Bullied

Day 6

I groaned and sat up. Saturday. In the distance I heard the sound of a lawn mower doing its duty. I looked over to the window and saw the sun was already up and shining brightly then glanced over to the clock which read 2:47. I really didn't want to get up. I groaned and my stomach growled loudly. "No," I whispered, "Food is bad." Apparently my stomach didn't get the memo and it again growled loudly in protest. "Oh, shut up," I hissed as I stood to get dressed in everyday clothes which consisted of a faded pair of blue jeans and a plain black short sleeved v-neck. I pulled my socks and shoes on and was out of my bed room door, down the stairs and almost out of the front door when I heard my mom "Allie?" she called from the living room before appearing before me, " Allie, where do you think you're going?" she asked accusingly. "Outside?" I said in a questioning tone. "Not without breakfast, you aren't!" she stated with a finality in her tone, she disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a brown paper bag, "Here," she said, handing it over, " You can at least take it with you. Oh! Here, take this too," she brought out an iPhone looking device from her pocket and handed to me. I take it back, it isn't iPhone looking, it is an iPhone. My family isn't poor, per say, but I never had a phone or anything, simply because I didn't want to burden my mother with the extra payments. "Mom, what's this?" I asked, even though I obviously knew exactly what it was. "Think of it as a 'Yay You Made It To Senior Year' present," she said smiling, "It's a...uhm.. Gosh, what did the man call it? Oh! iPhone 4S! Now, you already have mine and Noah's number." "What? Why do I have Noah's number?" I suddenly had various scenarios on to how she acquired this information, none of which ends in not embarassing me to the fullest. "I asked him when he came by this morning, I sent him up to your room to see if you were up, apparently you weren't." "He came in my room?! While I was sleeping?!!" I could almost picture the field day when people at school now not only where I live, but what my house looks like inside and the contents of my room, not to mention when word got out that Fatty Allie was uglier when asleep than awake. "He was right up then back down, no harm. Also, I told him you'd call or...text or whatever you kids do, when you woke up. So, it's fully charged, you have our numbers, now call or text him. He said he refused to be a single parent." With a groan I pocketed the phone, gripped the brown paper bag containing my breakfast and rushed out the door.

When I got about two blocks from my house I finally slowed down and took out my phone and dumped my breakfast in the nearest trash bin. I went to contacts and looked. Mom and Noah. That's it. No aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no grandparents. Just Mom and Noah. I sighed deeply and sent Noah a text saying, 'I'm awake. What do you want?' I barely got three feet when he replied, 'Finally. Morning sunshine. Can we meet up or something? This baby won't quit crying. I think it needs a woman's touch.' I narrowed my eyes at the phone. I could almost picture Noah and his Soccer buddies in the back high fiveing each other, rejoicing that they now can make fun of Fatty Allie during and after school and then also on weekends. 'Meet me at the park' 'The newer one?' 'No, the old one.' Ahh, the old park. Obviously, my dad never took me here, and my mom as a single parent never had the time, but I would come here by myself and imagine both of them together, taking me here. It was a child's dream. Now I only came here to think. When I said older park, it meant older park. What once was 3 swing sets now consisted of one swing and various rusted poles. It had one slide which was small, apparently meant for small children. And a manual merry-go-round. It was always deserted, who would want to come to this park when there's the new one with sprinklers, giant slides, tunnels, and tire-swings? No one, that's who. No one except me. There was a large oak tree place on the outskirts of the park and the roots of the tree were perfect for sitting. I wasn't even there 5 minutes before I saw Noah walking towards me, thankfully alone, and sure enough, the distant sounds of a mechanical baby crying reached my ears. Soon after, Noah was upon me. "Gosh, Allie, why would you want to come to this dump?" he said tiredly, handing over the baby. I gently took "Flynn" from him and gently rocked him, the crying dying almost instantly, "Because I like it here," I said quietly. He looked at me with both awe and regret before quickly saying, "And by dump I clearly mean a beautiful area full of wonder and excitement." "No, you're right," I said leaning back again the tree closing my eyes, Flynn still in my arms, "It is a dump. I've just been coming here since a kid." "Right," he said. There was an awkward pause before he said, "So, can I sit down?" I shrugged. He took a seat beside me, I could practically feel his eyes burning into the side of my face, "What?" "Nothing," he whispered, "It's just that...How did you get him to stop crying?" I shrugged. "Allie?" he said. I repressed a sigh, "What?" "Are you going to sleep?" "No," I said, though now that he mentioned it, I am feeling tired. I opened my eyes and stared up into the tree's leaves. Between the leaves little patches of blue would become visible then invisible with the wind. It was quiet; comforting. We stayed like that for a while in the silence. Until my stomach betrayed me with a growl. "Allie, you hungry?" he asked. A little to quickly I answered, "No." "I knew it, you threw that food out yesterday that the dog was eating," I stood up quickly and he stood with me, the baby started crying. He grabbed my arm, "Allie when was the last time you ate?" he looked me intently in the eyes. "It doesn't matter," I said trying to jerk my arm away. "Yes it does, to me it does!" I hesitated only for a moment. Lies. He doesn't care. This is all some sick joke. I pulled my arm free and grabbed the baby bag and carrier and turned to him and hissed, "You don't even know me," before storming off and saying loudly, "I'll take the stupid baby tonight."

By the time I made it back to the house the baby had quit crying and was back in "sleep mode." I stormed through the door and Mom called, "How'd it go?" "Fine," I called back. I ran up to my room and slammed the door. A little to hard. The baby woke up. "Damn it all," I whispered under my breath. I sat in the corner of my bed cradling the baby and gently rocking it. When it finally went back to sleep I stood and went over to my door, successfully locking it. He's not getting in my room again. I went back to my bed and laid down. Staring up at the ceiling.

I must have lain there for hours, my mother came to my door knocking and it brought me out of my head. "Dinner's ready. Want to come down and eat?" she asked almost hopefully, though already guessing the answer. "No, I'm not hungry." My phone, which had at first gone off every hour or so was now going off every 5 or 10 minutes. Groaning I picked up and surveyed the damage. 'Allie, I'm sorry.' 'Allie, please respond.' 'Come on Allie, I didn't mean to be so harsh about it.' 'Allie. Talk to me. Please.' 'At least let me know you made it home safe.' 'Is Flynn okay?" 'Come on Allie.' 'Do you always leave a guy worrying?' 'Allie I know you see these texts, don't ignore me.' And finally I responded. My mind still called this a sick joke. 'Leave me alone right now Noah. Text me in the morning.' I didn't even feel like changing into pajamas. I just slid right under the covers and fell asleep.

Day 6