Trouble at D'Hara High

The student committee was in uproar. Some girls were openly weeping, even the tough ones like Cara and Denna, who until last year had been the baddest girl-gang in the school. If it hadn't been for that new kid Richard, they'd still be terrorising the place, egged on by the evil teacher Mr Rahl, but Richard had put a stop to that. Both Mr Rahl and his friend Mr Nass had been exposed as kiddy-fiddlers by Richard and his girlfriend Karen, and the dark rumours of what had happened to the disgraced teachers made sure that no-one objected to Richard's takeover of the student council, and all the boys crossed their legs when Karen walked past. Richard later admitted that Mr Rahl was his dad, and started using the surname, but for some reason the students found that strangely comforting, and were known to experience moments of heavenly joy when chanting the name of their old oppressor.

"SILENCE!" bellowed Richard, and a fearful hush descended on the room, where it landed with a jolt and scurried off into corners to suppress the squeaks of errant mice. He looked around at the terrified faces, and allowed himself a not-so-rare moment of self-congratulation. He'd come a long way from the small-town hick who had strolled into D'Hara all those months ago. The old janitor, Mr Zedd, had persuaded him to sign up for classes, and though he still didn't hold with all that book-learnin', he'd certainly made his mark on the place. But now his position was in danger - the Imperial Property Developers (Inc), led by the evil Mr Jagang, were planning on knocking the shopping mall down to build an orphanage! It was up to the school council to stop them!

The room tensed as they prepared for one of Richard's speeches. His T-shirt puffed out, emblazoned with an "R" in a circle, in case anyone forgot who he was. But, before he could begin, Karen called out "Hey! Where's Cilla? Where's my sister?" Karen's sister had been head of the cheerleading squad, but had quit after IPD thugs beat her up after practice one night. Karen had taken over, but had soon handed the job to Richard, who enjoyed waving the odd pom-pom from time to time. His raptor-like miniskirt tended to put off all the competing teams, giving D'Hara High an unbeaten record in cheerleading contests all season.

Just then, Karen's brother, Harry rushed in with a couple of his mates. Karen glared at him and he began to visibly wilt, turning slightly brown at the edges and drooping towards the ground. "I've got a message from Cilla!" he stammered.

Richard and Karen both folded their arms and looked at him. The crowd began to mutter.

"Cilla's too scared to leave the house! After she was beaten up, she refuses to go anywhere near the IPD building again, even just to throw rotten eggs and put up posters! She wants her cheerleading team back too, and says you had no right to give it to Richard - he can't even do the splits!"

Lightning flashed, and chilly air blew into the room to emphasise the atrocity of Harry's statement. Karen drew herself up to her full height, which was not as tall as... (etc).

"She refuses to come on our protest march? What will she do when the mall's been bulldozed, eh? Where will she buy her cheerleading gear then? She's just as bad as Mr Jagang! And so are you! When I see her next, I'll get my biker mates Butch and Big Dave to give her a right good going over, you see if I don't!"

Harry fled through the door, and suddenly there was a THWACK!, like the sound of a broom hitting someone's head, followed by the THUMP! of a body hitting the floor. Mr Zedd's cheery whistle sounded, as he moved off, clearly dragging something.

"Right. Anyone else want to drop out?" asked Richard. "Remember, you all have freedom to choose, because if you're not free, you're as good as dead. Anyone?"