Jace: a story of child abuse

Fitting in

Fitting in to Lincolnshire elementary wasn't easy but Jace found herself making friends fast. Jace was even growing accustomed to Jill's small apartment and to her bad cooking. For the most part Jill ordered takeout but there were times when Jace grew concered for Jill's stove and microwave. Jace is even growing to trust Jill. One day in the cafeteria Jace is hanging out with Ethan and Hannah when she spots Lauren worming her way over to her table. "Get up loser" Jace looks around confused wondering what she did. Ethan steps between the two of them, "what do you want Lauren?" "Sweetie,  I heard that your loser friend has been talking about me." Jace shakes her head vehemently, "that's not true, who told you that?" "None of your business!" Lauren shoves her hard to the ground. Hannah becomes indignant, "BACK OFF!" Ethan runs off hopefully in search of an adult. Lauren doesn't seem to be appeased yet. She steps back up to Jace who is still sitting on the ground, "get up and fight me." Hannah is occupied with Lauren's tall friends. Jace stays on the ground staring at the ground wishing she was invisible. Then she sees Lauren's big black sketcher racing towards her face. It connects and feels like a brick being lodged at her face. Jace sees black for a second but anger courses through her white and hot. She gets to her feet and rolls her sleeves up. She balls a fist up and swings with all her might. CRACK Principal Blackman grabs her arm mid swing. "What the hell are you doing?!" Lauren and her friends vanish and Jace looks at Ethan, his eyes are wide in shock. "Lauren pushed and kicked her" Hannah interjects. Blackman drops Jace's arm and gets close to Hannah. He whispers, "did I ask you jelly donut? Keep your mouth shut." Hannah is shocked and stops talking completely. Jace says, "principal Blackman I'm sorry but she attacked me first." "She?! Do they not teach proper grammar here?" "Lauren. Lauren attacked me sir." The principal looks unconvinced, "you're suspended for threee days and I'm calling Julie. Come with me." He basically drags Jace behind him to his office. As Jace passes Ethan concern passes over his face. Hannah stares at the ground and the cafeteria returns to its normal uproar.

Jill picks Jace up 10 minutes later. Principal Blackman has his hands resting on Jace's shoulders keeping her in front of him. "What happened?!" Jill grabs Jace's hands. Blackman looks Jill up and down obviously pleased with what he sees. "Jill it seems that Jace here had some trouble with a classmate and resorted to violence." Jill seems surprised, "really? She seems so quiet." "They always do" he lets go of Jace and runs his hand through his hair. "Maybe you should talk more to her or maybe get her a therapist." "Well thank you Principal Blackman." He smiles and nods, "if you need anything else Jill just let me know, I'm here for you."

When Jace arrives home Jill paces the entire apartment. "I expected more from you, you seem so sweet and quiet. I'm very, very disappointed." Jill stays in her room the rest of the day until dinner then they eat pizza in silence and Jill sends Jace to bed at seven. The next morning Jill wakes Jace up early, "Just because you got suspended doesn't mean you get to sleep in." Jill drives Jace what seems like thousands of miles down the road. When Jace is about to fall asleep again Jill pulls into a run down parking lot. "Come with me" Jace follows Jill into a small building that has a giant field outside. Out on the field there's dozens of kids in bright jerseys running laps. "Hello Jill is this Jace?" "It sure is" Jill confirms shaking a medium-sized lady's hand. The lady has brown hair and chocolate eyes. She is soft spoken but Jace can tell she can be strict if she needs to be. "Welcome Jace, I'm Mrs. Myers." Jace slowly reaches her small out and shakes her hand. "This is youth soccer and I'm here to help teach you and hopefully you have some fun too." Jill makes a hasty retreat. Mrs. Myers guides Jace to the field. "Now you need to buy a uniform in the next week or so for when we have competitions." A bunch of kids run around Jace making her uncomfortable. "It's ok, you'll get used to it." Mrs. Myers lets her do a few drills with the team. Near the end she is sweaty but is starting to get the hang of soccer. Jace leaves the field feeling more accomplished then when she got on the field. And when Jill picks her up a few minutes later Jace believes maybe this punishment won't be so bad. Jace feels hopeful for the first time since her parents died.