Lighting up the darkness

Chapter eleven "Emily strikes again"

On Friday as I was getting into the school Emily stopped me.

"Move" I said pushing her out of my way.

"Bozo" One of her friends pushed me to the ground and she kicked me twice on the side of my body. The picked me up by my backpack and she came close to my face. "Why don't you leave this school, no one likes you and no one wants you here. You are useless, you look like a homeless drug addict and honestly you don't have much of a future, except from bagging groceries" She pushed again and I fell on the ground.

I felt tears threatening to spill, so I grabbed my backpack to leave.

"Iz, are you okay?" Andrew stopped me. "What happened?" He asked as tears started rolling down my cheeks.

"I'm leaving." I said, but he didn't let me go.

"Can I give you a ride home?"

"You will be late for class."

"I don't care. Come here." He gave me a hug and we walked to his car. I gave him my address. We remained silent for the entire drive. I'm glad he didn't pressure me for answers.

"Thank you so much." I said as he pulled up in front of my house.

"Take care Iz, I'll see you on Monday." He gave me a half smile and I nodded.

I rushed inside. I fell onto my bed and started sobbing onto my pillow.

I stayed in bed until it was time for work. I put on some make up to hide the fact that I was crying and went to the store.

Once I was done with my shift I went back home. I went in the bathroom to take a shower, I took my clothes off and looked at my naked body, it was bruised on the side.

Tears started rolling down my cheeks again and I could barely shower.

What have I done to deserve this?

I cried myself to sleep again.

The next day I woke up just in time for my shift, it was Saturday, which meant I was working the morning shift.

Once my shift was over I went home, my mum's car was in the driveway. I opened the door and she expected me seated in the kitchen, her boyfriend was standing in the hallway.

"Why the fuck did you skip school yesterday?" She yelled, a vein was popping out on her neck. She was visibly angry.

"I wasn't feeling well"

"That's bullshit" She yelled again and walked closer to me.

"It's not" I walked past her to get to my room, but I felt someone forcefully grabbing my arm. "Ouch, what the fuck?"

"Don't walk away when your mother's talking."

"You are not my dad, you can't tell me what to do, you are just her new sex toy" I yelled at him and he slapped me.

"You are such an ungrateful piece of shit, get out of my house. NOW" My mum yelled and grabbed me by my arm, forcing me out of the house.

My phone rang, it was the school's Instagram page again. I opened it and it was a photo of me with a caption.

'Say hello to the school's clown, she likes it when people call her Bozo and she's probably homeless' It was a picture of young me with my dad.

I managed to get to the park with tears stinging my eyes, I sat under the tree and hid my face in my knees, I started sobbing. Why do people hate me that much.

After about half an hour, my phone rang. I had two messages, one from Amy and another one from Andrew.

"Iz, I saw the post, how are you?" Andrew had texted me.