Quid Pro Quo

by Sherryl Hancock

  It was just the beginning of the abuse she would take over the next six months. It was abuse that would leave her broken, bleeding and bruised from head to toe. All the while she continued to level as much hate at her detractors as they leveled at her.

  When the summer break came, she refused to go home, even if her father and mother would have allowed her to at that point. Instead she spent her summer hitting the gym, running, lifting, and increasing her speed and strength. It wasn’t in her to be a victim for long.

  When the next school year started, the first man that got in her face about being a dyke was put down and put down hard by a fifteen-year-old girl. He never lived that down. A few other boys and men made the same mistake; they all got the same treatment. People learned quickly not to fuck with Kai Temple. The final act of defiance that cemented her as a legend in the school was when she walked into the lunchroom wearing only a jog bra and yoga pants, the muscles she’d gained over the last nine months on full display. She also had the word DYKE written across her forehead in black. She went up to the stage, climbing up and standing there until every eye in the room was on her.

  “Anyone want to try me, come try now,” she said, holding out her arms.

  There was some shuffling of feet. One of the cockier young men, a senior, got up and walked over to her.

  “I’ll fuck you, if that’s what you need,” he said, his voice full of confidence.

  His comment gained a number of snickers and some laughs as well. Kai looked him dead in the eye and said, “If you think you can, come try.”

  He stepped closer, and she hopped down off the stage and instantly moved into a fighter’s stance. “Come at me, boy.”

  He charged, and she put him down with one punch, shocking everyone in the lunchroom.

  “Anyone else?” she asked, secretly hoping no one else would try it, because she was fairly sure she’d just broken a couple of bones in her hand—not that her expression showed the pain.

  No one moved. No one made a sound.

  She scanned the group, pausing on the individuals who’d tortured her previously, including instructors. Many of them dropped their eyes; others met her look and nodded, like they understood she was done putting up with abuse. She walked out of the room and immediately went to the infirmary to have her hand looked at, cursing herself all the way for not taping up.

  “What have you done to yourself?” asked the nurse, a pretty black girl whose name tag read Kerry.

  “Put a stop to getting my ass beat regularly,” Kai said offhandedly.

  Kerry held her hand out. “Let me see.”

  Kai put her hand out, and Kerry grimaced instantly. “Girl…” she breathed. “You’re supposed to hurt them, not yourself.”

  “Wasn’t really the plan,” Kai said, grinning engagingly.

  Kerry canted her head. “Did ya have a plan?”

  “Sure…” Kai let her voice trail off to indicate that she hadn’t really planned anything—she’d just needed to put a stop to her harassment.

  “You have got to control that temper of yours,” Kerry said, gently holding Kai’s hand as she applied antiseptic to her cut knuckles.

  “Why?” Kai snapped, yanking her hand away. “No one tells these guys they need to control their fucking mouths!”

  Kerry looked at her critically. “No, they don’t, and no one ever will, but you’ll break every bone in your hand punching them all in the mouth—for what?”

  “Satisfaction,” Kai said defiantly.

  “But you’re smarter than that.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  Kerry shook her head, taking Kai’s hand again and continuing to clean it. She took her time wrapping it in an ACE bandage, without saying another word. Kai remained silent, refusing to ask Kerry what she’d meant.

  When Kerry sat back, Kai got up. Kerry stood too, taking Kai’s face in her hands and staring into her eyes.

  “You are a smart, beautiful girl. You can do more if you use your brain, and not just your brawn. Brawn is what men use—brains are what we girls have that they don’t. Use that.”

  With that Kerry kissed Kai on the cheek.

  Kai remembered that statement for many years to come.

  As Kai pulled out of the restaurant parking lot her phone rang. She hit hands-free. “Hello?”

  “Hey…” It was a woman’s voice. “I thought you were coming out tonight?”

  “Hi, Sandy.” Kai grinned. “I was planning on it.” She glanced over at Cassiana. “But I kind of ended up with a surprise house guest. So I’m not gonna make it, sorry.”

  “Is she cute?” Sandy asked.

  “She’s my sister.”

  “Then she’s gotta be cute—bring her along!”

  “She’s sixteen,” Kai said pointedly.

  “Oh,” Sandy said, sounding circumspect. “Bring her anyway!”

  “Uh, no,” Kai said, smiling, as Cassiana glanced over at her with a wide grin.

  “Spoilsport,” Sandy said.

  “That’s me.”

  “Well, your fine ass needs to call me—we need to hook up.”

  “Uh-huh.” Kai rolled her eyes; her sister was hearing more than she really needed to. “I’ll call you.”

  “You better! Or I’ll come find you.”

  They hung up a moment later.

  “She sounds, um, interested…” Cassiana commented.

  “Uh-huh,” Kai repeated, grinning.

  “So how much play does this car get you?”

  “Watch your mouth,” Kai said, narrowing her eyes at her sister.

  “Sorry,” Cassiana said, grinning. “How much vagina does this car get you?”

  Kai looked over at her sharply, then shook her head. “The smartass thing must be genetic,” she said wryly.

  “Or do you have a girlfriend, or something? You never talked about anyone specific, so…”

  “No, I don’t have a girlfriend.”

  “Are you, like, getting it from everyone, or what?”

  “What makes you think I’m getting any at all?”

  “Kai, you might be my half-sister and all, but I know a hot lesbian when I see one, and you’re hot, so you’re getting it and probably plenty.”

  Kai shook her head, wondering how in the world she had gotten into this. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

  “KaiMarou, you are so straitlaced!”

  “How many times are we going to cover the ‘KaiMarou’ thing?” Kai said. “Marou is my middle name.”

  Cassiana laughed. “And I’ve been calling you KaiMarou for two years now, so get over it.”

  Kai rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

  “So, speaking of hot lesbians, are there any younger ones around here?”

  “Are you even sure you’re a lesbian?”

  “Uh, the girl that Dad caught me with had me halfway home when he walked in…”

  Kai made a noise in the back of her throat, then grinned. “Yeah, he has a bad habit of knowing just when to walk in and screw up any chances of an orgasm…”

  Cassiana laughed. “He messed you up too?”

  “Oh yeah,” Kai said, shaking her head. “S’okay, she caught up with me the next day at school and finished the job, in a bathroom stall no less.”

  “Holy shit! You must have been pretty hot even then.”

  “No, she was just bound and determined not to have a bad date on her record. She was a senior.”

  “So like, four years older than you?” Cassiana looked impressed.

  “Well, three, but yeah. What was the deal with the girl you were with?”

  “Oh, she was my age and really hot, a new girl from California.”

  “Where all the fruits and nuts come from, right?” Kai remembered that was what they’d thought when she was in school.

  “Hey, my sister’s from California at this point, so don’t be talking stuff…” Cassiana said, grinning.

  Kai smiled back. “And your sister’s one of t
he fruits.”

  “And she’s also awesome,” Cassiana said seriously.

  Kai looked over, her eyes searching the young girl’s face.

  “You are, Kai,” Cassiana said. “You’re the only one in this family that accepted me and treats me like I matter.”

  “You do matter, Cass.”

  “Not to them,” Cassiana said, gesturing nebulously toward Washington, DC. “To them I’m just something to be tolerated so our dad doesn’t have to pay my mom any more money.”

  Kai grimaced. “I’m sorry. I hoped that it was just because of what I was…” She shook her head. “I guess some people just shouldn’t have kids at all.”

  “I’m just glad I met you,” Cassiana said, her dark eyes, so like Kai’s, glazing with tears. “If I hadn’t, I don’t know what I would have done.”

  “Did you know you were gay all along?”

  Cassiana shrugged. “I knew I wasn’t interested in boys like my friends were. I guess I thought I was just a late bloomer or something. But then when you told me you were gay it made me wonder… I started looking stuff up on the Internet and reading all kinds of stories about how people figured out they were gay.”

  Kai nodded. “You’re lucky that you have that nowadays. When I was younger than you, I had no idea what was going on with me. What I knew was that I was attracted to girls the way the girls were attracted to the boys… That senior wasn’t my first.”

  “How old were you the first time you were with a girl?”

  “The first time I was with a girl I was thirteen. She was fourteen and so friggin’ cute…” Kai smiled wistfully.

  “How did it happen?”

  They arrived at Myrtle Beach in South Carolina for their annual vacation. Kai immediately made a beeline for the beach. She wanted a tan and to get away from her parents. She took her brand new portable CD player and her favorite CD, Pearl Jam’s Ten. She had her headphones plugged firmly in, and didn’t bother to look around her.

  People always looked at her; she was unusually tall for a girl, and with her dark hair and eyes, everyone always seemed to expect her to be foreign and not speak English. She’d been mistaken for Hispanic, Italian, Greek, even Middle Eastern; her actual ethnicity was never identified—mostly Asian with a touch of American Indian, which lent her skin its color that darkened easily in the sun.

  She also spoke perfect English—better than most kids her age, since her father insisted on perfection in all things, including her speech and knowledge. It was easier for her to plug her headphones in and ignore everyone. Better to be thought a foreigner and therefore rude than have to deal with people.

  At the shore, she sat down with her knees up to her chest, draping her arms over them. She stared out at the ocean for a long few minutes, then lay back on the sand, closing her eyes. She had no idea how long she’d been there when suddenly a shadow crossed her vision, blocking out the sun.

  Opening her eyes, she looked up at the person standing above her, and was surprised to note that it was a girl—a blonde wearing cut-off shorts and a bikini top, staring down at her with a big smile on her face.

  Kai reached up and removed one of her headphones. “Did you need something?” she asked, not sure whether the girl had said something to her.

  “Yep. I need someone to come hang out with me at the pier,” she said, her southern accent clear.

  “Uhh…” Kai stammered in confusion.

  “Ain’t no one else interesting here.”

  “How do you know I’m interesting?” Kai asked as she levered herself up on her elbows.

  “You look interesting,” the girl said, her blue eyes sparkling.

  “How?” Kai asked, expecting to hear the usual bullshit about being from a different country.

  “Well, ain’t you just as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs…” the girl said. “I ain’t gonna bite, ya know.”

  Kai looked back at her, not convinced, but she stood up just the same.

  “I’m Scarlett,” the girl said, putting out her hand. She smiled. “You know, like Gone With the Wind.”

  “Kai,” Kai said simply, taking the girl’s hand and shaking it once before letting it go.

  “Kai?” Scarlett repeated, her southern accent sharp.

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a funny name,” Scarlett said, her expression guileless.

  “Like a name from a book written in 1936 is so very original,” Kai replied evenly as she sat back down and put her headphones back in her ears.

  She was surprised when Scarlett plopped down on the sand next to her, bumping her shoulder into Kai’s as she did.

  “How’d you know when that book was written?” Scarlett asked. “You read it or somethin’?”

  Kai glanced at the girl, puzzled by her continued attention. “Yes, I read it last summer, along with the nine other novels on my summer reading list.”

  “What kind of fancy school do you go to that makes you read all that on summer vacation?”

  “Emerson Prep,” Kai said, her tone reflecting her mystified expression. “What difference does it make?”

  “Ain’t you big for your britches with your fancy school,” Scarlett said, smiling all the same.

  “You asked what school I go to that makes me read over summer vacation, I answered—why does that make me too big for my britches?”

  The last thing she was was a braggart, and that was the last thing she’d allow herself to be called. The girl was seriously agitating, even if she did have really pretty blue eyes.

  Scarlett laughed, shaking her head. “You are too much, Kai!” She put her hand on Kai’s shoulder companionably and smiled engagingly. “Come with me to the pier.”

  “What’s so interesting there?” Kai asked, not willing to be dragged off just anywhere by this girl.

  “Me.” Scarlett stood up again and grabbed Kai’s hand, tugging her to her feet as well.

  Kai noticed that Scarlett didn’t drop her hand once she was up. She had to actually extricate it purposefully.

  “Told ya I don’t bite…” Scarlett said, winking at her as she started heading toward the pier.

  Kai followed the girl, thinking she was probably just wasting her time, but she figured it was something to do. There was still plenty of time in the day to get a tan. When they reached the pier, Scarlett got her to wade out into the water by the pilings and showed her where a turtle was caught in a net wrapped around a piling farther out into the ocean.

  “We have to do something,” Kai said.

  “How?” Scarlett asked. “It’s too far out.”

  Kai reached into the pocket of her cargo shorts and pulled out her military-style Spyderco knife, unfolding it and putting it between her teeth as she started to wade further out.

  “What are you doin’?” Scarlett called, suddenly sounding worried.

  Kai didn’t answer; she was too busy focusing on not getting slammed into a piling with the next wave coming in. She could see that the turtle was struggling desperately, and she was hoping it wouldn’t hurt itself so badly it wouldn’t survive even if she freed it. It did occur to her that she could drown in the process of trying to save the animal, but she felt like Mother Nature would be on her side.

  She had to swim to reach the piling the turtle was caught up on. She managed to slice her leg on a barnacle on the post as she tried to hold on with her legs while working at cutting the net free.

  “Hold on, little guy,” she said. “Just hold on…”

  A wave smacked her right in the face and she swallowed seawater, sputtering and coughing. Still she held on to the piling as best she could with her long legs and continued to work at the net. A few minutes and several cuts on her legs later, the turtle was free and swimming out with the tide.

  Kai smiled even as Scarlett cheered from the shore. Putting the knife back between her teeth, Kai turned her head and was surprised to see a shark an arm’s length away. Apparently Scarlett saw it at the same time because s
he screamed her name. Kai could tell the shark was looking at her. She reached up and took the Spyderco out of her mouth, holding it in her right hand.

  “Hi,” Kai said to the shark. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t eat me.” She grinned, thinking if she was about to get bitten by a shark, there was no sense in going down without a fight.

  She would not, however, attack him first. It wasn’t in her to kill or hurt a living thing just because she could. The shark swished his tail slowly, maintaining his position near her but not coming any closer. Kai couldn’t help but be fascinated by the encounter; if she hadn’t been afraid she’d lose a finger or two or five, she’d have put her hand out to touch the fish’s hide.

  Finally the shark swam off and Kai grinned. She put her knife back between her teeth, not wanting to take the chance of losing one of her prized possessions. She headed back toward the shore, and as she walked up on the sand, Scarlett was shaking her head at her.

  “Did you talk to that shark?”

  Kai lay down on her back, trying to catch her breath, nodding in response to Scarlett’s question.

  “Are you crazy?” Scarlett said, sitting down on the sand next to her.

  “Not that I’m aware of.” Kai grinned, turning her head to look up at Scarlett.

  “What did you say to the shark?” Scarlett asked, her blue eyes sparkling with humor.

  “I told him I would appreciate it if he didn’t eat me.”

  “And he listened. Fancy that.”

  “Guess so,” Kai said, still breathing heavily.

  “And you saved the turtle.”

  Kai nodded, closing her eyes.

  “You’re a hero,” Scarlett said, grinning.

  “To a turtle.”

  Kai suddenly felt Scarlett’s hair on her face and opened her eyes; she found herself staring up into Scarlett’s blue eyes.

  “To me too,” Scarlett said softly, then pressed her lips to Kai’s.

  Kai was surprised at first, but quickly felt her body responding to the soft pressure of Scarlett’s lips on hers. She reached up to touch Scarlett’s face as their lips parted, and Scarlett looked down at Kai, her eyes searching. Kai knew she was looking to see if what was happening was okay. To show her it was, she moved her head to kiss her. Scarlett sighed softly and pressed closer.