It was the following morning and rachel ended up waking up really early. She couldn't believe what had happened the other day and she had two sisters that up until yesterday she had no idea about, it all seemed so surreal and she felt so worried about how she was going to help them, they seemed so vulnerable and neglected. In fact, despite working in some very deprived schools over the last 15 years, she'd never seen two girls left as badly as Georgie and Lexi had been. She wondered what effect it would have on them.
Lexi had woken up early too, she couldn't believe she was waking up in a nice warm comfortable bed, it was the first time in ages she'd managed to have a proper sleep, it felt strange not waking up with Georgie though and she felt a bit scared. She wondered how long rachel would let them stay, maybe they'd have leave when Georgie woke up. Lexi began to feel worried, she knew if they left it might be ages before they could eat again. She still felt starving, despite the fact rachel had given them plenty of food last night. Suddenly Lexi has a thought, she wondered if she could take some of the food from the kitchen to take back with them. She knew stealing was wrong but if she didn't do it then they might not eat again for days. There's no way they could go back to the care home, so they'd have to run off again like they did last time and find somewhere to stay.
Lexi knew it was early and everyone else would most likely be asleep, so she decided now would be the best time to sneak down and try and get some food. She felt terrified, she was sure if she got found out she'd get hit. Slowly she got out of bed and started tiptoeing across the landing.
Rachel had been so caught up in her own thoughts, but suddenly she heard a noise coming from downstairs, she knew it would be one of the girls so decided to go and check everything was alright.
She wrapped her dressing down around herself and went downstairs.
Lexi was in the kitchen, she looked around frantically, feeling scared about what she was doing, she saw the half loaf of bread left and decided to grab it, she then climbed up onto the work top and opened one of the cupboards.
Rachel came into the kitchen and saw Lexi on the work top, opening one of the cupboards
"Lexi are you okay? " she asked , causing Lexi to jump
"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you" Rachel said "come down from there, it'll hurt if you fall'
Lexi got down and turned to face Rachel, she was shaking, sure she'd get into trouble, she still had the bread in her hand.
Rachel approached her slowly, "do you want me to cut you a slice of bread?"
Lexi didn't say anything, she still felt really scared.
"Or I can make you something else? What do you fancy"
"I'm sorry" Lexi whispered
"What for Lexi?" Rachel asked gently
"I was going to steal the bread. For when me and Georgie have to go, I didn't want to be hungry again" she admitted
Hearing Lexi say this made Rachel want to cry, she couldn't believe a 5 year old felt she had to steal bread to be able to survive, Lexi looked so fragile standing there, she was severely underweight and looked so much younger than 5.
"Lexi you and Georgie don't have to go anywhere yet, and when you do go
we're going to find somewhere lovely for you, and you won't have to worry about food I promise, and while you're in my house you can help yourself to the food whenever you want to, no ones going to get cross with you"
Lexi didn't know what to say, she wasn't used to being spoken to so kindly by a grown up, the only person who'd speak to her kindly usually was Georgie.
"So how about some breakfast then? I'm going to make myself a coffee and some porridge, what would you like?"
"The same as you please"
"Coming up, well maybe not the coffee but I can do some porridge and some orange juice, does that sound okay?"
"Yes please" Lexi said
"You sit yourself down at the table. I'll be 2 minutes"
Lexi sat down at the table; it felt weird sitting at a proper table to eat.
A couple of minutes later, Rachel brought her porridge over and put the orange juice down. She sat down next to her.
Lexi wasn't used to eating with proper cutlery, she watched what rachel was doing and tried to copy how she was eating. Rachel senses her doing it but didn't say anything.
"So do you go to school at the moment Lexi"
"No" Lexi said "Georgie teaches me stuff thorough, I know how to read some words and I can write" she added, not wanting Rachel to think she was stupid
"Oh well it sounds like Georgie's looking after you well" rachel said after taking a sip of her coffee
"Yeah she always tries to find me food and stuff" Lexi said "how long are we staying here for?" She asked
"I don't know love, but you can stay for as long as it takes to find you somewhere suitable, it'll be nice having you round and I know Libby will love having someone to play with"
"How old is libby?" Lexi asked
"Libby's 10 now and Amelia's just turned 13, so she's reached those terrible teenagers years" Rachel joked, in reality she'd been lucky with Amelia so far, she hadn't seemed to hit the stroppy teenage phase yet
"Are they naughty" Lexi asked
Rachel smiled slightly "they can be, but they're mostly not too bad"
"What do you do when they're bad? Do they get hit and stuff?"
Hearing Lexi ask this made Rachel worried
"No lexi, we don't hit people in this house, no matter what they've done"
"But don't you have to if they're bad"
"Lexi when an adult hurts a child that's wrong, no matter what they've done"
"But sometimes it's okay isn't it, like if they've done something really bad"
Rachel paused for a moment before asking "have people hurt you before Lexi?'
Lexi didn't answer for a moment but then nodded
"Your dad?"
Lexi nodded again "only when I was bad, and I deserved it"
Rachel felt a lump form in her throat "no love, nobody ever deserves to be hurt, especially not a child" she said "I promise no one is going to hurt you here, you'll be safe"
Lexi didn't know how to respond to this, she couldn't believe how nice Rachel was being to her.
"Do you want anything else to eat? You must have enjoyed the porridge, I wish Libby would take a leaf out of your book, it's an absolute nightmare trying to get her to have breakfast on a morning"
"I'm okay thank you" Lexi said "please can I go to your toilet?"
"Yes of course you can, you don't need to ask, if you go through the hall then it's the first door you get to"
Lexi went off, when she was in the bathroom she suddenly felt tears coming into her eyes, she wasn't sure why, she just felt for the first time in her life she was somewhere safe and the thought of having to move again made her scared. Her stomach felt really weird too, and quite painful.
As soon as she'd finished she went back into the kitchen. Rachel noticed that she must have been crying, she wished she could do something to help.
"Do you fancy watching a little bit of TV together before the others get up?"
Lexi nodded so they went through to the living room and Rachel put some kids tv on.
As they were watching rachel noticed Lexi looked a bit uncomfortable and kept holding her stomach
"Are you okay Lexi?"
Lexi nodded but then shook her head
"Is your stomach hurting"
"Yeah, it feels all sore" she mumbled
"Do you know what it'll probably be some of the food you've been having, if you haven't eaten for a while your bodies probably not used to it" she said "we can keep an eye on it and give you some calpol okay ?"
Lexi nodded her head
They sat and watched the TV for quite a while before James came down
"Morning" he said "how did you sleep Lexi?"
"Really good"
"Oh well that's good news, Rachel looks like she's slacking off as usual" he said playfully
"It's the weekend what do you expect?" She said
"Well I'd have expected a coffee making for when I got down" he joked
"Make your own coffee"
"I need you to have a look at some letters for me Rach" James said
Rachel was confused at first but then realised this was probably a way of getting her away so they could talk in private
"I'll come through to the kitchen, I'll be 5 minutes Lexi, do you want anything getting, water, more food, anything ?"
"No thanks"
"Okay"
Rachel got up and followed James through to the kitchen, closing the door behind her so they could talk in private.
"Is everything okay?" Rachel asked
"It's Libby"
"What's wrong with Libby?" Rachel asked sounding worried
"I was with her for about an hour last night, she woke up at about 2 and I heard her crying so I went to see her, it's just about school and stuff, she really hates it there rachel, and she said that she thinks she's letting us down and we're disappointed in her, it took ages to calm her down"
"Oh the poor kid" Rachel sighed "why didn't you wake me up?'
"Because you were fast asleep"
"She's just having a Crap time of it at the moment isn't she?" Rachel said "what do you think we should do about it?"
"Why don't we make an appointment with the school, let them know how she's been feeling"
"Yeah, that's not a bad idea, it's not as if she's got that long left at the school anyway" Rachel said "I'm going to go and have a chat, Make sure she's alright"
"How's Lexi this morning?'
"Still fragile, I found her earlier with some bread, she thought she'd have to leave this morning so she wanted to take it with her to make sure her and Georgie had something to eat" she said
"God the poor girls, I still can't believe it"
"Neither can I, isn't it awful that In this day and age they've been left to get into the state they're in" Rachel said shaking her head "I'm going to nip to town today, get them some
Proper clothes and some other bits"
"That's a good idea"
"Anyway I'll pop and see libby"
Rachel went upstairs and into Libby's room, she found her awake and sat up in bed so she went to sit next to her
"Morning darling"
"Morning mum" Libby said
"Dad told me about last night, I just came in because I wanted to check you were okay?"
"I'm okay" Libby said
"Are you sure? I know we've got a lot going on at the moment, but you can always talk to me if you need to"
"It's fine, I just don't like school that much"
"I know love, but it's not as if you're there for much longer"
"I know, mum how long are Lexi and Georgie going to be here for?"
"I don't know darling; do you mind them being here"
"No, they seem nice"
"Well it'll be until we've found them a family that can properly take care of them"
"I like them being here, why are they so skinny?"
"Well because they've not been very well looked after, so they've not always been given proper food"
"That must be horrible" Libby said "I don't get how you didn't know they were your sisters though"
"Well I haven't spoken to either of my parents in years, so I guess a lot went on that I had no idea about" Rachel said, although she was still getting her head around the fact she had sisters she didn't even know about.
Libby and Rachel talked for a little longer before Rachel left her to it.
She went to check on Amelia, who was just getting ready and then decided to knock on Georgie's room.
Georgie shouted for her to come in, so she opened the door.
She found her sat at the end of her bed, she was shivering quite badly, but Rachel suspected this was because her body was running on such little energy. Rachel couldn't help but look at how thin she was, she hadn't noticed it as much last night because she'd had a hoodie on, but now she just had a pyjama vest top on she could see how much her bones were prodding out, her skin looked very pale and thin too.
"Hey Georgie, did you sleep okay?" Rachel asked
"Yeah, it felt weird sleeping in a proper bed' Georgie said "Thanks for letting us stay the night Rachel"
"You can stay as long as you need too" Rachel said "I was thinking, how about we go shopping today? Get you some new clothes and stuff"
"You already bought us stuff last night, you don't have to"
"It's nothing, honestly it's the least we can do"
"Was lexi okay last night? She didn't wake up or anything did she? If she did you could have got me, I'd have dealt with it and …" Georgie said suddenly sounding quite panicked.
"Calm down, she was absolutely fine, slept right through"
"She must have been exhausted" Georgie said "I have tried to look after her, I've tried to make sure she gets something to eat and is kept warm, I know I haven't kept her clean, but I promise I've tried"
"Georgie, it's not your job to do all those things, you're still a child yourself, and you need looking after too" Rachel said "Do you go to school anywhere Georgie"
Georgie considered lying but then shook her head
"I used to go, but then Dad got worse, and I had to look after Lexi"
"I'm the head teacher at a school near here, it's called Waterloo road"
"Oh yeah I know it" Georgie said "You seem too nice to be a head, the head in the school I used to go to was horrible"
"Well we're not all like that" Rachel said smiling "Look, I imagine wherever you end up is going to be pretty close to here, would you consider coming to my school"
"But that'll mean you'll see me like even when I'm not with you anymore, surely you want us out your hair as soon as you can"
'I don't want anything of the sort, even though I knew nothing about any of this until yesterday, you're family and I'll try and help in any way I can"
Georgie didn't know what to say, nobody had ever been this nice to her before
"So how about it then?"
"Well yeah if you don't mind" she said
"Okay well I'll see what we can do then" she said "I don't think Lexi's quite ready for school yet, but I'm sure in a couple of weeks something will get sorted for her"
Georgie chatted to Rachel for a bit longer before deciding to get dressed, she came downstairs a few minutes later, she felt embarrassed by the fact she was wearing the same hoodie and pair of leggings as yesterday, but she didn't have any other choice. She felt uncomfortably aware of how scruffy she and Lexi looked in comparison to Amelia and Libby.
Lexi saw Georgie and instantly went to go and sit on her knee.
"Lexi, do you want to choose what to put on Netflix?" Amelia offered.
Lexi looked at Georgie for reassurance, Georgie nodded at her so Lexi started looking through, in the end she put on horrid henry.
"Georgie, we can go to the upstairs room if you want?" Amelia offered, not really wanting to watch horrid henry.
Georgie didn't really want to leave Lexi, she still felt really protective over her, but she agreed anyway and followed Amelia up.
They went into the upstairs Tv room together.
"I've been watching American horror story, but mum doesn't know, If she does she'd get really annoyed" Amelia said giggling
"I can't imagine Rachel getting annoyed" Georgie said
'She doesn't that often, but she does sometimes, I remember when she found out I'd gone out at lunch time, she got really annoyed then" Amelia said
Georgie couldn't believe how friendly Amelia was being with her, she was so pretty and well spoken, Georgie thought she would be really snobby about talking to her, especially when she looked so dirty, but Amelia hardly seemed to notice.
"Do you have a boyfriend Georgie?"
"No, I've not really had chance" Georgie said, "Do you?"
"Not really, but there is this boy called Sam in my year, we keep messaging and stuff and he told one of my friends he liked me"
"aren't you a bit young for boyfriends?" Georgie asked, smiling
"That's what Mum said, but I don't think I am" Amelia sighed "Loads of the other girls In my year have them, and they wear loads of makeup and look so much older than me"
"You look older than me and I'm 14" Georgie said, she was so skinny and fragile looking, she really did look quite a lot younger than 14
"But you're so pretty, I bet loads of boys fancy you" Amelia said, it was true, even though Georgie looked quite unwell at the moment she really was very pretty.
Georgie didn't know if Amelia was just being kind, but she sounded genuine enough, it was weird talking to someone who was nearly the same age as her, she'd never really had much chance to make friends.
"are you going to come shopping with us?" Georgie asked
"I really want to, I love shopping" Amelia said "I can help find you some more clothes … not that you need them or anything, I really like your hoody" she said realising she might have offended her, but Georgie laughed
"now I know you're lying; I know I look a state" she said 'I haven't been able to wash my clothes in ages" she added self-consciously
Rachel had been outside listening for a couple of minutes, it was so nice to hear the girls getting on so well, even though she knew she shouldn't be eaves dropping.
She decided to go in and see them
As soon as she came in Amelia hastily tried to pause the TV
"Don't even think about it young lady, I wasn't born yesterday" Rachel said "If that's what I think it is you better get it off right now, I've told you before about watching this, I'm going to start monitoring your account"
"Like you'd know how to do that" Amelia joked
"Oi mind your tone" she said "Georgie, I was coming to see if you wanted to grab a shower or anything before, we go out"
"Oh erm yes please if you don't mind" She said
"Of course not, use my en-suite if you want, the shower in there's slightly better, and feel free to use any of the toiletries or perfumes in there, that's if Amelia hasn't used them all"
"Are you sure?"
"It's absolutely fine" Rachel said "There should be plenty of towels in there"
Georgie went off to the bathroom, she couldn't believe how many fancy toiletries Rachel seemed to have in there, it was full of creams and oils that she'd never even heard of before. It felt so nice to be able to use them and feel properly clean.
While Georgie was in the shower, Rachel turned to Amelia "Amelia, when Georgie comes out of the shower, will you ask her if she wants to borrow some of your clothes to go shopping in, I would but I don't want to embarrass her or anything and I think she feels uncomfortable In what she's in"
"Yeah of course, what about Lexi?"
"Well I was thinking we might leave her and Libby at home, you know Libby won't like shopping, so we'll pick up some things for Lexi and Dad can look after them both, take them to the park or something maybe, and we'll go shopping and maybe have lunch out somewhere"
"Yeah that sounds good Mum"
"Remember to do your homework at some point today as well"
"I haven't got any"
"What do you mean you haven't got any? You should have homework every weekend"
"Well luckily not all the teachers listen to you and don't set it every weekend"
"I shall be having words with your teachers then" Rachel said, she wasn't being serious though, she would never use her daughter as an excuse to spy on the teachers.
As soon as Georgie was finished in the shower, she got out and wrapped a towel around herself, she couldn't resist using some of Rachel's perfume, it smelt so good.
When she got to her room, Amelia came in.
"Mum says I can come shopping, I think Lexi and Libby are staying here with Dad though"
"Oh that's good" Georgie said, she'd never really been properly shopping before, so she was looking forward to it.
"I was thinking, do you want to borrow some of my clothes to wear, just until you've got some new ones"
"Oh yes please, that would be great" Georgie said gratefully
"Come and have a look at what I've got" Amelia said
Georgie followed Amelia through to her room
"Your room Is so pretty" Georgie said
"Thanks, I'm sure Dad would do yours up too if you asked him, he's been on about updating that room for ages'
"Well I'll probably only be here for a couple of days" Georgie said, sounding quite sad about this.
"I hope you stay longer" Amelia said
She then opened up her wardrobe and Georgie looked through
"Borrow anything you like"
Georgie had never seen so many clothes before, she couldn't believe how lucky Amelia was, although she didn't come across as spoilt at all.
After looking through for ages Georgie eventually chose a dark green jumper and tartan skirt with tights.
Georgie looked like she was about to say something but then hesitated
"Do you need anything else?" Amelia prompted
"Well it's just .. do you have a spare bra and knickers" Georgie asked her face going bright red, "I only took one set with me"
"Oh yes of course, they're just in my drawer here" Amelia said opening it for her
"Thanks" Georgie said grabbing some quickly grabbing some, "Don't tell anyone I needed to borrow some"
"I won't don't worry" Amelia promised, she felt really sorry for Georgie, she seemed so nice but her and Lexi literally didn't seem to have anything.
Georgie then went off, she dried her hair, which seemed to have much more life to it after using Rachel's shampoo and conditioner, before getting changed. It felt amazing to wear something clean, when she looked at herself in the mirror, she hardly recognised herself.
She then went downstairs to see everyone, Rachel smiled when she saw her, already she looked so much better.
"You look lovely" Rachel said, "Should we get going?"
"Yeah, I think Amelia is on her way down"
"She'll have probably forgotten a load of things and need to go upstairs about 50 times, although what she thinks she needs for going shopping is really quite beyond me"
A few minutes later Amelia came down so the three of them got in the car.
Naturally, Georgie got into the back so Amelia could sit in the front next to her Mum.
Amelia instantly started fiddling with some buttons, trying to get the radio on
"Amelia, I don't want any of your rubbish playing"
"It's not rubbish, I know you secretly like it too"
"No, I don't, and for god's sake turn the volume down, how am I supposed to concentrate when it's on that loud?"
"Okay, keep your hair on"
It felt so weird for Georgie watching Amelia and Rachel talking, there was no way she'd ever have been allowed to speak to her parents like that.
"Mum, can we go to Manchester"
"Oh do we have to? Manchester will take a good 25 minutes, and you know how much I hate finding parking there"
"Please Mum, there's so many more shops there than in town"
"Well I suppose so, although you better not stress me out while I try and park"
"I won't"
As they were driving there, Georgie suddenly felt tears in her eyes, she wasn't sure why, it was just seeing Amelia and Rachel together made her realise how much she'd missed out on by not having proper parents. The tears didn't go unnoticed by Rachel, but she decided not to comment, knowing it would just embarrass her.
They chatted a bit on the way and finally they arrived.
"Right girls, where do you want to head to first? I was thinking maybe start in boots, you can get anything you need Georgie and I need some makeup from there too, can you think of anything Lexi would need from there?"
"not really"
"I might get her some kids bubble bath, maybe it'll make her slightly less resistant to the idea of a bath then"
"Yeah she'd like that" Georgie said smiling
"Can I get some new mascara Mum, there's this new one by too faced that's just come out and they stock it in boots"
"When I was your age …" Rachel began
"The only makeup you'd ever get was the one out of the magazine you'd buy, you've told me about 50 times Mum" Amelia joked
"Well I'd cut the cheek young lady if you want it"
The three of them got out and headed straight to boots
"Georgie, just grab a basket and get whatever you need love" Rachel said, think then Georgie could just go around and get everything she needed and wouldn't feel as awkward having to ask for anything.
Georgie couldn't believe how nice Rachel was being, no one had ever bought her things like this before.
She picked up a few things she needed before heading back to find Amelia and Rachel.
"Sure that's everything you need?' Rachel asked, think Georgie's basket still looked pretty empty
"Yeah, thanks so much for getting them Rachel"
'no problem at all"
They took the stuff to the tills and Rachel paid
"Girls I need to nip to next, I want to get a few new bits for work, and I thought I could pick Lexi some clothes from there too, how about I get some money out and then you two can go off and get what you want" Rachel suggested, she didn't really want the two of them coming in with her anyway, knowing full well that Amelia wouldn't want to be there and would make that quite obvious.
"Okay, thanks Mum"
Rachel went to the cash point, she got some money out and handed some to the two of them.
"Rachel you don't have to give me all this" Georgie said, shocked by how much Rachel had given her
"It's absolutely fine, it's a one off for you to get everything you need, so don't worry about it"
The two of them then went off, it felt absolutely amazing for Georgie to be able to buy whatever she wanted. She got herself loads of different sets of clothes.
"I love this dress" Amelia said, pointing to a very short red dress in Topshop
"Why don't you get it"
"Mum would kill me if she found out that's what I've spent her money on" Amelia sighed
The two of them had a great time looking around all the shops, trying bits on and buying things, by the time they'd finished their hands were full from all the bags they were carrying.
Amelia texted Rachel to say they were finished and the three of them met up in a nice Italian restaurant.
"Hey girls, it looks like you had a good time" Rachel said smiling "I managed to find loads of stuff for Lexi and a few bits for me too"
"Me and Georgie got so many things, there was such a good sale on in river island"
"Oh well that's good then, I. don't know about you but all this shopping has made me feel starving" she said "I can't wait to get some pasta"
The three of them sat down and started looking at the menu, Georgie had never been to a proper restaurant before and she couldn't believe how many things there were to choose from.
"Georgie's starting at waterloo road on Monday" Rachel told Amelia
"Oh really, that'll be so good, what year will you be in? Year nine"
Georgie looked at Rachel, she had no idea what year she'd be in. Rachel had been thinking about it as well, she knew Georgie should be in year 9, but part of her was thinking maybe she'd be better in year 8 as she'd missed so much schooling.
"We'll see, I'm not quite sure yet"
It was lovely for Georgie to sit with Rachel and Amelia, for the first time ever she was feeling sort of like she was part of a family.
Please review xxxxx