Unsolved Mystery

Nadine threw back her long, stringy, blond hair away from her pudgy face. As she smacked on a gob of chewing gum in her mouth, she gave Quirky a gummy smile. Quirky could only hope the fear in heart did not show on her face. Quirky looked down quickly before any look could be misinterpreted by the hefty and mean Nadine.

Quirky could hear the sound of a fist being punched into a hand. She risked a glance and looked Nadine's way and sure enough Nadine was smiling at her punching her fist into her other hand.

Gulp.

Quirky was gonna get it.

Nadine was going to whup Quirky's butt.

An hour earlier, Nadine and Quirky shared Study Hall together. There should be a rule that Study Hall should never be the last hour of a high-school day. The beasts are ready to roar and let loose by the end of the day. Those last forty minutes of the school day in Study Hall just served to agitate the rumblings of beastly high-schoolers.

And on one particular day, Nadine was a beast.

And I was the prey.

As I have previously mentioned, I was always the quiet type during my school years. And on this day after learning of Nadine's intentions, I was quieter than quiet. I was petrified with fear. To this day, I still do not know why Nadine had decided I needed a butt beating.

Hoping to avoid my doom, I remember waiting a few extra minutes after the final bell, so hopefully the school bus picking up Nadine would show up a little early and perhaps she would be long gone by the time I reached her bus stop area.

Unfortunately, no such luck.

She saw me before I saw her. But there was no mistaking the glint of evil shining from her eyes and teeth.

An inner panic started pulsing through my veins. I had a decision to make. Do I just walk directly towards her which would have been my normal route to walk home, or do I try to avoid her by walking 50 feet out my way?

It was a tough decision, especially for a cowardly Quirky like me.

All too quickly, I found myself at the fork in the path. One direction led to physical pain, another direction led to safety with the promise of future physical pain. Making my decision, I put my head down, and trudged forward, towards Nadine.

Eeek.

I could hear the punching get louder.

She spoke to me as soon as I was near her.

"I'm going to beat the crap out of you."

Quirky looked up in alarm. Her eyes widened in fear. Nadine continued.

"Oh don't give me that look, you know what you did and now you're going to pay for it."

Nadine approached a still mute Quirky and gave her a hard shove.

"What? Are you going to cry like a baby?"

Quirky was still suffering from an inner horror and panic and all she could think of was the people standing around and watching the events unfold of her probable and untimely death. Quirky asked herself silently, "What should I do?"

Nadine: "Didn't you hear me? You will NOT do that again, got it?"

Quirky nods affirmatively.

Nadine punch-pushes Quirky one more time as if for reinforcement.

Nadine waddled away in her flip-flops and cotton dress to her school bus and got on board. Quirky kept walking with her head down. As she walked out of the school parking lot, she heard the bus zoom by and looked up to see a smiling Nadine watching her.

Quirky sighed a sigh of relief.

As Quirky continued walking, she replayed the entire beat-up scene in her mind. And one thing kept nagging at her.

What had she done to Nadine, that Nadine was so upset?

Yeah, Quirky agreed to "never do it again," but she had no clue what "it" was. She only knew she never wanted Nadine to beat her up again.

To this day, I still don't know what it was about. But every time I meet a woman named Nadine, I give her an extra careful look.

You never know when a "Nadine" might resurface to cause me emotional or physical pain.

It could happen.

Have you ever watched thirty seconds of The Jerry Springer Show?

Then you know.

It could happen.

In the meantime, I steer clear of any woman named Nadine.

Because some things are better left alone.

This is one unsolved mystery from my past.

And I aim to keep it that way.


P.S. Please don't let Nadine be reading this! Please!