Muriel has had her life sculpted and figured out by her well-renowned defense attorney father since she was a child. His Moto: Head down, do your schoolwork, be the best, and always do the right thing.
But what happens when she catches her father wi...
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Age 12 Ollie- Age 11
"Can you name all these planets, Ty?" I ask him as the five-year-old fidgets in my lap. Before us on the floor is his Fun Facts about our Solar System book spread down the middle with the stars and planets in a line starting with the Sun then ending with Neptune.
In a cute little voice with a slight lisp Ty begins listing them off with a peppy cadence, "Mercury, Venus, Earf, Marth, Jupiter, Thaturn-."
The two of us look up from the floor of the room Gemma and I share as loud footfalls and a gang of rowdy boys spills into the room.
Instantly I adjust my glasses and feel my cheeks warm. Ollie has been such a bully this trip, I don't understand why, and I don't like it when his mean friends are around.
"What are you nerds doing?" Stewart asks breaking through the group wearing his football uniform still.
Ollie and George have been gone all morning busy with football practice, but now I guess they are back with several boys from the team.
"Just ignore them, Ty. What is this planet here?" I point to Saturn again hoping they all just leave.
Stewart swoops down snatching the book from the floor by one of the pages, tearing it in the process.
"Hey! Fats' mine!" Ty jumps from my lap while I stand and grab the book from the floor and Ty's hand.
"Why are you all such jerks?" I glare at them all but make sure to give Ollie a good look. He's still shorter than me unlike his friend Stewart so, I'm not at all intimidated by him.
A couple of the boys sound off mocking my accent and just like the book my glasses are swiped straight from my face.
"I'm telling mummy!" Ty shoves through and runs down the hall leaving me to fend for myself with a blur of mean boys in front of me.
"You little tattle-tale!" Ollie turns to chase him down the hallway to keep Ty from getting to Jane.
"Can you see without your glasses, Mur?" Stewart asks inspecting my round gold rim glasses.
"Mostly, please give them back." I am a little afraid but I take a step forward to prove to them they aren't getting to me.
"Break em' Stew." Simon, a fat boy, says beside him.
"Nah, I reckon she needs em' lads." Stewart holds them out to me, but before I can take them back he drops them to the floor and stomps them hard with his heel.
"Why are you so mean to me?" I ask wanting to disappear. They've been mean to me this entire Summer vacation.
"Because, it's quite fun."
Ollie comes running back to the group looking from my broken glasses on the carpet up to me, "Thanks a lot Murry, you're going to get me in trouble."
