THE PAINFUL TRUTH

Chapter Three

Stella's POV

First day? The worst. New school? Even worse. I had honestly put an effort and everything was looking fine during tutor time until a girl named Storm interrupted. She's obviously the popular girl because she entered as if she owned the world. When Mrs Riley told her off for being late, Storm teased her rudely until she was given a 10 minute DT. When everything had settled down, Mrs Riley told me to introduce myself but somebody started teasing me. Surprise! It was Storm!

Because she had interrupted, I didn't even get to start my introduction when the bell rang for our first lesson. Storm is trying to make my life hell...and it's working! In Science, all the people in my group chatted amongst themselves and left me out, in Maths, my partner only asked for the answers, in History, my partner didn't talk to me at all but copied my work and in Geography, my partner worked with another pair and I had to work on my own. At break and lunch, I stayed in the library. My last lesson was English and my new teacher - Miss Cooke - made it fun by planning and playing games. I didn't even care about Storm's attitude and my no-friend situation anymore. However, that changed when she dismissed us and announced that we have a project to get to know our assigned partner. My partner is...Storm!

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Music buzzes in my ear as the bus(busy with students, parents, toddlers, elderly people and workers)drives smoothly on its route. In the corner of my eye, I can see my bus stop get closer so I press the button and start making my way to the exit. I mumble a thank you to the driver while he parks at my stop and step onto the cracked pavement before starting my journey home.

The auburn leaves crunch underneath my new black pumps as they fall from the soon-to-be bare trees and settle onto the crowded ground. The streets are noisy with the loud chatter of children coming from school, some throwing leaves at each other playfully. I sigh to myself while thinking of how I used to be exactly like them: talkative, playful, careless.

Unlocking the gate, I stand in front of a replica of all the houses on this road. However, it's completely different from all the other houses when you enter. My knuckles rap against the wooden door and in a response, there's lots of squealing.

"Someone's at the door!"

There's the squeak of shoes on the linoleum floor before the sound of keys turning in the lock.

"Stella! Oh, silly me! Did I forget to give you the keys?" Kate asks, rubbing her forehead.

I shrug as I enter the house.

"I'm so sorry! I'll give you before you leave for school tomorrow," Kate reassures me," How was your first day at school?"

Again, I shrug.

"Did you make any friends?"

My shoulders answer for me.

"Great! Now, do you want something to eat? I'm sorry if there's not many options. Jake and Josh would eat up the whole house if I let them," Kate chuckles while rushing to the kitchen, leaving me to kick off my shoes and dump my bag on the floor.

Entering the kitchen, there's a group of four children: two girls and two boys sitting at the table. Jake is a scruffy, wild, dark-haired, seven-year-old boy and is right now with smears of Nutella on his face and uniform. He was put into foster care because after his mum had died, he didn't have any other family that he knew of. In the seat next to him is Josh, who unlike Jake, is a smartly-dressed and composed six-year-old boy that you wouldn't guess that he eats a lot. Up until a year ago, he was living with his grandma until she was put into a nursing home. Next to them are the identical five-year-old twins: Evie and Ellie. Their fair hair is always tied in the same hairstyles and they dress in the same outfits so it can be confusing. They were both put into foster care because they had issues at home.