Broken (The Siren Series #1)

by L. A. Griffiths

  Were they just my friends because they knew I was some sort of freak, did they place bets to see how long they could fool me? I thought.

  No. They wouldn’t do that and It was stupid of me to think that, we are best friends. Been best friends for many years. I would do anything for them and I hoped that they would do anything for me too. I began to space out while thinking of them. I mentally shook myself and got back to the lesson. I stretched my cramped hand to relive my aching muscles. Finally finished writing what was on the board. (God Mrs Donavan did like to write a lot), I placed my pen down only to hear the buzzer. (Thank god). Throwing my stuff into my bag, I quickly walked to my next lesson, English.

  Around the corner I nearly ran into Becky, who was smiling at me.

  “I came to escort you my lady.” She said as Becky did a low bow.

  I gave a little chuckle. “Come on ya’ werirdo.” I laughed.

  We both walked down the hall and down to the stairs to our English class.

  We both arrived at Mr Thomas’s class. I’d forgotten how good looking he was since I was away, but sadly he was too old for me and of course my teacher, totally against the rules. We entered the class, and somehow knowing it was me, he spun around and met my eyes. Mr. Thomas had a sympathetic look on his face.

  “I’m so sorry to hear about your aunt Ellie,” He said softly. “How are you?”

  I was getting a little sick of people asking that question. I know they just want to see if I was ok, but slowly, I just wanted to scream, and run away.

  “Um I’m okay just a few cuts and bruses, that’s all.” I tried to keep my voice steady, trying not to show how a complete wreak I was. “H-how did you know?” I asked.

  “It was on the news.” He said.

  Great, did everyone watch the news? I left the conversation there and sat next to Becky. Mr Thomas cleared his throat, and as usual the girls started to foam at the mouth. He held the book Romeo and Juilet in front of him.

  “Today we will talk about the deaths of Romeo and Juilet.” He said in his most lushes voice.

  What? When did that happen. I prodded Becky next to me. “When the hell did they die?” I asked.

  “Oh, oh yeah. Well, it was all kicking off, Juilet died, then Romeo kills himself because she’s dead. Then she wasn’t really dead but then because Romeo died, she kills herself.” She placed her finger across her throat and made a squelching noise, then immediately regretting it.

  “Jesus,” I said. “That’s dark.”

  We both heard a loud throat clearing noise from the front of the class. We lifted our heads to see that Mr Thomas was waiting for us. His broad arms folded in front of him.

  “Yes thank you Becky for getting Ellie up to speed.” He said.

  Sone of the girls started to giggle behind me. Pathetic.

  “ That’s enough.” Mr Thomas said sternly. “Now lets get back to it.” He said holding the book in the air.

  In the class Mr Thomas was asking questions about the characters in the book, and most of the girls put up their hands to show how “inteligente” they were. (Yeah right.) Even Becky put her hand up and she hardly volunteered for anything. The girls were blurting out any answer that came to mind, some of the answers they gave were kinda’ funny. Even Mr Thomas laughed at one or two. He wanted us to write an essay about how Romeo and Juilet fell in love and their fighting families.

  “How does he expect me to write this when I didn’t even finish the book.” I whispered to Becky.

  I pulled out my English book and my still working pen when I noticed everyone, even Becky had a copy of Romeo and Juilet in their bag. I shyly placed my hand up to catch Mr Thomas’s attention. “Uh, sir.” I said.

  His attention was placed in a book. He finished reading and looked up.

  “I, uh don’t have a book sir.” I said sheepishly. He turned around without saying a word and took a copy from his shelf and placed firmly onto my desk. “There you go.” He smiled.

  “Also this is homework so don’t think you can just do it in class.” He called out. The whole classroom moaned in disappointment. Even I gave a little moan.

  I finished writing a paragraph about how Romeo and Juilet made a quick decision about falling in love when the bell went. As the class started to pack away away, Mr Thomas was trying to talk over the chaos.

  “If you’re unsure of anything, please re-read the book. Just dont ‘’Google’’ the answers please. And anyway, I’ll know.” He said.

  “I’d forgotten about Google, maybe I can get some tips, or would that be cheating.” I said to Becky.

  “Hell with it, I’m going to Google it all.” She laughed.

  “I heard that Becky. I will be carfully reading your essay.” Mr Thomas called out.

  Becky’s face turned a deep shade of red. “Only joking Sir.” She gave a smile to Mr Thomas. “Come on let get out of here.”

  I grabbed my bag and nearly ran out of the class after Becky. “That was shameful.” I laughed.

  Laughing hurt my body, but it felt good to laugh.

  “Dont laugh, and don’t you dare tell Lilly.”

  “Damn right I’m going to tell her.” I said through laughter.

  We both walked down the stairs and saw Lilly waiting for us at the bottom, waving. I gave her a wave back and a smile. I tried to catch up with Lilly at the bottom while trying to avoid the other students.

  “Don’t you dare, don’t listen to a word she tell you Lilly.” Becky called out on the stairs.

  “What? whats going on?” Lilly sounded interested.

  “Mr Thomas heard us talking about Googling answers and shamed Becky about it. She went bright red as well.” I laughed.

  Lilly started to laugh along with me. “It’s not that funny, girls.” Becky called. “Oi stop making fun of me, that’s all you’ve done today.”

  “Who would do that anyway?” Lilly said through laughter.

  “Becky would.” We both said and burst into even more laughter.

  I turned my head to look at Becky who had her hands on her hips. Closer I looked and could tell she was fighting the urge to burst into laughter with us. My head turned back to Lilly and I could feel my smile fading. Down the darkened hall, Beth was approaching. Her dark mischievous eyes locked onto mine. Lilly must have noticed her because the laugh died down and she stepped in front of me. I could feel the anger and hate dripping off Beth as she got closer.

  Chapter Nine

  “Oh I’m so sorry to here about your aunt Ellie.” Beth said with such sarcasm.

  “What do you want Beth.” Becky said who was now next to me.

  “Just to say how sorry I am, that’s all.” A sick smile formed on Beth’s lips. “It should have been you Ellie.”

  “Bitch!” Becky shouted. Beth turned to Becky and blew her a kiss.

  I just stood there with my head down. Hoping she would stop.

  Becky readied her fist for Beth but Lilly grabbed her before she could strike. Beth laughed at the failed attempt.

  “I’ve heard that it was your fault that she died, is it true?” Beth added. “Well since she was your family I don’t really care if it was both of you. One down two to go.”

  “You vile Bitch!” yelled Lilly.

  I just stood there while Beth spat her poison. Lilly and Becky exchanged heated words between the three of them. I was rooted to the spot while this thing spoke of me, I couldn’t do anything, and I wanted her to go away. Lilly moved forward and pulled back her fist ready to hit Beth. Without thinking I grabbed onto Lilly’s hand and a surge of anger rushed through me. It fueled me and made my blood boil. I could feel Lilly’s anger flowing through me, but how? I could also hear Lilly’s deep thoughts; she wanted to hurt Beth badly. It scared me a little until I saw Beth sickening smile again. What felt like minutes was only mere seconds.

  I let go of Lilly’s hand and quickly punched Beth straight across the face, and my hand began to throb with pain. Beth fell backwards losing her footing and fell
to the floor. She wiped her nose and saw blood. She stared at the red substance on her hand and a huge grin formed on her face. Quickly she got up from the floor and rushed straight at me. She reminded me of a charging mad bull. Beth tackled me from the waist and sent me straight to the floor, knocking the air from my lungs.

  My old wounds screamed in pain along with new ones. I fell onto my back, causing pain to shoot up and down my body. Beth was on top of me ready to hit me for a second time. Without thinking I latched onto her writs to stop her oncoming blow. Like all the others I saw her face change in a flash. Beth had a lustful look in her eyes, I could feel all her anger towards me and deep down she wanted to kill me, this bitch was crazy. I seized the opportunity and punched her straight in the face again with my free hand, she rolled off of me and I quickly scrambled to my feet.

  While Beth was recovering from my punch I noticed, around us we had a created a crowd of people cheering and shouting. Lilly and Becky were also cheering me on. I quickly had to ignore them because Beth had recovered and her face was thick with blood, it did not bother her in the slightest. She ran at me again screaming like a mad woman, I tried to prepare myself for another one of her punches, but she caught me off guard. She pulled me forward and brought her knee straight into my stomach and the pain brought me to my down to my knees. I coughed and heaved through the intense pain. Beth stood over me with her hands balled into tight fists. There was nothing I could do. I was lying on the floor doubled up in pain, and then from afar I heard a familiar voice.

  “Break it up, break it up!” Mr. Thomas shouted.

  Beth didn’t care; she was ready to kick me while I was down, until Lilly and Becky grabbed both her arms and threw her to the wall.

  Mr. Thomas was now around us and could see Beth’s face covered with blood and me on the floor gasping in pain. Soon the crowd began to disperse. Beth stared at me with eyes full of hate, if Becky or Lilly didn’t stop her I would’ve be in real danger.

  Mr. Thomas held out his hand. “Are you ok Ellie?”

  I ignored it and steadily got to my feet. “I think I need to go see the nurse.” I said.

  He nodded and the turned to Beth. “What the hell happened?”’ He demanded.

  Before Beth could speak Lilly and Becky spoke first. “She said disgusting things to Ellie, and then she went to punch us.” They both lied.

  “What? It was the freak here wh..” Beth was cut off.

  “What did you just say?” Mr. Thomas asked.

  “I called her a..” again she was cut off by Mr. Thomas. He slammed his hand hard against the wall next to Beth. It made us all jump, even Beth. Seeing Mr. Thomas like this was scary, maybe everyone does have a scary side to them. I wonder if I have one?

  “Since coming to this school Beth, you are nothing but trouble, come with me.” He said. “Girls can you take Ellie to the nurse, and then take her to the Headmasters room I’ll tell him what’s happened here.”

  “Yes sir.” They both said. Mr. Thomas and Beth walked down the hallway before disappearing around a corner.

  “You didn’t have to lie for me.” I said clutching my sides.

  “Well the Bitch had it coming,” said Becky. “Plus you had a few good shots in there. Did you see her face, it was covered in blood.”

  “Oh and Lilly, I’m sorry about you know what.” Remembering that I grabbed her hand.

  “It’s ok. It felt weird, not a good weird or a bad weird, just weird.” said Lilly.

  I dragged myself to the nurse office with Becky and Lilly, lucky enough it wasn’t that far. Becky held open the door and I shuffled my way into the nurse’s room. The nurse was sitting in her chair looking at some papers before she noticed us, the nurse was a plump little woman with short blonde hair with a pudgy, but kind face, she was wearing a white skirt with a peach colored top, and covering her top she wore a long white sleeved cardigan. (What’s with all the cardigans lately)? Her room was filled with medical posters of the human body in and out. In the corner she had a human skeleton. It sent a shiver down my spine. It’s weird to think we all look like that on the inside.

  “Nurse, we have a patient.” said Lilly.

  I wobbled my way to the nurse, carful of my balance. The little woman shot up from her desk and hurried towards me.

  “What’s happened?” She asked.

  “Well this girl attacked our friend.” said Lilly.

  “Bitch.” blurted Becky.

  “Language young lady.” the nurse told Becky.

  “Sorry.” replied Becky.

  “Anyway, Ellie had a car accident a few days ago and she’s still quite fragile.” Lilly said.

  Lilly’s words made me wince. I did not want someone to think of me as fragile.

  “Well pop yourself up here and let me look at you.” The plump woman said.

  I climbed up onto the table-chair’ thingy and waited for her to examine me.

  “Right then.” She began. “Do you feel sick, dizzy, what about blurred vision.” She asked.

  “No.” I replied.

  “Well that’s good, let me just.” The nurse was about to touch my arm when from the end of the room Becky and Lilly started shouting.

  “Don’t touch her.” They both screeched.

  The nurse stopped, she held her hands up as if she was surrendering. “She uh doesn’t like to be touched.” Lilly said quickly.

  “Okay then, so are you feeling any pain at all then.” The nurse said.

  “Well it hurts when I breathe in and out. I think I may have been winded, plus my burses hurt like a..” She stopped me mid sentence.

  “Language.” The nurse said to me. She continued “Well you need to slowly breathe in and out, in through the nose out through the mouth, okay?”

  I started slowly breathing with her instructions. After a while I did feel a bit better.

  “Also my hand hurts.” I lifted my bruised knuckles for the nurse to see. She carefully stayed her distance but she looked over my hand.

  “Mm, it doesn’t look broken. Can you move your fingers freely?” The nurse asked.

  I did as she asked and freely moved my fingers without much pain.

  “So who did this to you?” The nurse asked.

  “It was that Bit..” the Nurse gave Becky a stern look. “It was this girl called Beth, she’s a nasty piece of work.”

  “I know of this girl and I agree. She’s put a few people in here, disgusting girl.” said the Nurse.

  “I think I’m feeling a bit better now.” The nurse turned around after facing Becky and Lilly.

  “I’m glad.” She smiled. I carefully jumped down the examination table. “You take care of yourself, and if the pain doesn’t go away, you should book an appointment with your doctor. And girls, look after each other, no swearing. Ok.” The Nurse said.

  While the Nurse was talking I noticed she had the softest brown eye’s I’d ever seen. Her face had some deep wrinkles but her eyes were youthful.

  “You too.” I said with a smile.

  I followed the girls out of the room.

  “You feeling any better?” Lilly asked.

  “A little bit.” I replied. Again I hated that question.

  As Mr. Thomas demanded, we headed off to the Headmasters room. God knows what’s waiting for me in there. In this school, no matter what you did, you would try and avoid the headmaster at all costs. That rule never applied to Bitch Beth.

  I met the head when I first came to the school. He introduced me around while I was with my Dad. He would sometimes make speeches in the main hall to start off the school day, and even then he scared me.

  Walking down the corridor felt weird, like I was walking to my doom. The halls were empty, devoid of students. It was kinda’ scary, walking through the uneven lit hallways. The three of us crept down to the Headmaster’s room like innocent young teens solving a mystery. The three of us stood outside of the door. No one dared knock.

  “Have you ever been in the Head’s office?” I asked.
>
  “Well I have once.” Becky said.

  “When?” replied Lilly.

  “He caught me and this boy kissing out of class,” Becky said. “He ran off and left me to deal with him.” Becky said pointing to the door.

  “What do you mean this boy? Didn’t you know his name?” asked Lilly.

  “Um, no.” said Becky shyly. “I cannot help it, plus he didn’t tell me his name.” She said vainly flipping her silky hair.

  “Bloody hell Becky.” said Lilly.

  “Anyway what was he like?” I wanted to know the details.

  “He kept on trying to stick his tongue in my mouth and licking my lips at the same time, it was horrible, gross, he didn’t have a clue what he was doing.” Becky replied.

  “No, not the boy,” I laughed. “The Headmaster.” I started giggling.

  All three of us were giggling too much to notice that the Headmaster was standing by his door. He towered over us with his mighty height.

  “Ellie Laveau.” he called.

  Oh crap. We all shuffled into his office avoiding his stern gaze. The Headmaster’s office was decorated with cream walls. Wooden shelves were nailed to the walls with large tome books sitting side by side. Frame documents littered one side of the room to show his many achievements. Everything in the office was neat and tidy, even the pencils were aligned neatly. Inside there was a man sitting in one of the leather chairs with his back to us. The mysterious man turned around. It was my Dad.

  “Dad?” I said surprised.

  He didn’t answer back, he replied instead with a disappointed look. This was the last thing he needed right now. I was making life much more difficult for him. The three of us sat in the chairs that were supplied for us. In front, stretched out a mahogany coloured desk that dominated the room. The Headmaster took his seat behind his masculine desk.

  Seeing the Head up close was a little bit frightening, he was a big muscled man with very short hair, clean shaven with crooked nose. His lips were thin and had a strong jaw. Some people say he was in the army, I could totally see that. Sitting in the big bad Headmaster’s office was not where I wanted to be. He cleared his throat and started to speak.