Nothing Lasts FoREVer

I walked angrily towards them. Once I reached them I tapped Rute’s shoulder twice with a lot more force than necessary. She turned around to glare at me furiously for interrupting her moment with MY boyfriend. I tried to put on a fake smile, but I wasn’t able to fool anyone. All the rage I was feeling towards that bitch was obvious on my face.

“Cat!”, she acknowledge me.

“How are you doing, Rute? Having fun?”, I could feel my face burning as I tried my best to restrain the anger, I could feel my face twisting as I tried to hold back my rage.

“I’m having a blast!”, She beamed widely at me answering me back in English too. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be over there with the rest of the ‘beasts’?”, she pointed to the line I was standing two minutes ago.

That bitch had some nerve smiling at me like that when she was trying to hit on MY boyfriend. Jimmy was looking apologetically at me.

“You’re having a blast, huh? That’s good to know… ‘cause that’s about to change in a few minutes when I show you first hand who the BEAST really is!”, she glanced at me incredulously.

I wasn’t trying to hide my anger behind that fake smile anymore, I was about to set it free. I clenched my hand, pulled my arm back and punched her in the face letting some of my anger fade. She reached her face in agony and glared at me.

“What the fuck…”, she tried to reach my hair, typical girl move and I punched her again, but this time I crushed my clenched fist right in her nose, making her bleed.

“You better not try to touch me again! I’ll end you, so don’t make me… Next time try to hit on someone else’s boyfriend… If I see you all over him again, God help me… ‘cause I don’t know what I’ll do to you!”, I spat through gritted teeth.

“You bitch! You broke my nose!”, she tried to launch herself at me, but one of her friends got a grip on her.

“Stop it, Rute! From where I see it, you’ll just get your ass kicked! Lets go… We need to stop that bleeding.”, her friend, Mafalda, told her calmly.

“You better listen to your friend, Rute! She seems a lot wiser than you… This was just a warning, Rute… You better not try to seduce Jimmy again, I won’t be so goodhearted next time!”, I raised my voice just a little so she could pay attention to me.

Jimmy was staring at me in…wait… was that amazement?
“From where I stood he was enjoying the attention! He was about to give in… Are you sure he deserves you fighting over him? He’ll cheat on you at the first opportunity!”, Rute spat bitterly.

“You’re a conceited bitch! I saw the whole thing! Jimmy was trying to push you away… Did that hurt your feelings? How does it feel to be rejected? I bet you’re not used to it, being you such a slut my guess is that most guys would fuck you to ease themselves… Not Jimmy, though! That must have hurt…”, I said wryly as Mafalda dragged Rute away from us.

“BEAST!!! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN THE LINE!”, one of the seniors yelled at me.

I did as I was told, ‘cause I knew I was screwed already for disrespecting their orders in the first place. As soon as I was back in the line with the other freshmen, I bowed my head and didn’t look up when he yelled at me.

“WHO THE FUCK TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD LEAVE THE LINE? HERE YOU DO WHAT YOU’RE TOLD, GOT IT? AND I’M SURE AS HELL I DIDN’T TELL YOU TO BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF RUTE!”, Ricardo kept yelling at me as he leaned his head to my ear.[color=magenta]“Nicely done, Cat! She had it coming… That was a good punch! Remind me not to mess with you!”[/color], he whispered discretely and stepped back. “YOU THINK YOU’RE SO TOUGH…LET’S SEE ABOUT THAT! SEVENTY FIVE PUSH-UPS, STARTING NOW! AND THE REST OF YOU, ON YOUR FACE TOO”, a smug half-smile on his face.

I had it coming… I knew from the moment I turned my back at him to confront Rute that I had put myself in big trouble. I used to do push-ups, but fifty was usually my limit. How the hell was I supposed to do the extra twenty five? I breathed in deeply, trying to gain some courage… I would do those seventy five push-ups he was commanding even if it killed me. My colleagues would kill me if they had the chance, every single one of them was shooting me glares of pure hatred. This was going to be worse than I thought…

I dropped for my seventy five and began my struggle. I reached forty easily, by the time I’d done fifty five my arms were beginning to get sore, I forced myself to push harder and keep on going! At seventieth I could barely push myself up, my arms were trembling due to the excessive effort… But there was no way in hell I was giving up! Jimmy tried to cheer me, support me, but Ricardo had pushed him away from me… He claimed that I didn’t need or deserved the cheering. Jimmy stepped back unwillingly, sending me a sympathetic glance. I pushed myself up and down on my arms five more times, after finishing my last pushup I just landed on my face, letting out a loud gasp. It seemed like I was the only one who finished, ‘cause Ricardo allowed them to stop around the thirtieth, but still… They were not happy about it.

“Up on your feet, ‘beast’! I’m not done with you just yet…”, Ricardo yelled at my ears. I stood up but kept my head down. DAMNED INITIATION!

Our following punishment was not physical, I thanked God for that ‘cause I didn’t know if I could have handled it. He just made us scream at the top of our lungs random nonsense (stupid ads, our course anthem and some veiled sexual nonsense) for half an hour in the middle of the campus. Everyone that passed by was laughing at us. I couldn’t care less about what everyone thought… I knew for sure that tomorrow I wouldn’t be able to raise my arms and that I wouldn’t be able to speak audibly either… By the end of my endless (at least it felt that way to me) punishment all I could think about was a going home and take a nice and warm bath so I could finally go to sleep. But the party continued for three more hours. The seniors kept me away from Jimmy most of the time… I took my chance and tried to explain and apologized to my colleagues but not all were comprehensive… I never saw Rute again that night, she must have learned her lesson! Before Jimmy and I took off, Ricardo approached us.

“Sorry about all that, Cat! I had to do it, you know? But you did good, I never thought you’d be able to do that many pushups… That was like you slapped me in the face! You’re tough, kid! I like that…”, Ricardo grinned at me.

“Yeah, well… There was no fucking way I’d quit in front of that many people! I can still say that my dignity remains intact! Can’t say the same about my social life, though… They’re all pretty much ready to beat me up for what I put them through! Can’t blame them… They had nothing to do with it! It was me who disrespected you, I should have been the only one punished…”, I replied.

“It’s just how it’s done around here! You all pay for one’s mistakes… They were lucky I let them off the hook and didn’t force them to do the whole seventy five push-ups. I was feeling benevolent today…”, he blinked at me.

“I definitely saw your benevolence… You were such a sweetheart!”, I replied ironically. “I guess I’ll see you Monday, Rick! Put in a good word for me with my colleagues, will you?”

“You’ll win them over again, you’ll see… My good word won’t be necessary.”, he tried to ease my worries.

“I guess we’ll see about that…”, I muttered.

“It was nice meeting you, Jimmy! I mean it, man…”, Ricardo patted Jimmy’s shoulder.

“I can’t say the same about you just yet, Rick! You kind of tortured my girlfriend in front of me and not let me reached her for more than five minutes throughout all night.”, Jimmy replied playfully.

“Sorry about that… I hope you had some fun tonight, though! You were never alone, so I presume you made some friends, at least…”, Ricardo had shit eating grin on his face as he mentioned Jimmy’s company during the party.

“He sure did! Female friends mostly…”, I said with a hint of jealousy in my voice.

“Looks like someone has been watching you from a distance, Jimmy!”, Ricardo mocked.

“I really don’t mind being watched, ‘cause I’ve been checking her out too! We’re even! See you around, Rick!”, Jimmy patted Ricardo’s shoulder and we took off.

“Are you okay, babe?”, Jimmy asked on our way home.

“Yeah, I’m just thinking… Most of my classmates hate me for my stunt at the party… They all paid for my action! I was just thinking that my social life is screwed for the rest of the school year!”, I let out a nervous giggle.

*Three months later – December 2002*

Jimmy was still living with me – thankfully -, we talked to the guys via MSN every day…
I didn’t read any of my father’s letters since I started college, I had been meaning to but I never found the time or the strength to do it.

My worries about my social life had no reason to be, my classmates forgave a week past our punishment, most of them at least. Ricardo became one of my best friends, Jimmy loved him too (especially ‘cause he was gay, that way Jimmy didn’t have to worry about him hitting on me); he usually stopped by the house almost every night.
Rute didn’t remember her lesson for much longer. She would hit on Jimmy every single time they ended up in the same place, and every single time Jimmy would turn his back on her and walked away. Every time she passed by me she would send me death glares, but after I beat her up for the third time I just realized it was worthless ‘cause she would never learn. Once a slut always a slut!

Jimmy was talking to me about spending the holidays with the guys in the States, but I didn’t want to rush and say yes right away ‘cause I would have to talk to my mom first. I wouldn’t leave her alone on Christmas and New Year in Portugal.

“I’ll have talk to my mom first… Can she come along? ‘Cause I won’t leave her here alone, babe!”, it was all I could answer to that last minute plans.

“Of course she can, I wouldn’t have it any other way! Just call her… The sooner the better! We need to buy the plane tickets as soon as possible…”, he handed me my cell phone.

I dialed her number and she picked up at the third ring. “Hey, sweetie! How’s James?”, she greeted cheerfully.

“Hey, mom! Jimmy is fine, he’s right here next to me… I was calling to ask you something.”, I started.

“What is it, Cat?”, she asked curiously.

“Are you working on Christmas and New Year?”

“No… I’ll be on vacations by then! My vacations start in the twentieth… But why are you asking?”

“How would you like to spend the holidays in the States with the boys?”

[i]“What?”[/i], she seemed surprised.

“Jimmy just suggested it to me, and I would love to go! I miss them, mom! And you know how much I’ve always wanted to go to Cali… But I won’t leave you here alone! So? What do you say?”

“What about the plane tickets? They’re expensive and you haven’t been working!”

“I still have enough money to buy both of our tickets! Jimmy has been helping me with the expenses around the house… Money is not the problem, mom!”

“I can pay for my ticket, Cat!”

“Does that mean that you’re coming?”, I asked, a huge grin spreading across my face.

“Yes… We can go… It’ll be different from what we’re used to! And besides… I miss them too!”

Notes