Hero

Chapter 2

"I'm telling you guys.  Her eyes looked so sad and scared-" Jesy was saying that night at their 'meeting'.

"Are you sure that wasn't 'cause of you?" Perrie asked.  "I mean it sounds like you hurt her." The little girl shrugged.

They were all seated on the floor of Jesy's bedroom, clad in pyjamas as it was a little passed their bedtime. Jesy had told her mother that they were going to bed.

Jesy scowled. "No. It wasn't just 'cause of me." She remembered Leigh-Anne's eyes and the pain in them. "Couldn't have just been me. If only my little mischievous doing could do that to her eyes then she's gotta have a problem."

Jade nodded. "Let's list all the things about Leigh-Anne that might lead to assumptions that there's something wrong." Jade actually agreed with Jesy. She didn't get to look in Leigh's eyes but she just felt as if something was off. "If we list those things then we'd be able to come to a better conclusion on what could be wrong."

"Makes sense." Jake said, nodding his head. "For starters, she's really timid." He looked at the girls in turn. "Note that I said timid and not shy. The two can be easily mistaken."

"She's pretty." Perrie said thinking deeply. "That's all I really know about her since she's not in my class."

"She's got asthma." Jesy said thoughtfully.

"She's really quick to tell a teacher if someone does something to her." Jade said a little absently.

"Hmmm . . ." Jake hummed. He turned to Jesy. "Did Leigh-Anne say anything to you after you hurt her?"

Jesy shook her head. "Nope. She just ran to get a teacher."

"Exactly. A normal child would have at least told you that she was going to tell on you." Jade found this to be great exercise for her brain; solving a mystery.

The children all began to nod.

"You're right." Jesy said. "And sometimes those buggers don't actually tell. They just say they're gonna tell so they can scare you."

"So what does that say about Leigh-Anne?" Jake asked rubbing his chin. He had thought that the girl was strange from their first encounter when she struggled to introduce herself. He thought it weird that a girl as pretty as her would be so afraid of herself. But then again that was kind of a stereo typical thought. That was why he'd dismissed it.

"It says that she was really afraid of what Jesy would do next." Perrie said staring at her lap. She looked up at them. "So scared that she thought she needed a teacher to deal with Jesy as soon as possible." She started moving her head to music that wasn't there.

Jesy rubbed at her chin. "But why?" She wondered aloud. "I'm not all that scary y'know."

"Maybe she'd been bullied in the past." Jade said. "Probably bullied so bad that she's afraid of it happening again." She blushed. "Like you Jesy. But she probably deals with her problems differently."

"That sounds like something." Jake said thoughtfully. "Maybe at her old school."

Jesy squinted a bit. "Yeah maybe . . . but that bully would have had to be pretty mean to turn her into that. The kid's practically afraid of her own shadow." She scratched her head.

"I read," Jake started, staring at the ground. He looked up at the girls with a sheepish grin. "Mind if I get a little PG 13?"

The girls shared a look at first but Jesy gave him the okay. "There was a book I read about a girl. She was real quiet at school and avoided everyone. There was only one boy who paid attention to her and he found out that at home, she was being abused." He said this gravely.