Grace Williams- Tracy Beaker Returns/The Dumping Ground

Chapter 2

New Life's Eve

I woke up the next morning hearing loads of people shouting more so Carmen, Johnny and Tee arguing. I walked downstairs to see what all the fuss was about.

"Hey what's going on?" I asked.

"They can't decide who's taking Tracy's tea up!" Toby tells me.

"How about you all take it up. But be careful! It's hot!" Mike said.

I moved out of their way so they could take it up. I wasn't adding to the fun and games here. I wanted my breakfast!

"Scrambled eggs, baby girl?" Mike asked.

"Yes please, Mike!" I grinned.

As I was sat down eating my breakfast, Carmen came back into the kitchen. She looked upset.

"Tracy's gone, and she never even said goodbye!" she said to Mike.

"Well, you know how busy these authors are!" Gina said to Carmen, still unhappy after Mike explained why Tracy came. Mike told us that Tracy was arrested for publishing her book with her mum's credit card without permission. I thought that she probably just made a mistake. I couldn't imagine doing that myself doing that on purpose. She didn't seem like that sort of person.

Just then, Mike looked as if an alarm bell had gone off in his head. He made a cup of tea and went out to the garden with Tracy's tea as well as his own. I then noticed Tracy's bag, sitting on the chair by the back door.

It made me think about how that May of been her hiding spot when she use to be here, which Mike remembered.

"Carmen, I think Tracy is outside." I told her.

"What do you mean?" she asked me.

"Look, her bag is there, plus Mike has just gone outside with two cups of tea. Makes sense, right?" I said with a smile.

"Gracie you're a genius!" Carmen tells me. She went and told everyone else that she was still here, and it made me smile knowing that I'd helped her out with something and made her happy.

About ten minutes later, Mike came back inside, followed by Tracy. Mike went to talk to Gina while Tracy came to talk to us.

"Hi, Tracy," I said quietly.

"Morning, Gracie! Are you okay?" Tracy asked softly, as she put her hand on my shoulder and stroked my hair gently. I nodded.

"Wait, she knows your name already? How?" Johnny asked.

"I told her last night when she came to say goodnight to me, is that a problem?" I asked.

"Of course it's not a problem. I'm already starting to learn some anyway! How about you all tell me your names one at a time, so I can try to remember them all!" Tracy said. One by one, everyone said their name.

"Guys, can you all listen up for a second please?" Mike asked, walking over to the table where we were all sat. We all went silent, to give Tracy a good impression of us. That normally doesn't happen, we all just slowly stop talking. But Tracy was our guest, and she was famous, so we were all on our best behaviour.

"We have a new care worker that we would like to introduce to you all, even though you've all already met her. It's Tracy!"

They all screamed. I take time to feel comfortable with new people. We couldn't believe that Tracy was going to be working here from now on.

"How come this has happened so quickly?" Gus asked.

"I needed a job, and Mike said I could have one here." Tracy replied. Gus began to scribble this information down in his notebook.

"Well I'm so glad Mike let you stay," Lily said.

"Me too," Tracy replied.

Now that Tracy was going to be working here, I had to get use to her.

"Tracy, can you come with me for a minute please?" Mike asked her. "I need you to look at the children's files, so you can be aware of why they're all here." Tracy followed Mike into the office.

This made me a little scared, I've been here for 6 years with my brother and I joined he was 11 and I was 5 years old and then he left at 16 going into the army, and to this day, I still find my old life hard to talk about. I get bad nightmares about it and also about my brother being in the army.

I went upstairs ran into my bedroom, feeling flashbacks coming back from what happened to me.

Flashback

Me and my brother Alex were in the back of the car with mum and dad in the front driving somewhere. The car stopped at a traffic light waiting for it to turn green as it turned we carried on until suddenly a car didn't stop at a red light on the other side of the road.

They hit our car causing the car to turn upside down. All I could hear after that was screams and glass smashing around. I fell asleep.

When I woke up I was met by a lady in a mysterious room that I found out was a hospital room.

I met the lady who was a social worker I was aged 5 years old when I met Gina and Mike. I had attachment problems for a little while with me wrapped around my brother then slowly I got better at 7 then got super close to Gina as a mum in my eyes. I had my special toy that I received from my parents on my 5th birthday I still have it today.

"Gracie, what's wrong?" I heard a voice coming from my door. It was Lily. I quickly wiped my eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'm okay." I replied.

"No you're not. What is it a flashback again?" Lily asked.

"Mike took Tracy into the office to look at our files, so that she could learn about why we're all here, and I got really panicked about what Tracy would think, so I came upstairs, and then I went into flashback mode." I told Lily, trying not to start crying again. "I really miss my parents"

"I miss my mum too, and my dad before he started drinking. It's hard, I know. But I'm sure Tracy won't judge us. She used to live here Gracie, she knows what it's like to live in care. She seems too nice to judge," Lily said. We sat and hugged for a few minutes, before she took me by the hand and into the living room downstairs. Tracy was in there talking to Frank, Tee and Carmen. I started to worry again, squeezing Lily's hand gently which helped me calm down. She squeezed mine back as we sat down on the sofa.

"Girls Are you okay?" Tracy asked us. We both just nodded. I didn't really feel like talking, and neither did Lily, but we decided to sit and join in the conversation with the rest of them. It did help me. We all had a laugh with Tracy, which made me begin to forget about what had happened happened today.

A/N: I own Grace and Alex Williams siblings and theirs storyline.

I will be talking about some struggling thinking's if you struggle with that skip parts that are hard.

For example Grief, abuse and eating disorder.

Tell me what you think or something to add to the story

Love from Lily xxx