THE PAINFUL TRUTH

Chapter Twenty Three- Murderer

Stella's POV

"Stella, time for school!"

The four words I've been dreading to be uttered. A wave of nausea hits me but it's not because I'm ill. I'm scared. Even more scared than when I first started at Minehead Academy. In September, I didn't know anyone at the school and nobody knew me. It was the only strength I had before I looked away for just a second and it got ripped from me; it landed in the wrong hands. I will never forgive myself for foolishly trying to see the good in everyone when unfortunately, sometimes, there's no good in someone.

Now, that I know how ruthless people at this school are, it's too late. A very common question for people to ask is if you could have one superpower, what would it be? My answer would be time travel so that I could have the ability to fix those mistakes I made in the past and change how my situation is now and how it's going to be like in the future. However, whether I like it or not, I don't have any superpowers, especially not time travel, so I can't change the past, present or future.

Despite Kate's call me for to get ready for school, I still haven't got out of bed, which is my only protection from the outside world. I hope she forgets about me.

"Stella, come on! Your breakfast's going to be cold!" Kate calls out.

The sound of footsteps gets louder as they approach my bedroom door before there's a knock.

"Are you ok, Stella?" Kate's voice comes from behind the door.

Why can't she just leave me alone?

"I don't feel well."

Technically, I'm not necessarily lying: I'm just not telling the whole truth.

Immediately, Kate opens the door and is by my side.

"What do you feel?" she asks.

"I feel nauseous."

Checking my temperature, Kate places the back of her hand on my forehead.

"Your temperature seems fine."

"But I still could have a tummy bug."

"But it seems suspicious that all of a sudden you're feeling sick on a school morning when for most of the weekend you've been at home and you were completely fine!"

I've been caught!

Kate sighs heavily before perching on the end of my bed, careful as to not sit on my legs.

"Stella, I won't let you jeopardise your education over the horrible doing of an even more horrible girl, who I'm going to make sure she gets what she deserves by reporting her to your headteacher!"

"What? No! Please, Kate, don't do that!" I plead.

"But she's going to win!"

"She's already won!"

There's silence while Kate thinks of another argument.

"Please, Stella. If you won't go to school for yourself, can you please do it for me," she begs, her eyes with an emotion I've never seen before: desperation.

This woman sitting on the end of my bed has been the best foster care parent I could ask for. She took me in when she knew nothing about me, looked after me like how a mother does with a daughter and has never left my side even in extremely tough situations. I'm still recovering from the shock that she's not angry at me when Frida called her yesterday after I had ran out of her house. Of course, when Kate and Harry arrived, there was a lot of explaining to do which included why I had secretly gone to see my social worker. Any person, even if they were the most ignorant person on this planet, could recognise how much I owe her.