Amy didn't particularly like recess that day. It was windy and she didn't bring her cardigan into school. She shivered on the cold school playground. Her friends were boring and talking about teachers. Why talk about school when it was bad enough to be there in the first place? Out of the corner of her eye Amy noticed a group of older girls come out of a classroom. She recognised them all, aside from one. She had really pretty brown flowing long hair- just like jungle girl's. She seemed nice. Amy decided to talk to her. She silently left her friends and approached the older girls. They all knew her and thought she was cute and adorable, and sometimes even offered her pear drops, but today the girls' spiteful faces made Amy feel self-conscious and shy.
"You were kept back a year?" One of them asked the new girl. She shuffled her feet in response.
"Um. Yeah. I missed a couple of years of school when my mom died. And, uh, I'm not very good at letters, and reading and things"
"We know" A girl replied, rolling her eyes. Amy frowned. That wasn't nice.
"Did you hear her reciting that poem in English?" Another girl laughed. "It was like you were talking gibberish! I couldn't understand a word!"
"Your face went so red too! Like a tomato!" A different girl added.
"Can't you even read?" A girl finished with a booming laugh. "Dumbass!"
"Dumbass! Dumbass!" The girls chanted.
"That's mean" Amy squeaked. The girls stared at her in surprise. Clearly, they didn't realise she was there. The new girl even gave a gasp. The leader who came up with the rude nickname snarled.
"I'll be as mean as I like to that idiot."
Amy gasped in the naïve, utterly shaken way that only little girls can. "That's even meaner!"
"I can do a lot worse. Wanna see?" The girl dragged the new girl into the middle of the ring of girls, her hand greedily reaching for her, ready to grasp, claw and scar.
"I'm telling the dean!!!" Amy shrieked in distress. Suddenly the older girl was grabbing at her, her nails digging painfully into Amy's flesh.
"You'll do no such thing!" the girl looked into her eyes sternly.
"I WILL TOO!" Amy screamed. Before she realised the girl's hand was flying across her face smacking her hard.
No. You won't."
Tears welled up in Amy's eyes, her innocence shattered. So this was the baddie. This is what jungle girl fights for. So that people like this girl can't do this to poor animals. So she can't do to them what she's doing to her. How gross, thought Amy. To be compared to a monkey. Amy set her eyes on the girl. She reached out to grab her, she kicked out at her, making the girl wince and awkwardly hop on one foot. She tried to kick again but the girl could easily hold her at arm's length so that Amy could inflict no damage. She laughed, her menacing laugh spreading across the playground. All eyes were on Amy. Except the new girl's it seemed. Amy looked round. Where was she? She should help her in such a time of need. She was fighting for her. The girl grabbed Amy by the collar.
"You want another?"
Amy wailed, ready to give in, when out of the corner of her eye she spotted the new girl, running across the playground with the dean.
YOU ARE READING
I Promise To Love You Tomorrow
Historical FictionSet in the 1950's this story follows the dilemmas of Sally White as she struggles between her child and home, her alcoholic husband and her lover Jack. For years Sally has submissively followed her husbands lead, covering his tracks at every turn in...
