Lori was in her usual position, sitting on her bed, guitar in hand notebook in front of her when she noticed Jessi standing hesitantly in the doorway. She said, "You can come in, Jessi," then looked at her and saw the red eyes and troubled expression. She set her guitar down, "Jessi, What happened?"

Jessi stood hesitantly in the middle of her room and said, "I almost killed Raymond."

"What!" Lori exclaimed. "What did you do?"

"I grabbed him by the throat."

"Is he hurt," Lori asked.

"I think he's just bruised," Jessi said. "I stopped before I did serious damage."

Lori took a breath, "Sit down and tell me about it. Where did this happen?"

Jessi sat down in the chair, "I took him to my apartment."

Lori frowned, "Why did you do that?"

"He said he wished we had a quiet place to talk," Jessi explained. "I suggested my apartment and he thought it was a good idea."

Lori rolled her eyes and sighed, "Oh, Jessi." She said, "Start from the beginning and tell me the whole story."

Jessi described how the date had gone, ending with Raymond cursing at her and slamming the door. She said, her eyes glistening with tears, "I think he's right. I am sick."

Lori stood up, "No you're not." She took a deep breath, then reached out and took Jessi's hand, "Come with me, we have to go talk to Nicole."

"I don't want to tell Nicole," Jessi held back. "I don't want her to hate me."

"She won't hate you," Lori assured her. "It'll be all right, but we need her help. Trust your big sister."

Jessi reluctantly let Lori lead her down the stairs.

Nicole was sitting in a chair in the living room reading a journal when she saw them approach. Her brow furrowed as she took in the scene and Jessi's expression. "What the matter?" She asked.

"Remember when you said that I could 'call in the professional'?" Lori asked. "Well it's definitely time for that."

Nicole looked at them, assessing the situation. She said, "Let's go to Jessi's room. We can talk privately there, and I'm used to having this type of conversation in that room, anyway."

When they got to her room, Jessi sat on her bed and Nicole sat in the chair at her desk. After a moment's hesitation, Lori sat next to Jessi and put her arm around her and gave her a gentle hug. She said, "It will be all right, Jessi."

Nicole glanced at Lori and gave her an approving smile then she turned to Jessi, "What happened? Did something go wrong on your date?"

"I grabbed Raymond by the throat, I almost killed him," Jessi said in despair.

Nicole looked shocked. She glanced at Lori who held up her free hand in a 'go easy' gesture. She took a deep breath, "Let's start at the beginning."

Jessi explained, "After the movie Raymond said he wished we had a quiet place to talk. I suggested my apartment, so we went there."

Nicole nodded encouragingly. She could see where this was going.

"When we got there, instead of talking he started kissing me. It was nice until he put his hand on my chest. I did what Lori told me and moved it away," Jessi looked at Lori.

Nicole looked at her as well. Lori turned over her free hand, "At the dance Jessi and Raymond were dancing very intimately. We talked about it and I found out she was just copying him; she didn't want to be that physical. I told her that she didn't have to do things just because he wanted to."

"You don't, Jessi." Nicole assured her. "When it comes to physical contact, you don't have to do anything you're uncomfortable with."

"Lori told me that that was how 'the dating game' was played. She said that boys would try to be intimate and that girls would stop them if they didn't want them to."

"That's how it often works," Nicole agreed.

"He kissed me harder and put his hand on my chest again," I stopped him and told him I didn't want to," Jessi said.

"What happened then?" Nicole asked.

"He said, 'Don't be such a tease. I know you want to, you know you want to. You've been coming on to me since the beginning. Don't pull back now,' then he climbed on top of me, kissed me hard and grabbed my chest. I pushed him hard and he fell on the floor." Jessi was starting to tear up. "When he got up he tried to hit me. I stopped him and grabbed him by the throat, just like I did the man in the woods." She closed her eyes for a moment remembering, "But I stopped myself and let him go. He cursed at me and left." She hung her head, "I am crazy. I shouldn't be here with your family."

"This is your family, Jessi," Nicole insisted. "Of course you should be here." She collected her thoughts, "Do you think he's injured?"

"No, I stopped before I did any damage," Jessi said. She thought for a moment, "His throat will probably be bruised, though. He may be hoarse for a day or two."

Nicole took a deep breath and let it out slowly in relief, "The first thing I am going to tell you is that you had every right to defend yourself. He had no right to try to force his affections on you."

Jessi straightened slightly at this.

"The second thing is that you do have to learn to use only as much force as is necessary. You have much more strength than the average person; you need to control it better. This situation did not justify deadly force," Nicole cautioned.

Jessi nodded.

"And finally, while you did nothing bad or evil, you did make mistakes. By being intimate with him at the dance and then inviting him to your apartment, he thought that you wanted to be even more intimate. That is no excuse for him using force but it does explain why he felt angry. You weren't 'playing the game' properly and he misunderstood."

"I don't know how to play the game," Jessi shook her head, sadly. "Kyle doesn't act like that."

"Not many boys act like Kyle," Nicole agreed. "I'm sorry I didn't see this coming. You and Kyle are so intelligent and capable that I forget that you don't have the experience you need in complex social environments, like dating. It didn't bother Kyle because if the boy doesn't push, there is no problem, especially since he was dating Amanda. You have a more difficult part to play." She looked to Lori, "You know the people involved. What do you think the results of this will be?" She asked.

"Raymond probably won't date her again," Lori said.

"I don't want to date him again."

"Right, so there's no problem there," Lori agreed. "I doubt Raymond is going to go around the school telling people that a girl beat him up. He'll probably spread stories about her being a 'tease', but that will only be with his buddies, and I don't think Jessi would want to date them either." She nodded reassuringly, "It will be ok."

"See, it will be all right, Jessi," Nicole said. "But we'll need to talk about dating in detail more before you go out again. I should have realized that in the first place, I'm terribly sorry."

Jessi said miserably. "No one is going to ask me out again."

"I'm sure they will," Nicole reassured her.