when i was in my last year of school my dad got a new job & it meant us having to move from our hometown of southampton to the rival city of portsmouth. this was during the late eighties so there were no mobile phones for texting or home computers for sending emails to my friends & i was a shy, overweight teenager in a town full of people i didn't know. needless to say the kids at school hated me, boys & girls, & i would often binge eat to console myself, which caused me to put on even more weight. from the day i started there was only one girl who would talk to me, apart from the teachers, so i found myself hanging around with her. to be honest i didn't really like her very much, she was bossy & would only have things her way, but when i was with her none of the other girls bothered me. although she was short & skinny, she was as tough as they come, & when one of the big girls tried to bully me she had her in no time. but as time went on i became increasingly tiresome of her demands & i could see why the other girls didn't talk to her. then one day something happened that ended our friendship for good. i won't go into the details, all i'll say is that we all have experiences in our lives which makes us realize we've been naive & that the world isn't the place we thought it was. we did have a fight, in which i came off worse, but i earned respect from the other pupils for standing up to her. life got much better after that, she was expelled & i made several new friends, some of whom i still keep in contact with today, & i lost a lot of weight. i did as well as could be expected with my exams & i was has happy. i even started to attract boys, & that summer i had my first boyfriend. i never saw or heard from her again but sometimes i'd be reminded about what happened & i'd get angry with myself for how stupid i had been, but i'd long since forgiven her as i'm not one to hold a grudge. imagine my surprise then, when i bumped into her! i was in my late twenties, recently married after the birth of my second (& last!) daughter, & on my way to see a friend. my eldest had just started school & my parents had offered to look after our baby so i decided to cut through the park when she approached me, acting like we were old friends & that nothing had ever happened. i tried to remain calm but i could literally feel the blood boiling in my vains & i was shaking with anger. she hadn't changed at all, she was still the short, skinny little cxnt of years past with her short dark hair & olive skin, only she hadn't aged very well & if anything she was even more bossy than i remembered. i noticed that as we were walking she was leading me out of my way & for a moment i felt like i did when we were friends. i was about to lose my temper & have a go at her when suddenly she stopped at a clearing & turned to face me "you got me expelled, you fucking bitch!" she shouted, pointing her finger at me & getting right in my face. i was gobsmacked...how dare she...i should be the one who's angry...& if she thought she was going to stand there in that tatty green frock & cheap shoes accusing me of being a tart in my pink summer dress then she had another thing coming! i instantly saw red, i grabbed her hair with both hands & kicked her in the shins with my heels before kneeing her between the legs & headbutting her nose. she went down like a sack of shit but when she saw me coming for her she sent a hard kick to my cxnt which sent me back reeling. she quickly got up & with a bloody nose she took advantage of me as both my hands were holding my crotch & flew a fast fist to the side of my head, flooring me. i fell hard on a piece of wood that was sticking out & it smashed into my ribs. for a moment i thought it was going to be over but as she loomed over me i instinctivly threw a punch & luckily it hit her square on the jaw & put her on her back. this gave me my second wind & despite the pain in my ribs i managed to get on top of her but she grabbed two handfulls of my blonde hair & threw me to the side. thankfully it wasn't on my damaged side & as we pulled on each other's hair i realized she wasn't aware of my injury. but she was kicking seven bells of shit out of my legs & my kicks simply weren't matching hers. i knew i had to do something or i'll suffer another defeat at her hands so i let go of her hair & grabbed her "dress" (if you could call it that) & pulling her towards me i bit down hard on her broken nose. she screamed but i grabbed her hair again & pulling her face towards mine i headbutted her nose one more time. her attack on my legs stopped & she rolled on her back covering her bleeding nose. i managed to straddle her but she suddenly reached up & started scratching at my chest & shoulders with her long sharp nails which drew blood as quickly & easily as razor blades so i sunk my own into her face. she grabbed my arms & managed to pull my hands of her face but i had the advantage now & as i shifted up her body i pinned her elbows with my knees. she tried to knee me in the back or get a leg around my neck but she couldn't reach & i thought of all the times i'd felt so stupid by what she had done to me that i completelty lost control & started to beat her as mercilessly as i could as she tried covering her face. i saw for the first time fear in her eyes & her mouth had the most horrible expression that it forced me to stop. i tried to stand up but it took me a few times as my legs were covered in cuts & bruises, not just from her kicking but from all the sticks & twigs as well. i looked around & was thankfull that no one could see us, & breathing heavily i looked down on her as an old saying came to mind..."what goes around, comes around".
