She's Broken

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"Is that her?"

"Wasn't what happened, like, incest or something?"

"Do you reckon she's pregnant?"

"I heard that she was lying for attention. Who even does that?"

"I dated him once, I can't believe he's a rapist."

The rumours and the whispering, they were something I could get used to pretty easily. That word, not so much. Rape, rapist and voilation. You should only hear them in films, only see a rapist go down on charge in a TV programme. Sitting in a courtroom and watching your brother go down for rape sounds like a difficult task, right? Try being the girl in the witness stand, the victim.

Walking around in school was the second hardest thing that I'd ever done. My mum wanted to keep me home, shelter me and baby me until it all blew over. I had insisted that I wanted to come in with my head held high, show them that I was unaffected, that I was OK.

Of course, I'd been stupid enough to believe that people would just get on with it, maybe even smile at me to show me that I had some form of support. Not that I needed it, but I'd still been an idiot to even hope that the day would turn out like that.

The day that Finn Price, Guild High's golden boy, had been arrested, the news had spread like a forest fire. Nobody knew the charges, they'd just seen him go away in a police car after his football practice.

When he got bail, I didn't go to school and I didn't live with him either. My mum had insisted that he stay away from the family and away from our home. My dad, unsurprisingly, disagreed and rented out an apartment down town. Finn moved in with him there until the court would see to his case.

So, you can only imagine how many people were talking and gossiping about the events of the day before. The day that Finn Price went down as a convicted rapist.

Carter, one of my closest friends had picked me up and driven me to school this morning, but had to go to tutor earlier to collect his leavers forms. Leaving school at the end of the week was the only thing that was keeping me going. Spending the next few months at home with my mum and my horse was the therapy that I needed.

The stares and the whispering continued when I made it into the main reception. Dirty and pale walls closed in on the journey there, giving me no breathing room as I pushed through the doube doors. Science had been the last lesson of the day but it wasn't an offical class. It was more a goodbye ceremony. Our last exam had been maths and the school had sent a letter home to all parents, askin them to send us into school for the final week to say goodbye and to celebrate our exams.

I think that the classes were my preference, you could sit there quietly and just listen to the teacher, but at a 'party', the teacher had no control and she was too busy going through our target grades with indiviudal students to think of anything else.

Reception was huge. We used it as a lobby and a reception area, as both of the reception desks were in there, as was the headteacher's office and deputy head's office. Because it was the first thing that you'd see when you enter the school, it was neatly decorated with friendly, sky blue walls and a smooth laminate that reflected your face back at you if you looked down. I always wondered that when Finn was arrested, if he looked down at those floors, saw himself and maybe felt a hint of regret. A hint of self disgust.

Probably not. Finn was a proud boy, always thought highly of himself and probably spent more time in a mirror than half of the girls that attended our school.

I'd been planning to just put my earbuds in and block the world out with Ed Sheeran, not even stop in the reception but as soon as I caught sight of Jenna, I knew that I'd have to stay and say goodbye.