..."We were supposed to be hanging out and playing football," said one of the girls, who didn't want their last names used. "We knew we'd get a little pain, but nothing bad."

This was not in any way an official school event, but if the annual initiation was a secret, it was the worst-kept secret in school. Everyone knew it went on, and had been going on for years.

It had developed its own set of unwritten "rules"--no scarring, no major hitting, no cutting of hair. The juniors, for their part, were expected not to fight.

"A little paint and a little poo," is what one of the girls said she expected. The first thing that caught the girls' attention was the drinking. People were getting drunk. Not terribly surprising. According to people familiar with the event, you were supposed to chip in a few bucks for a keg.

But there was something menacing in the mood that was enough to scare the girls.

"About 10 minutes into it, the mood completely changed," said Marina. "Some kids got pulled out and a girl started to go after them."

Marina felt her earrings ripped from her ears, and punches and kicks to her ribs and tailbone. Welts bloomed where Lauren and Dayna were pummeled and a bruise appeared on Cheryl's upper lip.

One of the girls said the juniors were forced to put paint thinner in their mouths and were throwing up. Some were smeared with excrement. One of the girls said pig intestines were wrapped around her face. Another said Spam and raw meat were crammed into their mouths. One of the girls said she was hit in the back of the head with a bucket. But it was the punches and kicks that were the worst.

"They showed no remorse," Marina said. "I thought I was going to die."