"Let bravery be thy choice, but not bravado." 
-Menander (342 BC D 292 BC)

**********


"And you believed her?!" 
 
That's was the first thing I remember coming out of Sharon's 
mouth, or something to that effect. Immediately she launched 
into a defensive diatribe, but that was Sharon's way of 
convincing someone she was right, when she in fact knew she 
was wrong; so first she gets defensive, then goes on the 
offensive. Anyway Sharon was getting all excited, her face 
becoming red as she waved her arms out to her side like she 
was trying to take off for flight or something. 
 
Oh yeah, let me backup, this is all occurring right after I came 
bursting into the apartment and verbally blasted Sharon about 
what problems her manipulations were causing, specifically my 
run in with Courtney. So anyway, I'm getting an earful of....

"That girl (Courtney) is full of crap!" 

"You shouldn't doubt me!"

....and on, and on....
 
You see when you deal with people like Sharon who thinks two-
wrongs-make-a-right I might as well turn around and try to 
reason with the picture hanging on the wall behind me. (But I 
hate that picture hanging on the wall, it's that modern art crap 
Sharon likes, anyway that's way off on another tangent.)
 
But Sharon quickly collected herself she knew blowing up at me 
was not the right thing to do and took a deep breath before 
walking up to me, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder "I'm 
sorry for pulling you into this. But please believe me they are 
just playing mind games with you." I wanted to believe her, I 
didn't want to argue with her.

**********

Things did seem to calm down but I also believe in the 'calm 
before the storm' so the more quiet Sharon was the more 
worried I became. Honestly I didn't want to know because I had 
some last minute touches to put on some research papers and 
exams, and wanted to get all the administrative stuff submitted 
ahead of time in order to graduate in the Spring. Where has the 
time gone? So many years in school have come and gone and 
I was getting close to graduation!

I had walked from the apartment to campus one day it was one 
of those beautiful, early Spring days....the sky so crystal clear 
that I felt like I could almost see into the deep, dark, blue void 
above (God I sound like a cheesy greeting card or something). 
So I just enjoyed the walk, everything was in full bloom as I 
strolled along, and I had a brand new pair of running shoes on, 
so my feet were gleefully singing in their new confines! (I love a 
new pair of good running shoes!) So my mood was up beat, so 
much so that I even enjoyed the stares and comments from 
guys as I just walked along with this big, goofy smile on my 
face. 

Sometimes the flattery is nice, it's even amusing to watch 
grown men, dressed in their business suits obviously engaged 
in some heavy conversation suddenly stop and stare. That is 
the power we have over you guys, and on occasion I enjoy it. 
My yellow tank top was drawing a lot of attention, I never knew 
so many people appreciated yellow. Oh please, nobody was 
looking at my boobs <evil grin>. For that matter, I doubt the 
'twisting neck' stares were riveted to my ass either, but I guess 
snug, khaki short-shorts have been known to do that, just a 
lingering theory I have.
 
So I had some free time this afternoon as I walked; Do I shop? 
Just hang out? Crud Nikki is at her part time job right now so 
scratch that possibility. Maybe I'll just kick back in the park and 
see if any friends are there?

"Corbin! Corbin!" 
 
'Huh?' I stop and look over my shoulder, its Chris and he's 
juggling a backpack and some other stuff while trying to catch 
up to me. I don't think I will ever be able to free him of all his 
dorky mannerisms, but I'm still trying.
 
"Oh, hey Chris" I smile, give him a hug and tell him it's good to 
see him. I grab his shoulder strap and pull it up on his 
shoulders and tell him to stand up straight. Still he's like a 
changed person, but still a tad on the geeky side, but that's 
okay. I don't see his girlfriend with him, which is just as well 
because she doesn't like me, which is more Chris's fault then 
mine or anyone else's. After Chris and I finished our class 
project he developed a bad habit of speaking 'highly' of me, 
especially around Megan (his girlfriend). Which is a big 
mistake, we don't want to hear about how you guys idolize 
other women, its very annoying. So I had to tell Chris to 'chill' 
on the 'Corbin-this and Corbin-that' stuff and he understood 
what I was getting at. 
 
I was either working out, studying, or dating Nikki, and most 
importantly avoiding any issues with Sharon's Sorority drama. 

On another side note (and I know I have mentioned this before) 
it was extremely IRRITATING to be on the receiving end of so 
many juvenal/brain-dead comments after Nikki and I started 
dating, mostly coming from stupid guys, 
'Damn you two girls are so hot!'
'Come on, will you two kiss, just once!' 

How rude, how offensive! You want us to kiss for you? Like 
some damn form of entertainment? The first time that ever 
happened Nikki calmly turned to the two guys, looked them 
each straight in the face and said 'Your being rude, don't talk to 
us and now we are leaving because of you.' She turned around 
grab me by the hand and we left, no big blow up or yelling (my 
preferred choice with a nice punch to the gut!). 

'Its' better to give them a shameful look and discard them as if 
they were useless, that kind of response from women makes 
men feel the most pathetic. And you know what? 99.99% of the 
time those guys would track us down to apologize profusely for 
acting stupid around us. Sometimes they would still be drunk 
when trying to apologize. A slurring, drunken apology is 
questionably sincere I must say. 

I thought about leaving this next comment out because it's 
childish, but thought I would mention it anyway; Nik and I were 
voted by a few of the Fraternities as the best looking couple on 
campus, how goofy!


**********


Right before I went back into the gym to hit the free weights I 
rested my body for about three days straight, and what a world 
of difference that can make. 

Now I realize that to most of you this is boring but just suck it up 
and read on! Or stop reading, leave and then go stick your 
head in the toilet and flush several times, I don't really care! 

Now where was I? Oh yeah it's off to the gym!
 
It was mid afternoon and people were packed in that stinky 
place, I rarely came to the gym during the middle of the day 
because of crowd control problems. What I mean is there are 
'crowds' and I have a 'problem' with that.
 
I jammed my fingers thru my gloves to get ready to lift, I don't 
normally wear gloves but the calluses on my hands were 
getting bad, to the point I was having to take scissors and cut 
them off sometimes. There are other ways, gloves included, to 
deal with this issue, but I'm too lazy...*snip*..*snip* no more 
calluses, just some ugly cut up skin. Anyway, I've started 
wearing gloves sometimes and rubbing lotion on my hands 
every night, because I like to them to be nice and soft for my 
girlfriend if you must know! 

I then realize that over the past several days I have never seen 
that girl Courtney (the one that threatened to kick my ass, HA! 
Get in line!) at the gym, for a girl that has quickly gained a 
reputation for being so strong and tough I never see her 
working out.  Well I spoke to soon, there she is! Walking into 
the weight room with the usual gaggle of 'Courtney worshipers' 
in tow as I continue to adjust the Velcro strap from my gloves 
around each wrist. She doesn't see me....yet.
 
In fact, since our run-in that evening at the Jacuzzi, we've not 
really seen or spoken to one another, it was as if we had never 
even met. Did that moment in the Jacuzzi even really happen? 
It seems like a fading memory...maybe a dream?
 
But it's no dream that I know my way around a gym. I can feel 
my heart rate increase as I push my little headphones in place 
and hear Linkin Park's 'Papercut' reverberate into my eardrums. 
I still vividly remember looking down at the black tattered gloves 
and thinking 'You've got a month to go Corbin. Just one month 
before I either move onto graduate school or the workplace. But 
then my alter-ego kicks in 'You also have worked too hard to 
rollover or to keep trying to fly under everyone's radar.' Maybe 
that wasn't the smartest pep talk I ever gave myself, but it's 
better to try and make some calculated stand then to keep 
stuffing the cork into my emotions. I could just feel a blow up 
coming. 

I finished putting another plate on the bar and had just put the 
clamp in place when I glanced up again, 'Now Courtney sees 
me' I think, as she is sitting on a piece of equipment across the 
room, staring at me and I give her this little smirk before turning 
away. I didn't really care how she felt or what expression she 
gave me in return, she was nothing to me now, a fly to be 
swatted when the time came (Awfully arrogant of me to think 
that huh? Well, with so little time in school left, I didn't give a 
flying fuck anymore).
 
I don't know why I take Sharon's side...I guess that makes me 
her witless accomplice.
 
Anyway back to 'Not giving a flying fuck' that is what I was all 
about, having some attitude. Studying, lifting, and dating Nikki 
was really what it all came down to and various other forms of 
exercising; running, soccer, cycling, hiking...you name it. During 
those last few days everyone and everything got a lot of 
attitude from me, except dear Nikki, I saved all my sweetness 
and loving for her.
 
I suppose it was a somewhat calculated move on my part, 
especially if I knew someone had an intense dislike for Sharon 
(Why do I protect her?). I picked my battles too because I was 
maneuvering in for the kill, but wasn't going to be the one who 
made the first move, oh no, I was going to draw Courtney out 
and make her come to me. You see I had become curious if 
this girl had the nerve to follow thru on her threat, that if I took 
sides that she would 'kick my ass'. Well I definitely put the vibe 
out there that I was taking sides with Sharon and I was blunt 
about it. Telling several guys and girls to go and do unpleasant 
things to themselves and probably included a few of their family 
members whenever I got the chance.
 

**********

 
Has anyone heard of these two quotes? 
"Ask and ye' shall receive..." or 
"Be careful what you wish for..."

  
**********


"See you there!" I said and slipped my cell phone into my 
pocket. Nikki was meeting me at a big pre-graduation party. I 
was so giddy with excitement to see her that I walked briskly 
knowing I would probably be there way ahead of her! I arrived 
and started to mingle and began to feel sadness, seeing faces 
that I might never see again. Some are good friends, others not 
so good, but all in all I'll miss them all. I wondered into the back 
yard and picked up a cup of beer. I took a few sips, it wasn't 
bad by the way, whatever brand it was in that keg was mighty 
tasty. I recall it was kind of cool that night, right after a 
thunderstorm had rolled by. I notice and remember things like 
that, like the sounds outside of my bedroom window as I lay 
falling asleep. I was in a really good mood!

"Long time, how have you been?" I felt a gentle grip on my 
shoulder as the girl asked. That's how it started with a polite 
question. I turned and Courtney was standing there she too had 
a cup in her right hand, I could only assume she was enjoying 
the same tasty beverage as I was. Her eyes had that calm, 
confident stare that first annoyed me and still does.
 
"Fine." I say but draw it out with a cautious tone. My heart was 
pounding hard now because I wasn't sure what my next move 
would be. I guess I realized that according to my plan I wasn't 
going to have to make any move, that Courtney would pull one 
of her ultimatums and from there I guess we would get to 
fighting, right? I don't know., what if she doesn't do that? What 
if she doesn't start anything? What if I've been building this up 
in my own mind for days and days and then nothing! 

And what if we do fight and I get kicked out of 
school....arrested....God knows what else!
 
So as you can see, my little wheels are spinning in a million 
different directions.
 
"You going to miss all of this?" and she nods in the direction of 
the house where most of the partiers were assembled.
 
"Yeah." I sigh and take another sip of my beer.
 
"I saw you at the gym the other day, you're pretty impressive." 
She's studying me again and even smiling a bit.
 
"Glad you think so." I groan "Look Courtney the last time we 
talked you made some pretty harsh comments." There I put it 
out there, I wanted to cut the core issue between us.
 
"Oh that!" She smiles and leans back with a look of genuine 
surprise, "Oh please, that's petty stuff, I'm over that, if that's on 
your mind still." She's shaking her head back and forth as if 
surprised I have even given it a second thought.
 
"Really? You seemed pretty focused on it then, but now you've 
changed your mind?" I kind of keep her in my sights, but don't 
give her my full attention, it's more of a psychological thing to 
make her think I am only half interested what she has to say.
 
"Well I admit, maybe I bit off more then I could chew, cause 
from what I hear your into all that karate stuff and are a lot 
stronger then I originally anticipated, so you know," She does 
this casual shrug, "I'm not above admitting when I made a 
mistake." So now she does have my full attention, because 
what I am hearing totally blows me away, all of my hostility 
that's been building for days now is a swirling mass of 
confusion. I mean what the fuck! I must be loosing it, because 
this whole time I've been building up some big impending 
blowout while she's been kicking back, not even giving it a 
second thought. Am I stressed out or what! So I'm just standing 
there kind of dumbfounded and feeling like an idiot cause I've 
been such an ass to everyone and for what? For nothing! I felt 
totally embarrassed!
 
Courtney suddenly stopped talking and paused before saying, 
"There is one more thing." 
 
"What is it?" I blinked back to the present and inquired, to which 
Courtney then replied by smacking me in the face, mostly on 
my nose, with the meaty portion of her forearm, my head 
snapped back sending me toppling backward dazed. Now I'm 
really confused. Thank god the sharp end of her elbow didn't 
connect, that would have really hurt! 

Okay, I'm not confused anymore, that fucking bitch! It was all a 
setup! My defenses were totally down and now I was flat on my 
back, blinking thru tears, beer spilled all over the front of my 
nice shirt. I swiped the back of my arm under my sore nose and 
a large streak of red appeared over the back of my hand and 
fingers as I scrambled to get up 'Fuck I'm bleeding! That should 
be on the inside of my body!' 

Courtney started at me again, grabbing a fist full of my blonde 
hair (Ouch!) and then began pounding me with her other fist 
until I was back down on my knees covering up. I just tucked 
my head and tried to cover up as her fists pounded away on the 
back of my head and back. 

And now I'm hearing all this commotion like "Kick her ass!".
 'Huh? Kick whose ass?' I wonder.
 
"Get her Courtney!" I hear several more voices cheer. Oh okay, 
they want my ass to get kicked, I guess I have no friends all of 
the sudden. Well once I was on all fours I figured it was all over 
(Perfect, this is going according to my master plan!). So I just 
fall down and start to roll away from her, but what I really want 
to do is stop and inspect my nose to see if it's broken. 
Unfortunately as I scurried away I caught sight of that bitch 
coming after me, leaning over to grab me again! 

Between the surprise hit, the trickle of blood from my nose and 
the tears I feverishly kept trying to blink from my eyes, I was 
pretty disoriented. I remember getting to my knees as two 
hands gripped the back of my shirt, so I took a wild swing at 
something with my elbow just to get her off me. Since she was 
behind me I twisted my upper body letting my right elbow swing 
around. As luck would have it I connected with  something 
hard! I prayed it was her stupid head. I just wanted her off me 
so I could regroup. But shit that hurt, my elbow that is, and I 
mean like instant pain too (must have hit my funny bone, but 
nothing funny about it). I'm looking over my shoulder and see 
her stumbling back shaking her head a few times. I wasted no 
time getting to my feet and checked my nose real quick, the 
blood had pretty much stopped. I'm not a bleeder like some 
people I know who just seem to bleed forever before it dries up, 
or they run out of blood.
 
She wasn't that far from me, so with only two or three steps I 
grab her by the neck and hair and proceed to sling around in a 
semi-circle before letting her go. Her body crashes against a 
nearby wooden fence before stopping. You like that technique? 
It's a classic (I call it 'fling them as hard as you can into a hard 
object'). 

At this point a guy, didn't know him, had jumped in to break it 
up, but no way buddy I was going to have at this sneaky bitch, 
but this jerk is in my way pushing on my shoulders telling me to 
chill! Me?! She started it! (Again this is not part of the plan 
because it's giving her time to recover.) But whatever, I needed 
to catch my breath and calm down or else I would let my 
emotions get the best of me. So now the drunken crowd is 
spilling out onto the balcony and the tiny backyard. Just great, a 
nice audience now.
 
I came really close to kicking this guy in the nuts, but I've never 
done that before and I think it's a really low tactic, thankfully for 
him my knee connected with his gut totally knocking the wind 
out of him, good, he's down, and I toss him aside and reach for 
little Ms. Tricky-Sucker-Punch. I guess the smack upside her 
head, from my now throbbing elbow, sent her into la-la land for 
a few seconds because she is slow to get up and that's when I 
dive on top of her like a White Panther (like that? I like that 
description so I added in there for effect! Clever me:) I would 
have said 'Black Panther' but I'm not black, I'm white...I don't 
know if there is such a thing as a 'white panther' but I'm using it 
anyway. I push her back to the ground and quickly mounted 
her, I pinned her in the throat and stuffed my knees into her 
arm pits, so now I'm feeling pretty good because I feel in 
control but Courtney actually bucks me off! Amazing! The girl is 
strong as a freaking Ox!

I wish I could do a better job of describing everything, I know 
you folks probably want a lot of detail, but at this point I 
remember falling back off her as she rolls over on top of me. 
Well isn't this just a dandy little development. Also I'm sure we 
both looked like a couple of drunken retards rolling around. But 
neither one of us were drunk so I guess that just leaves us 
looking like.....oh never mind!
 
'Okay Corbin, think, for every problem there is a solution.' I 
don't know why I kept telling myself that but it seems to help 
and I started to 'feel' my way around her. Stop over-thinking this 
'where are her legs, arms and body?' I started to let my body 
respond just as if I were in my jiu-jitsu class, let the techniques 
I've been drilling come into play. I feel for her limbs as she 
grabs, digs and punches into me. I'm not fighting to control her 
limbs, no, I just want to reign in some control, which allows me 
to bridge and roll, YES! 'Nice job!' my subconscious says, 'Why 
thank you.' I respond (damn it no time for a conversation in my 
head I have to concentrate!) Okay once I gain full-mount I just 
focus on stabilizing my position and my breathing. 

'Pause, keep your balance, feel where she's going.' I tell myself 
as I keep my head tucked away from her punches. She grabs 
my hair a few times, which hurts like hell, but I'm also just 
letting her buck and thrash under me. 'Let her burn out all her 
energy reserves'. Yep those exact thoughts went thru my mind. 
Actually I can do two things at once you know, so while keeping 
my balance I work on getting a better handle on my breathing 
because I am going to need some energy in a few seconds. 
When she pulls on my hair again, I blast a few punches to her 
ribs until she lets go.

I overhear a few guys nearby say, "It's all over now! You got 
her Corbin!"
Well it's nice to hear my cheering section has become more 
vocal. :) 
 
Looking back I think I let my anger get the best of me in the 
beginning of the fight and that's where I started to lose focus. 
But now I had that focus back, and the fight was under my 
control, I could feel and hear her gasping for air as I began to 
regulate my own breathing. Her strength wasn't there anymore 
and I even think I hear her lightly sobbing a little, especially 
after rapping my knuckles against her ribs on both sides of her 
torso. Kind of hard to breath when someone keeps pounding on 
the sides of your body.

Then I had an odd thought, about those people in the crowd 
that had cheered this Courtney on, rooting for my demise. Well 
fuck them! Bunch of cowardly, worthless shit heads, all nice to 
my face a few seconds ago! So I sit up and I fire off a couple of 
punches to her face....her nose, and maybe I'll put my leg to 
use as my right knee rears back and slams her ribs which 
elicits an awful cry and moan from her throat. Now I'm thinking 
that anyone cheering for my demise is watching me punish this 
bitch on the ground and maybe they will think twice before 
rooting against me while smiling to my face, because next time 
it could be YOU laying on the ground while I make mash 
potatoes out of your face.

"Oh shit! Someone break it up!" I hear several people yelling.
 
Courtney was flailing her arms trying to protect her face from 
my slaps. I only punched her a couple of times and changed 
over to slapping because I don't want to bust up my knuckles 
too bad. So the girl is coughing real bad now, I had no idea at 
the moment she was coughing up blood, which was running 
down the back of her throat from a broken nose, busted lip and 
a mess of other problems. I had become a complete nutcase, in 
total blood-lust mode, call it whatever. I was totally in another 
world at the moment because now I was getting ready to choke 
her out! 

That's when I heard it.
 
"Stop...STOP!" 
 
"What?" I gasped.
 
"Enough! Please! Get her off me! Someone help me!" Courtney 
sobbed and screamed in that gurgling voice which sounded 
kind of sickening and I felt several hands pulling me off her. I 
get off the girl and several people were trying to get me to sit 
down in a nearby chair, but I didn't want to sit, I wanted to stand 
for some reason and walked over to the fence to lean and 
collect myself. 

"I've never seen anything like that before!" A few people said 
and this one girl had this ghastly expression. "Are you okay?" 
one guy asked me and he actually had tears in his eyes. I just 
nodded my head up and down 'yes'. Was I ok? Physically I 
guess, all body parts present and accounted for, but 
emotionally I could feel this was not sitting so well with me. 

I glanced over my shoulder toward Courtney although I didn't 
want to. I suddenly felt awful, not victorious, or glad, or happy. 
Courtney couldn't even stand on her own, it took three guys 
practically dragging/carrying her into the house. Her face was a 
bloody mess, the front of her shirt was also drenched in blood 
and I over heard some discussion about taking her to the 
emergency room, and that's when I almost lost it. I turned away 
and let the shadows of the night hide all the tears coming out of 
my eyes as I paced around in circles. I worried that I might 
have thrown so much of my life away that night, everything I 
worked so hard in school for, and for what? Beating the crap 
out of some girl? And over what? Because I took sides with 
Sharon over her freaking maniacal interest in social status and 
control that probably led to all of this!
 
Several partygoers were there checking on me and such. I 
looked down at my hands and flexed my fingers everything felt 
sore and tender. I imagine the next few days would bring the 
worst of the soreness. So I went inside to cleaned up and 
noticed I had the beginning of some bruises and could see 
scratch marks on my neck and face, not really bad, my hair was 
strewn all over the place pulled loose from the pony tail I had so 
carefully put it into. Bloodstains were all over on my blouse, 
which was torn in a couple of places and I checked my nose 
again, but it was just really sore, not broken, thank God! I then 
smiled into the mirror, 'Good all teeth present and accounted 
for!' I have some cuts inside my cheek and lips so there was 
some blood swishing around in my mouth. YUCK! And I spit out 
glob of red salvia into the sink.

"Oh damn." I sigh and lower my head as I remember Nikki will 
be here any moment and now that gets me very upset. She will 
be very angry with me for fighting, but hold on a second, I didn't 
start it!

"Corbin? You okay?" I hear a voice outside the door ask. I step 
out of the bathroom and was confronted with more concerned 
people who wanted to look after me and help. Soon I was 
making my way to the front porch for some fresh air but was 
just confronted with more new arrivals wanting to know what 
happened. In fact allot of people were still freaking out and I still 
felt that raw and emotional energy from everything so I tried to 
avoid them. 

"Hell of a way to wrap up the semester?" I sigh.

I was down the stairs and stood out on the sidewalk for a 
minute, "You okay? We'll walk you home." This guy and girl 
were standing next to me, I know them, they are friends of mine 
but their names escape me.
 
"Corbin!" I hear Nikki's voice and she's moving down the 
sidewalk toward me fast, "Oh my god!" 
She said some other stuff in Portuguese that I still didn't fully 
understand (I'm still trying to learn that funky language) she 
does that when she gets really upset, resorts to her native 
tongue. She hugged me, no wait she's actually checking me 
over and she was pulling me toward her parked car while 
thanking our two friends for their offered help.

"I just need to walk." I said not even sure how my legs were still 
propelling me along. 

"Please sit down." She said, now I was starting to get upset 
because I've never seen Nikki so shaken before, her voice and 
hands are trembling as tears run down her cheeks. We were 
approaching a corner restaurant and I pointed to a few benches 
that were lined up outside. 

"Corbin who did this? What happened!" Nikki seethed as I 
looked up into her raging eyes, and I could see that unforgiving 
fury she wanted to unleash. A part of me wanted to protect 
Courtney from what Nikki wanted to do to her, but it felt good to 
see and feel Nikki's protective concerns. 

"That bitch Courtney," I seethed, "she jumped me at the party, 
fucking Sharon and her shit, I'm sick of it." I was getting pissed 
again, this time at Sharon and all the scheming politics that I've 
tried to avoid my entire life. Nikki's hands meanwhile lightly 
stroked my back and shoulders as I watched people come and 
go from the restaurant, once in awhile I would get a nice smell 
of Italian food from the kitchen. That smell of good food always 
seems to calm me down, and suddenly I was hungry. Anyway, 
Nikki's left hand was still gripping my left bicep as she 
continued to sit off to my left, trying to calm me down and it was 
working. I looked up and Nik's hand moved to brush my 
disheveled hair away from my face so I could more clearly see, 
and I have to wonder, 'Where did this beauty come from? What 
did she see in me on that first day we met?' 

Nikki and I had this bond, I can't even begin to describe how 
powerful it is, weaving into everything we did together and 
trying to stay apart only made the longing worse. It was so 
strong it destroyed anything that tried to keep us separated and 
those words from Dana started coming to mind; 
"Embrace every fear, hope, and passion, in essence embrace 
who you are and you'll find the happiness that has alluded you 
for so long." Such wise words from a pot head.

Sometimes you stop thinking and just act, your instinct drives 
you into action, and that is how our kiss started. Nik and I 
started to kiss and we were doing it in public although no one 
was around, but I wasn't afraid or concerned about what 
anyone might think.


**********


When I got back to my apartment the next day I was mobbed 
by people. Dale, Sharon and a lot of other friends came over to 
check on me. Sharon was a complete mess, I had never seen 
her so upset, she cried for several minutes blaming herself and 
that she never thought I would get into a fight like that. Pretty 
soon I was sitting there consoling Sharon? 

Wait, what the hell? 
I'm the one that's sore as all heck, and I'm consoling Sharon? 
How did she turn this around!

Life is so wonderfully strange.

So Courtney did have a broken nose and had to wear one of 
those splint things for a while. She also had a really nice black 
eye to boot! Amazingly I had not broken anything nor needed 
any stitches for that fact, just some bruises, minor cuts and 
scratches.


**********


Verbally picking a fight with me was Courtney's first mistake 
(Stand back while my ego is about to swell to monumental 
proportions!). The second mistake she made was actually 
starting the fight.

Look I am a reasonable person. Even after days of working my 
self up into a real blood lust I was still able to come back down 
to earth and think that it was all a big misunderstanding. But 
then she sucker punched me! There would have been NO 
FIGHT had she just let it go, and I would have (maybe) even 
apologized for going around trash talking behind her back!

But NOOOOOOOOO she had to follow thru on her threat. So 
right after I trashed her ass in the back yard in front of plenty of 
witness (thank God no cops showed up) I had to call off the 
attack dogs; First was Nikki who wanted to find the girl and rip 
her head off, I have never seen Nikki so pissed off, filled with so 
much Alpha-Female-Destroy-Someone-Rage. She spewed a 
profanity laced dialogue of Portuguese for days (I think she 
forgets English when very, very angry). And then you had the 
girls on my Soccer Team, and Dales' Friends, and Sharon and 
her Sorority Sisters, AND Courtney's Sorority was blacklisted 
from Several parties. (This shit just keeps getting better and 
better).

Yes I am opinionated, considered arrogant, and can be very 
high-and-mighty with my morals, but (not sure why, don't really 
analyze this too much) I have a large circle of friends and 
acquaintances that seem ready to jump to my defense and 
serve up a lot of payback if I am 'wronged'. 

So not only was Courtney busted up physically, but her Sorority 
was in the dog house, and she kept having to look over her 
shoulder for fear of getting jumped!


*********


Overall I loved College and was relieved at Graduation to have 
so many people come up to me to wish me well, even Mora 
was sweet.

Sharon dumped Kevin when she left College just as she 
dumped David when High School ended. Now that she was 
going to work in her father's company she was ready to start 
dating in the workplace. She's like a freaking machine.....slash 
and burn thru you poor guys, leaving you in a emotional crises. 
I've been accused of doing the same thing, but in a more 
clueless fashion, I don't really have a plan, I just sort of go with 
the flow and I am a bit flaky on following up with phone 
calls/emails/appointments and such. Sharon is extremely anal 
about such stuff, she has the next ten years mapped out, down 
to the every hour of everyday. We basically drive each other 
crazy.
 
I only saw Courtney a couple of times after our 'encounter', she 
looked pretty miserable when I saw her and she didn't have her 
'followers' tagging along either, I almost felt sorry for her, 
almost.

I almost walked up to her, you know, just to confront her again 
and kind of rub it in, wanting to know if things were 'settled 
once and for all. But I let it go and the damage was pretty 
evident. Besides, she came up to me and apologized, at first 
my sensitive side kicked in and I was about ready to let 
everything wash under the bridge, but again I got that 
flashback, "Thanks for the apology, but you're a liar and I can't 
trust you, so goodbye Courtney." She kind of looked at me with 
this really pained expression right before I turned and walked. 
That was my revised speech, I was going to threaten to kick her 
ass back into the hospital if she ever approached me again, but 
you see there was a lot of covering up Courtney did. She in fact 
did go the Emergency room that night and it was obvious she 
was in a fight. But she refused to finger me or where it 
happened, she just indicated she got into a fight with another 
girl and the matter was resolved.

So the lesson here folks is....uhm....I don't know? Just that 
sometimes you have to stand up for yourself even if you think 
you might get your ass kicked? 

Anyway, that's it for now :)


**********


"Only God says jump
So I set the time
'Cause if he ever saw it
It was through these eyes of mine
And if he ever suffered
it was me who did his crying"
-Concrete Blonde