Vera's words, her justifications for her own stance, her contempt for Cala and herself did not move Pia, except to make her feel more of her futile rage.
She might have thought differently at some point, but Vera's own actions had proven her a liar. Vera had come while watching Cala have some sort of nervous breakdown. No one who did that sort of thing had the right to judge others.

Who is she trying to fool? Us or herself?

And then Cala spoke. She sounded so angry, yet also so lost. Even though she knew little about what she spoke about, the emotions behind it were so close to Pia's own, it almost hurt.
Some of what Cala said she did understand. Understand all too well.

"..but I will even go back to that sadistic asshole in the basement that wanted me for a porn movie…"

That one struck too close to home. Pia had never been to the basement. She had not known about any porn movies, but from her own experiences, she could easily guess what kind of films this "sadistic bastard" was making. That someone had done something like that, or even just wanted to do it, to this bright, lively, spirited woman..
And Cala even offered to go back to it! For her sake! That was brave, very brave. But also unbearable.

Pia rose and put her arms around the Arab girl, pressing herself against her. Perhaps she sought to comfort the other girl, perhaps she hoped to comfort herself.
"Did they.. oh God.. Cala.. I am sorry..", she whispered.

Cala should not be surprised that she was ignored then and now. The Head Girl had been through this circle many times. She catches the woman, the Arab would argue saying it was not bad to break the rule, Vera would punish her, Cala would beg that she will get better. This has happened over and over again. The only truth the woman kept was that her grades were above the standard. But such things are completely useless if the brat cannot follow even the simplest of rules and directions. No, there was no point in repeating a lecture already told too many times already.

She could feel the hopelessness flowing out from Cala. But that was nothing new as well. The brat made incredible efforts to get back into this position despite the punishments and promises. Vera could only wonder if such promises would hold any meaning to the Arab if they were made to Pia but such a thought merely annoyed her further. Once again she bent backwards only to be taken advantage of her trust and kindness, she cannot say she was surprised at this point.

After unlocking the doors, she returned to feel the boiling rage from Pia. This brat was just as foolish. If this little one tried to show even half the spine she had now before Cala's advances, they would not be in this situation. If the woman stood up for herself and put forth the effort to obey her instructions and the rules, this would never had come to pass. Their actions led to this and no matter how much they kick and scream about it, it was their fault.

Vera returned with the keys, putting it back in her bags before picking them up. There was no point in staying. The mood was killed and now her small time off will be spent making a report to the staff and headmasters. If they are lucky they may only get the basement and if they were not... Well she will not have to worry about either of them again. Not giving either useless pile of space a single word or look, the Head Girl left the pool to return to her office.

Once more Vera turned her back on me. Left me standing without a word. The rage in my heart coalesced and flowed like hot water in my veins. I was beyond carrying…pushed to the point of breaking and then beyond.

Like a malevolent spirit had come to posses the body I called my own I watched the action from afar. The body I knew was Cala reacted. Piss and vinegar flowed in my veins and boiled any sense of responsible behavior from my brain. I struck.

The wet suit smacks Vera in the squire of her back with a load squishy thud.

‘teach you to turn your back on me like I am nothing you bitch’, my bare feet smacking on the concrete, as I run…run as fast as I can muster. Our bodies collide. Grasping that fine silver hair I yank it downwards with all the strength I can muster. Nails rake along her arm leaving a fine trail of red in their wake. Time and motion slows, my mouth spewing the hatred I feel.

“You will not never say another thing you fucking cow…you’ll not hurt her…not me…not no one” I scream, arms flailing, claws out.

I’d never learned to fight. There was nothing fancy, just pure hatred and desperation. A desperate longing to see something safe, someone safe even if it meant I went down. Beyond that there was no thought. No planning, no idea what might come of this action because deep inside I had had it.

‘Not for us to fuck in public…..but ok for you to rape her in public…force her as I trembled in fear. Never again. … never again I vowed. One less head girl….one less dream for me. It did not matter…nothing mattered…but to end it now.’ Thoughts crashed in my head like and left so many wrecks on the road my brain no longer processed.

Pia stared in horror as Cala went for Vera. At first her brain needed a split moment to even comprehend what was happening. A split moment too much. She might have managed to stop Cala at some point but not now.

"Cala! Please, no!", she yelled out. Not much of a point. Events were already unfolding too rapidly, the momentum of the situation almost physical.

This is so bad! This is so bad! This is awful!

If Cala managed to hurt Vera.. As satisfying the thought felt, then the administration would be forced to do something. And that would end up with Cala being hurt. Or Vera would hurt Cala. Same result.

Pia bolted after Cala. Hopefully she would be to stop this somehow. Pia was not a fighter. She had fought against the monsters, naturally, but that would not help here. Her only hope would be to force herself in between them somehow. If she arrived in time.

But there was one more thing she might do. One, desperate thing.. Would she dare? That would be risky in its own way..

The Head Girl slowed to a stop when she felt a sudden burst of emotion. She could not describe the sensation any other way but as a snap. The smack of the wet swimsuit brought Vera turning around as she could hear Cala's footsteps stomping towards her like a frantic child trying to raise her hand to a parent.

With both the emotional snap and the wet suit hitting her, Vera had enough time to brace herself for the charging woman. The two glistening bodies clashed into one another. A hand reached and grabbed strands of the Head Girl's silver hair. She clenched her jaw as pain lanced into the roots of her lovely hair. The brat had completely lost it. It trully was pathetic.

Nails rack down the Head Girl's arm leaving behind a trail of red that stung like a thousand needles. But she remained calm. She had experience with some self defense classes long before arriving to the island and she had a real kunoichi, Taisie, teaching her even more. Vera eyes narrowed slightly as she ignored the flailing limbs Her arm suddenly snapped out as her palm sank into Cala's solar plexus.

The soft spot of the body, the blow would easily force the air out of the crazed woman's lungs. She then reached up and pressed her hand into the student's face. Vera's eyes flick over at the approaching Pia. She could barely make out the more worried aura through all the rage coming from Cala. With a sigh, she steps her leg behind the Arab's while pushing the woman's head back. This would force Cala to stumble backwards towards her lover.

She waited to see Pia catch the woman before turning again. Despite the obvious assault, Vera had nothing to say to either of them. Her day was growing more and more sour by moment. But she was always calm and calculating. This was merely another crime to add to the list when she sends her report up the chain.

Pain erupted and rolled along my spin with a thousand pinpricks. The air was out of my sails as well as my lungs as motion stopped and my vision sparkled with a thousand points of light. Staggering backwards as suddenly as I had gone forwards I fell into Pai’s arms.

What fell into her arms was a gaggle of limbs and mush. Gasping for air and not finding any I could not get the fire in my lungs to go away. In mere seconds I had been transformed into a child, unable to even breath as I fought once more for my life. This time water was not the issue, I could not find a way to breathe on land.

Arms held me…knees hitting the pavement with a spike of pain. Like a rag doll I fell to the ground, only Pia saved me from more pain. Flopping over forwards my palms hit and then arms refused to break the fall….shoulders and head did the deed instead.

I lay gasping on the ground…but now that I was on my elbows and knees I could breath. I drew the air in…let it go in long draughts oblivious of the goings on around me. But the rage was over as quickly as it began and my more rational side started to take over.

“I suppose now I am in real trouble…”

Pia almost stumbled backwards as Cala was pushed into her arms. He tried to hold on to Cala, trying as best as she could to prevent her from falling and injuring herself. She only succeeded halfway, breaking the fall, but not stopping it. Instead she too fell, but managed to break the fall with her hands.

"Please, please..", she mumbled, not quite sure what she begged for. For Cala to be okay? For Cala to calm down?
Had Vera hurt her? Pia had not been able to exactly what the white haired head girl had done. She hugged Cala tightly, rocking her gently, like a child.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt?", she whispered.

But the Arab girl seemed fine. She even spoke, her voice without the unreasoning rage she had displayed earlier. Pia breathed a sigh of relief. She pressed her face into the Cala's slender, elegant neck, breathing in the smell of her skin and hair.

"No, Beautiful. I don't think we could get ourself into more trouble in one day, than we already have. And it is we that are in trouble, not you. I'll try to think of something, speak to her, maybe. Later. Just don't.. don't scare me like that anymore, please?"

Strangely maybe, the situation considered, but Pia felt a wave of happiness. A slight touch of her old optimism. Yes, they were into it up to their chins, but at least there had been no real fight. It could have gone so much worse. An injured head girl. That would have consequences. Or an injured Cala.. Or worse. How ugly would a situation have to get before the school decided it was better not to have any witnesses around? Pia had considered a desperate move, but had not need to.

And, hey, this is Shokushu Island, right? We are in danger. What else is new? Just another hazard to negotiate, right? ..right?

Her touch was southing, her warm soft face nuzzled in my neck as I sat slowly catching up with my breath. I ran an arm around her, holding her closer, using the rock of her emotion to cling to and ground me for a moment. I breathed…each breath hurt a little but it would eventually pass of that I was sure. If I was to take on Vera in the future I would need to learn a few things. In retrospect I never stood a chance and she had made short work of me.

The chuckle escaped my lips. The whole fight rolling through my head…well the five seconds of it. Laughter …then somber thought. I was in real trouble now…but…but there might be a way to turn it yet.

“No…not crazy…I suck at fighting…she…she just plum nailed my ass to the floor and gadz it hurts. What she did was wrong. We need to go to admin and press formal charges…she raped you Pia…she did and it was wrong…so very wrong. That needs to change…she needs to go. Rules are rules and she has to live with them as well…and I know…I know I will get it too, but I will take my punishment so long as she gets punished as well. Maybe no more head girl…at least not that one.” My head dismissively moving in the direction Vera has departed us from.

“What do you think?”

I hurt, I’m naked…and this gorgeous girl has been hurt in a different way by the dorm bully. I really didn’t care much what happened so long as Vera suffered.

"No.. no.. not the administration." Pia shook her head. "That won't do anything. Bad things happen here.. stuff happens to some girls.. they get covered up.. I don't think they will do anything. What Vera did was a cruel, sadistic thing, but little compared to.. It was not little! She came when she watched you suffer! But I have survived worse."

A lot worse. Some of it she might explain to Cala one day, some of it, she did not even have the words, or the memories, to describe. She remembered the first time (or was it? There was missing periods in her memory), the one at the black sand beach. She had been violated for hours. She had barely managed to get home. Had the nurse known? Obviously. Pia got painkillers and a few days off. And she knew she was not unique.

"If Vera get involved in something so bad nothing can explain it away, I am sure she will be punished. But not before."

She rested her cheek against Cala's back, savoring the closeness.
"But thanks for saying what you did. I-I don't ever want you to get hurt because of me. You really must not. But thanks for.. not sure how to put this.. caring enough to be angry, I guess. You really are brave, you know."

The blush went from head to toes. I was not brave…I’d not been able to get back in the water. That was stupid…and I’d watched helpless while Vera had made Pia do things because of my lack of bravery. But to say more was stupid. And I really wasn’t. At least I hoped so. If Pia didn’t want to go to admin then I would. I would file that complaint and see the deed done


“OK”, I lied and that did not sit well on my stomach “ I’m sure I will get hurt all on my own..

Laughing the sounds rumbling over soft lips.

Laughing did hurt…a lot of things hurt both inside and out right then. I also suspected that things were not quite right. The punishments I had helped Vera with just seemed a bit on the side of evil. The incident in the basement still had me shudder when it came to men. And then there was my room…the sanctity of my own room had been invaded. I lived in fear now. I didn’t want to show it…did what I could to function and make the grades and stay out of trouble. Somehow I suspected given Vera’s ways that if I did not preempt her my life was going to hell.

I stopped laughing at that thought. And looked faraway….I had to do something.

ia noticed that Cala's laughter had stopped, but failed to realize what Cala had been thinking.
Truth was, she admired the other girl more than a little. Sure, attacking Vera had been kind of stupid, but Pia had not been on her cleverest side today herself. And Cala, this beautiful and witty and well, sexy woman had at least tried. She had plunged into the water, she had gone up against Vera. And she had done it on Pia's behalf. Shamefully, Pia had to acknowledge that the only thing she had done was to go down on her knees when bidden.

Pia wished to hear Cala laugh again. Maybe she would, if this thing could be sorted out somehow. Pia had to think about that bit. Come up with something. But not right now.

She would even whore herself out again, if that was what it takes, but in that case, she would make sure it would amount to something.

"Uh.. maybe we should think about leaving?", she finally said, "I think I am starting to hate the smell of chlorine and water. If we are going to continue our lessons another time, I would rather do it in healthy, free saltwater than in this place."

Yeah…I was going crazy. Dad putting me on that plane. The bad porn trip downstairs. Vera’s rescue from that. The punishments of other students. It was like this place was all about sex, but in a really dark way. Yet, everyday was spent trying to be non-sexual. Uniforms, proper behavior…all the decorum. Or was it all a vast façade but over an underlying rot.?

Too much thought. And Pia was right…it was time to get out of here….I hated it here.

I shook my head, the strange Egyptian hair style that I now wore still clinging to my skin in wet heaps. I was Iraqi…not Egyptian. But nobody seemed to take notice of that important distinction. My mind was wandering…and the aches of that terrible swift fight were now letting me know I had done something really stupid.

“yeah, gottah get outtah this place, Isn’t that a song? Oh …my mind is spastic…really spastic…and shit, I can’t keep my hands from shaking. You know I think I have really gone and done it now. But Vera needs to pay…and she is gonna pay one way or the other.”

I really wasn’t a vindictive person. I mean when Wendy started those rumors about me after I fucked her boyfriend it wasn’t like I went out of my way to see the scank brought down a notch or two. Vera needed pruning and I has some shears.

"Yeah, maybe one day she will..", Pia said. She could understand Cala's anger, even shared it. At Vera and Cala abviously had quite a history together. This was obviously not their first confrontation, and pretty cetainly not their last.

Still, Pia wondered if their relationship was not purely adversial. Hadn't Cala mentioned something about Vera being like an older sister? She had to find out about that one day, she knew. But right now might not be the best time to ask.

"Look at you! You are shaking! Poor thing!". Pia's concern was likely obvious from her voice, and from the look in her blue eyes.
She clutched Cala's hands in her own, and leaned down to kiss the fingertips. She turned to face Cala, and reched out to touch her hair, brushing a few strands away from her face. She really had nice hair, Pia thought, and her hairstyle suited her well.

She rose to her feet, very slowly, still holding Cala's hands with one of her own. She nodded in the direction of the exit and the showers.
"She should have had time to finish now. Shall we go? Please?"

The fingers pulsed within my grip. The hope of life and happiness carried in the warm touch. Could it be enough?

My heart thought felt black and heavy. I wanted my revenge, wanted it because Vera had hurt Pia, not because of what she had done to me. She had used both of us like so much garbage and I did not like feeling like dirt. It was that same feeling I had gotten in the basement. That I was nothing but a hole between my legs to be used by that…that man. It only made it worse that I enjoyed it in the end. At least with Pia I had not enjoyed watching what Vera made her do.

I needed to learn to accept the warmth of Pia’s touch. I wanted to know more about her and try and shed the blackness that clung to me, smothering me with its inky cold heart.

“you are soooo right.” I tugged her in the direction of the locker room. I wanted out of here…quick change and time to be gone.

“ Time to get the uniforms and be gone.” The blue metal door squeaks slightly as it opens. Other than my breath and bare wet feet upon the tile not a thing can be heard. No, not quite correct, there is a faint drip…one slow ping after the other coming from the showers. Showers I will avoid in order to hasten my departure from the memories of this place.

I bring up my hand to the edge of her face and gently nudge the wet strands of blonde hair from before those big blue eyes of hers.

“I am so glad I met you.” The smile grows upon my face, hopefully that face is not nearly so serious as it has been. “meet me in my room…please, room 112, I think I even have some double chocolate fudge ice cream in that old clunky refrigerator they gave me. Call it a pajama party…i….I don’t want to be alone…we, well we can watch a movie or something.”

Only then do I release her. Only then so I feel so terribly vulnerable, as if an important part of me has left even though she still stands close.

Cala seemed to be in a hurry to leave. Pia most certainly did not protest. She need to be elsewhere, to be outside. She needed to think, to sort herself out. She had not realized it before, but she was getting exhausted. What had happened, how she felt, it all need to sort itself out.


"I-I would love to visit you! Ice cream and a movie, that..that sounds great!"
Suddenly, Pia felt awkward and clumsy. But also glad. Being invited over to her place made Pia feel she had passed a threshold, in a way. She missed Cala's touch, but she hoped she would feel it again.
Room 112. Tonight.


Not sure what to do, Pia went over to her things. She brought out her towel and started to dry herself.