Chapter .5.
Two Year Later.
It had been about two years since a little Japanese girl named Noodle was sent to the Gorillaz in a FedEx box…
2D was in the game room bashing buttons on his PS2. Russel was sitting next to him on the old, blue, tattered sofa, fiddling with an old shoe lace. Kong Studios was unusually quiet because Murdoc had gone out to a bar to "get away from the stresses of band life"; this meaning that he's sick of losing to 2D every time he plays against him on Tekken. Noodle was out too. You see, 2D had decided that, because she's so young, Noodle should spend a couple of years at school in addition to playing in the band. He felt it unfair for her to miss out on her education for the success of the band. All seemed calm until…
"I never going back to that place!!!" yelled a high-pitched voice from the hallway. "Never, never, NEVER!"
The loud thud of a door slamming followed this squeaky, little outburst.
"Sound's like Noodle's home." Chuckled Russel.
"She sounds upset." Said 2D "I'll go see if she's alright."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile in Noodle's Room 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Baka!" screamed Noodle. "Kuso! Baka! Baka! Baka!!!!!"
Teddies, magazines, clothes…chairs were flying everywhere. Noodle had had enough. Her days at school were always hard. Everyday other students would laugh at her accent and would always take the piss when she'd say a word wrong, they even made fun of her name, which wasn't surprising but still, it was really, really mean. Being 12-years-old now, Noodle was entering the "teenage stage" where everything…and I mean EVERYTHING your peers said was important. (We've all been there)
She suddenly stopped her enraged assault on her room, fell to her knees and began to cry. She pounded her Tatami-covered floor harshly with her hands, crying as hard as she could.
Suddenly, a knock came at the door…
"Noodle?" said a shy, male voice "you alright darling?"
The door opened…
"Noodle?"
"Ah…2D Onii-chan…" sobbed Noodle "what you want..."
2D made his way to his crying, adoptive sister. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her gently. He stroked her hair and rocked her back and forth.
"What's the matter love?" he asked her. "That's the third time this week you've come home like this."
"Is nothing…" she lied "just people at the school…"
Noodle pulled away from 2D's hug and stood up. She clambered over the monstrous mess she had created and made her way to her equally as messy bed. She sat down and wiped the tears from her eyes, using one of her old teddies as a handkerchief.
"Onii-chan…"
"Yes darling?"
"Do I speak English good?"
2D sat next to her. He hung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him.
"'course you do sweetheart! You're really clever." He smiled as he moved her fringe, revealing Noodle's pretty, green eyes.
"Then why do they say bad things about my speaking?" asked Noodle, tears filling her eyes once more.
"They say bad things about you?"
"Yes…they say I don't talk good. They say I'm stupid because I can't spell right in English and they make jokes of my name!"
Noodle began to cry again. 2D felt furious, how dare they pick on someone for the way they speak. He felt horrible, how could he have missed this? Ever since she started secondary school, Noodle came home on the brink of crying almost everyday. Though he knew he wasn't all that smart, surly he should have seen this coming…
"Aw Noodle…don't cry darling…"
"Is not my fault! Why can't they just leave me alone?" she sobbed
"They only say mean things love…" sighed 2D "Words can't hurt you that bad…"
Noodle looked up to him, her tear-filled shining in the light.
"Onii-chan…"
Noodle lifted up her school shirt, just enough to reveal the round, purple bruise on her stomach. 2D was horrified; someone had actually beat her up.
"Noodle…did this happen at school?" he gasped "They beat you up?"
"Kind of…" Noodle said quietly "this boy at school call me stupid so I spit at him…"
"Noodle…you really shouldn't-"
"So his friends come and push me down. Then his girlfriend come and kick me in my tummy."
This sounded pretty serious to 2D, he knew he'd have to go down to the school or something to sort this out but there was always that small danger that the school would do sod all and just leave poor Noodle to fend for herself. Then the bullying would get worse…schools are like that…what was he going to do?
"Listen sweetheart…go get in the bath, I'll talk to Murdoc when he gets home and I bet he'll go to the school and sort this." Smiled 2D as he rubbed Noodle's back.
"I want you to help…" whined Noodle
"Look don't worry, we'll sort this."
"Hai Onii-chan…"
~~~~~~~~~~~~ 3 Hours Later When Murdoc Gets Home. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AH! Feels good to be home!" yawned Murdoc as he sat down at the kitchen table. He reached over to the fruit bowl in the middle of the table and grabbed an apple. He took a huge bite out of the fruit and let loose a massive burp. He scratched his greasy, black hair tilted back on his chair. 2D entered the room and sat on the chair next to Murdoc.
"Good day at the pub Mudz?" he asked him.
"Yep! Its good to take a break from all the stress!" laughed Murdoc.
"Yeah(!)" sighed 2D sarcastically.
2D felt a bit nervous about telling Murdoc what had happened to Noodle at school, Mudz was never one for being sympathetic plus he and Noodle hardly ever see eye to eye so he might refuse to help. 2D had thought about going down to the school himself but since he wasn't the most assertive person, he was scared the school wouldn't take him seriously whereas Murdoc was a little bit more threatening…
"M-M-Murdoc…" said 2D, stuttering as he talked.
"What's up worm?" answered Murdoc
"S-something happened to Noodle at school today and…"
"And?"
"And…I was hoping you'd help us sort it out…"
Murdoc got up and walked towards the fridge. He got out 2 cans of Pepsi and an onion. He gave the extra can to 2D as he sat back at the table.
"Why? What's happened to the little thing?" asked Murdoc as he took a whopping bite out of the-already-skinned onion.
"Some kids are making fun of the way she talks…" sighed 2D
"Is that it? Can't be that bad."
"She came home with a massive bruise on her stomach, I think it's bad!"
"Gah come off it! She's a tough little bugger!" laughed Murdoc "She'll handle it!"
Noodle walked into the room. She was dressed in her purple, kitty PJ's and had a towel draped around her shoulders to prevent her wet hair from dripping all over them. She went over to the fridge and drank some milk straight from the carton.
"Oi Noodle!" barked Murdoc. "Don't drink from the carton! Other people need to use that you little bug!
Without warning, Noodle slammed the carton onto the worktop. 2D and Murdoc stared at her in awe.
"You think I care what you think?!" she yelled at Murdoc "I don't! I don't care what you say! I don't care what anybody says!!!"
After that random little outburst, Noodle threw the milk to the floor. She stormed up to 2D and actually slapped him across the face (not too hard don't worry ^^)
"And you!" she screamed at him "You tell him to sort this out but you meant to help me! You're my Onii-chan! I want YOU to help! Not him!"
On that note, Noodle ran from the kitchen crying. 2D rubbed his face, which had a small red mark where Noodle had slapped him. To him, the fact that Noodle was the one who slapped him hurt more than the slap itself…
"Woah, she's mad at you!" chuckled Murdoc
"She yelled at you too." Mumbled 2D under his breath.
"She's got a point you know." Said Murdoc "She does look up to you more than any of us so you should sort this out."
2D knew he was right and he couldn't agree more but, deep inside he was scared to try and help in case he messed it all up. Back in his school days he himself was victimised by chavvy bullies and was never taken seriously…hardly anything about him had changed since then so why would people start taking him seriously now?
Well there's the next chapter! It's up earlier than I expected! ^^
I'm sorry if this one's not as cute as the others but I just wanted to do a chapter on the subject of bullying because I too went through it in school and I guess I just want to reflect how I felt about it through Noodle…
Anyways, sorry if it's a bit long too but you know…
Oh and if you're wondering how it'll turn out between Noodle and the bullying, you'll have to wait for the next chapter!
Enjoy and please rate and comment!
Seeya! ^^