The Bully

Chapter One

Do you remember your first day at school? I remember mine as clearly as I see my reflection in the mirror in front of me. It was the day I found an escape from the house I grew up in and the day I fell in love. Dotty got me ready, brushed out my long, light brown hair and put it into pigtails for me, made sure my face was washed and then helped me put on the gingham dress and knee high socks that had been bought for the occasion. When we got downstairs she made sure my shoes were shiny and black and then took me through to the dining room where Mommy was having her breakfast. Dotty had always been there, since I was a baby. She was my Daddy's cousin and she was Scottish. She'd grown up with him as her own parents were both dead and was like a sister to him. I loved her more than I loved anyone else and she always took care of me. Mommy suffered with bad heads and would often walk round the house with huge sunglasses on. She looked like a movie star, tall, slim with waist length brown hair which always hung in loose curls. Mommy spent a lot of time putting on her make up and brushing her hair. I would do my best to avoid her where I could because she had quick, vicious hands which would pinch or slap at the slightest provocation. It wasn't hard to avoid her as she stayed mostly in her bedroom, particularly when Daddy wasn't home.

Daddy was a photographer, one of the best in the world. He travelled all over taking pictures for different magazines and publications and earned good money doing it. Richard Summers was a household name if you understood anything about photography and I was always very proud of my famous Daddy. He was away a lot  and when he was home his time was often monopolised by my mother. Daddy was kind though when he was around me. He gave me my first camera and even taught me how to use it and it was my most treasured possession.

"I suppose she will do," Mommy said, critically as she looked me over. Dotty smiled brightly.

"She's such a bonny wee thing, April. And she's bright too. I'm sure they'll love her at the school."

"Maybe," Mommy said. She had a cut glass English accent, though I knew she was Canadian. Mommy had been to finishing school in Edinburgh and lost her accent there and it was where she had met my father. Daddy though didn't seem to have any kind of accent. He'd travelled so much he'd developed his own idialect and I loved his voice; it was like nobody else's, deep and gravelly and full of warmth. He'd met my mommy when he photographed her for a magazine and they'd fallen in love. So much so that he'd moved to Canada and purchased the house we lived in, which was a large one on the outskirts of the main town where my new school was based.

I clasped Dotty's hand tightly when we reached the playground, afraid to let go as I saw it was swarming with children. I'd never been around other children before and only knew about them from the walks we sometimes went on if she needed to run an errand for Mommy. I'd never been expected to interact with any children we saw though. I saw a group of boys playing cowboys across the playground, laughing and shouting as they pointed their fingers at one another, pretending they were guns. The noise frightened me and I turned my face into Dotty's side. She gently turned me round and crouched down in front of me, placing her hands on my shoulders.

"Now, lassie, you know you've to do this. Everyone has to go to school and you'll do well here. I know fine that you're scared, but you've nothing to be scared of. You're a wee beauty and everyone who knows you loves you."

"Mommy doesn't," I said, quietly and Dotty sighed.

"Aye well that's as maybe, but your mother isn't quite right is she? You'll have lovely teachers here and you'll learn to read and write and do your numbers. Won't that be a fine thing?"

"I guess so," I said. Dotty managed to get me further into the playground as we talked, but I gripped her hand tightly, not wanting to let go. At that moment a boy who was just a little taller than me broke away from the cowboys game and ran across to me.