It takes two

Chapter eight

"Take on me, take on me! Take me on...I'll be gone..." Joe and Dianne were sat eating their lunch after a successful morning of training on the Monday after the party, having spent the Sunday resting up, ready for the second week of their jive.

"God, that'll be haunting me for days now, can't stop singing it." Dianne laughed at what he said, knowing what he was going through. Last night, Emelia had choreographed her own dance to nicest kids in town, and Dianne had been humming it to the studio that day, the roll call still whirling around her head that very moment. "Have you ever had that?"

"All the time, it's so annoying! You hear it once and it's there for days. Don't worry, new song next week right." Joe laughed out loud, hoping that next weeks song wasn't going to stick as much.

"Right. Do you know what dance we're doing next week?" She nodded, not saying a word. The dance she had in mind was shaping up to be a challenge, but she had faith in him. There were tricks, there were swivels, and it was very, very fast.

"I would ask, but I know for a fact that you won't tell me, so I'll just keep my turtle mouth shut." She burst out laughing, a now often occurrence around the ex roof thatcher, thinking back to all the times he had a cute little turtle mouth over the past week or so.

She took a sip of her water, gulping it back in one swift motion, feeling the cold liquid against her throat. "You know me too well, Joseph. Too well." He smiled, also downing his drink, half of it in one go.

"What? He wiped his mouth with the side of his hand, looking her in the eye, confused. "I get thirsty." She laughed, falling backwards.

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Dianne came home at five pm that night, the two of them deciding to finish earlier that day as a result of their hard work, plus they were both absolutely shattered. They deserved it, which also meant she got to see Emelia more, definitely not worth complaining about. She came home, the babysitter approaching her at once.

"Thank goodness you're here. It's Emelia, she's been down this evening. She's...she's been wanting you but I didn't want to be a bother." Dianne understood, but at the same time was concerned for Emelia, who was sat in her room occupying herself.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll see you next time, thanks again." As soon as the babysitter left, she swiftly went into Emelia's room, finding her sat drawing, you could see that she had been crying.

She sat down beside her, the girl straight away cuddling into her mother's arms. "Angel, what's wrong. Please talk to me." Emelia let out a sob, creating cracks in Dianne's heart instantly.

"The kids at school, they've been really mean to me, saying not very nice things." Dianne hadn't had to deal with these sorts of things, and plus you'd think sending her to a really good school would mean really good kids, but apparently not.

"I'm sorry angel. What have they been saying, and have you told the teacher?" She shook her head.

"They...they were saying that I was ugly and I didn't have a proper family, like have a mum and dad. It really hurt because they don't know how it feels, and they said I wasn't loved."

You could see the fire in Dianne's eyes, her heart bursting with wet anger. Why did kids have to be so cruel? Sure they were only little but they really needed to be taught a lesson. Emelia was loved, by everyone around her, and Dianne knew that they were a real family, despite there only being two of them.

A family isn't connected by blood, but by love, and they had plenty of that to go around, she just hoped that someday people would understand that if they hadn't already.