The Discussion
by M.C.
When Nancy has problems with other people, she invites them into the women's gym for a discussion.


I was more than a little bit bewildered as I began to walk from my house over
to the woman's gym of my high school. It was Sunday after all, so I couldn't
understand why Nancy Cochrine wanted to talk to me there. The truth is, I
couldn't understand why she wanted to talk to me at all. True, I did date her
older sister June for awhile (I broke up with her just this past week as a
matter of fact), but Nancy is a year younger than I am and we hardly ever
spoke to one another. So when she called me up earlier today and said she had
something important she wanted to discuss with me and that I should meet her
outside the women's gym at 3 p.m., I was confused to say the least. But since
it was only a few blocks away, I decided to go and find out what she wanted;
if only to ease my curiosity.

As I approached the door to the gym, I heard very strange sounds coming from
inside. POW! SLAM! THUD! What the hell was Nancy doing in there? I knew she
was the star of the women's gymnastics team, but these didn't sound like any
exercises a gymnast woud be doing; not a seventeen year-old girl anyway. The
truth is, it actually sounded more like...well, like fighting. I stood outside
for a couple of minutes until things quieted down, then I knocked on the door.

"Is that you Mitchell?" a female voice called out from inside.

"Yes Nancy, it's me."

"You're early (she was right about that, it was actually ten minutes to
three). I'll be with you in a few minutes; just as soon as I finish attending
to some other business I have here. Please wait outside."

"O.K. I'll wait."

"Thank you."

WHACK! CRACK! SLAP! POW! THUD! A few more minutes of fighting sounds and then
another moment of quiet. Then I heard, SPANK! SPANK! SPANK! SPANK! SPANK!;
followed by what sounded like a boy...crying. About a minute later the door
opened and I heard a loud WHAM!...and I couldn't believe what I saw next. Bill
Warner - all six feet four inches and 260 pounds of him - came flying out of
the gym. He landed on the grass a few feet away from me. I stared down in
disbelief. The all-league offensive right tackle of our football team was
lying battered and beaten on the grass right in front of me! Then I looked up
and saw a rather small - but surprisingly muscular - girl with long blond hair
dressed in a pink leotard gynmastics suit standing in the doorway of the gym.
"Let that be a lesson to you Bill," she said sternly. "Just because you're
bigger and stronger than everybody else in school, that doesn't give you the
right to bully the other students. I hope you remember that from now on.
Because if you don't, I'm going to take you back here and we can *discuss* it
some more."

With tears in his eyes, the large, powerfully built boy struggled to get to
his feet and, without saying a word, slowly began to limp away. Nancy turned
to me and smiled."O.K. Mitchell, you and I can have *our* discussion now." She
motioned for me to follow her back inside.

"Wha...what was that all about Nancy?" I asked as I entered the gym - still
not quite believing what I had just seen.

"Bill thought that because he's the roughest, toughest boy in school, he has
the right to pick on everyone else. I'd been meaning to teach him a lesson for
some time now and figured that this was as good a day as any. I hope for his
sake that our discussion made an impression on him, because the next time he
won't get off so easy. But enough about Bill, let's talk about you Mitch."

"Me? What about me?"

"You broke up with June last week for Sharon, right?"

"Yea, so what about it?"

"Well, you hurt my sister very much. So I'm afraid I'm going to have to punish
you for that."

"What? You can't punish me for breaking up with June. Boys break up with girls
all the time, and girls break up with boys too; that's just the way things go
in life Nancy."

"Break up yes, but you not only broke up with her, you stood her up. Last
Saturday night June was so excited about going to the concert that you invited
her to. Then when you didn't show up she was hurt. Hell, you didn't even have
the decency to call and tell her. Then this week when she found out you dumped
her for that stuck-up bitch Sharon, well, that's not breaking up Mitch, that's
just plain nasty."

I was getting pissed off at this point. I meant to call June and tell her
about the *change in plans* (honestly I did), but when the possibility of
going out with a beautiful cheerleader like Sharon suddenly presented itself,
well, I guess I just forgot all about June. But still, what business is any of
this to Nancy? It should be between June and me, right? Sister or not, Nancy
has no right to butt in. Angrily (and unwisely it turned out) I shouted at
her, "Look! I'm sorry about what happened to your sister (as if I had
absolutely nothing to do with it), but this is how the game is played Nancy;
plain and simple."

"Those may be the rules that you boys play by Mitch, but when a girl holds a
second degree black belt in Kung-fu, the rules change. You hurt my sister, so
now I'm going to hurt you; plain and simple. It's almost the same as if you
had physically abused her; although not quite so I won't rough you up too much
- but I am going to punish you."

I watched as Nancy closed and locked the door behing her (the only door in or
out I noticed) and then put the key ring around her wrist. She turned to face
me and assumed a martial arts stance. And with what could only be described as
an evil smile on her face, said,"I'm ready whenever you are big boy."

June had mentioned to me that her little sister was a martial arts wiz in
something-or-other, and that she'd been studying it since she was five years
old. I didn't pay any attention to what she said though. I mean after all,
she's just a girl, right? How tough can she be? I stand six feet tall and
weigh 210 pounds. I'm the best third baseman in the league and, with 15 home
runs so far this season, the third best power hitter. So what do I have to
fear from a five foot-four inch, 120 pound girl gymnast? (Why I forgot at this
point what Nancy did to Bill Warner is something I'll probably never
understand. I guess male pride and ego have a way of clouding one's
judgement). I put up my hands in a boxing stance and started to approach her.
Kung-fu or no, I'm much bigger, a hell of a lot stronger and a guy. "O.K.
Nancy; if it's a fight you want, then let's get it over with."

With my longer reach, I tried a few left jabs which, much to my surprise, the
smaller girl blocked with ease. After blocking a few more, Nancy suddenly
lashed out with her right foot and caught me squarely underneath the jaw. As
my head snapped up, I felt a small but hard fist sink deep into my stomach.
Nancy quickly followed that with another kick, this time to the side of my
face. I spun around and fell to the mats. I couldn't believe it. A 16 year-old
girl floored me in just a few seconds!

"Oh really now Mitchell," Nancy said with a giggle,"surely the pride of the
baseball team can do better than that. After all, I'm just a little girl; tee,
hee, hee." To emphasize her point, she fluffed her long, pretty blond hair in
front of me."Come on tough guy, get up and show me what you've got."

Unaware that Nancy was baiting me, I stormed to my feet and began throwing
wild punches at her. But try as I might, I didn't even come close to landing
one. Nancy moved with a grace and style that I had never encountered before
(being large and strong guy, I'd been in more than a few fights in my
life...and rarely lost). I threw just about everything I had at her but the
smaller blond calmly either blocked or avoided all my punches. And the worst
part of it was, Nancy was smiling at me all the time; it's like she wasn't
even in a fight!

WHAM! Suddenly a powerful kick that I didn't even see nailed me on the side of
the face. THUD! Another punch to the stomach which was followed by - POW! - an
solid uppercut to the jaw and I found myself on the mats again. My head was
spinning. Dazed, I looked up at the girl standing in front of me with her
hands on her shapely hips. "O.K. Nancy," I conceeded,"you've made your point;
you're tougher than I am. Let's call it a day."

"I don't think you get it Mitchell. My *point* is not to prove to you which
one of us is tougher - that's a no brainer. My point is to punish you for
hurting my sister...and I'm not going to let you off this easy. So get off
your butt and let's fight some more. I can either kick your ass here in
private or I'll do it tomorrow in front of the entire school. But either way
honeybunch, you're going to get the beating you deserve. Bill Warner was
smart, he took a private one. If you hadn't arrived early no one other than
him and me would have known about it. So, what's it gonna be tough guy - a
private beating or a public one?"

Slowly, I got to my feet; and as I did so I considered my options. The only
door out of here was locked and the key was on Nancy's wrist. She had already
battered the toughest boy in school to tears and was easily beating me too.
Obviously I had underestimated this martial arts thing; this girl could fight!
So what was I to do now? The only thing I could think of was to try and tackle
her. With us both on the mats, my superior size and strength should give me
the advantage over the much smaller girl. So, arms wide apart, I charged
forward.

WHAM! POW! CRACK! It was almost as if she had read my mind. Nancy nailed me
again with another series of hard kicks and punches that sent me reeling
backwards; and for the next few minutes, this incredibly powerful girl
literally battered me all over the gym. Her hands and feet came at me so fast
- and with such force - that all I could do to defend myself was to try and
steer clear of her. But with the only exit locked, I couldn't avoid her
forever.

"Oh Mitchie," Nancy teased as she chased me around the gym,"you're such a wimp
aren't you? What if Sharon could see her big, strong baseball star boyfriend
now, running away from a little girl - do you think she'd still want you?"
WHACK! Nancy backed me into one of the corners and slammed her right foot hard
into my face again. She then began to pepper my body with a series of rapid
punches. I tried to protect myself from her onslaught, but Nancy's fists were
coming at me so fast and from so many different directions that it was nearly
impossible to stop them all. I was now nothing more than a punching bag for
her and when this five foot-four inch, 120 pound girl hits you with her fists,
it hurts; it hurts a lot. I could now understand how she could beat up Bill so
easily. But the most embarrassing thing about all of this was that, in
addition to the pounding she was giving me, Nancy was also teasing me.

SLAM! "Oh poor baby, is the little girl too tough for the big, strong jock?"
WHAM! "I think I'll bring you to the women's self-defence class I teach at my
dojo and let some of my girls have a go at you. How would you like to get an
ass-kicking by some 13 year-old girls? Wouldn't that be great? Tee, hee, hee."

CRACK! Another roundhouse kick to my badly swollen face and I went down again;
only this time I was too badly battered to even try and get up. I just lay
there on my stomach in tears from both her beating and humiliation, hoping
that this would be the end of Nancy's *discussion*. I doubt I could have taken
any more of the punishment she was dishing out. I felt Nancy's foot go
underneath my chest and roll me over so I was now lying on my back. She looked
down at what must have been a pathetic sight. A large, athletic boy, badly
beaten and crying in front of her.

Nancy sighed and, to my great relief, went over to her backpack. She took out
her hairbrush and sat down on my chest; then began to brush her long, pretty
blond hair."Well Mitchie, I guess you've had enough for now." When she saw the
look of relief on my face Nancy smiled and added,"as I said before, because
you didn't physically abuse my sister I took it easy on you (Easy? She gave me
the beating of my life!) Now, here's what you're going to do loverboy."

"You're to be at our house by six this evening and apologize to June for the
way you treated her. If she still wants you as her boyfriend you'll accept -
if you don't, I'll beat you up again. If June doesn't want you back, then
you're free." Nancy paused for a few moments, then a wide grin appeared across
her face."On second thought, I think you're a real cutie pie. If June doesn't
take you back then maybe I'll take you for my boyfriend." (That sent shivers
down my spine). Nancy reached down and playfully pinched my swollen
cheek."We'll just have to see."

After she finished brushing her hair, Nancy got to her feet and held out her
hand. "Help you up big guy?" Though I didn't really want her help, I didn't
want to offend her either, not after what she had just done to me. I held out
my hand and the surprisingly strong girl yanked me up like I was a rag doll
(where does she get her strength?). Nancy then led me over to the door of the
gym and unlocked it. "You'll have to excuse me now Mitch, I have to practice
my floor routine for our big gymnastics match next week. It was nice of you to
come here today, it saved me the trouble of going over to your house and
beating you up there." As I slowly staggared out of the gym, I heard Nancy's
voice again,"remember Mitch, you're to be at our house by six; and do try to
clean yourself up by then, you look like you were hit by a train (giggles)."

At 5:45 P.M. I rang the bell to Nancy and June's home. "WOW! If it isn't
Mitchell Howard, the baseball star," Nancy said with mock surprise as she
opened the door."To what do June and I owe the honor of this visit?"

I entered their home and said the most difficult words I ever had to say.
"I...I wanted to apologize for the way I treated you June. I'm...very sorry
for what I did to you. Please forgive me."

June looked me over. She saw the black eye, the fat lip, the badly swollen jaw
and the several other bruises that were visible on my face (I must have had at
least a dozen other welts and bruises on other parts of my body that weren't
as noticeable). Though I tried to clean myself up, the results of Nancy's
beating would stay with me for some time to come. June looked over at Nancy -
who had a wide grin on her face - and understood. "So, my little sister beat
the crap out of you and forced you to come here and make an apology; right
Mitchell?"

"Err...yes, she did as a matter of fact."

"Well, in that case I'll accept your apology. It looks like you've suffered
enough. But you're not the type of guy I'm interested in so I'll just say
good-bye."

It was with a great sense of relief that I started walking out of their home;
but the feeling wasn't to last long. I hadn't even reached the sidewalk before
I heard,"hey Mitchie, wait up!"

"What do you want now Nancy? I apologized to June like you said I should,
didn't I?"

"Yes you did. But you forgot about the other thing I said."

"What other thing?" (I was beginning to get a bad feeling about this).

"That I think you're a cutie pie and if my sister didn't take you back, then
I'd make you my boyfriend."

"You said 'maybe'."

"Well now I'm saying positively."

"And what if I don't agree?"

The next thing I felt was a powerful kick into my stomach, forcing me to keel
over. Nancy then reached out and grabbed me firmly by my shirt collar. With
her open hand she proceeded to slapped me across my already battered face
several times. Not hard, but not soft either."Please Nancy, stop this!" I
begged.

SLAP! "Will you - SLAP! - agree to become my boyfriend - SLAP! - now?"

Tears were forming in my eyes again as I resigned myself to the inevitable.
"Yes," I sobbed. "Yes, I'll be your boyfriend."

"Oh goodie, goodie gumdrops." Nancy stopped slapping me and gave me a strong
hug instead (so strong in fact that I almost passed out). She then took me
firmly by the hand and led me back inside her home. "Hi June, I'd like you to
meet Mitch Howard, my new boyfriend."

"It's a pleasure to meet you Mitch." June and Nancy shared a sisterly giggle
before, still squeezing my hand, Nancy started taking me up the stairs.

"Where are you taking me Nancy?"

"To my bedroom, boyfriend of mine; so we can get better aquainted (smirk)."

"But what about your parents?"

"Oh they're away visiting relatives and won't be back until late tomorrow
night."

When we entered Nancy's bedroom, the 120 pound girl twisted my arm in such a
way that she easily flipped my 210 pound body onto her bed; then jumped on top
of me. "What will I tell Sharon?" I asked.

"Leave Sharon to me honeybunch. I have a few scores to settle with that
pompous bitch anyway."

"What are you going to do to her?"

Nancy giggled. "I think I'll invite her into the women's gym...for a little
*discussion*."