Chapter 10
Pauline- I did read your request yes, sorry I meant to reply to it but completely forgot and I will definitely consider doing a sequel once this story is finished! I agree with what you're saying, it is a bit unrealistic but I just needed it to be a bit far fetched so the story could progress the way I wanted it to, sorry about that hoping people could maybe over look the bits of it that aren't entirely realistic just so I can develop the storyline, thanks for your feedback though I really appreciate it :) Rosie sound love your idea thanks for the suggestion, will definitely use it a few chapters along !
A week or so had passed and Molly had seemed to have settled in reasonably well by now, obviously she was still upset about her mum, but she'd taken to living with Rachel and Thomas very well and the other two girls seemed to be getting on with her well.
It was a Sunday morning and Rachel and Thomas were both downstairs having a coffee.
"God I don't know how I got up at this time, I'm absolutely shattered" Rachel said yawning, Lexi had kept her awake for ages last night and she'd ended up in their bed again, this seemed to be happening a lot this week, she seemed really on edge all the time and night times had been particularly bad, everyone had tried talking to her but she wouldn't tell anybody what was wrong, both Rachel and Thomas were getting worried though.
"She seemed particularly bad last night"
"Yeah she did, I just don't know what it could be I mean I ran her school up last week and they said she wasn't having any trouble at all, though apparently she's been the same there, all withdrawn and quiet it's just so unlike her" Rachel sighed
"Well sometimes kids just go through a bit of a phase, you can't look too far into it, if there is something going on she'll tell us when she's ready"
"Yeah I hope so"
They sat chatting for a bit longer but then Holly came down.
"Hiya love" Rachel said
"Hey"
"So I take it the other two are still asleep?"
"Erm I think Molly might be awake but she's still in her bedroom and lexis fast asleep in your bed"
"Well I think it's best we let her sleep in for a while, she was up most of the night so she'll be absolutely shattered today" Rachel said "me and Thomas were thinking of taking her swimming later, you and Molly are more than welcome to join us if you fancy?"
"Actually I've got quite a bit of homework to do, so I was going to just get on with that today"
"What am I hearing correctly, you're going to be doing your homework?" Rachel said sounding shocked
Holly just smiled at her "I've got loads to do"
"Well I am impressed mrs, keep that up and it'll be A*s all round next year!"
"I don't know about that, but I am going to work hard I promise"
"Well that's music to my ears, but what's brought all this on?"
"We'll I've decided what I want to do when I grow up"
"Oh have you, when I asked you last week you said you didn't have a clue and bit my head off for pestering you about it"
"I know but I've been thinking and I suppose it is good to have a plan"
"Well you're not wrong there, so come on then don't keep us in suspense, what is it you want to do?" Rachel asked intrigued
"I want to be a teacher" holly said causing Rachel to smile
"Do you? It looks like you have more of me in you than I thought"
"Not secondary though, I don't think I could handle that"
"I don't blame you love" Rachel said laughing "well if that what you've decided, then there's a lot of hard work ahead of you my girl, you'd have to get the grades to get into a good university"
"I know"
"Still I'm sure if you put your mind to it you could do anything you wanted" Rachel said "still I'm sure you could take an hour or so off this afternoon to come swimming with us, we're going to the new pool that's opened with all the water slides"
"Okay since you've begged" holly said giving her mum a cheeky smile"
Holly stayed down for a bit longer and the Molly came down too
"Hey Molly did you sleep okay?" Rachel asked
"Yeah thanks"
"I was just saying to Holly, we're taking Lexi swimming later, do you want to join us?"
"Yeah that'd be really nice" Molly said smiling she really had already started to fell like part of the family by now and her and Holly had actually become quite close
The four of them stayed downstairs for a while but when Rachel saw it had got to half nine it was time to wake Lexi up so she went upstairs and into her own room, because Lexi had slept there last night.
She found her with the covers kicked off her, she'd been very restless over the last few nights, which wasn't great when she was sharing with her and Thomas.
"Lexi it's time to wake up love" Rachel said shaking her awake
Lexi woke up and sat up in bed
"Morning sleepy head, its 9:30 you know" Rachel said while stroking her hair
"Morning mummy" Lexi said
"How are you feeling? It took you a while to get to sleep last night didn't it huh?"
"I'm okay" Lexi said but she still sounded a bit teary
Rachel decided to try and have another chat with Lexi now, so she got up and closed the door behind her, so they wouldn't be interrupted
"Why have you closed the door mummy?"
"Because I think you and I need to have a little talk in private don't we?"
"Why?"
Rachel sighed before sitting back down next to her
"Because me and Thomas are getting very worried about you Lexi" Rachel said "during the day you're all quiet and jumpy, which isn't like you one bit and at nighttime there's been all the nightmares, not being able to get to sleep, crying through the night, wetting the bed every night, now you've never had any problems like this before since you started living with me but every night this week you have, so you can't tell me that it's all over nothing"
"Mummy I don't know why, I just can't sleep and then I have nightmares and then I get scared and wet my bed, I'm really really sorry" Lexi said sobbing because it was all really upsetting and humiliating for her
"Oh sweetheart I'm not trying to tell you off, you know I'm not angry I'm just worried, because often when a child starts getting all upset at night time like when it's never happened before it's because something has happened that's made them feel scared and upset. Now neither me or Thomas want you to feel scared or upset, which is why it's so so important to try and talk to us, we just want to help okay, I know I tell you off sometimes, but I care about you Lexi and no matter how bad something is you can't be too afraid to tell me"
All this made Lexi feel even more upset because she knew what she'd done was too bad to tell her mum or anybody else for that matter.
"Lexi what is it, what's happened come on talk to me my love?"
"Can I go to the toilet?" Lexi said not wanting her mum to push any further
Rachel sighed, she didn't know what she could do to get through to Lexi
"Yep of course you can" Rachel said
Lexi got out of bed and was going to walk across to the main bathroom to get away from her mum but Rachel stopped her
"Just use my bathroom"
Lexi went in, she stayed in there for a while even after she'd been, hoping her mum would go away. However Rachel was waiting outside for her and when she hadn't come out after a five minutes she knocked on the door
"Lexi are you okay?"
"Yep" Lexi called back but her voice sounded all tearful
Rachel knew Lexi hadn't locked the door, she never did because the locks were so tight, she didn't really want to go in though
"Are you done on the toilet?"
Lexi considered lying but knew she'd have to come out sometime
"Yeah"
"Cam you open the door for me then sweetheart?"
Reluctantly Lexi came out, when she saw her mum stood there looking all worried she suddenly really wanted a cuddle
"Mummy please can I have a hug"
Rachel crouched down and wrapped her arms around her and Lexi suddenly began to cry into her, she knew she couldn't say what had happened but it felt good to have a proper cry and a cuddle.
Rachel let her cry into her for a bit but then picked her up and put her in her knee
"Right what's happened?"
"Nothing I just feel really upset but I don't know why"
"Lexi I can't force you to talk, though I really wish you would" Rachel sighed "I'm going to leave this for now, because I can see we're not getting anywhere, but as soon as you feel like talking I want you to come to me or Thomas straight away"
"Okay"
"Now we're going to have a quiet morning, but we're all going to go swimming this afternoon"
"That'll be nice, but mummy I need to go and play round Chloe's house later too" Lexi said
"You need to?" Rachel said "I thought that'd be something you wanted to do"
"That's what I meant, please can I go?"
"Yeah I think so, anyway how about you nip and get dressed?"
Lexi went off to get dressed and they all finished up having quite a nice morning and then they all set off to the swimming pool
"Wow it looks really good" holly said when they got there and saw all the slides "someone will have to go on that massive one with me"
"I'll go on" Molly said
"Well I'm glad you volunteered Molly because there is no way you'd get me on that thing Holly, it looks deadly"
"Me neither" Thomas said laughing
When they got to the changing rooms they realised they were really full, so Rachel and Lexi went in one and holly and Molly in another.
Molly felt a bit embarrassed getting changed in front of Holly as she was really self conscious about the fact she hadn't developed much at all yet and didn't want anybody to notice.
Holly was just about to get changed into her bikini when she realised that she'd come on her period, she knew she'd come on today but had completely forgotten about bringing anything with her
"Molly you don't have a tampon on you do you?"
"No" Molly Said blushing, she hadn't even started her period yet however she didn't want to admit this to Holly
"Oh I'll just ask my mum then, the joys of being a girl eh"
Molly laughed at this but really she felt quite uncomfortable
Holly tied her long hair up in a bun before going out and knocking on Rachel's changing room door
"Mummy you can't let anybody in I'm getting changed" Lexi said
"Who is it?"
"Holly"
"It's only Holly Lexi, you don't mind her coming in do you?"
Lexi shook her head so Rachel let Holly in,she was confused as to why she still hadn't put her bikini bottoms on
"How come you haven't got changed?"
"I need to get something off you first...you know girl stuff" holly said not really wanting to go into details in front of Lexi
"Oh right just in my bag, take it to the loo with you"
When holly had gone Lexi asked "what girl stuff did holly need"
"Oh nothing love...just some hair grips to hold her bun up...I think we better put your hair up too Lexi"
Rachel put lexis hair into a bun before going out and putting all their stuff away.
They waited to meet up with everyone before going out to the pool
"Right do you two want to go off on the slides and me and Thomas will stay with Lexi for a bit"
Holly and Molly ran off to go on the slides and Rachel went In the pool with Lexi
They stayed with her for ages and for a while she seemed like her old self again as was really lively and bubbly but after they'd been there for a bit she became all quiet again
"Lexi do you want to come on one of the slides with me and Thomas?" Rachel asked
Lexi nodded so they went and found one where the three of them could go down in a big dingy
They had to wait for quite a while but eventually they could go on
Once they were all in they started to go down, they all got a surprise because they thought it was just a little kids slide but it turned out to be really fast and when they were about half way down Rachel realised her bikini top had fallen off causing Lexi and Thomas to burst out laughing
"Oh my god where the hells it gone" Rachel said panicking, trying to cover herself up "you two could at least try and help me look rather than just laughing"
Thomas saw it a bit ahead so quickly grabbed it and tried to help Rachel get it back on but it was hard while they were still on the slide
When they got to the bottom they saw the other two girls waiting for them
"Did you enjoy that?" Holly asked when she saw Lexi and Thomas come off laughing, she saw her mums face though and realised she must not have had quite as good a time on it as the other two
"Mummy got her boobs out" Lexi said loudly causing everyone to laugh except Rachel
"Thanks for that Lexi" Rachel said sarcastically
"Did you really mum? God you're 39 years old aren't you getting a bit old for that"
"I obviously didn't do it on purpose, it's this bikini the straps are really flimsy on it"
They stopped for a bit longer at the swimming pool before deciding to go home
Once they'd all got changed they got in the car and they drove back to the house.
"Mummy can I go to Chloe's when we get back"
"Yeah that should be fine, I don't want you to stop there too long though " Rachel said
As soon as they got back Lexi started to really worry, but she knew she couldn't not go round. She'd been friends with Chloe for a while but last week her big sister took them out with her and her friends and would get her and Lexi to steal things for them, because they were small and could reach their hands in cars and when they went in shops nobody would suspect them.
"Lexi I want you to be back home for 5, so if you look at the clock and the small hand is pointing to number 5 and the big hand is pointing to 12 that means it's time to come home" Rachel said
"Okay" Lexi said
Rachel sighed as she went off, she hoped that maybe a bit of time with Chloe might cheer her up though, as the two girls always had been very close.
Lexi felt all tearful as she was going up to the door, part of her wanted to run back home to her mum and tell her everything but she knew Chloe's sister would get her of she did this, so she knocked on the front door.
Chloe and her sister amber opened the door
"Hi Lexi, I was just saying to Chloe I'd take you out today for a treat, would you like that?" Amber asked
Lexi gave a tiny nod if the head
"Right I'll get my jacket" Amber said
Amber went through to the kitchen where her mum was and told her she was taking the two of them to the park for an ice cream and they'd be gone for a couple of hours.
Once they were out of the house, amber led them across the road and they walked to meet all her friends
"You two are doing a pretty good job of all this at the moment, you've got yourselves a job for quite some time by the looks of things, I'll meet you after school tomorrow we've got something extra special for the pair of you to do"
"Amber what of we get caught, mummy would be mad at us" Chloe said
"Well don't get caught then and it wouldn't be us mummy gets mad at it's just be the pair of you, it's not us who's been stealing stuff is it?"
Chloe and Lexi followed them round to the shops and as usual they went in and picked some stuff up before going out and once they were round the corner handing it to them.
"Good girls, do you want to have some of the sweets?"
Both of them shook their heads in response so Amber just shrugged
"Now let's find some cars"
They spent ages looking for ones with the window rolled down slightly and eventually they found one although it was only very slightly down
"Lexi you're the smallest get your hand down there and get the phone"
Tears filled up in lexis eyes as she felt really scared but she knew she had to do what they said
She could only just fit her hand through and it was hurting her quite a lot but she managed to get her hands on the phone
Suddenly she realised her arm was stuck and it was hurting a lot, when Amber saw someone in the distance she grabbed hold of lexis arm and yanked it out causing her to yelp out in pain.
Her arm was really hurting and she couldn't move it properly she was finding it hard not to scream out in pain
Rachel looked at the clock and was beginning to wonder where Lexi had got to as it was a lot later than what they agreed on. She wasn't especially angry at Lexi though because she was only little and didn't really have much concept of time.
After waiting a bit longer she decided to go round and get her herself.
When she knocked on the door though she found out they were still out with Chloe's big sister.
Suddenly Rachel saw them in the distance and realised Lexi was in floods of tears so she rushed over
"Lexi what's happened" she asked scooping her daughter up in her arms
"I took them to the park and she fell off the slide" amber explained "sorry I feel so bad, I tried keeping an eye in them both"
"It's okay it's not your fault, come on sweetie let's get you home we'll put some ice on it"
Rachel carried her back and took her through to the kitchen but when she was about to put the ice on she realised it was really swollen and red
"I think I'd best get Thomas to have a look at this, it looks quite nasty to me"
Rachel shouted Thomas and he came through
"Lexi's had a fall, her wrist looks really bad, will you have a look at it?"
"Oh dear, why is it you're always in the wars Lexi? I could have a full time job looking after you alone" he joked
He was very gentle with her and examined it properly
He got her to move it and she could do this okay so he could see it wasn't broken
"You're lucky, you've got yourself a bad sprain there Lexi, but it's not broken" Thomas said "put some ice in it Rach and I'll get a bandage, I think we'll put it in a sling for a day or so too"
Even when her wrist wasn't feeling quite as sore Lexi was still crying
"Lexi why don't you have a little lie down love, it might make you feel better"
Lexi went into the living room and Rachel brought a blanket to her, after the trauma of everything that had happened and a terrible sleep last night Lexi went to sleep straight away despite it only being 6 o clock
Rachel then went back into the kitchen to speak to Thomas
"How's she doing?"
"She's gone to sleep, she looked so upset though. I just want to protect her...she only looked about 3 when she went to sleep, I can't stand seeing her so upset"
"How did she do her arm"
"Fell off a slide"
"Oh right" Thomas said but he sounded quite uncertain
"What is it?"
"Well obviously I can't tell for sure, it's just the way the wrist was bruised didn't look like a fall more like they'd been extreme pressure in it"
"What so you think she was lying?"
"I don't know...I'd just be surprised if that was how she'd done it" Thomas said
Rachel thought for a minute but then gasped
"Thomas, she said she'd fell off a slide at the park near us but there isn't a slide there, it's just swings and a climbing frame and a roundabout" Rachel said
"Why would she lie about it though?" Thomas asked
"It was amber that told me how she'd done it...god you don't think maybe Amber pushed her or something by accident and didn't want to say"
"It's possible" Thomas said
"Well should I go and wake her?"
"No let her rest for a while, we'll both have a chat when she wakes up"
Lexi was actually in quite a deep sleep and Rachel and Thomas decided to keep her tea for later as they didn't want to wake her up.
It got to about 8 and Lexi suddenly started having a bad dream where the police were chasing her and she tried to go home but her mum and Thomas wouldn't let her in because they'd found our what she'd done, so the police got to her and threw her into jail.
Lexi then woke up screaming in floods of tears
Rachel and Thomas soon came running to her as did Holly and Molly
"It's okay Lexi it was just a bad dream" Rachel soother as she crouched down beside her "girls will you two give us a little bit of time"
Both girls got the hint and went back upstairs so Holly could finish doing Molly's nails for her
Lexi suddenly sat up and was sick all over the duvet
"Oh dear" Thomas said
"Well it's better over the duvet than over the sofa, you haven't had an accident have you Lexi?" Rachel asked really hoping she hadn't because it wasn't as though the sofa was leather
"No" Lexi sobbed
"Okay you just take some nice deep breaths yeah, why don't you go and sit on Thomas's knee while I get the duvet through the wash and I'll get some water and a fresh top...though I may as well bring your pyjamas down"
Lexi went over and started crying into Thomas
"Hey it's okay Lexi, me and mummy are here aren't we" he said trying to soothe her
Rachel left to get everything sorted and Thomas continued to try and comfort Lexi
"Lexi me and your mum are worried" he said "you seem really frightened about something and I know how hard it is to tell people about the thing you're frightened of but sometimes you've got to so things can start to get better"
Lexi didn't say anything and just continued to suck her thumb and cry
Rachel came back a few minutes later, she'd brought some pyjamas and hot chocolate for Lexi and had made 2 coffees for her and Thomas, she's brought some biscuits through for them too as she wanted to try and make Lexi feel relaxed.
Lexi jumped off Thomas's knee and got changed into her pyjamas before sitting in the sofa next to her mum
Rachel closed all the doors and sat back down
"Right Lexi me and Thomas need to know exactly what's been going on and nobody's going to be leaving here until you tell us" Rachel said quite firmly "you're worrying us now"
"Mummy I can't tell you" Lexi said
"Why not Lexi, why can't you to tell us?"
"Because you'd hate me forever" Lexi said breaking down all of a sudden
"Oh sweetheart we'd never hate you no matter what you've done would we Thomas?"
"Of course not, whatever it is I'm sure me and your mummy have done worse at some point in our lives"
"No you won't have done...I'm going to go to prison"
"Is that for definite then is it?" Rachel said "Lexi whatever it is we'll sort it I promise"
Lexi stopped crying for a few moments and looked up at her mum
"So what do you think? Think it's maybe worth giving us a try, the worst we can do is get a bit annoyed, but surely that's better than torturing yourself like you have been this last week"
"Mummy I'm too scared to"
"Lexi me and your mum aren't monsters are we? We just want to try and find a way to help so you can stop all this worrying, because it's not been very nice seeing you so upset"
"Yeah and it might mean we can all get a decent nights sleep as well, no more getting up in the middle of the night" Rachel added lightly
" if I tell you, will you have to tell somebody else"
"That'll all depend on what it is Lexi"
Lexi took a deep breath before deciding to tell them
"Chloe's sister amber has been making me and Chloe steal loads of stuff, at first it was just from the shop but then she made up sneak our hands into cars and today my hand got stuck and she yanked it out and that's how I hurt my wrist...I'm really sorry, I didn't want to do it I was just scared" Lexi sobbed
Rachel continued to stroke her hair and was trying to keep calm but really she was seething, not with Lexi of course but with amber, she'd never got to know her that well but she'd never been overly fond of her
"Okay, it's okay we're going to sort it" Rachel said gently "you've been very brave telling me and Thomas this Lexi and nobody's going to get mad"
"Am I going to go to prison?"
"No Lexi, I don't think you'd quite fit in with a bunch of murderers and thieves" Thomas said smiling slightly
"But I am a thief" Lexi said crying
"Darling you were only doing it because you were so frightened and if I was your age and a much older girl was threatening me I'd have done exactly the same, but the thing is Lexi you should have come to me or Thomas as soon as this happened"
"I was too scared to" Lexi said
Rachel sighed and put her arm around her "we're just here to look after you Lexi and I don't think we'd have been doing a good job of looking after you if we'd have been really cross about it would we?"
Lexi relaxed against her mums chest and began to feel a bit calmer
"Now Lexi I don't need to tell you stealing is wrong do I?"
"No"
"But that's why you should have told someone sweetheart, but I do understand you were scared to" Rachel said "it's amber who we're cross with not you"
"Is Amber going to get into trouble?"
"That's not for you to go worrying yourself about Lexi" Thomas said "but yes she will"
"What if she gets angry with me though"
"She won't get a chance to" Rachel said "but honestly Lexi it isn't your problem, not anymore,
you've been very brave telling me and Thomas this and we're going to make sure it all gets sorted out"
Lexi didn't say anything but rested against her mums chest and had a bit of a cry
They stayed up for a bit before Rachel decided to get Lexi off to bed
"Mummy I want to stay in with you" Lexi sobbed
"Darling me and Thomas won't be up for a while yet"
"But can't I just stay in your bed so I know I won't be alone for the whole night"
Rachel sighed, she knew she needed to stop this however she didn't really have the heart to say no to Lexi so agreed to let her come in with them.
She tucked Lexi in before turning the main light off and flicking the lamp on
"Now I want you to try and have a good nights sleep, don't go worrying about anything it's all over I promise"
"I'll try not to worry" Lexi said
"Remember mum loves you so much and nothing can ever change that"
"I love you too"
"I'll see you in the morning sweetie, night night" she whispered before kissing her good night and then going downstairs
She went and sat back down next to Thomas.
They talked for ages, trying to decide what the best thing to do was. They thought about going straight to the police but in the end decided to go round tomorrow and talk with amber and her mum, however after all she'd put Lexi through, she wasn't prepared to let her get off lightly.
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