Twins Next Door

Chapter 2

It was Sunday night. Mia was lying in bed looking at the ceiling in the dark. Tomorrow was the first day of school. She hated school, but at least she already knew someone. The twins were going the same school, so she already had friends. But she was worried the bullying would happen again. After what the twins said to her, she realised she wasn't alone. She wasn't the only one who has experienced bullying. She had people she could talk to. Like Grayson said, "she'll never be alone". She closed her eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

Mia woke up to the sound of her alarm clock. She pressed dismiss and checked the time; 6:45am. She dragged herself out of bed and walked into her bathroom. She took a quick shower and got dressed. She wore a black shirt, a denim jacket, black skinny jeans and her black vans. She blow dried her hair and left it down. She walked down stairs to see her mum placing pancakes on plates. She ate her breakfast and went into her room to pack her school bag. She brushed her teeth, grabbed her bag and left for school. She met the twins outside and they walked to school together.

As they entered the building, the twins led Mia to the reception for her timetable and locker number. "Um, hi," Mia said to the lady at the desk. "I'm Mia, Mia Watson. I'm new here". The lady's face lit up with realisation.

"Yes!" She looked through a few files until she handed Mia a few pieces of paper. "Here is your timetable and here is your locker number! I hope you enjoy your time here!" The lady continued doing her work on the computer. Mia walked with the twins to her locker. As they were walking, a group of people pushed Grayson out the way.

"Watch where you're going you dyslexic freak!" The leader yelled. Their followers laughed at their comment. Grayson shrugged it off and walked to Mia's locker. She opened her locker and put the things she wouldn't need inside. She closed her locker and looked at Grayson.

"Are you okay?" She asked. He looked at her in shock.

"Yeah! Why wouldn't I be?! We should be getting to class, what lessons have you got?!" He took her timetable and examined her lessons. "You have a few with me and a few with Ethan. Some lessons you have with both of us and some you have with none of us. Right now, you have the lesson with both of us: English. So, let's go!" He showed her the way to English class.

They entered the room and sat at the back. Mia sat in between the twins. She watched as more students flooded the room. The students took their seats as the teacher walked in. The room went silent. The teacher looked at all the students; as if they were eyeing them up. The teacher cleared their throat and wrote on the board.

"Morning, class. My name is Mr Johnson and I will be your English teacher for the rest of the year. I want all my classroom rules to be obeyed. Anyone who decides to do otherwise, will be sent to the principle's office. I don't want anyone to be late to my lesson, I don't want anyone coming to my lesson unprepared and no passing notes in my class. Most of all, I don't want anyone talking while I am! Summer is over! There will be no days off work!" He turned to the class. Everyone was watching him. He was super strict and he seemed to hate teaching.

No one dared to speak. "Right! My classroom rules! Rule number 1: Don't be late to lesson. Rule number 2: Come prepared" he rambled on about his classroom rules. After he finished his never ending rules, the bell rang for next period. They packed up and left the room. Mia looked at her timetable: Maths

"Um, do you two know where the maths classroom is? I've got maths next and I don't know my way around the school" Mia asked. Ethan smiled at her. Grayson's face fell when she said she had maths.

"I'll show you, I'm in the same class! Gray has a reading lesson. He has special lessons to help him a bit more," Ethan explained. Grayson walked off to his reading lesson. Ethan and Mia began to walk to maths class. "He has dyslexia so words get jumbled up and he struggles to read. He can read, but the words get jumbled up. I sometimes help him, but he likes to be independent".

They reach their classroom and walk inside. They sat at the back of the room and waited for the lesson to finish. As the day went on, Mia was adjusting to the school. She was able to memorise the school and which way is which for her lessons. She was walking with Grayson to Science while Ethan was walking to Art. They entered the lab and sat in the middle row together.

"Awe, look!" A voice said from behind them. "The dyslexic freak found himself a girlfriend! She's probably ugly, considering he can't get a hot girlfriend!" Laughter came from behind them. A tear escaped her eye as she listened to them. She wiped it away and tried to ignore them. Grayson leaned close to her.

"Ignore them," he whispered in her ear, sending shivers down her spine. "You're beautiful! Those who say you're 'ugly' are jealous. They know they would never be as pretty as you. Don't let people like them bring you down".

"Awe, he's trying to cheer up his ugly girlfriend!" The same person spoke again. "I'm surprised they could sit at the same table considering how fat she is!" Their followers laughed at their remark. More tears escaped her eyes. She cried into her hands. The bullying would never go away! It would always be there! She would constantly be bullied. Grayson placed his hand on her arm and gave her a reassuring smile. She smiled back, but he saw the pain in her eyes.

The lesson went on and Mia kept hearing the comments from behind her. Grayson and Mia were partners for a Science Project. They were talking about the project as they left the Science lab. They made their way to their lockers and waited for Ethan. Ethan finally arrived and they walked to lesson together. They entered History and made their way to the back of the room. Mia sat in between Ethan and Grayson again. The lesson was taking forever to finish. Luckily, it was the last lesson of the day.

When the bell rang, they packed up and walked to their lockers. They grabbed their belongings and walked home together. They were talking about school as they were walking home. Grayson spoke about the project they had together, explaining why Mia was coming over. But then Mia told Ethan about the comments people said.

"What?!" He exclaimed. She looked at him in shock. "Why would they say that?! It's obviously not true! They're probably jealous! What ever they say, don't believe them! They don't mean what they're saying! They only say those things to make people feel small so they feel big. They want to hurt people because they find it amusing. Some people just go along with it because they think it's cool. But the things they say aren't true!"

Grayson nudged her and gave her a smile. "Told ya!" She smiled back at him. They continued to talk about random things until they arrived home. Mia decided to just go over the Dolan's and then go home. She followed the twins into their house and they led her upstairs. Grayson took her to his room and he got the materials he thought they'd need for their project. He placed everything on the floor and they began their project.

By 5pm, Mia was going home. She said goodbye to the twins and went home. As she opened the door, she saw her mum and dad standing in the kitchen. She walked in and they looked at her. They tackled her into a hug. They kept asking questions like, 'where were you?!' or 'why didn't you come home?!' or 'why didn't you come home first?!' She smiled at her parents.

"Mum, dad, I'm fine! I was with the twins! Me and Grayson had a Science Project, so I went to their house. They only live next door, so I wasn't too far away! I know I should have told you first, but I didn't want to waste any time. I want to finish this project as soon as possible" she apologised. "What are we having for dinner, I'm starving!"

After dinner, Mia washed the dishes and walked to her room. She changed into some comfy pyjamas and crawled into bed. Covering herself in her bed sheets, she set her alarm. She looked at the ceiling and thought about her first day of school. Without the twins, it would be a nightmare! She closed her eyes and drifted off to a deep sleep.

Today wasn't so bad. But it was only the beginning...