Don't Mess With Nina
By Littlesilverstar, silverstar222b@yahoo.com
Teenage girl investigates a series of high school rapes

Nina walked out of the girls' locker room, a bounce in her step.  The sexy
high school senior had just finished a good workout in the school gym.  
She liked getting a workout in after cheerleading practice was over and
before she went home.  Although all the girls on the cheerleading squad 
had fit, hard bodies, Nina's stood out even among them because of her 
extra workouts.

As she headed towards her car in the students' parking lot, she heard a 
low cry coming from behind the gym.  She wasn't sure if the sound was 
animal or human, but finally decided that it sounded like a cat.  She
waited a few seconds to see if the cry would come again, but there was
nothing.  Shrugging, she headed off to the parking lot.

When she arrived at school the next morning, Nina noticed that instead of
laughing and joking as they usually did, the students seemed oddly quiet
and melancholy.  Seeing Marisa, her best friend and fellow cheerleader, 
she waved to her. 

Nina was not a typical cheerleader.  She had little interest in clothes,
makeup, or gossip.  Instead, she was very tomboyish and loved rock 
climbing, shooting guns, and playing tackle football with guys.  The only
real reason she was on the squad was that she had excellent tumbling
skills, honed from years of gymnastics training.  Although she and the
other girls got along well enough, she spent little time with them 
outside of practice - they had their little circle of friends and she had
her own.

Marisa, however, despite being the stereotypical girly cheerleader, had
opened up to her and she and Nina had gotten to know each other better, to
the point where they had become best friends.

Now, as Nina and Marisa hurried towards each other, Nina noticed that her
friend's eyes were much wider than usual, and displayed a look of alarm 
and anger. "What's going on?"

"It's...it's Jessica." Jessica was the captain of the cheerleading squad.
"She...she was raped yesterday afternoon, right here at school."

"Oh my God," said Nina, her hand flying to her mouth. "How is she?"

"They took her to the hospital for some tests last night.  She's resting
at home now." Marisa let out a sniffle. "She said a masked man jumped her
behind the gym and dragged her into the bushes and...and...attacked her.
He must have knocked her out because the next thing she remembered was
waking up in the hospital...Nina?"

Nina's face had turned pale and her mouth was wide open. "I heard her! I
had stayed late in the gym to work out.  When I was leaving I heard this
noise coming from behind the gym, but I thought it was a cat! I...I could
have stopped him! If I had just...how could I have left without checking
to see what it was?"

Marisa put a comforting hand on Nina's shoulder. "You can't blame yourself,
Nina.  You had no way of knowing at the time."

"But if I had just been there...I could have taken care of that guy, 
whoever he was, easily." Nina was a martial arts expert, holding a second
degree black belt.  Her fists and feet had successfully "dealt with" bad
people like bullies and thieves in the past.

"A rapist right here on campus...it's just so creepy and horrible," said
Marisa with a shudder.  Nina gave her a hug, the girls only parting when
the first bell of the day rang.

When classes were over, Nina headed straight for the gym.  There was no
cheerleading practice today, but she needed a workout.  Her mind was a 
complex ball of emotions - sympathy for her assaulted teammate, fear that
a rapist could just walk onto campus, and anger at whoever had done the
horrible deed.  

After spending thirty minutes lifting weights and doing situps and one-arm
pushups in the weight room, she decided to head out to the main room of 
the gym to practice her tumbling.  She positioned herself at the near end
of the basketball court and launched herself into a roundoff followed by a
series of one-arm back handsprings, alternating arms as she flipped down
the court.  She finished her tumbling pass with a high back tuck and 
landed neatly.

For her next pass, she decided to do something a little more complex.  She
did a front tuck, roundoff, back handspring, full twisting layout, two 
more back handsprings, two whip backs, and finally finished with another
full twist.  As she again made a perfect landing, she looked up and saw Mr.
Evans, the head coach of the boys' basketball team, frowning at her.

"All right, backflip queen," he said. "Show's over.  My boys need to get in
some practice here.  They're out running laps and they'll be done in a few
minutes."

Nina tossed her long blonde hair over her shoulder and looked at Coach 
Evans with her distinctive blue eyes. "It's not your day.  All the coaches
agreed that you guys only get the gym on Mondays and Thursdays during
basketball season."

Evans shifted his feet impatiently. "Yeah, but you cheerleaders don't have
practice today, so the gym is free.  Or at least it should be.  Now get out
and do your silly flips somewhere else.  I have some real men who need to
practice their skills." Evans was well known around campus as a crotchety
old sexist.

Nina, although already in a bad mood because of what had happened to 
Jessica and now in a worse one due to Coach Evans' sexist bullying, still
tried to make a compromise. "How about if I just practice along the 
sidelines? I'll be out of everyone's way."

"No," said Evans. "You'll be a distraction and I won't have my boys 
distracted.  Now take a hike."

Nina felt the anger boil up inside her.  This was too much.  She crossed 
her muscular, well-toned arms in front of her. "Make me," she snapped,
irritably and defiantly.  It looked an odd sight.  Although she was 
muscular, she was only 5'4" and 112 pounds, with a slim, small-breasted,
narrow-hipped 34A-23-33 figure.  The 6'1", 190-pound frame of Coach Evans
towered over her.

"I don't have time for your silly games," growled Evans.  He grabbed her
shoulder, as if to begin pulling her out of the gym.  Big mistake.

Nina rammed her knee into his crotch with devastating force and perfect
accuracy.  Evans let out a high-pitched squeal of pain and dropped to his
knees, clutching his wounded family jewels.  She kicked her size 7 athletic
shoe into his face, releasing blood and knocking him down completely.  She
sneered down at him. "Get up, you pussy." She kicked him in the side of his
head as he was down.

Evans struggled to his feet.  Glaring at little Nina, he charged directly at
her with a roar.  She stopped his charge easily by pivoting and performing a
side kick that slammed into his chest.  She then nailed his face with a
wicked one-two combination of punches, breaking his nose and blackening one
of his eyes.  As he stood there dizzily, she smiled at him coldly.

"You thought my flips were silly? Well, here's how silly they really are."
With that, Nina did a perfect backflip kick, her shoes brutally impacting 
her victim's face.  Evans crumpled to the gym's wooden floor in a heap as
Nina elegantly landed on her feet.

Suddenly sensing there were others in the room, Nina whirled around and saw
two other men looking at her.  One she recognized as Mr. Young, the 
assistant boys' basketball coach.  The other was a stranger.  She looked
nervously from Young to Evans, who was still on the floor, moaning and semi-
conscious.  She knew that Coach Young wasn't a sexist jerk like his boss, 
but she wasn't sure how he'd react to seeing her beat Evans up.

"What's going on here?" said Coach Young.

Nina explained how she had snapped and attacked Evans after he had tried to
shove her around and then gotten physical with her.  Young gave her an
understanding smile.

"Just between you and me, Evans needs to be knocked down a few pegs from
time to time," said Young in a low voice.  Nina smiled in relief.

Evans picked himself up off the floor, cursing. "You bitch," he growled at
Nina. "I'll get you for this later." His hands were still on his badly
wounded testicles.  Nina, Young, and the stranger were all snickering.

Coach Evans stood up as straight as he could. "Young!" he ordered. "You take
over directing practice for the rest of the day.  I'm going home." Growling,
Evans walked out of the gym, moving slowly because of the damage to his 
groin.

Coach Young smiled at Nina again. "It's all right, I'll have the boys
practice on the outdoor courts.  I know it's not our day to have the gym."
He then turned to the stranger. "Nina, this is Mr. Samuels.  He's the
cheerleading coach over at Seaview University and he wants to talk to you."

As Young left, Samuels walked over to Nina and shook her hand. "Those were
some moves you used on that guy," he said. "Impressive."

"Thanks," Nina replied.  Her mind was under terrible strain from the rape
and the fight. "Um...what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I heard you have an interest in going to Seaview.  If you do decide to join
us, I hope you'll also consider joining our cheerleading squad.  We could 
use someone with your level of tumbling skills." Noticing the expression on
her attractive face, he asked, "Is this a bad time?"

"Yeah," said Nina. "Things...things have happened.  It's just...just a 
really stressful time."

"I'm sorry," said Samuels. "I can come back another day." He headed for the
exit, but just before leaving said, "Once again, great job kicking that 
guy's ass.  I really admire athletic women." He gave her a quick smile and
then was gone.

Left alone in the gym once again, Nina sat down for a few minutes to let
everything that had just happened sink in.  She then went back to practicing
her tumbling, but found that she couldn't keep her mind on gymnastics.  She
hoped she wouldn't get in trouble for beating up Evans.  Young would 
probably stick up for her if Evans went to the principal.  But what if Evans
decided to do something on his own to her? She remembered his threat to "get
her" later.  She would have to watch her back...

A sudden thought struck her.  Could Evans be the rapist? The school was
surrounded by fences on all sides and any visitors had to check in with
security at the front entrance.  It would be extremely difficult for a 
stranger to get onto campus and rape someone.  But if the rapist was someone
who *belonged* at the school...

What did she know about Evans? She knew that he was a misogynist.  She knew
that he was willing to get physical with women.  She knew that he was 
capable of making threats.  And she had seen him around the gym on the day 
of the rape, even though there had been no basketball practice that day.

Or did she subconsciously want Evans to be the rapist simply because she
didn't like him? Nina stopped backflipping and tried to make sense of it all.
She did dislike Evans, but the strikes against him were facts.  She decided
to keep an eye on him.

Since she had no real evidence, she couldn't make an accusation against Evans
to school security or the police, but she had to talk to someone.  Grabbing
her things and heading out of the gym, she took out her cell phone and called
Marisa, telling her of her suspicions.  Marisa agreed that Evans seemed like 
a prime suspect.

The next week passed with no more news about the rapist.  Jessica returned to
school after recovering at home for a few days.  She could give no 
description about the masked attacker other than a basic estimate of his 
size, which fit Evans and about a few million other men.  Security had been
increased, but if the rapist was someone inside the school, as Nina 
suspected, she knew it wouldn't do much good.

Nina had beaten Evans up on Wednesday afternoon, and he hadn't shown up to
school at all on either Thursday or Friday, leaving Coach Young to lead the
boys' basketball practice.  Evans was back the next Monday, however, still
with a broken nose and black eye, though his gonads seemed to have recovered.
Nina kept an eye on him as best she could, also enlisting the help of Marisa
and some of the other cheerleaders.

On Tuesday, Nina again stayed late after cheerleading practice to work out.
Although she was alone, she was not afraid of becoming a victim, as she had
full confidence in her lethal martial arts skills.  She also rationalized
that by presenting herself as a vulnerable target, she might be taking the
target off the back of some other girl who wasn't as capable a fighter as she
was.

After getting her fill of pumping iron, she walked to a corner of the weight
room and began practicing her standing back tucks.  After a dozen, she moved
on to a more difficult move - a standing full twist.  Although very few girls
had the physical abilities to do such a move, Nina landed her first standing
full perfectly.  She was about to do another when she suddenly sensed a 
presence behind her.  Whirling around, she relaxed when she saw that it was
Coach Young.

"Oh, hi," she said. "For a second there, I thought you were that creepy 
Evans."

Young laughed. "I think Evans is afraid of you now." He snickered again, then
looked at Nina's corner with a smile. "Tumbling in here now too?"

"Just my standing flips.  Enough room for those."

"Cool.  Hey, I meant to ask you, did you get a chance to talk to Coach 
Samuels?"

"No, not really," said Nina. "I was so stressed out last Wednesday that I 
just didn't feel like talking to anyone.  He said he'd come back another day."

"Too bad," said Young. "I think he really wants you on Seaview's squad.  In
fact, he was here last Tuesday too, wanting to talk to you, but he missed 
you." Young looked at his watch. "Wow, it's later than I thought.  I'd better
get going.  See you around."

"Bye," said Nina, her mind suddenly racing.  Last Tuesday...that was the day
Jessica had been raped.  And Samuels had been here, and he did match the
rapist's size.  But was that all...wait.  She remembered Samuels talking 
about how much he was attracted to athletic women.  Jessica, like all the 
cheerleaders, was quite athletic.  Could HE be the rapist? It seemed crazy,
but he had been able to get on campus legitimately, and he was a stranger.  It
would be extremely difficult for any strangers to get past security, so the
rapist almost certainly had to be either an outsider who had a legitimate 
reason for getting on campus, or someone actually from the school who was
creepy enough to be a rapist.  Someone like Evans.

Nina finished her workout and headed for her car - and stopped suddenly when
she saw at least half a dozen police cars in the parking lot, all with red and
blue lights flashing.  Her heart suddenly beating faster, she hurried over to
them.  Four police officers were talking to the principal and vice principal.
Other cops were talking to the few students and teachers who were still on
campus this late.  Nina caught the eye of a young policewoman who was 
currently unoccupied. "What's going on?" she asked her.

"A girl's body was found in a dumpster two blocks from here," said the 
policewoman. "She'd been raped and then stabbed to death.  She's been dead at
least 18 hours.  We don't know where she was killed, but we do know that she
was killed somewhere else and the body was just dumped there.  She might have
been killed at school.  It seems like the same guy who did the last rape."

Nina felt a sinking feeling in her chest.  Dead at least 18 hours...She 
thought back to that day at school.  Teri, another cheerleader, had been
absent.

"Wait," she said. "Let me guess.  She was a cheerleader here and her name was
Teri."

The policewoman's mouth dropped open in shock. "How did you know?"

"Because Jessica was a cheerleader too! And Teri was the only cheerleader 
absent from school today.  They were both my friends and teammates.  
Somebody's after us!"

"All right, calm down," said the policewoman, putting a comforting hand on
Nina's shoulder. "Tell me everything you know."

Nina told her everything that had gone through her thought processes in the
past week, including her suspicions of Evans and Samuels.  The policewoman
nodded.

"We've suspected that it was an inside job.  Evans and Samuels seem like good
suspects, especially Evans.  We don't have any real evidence yet but we'll
certainly be questioning them thoroughly." She thanked Nina for her help, 
then went to report to the police lieutenant in command of the group.  Before
she left she gave Nina a card with her name and phone number. "Call me if you
think of anything else."

Nina put the card in her pocket, then wondered what to do next.  She decided
she had to talk to Marisa.  Marisa didn't answer her cell phone, so Nina
decided to drive over to her friend's house.  Marisa lived only a mile from
the school.  

She could probably have a long, uninterrupted talk with her best friend.
Marisa's parents were both doctors and they were always working late at the
hospital.  A long, uninterrupted talk was just what she needed.  Despite the
bright sunshine, Nina shivered.  Thinking of poor dead Teri, stabbed to 
death...it was so awful.  And she might have been murdered right at school!
The rapist had certainly upped the ante.  She only wished she could get her
hands on him!

Arriving at her friend's house, Nina was puzzled to find the door locked, as
Marisa's car was in the driveway.  She took out the extra key that Marisa had
given her and unlocked the door.

"Marisa, are you here?" she called out. "You weren't answering your cell, so
I thought I'd swing by here.  I have to talk to you.  Something horrible has
happened."

The house was quiet.  Nina was thinking that her friend had probably gone out
for a jog, or maybe to pick up a few things at the corner store.  It was 
close enough to walk.  But why wouldn't she have her cell on her? Marisa, 
like most of the cheerleaders, hardly went anywhere without her cell phone.

A dark thought entered Nina's mind.  What if the rapist...But he had never
broken into a girl's house before.  Still...

"Marisa?" Nina called out. "Where are you?" She began checking the house room
by room.  When she opened the door to the den, she gasped.  Marisa was lying
unconscious on the floor.

There was a soft footfall on the carpet behind her.  Nina began whirling 
around, but it was too late.  She was hit in the head with a heavy object and
slumped down, knocked out cold.

* * *

Nina awoke with a terrible headache.  She discovered that she was now tied to
a chair.  Looking around, she saw that Marisa was still unconscious, but now 
tied to another chair.  A masked man was standing in the room.  He looked 
about six feet tall and 200 pounds, and he was holding a knife.

"You," she growled at him.

The masked rapist stared straight at her. "Ah, so you're awake," he rasped in
a voice that was obviously disguised.  If only she could find out who he was!
Unseen by the rapist, as soon as she had discovered she was tied up, Nina had
immediately begun trying to free herself.  Her hands were tied behind her 
back and her body was tied to the chair.  He couldn't see the moves she was
trying to make behind her back.  As she tried to free herself, Nina continued
to talk, wanting to find out who the rapist was.

"Who the fuck are you?" she demanded.

"Your worst nightmare," he answered in the same raspy, disguised voice.  He
laughed evilly...and a sudden look of recognition and horror appeared on 
Nina's face.  She knew that laugh.  She had heard it not long ago, in the
weight room.  But that would mean it was..."It couldn't be!" she said out 
loud. "COACH YOUNG?!"

The rapist removed his mask, revealing that it was indeed Coach Young. "Smart
blonde," he chuckled, speaking in his normal voice.

"But...but..." sputtered Nina.

"But what? I'm a nice guy? I'm not a sexist jerk like that guy Evans? Yeah,
that's what you thought! I had you all fooled! Maybe you're not such a smart
blonde after all.  I put on the Mr. Nice Guy, Mr. Progressive Non-Sexist act,
and you all fell for it! No one ever suspects the progressive guy of being 
the rapist! Heh heh heh."

"But WHY?" Nina demanded, her mind still trying to process the fact that Coach
Young was a rapist and a murderer.

A distant look appeared in Young's eyes. "I was seventeen.  It was my senior
prom.  I had asked out one of the cheerleaders and to my great surprise and
delight she had said yes.  I never thought that a guy like me could go to the
prom with such a sexy and popular girl.  But it turned out that she and all 
her sexy, popular cheerleader friends were just playing a prank on me! Just
when we were about to begin our first dance, she grabbed a microphone and
called for everyone's attention.  Then she shoved my face into the punch bowl
and announced, 'I'm dumping this loser, literally!' One of the popular guys
came up and they went off together.  I was the laughingstock of the whole
fucking school! The whole fucking school!"

He looked as if he was going to break down, but regained his composure and
stood up straight. "And so at that point, I declared war on cheerleaders.  I
declared war on sexy, popular girls.  I began raping them.  I started with
the girl who had humiliated me.  She was traumatized! And she still doesn't
know it was me! I bet she forgot all about me after high school.  She didn't
even remember the pain she caused me! But I got her back.  Then I got more
girls back.  I've raped over twenty women, and let me tell you, it feels
better each time." He laughed sadistically.  At that, any sympathy Nina might
have felt for his ordeal evaporated.

"You fucker," she said, trembling with anger and fear.  Young just smirked.

"Yeah, I'm quite the fucker, all right."

Nina felt the ropes around her wrists loosening, slowly but steadily.  She
continued to work on them as she talked.

"We cheerleaders aren't all like that! How could you!" she yelled, genuinely
furious but also knowing that her angry shouting would keep him focused on
that and not on looking at her carefully to make sure she wasn't trying to
free herself.

"Not so loud," he growled, raising his knife threateningly. "We don't want
anyone interrupting us, do we? If you keep shouting I'll have to slit your
throat here and now."

"And that reminds me," said Nina, not directly acknowledging his threat but
lowering her voice. "Why did you have to kill Teri?"

"When I jumped her, she fought back pretty hard.  Strong little thing.  She
managed to get my mask off and she recognized me." He shrugged. "Had to do
it." Nina simply let out a low growl.

She was getting closer to freeing her hands.  Looking over at Marisa, who 
was still out like a light, she asked, "Is she okay?"

"Oh, she's alive.  For now." said Young. "I hit her really hard with that 
vase over there.  Harder than I hit you.  You know, I was going to rape one
of you while the other had to watch, but since sleeping beauty isn't up yet,
I think I'll just rape you now, then do it again when she's awake.  Then 
I'll rape her and make you watch.  Then I'll kill both of you and get the
hell out of here before sleeping beauty's parents get back.  They always
work late, don't they? I know everything.  No one will ever suspect me.  
Hell, if I'm lucky maybe they'll finger Evans for the crime and I'll get a
promotion to head coach.  Two for the price of one, eh?" He approached Nina,
knife in one hand.  With the other he began unzipping his pants.

Nina's legs were not tied down, and that was Young's fatal mistake.  Nina's
right leg came up in a swift kick, the toe of her sneaker smashing into his
groin with cruel force.  As Young collapsed to the floor howling in pain,
she quickly finished freeing her hands.  The knife fell to the carpet and
she moved it closer with her foot, then stretched her now-free hand down and
picked it up.  She swiftly sliced through the ropes binding her torso to the
chair, then stood up.  By then, Young had stood up also, a hand still on his
painful crotch.  He looked at her, then at the knife in her hand. "What are
you going to do with that?" he demanded, with an attempt at bravado.

"Nothing," said Nina.  She flung the knife aside, the blade driving itself
deep into the wall from the force of her throw. "I am going to take care of
you with these, though," she continued, indicating her fists and feet.

Young laughed loudly, looking his petite opponent up and down.  She wore
black pants and a white T-shirt.  Her little 34A breasts needed no bra.  He
couldn't see that much of her body.  What he could tell was that she had a
small chest, narrow hips, and slender arms. "Gonna beat me up with those
girl arms?" he sneered. "What are you, about 110 pounds?"

"112, and solid muscle," she said. "And my arms might look feminine, but
they're as strong as a man's.  Like this." She punched him in the face so 
fast that he never saw it coming.  He certainly felt it, though.  The
surprisingly powerful punch stunned him for a few seconds.  It hurt like
hell.

"Cunt," he growled.  He tried swinging a punch of his own at her, but she
ducked under it and socked him in the gut, causing him to double over in 
pain.  Her small left fist then plowed into his right eye, blackening it.

"Having fun yet?" she laughed coldly, getting into full battle mode.  She
executed a cartwheel, her athletic shoes slamming into his face one after
the other.  Young, groaning from the impact of her cartwheel kick, tried
to grab her, but she dodged, stunned him with a punch to the jaw, then did a
spin kick to the side of his head that knocked him to the floor.

"Get up, you fucking rapist pig," she snapped, kicking him in the side hard
enough to crack one of his ribs.  A second vicious kick cracked another rib.

Young struggled to his feet, holding his aching side, which now hurt worse
than his groin.  Taunting him, she motioned for him to attack.  He tried,
attempting a punch to her elegant face, but she easily blocked it with her
slim, toned forearm.  Fiery pain then erupted in his stomach as she kneed
him there.  She rammed her knee into his gut again and again.  Just when he
thought he was about to pass out from the pain, she switched targets and
began pummeling his face with her petite but efficient fists.  His face was
soon a bloody mess.  Grabbing him by the shoulders, she headbutted him,
knocking him backwards into a wall.  Sauntering up to him, she announced,
"Remember my backflips? Here's a reminder." With that, she performed a
powerful standing back handspring, kicking him in the head as she flipped.
The force of her kick knocked him down.

Nina stomped on Coach Young's face with her size 7 sneaker and laughed at
her dominance over him.  Bending down, she hauled him to his feet, then gave
him a punch to the face that was so powerful that it knocked loose three of
his teeth.  She then balanced on her left leg and unleashed a barrage of
cheerleader-style high kicks to his already-battered face with her right.
She kicked her helpless victim again and again, not giving him a moment's

respite.  Her final cheerleader kick sent him down again.

Young, bruised and bleeding, rolled around on the floor, moaning and crying
like a girl.  He finally began getting up again, but had only gotten halfway
when Nina's roundhouse kick slammed into the side of his head and down he 
went.  Thirty seconds later, he again tried getting up, but this time he got
less than halfway before Nina's knee slammed into his face with incredible
force.  Blood splattered all over the place as her knee impacted him.  He 
was down again and now semi-conscious.

Nina turned her victim over so that he was lying face down.  Young didn't 
like not being able to see his blonde tormentress, but he couldn't muster 
the strength to turn over.  He did manage to squeak out, "Please have mercy,
I'm begging you."

Nina grabbed him by the hair and yanked hard, eliciting a shout of pain from
the downed coach. "I bet Teri begged for mercy, too," she hissed. "And did 
you show her any, cocksucker?"

Young tried again. "Please.  Just call the police.  Let them arrest me."

"No," said Nina. "You'll probably just get 10 to 20 from some bleeding-heart
judge, and that's if you don't get off on a technicality.  I'm going to make
sure that real justice is done." He heard her climbing onto the coffee 
table.

Nina launched her body into a back tuck off the table.  She landed right on
Young's back, her feet impacting with a force that was simply devastating.  
A sickening CRUNCH was heard.  Young felt fiery pain for a second, then
realized he couldn't feel his legs at all.  

"A flip is an excellent way to add force to an attack," said Nina calmly and
coldly. "My back tuck just paralyzed your lower body.  But don't worry, I'm 
going to put you out of your misery right now."

She easily backflipped back onto the table, then prepared her final, lethal
attack.  She did a front flip with her right leg extended.  That leg impacted
Young's head with the force of a sledgehammer.  His skull shattered and 
blood, brain matter, and pieces of bone flew everywhere.  Nina landed neatly
on her feet, her heart rate slowly returning to normal as she looked at her
finished opponent.

A sudden groan made her whirl.  Marisa was waking up.  She opened her eyes 
and gasped when she saw the corpse.  She saw Nina and gasped again.

"Wha...what happened? I was home alone when I heard someone behind me.  
Before I could turn around I was bonked on the head and saw nothing but 
stars.  Stars that weren't made in heaven.  Is he...Did you..."

"Yes and yes," said Nina softly, quickly untying her friend. "He's the 
rapist, and I killed him."

"But how did you know..."

Nina knew what Marisa was asking even if she hadn't spoken the full 
questions.  Best friends knew each other that way. "How did I know to come
here? I didn't know he'd come here.  I came here to talk to you.  I saw you
unconscious and that's when he bonked me on the head and knocked me out too.
When I woke up he said he was going to rape and kill both of us.  I managed
to get free and well..." She gestured towards the corpse.

"And how did you..."

"Front flip kick, leg extended.  Against that his skull didn't stand a
chance."

"Wow, badass.  You GO, girl."

"Thanks, Marisa.  You going to be okay?"

Marisa touched her head. "I think so.  By the way, who the fuck IS that 
guy?" The body and face were quite unrecognizable thanks to the damage Nina
had done.

Nina paused. "You're not going to like this."

"Tell me."

"Coach Young."

Marisa stared, unbelieving. "Coach YOUNG?! You mean Coach Evans, right?"

"Nope, Coach Young." Nina placed her hand in Marisa's. "I could hardly 
believe it either.  But it came out." She explained the whole story of Coach
Young's prom humiliation and his quest for revenge.

"Um, Marisa, I have to tell you something else, and you're going to like
this even less," Nina continued. "He...he murdered Teri.  That's why she was
absent from school today.  He'd already killed her yesterday evening.  He 
was raping her and she was fighting back.  She got his mask off and
recognized him."

Marisa cried softly for a few moments.  Nina held her tightly.  Finally
Marisa looked over at the body. "I guess he got what he deserved, then.  But
I never would have suspected in a million years...Coach Young? He was always
so nice, and he seemed so respectful of women.  Not sexist in the least."

"I never suspected him either," said Nina. "I guess it just goes to show you
that appearances can be deceiving, and stereotypes even more so."

A car engine was suddenly heard, followed by another. "My parents are home at
the same time," said Marisa.

"I guess that's good news," Nina responded. "We have so much to explain and
now we only have to do it once."

THE END 

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