"Why are you here?" I asked, my heart pounding.
"Would you like to ask your friend to leave, it might be better if we could chat in private?" She said ignoring my question and glancing over to Josh, who was looking very confused.
He started walking slowly over to the door.
"No, Josh don't leave me, I want him to stay." I said. I couldn't kick him out of the room after he'd been so nice to me, I'd feel bad.
He gave me a supportive smile.
"Ok" she sighed. "So we've been over to your house because...."
"You went to my house! Why?" I interrupted. Have they spoken to my parents?
"We had to contact your parents about your accident. Do you feel happy living at home?" Amanda asked.
I didn't want them to know anything. I didn't want to be put into care with a bunch of kids that might bully me again.
"Yes" I lied holding back my tears.
"So you get fed, clothed, treated properly?"
"Yes" I lied again.
She scribbled something down onto some paper. "So tell me Lauren, you don't get abused at home do you? Mentally or physically? So that's anything like threats, being punched, pushed shouted at a lot.'
"No" I said. I couldn't hold back my tears anymore.
"What about the bruises on your arms?" She asked, gesturing towards them with her pen. "Absences and being late to school a lot?"
I lifted one of my arms. "They're from the accident."
I thought I had her fooled.
"Some teachers had reported seeing these bruises before."
"Umm." I didn't know what to say. I looked towards the floor.
"Well we'll be back again tomorrow to ask a few more questions" she said scribbling more notes down onto the pad before leaving my room.
I looked over to Josh who seemed to be shocked.
"Lauren..." He said.
I burst into tears. I was so embarrassed. He walked over and sat down onto the bed next to me. He pulled me onto his lap and I rested my head on his chest. He gently rocked me back and forth, telling me everything was going to be ok. I knew it wasn't. I looked up at him.
"I'm sorry." I said though tears.
"For what?" He asked.
"I don't know, everything." Crying even harder.
He looked down at me and cupped his hands around my cheeks. He wiped away the tears on my cheeks with his thumbs.
"You have nothing to be sorry for" he said, gently kissing my forehead.
"You need to get some rest, you must be tired after everything."
I laid down onto the bed, with him laying behind me. He softly played with my hair as I drifted of into a deep sleep.
