Chapter 9
A week or so had passed and Rachel was beginning to get really worried about Olivia, she used to be so loud and bubbly all the time but now she spent most of her time in her room and was really quiet around the house, Rachel had tried talking to her about it on a number of occasions but Olivia would normally just snap at her.
It was a Friday and Rachel had just woken all the girls up for school, before she'd gone back to her bedroom to finish getting ready.
A couple of minutes later she heard a knock at her door
"Yep come in"
Olivia opened the door so Rachel turned round to look at her
"Hello love what are you doing in here?"
"Rachel I don't feel very well"
Rachel sighed, knowing full well that Olivia was just trying to get a day off school, this had become a bit of a habit this week and she wasn't very happy about it
"How don't you feel well?"
"erm my stomach is really hurting an I've got a headache"
Rachel raised her eyebrows
"Really?" she asked clearly not believing her
"Yes really" Olivia snapped "do you not believe or something"
"No Olivia I don't believe you not one bit, you've been trying to get out of school all week and you don't look even a little bit ill"
"I've got a really high temperature though"
Olivia realised this was a stupid thing to say though because she knew Rachel was going to check it just now
Sure enough, Rachel put her hand to Olivia's forward and realised that she didn't have a temperature
"Well you don't feel hot to me, Liv just stop this and get ready for school, it's a Friday so you've got an entire weekend to relax"
Olivia suddenly felt tears form in her eyes, she was dreading going to school today and she felt sick at the thought of going in
"Hey what is it love? What's happened?"
"Nothing I just don't feel very well"
Rachel sat down on her bed and gestured for Olivia to sit down next to her
"Liv you used to love school, but I know something isn't quite right at the moment, you're all quiet round the house and just not like your usual self at all, so come on tell me what's been going on"
"I'm fine Rachel, I'll go and get ready for school now" Olivia said, trying to brush her tears away
"You can talk to me liv, you know that don't you?"
Olivia nodded her head, but she knew she couldn't talk to Rachel about this, she felt far too ashamed of it
When Olivia was in her room she burst into tears, over the last few weeks she hated school, these girls in her class had started bullying her and they were making her life hell, Olivia didn't want to tell Rachel because she felt embarrassed about it and she knew that if she told her teacher it'd make everything worse
Eventually everyone was ready to go to school so got in the car
"Rachel I'm stopping at Megan's tonight so I'm not coming home"
"Jess I wish you'd tell me about these things a little in advance"
"okay I will in future, but can I go?"
"Yes I suppose so, just don't be too late back tomorrow okay?"
"Yep"
Olivia was staring out of the window and she could feel tears forming in her eyes again, when Rachel looked in her mirror she noticed Olivia crying but she wasn't going to say anything in front of the other two girls as she knew that she'd feel embarrassed if she brought it up
When they got to the primary school, Chloe ran out and went to find her friends
Rachel got out the car too, wanting to have a little chat with Olivia
"liv can I have a quick couple of words love?"
"yep"
Rachel went round the corner with her where they wouldn't be seen
"I saw you crying in the car"
"Yeah I told you I don't feel well"
"Yes I know you've told me that, but I don't believe you so how about telling me what's really going on hmm?"
"Nothing" Olivia snapped "I'm going in to school"
Before Rachel had a chance to say another word Olivia ran off
Rachel was feeling really worried about her but she knew she couldn't exactly follow her in to school, so just decided to leave it and get back to the car
"How come you got out Rach?" Jess asked
"I just wanted to have a quick chat with Olivia"
"she's been acting so weirdly at the moment"
"I know she has, look I know that she's your sister and if she'd told you something in confidence then I know why you wouldn't want to tell me, but I'm really worried about her Jess, so has she said anything to you"
"No not really, I have tried chatting with her, she was crying in bed last night at about 1 when I got up for a wee so I went in and tried to chat with her but I think she felt embarrassed so I just left it"
"oh god I wonder what it is that's happened, I thought it might be that she was struggling with school work but I had a look through her book and she seems to be doing great"
"she'll be fine Rachel don't stress"
Rachel spent most of her morning thinking about Olivia, even though she wasn't the girls mother she almost felt like she was and she got really worried if she thought something was wrong with any of them
It was break time and Olivia had ran into the toilets to avoid seeing the girls, it had just started off as teasing but now it was getting really bad and they wouldn't leave her alone. They'd follow her round the school and they'd call her names, at first Olivia had tried to ignore it but now she was feeling awful about it
She was stood by one of the cubicles when suddenly the door opened and they all came in
"Oh my god look who it is" one of them said "you hiding from us"
"No" Olivia mumbled
"I bet she is, how pathetic, can't you stand up for yourself at all"
"Leave me alone"
"God look at her, she looks like she's about to cry"
Olivia tried desperately hard to hold back the tears but she could feel them filling in her eyes
"She looks even uglier when she's crying, but I bet no one would have thought that's possible"
"She's minging"
They kept going on at her and in the end Olivia ended up running away from them
She went into reception and begged to be sent home
The receptionist was quite worried about Olivia and called her teacher over to see her
"Liv are you okay?" she asked
"Yes miss I just really don't feel well, please can I go home"
"Well if you're not feeling well I think that's the best place for you, but are you sure that's all it is?"
"Yeah I just feel really poorly"
She wasn't entirely convinced but agreed for Olivia to be sent home, thinking even if she wasn't poorly she shouldn't really be in school if she was this upset about something
Olivia knew she was going to get into trouble with Rachel, when they rang her to pick her up, but at the moment she didn't really care, anything was better than being at school.
As soon as Rachel got to school Olivia could see she wasn't very happy
She didn't say anything to her as she signed her out but then turned round to face her
"Come on then"
Olivia quickly picked her stuff up and followed Rachel out to the car
"So you managed to get out of school in the end huh?"
"I told you this morning I really am poorly"
"you might be able to fool your teachers but don't think you can fool me young lady now I want some proper answers"
"I'm poorly"
Rachel sighed heavily not knowing what to say to her
"Put your seat belt on we'll talk about it in my office"
"Aren't we going home"
"No because believe it or not I've still got to go to work, the whole world doesn't stop just because you've decided you want a day off"
As soon as she said that Rachel felt bad, she'd been having a stressful day at work so this really wasn't what she needed right now but she realised she'd probably been too harsh on her
They didn't say much as Rachel drove back to school and then they got out of the car and walked up to her office
"Rachel I'm really tired can I just go to sleep"
"Yes if you like"
Olivia went and laid down on Rachel's sofa and closed her eyes
She didn't actually go to sleep because she had too much going on in her mind but she just really didn't want Rachel quizzing her
Rachel didn't get a chance to talk to Olivia because she got so absorbed in all her work and before she knew it the bell had gone so they had to go and pick Chloe up
"Are you okay to wait in the car while I pick her up?"
"No" Olivia immediately answered, thinking they might see her in the car and come over "I mean I want to get some fresh air"
"Okay" Rachel said
It was boiling hot outside and Rachel and Olivia felt uncomfortable in their work/school stuff
"Are you sure you don't want to sit in the car, its cooler in there than it is out here"
"No its okay"
Eventually Chloe came out and ran over, but Rachel soon realised her shirt and tights were soaked through
"Chloe why are you so wet?"
"I got into a water fight"
Rachel sighed but she didn't really mind, it was nice to see Chloe having fun
"Well we'll have to get your uniform off as soon as we get in or you'll mess my carpet up"
Chloe giggled and they went to the car
"I think we'll have to get the sunbeds out when we get home, its boiling outside"
"Can I have molly round to play?"
"Yes I suppose so"
They got in and Rachel took Chloe up to her room to quickly get changed out of her uniform
"do you want to just put some knickers on, then you can go and play under the sprinkler can't you?"
"Yeah, but then how will I go round to Molly's to ask if she can come round?"
"Well I'll go and ask her"
Rachel went round and Molly came over to play so the two of them went into the back garden
When she could see the two of them were okay Rachel decided to go up and check on Olivia as she'd gone straight to her room
She knocked but when she didn't get an answer she just went in
She found Olivia on her bed asleep so went over and shook her gently
"Liv can I talk to you for a couple of minutes"
"okay"
"I'm sorry for shouting earlier, I was just a bit stressed but I shouldn't have taken it out on you"
"It's fine"
"love answer me honestly and I'm not going to be angry, are you really poorly or is there some other reason why you don't want to be at school?"
"No I'm fine"
Rachel didn't know what to say, she knew that Olivia wasn't telling her the truth but she couldn't force her to talk
She stayed with her a bit longer but in the end decided to just leave it for now
The rest of the evening went quite quickly, Olivia stopped in her room for most of the night and didn't eat very much of her tea, as soon as she'd finished eating she went back upstairs
"Right I think it's bath and bedtime for you my love" she said to Chloe
"No let me stay up later"
"It's late enough young lady, come on bath time"
"No I want to watch one more thing on TV"
Rachel sighed, Chloe had started to become a bit cheekier with her, but in a way Rachel was glad about this as it showed that she was starting to feel more relaxed around the house
"Nope, but if you're a good girl I might let you stay up tomorrow"
"Okay"
Once Rachel had bathed her she dried her hair and got her ready for bed
"Rachel I don't think I'll be able to go to sleep yet"
"oh and why's that?"
"It's still light outside"
"Chloe it's been light outside for the past month when you've been going to sleep, I'm sure you'll cope"
"I'm thirsty"
"I'll bring you up some water"
"Can't I have coke"
"No you cannot have coke right before you're about to go to sleep"
Rachel went downstairs and brought her up some water
"Right sleep"
"Okay, night Rachel love you"
"Love you too" Rachel kissed her on the forehead before going back downstairs
She stayed down for a couple of hours before deciding to go up to bed as she really was feeling quite tired by now
Olivia stayed up for hours worrying about everything, however when she eventually did go to sleep she ended up having a really bad nightmare about the girls and woke up dripping in sweat sobbing her heart out
She ran into Rachel's room and woke her up, because she felt so frightened
"Liv what's the matter darling?" Rachel asked before flicking the light on
It was only then she realised what a state Olivia was in so quickly brought her onto the bed and wrapped her arms around her
"I've had a really bad dream" Olivia sobbed
"oh dear, it's okay look your with me nice and safe nobody's going to hurt you"
"Yes they are" Olivia cried
"No love it was just a dream"
"No you don't understand they're going to get me, that's why I can't go to school" Olivia cried
"What do you mean liv?" Rachel asked gently
"They've been horrible to me for the past weeks, they started yelling all this stuff at me today in the toilets and I just got really upset that's why I wanted to come home"
"Oh sweetheart why didn't you tell me"
"Because I felt embarrassed"
"Oh darling its nothing to be embarrassed about, it's them that should be feeling embarrassed about what they've done not you"
"I just don't want to make things worse"
"You won't do love and now that you've told me what's been going on we can sort it out can't we huh?"
"Yeah I guess"
"We can I promise, I just really wish you felt you could talked to me sooner"
"I wanted to I just didn't know how"
"Oh love, well at least you've told me now, I'm just so sorry you've had to go through all this"
Rachel made sure she'd calmed down and was feeling better, before going and getting her some water
"You ready to go to sleep now darling"
"Can I stay in with you?"
"Yes of course"
Although Olivia hadn't wanted to tell Rachel about it she felt so much better now she had
