Say It One More Time

I was back in my bedroom after eating, when I heard my dad return from work. He had been on a late shift, and so had no idea about what I had confessed to mum earlier on.
It didn't take long for mum to bring it up, and before long I could hear her crying again. It was too painful to listen to, so I turned my music up and blocked it all out, laying on my bed, reading a magazine.
After what felt like hours, I heard a soft knock on my door. "Lorena?" my dad asked, "is it okay for me to come in?"
Hearing his voice sounding cracked with emotion, made the tears want to fall again, I tried to hold them back and went over to the door to let him in. As soon as I saw him, I broke down again. He stepped into my room and pulled me into a hug.
"Don't worry my baby girl, we'll get this sorted out. No one hurts my little girl and gets away with it" he whispered softly, making the tears fall harder.
They kept saying that they'd get it sorted out, but I have no idea what they mean, what can they do without making it worse? I just nodded into his chest, sniffling.
"Now, why don't you go have a shower, wash that blood out of your hair, it'll make you feel better" he pulled away and smile at me weakly before leaving my room, allowing me to shower.

Dad was right when he said that it would make me feel better. I turned the water temperature right up so it was scolding my skin; I had to burn away the feeling of dirt, the feeling of worthlessness.

-~-

The next day, I did my hair and make up normally for school, this included straightening my hair and layering on black eye liner, before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Unfortunately, mum and dad had both already left for work, so I had no one to give me a little motivational talk. I sighed before deciding on taking the longer route to school, which cut out the alleyway. I've decided that it's probably not a good idea to go down there anymore.
I made it into school with no problems, and headed straight to the sanctuary of the classroom. It's kinda sad when you realise that a classroom is your safe place.
However, even in there, it didn't take long for the insults to come flying my way. It wasn't until the teacher arrived that they stopped.
It was only history, so I went into my own little world, daydreaming about happier times. I was soon pulled out of it however, when I heard my name being called.
"Lorena Harrison, the Head would like to see you in her office." the messenger said out to the whole class. This resulted in yet more abuse, paper balls thrown at my head etc.
I quickly grabbed all of my things and made my way to the corridor.
"Do you know what she wants?" I asked the kid who had been chosen for office duties today,
"Nope, they don't tell us that much" he laughed before opening the office door for me. I walked through and found my way to Mrs Brook's mini office area. I knocked on her door before opening it slowly.
"Ermm... Mrs Brook... You wanted to see me?" I asked hesitantly,
"Ah yes, Lorena, thank you for coming down, come in, take a seat" she gestured to the sofa she had in the corner. I was confused to see my parents sat there with serious faces on.
And then the penny dropped. This was what they meant by sorting it all out.

"So, I hear you've been having some problems with a few of the pupils here?" Mrs Brook started
"Ermm yeah..." was my response,
"I'm not going to make you tell me everything, your mum and dad have told me most of what I need to know. What I've called you in for is to work out the best solution to this problem. I understand that you don't want to confront them, with or without support from us, is that right?"
"Yeah... That just makes everything worse, they already get me out of school..." I blurted out.
"Well, there's not much we can do without confronting them, the only other option is to transfer you to another school where you can start over new, how would you feel about that?"
I looked over at my parents who looked stressed and worried.
"I suppose that could work..." I whispered, I can't believe it's actually come to this.
"Well, I want you to think about this Lorena, no one's going to push you into anything. I'll be sad to see you go, I think you have so much potential, but if it's going to make things better for you, then I will fully support you" I smiled at Mrs Brook, I'd always liked her as a teacher to be honest.
"Why don't we take you home, so we can discuss it further Lorena?" Mum suggested "As long as that's okay with you, Mrs Brook?"
"Of course, this isn't going to be easy for you, you're free to go today, but if you can get back to me as soon as you can so we sort you out"
With that, we all stood up, mum and dad shook Mrs Brook's hand and said thank you, then we walked out to the car park, luckily it was still lesson time so no one saw me getting into the car and leaving.