Jace: a story of child abuse

Lincolnshire elementary

Julie pulls up to Lincolnshire elementary in her beat up squad car. "Well here we are" she opens the door for Jace and helps her out. "What do you think?" Jace takes it in. The walls are coated in ivy and crumbling. They're painted pee yellow and bugs have taken refuge on them. Before she can take in anything else she hears, "JACE!" She turns slowly to see a narrow man with greasy black hair and brown eyes. "Jace this is principal Blackman Ryder" Julie says. Jace waves and Blackman smiles, fresh meat he thinks. "Well come on in" Blackman offers his hand to Jace and she takes it after some hesitance. After giving a tour to Jace around the school principal Blackman drops Jace off at her first class. Jace has math with Mrs. Leila who seems patient and kind. "Welcome the new student class, this is Jace and she'll be joining us for the rest of the year." There are a handful of claps and some snickering. Jace keeps her head down as she heads over to the only available seating up front. To her left is a tall male with blond hair and grey eyes. His name tag says Ethan. To her right is a petite girl with blond hair and blue eyes, her name is Hannah. She sits between them and stares at her desk. Carved into the desk it says, "nerd," and "slut." The desk is pockmarked and is missing chunks of it. "So today we're going to talk about long division...." This is how the rest of the day continues. By lunchtime Jace feels emotionally and mentally exhausted. At the line she grabs a banana, an uncrustables and a water. She pays and looks for a seat in the crowded cafeteria. There seems to be a few seats available but when she goes to sit down she hears the same thing, "taken, taken, taken." Finally she nears the end of the cafeteria and there seems to be no more available seats. She sighs as if her life isn't hard enough already. "Jace! Over here." She looks over to a small table with four blue plastic chairs. Two are occupied with the tall blond boy and the petite blond girl. "Hey" she plops down in an available chair. "Hey I'm Ethan, this is Hannah we're siblings." Hannah eyes Jace's plate closely, "are you going to eat that?" She points to her sandwich. "Hannah she needs to eat" Ethan admonishes. "No, it's ok I had a big breakfast." Hannah snatches the sandwich before Jace even finishes her sentence. "Well well well look what we have here." Jace looks up and sees a tall girl with brown eyes and brown hair. She looks plain with straight hair and plain features. The girl is surrounded by four other tall girls. "Jace is it?" She asks. "Yes" Jace replies in a whisper, "aren't you the girl who's parents died? And didn't they also kill an innocent family?" Jace is stunned by the girl's cruelty her friends snicker. Ethan and Hannah look stunned until Hannah says, "back off Lauren." Jace is struggling not to cry. Ethan looks concerned, "I think you should leave." "Ethan why do you continue to hang out with these losers?" Lauren twirls her stringy hair. "Come on guys" Hannah leads a storming out of the cafeteria. Jace tails at the back lost in thought tears streaming down her face. She'd tried to block out the fact that her parents had killed a mother, father and there two kids. "Hey, you ok?" Hannah has slowed down to walk beside Jace. "Yeah, yeah I think so." "Your parents died?" Hannah keeps in step with Jace. "Yes..." she trails off. "How?" Ethan stops to ask. "Car crash" Jace replies flippantly trying to change the subject. "Who was that?" "Lauren Mills, her parents are super rich and she's a huge jerk." "Hey kids where you headed off to?" Principal Blackman asks. He stops Jace and her new friends in their tracks. "Just....to the...bathroom" Ethan improvises. "Which one the unisex bathroom? Get. Back. To. The. Cafeteria. Now." Ethan and Hannah rush off leaving Jace in shock. "Did you not hear me? Scram moron." Principal Blackman runs a hand through his greasy hair. Jace takes off running towards the cafeteria not sure about her future at this school with this mean principal.