Chapter 2

"I hope this isn't going to be regular Nancy." Mr. Clarkson said as I walked into form five minutes late.

"My alarm didn't go off, sorry." I told him before heading towards my seat. I couldn't exactly tell him it had taken me 20 minutes longer to get changed because my body is covered in painful bruises.

"Thought we scared you off yesterday." Josh joked as I sat down. I just smiled and shook my head. I would rather come to school than stay home with my Dad any day. Unlike most school kids, I hate weekends and cannot wait for Monday to come around again.

I was just about to reply when Tariq, who sits next to me in maths, came over. "Did you do your maths homework Nancy?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said, wondering why he wanted to know. I had spent nearly an hour on it before my father had returned home last night.

"Can I borrow it?" He asked. I was just about to reach into my bag to get it when Lauren grabbed my arm to stop me. It took all my effort not to wince from where she grabbed the bruise.

"Do your own homework Tariq. Who do you have first?" Lauren asked looking at my timetable. "Oh, you're in Hopewell's with us. She can't teach for toffee."

Mr. Clarkson came over to our table and sat in Finn's seat- who hadn't turned up yet.

"Right, do any of you fancy helping me set up a talent show competition? I thought you three and Finn would be good helpers, I seen the art work you made in Miss. Campbell's class yesterday Nancy, you could do the image behind. Lauren, you could make props or something and sort out speakers, and you and Finn could be like Ant and Dec or something." He said, directing the last part to Josh.

We all agreed because we would get out of afternoon lessons for the rest of the term- which is 2 weeks away. It also meant, because my PE lessons are in the afternoon, I wouldn't have to come up with excuses in why I can't participate.

Finn came into school half way through Miss Hopewell's lesson. When he walked in, the young teacher tried to send him back out for being late, but he just sat at the desk in front of me and Lauren and turned his chair around.

Lauren dived in to tell her friend all about the talent show while I tried to design the banner in my art pad. I sat quietly drawing for most of the lesson when I felt someone gently kick me under the desk to get my attention. I jumped and looked up to see Finn and Lauren both looking at me.

"Sorry, I wasn't really listening." I muttered quietly trying to keep my voice from quivering.

Lauren laughed. "It's a bit obvious you like drawing, we've been talking about the talent show and we were wondering if you were entering?" She said as she looked at my drawings.

"I don't have a talent." I said to her.

"Course you do, for the last ten minutes, you've been drawing and this looks like you've been drawing for 5 hours to make it perfect." She said, holding up my art work. I was just about to take it back when Miss. Hopewell took it from her hands.

"You can have this back at the end of the day Nancy. You're supposed to be doing work." The young teacher said trying to sound like she has the upper hand.

Before I could react, Finn stood up and took my art pad off the teacher and passed it to me. "It is work Miss, it's for Mr. Clarkson. She's the only one in here who is actually working to be honest. Look around. No one else is." While he was talking, I quickly shoved my art book into my bag so it is out of reach of the teacher.

"Well, if you all listened to me, we could be learning about Romeo and Juliet now." The teacher yelled angrily.

"Nothing to learn." Lauren piped up next to me. "They fell in love but they weren't meant to, she faked her death to be with him, he killed himself thinking she was dead so she killed herself. Pretty tragic really."

"Yeah but what happened to Juliet's cousin?" The teacher said, smiling when she seen Lauren didn't know the answer.

"Romeo killed him; he then got himself banished from the town." I said quietly. "That's why Juliet faked her death."

Just as the teacher was about to reply, the bell rang. We all grabbed our bags and left the lesson before the teacher could speak.

I had science after break. Me, Lauren and Amy walked into the class before anyone else got there. "Morning girls." Mr. Mead shouted, sticking his head around the door to the supply cupboard.

Lauren and Amy were both talking about two girls, Vicki and Jess, who were both pregnant by the same person. I decided I wouldn't join in because I don't know either of the girls to talk about them. I sat on my chair beside Lauren, watching the classroom fill up and trying to put names to faces.

Lauren and Amy continued with their conversation quietly at the back. A boy in front, I think his name is Ronan or Rolan, turned around and told them both to stop bitching about them.

When we were working on a work sheet, Amy quickly went to the bathroom leaving me and Lauren on the back row with two lads I can't remember the name of.

"How did you get that?" Lauren whispered, alarmed. I looked to where she was pointing, at a bruise on my wrist where my father had grabbed me last night.

"I caught it on my bedroom door last night." I whispered back, tugging at me sleeve and quickly coming up with my most common excuse.

"It looks like someone's held your arm too tightly." She whispered back. Thankfully, at that moment, Amy came back from the toilet, putting our conversation to a stop.

"Jess Fisher is crying in the loo." She told us as she walked to her seat.

I'm going to have to be more careful. If more people keep seeing bruises, it means my father is going to move me away again. And I don't want to be carted round so that people don't figure out what he is doing. I want to stay here. I just need to hope Lauren doesn't mention it to a teacher.

When I got home that night, my father was in the living room pacing back and forth.

"Where have you been?" He shouted when I walked in.

"School." I replied quietly, staying near the door frame.

"Go make me some soup." He growled. I quickly ran to the kitchen and put him some Tomato soup on. Knowing that I wasn't going to get any tea, I quickly got a spoon and ate a little bit out of the pan.

"I didn't say you could eat it." He said, coming up behind me. He grabbed the pan and moved it so quickly, the boiling hot soup splattered up my arm.

"Just get upstairs!" He bellowed as I went to wash the liquid off.

I spent the rest of the night in my bed, hiding under the covers. I wonder if he would do this if my mum was still around. I wish I could be with her in heaven right now.

StellaPriceFan: Thankyou very much for the lovely review and for following and favouriting my story! Im happy you like it so far!

FeeDob26: You were too slow! And actually, its like you're telling the future of the story because he is going to have a big impact on Nancys life!

reddiefan25: Thankyou for the review and following! I have quite a vivid picture in my mind on what is going to happen with Nancy!

maddiejean95: Im glad you liked the first chapter! I do too :( If she was a real person, i would just want to hug her!

Also, thankyou to WritingWhat'sOnMyMind for following and favouriting!

I was so surprised when i woke up earlier and was so surprised how many emails i got! (Some for my other story too mind!)

Im going to start a new chapter for The younger Mason now!

Thankyou! Keep reviewing please!

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