Chapter 8

Hide And Seek

For the next couple of months Cassie played a game of hide and seek with Harry. She had to stay alert at all times while around the school. Cassie got used to constantly scanning around herself. Harry was very good at hiding and without her sight he would have been able to get her a couple of times.

But no matter how good he was, she was much better. She could see him in lockers waiting to jump out at her. Once he was in the girl's restrooms hiding in one of the stalls by standing on the toilet. Once he hid in a trunk of a car. Cassie would simply change her path and not go near where he was hiding.

Finally, one day, he blocked the exit from the girl's locker room where she was one of the last out of the shower. Cassie thought she could have got away but she was fed up with him. She took her time showering so when she was finally ready to leave he was waiting.

"I got you now you bitch! There's nobody around to save you. When they find you the whole school will know I got the last laugh."

"Harry, you are a fool. The only reason we are here now is I got tired and like you said there's nobody around to see what I am going to do to you."

He started laughing, "You! What do you think you can do to me?"

"Well Harry I could kill you but I'm not." With that she snapped her wrist and her cane expanded as she twisted around. The cane hit his ankle with enough force to take his leg out from beneath him. He felled, hitting the floor of the hall solidly. Cassie stepped toward him and let him have a rap between his legs. Harry's screams echoed through the empty hallway.

He grabbed his crotch and rolled into a fetal ball. Cassie whipped her cane around and lay into his butt. She gave him 10 good solid blows to his buttocks.

"Harry, I gave you fair warning. Now remember this. I will give you a whipping once a week till you quit."

Later that night her Dad asked her

"Are you still having trouble with Hankins?"

"I have been dodging him for weeks, but today he blocked one of the exits out of the girl's locker room. He found out that I am usually the last one to leave. There was only one way out and he was waiting there for me."

"Well what happened?"

"I knocked his legs out from under him and when he hit the floor I sent my cane between his legs. After he rolled up in a fetal ball I whipped his butt ten times. It had to hurt. I told him that I was going to whip his ass once a week till he quit."

"Hum, it sure is good to know that my daughter can take care of herself. Don't get careless Cassie. This kid sounds like a real piece of work."

"I wonder what his family is like. I mean I know sometimes it's the whole family rather than one bad apple."

"Don't worry about it Cassie."

A week later, Cassie was heading to her next class when she caught Harry kicking a smaller 7^th grade boy in a hallway off the boy's restrooms.

Without thinking about the consequences, she stepped up behind him and whipped her cane around catching Harry in the hamstring. His leg collapsed and he felled to the floor.

Once more her cane hit him between his legs. She heard a thunk and Harry rolled over and tried to get to his feet. She used her sight and found that Harry was wearing a groin protector.

"Harry you think you are getting smarter but let me tell you, quitting is the only smart thing you can do."

She began to whip his ass with ten hard blows to his buttocks. Then she helped the other boy up and walked with him to the nurse's office. She was late to her next class and was given three detentions.

She smiled at that then asked to speak to the vice principle.

Mr. Hardly looked up as she entered his office."Miss Howard how can I help you?"

"Mr. Hardly, I just got myself three detentions. I feel that me sitting in the detention hall for an hour a day for three days is a real waste of my time. Would it be okay if I take these detentions with Coach Johnson? I would much rather be exercising then just sitting in my seat doing nothing."

"Humm, well he has practice after school so it would not be like you being alone with a male teacher. Ask him and if he approves I will also. Why did you get those detentions Miss Howard?"

"I helped one of the 7^th grade boys to the nurse's office. He did not know where it was located. By the time I got there the bell had already rung. My algebra teacher sent me to the office for being tardy."

"Miss Howard, why did you not ask the nurse for an excused pass?"

"Well I was not the one that had to go to the nurse so I did not think of it."

"Miss Howard I will put a note in your files that all detention will be done under Coach Johnson's supervision. You are excused for now."

Cassie turned to leave. She scanned as Mr. Hardly wrote a note for her files. Then he wrote a memo to Coach Johnson telling of his decision.

Later, as the last bell rang out in the school Cassie made her way to the girl's locker rooms and changed into her gym clothes. It was a nice day, so she looked for Coach Johnson outside. He was on the football field watching the team practice.

She tap, tap, tapped with her cane as she approached the Coach. Cassie also noticed that the football team was all looking her way.

"Jenkins what are you staring at. Miss Howard is in your homeroom and your history class so you see her at least once every day so get your mind on your practice."

The Coach turned to look at her. "Miss Howard, I have been informed that all your detentions would be under my supervision from now on. And that you requested this. Why?"

"Because I agree with your assessment of detention; I would much rather be exercising then sitting in the detention hall."

"Well that brings up another problem. I know that Mrs. Warren has mainly kept you in the field house so far this year. So I have no idea how you can handle outside exercise."

"Coach, you are right, I can run pretty well on a known track with no obstacles. But I don't know this track. How about I do Kata?"

He looked at her for a moment. "That sounds like a deal."

His attention was once more on the football team. She turned and began to stretch and limber up her muscles. Soon she was fully involved in her practice. She bent and flexed, moving from one

baton Kata to another. She flowed over the ground, her cane/baton whipping through the air. She did flips and falls always using her cane to defend and attack.

Cassie had noticed the practice blocking dummies and as she came out of a flip she whipped her asp baton around striking one of the dummies as hard as she could then twirled getting the next one in the row. One after another she moved down the row of dummies. Her blows were so hard that the dummies slid backward from her and she had to chase the last couple.

Finally she stopped, panting from her exertions. As she rested to catch her breath she noticed that the whole team was stopped and staring at her. Coach Johnson was also staring. Then he turned to the team, "Guys when you can put that much effort into your practice here, we will win our District."

With that, they returned to their practice and the coach walked over to her.

"Miss Howard, you are going to be a real distraction out here. Those guys have not paid that much attention to the cheer leaders. I think you got some of those guys serious attention."

"Egh, sorry Coach I don't mean to be."

"That's okay; I'd rather they found someone like you to be interested in than those empty headed cheer leaders. I believe you have finished your first day of detention."

He turned and rejoined his team.

Cassie made her way to the girl's locker room. She scanned all around her but saw no signs of Harry.

She walked to her locker after showering to pick up her book bag then exited out the front door. Marie was waiting in the SUV. They headed down the street to the county road out to their house. As they approached a light she noticed a pickup truck accelerating toward the intersection at full speed even thought the light for the truck was red.

"Stop Marie!" Cassie screamed.
Marie did not hesitate or ask questions as she slammed the brake pedal to the floor. The van stopped with a minimum of sliding, but the nose of the van stuck out into the intersection a foot. The truck swerved toward them and clipped the front of the van then continued through the intersection at full speed. The van was pulled further into the middle of the intersection.

Cassie had her cell phone in her hand and used her speed dial to call 911. "Emergency what is the problem?"

"Our car has been hit, and the other vehicle has fled the scene. Our van has been pulled into the middle of the intersection by the collision. We are at Main and Fourth Street. Yes, I am Cassandra Howard. Our house keeper had just picked me up at school."