Hiding Anna [rewritten]

Chapter Twenty-One: The Truth

"Not many people could stand Anna Brooks, me included, but I never said anything about it. I used to be reserved, quiet, not involving myself with many people or letting them in; mostly because of my dad's death. I didn't want to lose someone and feel that pain of loss again." My voice broke and I swallowed.

Be strong Cassie. You can do this.

"When I started secondary school Quinn and Corey approached me, tried to coax me out of my shell. I think they thought I was sweet maybe... but I was just shy. They succeeded bringing me into their little group and soon I realised I had friends. I felt comfortable with them, and it was quite a normal friendship, except for the fact that they didn't know about Dad. I didn't want to tell them. My mum was ashamed of what happened and I was young so I adopted her way of behaving about it all. And like her, I never let myself become too attached to anyone again. I didn't want to feel that same disappointment and grief like what happened after Dad.

Everything was fine, life went on as usual and then Corey came out at the end of year eight. It had been a pretty monumental moment for us because we'd all known about it since he started school. But his parents were traditional and he wasn't sure how they would take it. When eventually he did tell his mum, she couldn't look at him the same for a year. He was so sad all the time and all of us, Quinn, Ruby, Liam, we all worked to get him to feel better. Everyone else at school took it well and other than a few odd looks every now and again things were good.

Except Anna. The moment he came out she was hurling him homophobic slurs anytime he walked by. Maybe you remember? Or maybe you don't she only behaved like that when he was alone.

At that point she was still top of the food chain and she had a little crowd of followers who joined in. I think the bullying wouldn't have been so bad if Corey's mum had had his back, but at that time, she didn't.

Anyway, all of us tried our best to defend him as much as possible, but Anna persisted. By the time the end of year nine came around it was all getting too much for Corey. He had started self-harming and he was telling us he was suicidal. It's not really my secret to tell, but it got really fucking bad.

The summer came round, and Anna decided to pay him a visit to his house. When Corey's mum opened the door Anna pretended to be one of his friends and told her that her and a few other friends were at the park and wondered if Corey wanted to come. It was a trick, and Corey knew he just had to go.

Anna took him to the park and she'd brought some older guys to come and give him a beating. It wasn't extremely bad, but he rang me crying telling me he wanted to die. He couldn't take it anymore.

None of us had known what to do all school year to resolve the problem. Anna was known to live in a sketchy area and with sketchy people so we didn't think talking to teachers would put us in a safe position. So, even though I'd always ignored it, I decided to take action against Anna personally.

The fury controlled me and I couldn't hold the frustration in. I messaged her on facebook and insulted her. I told her to go back to her crack house and stop messing with Corey. I was just hoping to threaten her, knock down her composure so that the bullying would stop. But that had definitely been the wrong thing to say.

She told me I'd regret saying that to her. And I do."

This is the hard part. This is where it all went downhill.

George pushed lightly against the dip of my back, offering reassurance and urging me to go on. He began to run his fingers through my hair - an act to soothe me - but I only felt distracted.

"Please." I begged, nudging my shoulders so he would release my hair. "I have to do this."

His electric eyes searched mine, I don't know what for. He nodded for me to continue, placing his palm gently on my back again.