Clara's Lesson
By Simon    BSM16@hotmail.com
A 12 year-old girl teaches a 14 year-old bully how to treat people


When I was 14 years old, I learned the lesson that probably 
every kid in existence learns sometime during their youth: 
that no matter how tough you think you are, there's always 
someone somewhere whose tougher than you are and will put you 
in your place.  I learned that lesson in such a humbling 
manner that it changed my attitude forever (and for the 
better I might say).

I was an only child who came from a well to do family in 
Southern California.  When I was 14, we moved to a small 
homeowners association which was comprised of 25 families.  I 
was among the oldest of the kids there.  There was a large 
recreation area, pool and playing field where all of the kids 
played.  As it was summer and warm and sunny every day, all 
the kids would come out to play together early each morning.  
As things transpired, I soon found myself as the self-
proclaimed "leader" of the playgroup and I pretty much 
decided the nature of the games we played and when we played 
them.  I was raised as a spoiled brat and always got what I 
wanted, so barking out orders was "natural" to me.  The other 
kids in the complex were fairly passive and never seemed to 
object to my bossiness.  I wasn't much bigger than anyone, 
and we all generally had a good time, so there was no great 
problem with the current "pecking order".  

One afternoon, I decided that a type of "capture the flag" 
game would be fun.  The game was comprised of two teams 
whereby the object of the game would be for one team to 
capture the flag of the other who had to defend the flag 
while simultaneously trying to capture the other team and 
bring them to "jail".  If the team was jailed before the flag 
was captured the "jailing" team would win.  If the flag is 
captured first, then the other team wins.  I decided to make 
the game girls versus boys.  The group was comprised of all 
13 to 14 years olds, except for one girl, Clara, who was 12.  
The girls objected in that they thought this wasn't fair in 
that we boys were stronger and faster than the girls and they 
had no chance to win.  I, in fact made those teams just 
because I wanted to stack the outcome in our favor.  So they 
were right.  I then, obnoxiously, told them if they didn't 
like it they could do one of two things, fight me for the 
right to decide how we were to play the game, or don't play.  
As expected, I knew the girls would not stand up against me.  
Then a very "funny" thing happened.  Clara, the youngest of 
the girls, stepped forward and said she didn't like the way I 
was treating the girls.  And I, the tough guy said, "do you 
want to make something out of it Clara?"  Surprisingly, she 
said "yes, I'll fight you right now.  You don't scare me".  
Two of the girls grabbed Clara and said something to the 
effect as "Clara, are you crazy, he'll beat you up.  It's not 
worth it.  Let's just play."  The boys were standing next to 
me and laughing and joking with me saying basically "look, 
don't hurt her, just teach her a lesson she'll never forget, 
if she doesn't back down".  Clara and the rest of the girls 
backed away to continue their discussions.  I heard Clara say 
"well if none of you want to show him that he can't push us 
around, then I'll do it".  One of the oldest girls said 
"Clara, he's a boy and he's bigger and stronger than you are.  
You have no chance.  He can hurt you".  She replied "look at 
him.  He doesn't look so strong.  I know I can beat him up 
and he'll never tell us what to do again".  The girls 
realized that she was determined and stopped trying to talk 
her out of fighting me.  I yelled to Clara "so what's it 
going to be little girl, you want to fight, yes or no?".  She 
said "yes.  And I want you to apologize to all of the girls 
after I beat you".  Now I and the rest of the boys started 
laughing.

Now Clara and I faced each other.  I never had a fight before 
in my life.  I was good at talking tough and, amazingly, no 
one ever called me out to back up what I was spouting until 
this 12 year old girl.  I don't even know if I could have 
outfought any one of the boys if they ever questioned my 
authority, but none of them ever did, thankfully.  I felt 
myself trembling inside even though Clara was 3" smaller than 
me.  I was 5'3" and Clara was about 5'.  I think I outweighed 
her by 15 lbs but I couldn't tell for sure as she was a 
little on the husky side.  She was dressed in a black 
sleeveless top and shorts.  Her legs were firm as were her 
arms and shoulders.  I was wearing a red tank top and shorts 
and, in retrospect, I had a very willowy, boyish figure.  I 
had thin arms and legs, no muscular development at all at 
this point in my growth, which I now noticed were smaller 
than Clara's.  However, I didn't consider that any girl could 
beat me up, especially a 12 year-old.  Anyway, I now started 
to concentrate on the issue at hand, which was to put Clara 
on the floor and pin her without hurting her much.  Clara had 
a very serious look on her face and she started to close in 
on me.  She was taking on the aggressor role in our "fight".

Clara put her fists up and I followed suit.  She jabbed at me 
and I blocked her punches.  She continued to walk in and jab.  
She didn't hit me yet, nor did I throw a punch at her.  Our 
audience was basically quiet as we were feeling each other 
out.  I was thinking that I'd better mount an offensive as 
the boys would begin to wonder what I was waiting for.  I 
didn't want them to think I was scared.  Not having been in a 
fight before, I didn't know exactly how to throw a punch or 
take her down, so I wanted to restrict my movements so that I 
didn't embarrass myself.  I figured that it would be better 
to take her down than to box her.  I wasn't sure if I can 
punch hard enough or look good doing it, so that plan was put 
aside.  Clara continued to jab.  I timed her jab and caught 
her arm and pulled her in close to me.  I wrapped my right 
arm around her head and locked my hands.  I tried to force 
her down, but she surprised me with a strong move of her own.  
She grabbed my right arm from around her head and forced it 
up behind my back.  She then pushed me forward and I lost my 
balance.  I fell down face first on the grass and she jumped 
on my back, still holding my arm behind my back.  I couldn't 
believe how strong she was.  Now the girls started cheering 
and the boys were shouting at me to stop fooling around.  The 
truth of the matter was that I couldn't break her grip and 
was currently defenseless.  I tried to push myself off my 
stomach with my left hand, but Clara then hit me in the head 
with her free hand and I was dazed.

Clara then pulled my right arm and forced it above my head.  
She then grabbed my other arm and I was spread eagle on the 
ground, my face in the grass.  She put her knees on my back 
and I was pinned, unable to move.  She asked me if I give up 
and she said that "if I didn't, then she would hurt me".  I 
told her to "kiss my ass".  Then she released me and let me 
up.  She let me get to my feet and told me "you should have 
given up because now I'm going to beat the hell out of you."  
I now was going to go after her with everything I had to 
teach this girl who the boss is.  I said out loud "you're 
lucky that I slipped, but it won't happen this time".   I 
lunged at her and grabbed her two hands.  I tried to swing 
her so that she would lose her balance but I could not pull 
her down.  She then increased her grip on my hands and forced 
my wrists back and suddenly I was on my knees.  She kicked me 
in the face with her knee and I fell back on the ground.  I 
was dazed for a second and she was straddling me, my arms 
pinned behind my head.  The girls were laughing and yelling 
encouragement to Clara.  I could not budge her as I now came 
to the realization that she was much stronger than me as she 
had overpowered me twice.  I was completely helpless in this 
position.  Clara then said to me "you're not tough at all.  
As a matter of fact, you're nothing but a big weakling who is 
gonna get beat up by a little girl."  I now knew that she was 
right and didn't want to be humiliated anymore.  I begged her 
to please let me go and not to hurt me.  She said it was too 
late.  Now she moved my two arms together above my head and 
grabbed both of them with her left hand.  I lacked the 
strength to budge her even with my two arms against her one.  
She started to slap me in the face very hard and I started to 
cry.  She hit me repeatedly with her front hand and back hand 
until she finally decided to get off of me.  I stayed on the 
ground whimpering uncontrollably totally beaten up and 
humiliated by Clara.  When I finally stopped crying, I opened 
my eyes to see that nobody was around anymore.  I was left to 
suffer by myself.  The boys were all probably ashamed of me 
(and maybe of themselves for taking sides with me against the 
girls) and I knew the girls no longer feared me.  They simply 
did not know what Clara knew.  The only way to beat a bully 
is to give him a taste of his own medicine.

I stayed away from the play group for a couple of weeks as I 
was too ashamed to show myself.  I finally got the courage to 
join them one afternoon as they were gracious enough to ask 
me if I wanted to participate in their activities.  I told 
them, I'd love to if they would let me.  Thankfully, nothing 
was ever said to me of the fight by any of the boys and 
girls.  As for Clara, I tried to approach her to apologize 
but didn't have the courage to.  I did not see Clara much 
after that fateful day because she moved a several miles away 
a few months after the fight.  Then one day, a couple of 
years later, as I was walking home alone from school Clara 
walked up next to me.  I was 16 years old and Clara was now 
14.  I was surprised to see that she had grown significantly 
since our fight, as her figure began to exhibit female 
maturity in her breast and hip development.  She was wearing 
a tight blue tank top, shorts and high heeled sandals which 
made her slightly taller than me.  We started talking and sat 
down under a tree off the road.  She was still on the husky 
side, but this time her arms and legs displayed prominent 
muscularity as she informed me that she had become one of the 
best girl track and field athletes in the district.  Her 
training had enhanced her physique whereas, two years ago 
during our fight, her strength was hidden below the surface.  
We talked about the fight and I finally did apologize to her 
and she kindly accepted.  I told her that the fight taught me 
a valuable lesson and I believe I am a better person for it 
now.  She said she was glad as she never had a fight before 
or after that day which surprised me as it sure looked like 
she knew what she was doing on that day.  She said she knew 
she was very strong and I had made her mad enough to fight.  
She said she didn't consider that I may have been able to 
beat her, but that I deserved to be taught to respect others.  
She realized that she was stronger than me after I grabbed 
her around her head and she was easily able to reverse my 
initial advantage.  Looking at her now, there was no doubt in 
my mind that she could take me with one hand tied behind her 
back, as I am not the athlete that she is and don't possess 
the muscles which she is now displaying.  In any event, we 
now had a good laugh about that day.  She told me that she 
felt sorry for me the next day as she saw me off by myself 
and knew of the humiliation that I suffered.  She apologized 
for that and especially for beating me up as bad as she had.  
She said she should have stopped after simply pinning me, but 
I had made her angry with my insulting remarks.  Just at that 
moment she moved over to me and kissed me softly on the lips.  

We started walking home in opposite directions and I turned 
and watched Clara walk away.  I couldn't believe how 
beautiful and developed her body had become.  I knew I would 
be seeing her again in the near future for more pleasurable 
reasons than our past encounter.  But that's another story.

To be continued.