Victim

Chapter 2

When I woke up the next morning, I was groggy and tired beyond belief, purely because I had had a sleepless night. I was not going to go to school and be humiliated by Tanya Turner again. I couldn't face it anymore. I had a boatload of homework and papers cluttered on my desk, but they would never be finished. I finally got up and went to fetch my schoolbag, so I could unpack it. I searched everywhere, but it never turned up in my room. I never left it anywhere else. Then it hit me: I had left it at school! I had to go back, because my schoolbag was so precious to me that sometimes it freaked me out.

I went through the usual process: Get changed, have breakfast, brush teeth. A million questions were swirling through my head. Had Tanya Turner found my bag? Had anybody found my bag? Was my bag currently at the bottom of a rubbish heap, waiting to be burned to a crisp, or recycled? Would somebody else have my bag instead of me? A million questions that could never be answered. Was I worrying too much?

Now I was ready. I had purposely dressed in monotonous colours to try to blend in, like a chameleon, to be invisible. Hopefully, it would work, but I couldn't be sure. Nobody could. I cycled as fast as I could without breaking the pedals, and then quickly locked my bike precisely 5 times. Tanya never cycled if she could help it; she was always coming by her 'stretch limo', which her 'personal limo driver' drove. I was now panting madly, because I had rushed into school. I had just turned a corner when I nearly crashed at full speed into the school's secretary, Mrs Starkwallen. She looked surprised when she saw me, then said, "Ah. Cathy Rose. Just the person I need to see." There was an unpleasant lump in my throat, and suddenly my hands started sweating madly. I followed her, like a dog would with its owner.

She led me through narrower corridors and finally, she knocked on a purple door labelled 'Head Mistresses Office'. Now I was terrified. What had I done wrong? I just came to get my schoolbag... but maybe there was more. Maybe they knew about Tanya bullying me.

"Come in." Mrs Fritz, the Head Mistress of the school, was sitting in a leather chair, whilst signing important documents with her own personal calligraphy. Mrs Starkwallen invited me to sit down on a chair, so I reluctantly did. It was rock hard, and I managed to release a silent yelp of pain without being caught.

"Yesterday, I believe you punched Tanya Turner for no apparent reason. Would you care to explain why?" She carefully enunciated every syllable that mattered.

I gulped. "Errmm.... well.... how do I explain this..." I nervously fidgeted with my hair, whilst trying to phrase 'Tanya's been bullying me'. So I just told her, straight to her face.

"Tanya Turner has been bullying me ever since primary school." A look of shock passed across her face, so I continued with the absolute truth. "She called me 'Birdbrain', she put my blouse in the toilet, and finally, yesterday she called me a fat girl with family problems. It's not my fault that my parents decided to divorce when I was only 6."

There was a slight pause before Mrs Fritz spoke again. "How do you cope with this, without telling anybody?" Her voice was slightly shaky and had quivered up a few octaves.

"I don't. That's the problem..." I mumbled in reply. I couldn't think of anything else to say, because the lump was still stuck in my throat. Mrs Starkwallen stood up and whispered something to Mrs Fritz; Mrs Fritz merely nodded in return. Then she picked up the phone and spoke to some people (I could hear some buzzing coming from the phone.)

After a long and tedious conversation, Mrs Fritz finally put down the phone. She sighed happily, and then began.

"I was just on the phone with both of your parents, and they have decided to send you to a boarding school in Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil." Now I was slightly scared. My parents, agreeing with each other, in the same room? With no arguments or anything?

But I did like the idea of being able to go to Brazil; before I had punched Tanya's face, she had bragged about going to Rio de Janeiro. She would say, "They have so many colourful carnivals, with skimpy ladies in feathers and wooden floats, painted all the colours of the rainbow." Tanya certainly knew how to tell such amazing stories.

"Can I get my schoolbag?" I inquired, because that's what I had come for, after all. Then I noticed it by Mrs Fritz's desk, and picked it up. I stared at the worn leather for a few moments, before Mrs Fritz said, "Thank you, you can leave now."

When I got home, I started packing for a 10 hour flight, cramming all the essentials into my navy blue suitcase. After I had packed my clothes, I went to get ready for going to bed, and then I packed my toiletry bag and some electrical gadgets to keep me entertained, because I couldn't stand 10 hours in a plane with nothing to do.

Thinking about it, I remembered that I got travel sickness, so I brought a tin of Baxter's Murray Mints, as well as a blindfold, so I could sleep easier if I had to. I would also have to ask my mum for some Brazilian money, but what was it called? I would probably find out shortly anyway. I plodded slowly down the stairs of our cramped flat and went to ask my mum. She gave me some Brazilian Reals-why did she keep Reals?-, which I packed in a purse, then transferred it to my suitcase, as well as a Portuguese dictionary. Finally, I buried a photo album in-between my clothes, because it was the last remaining photo of my whole family before my parents divorced. Now I was ready, and I sighed with relief and also panic.