleader vs. the Goth Girl
By Marie B
People always think the life of a cheerleader is an easy one. They think that good things come automatically to us and that any problems just seem to take care of themselves.
Is it true? Well, I would say it depends on the cheerleader. I’ve been doing it for five years and can say that I have seen girls who seem to fit that description. They are so popular, pretty and have such charmed lives that everything does appear to be perfect for them.
I, however, am not blessed in that fashion. Not that I’m a sad sack, either. I have plenty of friends; some good cheerleading skills, and have been told that I’m pretty. I do well in school, have a boyfriend, and get along well with everyone.
Everyone, that is, except Nina. She’s a Goth girl in the same grade as me. For some reason, she doesn’t like me. In fact, she hates my guts. I don’t know why; I’ve never had the nerve to ask her. Instead, I’ve always just tried to stay out of her way. She scares me to death with the way she looks and acts. The magenta-colored hair, the blood red lips, the purple eye shadow, the piercing of every body part you can name, from her ears to her toes. But mostly…..her attitude. She doesn’t always growl at me when she speaks….but her tone of voice gives the impression that she’s growling, and it scares me. And her eyes, even without the piercings and make-up, express a violence that leaves me speechless.
Nina bullies me constantly, although she has never managed to catch me alone….and I don’t look forward to the day she does. But she’s always taunting me, saying nasty things about me in front of people, putting me down to my friends, and pushing and shoving me whenever she gets the chance. It never seems to be a shove that’s blatant enough to catch a teacher’s notice. It’s been close a few times, but she seems to have the charmed life when it comes to getting away with her bullying. Nina is constantly warning me that one day she will catch me by myself, and promises to beat me bloody when she does.
I’m ashamed to tell my family, friends or teachers about this. Why? Because of the cheerleader “code.” We are supposed to be upbeat at all times and never show our fears to the world. But I’m afraid of Nina. I never considered myself a wimp, but I’m totally non-violent and simply can’t see myself in a fight. I live with this constant stress; fearing the day that she catches me by myself and beats me up. How far would she go? I don’t know, and that adds mountains to my stress.
How do we measure up physically against each other? Well, I’m in great aerobic condition, 5’7, 125 pounds. Nina is the same height as me, but actually weighs ten pounds less. I don’t know who is stronger, but I assume she is. Even if not, I think she would be so vicious in a fight that she would have my eyes scratched out before we could find out who’s stronger, you know what I mean? Everything about her suggests that she would never quit in a fight; she would keep going until either she or her opponent is destroyed. And whatever you might think of me because of my dislike for combat, I’m just not prepared to get into a fight like that.
So, I tried to mentally prepare myself for the day that she catches me alone, but that’s almost impossible to do when you don’t know when (or if) that day would ever arrive. How will I react when the time comes?
I didn’t know; I always avoided the subject by hoping that it would never happen.
But, of course…….it did.
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We have cheerleader practice every day at the end of school. Today, a lab experiment in science class had run long and caused me to be late for practice…..the first time that had ever happened to me. I ran to the locker room to change for practice and found that everyone was already out on the field. I got changed as quickly as I could, putting on my t-shirt and skirt. Just as I was about to put on my socks and sneakers, I looked up and wasn’t completely surprised to see Nina standing there, looking down at me with a malicious smile on her face.
How had she known I would be alone at that moment? Where had she come from? I had wondered how I would react if this moment ever actually arrived, and now I knew: I was terrified. There she was, with her piercings, her multi-colorings, her leather skirt, her boots, and her vicious eyes.
“Finally,” she hissed…..and I felt the strength drain from my legs.
“Why, Nina, why?” I pleaded, hating the sound of my voice. “What did I ever do to you? Why do you hate me?”
“Because you have all the advantages,” answered Nina. “You take for granted your position in life. You’re pretty and you accept it as if it’s your God-given right. Your parents have money, and you enjoy it without even knowing where it came from. You’re popular without even trying to be. You’ve never failed at anything, have you?”
“But Nina, there are lots of people like that,” I said, fearfully. “Why are you after only me?”
Nina’s hideous smile widened ever further.
“Because I see the fear in your eyes when you look at me. It’s the first time in your life you’ve ever been afraid of anything, isn’t it? And it makes me hate you all the more.”
What could I say? She was right about all of it. I was trying to think of something to say that would get me out of this…….when she attacked.
Nina rushed directly at me and thrust both her hands under my chin. She pushed hard, and the back of my head slammed into the locker with a metallic crash that scared me more than hurt me. Nina grabbed my hair with both hands and dragged me around her in a circle that wound up with me crashing back into the locker again. My entire body felt the shock and she maintained her double-fisted grip on my hair and kept pulling me forward and slamming me back into the locker. She repeated the action about a dozen times before my body started to sink to the floor. My eyes were closed as she kneeled down and punched me in the mouth; I felt her knuckles mash my lips and loosen one of my teeth. As I sat with my back to the locker, Nina started to put her boots to me, kicking me in the stomach and ribs. I tried to crawl away, but she followed me, still kicking. She was screaming vicious curse words after each kick, and I knew that she would kill me if I didn’t stop her.
Fear was gone now…..my fears had already been realized, hadn’t they? The time was now; I could let her destroy me, or I could at least try to defend myself. I curled myself into a fetal position to lessen the effects of Nina’s kicks. She saw this and went to her knees to start punching me again……and I lashed out with my leg and kicked her in the face.
The shot caught Nina by surprise and caused her to fall back on her butt. She looked more surprised than hurt; Nina never expected any resistance from me. Then, she gritted her teeth with hate and started for me again. I saw her coming at me with her thumbs extended and knew that she wanted to gouge my eyes. I thrust my leg out again in another attempt at a kick…..and she caught my foot and sank her teeth into my toes. I shrieked with pain and ripped my foot out of her mouth. I tried to scramble away, but Nina was too quick, she jumped on my back and tackled me. I struggled to get her off me. My fear had faded into the background now; my mind and body knew what had to be done……either save my own life or die trying.
I was on my hands and knees with Nina riding on my back, trying to bring me down. With a yell of my own, I thrust my body upward and she fell on her side with a thud. We both stood and faced off; I knew she would probably kill me, but I wasn’t going to simply allow her to do it. We met head on and started pushing against each other. To my utter shock, I started moving her backward toward the lockers. I was astonished to find that I was stronger than her. But, why not? She was downright skinny; I was the one who had years of physical training as a cheerleader. I pressed her back against the metal barrier as she struggled against me. I was ready to be bold and thrust a knee to her crotch when she got one of hands free and punched me squarely on the jaw. Caught completely by surprise, I stumbled backward and caught the back of my legs against the wooden bench. I fell over and landed on my back with a loud thump. Nina jumped on me as I lay on my back and we both used our fingernails to scratch and bloody the face of the other. I yelled in pain and kicked wildly in an attempt to free myself. It worked, and I rolled out of danger. I rose to my feet just in time to catch Nina rushing me again. She pushed me into an area that was free of benches and lockers, and we began brawling. It was a true give-and-take, with both of us rolling around the carpeted floor in an effort to subdue the other. After a time, Nina wrestled me onto my back. As she mounted me, I managed to free one hand and threw a short, sharp punch that caught her on the nose and caused her to tumble off of me. I scrambled to my feet and prepared myself to run. In that moment, I could have successfully gotten away. The punch I had thrown had Nina’s nose bleeding profusely. It had been a lucky shot, I knew that, but it had been a good one. My opponent was stunned, holding her hand to her nose and looking balefully at the pouring blood . I could leave now…..one might even argue that I had won the fight. But…….what good would it do? Would it cause Nina to stop looking to fight me after today? I knew that it wouldn’t. However, if I could finish her off…..if I could defeat her…..I figured her for the type that would consider the feud over.
Reaching my decision, I walked confidently toward the Goth girl in order to deliver a few well-placed punches that would cause her to submit. My cheerleader confidence had returned and I was completely unprepared when the fallen girl kicked me in the crotch as soon as I got close enough. It was a crunching shot that caused me to sink slowly to the floor. Nina got to her knees and, ignoring the blood that still poured from her nose, rammed a knee into my stomach. Even in my pain, I knew that she would come after my face next, so I swung my legs around and tried to use them as a brace to protect myself. My stomach hurt too badly for me to kick her away, so I put both feet into her face and neck, just trying to keep her off me. It was a futile maneuver as Nina bit into my bare heel and caused me to yell with anguish and pull my legs out of the range of her mouth. With the path to my head now free, Nina clasped her hands together and delivered a double-ax handle to my face, breaking my nose and causing blood to pour forth. I screamed and, using both hands, found the strength to push Nina away from me. We got to our feet and stared at one another. We were both bloody messes, standing there like two gunslingers ready to shoot it out.
As if on cue, we burst toward each other and started throwing wild punches. We grunted as awkward shots landed, and drew tortured breaths when we missed, which was often. I stood my ground better than I ever thought I could. At this point, I knew that the problems between us were a thing of the past. Even if Nina wound up beating me, I could sense that she respected the way I had willingly fought her toe-to-toe. But, as we matched each other punch for punch, a strange sensation was beginning to overtake me.
I wanted to win.
For months, I had been challenged, insulted and tormented by this girl. I had been so afraid of her that it never even occurred to me that I might be able to defeat her. And now, as I battled her on even terms, a bloodlust was washing over me that made me want to bash her into unconsciousness.
So, on we fought, punching and wrestling each other against the floor and the lockers, neither of us showing any intention of quitting. And I was getting to her; I could feel Nina weakening as I matched her shot for shot. I was really beginning to believe that I was going to win, when we suddenly heard words ring out in the locker room…..
“What the hell is going on here? Oh, my God!”
Shocked, Nina and I stopped fighting and looked toward the corner of the room where the sound had come from. There were five of my teammates standing there, looking at Nina and me with horror. I began to look at it from their point of view and could just imagine what they were seeing; a cheerleader and a Goth girl, both bloody, disheveled messes, locked in vicious combat in the girl’s locker room. The cheerleaders moved in, and I didn’t know whether they intended to break up the fight or to gang up on Nina.
“NO!” I yelled, stopping them in their tracks. “Whatever you’re going to do…..don’t do it. Nina and I are going to finish this.”
I looked at my five friends and could see the reluctant understanding in their eyes. They had been aware of my troubles with Nina, and as badly as they wanted to help me, they knew that I had to see this through to the end. Some paths have to be traveled alone, and they could see that I had reached mine.
It’s an ironic thing, isn’t it? Before the cheerleaders came in, I thought I was going to win, I really did. Nina seemed to be faltering. But now that we had resumed, Nina’s resolve had somehow strengthened. She battered me from pillar to post; her punches, knees and kicks were more than I could cope with. She kept knocking me down and I kept getting up. I even managed to wrestle her down a couple of times, but the momentum of the fight had clearly shifted to her, and I was losing.
At the end, Nina had me backed against a metal locker and she was slamming me into it over and over. I couldn’t lift my arms to stop her and the only reason my legs hadn’t collapsed was because she was holding me upright. Nina cocked a fist and reared back to throw the punch that would finish me off. Seeing this, the five cheerleaders moved forward to stop her.
With the last of my energy, I screamed;
“No! Don’t interfere!”
Then, I looked at Nina. Through my swollen lips, gouged cheeks and bloody nose, I said softly,
“Go ahead. Do it.”
Nina stared at me. Though her face was as battered as mine, her eyes showed nothing but admiration for me.”
Nina unclenched her fist and let go of me. With nothing to hold me up, I sank helplessly to the floor. Without a word, Nina turned and left the locker room.
My five friends looked at me.
“You lost,” one of them said, awed but respectful.
“Did I?” I asked. “I wonder.”
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The “Hollywood” ending to this story might suggest that Nina and I became friends, right? Well, we didn’t. High school society is much too conventional and provincial to allow a cheerleader and a Goth to openly be friends....... but in private moments, she and I got along just fine. We never spoke of the fight.
But, as it turned out, a lot of people had been scared of Nina. Word had gotten around about the stand I had taken, and my own popularity in the school soared.
Oh, and did you hear? I was elected Head Cheerleader last week!
THE END
