Twenty three

Jessie slid out the car at Lakemead in between Rick and Elektra. The moment she did so, the whole school playground went quiet. Jessie turned her head to glare at Rick. "And you thought you could keep this quiet?" Jessie said in disbelief. Rick shrugged guiltily. He was going to have given it a good try but clearly the rest of the school weren't going to allow it. Jessie walked past people and heard the whispers. She got to the middle of the playground and stopped. She noticed the rest of the Elm Tree kids had gone and integrated themselves with the others and were trying to get their friends not to stare. Jessie looked around and felt upset that everyone was finding it so interesting.

Someone called out towards her, "Your brother's a criminal. He deserves everything he gets." Jessie found that almost too hard to bear.

Elektra rolled her sleeves up and ran at the boy and punched him, hard, in the face. "Elektra," Rick shouted angrily. Elektra turned back and shrugged.

"Just leave Jessie alone. She has enough to be dealing with than you lot staring at her," Elektra threatened. "And if anyone annoys her or upsets her, they can expect to feel my fist connecting with them." Rick grabbed Elektra's arm and dragged her away.

"Let's just get her to the office," Rick whispered. Elektra nodded and they led Jessie inside the school building and to the headmaster's office. Mr Morgan was stood outside his office talking to Mr Crowhurst. Both men spotted Jessie. Mr Crowhurst smiled at her and turned towards their form room while Mr Morgan indicated that Jessie should enter the office.

"Hello again Jessica," he said once she had sat down. Jessie nodded. He clearly hadn't got the memo about her not liking the name Jessica. "Again I'm sorry it's not in happy circumstances," he added. Jessie smiled a little at this.

"I know sir. I'm really sorry for any issues me and Josh may have caused," Jessie said politely.

He smiled and shrugged. "it's fine. We have a lot of troubled children here not just you. Anyway I asked you here to find out how you are doing. We are aware that you weren't leaving your bedroom," Mr Morgan told Jessie.

"I feel better," she said carefully. "I saw a psychologist on Saturday and he helped me," Jessie explained.

Mr Morgan nodded. "I'm glad you are feeling better. I'm really sorry about your situation but I hope you will continue to get better and keep working hard. Your teachers will expect you to catch up on the work you've missed."

"I've already done that. Rick brought homework home with him and gave me a copy which I did in my room. I also copied his notes," Jessie said. She might have been depressed but she didn't want to miss any schoolwork as she knew her grades were important.

Mr Morgan looked at her. "I'm impressed. Alright then, you may go to form. Oh and if you wish you are excused from PE today," he added as she went to leave the office. Jessie smiled to herself. Seeing as her PE class had already seen her burns and cuts she didn't have an issue with doing PE, provided they didn't stare. Jessie walked with Rick back to their form room. Her class were already all in there. They glanced up when she entered but didn't stop and stare at her. Rick went to sit with Frank and Jessie went to her seat next to Sophie. As usual Sophie was chewing on bubblegum, her mouth working overtime. Sophie looked up when Jessie sat down.

"Alright?" she asked. Jessie nodded. Sophie stopped chewing for a bit, used her tongue to move the bubblegum to one of her cheeks. She rested her hand on Jessie's arm. "Listen Jessie, if you ever need to, like, well ya know, talk to someone or anything, then I'll listen to ya. You're a sweet gal," she said before returning to chewing her bubblegum.

Jessie smiled at her. "thanks Sophie, you have no idea how much that means right now," Jessie replied. Sophie smiled and leaned forward to talk to her brother. Jessie turned round in her seat to talk to Rick and Frank.

Frank smiled at Jessie. "It will be ok. Eventually everyone will forget about it. It will be old news and someone else will be the talk of school," he told her. Jessie nodded.

"I know. I'm just ignoring them. It doesn't matter what they think. It's what I know and what is true that matters," Jessie replied. "but as I said to Sophie. Anyone who is on my side is very much appreciated."

Rick nodded. "I can imagine. Have you decided what to do about PE?" he asked.

Jessie nodded. "Yes, I'm going to do it. I mean they've all seen it before and maybe it will take their thoughts of why I've been off school," Jessie said.

Rick and Franks exchanged a glance. "Well that's not technically true. We are being joined by Elektra's class. So technically they won't have seen your scars," Frank told her. Jessie pulled a face.

"oh well, I'll still do it," Jessie said, not as certain as before. Mr Crowhurst called all their attention to him and dismissed the class to PE.

Jessie followed Sophie to the girls PE changing rooms. She had her PE kit with her and she went and stood in the furthest corner that she could so that as little people will see her. She pulled her tracksuit bottoms on under her skirt, then pulled her skirt off. She then took off her blazer. She noticed that Elektra had made her way over to her to get changed. "Hi, " Elektra said. Jessie smiled. She unbuttoned her shirt and slipped it off quickly before throwing her t-shirt on. She noticed Elektra's face. She'd spotted all the marks. "No wonder you don't like people seeing you skin. That looks awful," she whispered. Jessie nodded again.

"it's alright," she said running out the changing rooms into the gym.

A/N: Ok so before anyone has a go about my spelling and grammar, Sophie talks in the manner it is written so please do not correct it in your review. I know its spelt wrong or is grammatically incorrect but that's how she talks. If there are any other mistakes thought you can correct them. Indigo :)