Fifty seven

Jessie's POV

I gave up trying to fob everyone off. We were going to get ready for bed and I realised that everyone was going to see them anyway so I gave up trying to hide behind Elektra. I pulled Elektra's top off and reached down and grabbed my pyjama top. I felt a hand touch my back. I looked to see Holly stood next to me. Her hand was the one resting on my back. The other girls had all frozen and were staring at my skin. I smiled at them all and pulled my top on.

Carmen was the first to break the silence. "Jessie... is that what your mum did to you?" she asked. I nodded. I knew it wasn't just mum who had done it. "And Josh. Under forced conditions?" she added. I nodded. She shook her head.

Purple Lily looked at me scared. "Both of you are so brave. I couldn't imagine watching Poppy or Rosie being beaten up by their foster parents. I couldn't imagine hurting them either but then I suppose if it wasn't you... it would be Josh." She said. I nodded. It was the first time most of them had seen the scars. Elektra had seen them before in PE and she was just looking at me in the same way she did when the girls at school teased me. I shook my head slightly and she relaxed.

Holly made me face her. "No wonder you always get dressed in the bathroom," she told me. Tee and her had always wondered why I didn't change in front of them. "Does it hurt?" she asked quietly. I shook my head.

"not anymore. There just scars now. They did for quite a while. That first month here at Elm Tree house was painful because they still hurt, Josh was taken from me and I was jumpy. Scared you lot would hurt me and add to my injuries. This one though," I said pointing to the one on my face, "if you touch them, they are a different temperature to the rest of my skin." I told her gently. She reached forwards tentatively, a little like Harry had when he had spotted them. She placed her finger on my cheek first to see how warm I was and then she placed the same finger on my scar. She shivered slightly.

"it really is," she told me. I nodded.

"it's the only one. All the others are the same as the rest of my body. I don't know what's up with that one," I replied. I smiled at everyone and they all relaxed a little bit. We finished getting ready for bed but I couldn't help but notice the girls kept glancing at my bare arms as I had decided to wear a short sleeve pyjama top. We all said goodnight and curled up in our beds for the night. I was on an inflatable mattress between Holly and Lily. Holly was still intrigued by my scars. I saw her smile at me in the darkness.

"I think they make you unique," she said yawning. I heard Lily sigh next to me.

"Holly leave Jessie alone and go to sleep," she said. There was no response and I knew that Holly and Lily had both drifted off. I closed my eyes and felt sleep settle on me.

I felt a hand clamp over my mouth and another one help me to stand up. I was led out of the room. In the light of the landing I saw it was Blake that had come in and got me. "Shh!" he whispered. I nodded "we are getting our own back on them now but we didn't want to get you by accident. We hurt you enough earlier." He said. At this the other boys started sneaking into the room, armed with chocolate sauce and tomato ketchup. I just watched them and sighed. There was going to be some annoyed girls in the morning. I noticed Rick and Josh hadn't gone in with the,. They were stood on the landing with me still.

"Do you want to get your own back on the boys for earlier?" Rick asked me. I thought for a minute and then nodded. Josh ran down the stairs quietly. He came back with a bucket filled with worms, soil and ants. I grinned mischievously. They led me upstairs back to their room for the night. They pointed to Tyler and Johnny's sleeping bags. I poured some of the mixture into the bottom of the sleeping bags. They were going to have an unpleasant night's sleep and they wouldn't know why. I did consider doing it to Charlie and Blake as well but knew that they were a lot stronger than me and I didn't want to risk my friendship with them. We all crept back out and stood waiting on the landing waiting for the boys to finish in my room. The boys came out soon after looking pleased with themselves. I shook my head. There was going to be a fight in the morning. I smiled goodnight to everyone and headed back into me room. I slipped back into my bed and fell back asleep.

I woke up to a loud scream from somewhere behind my head. Someone had woken and had a very unpleasant surprise. "I'm going to murder those boys," Elektra shouted.

"Yep. They are dead meat," Carmen agreed. She was the one who had screamed and woken the rest of us up and alerted us to the chocolate and tomato sauce covering their hair, faces and sleeping bags. I sat up and pushed my wild hair out of my face. Overnight I obviously hadn't slept very well as my hair was looking like a birds nest.

"How come you aren't covered," Tee added glancing over at me and seeing me sauce free. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh yeah. They already got you back didn't they." I nodded.

"yeah but to be fair. I think I've got them back for you as well," I said grinning. They looked confused and then we heard the yelling from upstairs. The girls charged out of the room and onto the landing where Tyler and Johnny were stood shouting about ants and worms. They were itching like mad and had small red bumps on their skin where the soil had irritated them. I acted completely oblivious to it. "What's happened?" I asked.

Josh winked at me. "Someone has put soil, worms and ants in Tyler and Johnny's sleeping bag," he told us all holding out the offending things towards us. We all peered into the depths of the bags and saw the wiggling worms. We all grimaced and leaned away.

"Whoever did this is dead meat," Tyler complained. Rick bit his laughter behind him. I glared at him. Tyler obviously noticed my glare. "Jessica! Was it you?" he asked. I feigned innocence.

"How could you think that Tyler? I'm hurt you even suggested it," I said. The girls all grinned at me, giving me away completely. "but yes it was. Now you know how it feels to have people stare at you and your skin," I said pointing to a red lump on his neck. He glared.

"Fine. I'll let you off," he grumbled.

"thanks," I said and smiled happily at him.

A/N: what did you think? Just three more chapters left. Indigo :)