Chapter 7

Just wanted to say this probably isn't that good, I've been feeling really Ill all weekend and haven't been able to spend as much time on it as I would have liked, so apologies in advance xxxxx

It was early on a Friday morning and everyone was asleep except Rosie who had woken up at about 5 with a really bad stomach and hadn't been able to get back to sleep. She'd thought about going to wake Rachel but she felt really mean because it was so early but her stomach was hurting quite a lot now.

She laid in bed trying to take her mind off it but nothing seemed to be working and she just felt really uncomfortable. Eventually she heard joes alarm going off so knew this meant he'd be getting up to go to work so Rachel would wake up anyway.

About 20 minutes later she heard the front door slam so knew joe must have left so crept out of her bed and knocked on Rachel's door.

"Yeah come in" Rachel said wondering why one of the girls would be up at this time, normally the two of them liked there lies in.

Rosie opened the door and walked into Rachel's room, where she saw her laid down In bed, obviously wanting a little bit more of a rest before she had to get up.

"Hey love, come in for a cuddle if you want"

Rosie went over to Rachel's bed and got in

"What are you doing up so early, it's only 6:20, another hour before you need to be up"

"I woke up ages ago, I've got a really sore stomach"

"Oh have you love, well we'll have to get you some medicine won't we? You could have come in before if you were feeling poorly"

"I know but I wanted to try and go back to sleep"

Rachel then wrapped her arms round Rosie and this made Rosie feel a little bit better.

Rachel stayed in bed for about half an hour but then realised she'd have to get up. She dragged herself out of bed and went into her shower.

Lily woke up soon after and like she always did went into Rachel's room, she always liked having a cuddle off her first thing in the morning

"Where's Rachel gone?" Lily asked getting into bed beside Rosie

"She's in the shower"

"Why are you in here?"

"Because I don't feel very well"

"Oh"

Lily then snuggled up to Rosie for a bit.

Once Rachel had finished her showier she wrapped a towel around herself and stepped out but as soon as she did lily came running in

"What are you doing"

"I need to do a wee" lily explained

"Okay go on then"

Lily quickly rushed to the toilet as Rachel brushed her teeth and once she was done Rachel lifted her up in her arms and carried her out

"Right I think it's about time you both started getting ready for school"

The girls then went to there own bedrooms and started to put there school stuff on, however after just 5 minutes lily came running back into Rachel's room

"Will you do my top button and do my tie now"

"Sure" Rachel Said "I thought you were okay with doing the top button now, you managed to do it when you were getting changed after PE yesterday"

"No I didn't I got mrs Holmes to do it for me, and it's gone really stiff since you put it in the wash yesterday"

"Well you shouldn't have played such a daft game, then you wouldn't have got all muddy and I could have waited till the weekend to out it in the wash"

She finished doing Lily's tie before straightening her hair and doing her makeup.

Once she'd finished getting ready, Rachel went downstairs and started on breakfast.

As soon as it was ready she shouted both girls down.

Lily came running downstairs and sat down at the table straight away, like she always did when food was around however Rosie still hadn't come down.

"Have you seen your sister anywhere lily?"

Lily shook her head so Rachel decided to go up and check on her

She knocked on the door before going in.

When she was in she noticed Rosie laid down on her bed again, while holding her stomach

"Are you alright sweetheart?" Rachel asked beginning to get a bit worried

"My stomach hurts" Rosie said

"Come and get some breakfast, you might feel better after that"

"I'm really not hungry Rachel, I'll just stop up here"

"No, I can't send you to school on an empty stomach come down please"

"I really don't want to"

Rachel went and sat down on her bed and when she looked at her she could see she did look quite tired and pale.

She began to think maybe Rosie could do with a day off school because she really didn't want to send her in poorly

"When did you start feel poorly love"

"Well last night but I didn't say anything because i thought it would go away but when I woke up this morning it was really sore"

"Are you going to be okay for school today, or do I need to ring my mum up?"

"I think I'll be okay"

"You sure? I don't want to send you in if you're really poorly"

"I'll be fine"

"Right well if it gets any worse tell me because there's no point you being in school if you're feeling rubbish, you won't learn a thing and you'll finish up feeling 10 times worse"

"Well I'll see how I go then"

"Right and are you sure you don't want breakfast"

"Yep"

Rachel realised she'd have to leave it, after all she couldn't exactly force her to eat if she didn't want to.

She went down and finished eating with lily.

Soon they were all in the car on the way to school however Rosie still wasn't saying much and she had her eyes closed

Soon they were at Lily's school so Rachel quickly said bye to her, but as they were walking up she saw a man in the distance near the gate and it began to feel as though they were watching them as Rachel took her in, but she couldn't tell properly as she was in a bit of a rush, so just thought nothing of it.

By the time they got to Rosie's school Rachel really was wondering whether it was a good idea to send her in at all as she really did look like she was in pain

"Darling are you sure you're going to be alright, you can stay off if you think you need to"

"I think I'll be okay"

Rachel was pretty unconvinced but decided she may as well send her off and let her give it a go

"Okay but if you feel like you need to come home you tell me straight away yes, just go and get someone to call me"

"Yeah I will"

"Bye then Rosie, try and have an okay day, just think it'll be the weekend when you finish"

"Bye Rachel"

Rachel watched as she walked in, beginning to feel like she should have insisted she stopped off but there wasn't really much she could do about it now.

A few hours passed and Rosie was in her maths lesson but she really wasn't feeling right, her stomach had been hurting all morning but now it was getting worse.

The teacher had noticed Rosie wasn't doing much work so make straight over to her.

"What's up Rosie, are you finding this hard?"

Rosie shook her head in response

"You don't look too well"

"My stomachs really hurting" Rosie told her

"Oh when did that come on"

"I've had it all day"

"Oh how come you came into school if you were feeling unwell"

"I thought I'd be okay after a while"

"Well you don't look okay to me, go to the medical room for a lie down and they'll call home for you"

Rosie really did feel poorly now so didn't put up any protest and got her bags and stuff and left the classroom.

On her way she realised she needed to go to the toilet, so went into the nearest ones however when she went she realised there was blood on her knickers.

Rosie began to really panic as she hadn't expected it at all and it made her feel really weird, she didn't know what to expect with it or anything and she felt way too embarrassed to tell anyone. She began to cry as she really didn't know what to do and she was feeling pretty scared.

Eventually she came out the toilets though she was still quite tearful and shaken up by everything and made her way to the medical room.

After seeing what a state she was in, they decided to call Rachel straight away.

Rosie continued to cry, she didn't know whether to tell Rachel or not, as when they'd talked about it before she'd always said to come straight to her when it happened, however now it had she really didn't know whether to or not as she thought It would be really uncomfortable telling her about it.

About 10 minutes later Rachel arrived, she came straight to reception and saw Rosie sat crying in there so went over to her and gave her a big hug

"Hey sweetheart, you not feeling well still?"

Rosie just shook her head in response

"Come on then love let's get you home, I've asked my mum to come over but hopefully she won't be too long"

Rosie was still crying quite a lot by the time they got in the car so Rachel was feeling pretty worried about her now

"Rosie you're not seriously unwell are you, like I don't need to get you checked out"

"No" Rosie replied

They were about half way back and Rachel decided to pull in as she literally hadn't stopped crying the whole way and this was getting her really concerned

"Love has something happened?" She asked gently

"No I've just got a bad stomach"

"It's just you seem very upset for someone who's crying because there unwell, there's nothing else going on I need to know about is there"

"No" she sobbed

"Are you sure? You know you can tell me anything"

For a moment Rosie considered telling her but then decided against it so just shook her head in response and tried to stop crying

Rosie sat in silence for the whole way back but had managed to stop her crying

Jan was already there by the time they got back. Rachel was glad about this as sometimes she would arrive quite late

"Oh dear you don't look very happy" jan commented as soon as she saw Rosie

Rosie didn't reply but dashed straight to the downstairs toilet.

"What's wrong with her"

"I'm not sure she's had a bad stomach ache all morning but she seems really upset"

"Do you want to head off back to work?"

"I'll stay for a little while, it is lunch time after all"

"Okay, I'll get us a cuppa then"

Jan went straight to the kitchen and made her and Rachel a cup of coffee

She then brought them into the living room, where Rachel was sat looking worried

"She'll be fine Rach, she's probably just not feeling right"

"I'm going to go and check on her" Rachel said

She got up out of her chair but as soon as she did Rosie appeared back in the living room still looking really tearful.

"You really don't look very happy" jan said "what's happened"

"Nothing" Rosie replied

"Well it doesn't look like nothing"

"Mum just leave it" Rachel sighed knowing her mum could sometimes be way too heavy handed about things like this and would just finish up doing more harm than good.

Rosie then burst into a fresh flood of tears, but ran upstairs before Rachel or jan could say anything.

"God what on earth do you thinks happened" Rachel sighed

"Maybe it's just her hormones"

"Well she really did have a bad stomach this morning but she wouldn't be this emotional over it" Rachel said but then it clicked why Rosie might be upset, after all it did add up

"I'm going to go and have a word with her" Rachel said before going straight up the stairs

She found Rosie laid on her bed crying so went over and sat down next to her.

"Rosie can I talk to you about something?"

"Yes" Rosie mumbled

"Well it's just the thing is ... I was wondering if maybe you knew the reason why you had a stomach ache and why you're feeling so teary, do you?"

Rosie nodded her head

"You want to tell me why you think it is"

"I think i might have started my period" Rosie said as her cheeks burned red

"Oh love come here" Rachel said giving her a big cuddle "that must have been a shock for you"

"I hate it"

"I know you must feel like that now but trust me it'll be fine in the end, just takes a bit of getting used to"

Rosie didn't say anything just continued to cry

"Right here's what we're going to do, I'm going to get you some fresh things you can change into and we'll need to get you some pads too and ..." Rachel said but she stopped when she realised how much Rosie was crying

"Oh sweetheart you're going to be fine I promise, we'll have a talk downstairs"

"but Jan's down there" Rosie sobbed

"Well she'll understand I promise"

"I don't want her knowing Rachel"

"Okay sweetheart I'm not going to force you to tell her if you really don't want"

"I don't want to"

"Right okay sweetheart that's not a problem"

Rachel continued to hug Rosie hoping it would calm her down.

"Come on sweetheart why don't you go and get yourself sorted, can you remember how to put the pad on"

Rosie nodded her head, still feeling pretty shaken up as she really hadn't expected it at all and she felt a bit poorly still but she did at least feel marginally better for telling Rachel and it hadn't been as embarrassing as she thought it would have been.

"Why don't you have a shower love, to freshen up a bit"

"Okay"

"It might make you feel a bit better to"

"I hope so"

"Well I'm going to nip down and get you a hot water bottle and then when you come out we'll have a talk before I go back to work"

"But what am I going to do when you're gone ...please don't leave me"

"Sweetheart I'm not leaving you, I'll be back in a couple of hours, you'll be fine I promise just, just go to bed and have a read of your book or something"

Rosie then went in her bathroom and got in the shower so Rachel went downstairs

Almost as soon as she went into the kitchen jan came in after her, Rachel sighed as she knew she was about to get bombarded with questions about what was wrong with Rosie

"Rachel is Rosie okay?"

"Yep she's just poorly"

"I can tell something's gone on"

Rachel knew there wasn't much pint lying to her mum as she could always tell when she was lying anyway and she thought it was probably for the best if jan knew anyway just I case Rosie did need her.

"Look if I tell you, you don't say a word to her okay"

"Okay"

"She started her period earlier and I think she's pretty upset about it"

"Really that's very young isn't it?"

"Well I can't have been that much older when I started"

"You were 11 actually too, I remember you coming home all upset about it"

"Well like I said don't say anything but keep an eye on her won't you and if she does get really upset about it give me a call"

"I will hadn't you be getting back to work now anyway"

"Probably but I'm going to have a quick chat with her once she's come out the shower"

Rachel waited downstairs with her mum for a little while before going up to check on rosie

She went upstairs and saw her in her room, sat on her bed with her pyjamas on starting to look quite a bit calmer now

"Hey sweetheart how are you feeling"

"Okay I guess"

"I know it's a really big thing for you"

"I was so shocked"

"Yeah i can imagine, but what you've got to remember Is every girl in the world has been through it at some point so it's nothing to feel embarrassed about"

"I guess"

"And I know how horrible it is especially when you've got a bad stomach and everything but that should go away after the first day or so"

Rachel and Rosie continued to chat for a bit longer until finally Rosie had managed to calm down quite a bit.

Rachel then went back to work though she felt pretty bad about leaving Rosie and wished she could stay with her, but she knew she needed to get back to work.

All afternoon Rachel really hadn't been able to concentrate properly as she had Rosie on her mind and she was very relieved when the bell for the end of school finally went.

Lily had just finished school so waited at the door for the teacher to let them out, she was surprised when she saw that Rachel wasn't in the playground yet as she was normally there bang on time.

However suddenly lily caught sight of her uncle, this caused fear to flood through her body as he'd been the one person she prayed she'd never see again. She began to get even more scared when he came towards her

"I'm here to pick lily up, I'm taking her tonight because Rachel's stuck in a meeting" he said

The teacher was quite busy so didn't question it too much and lily had to go off with her uncle.

"Come with me"

Lily didn't dare do anything else so followed him round the corner away from everyone else but she already felt sick with worry

"Well it's been a while little lily" he said

Lily didn't say anything just stood there shaking a bit

"Have you missed me" he said stroking her cheek, however his touch made her flinch

Lily forced herself to nod her head

"We've all missed you too, fancy leaving your dad"

"He hurt me"

"Well maybe you deserved it" he whispered "now are you going to be a good girl and listen to what you're uncle says"

"Yes"

"Are you sure? Or do I need to get angry"

"I'll listen I promise"

"Good now on Monday after school, I'd really like to see you, so you're going to come home with me"

"But Rachel will ..."

"Never mind her, you're not going to mention any of this to her, do you understand?"

"Yes"

"It's our little secret, and you know what happens when you break secrets"

Lily tried to stop herself crying but she was finding it hard because she was so scared and she felt her uncles grasp tighten on her shoulder

"I know"

"Good, well run along now little lily, Rachel will be worried if you keep her waiting and remember you don't breath a word of this to anyone"

Lily nodded before running off and finding Rachel car and darting Inside but she had tears rushing down her face.

"Hey sorry I late I ..." Rachel began but then she saw Lily's face "lily what's happened?"

"Nothing"

"Why are you crying"

"I was just in a bit of trouble with mrs Holmes and I just got a bit upset"

"Really? Maybe I'd better go and speak to her then"

"No please don't"

Rachel sighed but decided to leave it and started driving back

"Lily what were you in trouble for"

"Just talking when we were having Circle time"

"Well you seemed very upset"

"I don't like being In trouble"

"I know you don't love" Rachel sighed "listen don't get too upset I know you won't have meant to get in trouble"

Lily felt a bit more relaxed now she was safely with Rachel but she already felt sick about Monday.

"You're sisters poorly so try and be quiet when you get in okay love"

"Yeah"

As soon as they got in Rachel went up to check on Rosie

"Hey how are you now?"

"I'm better I think"

"Good, and you don't think we need to have another chat about anything, because if you do you know we can, I'm always here for you"

"No I think I'm okay"

"Good well you know where I am?"

"Yep"

Rachel decided to leave her to it as she didn't want to make her feel overpowered by loads of questions

Both girls were pretty quiet all evening and Rachel was getting pretty worried about lily especially when she ended up having a bad dream later and coming in her bed, which she hadn't done for a while, she couldn't help but think there was something bad going on

To be continued

Please review, but know this wasn't all that good I've just not been able to concentrate on it properly xxxxxxxx