~ Three Months Later ~
Noelani's pov
It's been three months of me going to this public school already... The bullying has been getting worse. I have no friends, everyone here gangs up on me because I'm a care kid. They laugh at me for not having parents. They find it the funniest thing ever.
I can tell that the care workers are struggling with me now. But it's not my fault that I am frightened to go into school. It's not my fault I don't want to get hurt. They have been talking about having me transferred to another care home instead from another school. The other kids are on my side, none of my family members wanted me. And now the care workers are on the edge of not wanting me. I guess I really am unwanted. I guess I should of died in the car crash too.
I have fresh cuts from the bullying but I run upstairs when I get home. I have taken Zoe's makeup to cover up the marks. Nobody knows that I have taken it though. I have hidden it under a floorboard that I have pulled up by my bed.
But right before now, the older kids at school were having their fun with me. Pulling my hair, punching me in the stomach. They just won't stop. They do it where no teachers can see them and where I can't be heard. They say that I deserve it. A six year old girl that keeps her head down and stays out of the way, deserves to be beaten. I don't understand that. It's cruel, picking on a kid that's lost the only people in her world. To then be chucked with a group of strangers and then to be beaten five days a week by kids of all ages from six to eleven.
I have nobody. I have grown apart from the other kids at the care home. I don't play with Toby or Jack anymore. It's just me and Mr Teddy. It's hell. Not having any friends or even a person to talk to. The teachers have turned against me. Ms Carter doesn't like my work like she use to. Mr McCready uses his cane on me at least three times a week. I don't tell Mike. It didn't work the first time I told him so why would it work the second, third or forth?
I just do my work. Hand it in, get the grades I deserve. Go to break/ lunch, get bullied in any form I can. Go back to the care home. Go into my room and don't come out until the next morning. Weekends I just stay in my room. I play with my toys or read until I grow tired. It's the endless cycle of my now hellish life. I can't see anything getting better for me. I'm just a weak, tiny six year old girl. I let the bullies push me around because if I fight back I get something ten times worse. I just cover up my body with jumpers and taken makeup from the other girls.
"Noelani?" I hear Jack ask through my door.
"Go away. I want to be on my own." I say sitting against the door with tears rolling down my cheeks.
"Please let me in. I never get to see you anymore. We can even play princesses." He says with hope in his voice.
"I don't want to play with you or anybody! Just leave me alone." I cry.
"Noelani we all love you. Please don't hide from us." I hear him sliding down my door.
"You always make me go to school. I don't want to go and Mike always forces me. I tell you I get bullied and you never believe me. I don't want to be playing with other bullies as well." I cry, hugging Mr Teddy to my chest.
"But we aren't bullies. We care about you. I do... Please let me in. Even for five minutes?" He asks.
"No, I'm going to sleep." I lie to him.
"You can fall asleep while I sit with you. I won't mind." He says softly.
"Jack just give up." I say looking at my door.
"I'm not giving up until I see you." He says firmly.
I grumble under my breathe. I stand up and open the door. I sprint to my wardrobe and hide in it. I have a bruise near my eyes and it's hard to cover up. Make up isn't working that well to hide it. But none of the other have realised yet. I hear him walk in and the wardrobe doors open. I push myself right into the back of the wardrobe, behind all of my clothes. This would be the perfect moment for the back to open and I tumble backwards into Narnia. But life isn't a fairy tale. Even at my age I now know that.
I feel his hands under my arms and he pulls me out. I squeal slightly as I have bruises under my arms. He looks at me and his eyes widen with shock. He pulls up my top accidentally and I whimper slightly as he is holding me down. He see's the hand prints and my scar from the car crash. He turns me over and sees the cane imprints on my back.
"Noelani you have to show all of this to Mike." He says lifting me back up.
"No! I've been doing fine on my own for the past three months! I don't need your help or any of the others!" I shout at him.
"You are showing Mike." He says firmly.
"No I am not! He doesn't care! Now get out of my bedroom!" I say shoving him out with all of my strength.
I close my door and barricade it. I jump in my bed and hide under the covers. If Jack really wants to be my friend he will keep this a secret. I don't care if it looks bad. Nobody has to know apart from me and now him. I may be six but I have to take care of myself now. It's just me against the world. I'm the one that's in control of myself. I'm the one that's been left alone.
"Noelani open up right now. Please." I hear Toby say knocking on the door.
I act like I never heard him. My door slowly starts to be forced open. I close my eyes and act as if I have fallen asleep. I peep slightly and he is walking over to my bed.
He pulls down my duvet covers but I have to act like I didn't realise. He then pulls up my top and I hear him gasp slightly.
"Noelani. Wake up sweetie." He whispers shaking my shoulder.
I grumble as if I was waking up and I look at him confused.
"Where have you gotten these marks from?" Toby asks me.
"What marks?" I ask, playing the dumb card.
He lifts up my top and points to them. He pokes them a little and I squeal in pain.
"You haven't been hurting yourself have you?" He asks me worried.
"No. I told you it was the bullies at school." I say looking at him annoyed that he still thinks I'm hurting myself.
"Why would other children feel the need to bully you?" He asks me.
"I don't know...bBecause you have made me go to a school where kids still have their parents. You forced me to go to a school even though I was unhappy about the people there. You forced me to go there when I was begging you not to make me go. Nobody understands what it's like to know that you are on your own. They still have their mummies and daddies feeding them with a baby spoon." I say angrily.
"What did you do to make them bully you?" Toby asks me confused.
"I didn't do anything! Only because I am smarter than them they feel the need to pick on me. Why don't you ask them why they bully me instead from the victim of the bullying?" I spit at him.
"You have changed within a few months." He says standing up. "I miss that little girl that would always giggle."
"Well maybe if you done something about the bullies right away I would still be like that. Except you make me stand up for myself when I struggle to tie my own shoelaces. Now please leave. I don't want you in my room." I say laying down again and facing away from him.
"If only I still had that little girl then I would stand up for you." He says walking away and slamming my bedroom door.
I scream into my pillow. I would be the same kid if he was already looking after me properly! What doesn't he understand! He isn't helping me in any way! None of them are! They all expect me to fight against eleven year olds. They expect me to fight against kids that are so much taller than me!
There's another knock on the door of my room and I scream into my pillow again. Mike comes into my room and hugs me. I stay still, not sure on what to do.
"I'm going to help you." He says silently. "I want you to tell me every time you get bullied at school. I want to know if it's going on after school as well. You have to let me help you. You have to trust me." He says sitting me up.
"You sure you're not going to be like Toby and expect me to smile through everything even though I get hurt everyday?" I ask him angrily.
"He doesn't understand. He doesn't know..." Mike begins.
"Stop defending him as if he is brand new to his job! He should help someone getting bullied straight away anyway! Being bullied is continuous! He thinks I am making it up! I may be little but I am not stupid to make up a lie like that! I'm not like those kids at school! I actually have feelings! I have nobody sticking up for me apart from myself! Mike, incase if you haven't realised, I am alone. I don't have a family and I don't have any friends. Not even one." I say as tears threaten to fill my eyes.
"Then let me help you. Speak to me. I'll be your friend. You just have to tell me everything that is going on at school." He says holding my hand.
"Having you as a 'friend' isn't the same as going to school and having someone to play with. You're an adult who doesn't understand what it's like being a kid in this world. Times have changed Mike and it's now a lot harder." I say crying. "It is so hard..."
"Then talk to me right now..." He says softly.
I sigh and give up, telling him everything. Ever since day one with the cheating right until now. He makes little notes in a writing pad and his mouth is slightly open with shock. I finish telling him and by then I am in tears. It's like telling him about a nightmare that is so scary it's like you are dreaming it all over again. He pulls me into his arms and I cry into his stomach. He rubs my back and kisses my head gently.
"I'll help you I promise. I'll call your teacher on monday and arrange a meeting with him. This is going to stop I promise. Please come downstairs with me. The others are all cuddled up watching movies." He says smiling at me.
"Do I have to?" I ask him looking at my hands.
"Yes. We all want you to. We are starting to forget what you look like." He laughs awkwardly.
I fake smile and sigh.
"Fine." I say standing up.
"Thank you. You are such a brave, intelligent, incredible little girl." He says playing with my hair.
"And that's why I am bullied. For being smart and intelligent." I say quietly.
"Well like you say. Those other kids are stupid." Mike sighs.
I smile a little as he is finally realising the facts. I hope it does get better...
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