Chapter Nine

"Oh, I'm so sorry to hear about your aunt, Ellie." Beth said with such sarcasm.

"What do you want, Beth," Becky said, who was now next to me.

"Just to say how sorry I am, that's all." a sick smile formed on Beth's lips. "It should have been you, Ellie."

"Bitch!" Becky shouted. Beth turned to Becky and blew her a kiss.

I just stood there with my head down. Hoping she would stop.

Becky readied her fist for Beth, but Lilly grabbed her before she could strike and the offensive girl laughed at the failed attempt.

"I've heard that it was your fault she died, is that right?" Beth added. "Well, since she was your family, I don't care if it was both of you. One down, two to go."

"You sick Bitch!" yelled Lilly.

I just stood there while Beth spat her poison. Lilly and Becky exchanged heated words between the three of them. It rooted me to the spot while this thing spoke of me, I couldn't do anything, and I wanted her to go away. Lilly moved forward and pulled back her fist, ready to hit Beth. Without thinking, I grabbed onto Lilly's hand and a surge of anger rushed through me. It fuelled me and made my blood boil. I could feel Lilly's anger flowing through me, but how? I could also hear Lilly's dark thoughts; she wanted to hurt Beth badly. It scared me a little until I saw Beth's sickening smile again. What felt like minutes was only mere seconds.

I let go of Lilly's hand and quickly punched Beth straight across the face, and my hand throbbed with pain. Beth fell back, losing her footing, and fell to the floor. She wiped her nose and saw scarlet blood trickling down. Beth stared at the red substance on her hand and an enormous grin formed on her bloody face. Quickly, she got up from the floor and rushed straight at me, and she reminded me of a charging mad bull. Beth tackled me from the waist and sent me straight to the floor, knocking the air from my lungs.

My old wounds screamed in pain along with the newly formed injury. I fell onto my back, causing pain to shoot up and down my body. Beth was on top of me, ready to hit me for a second time.

Without thinking, I latched onto her wrist to stop her oncoming blow. Like all the others, I saw her face change in a flash. Beth had a lustful look in her eyes, and I could feel all her anger towards me and deep down she wanted to kill me. This bitch was crazy. I seized the opportunity and punched her straight in the face again with my free hand. She rolled off of me and I quickly scrambled to my feet.

While Beth was recovering from my punch, I noticed around us we had a created a crowd of people cheering and shouting. Lilly and Becky were also cheering me on. I quickly had to ignore them because Beth had recovered and her face was thick with blood. It did not hinder her in the slightest. She ran at me again, screaming like a madwoman; I tried to prepare myself for another one of her punches, but she caught me off guard. She pulled me forward and brought her knee straight into my stomach, and the pain brought me to my knees. I coughed and heaved through the intense pain. Beth stood over me with her hands balled into tight fists. There was nothing I could do. I was lying on the floor doubled up in pain, and then from afar I heard a familiar voice.

"Break it up, break it up!" Mr Thomas shouted.

Beth didn't care; she was ready to kick me while I was down until Lilly and Becky grabbed both her arms and threw her to the wall.

Mr Thomas was now around us and could see Beth's face covered with blood and me on the floor gasping in pain and soon the crowd dispersed. Beth stared at me with eyes full of hate. And I would've been in actual danger.

Mr Thomas held out his hand. "Are you OK, Ellie?"

I ignored it and steadily got to my feet. "I think I need to see the nurse." I said.

He nodded and then turned to Beth. "What the hell happened?" he demanded.

Before Beth could speak Lilly and Becky spoke first. "She said disgusting things to Ellie and then she went to punch us." they both lied.

"What? It was the freak here who.." Beth's cut off.

"What did you just say?" Mr Thomas asked.

"I called her a.." He slammed his hand hard against the wall next to Beth. It made us all jump, even Beth. Seeing Mr Thomas like this was scary. Maybe everyone has a scary side to them.

"Since coming to this school Beth, you are nothing but trouble, come with me." he said. "Girls, can you take Ellie to the nurse and then take her to the Headmasters room, I'll tell him what's happened here."

"Yes, sir." They both said. Mr Thomas and Beth walked down the hallway before disappearing around a corner.

"You didn't have to lie for me." I said, clutching my sides.

"Well, the Bitch had it coming," said Becky. "Plus you had a few good shots in there. Did you see her face, it's covered in blood."

"Oh and, Lilly, I'm sorry about you-know-what." remembering that I grabbed her hand.

"It's OK. It felt weird, not a good weird or a bad weird, just weird." said Lilly.

I dragged myself to the nurse's office with Becky and Lilly behind me. Lucky enough not that far. Becky held open the door, and I shuffled my way into the nurse's room. The nurse was sitting in her chair looking at some papers before she noticed us; the nurse was a plump little woman with short blonde hair with a pudgy, but kind face, she was wearing a white skirt with a peach-coloured top, and covering her top she wore a long white sleeved cardigan. (What's with all the cardigans lately)? Her room, littered with medical posters of the human body in and out. In the corner, she had a human skeleton, and it sent a shiver down my spine. It's weird to think we all look like that on the inside.

"Nurse, we have a patient." said Lilly.

I wobbled my way to the nurse, careful of my balance. The little woman shot up from her desk and hurried towards me.

"What's happened?" she asked.

"Well, this girl attacked our friend." said Lilly.

"Bitch." blurted Becky.

"Language, young lady." the nurse told Becky.

"Sorry." replied Becky.

"Anyway, Ellie had a car accident a few days ago, and she's still fragile." Lilly said.

Lilly's words made me wince. I did not want someone to think of me as fragile.

"Well, pop yourself up here and let me look at you." The plump woman said.

I climbed onto the doctor examination chair and waited for her to examine me.

"Right then," she began. "Do you feel sick, dizzy, what about blurred vision?" she asked.

"No." I replied.

"Well, that's good, let me just." the nurse was about to touch my arm when from the end of the room Becky and Lilly started shouting.

"Don't touch her!" they both screeched.

The nurse stopped. She held her hands up as if she was surrendering. "She uh, doesn't like to be touched." Lilly blurted.

"OK, so are you feeling any pain at all then." the nurse said.

"Well, it hurts when I breathe in and out. I think I may have lost my breath, plus my bruises hurt like a-" she stopped me mid-sentence.

"Language." the nurse said to me. She continued. "Well, you need to breathe in and out slowly, in through the nose, out through the mouth, okay?"

I started slowly breathing with her instructions. After a while, I felt better, and I found it easier to breathe.

"Also, my hand hurts." I lifted my bruised knuckles for the nurse to see. She carefully stayed her distance, but she looked over my hand.

"Mm, it doesn't look broken. Can you move your fingers freely?" the kind nurse asked.

I did as she asked and freely moved my fingers with minor pain.

"So who did this to you?" the nurse asked.

"It was that Bit-" the Nurse gave Becky a stern look. "It was this girl called Beth, she's a nasty piece of work."

"Oh, I know of this girl and I agree. She's put a few people in here, disgusting girl, even though I'm not allowed to voice my opinion." said the Nurse.

"I think I'm feeling better now." the nurse turned around after facing Becky and Lilly.

"I'm glad," she smiled. I carefully jumped down from the examination table. "You take care of yourself, and if the pain doesn't go away, book an appointment with your doctor. And girls look after each other and no swearing, OK." she said.

While the Nurse was talking, I noticed she had the softest brown eye's I'd ever seen. Her face had some deep wrinkles, but her eyes were youthful.

"You, too." I said with a smile.

I then followed the girls out of the room.

"Are you feeling any better?" Lilly asked.

"A little." I replied. Again, I hated that question.

As Mr Thomas demanded, we headed off to the Headmasters room. God knows what was waiting for me in there. In this school, no matter what you did, you would try to avoid the headmaster at all costs. That rule never applied to, Bitch Beth.

I met the head when I first came to the school. He introduced me around while I was with my Dad. He would sometimes make speeches in the main hall to start off the school day, and even then he scared me.

Walking down the corridor felt weird, like I was walking to my doom. The halls were devoid of students. It was scary, walking through the unevenly lit hallways. The three of us crept down to the Headmaster's room like innocent young teens solving a mystery. The three of us stood outside of the door, and no one dared knock.

"Have you ever been in the Head's office?" I asked.

"Well, I have once." Becky said.

"When?" replied Lilly.

"He caught me and this boy, kissing outside of class." Becky said, "He ran off and left me to deal with him." Becky said, pointing to the door.

"What do you mean this boy? Didn't you know his name?" asked Lilly.

"Um, no," said Becky shyly. "I cannot help it, plus he didn't tell me his name." she said vainly flipping her silky hair.

"Bloody hell, Becky." said Lilly.

"Anyway, what was he like?" I wanted to know the details.

"He kept on trying to stick his tongue in my mouth and licking my lips and it was horrible, gross. He didn't have a clue what he was doing." Becky replied.

"No, not the boy." I laughed, "The Headmaster." I started giggling.

All three of us were laughing too much to notice that the Headmaster was standing by his door. He towered over us with his mighty height.

"Ellie Laveau." he called.

Oh, crap. We all shuffled into his office, avoiding his stern gaze. The Headmaster's office w decorated with cream-coloured walls. Wooden shelves were nailed to the walls with comprehensive tomes sitting side by side. Frame documents littered one side of the room to show his many achievements. Everything in the office was neat, aligned neatly to an almost pristine position. Inside, a man was sitting in one of the leather chairs with his back to us. The mysterious man turned around. It was my Dad.

"Dad?" I said, surprised.

He didn't answer back; he replied instead with a disappointed look. This was the last thing he needed, and I was making life much more difficult for him. The three of us sat ourselves in sturdy wooden chairs. In front, stretched out a mahogany-coloured desk that dominated the entire room. The Headmaster took his seat behind his masculine desk.

Seeing the Head up close was a little frightening. He was a big-muscle man with very short hair, clean shaven with a crooked nose. His lips were thin and had a powerful jaw. Some people say he was in the army, and I could totally see that. Sitting in the big bad Headmaster's office was not where I wanted to be. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"I've heard from Mr Thomas that you were involved in a fight?" he profoundly said.

I was too scared to speak, so I just nodded instead.

"Ellie, are you okay?" my Dad spoke.

"Yeah, Dad, I'm okay just a few bruises that's all." I tried to put him at ease.

"That's all, that's all?" his voice rose with anger. "Mr Malloy, my daughter, was involved in a serious accident, and this is her first day back and is attacked?" seeing my Dad getting angry was something I never got to see.

"Mr Laveau we will-" before he could say anymore he interrupted.

"What are you going to the girl who attacked my daughter?" he now up on his feet.

"Well, the adolescent girl will be discipline and I will expel her." he answered.

"Is that all? Is this the first time she has done something like this?" he spoke.

"Dad, that's enough." I got up from the chair and met his eyes.

"Sorry." he said.

"I think Ellie should have a few days off school and I will deal with that young lady." the headmaster said.

My Dad nodded in agreement. He held his hand out in front of him and they both shook hands. "Lilly, Becky, thank you for caring for Ellie." Dad said.

They both smiled at him. "Take care, Ellie." said Lilly.

"Yeah, call us later okay if you need anything." added Becky.

"Will do and thanks, girls." I waved goodbye to both of them and left the office.

"Sorry." I mumbled as soon as we were out of the office.

He gave me a confused look. "Why?"

"Well, the fight. I didn't want to cause you any more problems as it is."

He stopped and faced me. ''You have nothing to be sorry about." he said.

We exited the building and walked out through the main gates, leaving the school behind us. I looked around for the car but could not see it.

"Dad, where's the car?" I asked.

"Do you think I'd pick you up in the car?" he said. "I didn't want to upset you."

"Thanks, Dad." I replied. I readjusted my bag on my back and continued down the drive.

Walking home with just the two of us was nice. The sun was bright, and the breeze was soft against my bruised skin. Hardly anyone was around, just my Dad and I.

Days like this reminded me of when I was young. Just the two of us used to go on lengthy walks through the country, exploring the hills and fields. My favourite places were the woods. We used to pick chestnuts during Christmas time. Those prickly pods were a nightmare. I'd always get pricked or scratched, but Dad would show how to get them out without being hurt. In the summers, the three of us would have a picnic by the riverbank, and sometimes we would see horses sniff around us for the food. I remember a horse snuck up behind me and sniffed at my hair. Bloody horse nearly gave me a heart attack. To this day, I hate people sneaking up behind me. Now all those days were lost, never to return.

"It's nice out isn't it?" I failed at small talk.

"Did you ask me about the weather?" he replied, "Yeah, it is nice, but is that all you can talk about?"

"You know I'm not good at small talk." I answered.

"Yeah, I gathered." he said.

I had been dodging the question since it happened, but I would ask him. "Dad, when is Kate's funeral?" I immediately regretted the question.

Staring at him, I watched him find the right answer. "It's in a few days, Ellie." he finally said.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," I said with a feeling of guilt in my stomach.

"Don't feel sorry." he said. We both continued walking down the street, back home, back to where I felt safe.