Ester’s Black Eye:
By TerraMGP
The small and obviously frightened mouse girl looked around half heartedly at the various minute details of her schools office. The painfully seventies wood paneling, the ball clackers that worked itself away casually on the desk in front of her. Anything at all to avoid the churning feeling deep in the pit of her stomach about what was happening right now. “Principal Moss please. I’m sure we can take care of this without calling Mommy. Please…“ Ester was no stranger to the principals office. Not because of grades, she was after all an A student with several AP classes under her belt already. Nor was it due to any troublemaking on her own part since Ester was a very quiet and reserved girl. No She was in the principals office for the same reason as every other time she wound up there, the other girls.
It was like a bullseye had been painted on her back that drew in every other girl in school. She had that strange mix of intellect, low self esteem and innocence bordering on naiveate which seemed to drive any other girl her age into an absolute irrational rage. Principal Moss realized this of course, as did Esters mother. Indeed the only person who seemed totally oblivious to why things like this kept happening was in fact the Mousette herself. In every other instance of these attacks the only thing she could figure out was that these girls simply did not like her and thus continued to act the way she always did unaware that any single thing in her personality might be what set them off.
It was several hours before Lillian walked into the office of the small private school, hair pulled back neatly and chef scrubs showing the sings of a busy lunch service. Sadly it was no shock when the call from the principal came for the third time in a month. Thankfully that’s what Souse chefs were for though, at least that’s how it was shaping up. She had to remember to give the woman a raise for all of this. “I’m sorry it took so long Principal Moss, I hope that Ester hasn’t caused you too much trouble. Might I ask what happened this time? I really hope those girls have not been calling her names again.” Mrs. Moss looked up at the chef coat clad Tabby sitting across from her with the same slightly exhausted smile she often gave when these forced meetings took place. Lillian could do little more than return the smile to the graying panther principal and look out of the corner of her eye at the hunched form of her daughter. “I am sorry to say Miss Peterson that your daughter has had a little, incident with one of the other girls. I know that this has been happening a lot lately but it seems that this time it has… escalated.”
“Escalated… how?” The young Tabby looked at her adopted daughter for a long moment before letting out another sigh. It didn’t seem things could get much worse considering how the school year had gone so far. The past couple of months had all been one big Escalation of aggression against her poor Mousette daughter. She was convinced nothing could top last time when the girls wrote all sorts of horrible things on Esters gym cloths and made her go to class like that, which incidentally was why she no longer took gym. “Ester.. I think you should tell her…” Principal Moss said solemnly watching as Ester turned her face to her mother, revealing the large spot of deep purple tinting the normally tawny brown fur.
Half an instant later Ester found her face gripped hard in her mothers paw, turned side to side as Lillian looked on in utter shock. “Who did this? Ester who hit you? What happened?” “She won’t say.” the principal replied dryly. “She simply won’t tell me who did it this time. To be honest Miss Peterson I’m convinced that she’s afraid of retribution if she tells on another girl again. I think that it might be a good idea to have her take a few days off from school. I’ll have her teachers notified and send her homework along though the mail. I trust a good little student like Ester to get it all done without issue.” Lillian simply looked at her daughter and then back at the principal for a long moment sighing in defeat. “I suppose it really is the best option” the feline said as she stood and extended a paw to the principal. “Thank you again for this Jean. I think my little girl and I have a lot to talk about.
The car ride home was painfully quiet. This was the worst kind of situation for Ester, the kind when she had no idea what to do. Lillian never yelled, but that did not mean that she could not be stern when she had to be. It was truly her greatest fear, to see her mother giving her that look of disappointment and tell her why she should be disappointed in herself as well. But perhaps worse than that was the fact that the lecture was not coming. She just sat in her seat and fiddled with the small doubled over patch of fabric from her book bag strap and leaned her face against the cold glass of the car window. She wanted desperately to forget the black eye now, to forget everything that had happened if only to ensure that her mother would not have reason to be mad, would not scold her for not behaving. But then another part of her didn’t, another part knew that it was well worth it.
“Ester, do you remember when we discussed you going to regular school instead of home school?” It was finally coming, now five minutes from home. The poor girl tensed up hard against the window, almost wishing she could melt though it and escape the oncoming lecture. “Y-yes Mommy. I remember. You told m-me that I needed to respect t-the staff…” Lillian nodded a bit at that turning off to their exit. “Yes I did, and I also told you that you would have to stand up for yourself didn’t I? I told you that you were going to be responsible for your own well being. This is what I was talking about. You are very smart for your age Ester, very smart. Unfortunately though that makes you a target doesn’t it?” It was a bit of a shock, since this was not the lecture the poor girl was expecting. Sitting up Ester nodded to her mothers words once more and just looked up at her forgetting all about her black eye as the fears of punishment were at least somewhat offset.
Lillian pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall not two minutes from their home. She parked the car and gently moved a hand to her little girls cheek with a sigh running her thumb over the rim of the bruised flesh. “You have been in high school for one year Ester. Not even a full year at that, and already I have been called in about girls picking on you and harassing you in just about every way I could have imagined. Every day I wanted to pull you out of school more and more. I see you crying over how they treat you and it breaks my heart. I know you like the school itself and you like having real teachers instead of lessons from books and courses. But this crosses a line. I can’t have you getting hurt like this sweetheart.” She could see that Ester knew where this was going already, the poor girl about to speak in protest though too scared to do so. It really pained her to say it too but what choice did Lillian have? “Ester if you are too afraid to even tell the staff when you are physically harmed by someone I think I may have to pull you from this school. I will not let this continue. I don’t want to get a call from the hospital next time saying that you have a broken arm, or worse.”
Tears welled up in those bright green eyes as young Ester fought back her sobs. She didn’t know what to say. This felt even worse than the idea of getting in trouble about what she was convinced was an issue of disobedience. For a long moment it was quiet in the car as she debated, rolling the situation over and over again in her head and wondering if she should talk to her mother or accept her fate. “It… It won’t happen like that mommy.” She finally blurted out with a small defeated squeek. “I…. She wouldn’t let that happen…” This of course peaked Lillian’s interests. Ears perking she pulled her young one closer and started to pet her hair. “What do you mean dear? Who won’t let that happen?” Ester turned her face away and took a deep breath. “Diana…. The girl who hit me. She… she said it wouldn’t.”
Lillian pulled the young rodent into her arms as she always did and smiled a bit. “I see… so you have a new friend who is going to stick up for you dear? Well why didn’t you tell me about that before? You know the main reason I wanted you to go to school in a real high school was so that you could make friends and…” “No Mommy… not like that.” Ester interrupted before letting out another small whimper. It would have been so easy to let mommy assume that was the case, but how could she tell a lie to her only parent? “Mommy… She said if anyone but her picked on me from now on she would make them pay. She… shes the one who gave me this…” Now poor Lillian was more confused than ever. She pulled back a bit and once again traced the small black rim around her daughters eye. “Dear if you are being hurt by this girl then why are you protecting her? She’s just like all of the other bullies. Worse yet she hits you. Why on earth would you want to protect her more than any of these other girls?”
“Because…. She also…. I mean, well… she… K-kissed me…. Mommy.” Ester was as quiet as the dormouse she was when she said this, but her mother heard it loud and clear. “I was getting my deck f-for a game after school. Diana came up to me, pushed me against the lockers. I tried my best to get away but she just held me there. I was going to call for a teacher too… b-but she, well…” Ester was already blushing bright red, and it was only so far into the story that she realized far too late that it was not something she wanted to divulge to her mother. The shocked expression now plastered on Lillians muzzle just reinforced how bizarre this all sounded. Even Ester found it bizarre though at the same time knew that it felt wonderful in a strange way. “T-there is more to it too but… but I guess the point is nobody is going to pick on me anymore.”
It took a moment, a long moment, before Lillian could really regain her composure and pull herself back mentally from the odd happenings just described to her. She ran over the events again and again wondering why her sweet little Ester would ever let anyone push her around like this for a kiss. Still at the same time it made perfect sense. After all the girl was so loving and affectionate, and was treated so badly at school. Perhaps this Diana girl had noticed it, taken advantage of it somehow. “Dear, just because some girl kisses you does not mean shes on your side. She may have done that to be even more mean to you, or because of other reasons.” Ester then shook her head and moved in closer to her mother a moment. “Mommy… she said that, well… I mean she basically said… I’m her…. Girlfriend.” A lot had transpired besides that, and it was not the word that Diana used. Looking back on it though that was still what happened. That was part of why Ester had the black eye now, to show the other girls at school what would happen if others messed with her.
A mother prepares for so many things in life. From the moment she walked into the adoption agency Lillian knew that she would be facing many challenges, including several that she never would have expected. Still it was impossible for her, or anyone, to prepare for something like this. Lillian, a lesbian herself, had suspected for a while that Ester leaned more towards other females in her affections, so honestly that part was not a surprise. Nor was it a surprise that her daughter tended to favor a girl that was in a way ‘stronger’ than her. But this was, to say the least, a whole different ball game. What was she supposed to say? Was she supposed to deny her only child her first romance out of fear? Was she going to allow her girl to hang around someone who was dangerous and may be a bad influence? All she really knew for sure was that this Diana girl had hit Ester and been her little girls first kiss. As easy as it should have been to reason away the whole thing as wrong because of the violence, but it was not. Looking into her daugters eyes Lillian felt that perhaps there was something more.
Without another word Lillian opened the door and got out, pulling a small white cell phone from her chefs jacket. Instantly Ester folded her ears back and covered her head with both arms, curling up like she always did when she was sure some sort of conflict was coming. She was sure that this was it, that her mother was going to pull her out of school. She was sure she would lose contact with those few friends she had made, Lose that small spark of socialization she was finally able to get being out with others. Worst of all she would lose Diana. Even after one day, after a few hours Ester was afraid of losing the girl who had given her that first kiss.
“All right, hop out.” Lillian opened the door and unbuckled her little girl, helping the mousette out of the car. “Come on sweetie, lets get some ice cream and we can talk about this. I‘ll even let you get a large so long as you promise to finish it.” It defiantly was not what she was expecting. Ester slowly pulled herself out of the car and without another word wrapped her arms around her mother burying her face into the warm, safe embrace of the woman that had raised her. This was going to be a complicated situation but one that would at least be something that they would be able to work out as a family.
Several hours and one long talk later found Ester finally having some time to herself. An early dinner, a few hours reading with her mommy and a nice hot bath all rounded out with a nice long talk. No matter how old she got it seemed that there were no problems that her mommy could not fix, and that was the thing that made Ester feel the most secure. Now freshly washed and in her pajamas Ester reached under her little bed to pull out the tattered leather-bound notebook she had acquired at the renaissance fair years ago. The tiny tome held all of the girls most treasured memories and deepest thoughts, and tonight would add quite a few pages. Slowly and oh so carefully she penned each word onto the home made velum with her special ink pen. “Dear diary.”
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It had unfortunately been yet another normal at school for everyone’s favorite target. Standing in front of her locker with a nearly empty book bag for another long moment, the remainder of her schoolbooks and pencils now scattered about on the floor. “Stupid girls… I don’t know why they can’t just leave me alone… I never really did anything to hurt them”. For the third time that day she stooped down and started to gather up all of the scattered pens and pencils, putting them in their respective boxes before loading in the large stack of text books that the cheerleading squad apparently felt were just far too undamaged for someone who always had her nose in them. That’s all they could see her as, some clumsy intellectual who was beneath them for looking different or saying things they didn’t understand. Mommy had said that things were going to be like this though and she simply had to accept her decision came with a few consequences. If only that excuse would make her feel better about the constant psychological abuse.
Finally gathering the supplies together and dusting herself off the girl finally started down the hallway towards the principals office for the third time this week but stopped short at the sound of heavy footfalls behind her. Stopping still those green eyes slowly started to trace their way along the rows of lockers seeking out any sign of movement her lackluster peripheral vision might manage to pick up on. This seemed to be her role in the school, the one hunted down for no apparent reason and then pounced on savagely in spite of the wrath of the faculty bearing down upon the offenders. This time though when she finally stopped and dared to look back at the one following her Esters heart froze cold as ice. This wasn’t the typical pair of cheerleaders trying to have a bit of fun or a girl looking to fit in by attacking everyone’s punching bag. This was far, far worse.
“Going somewhere pipsqueak?” the apprehension quickly turned to utter fear. Ester began to dash forward at breakneck speed, quickly finding both feet leaving the ground in almost slow motion. Within the space of a split second ester found herself laying face down on the cold stone floor between two large black leather combat boots, glasses skidding off between them. “God your such a failure… you can’t even run away right. No wonder all these little preppie bitches make fun of you.” Little Ester quickly turned herself over onto her back, only to feel the weight of her own book bag dropped down smashing hard into the mouse girls small un-toned tummy promptly knocking the wind out of her. “And now your looking up my freaking skirt? Huh? God you really are a Dyke aren’t you?” it was about this time that Ester finally realized that she was indeed looking up at a pair of rather natty and somewhat dirty panties leading down into a pair of muscular brown furred thighs that stood like pillars over either side of her head.
Diana watched as her small prey started to sit up waiting until the mouse was almost sitting up before stepping down on her small chest and keeping her pinned. “You know I’ve been watching all the other stuck up bitches take their shots at you. Fucking armatures aren’t they?” The Chupette smirked and ran a hand though her long brown hair, just under the long streak of purple she had put into the left side. Even without glasses Ester could tell who it was from the voice. Reaching around to find her glasses the small mouse girl quickly grabbed on to them and started to scramble back towards the nearest wall pushing herself up along it with wide eyes.
Diana was well known as the one girl not to be trifled with in school. Others may poke and prod, they may even do some genuinely cruel things once in a while. But looking on at the athletic, well toned girl moved forward with menacingly slow and powerful strides. Before she knew it ester was totally boxed into the small space between her tormentor and the wall leaving her totally helpless. She jumped once again as the larger girl put her arm up against the wall leering wickedly at the trembling form now pressed hard against the wall. “You know this is exactly why all those girls harass you though. Its this pathetic little bout of cowering that just makes you look so… god you just look so utterly laughable. I mean honestly even if you didn’t have such geeky cloths or that nasty greasy hair…” Ester quickly winced down and tried to move away only to watch as the other hand slammed into the wall inches from her nose, reaffirming to her that she was not going anywhere. “Please… Diana I know your upset but don’t hurt me. Please? Whatever I did wrong I’m really sorry and I won’t d it again. Honest.” Those cold ice blue eyes just turned on Ester. She started to growl, then the growl turned to a chuckle and then to outright and unrestrained laughter.
“Listen to you. We both know you don’t have a fucking clue about why I’m mad don’t we? Don’t we?” quickly the brown furred girl shook her head side to side at a breakneck speed stopping only once the firm hand of her tormentor snatched her chin and started to growl. “But your still ready to fall over yourself to say sorry? God your hopeless. I bet if I told you I was pissed off because the sky was blue or because the economy sucked you’d be apologizing wouldn’t you? You would be fucking falling all over yourself to apologize just cause your scared.” Diana watched as her little victim struggled to nod her confirmation to the question already far too afraid to contradict what was probably the truth in the first place. She wanted Diana to just go away and Ester would do anything at all to get this terrifying girl off of her.
Slowly, oh so slowly, Diana started to slide her hand down Esters muzzle and wrapped it around the base of her jaw to keep movement to a minimum. Ester was perfectly trapped, unable to look away or run and too afraid of he consequences should she dare to scream for help. “Please. Don’t hurt me” she piped up one last time before that strong hand started to tighten more around her throat just barely tight enough to draw out that little ounce of fear she had yet to wrest from her. “Tell you what twerp. I’ll tell you just why it is you piss me off so much. You would like to at least know what your doing to deserve all this huh?” Ester nodded again with a small whimper. “Well I’ll tell you why it is. Its because your weak. Its because you let all of these other girls walk all over you like this. Its because you walk around like some little Rodes scholar without any fucking clue why you’re the victim.” All the while Diana leaned in closer and closer by the second. Her grip tightening and warm breath breaking against the mousies cheek. “But the one thing. The one fucking thing that pisses me off the most. The thing that just makes me feel so utterly disgusted when I look at you.” She watched as the rather quiet trembling and shivering quickly turned to helpless dry sobs of terror and helplessness letting out a low growl that made the small girl shut her eyes tight as could be.
Then it hit her. Those warm, soft lips pressing against hers, muzzle pried open by one more insistent and utterly demanding. This was slowly followed by a foul-sweet perfume as the small forced kiss turned into a hard, passionate liplock. The strange mixture of cheep beer and strangely sweet girl breath wafted onto her taste buds binding hard against the small sensors with a strangely pleasing sting. At that second the token resistance Ester had been putting up quickly melted away, replaced with her minds full awareness of another tounge sliding along hers without warning or request. More of that strange taste slowly moving along her virginal mouth, exploring it with a claiming ferocity and force its victim had never dreamt of. Even the tiny squeeks of mild protest were stifled as Diana pushed herself in deeper by the second leaving little room for the small noises to escape her slender throat. This was the last thing Ester had been expecting, the last thing she had ever thought anyone would do to her. There she was pinned to the wall with her schools most feared bully slowly drawing out the mouse girls first kiss, taking away the precious treasure as her own without allowing the young girl any say in the matter. Yet in spite of her mind telling her that she should be more fearful or that this was something wrong there was a strange romance to it that suspended her in a hard limbos between repulsed terror and dizzying bliss. It was all so new, so confusing that for the life of her Ester didn’t know what to think.
Finally the kiss ended, Diana’s tounge slowly pulling itself from between esters lips and then licking her own rather crassly. The teary eyed mouse struggled like mad to look away only to feel a strong hand wrapping around the base of her braid pulling her face up and drawing their eyes into yet another restless meeting. “Heh… just about what I figured I would get from you bitch. Your going to have to get a hell of a lot better at that. I refuse to have a girlfriend who can’t even fucking kiss right.” All movements or signs of protest stopped at this point, leaving nothing more than a shivering mass of paralyzed terror. “G-girlfriend?” she asked softly with wide tear filled eyes. “God your dumb. What is it that you seem to find so hard about this? Girlfriend, as in bitch. As in you are going to admit that you’re a little fucking dyke now and say thank you for doing what I tell you and being a cute little book worm I can ogle whenever I want. You got that squirt?“ Yet again the poor girl found herself far too shocked for words. Diana was the meanest girl in school, the girl who always got in trouble for her anger and cruel spirit. She was expecting to get teased or even a beating. But this was something nobody could have prepared her for. Yet here she was with the same girl who had just stolen that precious first kiss now looking over her small form like a piece of prime meat in a butcher shop window. Diana once again ran her tounge over those lips, bringing a fresh jolt of memory as to that bitter yet beautiful taste she could not shake from her mind.
“Now I think you owe me a thank you for being so nice runt. I mean come on, how many girls are going to be nice like this huh?” If someone had asked Ester to explain how she would react in this exact situation not two days ago odds were good she would simply have expressed a desire to simply appease her tormentor and then run away as fast as she possibly could. Even an hour ago odds were good she would have only been thinking of running away as fast and as far as she could. “T-thank you… Diana…” The poor girl said softly as she felt the fingers starting to wrap around her neck again. “Thank me for letting you be my little bitch.” She hissed out looking into her eyes. “W-wha?” A split second later Ester found herself laying on the floor once more, a painful sting around her eye socket slowly seeping itself into her awareness with glasses again knocked away down the hall. Slowly the Chipette walked towards the glasses and without a single word scooped them up, dropping the delicate frames down on her brand new lover without so much as a flash of remorse. Slowly Ester looked back up and rubbed her face again. “I…. thank you for letting me…. Be your b… bitch.” the word fell bitterly off of her lips even as Diana reached down to force her up again, looking over her handiwork with a small glint of satisfaction. “There. That wasn’t so hard was it? God your ungrateful twerp. But I love you anyways.” Before Ester could react to yet another sudden shock she felt those lips push against hers for a single instant, followed by a hard smack on the rump before Diana casually began to walk off.
It took a while before the Mousette could recover from her momentary assault, still disillusioned as to weather this was an attack or something far far different. Finally her thoughts were cut short as the bell rang out and other students flooded their way into the school hallways. Ester quickly scooped up her backpack and tucked back against the wall until the others cleared out. This ordeal was going to leave another mark and Ester knew she had no way to lie. Diana had just made Esters life so much more complicated. Reaching up to touch her lips though she could feel a strange conflict rising up in the pit of her stomach. The logical conclusion was naturally that this was some sort of cruel joke, a way to just hurt her even further than what those horrible girls normally did to the poor mouse girl. But that kiss simply didn’t feel like it could be fake. In that one simple act Diana had turned Esters world completely upside down leaving her wondering what exactly it was that she should do about the slowly developing problem of the mark on her eye and the girl who had given it to her.
