Unusual Punishment Part Five: Violated free porn video

Unusual Punishment Part Five: Violated By Norman O. Johnson One Saturday night during the second week of January, it snowed. Some of the girls were outside making snowmen. Others were pelting each other with snowballs. I was indoors with Daria. We were lying together fully clothed on her bunk bed. She still had no roommate, which gave us privacy, the rarest luxury at the school. We didn't have sex this time. Sometimes neither of us wanted it. But we talked about things. Just by sharing my feelings, I had grown closer to Daria. "In the first two or three months after the change," I was saying, "I felt a certain calm coming over me. I think it was a chemical thing. I don't have testosterone flowing through my brain any more. Man-juice makes a guy tense and belligerent as well as horny." "It must have been very useful once for chasing the bears out of the cave," Daria joked. "But now it's different. These days, I'm in the grip of powerful emotions. I'm not in control of them, and I don't know why I feel the way I do." "Mood swings." "Yeah. Mood swings. One minute I'm cheerful. The next minute I want to cry. Then I'm boiling with rage." "Or in other words, you're experiencing adolescence all over again, as a female. I don't have any advice to give except you'll get back in control eventually." "Thanks, Daria. I nearly lost it when Noodle killed himself." "Himself?" Daria echoed. "Yeah, himself. Noodle never could become a 'she,' even on a temporary basis. That's why I remember him now by his old male name, Tyrone Jameson. At this whole stinkin' school, Tyrone was the only girl, if you insist on calling him 'girl,' who knew what I was going through. He didn't deal with it as well as I did. When we met, he said it would get easier as the weeks and months go by. Six weeks later, he told me it didn't get any easier. The second time, he was telling the truth. It was true about him, anyway." "Seeing Noodle snuff her own life out wasn't easy for any of us," said Daria. "Even I, with my widely advertised contempt for humanity, had a hard time dealing with it. And a lot of girls heard what she said, too. 'You got me in that room and ruined me.'" Daria took a deep breath. When she spoke again, I could hear the bitterness in her voice. "We know what that means, don't we, Karen?" "Yes, we do." "Lots of girls are talking about it now. People are saying Chief Hunsucker needs to be taken care of, somehow." "Do you really think they're going to kill her?" "I certainly hope so." "The girl who kills Chief Hunsucker is going to the gas chamber," I said. "Or lethal injection, or whatever they're using these days." "There are ways to kill them that don't entail being in the same room at the same time. Poisoning, for instance." "Daria, you and I never had this conversation." "That's right, Karen. We didn't." The bitterness faded from Daria's voice. "I got a letter from my Mom the other day on this very subject. She's a lawyer. She knows a few people at the state capital, including some in the Department of Corrections. She's gonna pull a few strings, call in a few favors, maybe cross a few palms with money for all I know, and get this place investigated. She wrote it using the code words we agreed on. Martindale and Hunsucker are 'the Power Company.' I'm 'Cousin Larry.' The rape cases are 'Cousin Larry's legal problems with the Power Company.'" "So Cousin Larry is going to get the Power Company investigated," said Daria, amused at the code words. "Am I right?" "That's precisely the way Mom put it." "The Power Company. Did you make up that?" "Yeah." "That's clever." She lay down on the bed, folded her arms behind her red hair, and stared at the ceiling. "We are all Cousin Larry." "Yeah," I said. "Even that redneck chick from Double-D who I've never gotten along with, Wanda Lassiter, got stiffed. I never expected to sympathize with her, till now." We just lay there for a few minutes, saying nothing, as the white flakes continued to fall outside the window, and girls squealed with surprise at incoming snowballs. Daria broke the silence. "Karen, I've got some bad news for you. This is no reflection on you, but we're going to have to stop seeing each other." I gasped. Losing Daria would not be easy. "What's the problem?" I asked. "The gang truce is about to come undone. The Fillies and Double-D are having secret discussions on redrawing the map of the Second Floor. Both gangs will each get a piece of the Mary's Girls territory, and the girls that live there. The only bone of contention is which gang gets which rooms." I could do the math just as well as Daria. The Fillies were nearly as big as the Big Two. If the Fillies sided with Double-D against us, we were doomed. "So they want to destroy Mary's Girls?" "No, or at least not right away. Angel will retain her own room and a few other nearby rooms, constituting a minor principality of about ten or twelve girls. If my gang and Double-D can agree on how to divide up the rest of it, the gang truce is history. The war will be a short one. Being outnumbered two to one, you guys will stand no chance." "Now I understand why you want to stop seeing me." Daria nodded. "I can't afford to have the Fillies think I'm sleeping with the enemy. You're not MY enemy, of course," she quickly added, "but that's the way they see it." "I understand. That doesn't mean I like it, though. Daria, you've come to mean quite a lot to me. You've made my life a lot easier in the past few months." Only when I said this did I realize how true it was. "Thank you, Karen." She gave me one of her brief hugs. "You mean a lot to me too. I admire your strength most. I don't mean muscle, but the other kind." She released me. "Thanks, Daria." I wiped my eye with a hand. "Which side is gonna get my room?" "I don't know. I'm not important enough and not black enough, to have a seat at the negotiating table. I would guess, since you're such a good fighter, your room would be a major bone of contention. I doubt either side would let Angel keep you." "How do you know this?" "Word of mouth on the first floor." She gave me her most serious look. "We didn't have this conversation either." "Duly noted, Daria." I had a high estimate of her street smarts, since she knew how to have marijuana at the school without getting caught. We shared a brief tobacco-flavored kiss on the mouth. "Daria," I promised, "I'll try to avoid landing any punches on you, if it comes to that." "I'll do the same for you, if it comes to that." "Deal." Sitting up on the bed, I offered my hand to her. She looked amused. "What's this?" "We're shaking on it. You know, to seal the deal." Daria gave her finest knowing grin. "Oh, yeah. A habit left over from your XY period." So we shook hands on it. ### When I passed along this item of foreign intelligence to Angel, she was unimpressed. "Daria?" she sniffed. "Oh, please! I know she's your girlfriend, and Princess likes to burn one with her too, but don't take her seriously on gang stuff. If that was going on, I would've heard about it. I have my sources, too, you know." ### On a weeknight in the third week of January, the fire alarm woke me from a sound sleep. Trey, already out of her bed, was disappearing out the door as I was hurrying down the ladder. Wearing only a sleep shirt and panties, I ran out into the hall and merged into the stream of girls. Only then did I realize I would freeze my transgendered ass (not to mention my bare feet) when we got out into the winter night. But it was too late to turn back. A river of human bodies swept me to the stairway. Beside me there were only Mary's Girls, and not a single Double-D. That was very significant, as I would soon learn. We came to the landing. The stairs led us down to the first floor, Fillies territory. Every door was closed. There were no Fillies in the hall. I was about fifteen yards down the hallway, with lots of my sisters in front of and behind me, when the doors snapped open as if on cue. The Fillies were all over us. Every Filly was wearing a red bandana. They punched us, slapped us, tripped us up, and yanked our hair. The few who knew karate or boxing used them. Some hard metal object struck me in the side, knocking me to the ground. I was on my feet in time to see that same aluminum baseball bat, stolen from the gym, clout Princess on the side of her head. I saw who was swinging that bat. Daria! Daria received a kick in the side from an Oriental girl in pajamas. Keyboard! Keyboard grabbed the bat away from Daria. "Reality check, Daria!" Keyboard yelled. "You're not ready to play in the majors." "There's no fire!" Angel shouted. "It's a setup! There's no fire! Everybody back upstairs." We all spun around and bolted for the stairs. I covered our retreat with a few quick punches and karate kicks. My sisters hadn't even made it to the landing yet, when they met dozens of Double-D girls come down. Bernice and Lassiter were at the front. Each one with a blue cloth tied around her head. "Get 'em!" shouted Bernice. The Double-D's were all over us. The Fillies charged us again from behind. Outnumbered two to one, taken by surprise twice, trapped in a narrow hallway, what chance did we have? I had no time to calculate the odds. I made right for Wanda Jean Lassiter. She charged right up to me, straight into my first punch. It caught her just above the navel and knocked the wind out of her. As she doubled over, I put my hands together in one fist and bashed her face as it came down. She toppled over backwards. A different girl grabbed my right arm. Another grabbed my left. A third seized my hair. My scalp hurt. My neck jerked painfully backward. "Ow!" "Get her down! Put de freak bitch down!" somebody shouted. They shoved me to the floor on my back. The fattest of the three sat on me. The other two were still clutching my arms. Lassiter reappeared, knelt beside me, and glared into my face. "It's like this, Loser-Bitch," she snarled. "It's all ovah fo' Mary's Girls. You throw in with us, ever'thang gonna be all right. We won't eem care that you used to be a guy." Now I knew the secret plan had ceded Trey's and my room to Double-D. "Fuck you and the pig you rode in on, Lassiter!" I shouted, squirming under my captors' weight, which was their only advantage over me. I could hear sounds of fighting. Punches. Slaps. Clothing being ripped. Screams of pain. Cries of anger. One girl was crying. Lassiter refused to take offense. "You know, Loser-Bitch," she continued, "if you do the right thang by us, we just might let cha keep yo' musical Chinese crack ho girlfriend." "How dare you talk about Keyboard that way," I started. I couldn't continue. My eyes were filling up with tears. It must not end this way! Somewhere Bernice was shouting, "Get dat stinkin' Chink! Stop dat God-damn Gook!" Keyboard was still fighting, against impossible odds. Good for her! Suddenly someone in the distance was shouting for order. "Break it up! Break it up! Everybody break it up! Everybody separate and stand against the wall! Up against the wall, NOW, you crack ho's!" My heart sank. I recognized the voice of Chief Hunsucker. My girls were saved from the bad, by the worse. Hunsucker and some other guards came into view. Their batons were out. They were spraying girls in the face with pepper spray or something like it. "Lassiter!" the Chief barked. "Get the hell off of her, all you girls! Now stand against the wall!" The Double-D girls got off of me. They all stood facing the wall. "Assume the position," the Chief ordered. "Don't pretend you don't know what it is. Hands against the wall." I also stood with my hands and face against the wall. I heard the Chief's voice behind me, and felt her hot breath on my neck. "Well, well, Miss Lauterbach. We've been a very, very bad tomboy tonight, haven't we?" "Yes, Chief," I replied, "we have." I was boiling with hate inside, but my brain was telling me there was no point in antagonizing her. "You know, Lauterbach, you're gonna have to do something about this violent attitude you got, or you're end up in the adult system." Knowing what horrors the Chief and Principal Martindale were capable of, I was a model of silent self-control. Glancing out the corners of my eyes, I saw lots of guards around, including some that normally work day shift. It was as if Hunsucker knew beforehand of the coming explosion, and had all the guards ready. The girls got a stiff lecture to cut out all this gang warfare. Hunsucker then busted a lot of girls, about twenty of us, from all three gangs. From Mary's Girls alone, Princess, Angel, Keyboard, Shug, Squeak and I were all taken. The others included Lassiter, Bernice, and Daria. The rest of the girls were ordered back to bed, with a stern warning to do no more rough stuff. We arrestees were sentenced to a day in solitary, marched to the basement, stripped, and put in separate cells. I wrapped myself in my blanket, lay down on the mattress, and tried to sleep. Between the adrenalin flowing through my veins and the anxiety about what was coming toward me, I couldn't sleep easily. Would they just screw us deep and hard like last time, or did they have some new and more diabolical torment in store for us? My last thought before I finally dropped off was, they better not hurt Keyboard or Daria! ### When I awoke the next day, I didn't remember much. If anything, I remembered less than last time. But I did recall enough to know what a wild party Ms. Martindale and Chief Hunsucker had had. I was back in that chilly soundproof room again. This time, I was lying on the floor. I could feel carpeting beneath my back. I was gagged this time. I was wearing some kind of harness that left my breasts bare, and chains that held my legs in the air so that my feet were near my head. An S & M scene! Yes, Martindale and Company were definitely going for a different kind of thrill. I was terrified. I heard muffled sobbing from somewhere. Finding I could still move my head, I glanced to my right and saw Angel, gagged and bound up in the same position. Our most-girl parts were facing the ceiling. My eyes met Angel's, which flashed back at me a look of furious smoldering hatred. I could tell it wasn't me she hated. Who was sobbing? I wondered. It wasn't Angel. I looked down the length of my body and between my upraised legs I saw that infamous bed in the distance. The gagged girl shackled to it was crying. She was Wanda Jean Lassiter, of all people. Wanda Jean, the first person to deride me as a "freak bitch" because of my ex-male status. Wanda Jean, who had attacked my friend Keyboard last fall. Wanda Jean, with whom I'd traded punches only a few hours ago. Now, Wanda Jean lay helpless at the receiving end of Principal Martindale's thrusting and humping and writhing and grinding. I almost vomited right through my gag, but I managed to hold it in. Behind me and to my left, I heard a door opening. I heard a high pitched feminine scream, then two shrieking voices. I turned my head to the left. In the doorway, Chief Hunsucker and two other guards were struggling to restrain Keyboard and Daria. Daria stopped screaming first. When Keyboard stopped screaming, she spat at Chief Hunsucker. "That wasn't a smart thing to do, Miss Wei," said the Chief, fondling her Billy club. That's all I remember. I didn't remember anyone stiffing me this time, which is a blessing. Back in the cell, hours later, I awoke. Little Karen ached a little bit, but not as badly as the first time, and not as much as my anus, which was very, very sore. They'd taken me through two holes tonight. I checked for my hymen. Sure enough, they had put it back again. Those BioConcentrators can do anything to a human body. That's why they can be so dangerous. ### Late the next day, about 9:00 PM, all twenty-something of us were let go in a bunch. As we walked upstairs, we grouped ourselves by gangs. Daria, walking with some other Fillies, ignored my gaze. I suspected she was ashamed of hitting me after promising me she wouldn't. I had known two things from the beginning. First, none of us had any real choice about avoiding gang membership. Second, Daria's and my relationship would only last as long as the gang truce held out. For both of these reasons, I forgave Daria in my heart, thought I couldn't say anything to her with all these other girls around. As we got up to the second floor, Keyboard whispered in my ear. "Okay if I stop by your room in a few minutes?" "Sure." When I got to my room, Trey was bent over her desk with her nose in a book. "Okay if Keyboard comes by in a minute?" "Sure, but I need to study. I don't want you guys to, like, make too much noise." "No problem," I said. I climbed up to my bed and lay on it, waiting for Keyboard and what I knew she was going to say. Raped again, I thought. It was less of a shock the second time, but that doesn't make the rage or the humiliation any less. When the knock on the door came, I let Keyboard in. Her face was dry but her eyelids were puffy, like she'd been crying. She climbed up to my bunk. At first, she didn't want to say anything. She just lay down beside me, and rested her face on my right shoulder. I put my arm around her. Two or three minutes later, I spoke first. "Did the terrible thing happen to you?" I could barely hear the answer. "Yes." "I saw you there, and Daria, and Angel. Angel and I were tied up in some weird bondage style." "I remember that. You guys had your legs pulled way back. Daria was there. The Chief was doing me, and the Principal was doing you. Ms. Martindale was talking about how ironic it was. Here was a rapist, getting raped. She also teased you about not having your penis any more, and asking you how much you missed it." "I don't remember that part. I didn't say anything, did I?" "You were gagged." "That's right. I was. This has happened twice to me and Daria, but this time, they fucked my ass too." "I'm so sorry this happened to us, Karen." Her eyes were starting to tear up again. "What did we do to deserve this?" "Nothing, Alexis. We never raped anybody." My rap sheet, of course, said "statutory rape," but I was only two years older than Marilyn, and I never forced myself on her. Somebody knocked on the door. "Who's there?" I called out. "It's Angel," said the muted voice outside. "Come on in," I called out. As Angel came in, Trey turned her head around. "Try to keep it down, you guys. I need to study." Angel climbed onto the ladder and stood so her face and shoulders were above the top bunk. Her voice was low but her anger was intense. It showed it her eyes. "Hey, Karen, thanks for the warning. I'm sorry I didn't believe you the first time, 'cause I got fucked last night, and both of you guys were there. Also that Daria chick from downstairs." There was a different look in her eyes---remorse. "Now I know what Noodle was talking about when she said the Chief ruined her in that little room." "The Principal raped Lassiter from Double-D," I said. "I don't remember her being there," said Angel. "The Principal fucked me while the Chief was fucking you, Karen. Then the Chief fucked Keyboard, while the Principal was fucking you. The Principal made fun of you for not having a dick any more." "I don't remember that part," I said. "I just remember all of us being up there while Lassiter was getting it." "I remember it, Angel," said Keyboard. I could feel my shoulder getting wet. "My butt aches, Angel," I said. "I think I got fucked in the ass, too." "Yo, girls, heads up," Trey called out from the floor. She tossed a box of tissue onto the top bunk, near my feet. Angel took it and handed it to Keyboard. She wiped her eyes. I took one and wiped mine. Angel was still remorseful. "I didn't do enough to protect my girls, 'cause I didn't heed the warnings you and Daria and Noodle said. You and Daria were right. The gang truce is history, but nobody's gotten anything out of it except Hunsucker and Martindale." When she said the names of our attackers, her magnificent anger flashed again. "Those two bitches are gonna pay. Keyboard, Nylon, you didn't hear me say that." "I've already forgotten," I said. "My lips are sealed," said Keyboard. I remembered what Keyboard had said earlier. These girls from the 'hood had a different set of standards from us middle-class suburban chicks. ### Going to class the next day was tense. Because the entire first floor was the turf of rival gangs, Mary's Girls couldn't leave the dormitory except in groups. Trey, Keyboard, and I formed a threesome until we got to the classroom building, after which we had to go our separate ways. I went the rest of the way to my first class glancing over my shoulder every five seconds. Between second and third periods, I saw Shug standing by herself outside the ladies' room on the second floor. "Guarding the bathroom?" I asked, not entirely joking. I glanced nervously back again. "Thank God you came by, Nylon! I ain't goin' in dere by myself." She stepped inside, motioning me to follow. We took stalls next to each other, and watched out for each other at the mirror. While we were adjusting our faces, a Filly I didn't know walked past us. Something poked and stung at my rear end through the skirt. "Ow!" I said in a loud whisper. The Filly picked up her pace as she hurried out, pursued by my angry glare. My right butt cheek was still stinging. "Bitch!" I sputtered. I dropped my lipstick into my purse, slung my book bag on my shoulder, and prepared to go. Inside, I was seething. I hated the Fillies, I hated the Double-D, I hated Ms. Martindale, I hated Ms. Hunsucker, and I hated this whole fucking so-called school. Rehabilitation, my ass! "You okay?" asked Shug behind me. "No, Shug, I'm miserable," I said quietly as we stepped for the exit. "Sometimes I think the tension here is just too much for me." "It's gonna be tough for a while, but we can do it. You strong. I'm strong." She smiled like a warrior nerving himself up for battle. "We all strong long as we stay togethuh. We Mary's Girls." "Yeah. Mary's Girls." I forced a laugh and a smile. Yes, this kind of life was a heavy burden to bear, but being one of Mary's Girls lightened the load. But not enough. ### Later that day, while going to my sixth period class, Daria came to me through the moving throng and pressed a sheet of folded paper into my hand. After my last class, I read it in my room. "Dear Karen," it began, "I want to begin by apologizing for hitting you with that bat. My superiors in the Fillies ordered me to take a swing at you to prove my loyalty to them. I know that doesn't excuse me. I just want you to appreciate my situation." I understood. After all, neither of us created this gang-turf system, and it would survive long after we left this school and severed all connection with the gangs. However, I did want us to remain friends after the gang war, and even after we left this place. "I want you to know," the note continued, "that I care deeply about you. From the beginning I was attracted to your intelligence, your sense of humor, and your handsome stone-butch good looks." Stone butch good looks! I laughed for the first time that day. Despite knowing all about makeup and how to sit in a skirt, I was still more of a butch than a femme, more handsome than pretty. Well, that was the persona I'd planned to have from the beginning. I read some more. "Since then, I've come to admire deeply the emotional strength and self-knowledge you must have, to re-invent yourself this way. Very few human beings could cope as well as you do." "Re-invented" was the right word for it. I had become very comfortable in this body. I no longer looked forward to switching back to Kevin. He had his good points---his scientific and musical interests, for instance---and I still had those things. But he was also a cad and a sleaze. My black girlfriends would have called him a "playa." As for that "thing" that used to hang between my legs, I hadn't even thought about it for some days, maybe a week. It was still gone, but it was no longer missing. I could say this was the third and final emasculation, but now I felt like I was growing in a different and beautiful direction, despite what had been taken away from me. I was in touch with my masculine side, but I no longer needed to be male. I needed to be Karen. It saddened me to think my womanhood would be taken away from me in a few months. "In a world full of weaklings, opportunists, and liars, you stand apart. This is why I hope we can get back together after this stupid turf war is over. I love you very much." I just sat there and stared at the paper. Daria loved me. When I was in Kevin-mode, other girls before Daria had said, "I love you" to me. I had said, "I love you" to them. However, I had never meant it. I had never understood what it meant. I still didn't. Up until that moment, nothing in the world had mattered to me except covering my own precious ass. It was Kevin's most unattractive feature, and the hardest to get rid of. I had to take a Kleenex to my face before finishing Daria's note. "Now to change the subject completely," the note concluded. "The disaster that we have both experienced in the past was repeated last night. I remember seeing one of the Double-D girls being raped and screaming. The Oriental girl from Mary's Girls was screaming too. You and Angel were trussed up like a couple of turkeys on the floor. It was a horrific moment. I don't remember any more of it, which is a blessing. However, I know I wasn't spared, because I'm sore again today in two different orifices." So Daria also remembered Lassiter getting it, Keyboard and me and Angel waiting our turn. This is the kind of evidence we needed. "Please destroy this document for your own safety and mine," I read. "Love, Daria." The paper quivered in my hands. My breath came in short gusts. I had never felt such intense rage. A dozen revenge fantasies flashed through my head. Oh, the things I would do to Martindale and Hunsucker! I took a few deep breaths. Once I was calm again, I decided to keep the note. It was valuable evidence. Angel was planning the revenge. Very well, let her. These tough girls were better at it than I was. Despite my butch aspect, I wasn't a tough girl. Anyway, we were all in this together, so the revenge would have to be a common effort. I would do what Angel asked me to, but I wouldn't do anything without first checking with Angel. I was a disciplined gangster. To this day, I have kept that note, the note that said, "I love you very much." ### That same evening, in the common room on the second floor of the dormitory, the leaders of the big three (Mary's Girls, the First Floor Fillies, and Double-D) held a meeting. Each gang leader could bring two other members. Angel had me and Keyboard by her side as bodyguards. The Fillies' leader was a feisty-looking girl with close-cropped hair whose name I hadn't learned yet. She brought one bodyguard. Her other escort was Daria, a sensible choice since Daria was the Fillies' intelligence chief. Daria's eyes met mine, and she sent a subtle grin my way. I nodded back at her, feeling sad because I hadn't seen her in a while. Bernice, the Double-D leader, had as her escorts Lassiter and a mean-looking Black girl who was one of the people who had sat on me downstairs. Lassiter had the look of a whipped dog. She avoided my gaze. The meeting was so tense that no one sat down. We knew Angel's position, but nobody seemed to intentions of any other gang. Nobody even seemed to know who was supposed to speak first. The nine girls just looked at each other for a long tense minute. Then we noticed several Double-D's lining up in the hallway opposite. The Fillies' leader seemed to notice at the same moment. She suddenly burst out with, "Bernice, what the fuck you tryin' to pull? Tell yo' ho's in the hall to get back in dey rooms." Bernice turned around to her people. "Dis ain't no fight. It's a meetin'. Y'all ain't involved. Get outa de hall now!" They did. At that moment, Angel and I turned around and saw Princess, Shug, Squeak, and several other girls eyeing the proceedings. With a annoyed look on her face and a wave of her hand, Angel shooed them into their rooms. They discretely disappeared before the Fillies' leader noticed. "Okay, we now ready to start," said the Fillies' leader. "De fight on de first floor was whack. Things have got way, way outa hand. De whole idea of tearin' up the gang truce was stupid. We had a good thing goin', and we fucked it up. I ain't here to point fingers. Ever'body got dey own story 'bout who's to blame. De point is, it have to stop, and it have to stop now. De administration want us to fight each other, so dey can have a excuse to grab people, and put 'em in solitary, and do all kind of evil thangs to 'em. Y'all know what I'm talkin' about." There were looks of recognition around the room. I counted in my head the people I knew had been violated: myself, Daria, Keyboard, Angel, Lassiter. Both other gang leaders had been taken downstairs too. Martindale and Hunsucker may have partied all night, but they were the only ones having a good time. "We in de First Floor Fillies want ever'thang back de way it was. De territories will be de same as dey was. De neutral zones will be de same as dey was. All de rules will be de same as dey was. Ever'body on dey best behaviour. Dat's all I got to say." "I agree with Packrat," said Angel. That was how I learned Packrat was the gang nickname of the Fillies' leader. Angel gave Bernice her hardest and most intense look. "Okay," said Bernice. "Okay. De gang truce is back. But I do know dat some people in de North Wing want to change gangs." "No mo' bullshit about the North Wing, Bernice! Dat over!" Packrat shouted. "These things can be taken care of by the roommate exchange system," said Angel, "with the approval of the gang leaders of the two girls who want to swap rooms. But the territories stay the same as they were. That is NOT negotiable." Then she blasted Bernice with that look again. Bernice looked back. "Okay," she said quietly. "I cain't hear you, Bernice," said Packrat, almost shouting again. "I said okay," said Bernice again, louder. "I think this meeting is over," Angel observed. "Yeah, we done accomplished what we said out to do," said Packrat with great satisfaction. "I got nothin' else to say," said Bernice with a shrug. Everybody turned to leave. As we were walking down the hall, the Fillies delegation passed us. Daria stopped beside Keyboard. "I'm sorry about the bat, Keyboard. The whole episode was a disaster for all concerned." "Daria, it's over," said Keyboard. "I'd like us to start our Sunday afternoon meetings again." She winked. "That's a nice idea," said Daria, "but I'm having trouble with my--- How shall I put this? My suppliers." "Well, okay," said Keyboard with a shrug. "I'll see ya when I see ya." Daria turned to catch up with her girls. "Daria, wait," I called out. She turned back. I walked up to her, took both of her hands in mine, and kiss her on the cheek. "Thank you for what you said in your note," I said. "I think we should start having our meetings, too." "I'd like that, Karen." Daria smiled again, with her mouth open. That meant a lot, because Daria didn't smile much. ### Three days after the late-night brawl and the Power Company's all-night party, the day after the gang truce was put back in place, the girls of Ida-Watts were finishing dinner, all of us in our usual places. I have already described the way we took our meals, in the cafeteria that was also the auditorium, on row upon row of tables, dressed in our neat school uniforms. I haven't mentioned that the administration and faculty people dined with us. They sat at tables on the stage. I seldom looked at them during meals, but because I knew they were there, I sometimes wondered what my oppressors were thinking. Perhaps Ms. Martindale and Ms. Hunsucker were mulling over in their minds which girls they would violate next. Perhaps they were pondering what new horrors to perpetrate next time on me, or Keyboard, or Daria, or Angel, or even on that damned redneck Wanda Jean Lassiter. Lassiter and I, enemies from the beginning, now had a common foe more dangerous than either of us. Nobody ever proved it, but I firmly believe the Fillies' leader was right when she implied the breakdown in the gang truce could be laid at the feet of Martindale and Hunsucker. Would there be any more suicides? Would Daria, or Keyboard, or Angel end her own life? Angel and Keyboard had too much personal strength. Daria probably wouldn't do it either, despite her gloomy outlook on life, which I suspected was something of a pose. "Nylon," Squeak said, "you ain't much of a talker tonight." "No, Squeak, I'm not." I overheard Angel and Shug talking. "So even though the gang truce is back in effect," Angel was saying, "I don't know for sure it's gonna last this time. In case anything happens to me, there's got to be another girl to step in. That's why I made Nylon vice-president of the gang," "Hey, Nylon," Shug called out across the table. "I just heard you was vice-president now. Congratulations!" "Thanks," I said, looking up from my food, "but you have to realize, there's nothing for me to do unless something happens to Angel. Which God forbid!" Shug laughed. "Ain't gonna be easy gettin' rid of Angel," she said. "You should feel honored, Nylon," said Squeak. "Angel have showed a lot of confidence in you." "Don't get me wrong. I do feel honored. I just don't think anything's going to happen to Angel. She hasn't lasted this long by being stupid." Angel was very pleased to hear this. It showed in her face. My loyalty to my Queen had been rewarded. I was now the heiress to Angel's throne. At about this time, I learned that Angel was due to graduate at the end of the spring quarter. Waitresses, students at the school who had earned the privilege of making some money, came down the rows of tables with the dessert carts. The one who gave us our desserts, a vanilla flavored pudding, was none other than my roommate Trey. Trey must have known something about my two stays in solitary, from overhearing me and Keyboard talking about it. I never discussed it with her. As roommates, we still got along okay, but we weren't as close as we'd been in my first few weeks. Suddenly, lots of girls were talking at once, and looking at the stage. Some girls were even standing up. One was Squeak. "It's de Chief," she announced. "De Chief sick." I craned my head toward the stage. Sure enough, Chief of Security Rachel Hunsucker was running offstage. Her posture was stooped. She was holding her mouth. The murmuring from the students grew louder as Principal Martindale and about four or five teachers, including Mr. Hirsch and Mrs. Marsden, jumped up and left the stage as fast as they could. Rumors swept down the rows of tables. "Don't eat the pudding." "De puddin' have a virus. Don't eat it." "Ms. Martindale and the Chief, dey have food poisonin'." "Somebody done poisoned de puddin'. Don't eat no puddin.'" "It's about the pudding," said Angel, looking around to all the girls at our table. "Don't anybody eat that shit." My first spoonful of pudding was inches from my mouth. I put it back in the dish. I could hear Shug's voice to Trey. "You can just take dat dessert cart back to de kitchen, girl. Ain't nobody here gawn eat it." Trey rolled the dessert cart back to the kitchen, passing my table on the way. She looked over at Angel and said, "Don't blame me. I didn't, like, cook this stuff." "Of course not," said Angel. "Nobody wants to take any chances, that's all." A thousand conversations buzzed through the room, all of them expressing the students' deep hatred for Chief of Security Rachel Hunsucker. I overheard the term "redneck bitch" many times. I didn't feel the slightest sympathy for either Chief Hunsucker or the Principal, but the sight of two of my favorite teachers running off the stage to vomit frightened me. Mrs. Marsden, my English teacher who so loved my writing, might soon be dead, if the desserts really were poisoned,. Rabbi Hirsch, both my science teacher and my spiritual counselor, was also in danger. Whoever plotted to poison the two leading administrators of the school didn't care who else got in the way. Daria had been right. These girls from "de hood" had no faith in the law. They would settle up with the Power Company their way. If it were easy to bring guns onto the school grounds, someone would have shot those two. Even though dinnertime wasn't over, girls started getting up and leaving the hall, their puddings untouched. Angry little conversations continued. Over the din, I heard a familiar voice. "So turns the wheel of karma." Daria! In a group, Mary's Girls left the cafeteria, which was on the first floor of the dormitory, and headed for the second floor. I was near the end of our contingent, with a bunch of Fillies behind me. I could overhear some of what they were whispering. "Mary's Girls done it," a Filly said. "How you know dat?" asked another. "Cause dey got lots of members in de kitchen." That was true. Several of my sisters worked in the kitchen, including my roommate Trey. I heard the sirens of an emergency vehicle outside. Princess, who was near me, visibly flinched. "Here come de cops already." "No, the sirens sound like an ambulance. The paramedics are here." But we all knew the cops would be here shortly. As we mounted the stairs, some of us glanced back warily at the Fillies disappearing into their rooms. I saw Daria's red head for a few seconds. We'd have to get together soon to share our feelings about this, not to mention any relevant military or foreign intelligence. It was a little after 6:00 PM. At about 7:30, Trey and I were in our room shaving our legs when there was a knock at the door. Two tall sturdy men with military-style haircuts came into the room. They were wearing black pants and light blue shirts with large letters spelling "SBI" on the back. These initials stood for the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. They looked very serious. One of them, who seemed to be in charge, give us both a suspicious look. "Which one of you is Heather Amundsen?" he asked. "Me," said Trey. "Miss Amundsen, we have some questions to ask you about the poisoning death of Rachel Hunsucker, who was head of security at this school." "Am I, like, a suspect or something?" Heather's lower lip quivered. "Homicide is suspected, honey," he replied. "Every student who worked in food service here is a suspect. That includes you." "Trey, you're entitled to a lawyer," I told her. The SBI man didn't take his eyes off Trey. "We have a public defender downstairs. Put down your razor and come with us." Trey took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She tossed her Lady Norelco on the bed, rolled down her jeans, and walked out with them. Before the door closed, Squeak poked her head in. "Dey's tons and tons of cops out here," she said. "De whole school been locked down." I stepped out into the hall and saw Trey being taken away. There were three male cops stationed in the hallway. One was at the entrance to the common room, one was mid-way down the hall, and the third was guarding the stairwell. They were wearing State Patrol uniforms. "So," I asked Squeak, "is Hunsucker dead?" "Yeah, but Martindale alive." I could see, looking down into her chubby face, that she was more than a little disappointed that one had gotten away. As the SBI men and Trey receded into the distance, I bent down to Squeak's ear and whispered, "They're gonna have a sweet time finding a girl at this school who DOESN'T have a motive for snuffing those two." Squeak's laugh was a low conspiratorial snickering. TO BE CONTINUED Copyright (c) 2001, by Norman O. Johnson ([email protected]) This file may be freely archived, copied, transmitted, and redistributed, provide that it remains in its original form with all warnings, copyright, author credit, and other information intact. It may NOT be distributed for profit or sold for profit, except by the author. Norman O. Johnson.