Don't blame it on the kids

Part 2

I worked until about 2:30 am and then was shoved out of the door. Mr. Alan beat me until 3:00, I didn't bother with any medical stuff. We were already running low. I racked up how much we needed to pay for bills, food and other essentials and then studied from around 3:45 to 5:15.

When I woke up I ran downstairs quietly so that I wouldn't wake him up. But it was no use. He was already there, lounging on the couch and watching TV. I didn't want to be near him any longer then I had to so I decided to skip breakfast. But he wanted to play.

He slammed me up against the wall with his huge hand grasping my neck. He held me against the wall until black dots started to appear in my vision. Then he decided it wasn't fun anymore. He dropped me back on the floor and I realised how much comfort it gave me to have my feet touching the ground. Then he started kicking me until I heard something crack. "Get out of my house you worthless piece of shit." He said, turning back around to watch the TV.

I ran out of the house, ignoring the immense pain coming from my cracked rib. When I got to Ms. Sylvia's house I knocked on the door but there was no reply. I tried to call her but then I heard her phone buzzing from inside. I decided to run to the school to check if she had gone and taken the kids there. I was clutching my cracked rib and it would probably hurt to even walk now but I kept going. I had to make sure they were ok.

Once I had reached the school I caught sight of the kind old lady and the kids. She wasn't really that old but she was getting there. I stumbled over to the kids and patted them on their heads fondly since I couldn't hug them. "DenDen can I have a piggy back?" asked Keli excitedly. "I'm sorry bud. Not right now. I'm a bit sore at the moment but I'll give you the best piggyback ever tomorrow. Ok?" he looked up at me with a mixture of sadness, understanding and excitement. 'God I love these kids' I thought smiling down at him. 'They are so sweet and understanding, I just don't deserve them.'

Ms. Sylvie insisted on driving me to school, since I was already going to be late. She could tell that I was hurt but she didn't say anything which I was thankful for. I put some foundation on to cover the huge hand-shaped bruise on my neck while we were in the car. By the time I was finished it was barely noticeable. I tried to style my hair but it just looked like it always did. Popping a mint in my mouth I jumped out of the car because we had arrived. I thanked her for giving me a ride and she nodded but stayed silent. I knew she was thinking about the marks and the injuries. She was one of the very few people who knew and I planned for it to stay that way. She had only agreed to not call the police the first time if he stopped hitting the kids.

So I made sure he stopped hitting the kids.

I arrived at class almost ten minutes late but I just said that I'd overslept. Aizawa did not look impressed. Luckily he was too tired and fed up to actually teach us so we were allowed to do whatever we wanted. It was fun until Uraraka accidentally made me float. Have I mentioned that I freak out if my feet aren't touching the ground? I started to freak out and Uraraka was freaking out too which wasn't helping. I started to see flashes of a memory and I started hyperventilating.

And then my back touched a wall.

I wasn't in the classroom anymore. I was at the house, and Mr. Alan was choking me. He wouldn't stop. "The blondie's next." He sneered and a wave of panic washed over me. I couldn't let him hurt them. "GO!" I screamed. "GET OUT!" I could hear shouting and crying but they sounded like my classmates. "What? You tryna be a hero. Don't you know that you'll never amount to anything? You will never be able to save them." He grinned at me and I felt black dots steep into my vision but I wasn't going to let him hurt them. "NO!" I cried. Sending an explosive amount of electrical energy towards him. Then I blacked out.

When I woke up I was in recovery girl's office. 'Nononononono.' I can't be here. I tried to stand up and I suddenly felt my cracked rib. But I could deal with it. I got up and opened the curtain around my bed revealing about ¾ of our class and Aizawa. They all turned to look at me. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT PICACHU?!" yelled Bakugo.

I ran.

It was lunch so I ordered my usual and hid it away in a container. I spent the entire lunch hiding. The rest of the day I just avoided everyone but people kept giving me weird looks. I tried to smile through it and be my usual happy, energetic, Denki self. But it's hard to smile when no one will look you in the eye, it's hard to make a joke when people ignore your existence. I could only take it for so long and in the middle of English I just got up and left.

It was nearly the end of the day anyway, I was top of the class for English anyway and no one would care that I'd left. I walked towards the kids' primary school. I only had to wait 5 minutes or so for them to come out. We went to the library and I gave them my lunch again. They sat quietly or read in silence. I promised to be back before dark to take them home. I asked one of the kind looking staff members to keep any eye on them for me. Just to check on them every so often.

When I got back it was almost sunset but I had kept my promise. I walked into the children's section to find all of them except Kogi and Ash asleep. They were talking quietly about maths problems, but not the ones that you would expect.

"Ok so we need to pay this much for the rent and this much for the rest of this week's food." Said Ash. "Yes, and we are running behind on the water and electricity which is this much." Kogi continued writing something down. "Oh and the laundry bill!" exclaimed Ash quietly as she frantically wrote it down. "But we only have this much." Continued Kogi "So we need how much more?" asked Ash, getting confused. "Hey guys." I whispered. "Hey Denki." Whispered the two kids. "Is this homework?" I asked, sitting down next to them. "Sort of." Replied Kogi "My homework is adding and dividing, and Ash's is real life so we thought that we could get it done together and help you out." He said happily. Ash nodded. "Thanks guys." I smiled. "I really appreciate it. Now let's get the others home. We can't be late."

I was lucky to get off with a slap. We all went to sleep without much trouble, but I still had to study. I had work from 00:30 until 4:00 am but I couldn't take the kids. I locked the door and put a chair under the handle then I snuck out. I got in and out of the attic the same way; the huge oak tree. Luckily no one noticed my absence and the day carried on like normal. Apart from the fact there was no lunch. I knew that it was bad so I gave them some of my earnings from my morning shift to buy a school lunch. It was a bit wasteful, since all of the food was overpriced and not very good but I wasn't going to let them starve.

My day was the same as any other, homeroom, lessons, lunch, and then more lessons. Luckily everyone had calmed down about yesterday and Uraraka actually came to apologise. I brushed it off and then apologised for almost electrocuting her. It was going great and now all I had to do was pick up the kids, feed them, take them somewhere safe (So not home.) and go to work.

And that is what happened. There were finally no complications and I was starting to see that nice guy from the library as a sort of friend.

This continued for a few days and nothing exciting really happened except for going to Ms. Sylvie's house instead of the library one day and finding some instant ramen to have for dinner.

Then it was Friday. And it all went to hell.