You're not alone

Part 5

"Ohhh look who's back!" Lisa said as soon as she spotted Meredith walking through the door of the classroom. Meredith kept her gaze on the floor, trying to act as if she hadn't heard them. She hadn't even reached her seat yet and she had already been pushed onto the cold stone floor. She wasn't prepared for what happened so that her body slammed onto the hard betony without her having time to catch herself. Pain spread through her legs as she fell onto her prothesis and twisted her right ankle. Tears started to form in her eyes as she saw Lisa and Samantha standing over her, looking down at her form on the floor, laughing heartily. But suddenly she heard someone screaming and pushing them away. It was Andrew.

"Are you okay?" he asked, throwing his bag onto the floor and kneeling down next to Meredith, helping her sit up as a few tears rolled down her cheeks but she quickly wiped them away as she nodded. He helped her stand up and led her over to her seat, placing her bag next to her.

"Thank y-you." Meredith muttered as Andrew sat down next to her. "Nothing to thank for. They are awful. The past three days weren't exactly a holiday... so I'm glad that you're back." He said, smiling at her while taking out his things. "I uhm- wanted to apologise for what happened... I- uhm, wasn't feeling very well." Meredith said, surprised by his statement and feeling even more guilty for what happened now.

"It's okay. Everyone has bad days. I'm glad you're feeling better now." He said, a reassuring smile on his face. She still felt a little insecure and somehow confused by the fact that he had just helped her getting away from Lisa and Samantha. "Have they been mean to you for a long time?" he asked after a few minutes of silence between the two of them.

Without noticing Meredith started nervously bouncing her leg up and down again, not sure what to reply. "Uhm- they- they don't like me very much." She admitted quietly, looking down at her hands.

"You know what I think? That you just need some time to warm up to a person. They don't really know you and I'm pretty sure they're missing out on something. Because without really knowing you, I like you. And I want to get to know you. Because you're the only one in this class that is somehow normal. The others are all just showing off what they have and they're just- mean." He said.

It took her a few second to process what he was saying. "You're saying, you want to be my friend?" she asked, looking up at him now, a small smile playing on her lips as he nodded. Immediately she felt doubt rising inside of her, making her feel insecure and just not as if she would be able to be a good friend to him. Because he deserved an amazing friend. He was amazing and kind. And she wasn't sure if she would be the right person for that.

It took her all her strength to continue to smile at him and say: "I like you too."

Right in this moment the teacher came in, starting the lesson. Meredith and Andrew kept smiling at each other every now and then throughout the whole forty-five minutes. With the rang of the bell, signalling the beginning of the break, every single one of the students ran out of the room immediately. Except for Meredith. She hated the break because it would mean she would have to go outside where hundreds of children were running around, pushing each other, screaming and being loud.

"I'll go to the toilet, I'll be right back." Andrew said before quickly leaving the room. Now that Andrew was gone, Lisa and Samantha as well as Ryan and Mathilda felt safe enough to walk over to Meredith again. "Since you were gone almost the whole week we still have to put something into action that we couldn't do yet." Samantha said, a sheepish grin on her face. "Yes we do." Lisa said, grabbing one of Meredith's arm while Samantha grabbed the other and Ryan kicked her to stand up. "No! Let me down!" Meredith yelled, trying to free herself as they carried her into the now empty corridor.

Mathilda opened a random locker that hadn't been closed and threw out the things inside while the others put Meredith inside, holding her down with all the force they could bring up. "Noo!" she screamed as they closed the locker all of them laughing loudly. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as her breathing started to get faster. It was so tight and the space was so small that she started to panic. Also, her prothesis was painfully cutting deeply into her tight. "Please let me out." She sobbed, slamming her fists against the metal. But they just kept laughing while walking down the hallway and outside.

The tiny hole in the locker was just a few inches big so that she knew that no one could see her. "Help!" she screamed, hoping that someone would hear her. "Please someone help me!" she sobbed, starting to hyperventilate. "Meredith?" she suddenly heard Andrew's voice as she saw him walking by. "Please help me! They locked me in. Please!" she cried as he knelt down in front of the locker.

"It's okay I'll get you out." He said, examining the situation really quick since he noticed how she was panicking. "Do you know the combination of the lock?" he asked, fumbling around with it. "No." Meredith said, still breathing fast, close to breaking down. "Okay, I need to get someone to help me." He said, standing up. "Don't go away please." She said, not wanting him to leave her alone. "I just need to get help Mer, I'll be back in two minutes, I promise." He said, starting to panic a little himself while running through the hallways, trying to find someone to help him get Meredith out of there.

A few minutes later he found Mr. Wallis standing at the vending machine. "Mr Wallis!" Andrew yelled, running towards him. "You have to help me, my friend was locked up in a locker and I don't know the combination of the lock and she's scared, please, you have to help me get her out with a crowbar or something similar." Andrew rambled, looking up into the puzzled face of the teacher.

"Who locked her into a locker?" he asked as he walked next to Andrew back to Meredith. "There are a few children in our class and she's not really on terms with them. I don't think it's the first time they've done something like that." Andrew replied as they bumped into the janitor Mr. Bench.

"Mr. Bench, do you have a crowbar or something? A student was locked into a locker." Mr. Wallis said to the elderly man standing in front of them. He just nodded, jogging away to his office just to come back a few seconds later, a huge crowbar over his shoulder.

Both teachers followed Andrew through the hallway to the locker Meredith was still trapped in, crying quietly. "Meredtih? Mr. Bench is going to get you out of there." Andrew said, kneeling down in front of the locker as Mr. Bench did the same, his slightly big belly a little in the way.

"Okay, carefully." He said as he got into position and with a loud crack, the lock fell onto the floor and he opened the locker, helping Meredith out who immediately crawled into Andrew's arms as he hugged her tightly. "It's okay." He said, patting her back a little as she kept breathing unsteadily.

"Who did this to you Meredith?" Mr. Wallis asked, looking down at the young girl that was still shaking in fear. But Meredith didn't answer. She just couldn't get out a single word.