Esveldza: 'The Lonely Child of Fire'

Chapter III- Continuance

Chapter III

Continuance

The weeks passed on and the bullying continued, Sir Millayes was aware of it now but not even he could stop Johnro and Jemro from finding ways to pick on me. I just couldn’t wait for the year to hurry up and finish and then I would be with a group that could become my friends. They didn’t always beat me up but when they did I often had to spend my lunchtime in the nurses’ room where she healed my wounds. They weren’t too bad but it gave me someone to talk to.

The nurse had strawberry pink hair, mahogany coloured eyes and a big smile. She was only 60 so we got along well. Her name was Staarla (star-lar)

“Something needs to be done about those two children really, but between you and me, I think it’s because of their parents.” She said in a low voice, she leaned in close to me whenever she would tell me a secret.

We were sitting in the medical room. There was a row of 12 beds, 6 on each side. The wallpaper was a cream colour and practically all the furniture was white except for the pink flowers that sat on her desk. Every time I visited Staarla there was always a fresh bouquet.

“Are their parents bullies like them?” I asked, my eyes transfixed on the pink flowers. They hung lazily over the glass, the pink petals gracefully moving as Staarla stood up to open the window.

“They’re just a bit of a weird family that’s all.” Staarla said, dropping the subject. She realised she had probably said too much, sometimes she got carried away talking.

She turned to look at me after she opened the window, her body leaning against the wall, her arms crossed. She followed my gaze to the flowers.

“Who brings you these flowers?” I asked, looking away from the flowers to Staarla.

That was the first time I saw her blush. Staarla could tell me about her dates with outrageous men or an embarrassing mistake and never blush, yet there she was with her cheeks rosy and her eyes sparkling with happiness.

Her face crept into a smile, “Someone special.” She whispered and winked at me.

I rolled my eyes and the bell rung. I said bye to Staarla and headed to class. As I entered the room, Johnro and Jemro were waiting.

“That’s unlike you two to be early.” I muttered, folding my arms and trying to step past them. There was no stopping them from picking on me, so I tried to fight back in small amounts every chance I got.

Jemro put his hand out in front of me. “What do you want?” I snapped, glaring up at him.

“Give us your money.” Jemro said, his face leaning in closer to mine, hoping to intimidate me.

I had very little money, money that was meant to be spent on groceries. Sometimes there would be a sale or bargain and I would keep some of the leftover money but that hardly equalled to anything. Not to mention it was so very tempting to buy just a little chocolate from the stores.

I shook my head. Johnro stepped in front of me and slapped his hands around my face. “Because of all the detentions we’ve got because of you, our Mother and Father have stopped giving us all the allowance they used to give us. Well we still receive 5 GGC (Green Gem Coins) coins a week but that’s only half of what we normally get.”

Only half? Are they serious? I’ve only saved up 8 GGC and let’s not even go into Land coins or actual treasure.

“Let go of me, I don’t have any money and Sir Millayes will be here soon.” I grunted, students were beginning to file in. Some would look anxiously over at me but most just turned the blind eye.