Natural

Chapter 1

Eira grunted as she hit the ground of the school playground on her side, eyes stinging with held back tears. Around her were boys cheering on the one who stood tallest and kicked into her chest again, smirking smugly.

"Big brother ain't around to protect you now freak!"

Another punch landed against her back as she gasped for air, no one would help but stare and often cheered the group of boys that circled Eira and beat her to the ground. Not that she blamed the bystanders, Eira knew why they didn't intervene.
Bruises reformed over old bruises, the skin tearing easily under their trainers while she bawled her hands into fists. A sudden clash and cracking sound filled the playground as her fist impacted the closest face to her own, the band of boys backing away with horror sprawled over their faces as blood dripped from his nose. Eira only smirked and spat on his shoe,

"Aww poor little rich boy losing all his precious blood, what's wrong Dylan? Never been in a fight before?"
For a long second, he was silent, glaring into her like a bug that needed to be squashed then the ghost of a smile passed over his face when he let out a screech. As he pretended to cry and began pointing towards Eira, it wasn't long before the teachers recognised the voice belonged to Dylan and ran towards them,

"S-She punched me!"

Not even a word could leave her mouth when the principal narrowed her eyes at Eira with familiar disgust, fury rising within her chest.
"Detention Eira! And be assured I'll be calling your mother."

Of course, Dylan started to be soothed by the teacher and naturally, the voices as Eira walked towards detention began to quieten into deafening whispers.

"She's out of control."
"What was she thinking?"
"Her poor mother, always picking up the mess..."
"She's gonna end up like her brother at this rate."
"Just another troublemaker."

The voices muffled slightly as the door closed behind Eira to the empty classroom, but she knew that even if she couldn't make out the words they were all about her and her brother. She sludged towards her favourite seat glancing towards the clock above, only a few minutes until the bell would ring.
As the door opened with a creak Eira's sigh met another in sync,

"In detention again Eira?"
"Seems like it, Mr Hayle."

Eira looked away once she noticed his eyes softening towards her, pursing her lip while he began typing on the laptop at the teacher's desk which sat directly across from the desk she sat at. Moments of silence passed when he finally cleared his throat and started to speak gently,

"Fought with Dylan again I presume?"
"Mmhm."

They both met eyes and he gave a small smile, it was pitiful of course. Eira preferred that to the sneers from the other teachers she got during detention half the time, opening her mouth and asking.

"Why is he allowed to get away with it all the time?"
"Because Dylan is part of a rich family, adopted but still part of them." He paused before closing his laptop and smiled while whispering,

"I wouldn't care too much about it Eira, Dylan will become one of two things. A rich boy with a business handed down to him by his parents or the rich boy who won't care about his grades, lose his business and end up worse for it."

A laugh escaped her lips, she was sure if anyone had heard Mr Hayle then he would've been in a lot of trouble, so Eira appreciated that he did that to cheer her up.
"Mr Hayle?"
"Yes?"

Eira glanced up at him almost hesitant to ask.
"Why are you so nice to me and Kale?"
For a moment he didn't say a word then took a deep breath and Eira caught his thumb rubbing against his ring finger.

"I wasn't born in this town, I grew up in a big city and once was like Dylan too."

A subtle smile lifted his weary face,
"That's when I met this girl, she was eccentric as she liked to say. A wonderful artist with the kindest of hearts, except when it came to bugs. Terrible fear of bugs and insects."

Eira had never heard a deep yearning from anyone before but even as Mr Hayle spoke fondly there was a missing note in his voice, listening keenly as he continued.

"She had a dream to be a big artist and she had the talent to do it, her paintings were beautiful. But I had no idea just how much pain was behind that paint..."
He took a deep breath,
"I fell in love with her and the closer I got the more I saw how broken she was inside, almost constantly painting. Traumatised by the people who had bullied her daily for being herself, shunned by her family and all because she wanted to do what she loved."

Eira could understand almost exactly the same and watched as Mr Hayle rubbed his ring finger continuously while listening.

"We got married, she had so much spirit even though she carried the weight of the world. In her darkest moments, I asked her how could she do it? I remember the smile she gave me,"
His eyes focused on Eira.

"She said that when life got her down and she felt like giving up she would smile and wait for the next day to be better, she would paint it all away and remember that it gets better and no one could stop that. When my wife was about to pass she made me promise to be kind to even the darkest soul, to treat the eccentric as family."
Eira finally understood, lifting her head slightly as it registered. Mr Hayle had an eccentric wife who was treated as Eira currently was and made him promise to treat any soul, especially eccentric ones with the kindness they needed.

"Thank you, Mr Hayle, I'm glad at least one person in this town understands."

As Mr Hayle began to speak the bell rang once again and as if on cue the door to the detention class opened, stood there was a furious woman and a smiling woman.
Eira looked towards the smiling woman who brushed her hair back, standing from her seat.

"Hi, Mum."