” Kiara woke up and began to cry softly. She said,“You’re going to hurt me! Please don’t. Please! It hurt the last time.”This caught me by s...rprise.“Kiara, who did you fuck?”She gave no answer. I gave her a cold stare.“Kiara, this is going to happen. I gave you a choice now make it.”Kiara continued to cry. I didn’t want it to be all a terrible experience. I really didn’t want it to be, so I said to her, “Ok, I am only going to need about 30 seconds. I am about to blow. You can count if you. I bumbled around in the center for a while, until all the cheerleadersbegan to assemble around me. I heard someone yell "Pyramid!" and almostimmediately after that there were girls taking hold of my feet andankles. I was lifted up by my feet within seconds and was balancingprecariously on the hands of the two cheerleaders beneath me, who werethen lifted up with the same method. This continued until there werethree levels of cheerleaders beneath me, and I had never felt so close toa gym roof. This is a different look. Her hair, normally straight and either free-hanging or styled up onto her head, was a mass of curly ringlets crudely pulled into a ponytail with a black scrunchie. Her outfit, normally stylish and carefully coordinated, was a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. Still with the glasses, though.“Are you going to let me in? {Get out of my way.}” she asked.“Of course, Prez, of course!” he said, quickly stepping out of the doorway.She pushed past him, taking in her. I had no idea how devastating that was to her until that morning. All her life she had fought against being left out, excluded. We all do, to some extent, I suppose, but Nicole had never had the luxury of assuming the acceptance of her classmates or of her own age group. She had always been advanced in school, challenging and eclipsing those students who were older than she. Inevitably, some of them had closed ranks against her socially so that she was isolated, both from those in her class.