Athletes were involved, maybe?
In 1975, when I had just started junior high, I dropped a pop fly in a gym class softball game, and one of my teammates spent the next 3 years making repeated attempts on my life. TPTB, including my parents, knew about it, and the most common response was, "Well, if you hadn't dropped that ball........." We're both female, BTW.
Your post brought back a memory to me from 10th grade in high school about the same time period. Your situation seems much more serious than mine though.
Playing softball in gym, like you, rounding third, one of my friends bumped into the other team’s third baseman, not hard to do since she was standing on the base. A little jostle, nothing more.
Afterwards, she and a friend confronted my friend while I was standing with her saying, “you bumped into me” or “you bumped into my friend”, like they were trying to start something. I told my friend to just ignore them so that apparently pulled me into the whole thing. We did not know these people, two high schools had merged
For the next three weeks or so it was a daily thing, the two would bump into us and repeat the thing about running into the one girl, trying to start something. They even tried to throw paint on us from the second floor art room.
Every time they did this they would have these stupid smirks on their faces. We continued to ignore them. My friend was scared but I was pretty sure this was a game to them, they were getting their jollies from trying to scare us.
Finally, one day they did it again and I had had enough. I had not yet attained my full adult size of 5’3”; 110 lbs yet so I was not nearly as intimidating as I would become (ha), but I turned face to face with one of them and even though I had never hit anyone in my life, I told her I was tired of her and if she ever said another word to me or so much as touched me again I would beat her to the ground until she was black and blue. I hate to say it, but at that moment, I meant it.
We never had another problem with them. Not a peep was ever heard again.
I am happy to say that many years have passed since then and I still haven’t hit anybody.