Status Adjustment
Part 1
Tina bowed forward from the waist, a sign of respect and honor to Mr. Hatomoto
and he gestured the same in return. The large Japanese man dwarfed the
diminutive young girl as he placed a fatherly like arm around her shoulders and
casually walked her to the nearby couch where they sat down. The man spoke in
slightly broken english with an oriental accent.
"I so very proud of you Tina, you earn black belt just one year. you very
splendid, very hard working student, one of my best."
The still perspiring girl with the mousy brown hair smiled broadly as she put on
a pair of horn rimmed glasses with lenses resembling the bottom of coke bottles.
"Thank you so much Mr. Hatomoto, I am also proud of myself but I will forever be
in your debt for what you have done for me, I feel like a different, self
confident person now."
"Always remember Tina, Karate art of self defense, always use with honor, no act
of aggression."
Tina nodded her head in agreement.
"Yes Mr. Hatomoto, I will always remember what you have taught me."
As usual, Tina rode the bus home from her lessons. In a near slumber state her
head rested against the window pane, tapping it lightly in unison with the
swaying motion of the bus. Her mind was busy reflecting back over the years,
most of them not very happy. She had always been much smaller than the other
kids, even now, eighteen years old and a senior in high school she was barely
five feet tall and only weighed eighty pounds soaking wet. Too worsen matters,
she wasn't small cute, she was small, not so cute, then there was the damn coke
bottle glasses. She had schooled with most of the same kids since the third
grade and just a few had befriended her, of course it was those that were pretty
much in the same boat as she was. They had all been teased unmercifully by the
"in crowd", called every cruel name that could be thought of and even banished
them from social groups and activities. Tina thought that by high school the
taunting would end or at least subside somewhat but it hadn't and she believed
that it hadn't because of one single person, Bonnie Clarke.
Bonnie lived in the next block and for some reason took special delight in
tormenting Tina at every opportunity, had so since grade school. Due to Bonnie's
social status, most of the other kids would just follow her lead and then get
caught up in the crowd frenzy of the moment. Bonnie had always been the queen,
right through grade school, middle school and now high school. She was blonde,
blue-eyed,a curvy five foot eight, having started developing breasts in the
sixth grade and of course, what else?, a cheerleader and dating the campus hunk,
Johnny Martin. Bonnie didn't just limit her tormenting to Tina however, at one
time or another she got around to all of the nerdy group. Tina recalled one
particularly embarrassing incident that one of her few friends, Timmie Watson
suffered at the hands of Bonnie and her cohorts. At the prompting of Bonnie, two
members of the football team wrestled Timmie to the ground, removed his pants
and ran them up the flag pole. A school yard full of students cheered and
laughed hysterically as he hastily rode off on his bike sans his Levis.
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As was the usual friday routine for Bonnie and her two closest cheerleader
friends, Linda and Yvonne, they were on their way home after practice to quickly
prim, cleanup and get ready for Teensters. Teensters was a dance held every
friday night at the local Rotary club to give high school kids something to do
that they enjoyed and to help keep them out of trouble. It was a big deal,
something they looked forward too, it was a good place to mingle with the
opposite sex and an opportunity to maybe meet that someone special. Of course
for Bonnie it was the perfect venue, a stage, if you will to preen and strut in
front of the envious girls and the panting boys.
Tina was busy mowing her lawn when the three girls, still wearing their
cheerleader outfits strolled by. Never missing an opportunity, Bonnie approached
her, followed closely by her two friends.
"Well, if it isn't skinny Tina, have you guys ever seen anyone so skinny?" "If
she stuck her tongue out, she'd look like a zipper."
This brought a giggle from the three girls but Tina ignored them, the tall
blonde wouldn't let it drop, though.
"Hey Tina, are we going to see you at Teensters tonight?", Bonnie asked her,
knowing full well that she had never once been there.
Tina stopped mowing and faced Bonnie, still some feet away.
"When are you going to let it go Bonnie?, just back off."
Bonnie was somewhat surprised, this was the first time Tina had talked back or
defended herself in anyway but she was not the least bit intimidated.
"Are you going to make me back off, Skinny?"
"If I have to, I will."
Bonnie looked at her two friends and laughed, they were smiling but not
laughing, they had that, you've just been challenged look on their faces. The
athletic blonde had no fear whatsoever of the rail thin girl, a good eight
inches shorter than she was. Bonnie moved menacingly towards her, her hands out
in front as if to grab her. Like a cat, Tina went down low, placed her left leg
in front of Bonnie's legs and with a well placed kick with her right leg to the
back of Bonnie's knees she sent the surprised blonde sprawling belly first onto
the fresh cut lawn. Before Bonnie could compose her thoughts, Tina knelt beside
her, the skinny little girl held a handful of blonde hair in her left hand and
Bonnie's right arm in a hammerlock with her other hand. Tina used Bonnie's hair
to pull her head straight back and at the same time held her arm high up between
her shoulder blades with her wrist painfully bent and ready to be snapped with
only the slightest pressure. The tall blonde was in obvious distress and
incapable of escape. Tina turned to Bonnie's friends.
"Try to help her or come any closer and I'll break her wrist, I swear I will."
"No!, no!, stay back." Bonnie's voice was raspy and urgent.
Tina turned her attention back to her immobile captive.
"Now Bonnie, I'm not asking you, I'm telling you to back off, is there any part
of back off that you don't understand?"
"Ok, ok, I understand, now let me up, your hurting me for god sakes."
"Not so fast, I want to hear an apology for attacking me."
Bonnie remained silent, refusing to speak the humiliating words but spat them
out freely when Tina applied pressure to her arm and wrist.
"I'm sorry, god damn it, I'm sorry for attacking you."
The skinny young girl smiled, some small amount of retribution after all these
years, she thought. When Tina finally let her up, Bonnie avoided eye contact
with all three girls. The left side of her face was smeared with dirt and her
powder blue outfit streaked with grass stains and speckled with tiny particles
of fresh cut grass. The debased blonde did not speak a word until the trio were
a ways from Tina's house.
"That skinny little bitch was lucky and caught me off guard, I'll kick the shit
out of her next time and if either of you breathe a word of this to anyone,
especially Johnny, I'll kick the shit out of you too."
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