We Meet Again

In the days afterwards, I wondered whether I should return at all. I stayed in my house and contemplated how it had all gone so wrong. How many high school teens could say they had been stripped naked by their archenemies in a fair fight?

To my surprise, the aftermath of the Nikki situation wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. Both our circles of friends decided to keep quiet. Both of us were suspended and our parents weren’t happy, but that was to be expected. It was embarrassing and it was humiliating, yet I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I didn’t forget a single moment and I’m not sure I wanted to.

Part of me wanted to never go back to school again and another part of me wanted a rematch. I knew this wasn’t over.

It was still a warm autumn and grade 11 wasn’t going to come to an end for almost a whole year. I thought about what I was going to say and whether I should say anything to Nikki, but nothing happened. We weren’t in the same classes so it was easy to stay away from her.

I did see her once in the lunch room, but I turned away. I couldn’t look her in the eye. That funny feeling in my stomach came back again and I didn’t speak until she left. She barely glanced at me, but I could sense her presence looming over me. Was it fear? Fear of being stripped again?

This part of the story starts when I was walking home from school. I ran my hand through my pink and purple hair as I cut through a little park with a big pond sits in the middle. It’s always empty and it’s a great shortcut to take, or a place to skip school.

That’s when I spotted Nikki. My heart started to race and I bit my lip. I didn’t want to be in my panties in public again. I wasn’t ready to fight now.

Last time I had an advantage, but today all I was wearing was a black pair of skinny jeans and a t-shirt underneath my black hoodie. I could have turned around, but I kept walking. Her eyes were fixed on me, so I knew that this wasn’t a coincidence.

She had followed me and found out which routes and shortcuts I liked to take.

My heart raced. Should I stand my ground and put an end to this situation or turn around and run?