Chapter 19
Followed on from my last update
A couple of hours had passed, and Rachel had dropped Hannah off at her sleepover about an hour ago. Although at first Hannah had been excited about it, now she was there she really wasn't having the best time.
All the other girls acted so much older than she was, and it made her feel a bit uncomfortable. There was one particular girl called Zara who made her feel especially awkward, she was only 11 but acted like she was already well into her teenage years.
She's just finished giving Hannah a makeover and had also ended up shaping and tinting her eyebrows, Hannah looked at herself in the mirror, she couldn't believe how different she looked, she wasn't sure at all about the eyebrows and was sure Rachel wouldn't be too impressed when she saw them tomorrow.
"Wow Hannah you look amazing"
Hannah wasn't so sure, she just didn't really feel like herself. She also had a really sore stomach and it was starting to get even worse.
"Why don't we talk about which boys we fancy in our year" one of the girls suggested
Hannah began to feel even more uncomfortable, she hated having conversations like this. At the moment, she really couldn't care less about boys and had a feeling she'd stay that way for quite a while.
"Go on then Hannah who do you fancy?"
"Erm I don't know"
"Who'd fancy her, she's practically a boy" Zara said looking at her chest. The others all burst out laughing, but Hannah felt tears form in her eyes. She quickly got up and ran over to the toilet.
She burst into tears, she didn't know why she felt like this, but it was horrible.
She decided to go to the loo while she was there. She got shock when she pulled he pyjama bottoms down and realised there was blood all over them
She couldn't believe she'd come on her period again, especially at someone else's house. She felt really scared and embarrassed and dint know what to do about it, it wasn't as if she packed pads with her and she felt too shy to ask anyone else for them, she'd only told her very best friend Megan about starting her periods, and she hadn't been able to make it tonight
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door
Hannah hastily dried her eyes and opened the door
Zara was stood there looking uncomfortable
"I'm really sorry Hannah, I feel awful now, I didn't mean to upset you"
"It's okay" Hannah mumbled "I really don't feel well, I think I'm going to ask Rachel to pick me up"
"It's not because of me that you want to go is it?"
"No not at all" Hannah said
"You know I really like you, I just say stupid things sometimes, I meant it as a joke"
"Honestly it's okay. Please will you pass me my bag through, I want to get changed into my normal clothes"
"Sure, I'll let the others know you want to go back and then I'll let Mum know"
Hannah quickly got changed and then went back through
The others were all really nice to her, but she still decided to ring Rachel
Rachel had just put Ivy to bed when the phone rang so she quickly got up to answer it
"Hello" she said
"Rachel, I don't feel very well" Hannah said
Rachel could tell immediately something was wrong as Hannah sounded all upset
"Hannah what's wrong love?"
"My stomach really hurts, please will you come and get me" Hannah said crying now
"Of course I will, I'll be round in about 5 minutes okay?"
"okay" Hannah said sounding tearful
She then hung up the phone
Rachel quickly told Gaby where she was going and asked her to look after Ivy, before grabbing her car keys and setting off
It didn't take long for Rachel to get to Zara's house. When she got there, she stepped out of the car and went up to the door
Almost as soon as she knocked Zara's Mum answered
"Hi Rachel, Hannah's just upstairs I'll call her down"
A few moments later Hannah came downstairs
Rachel could tell at once he'd been crying, she was also shocked when she saw the makeup and eyebrows, but decided not to say anything for now
"Hey sweetie, should we get going?"
Hannah just nodded and followed Rachel out to the car
"Does your stomach still hurt"
"Yeah"
Rachel was a bit suspicious, she couldn't help but think there was more to this than just a sore stomach
"When did it start?"
"At Zara's"
"You seemed fine before you left" she said
"Yeah it just came on"
Rachel didn't really believe her but chose to keep quiet
"What's with the new look?" Rachel asked
"Zara did it"
Rachel had already heard Zara's name quite a lot around school, she liked the girl, but she acted a lot older than most 11-year olds and she wasn't a massive fan of the makeup she'd routinely wear for school.
"Well I hope that tint she's used is a decent brand, it can really irritate your skin if you use a poor quality one"
Hannah was surprised Rachel was being so chilled about it, she thought she'd be really angry. She wanted to tell her about everything that had happened, but she felt too embarrassed and upset about it all.
As soon as they got back Hannah wanted to go in
It was only then that Rachel realised Hannah had got changed
"How come you didn't leave your pyjamas on" she asked
"Erm I don't know, I just didn't want to go home in them"
"Well no one would have seen"
Rachel then unlocked the door and Hannah went straight up to her room. She quickly got changed, went to the bathroom and then got into bed, despite the fact it was still quite early
Rachel was a bit worried about Hannah, she couldn't help but think she was acting a bit strangely
She decided to go up to her room and check to see if she was okay
She knocked once on her door before going in
"You're in bed early" she remarked
"I'm tired"
Rachel went over and crouched down next to her
"Hannah is everything okay?"
Hannah just nodded her head in response
"Has something happened at your friend's house? You know you can tell me if it has don't you, I'm not going to overreact I promise"
"No I'm okay"
Rachel still didn't believe her but she couldn't force her to talk
"Okay love, well you know you can always come for a chat if you need to"
"Yeah" Hannah said "Can I have some medicine; my stomach is still sore"
"okay, I'll get you some paracetamol and water"
Rachel went and got the stuff and then said goodnight
After Rachel left Hannah tried to get to sleep but she couldn't, she still felt upset about everything. She also realised she'd have to put her pyjamas in the wash
About an hour and a half had passed and she still hadn't been able to get to sleep, so in the end Hannah decided to go downstairs and see her auntie
She saw the light was on in the living room, so she went in and saw Rachel with a glass of wine watching TV
Rachel looked up when she saw Hannah come in
"Hey love, I thought you were sleeping"
Hannah didn't know what to say, instead she just handed Rachel the bag with her pyjamas in
"Please will you wash these for me" she asked before running off
"Hannah" Rachel called, really confused.
It made sense though when she looked in the bag, she sighed, feeling really sorry for Hannah and she wished she'd just told her earlier.
She put the stuff in the wash and waited a while before going up after Hannah.
When she went up to her room she found her curled up on her bed crying her eyes out
"Oh love" she whispered, before closing the door so they could talk in private
She went over and sat next to Hannah
Slowly Hannah sat up, so Rachel put an arm around her
"Hannah why didn't you just tell me huh, rather than worrying about it"
"It's embarrassing"
"No it's not, look every woman has had their period leak at some point I promise, it's happened to me before loads of times"
"Really"
"Yeah, it's not a big deal honestly. Did your friends see?"
"No"
"So there's nothing to be worried about is there. Is this why you wanted to come home?"
"It's not just that" Hannah sobbed "They were all talking about boys and stuff and I just didn't get it, and then Zara said I'd never get a boyfriend because I have no boobs"
"What" Rachel said, shaking her head "Darling you've only just turned 11, you've got so much growing up to do yet"
"So I will get a boyfriend one day"
Rachel sighed "Of course you will, but at this age it shouldn't even be something you're thinking about. You're not old enough to have proper feelings for boys yet, no one in your year is."
"What do you mean" Hannah asked
"Well when you get older, you'll start to look at boys in a different way, as in you won't just see them as friends anymore, you'll see them as something a bit more" she explained "I know that probably doesn't make sense right now but it will as you get older"
"I don't even want a boyfriend"
"Well I hope you're still saying that in a few years time but somehow I doubt it" Rachel said
"Gaby has a boyfriend"
"Yep I'm aware of that"
"He's 2 years older than she is"
"I'm aware of that too"
"One of the girls in my year is his sister"
"oh yeah it's Abby isn't it"
"Yeah, she says Gaby is round their house loads and she goes up to his bedroom"
This shocked Rachel, she hadn't realised Gaby had been going round to Josh's house, she thought it was just in school and at the park they saw each other. She had no idea it was so serious.
"Really"
"Yeah"
"Okay, well I'll talk to Gaby about that later. Are you ready to go to sleep now huh"
"Yeah"
"Night, night then. Love you lots"
"Love you too"
Rachel smiled and then flicked out the light
She decided to go and see Gaby straight away, she needed to know exactly what was going on between her and Josh, as it was starting to worry her a bit.
She could see the light was on in Gaby's room so she went in
When she went in she found Gaby on her phone
"Have you ever heard of knocking?" Gaby snapped
"I need to talk to you Gaby" Rachel said
"Mum I'm not in the mood"
"I know, but I still need to talk to you"
Gaby sighed but sat up
"I'm going to ask you something and I need you to answer honestly"
"Okay" Gaby said rolling her eyes
"Have you been going round to Josh's house and going up to his bedroom"
Gaby froze, she didn't know how to answer this, she knew her Mum would be furious at her if she answered honestly
"No"
"Don't lie to me Gaby" Rachel warned
"Okay yeah but only a few times"
"Gaby you're 12 years old, he's 14!" Rachel said "I know you don't realise this but he's going to want something that you're just not ready for"
"What do you mean?"
Rachel sighed realising she was going to have to spell it out
"I'm saying, this "relationship" might be all innocent to you, but it might not be for him, he might start trying to pressurise you into things and that will be a really hard situation for you"
"What sort of things"
"Come on Gaby, we've talked about sex before"
"I'm not going to have sex with him!"
"Well I'd hope not, but it's not just sex, it might be other things, things that you're still not ready for and …"
Gaby couldn't stand it anymore, she knew she couldn't keep it a secret forever
"I sent him pictures" she suddenly shouted, before bursting into tears
This caused Rachel to stop talking at once, she couldn't believe what she was hearing
"You did what?" She shouted
"I don't know what I was thinking, he kept asking me and I couldn't say no anymore"
"What pictures did you send him"
"Mum I don't want to talk about it with you" Gaby cried
"Well they'll probably be all round school by Monday so you may as well show me now"
Gaby argued some more but eventually gave in and handed her Mum the phone
Rachel couldn't believe it when she looked through the conversations between Josh and Gaby
"Mum stop looking" Gaby cried
"Gaby how the hell could you be so bloody stupid, we've talked about this before, do you not have a fragment of common flaming sense in that brain of yours"
Gaby started sobbing even harder
"And crying won't fix it" Rachel shouted "What possessed you? What would make you do something so silly?"
"I don't know, I thought he wouldn't like me anymore if I didn't"
"Oh for gods sake Gaby, he wanted you for one thing and one thing only and you gave it to him"
"I didn't know. I thought he loved me and I just … I just .. oh you don't understand"
"You know what Gaby I don't understand , I don't have any idea why you would have such a little amount of self-respect, you would do this"
"I do have respect for myself"
"Really, well that's not what those pictures suggest"
"Just shut up will you" Gaby screamed "I'm sick of being a disappointment to you, I'm going out"
"Out where? It's 11 at night"
"Round to Sophie's house" she shouted
"You know what good, I can't even stand to look at you right now"
Gaby just shoved past Rachel and went downstairs
almost as soon as Gaby went out, Rachel regretted telling her to leave, or at least not stopping her from leaving. She just felt so angry at her at the moment and couldn't believe she'd done this.
It took Rachel a while to calm down. She was still annoyed at Gaby, but she also knew how easy it was for girls her age to be manipulated into something.
About 10 minutes later she decided to go around to Sophie's house and get Gaby
It was only a 5 minute walk so she grabbed her coat, locked the house up and went out
It was raining quite heavily now and had turned quite cold
Rachel had been walking for about 3 minutes, when suddenly she saw Gaby crying on one of the benches.
She hadn't taken a coat so she was soaked through and was shivering
Rachel rushed over to her
"Gaby what are you doing, you must be freezing! I thought you were going to Sophie's"
"She wasn't in"
"Why didn't you just come home"
"Because you hate me"
Rachel sighed heavily and sat down "I don't hate you, I'm just disappointed. But we all make mistakes. Come on let's go home, we can talk properly there"
Rachel put an arm around Gaby and the two of them walked home
"Why don't you get out of those wet things"
Gaby quickly took her clothes off and got changed into some warm pyjamas
"Go and sit in the back room, I'll make us a hot drink"
Gaby went and sat down and a few minutes later Rachel came in with hot chocolate.
"Mum I'm sorry"
"I know you are, and there's not really a lot we can do about though is there?"
"He's stopped talking to me since I sent it"
"Oh love" Rachel said, putting her arm around her
"You know when I was your age, we didn't have the same pressures you do, what with social media and phones and well everything else, but I do know what it's like to feel like you really like someone and do anything for that person"
"I don't even think I like him anymore"
"Well I know you think I'm lecturing, and well maybe I am a bit, but I do think it's not the right time to have boyfriends. You've got your whole life ahead of you for that"
"I know you're right. I was just being stupid"
"Hey we all make mistakes, I know I've made plenty. We've just got to learn from them haven't we huh?"
"Yeah I guess"
"I'm not going to go on anymore, I think you've learnt your lesson haven't you?"
"Yeah I promise I have"
"Okay, well how about we forget about it for now"
"Yeah that sounds good"
"Come on then, let's go to bed"
Please review. Also, I'd love to do an Ivy based storyline because I know I haven't done any with her in for ages, I'd be really grateful if anyone could suggest ideas.
Sent from my Iphone