Bucket Hat 3

Chapter 29

The two of them walked together towards the school entrance and looked up at the building.

"Wow . . . it's been a while hasn't it?" Dalton asked her.

Leigh stared quietly.

"You okay?"

Leigh-Anne took in the people taking pictures in front of the building.

"Leigh-Anne Pinnock's school!" Some people said for their picture as someone took it.

Leigh smiled a bit. That was a strange thing to say for a picture. "Whatever happened to cheese?" She asked herself.

"Some folks are weird I guess." Dalton was surprised that they didn't notice her here. "Wanna head inside?"

Leigh shrugged. "Okay." She was trying to act calm but she felt nervous. But I think I should try to get over it. She was nearly an adult. It was time to leave some demons behind.

They were now walking down the main hall.

Dalton remembered pulling pranks on people in the halls. I was such a silly child.

Leigh stopped and stared at a particular locker.

He stopped too. "Was that yours?"

Leigh faced him. "Yeah."

Dalton nodded. "You shoulda signed your name on it." He chuckled.

Leigh laughed a bit. "I don't believe in defacing people's property." She kept walking along, looking around the area.

Dalton followed and in doing so he looked to his side where he heard someone speaking.

"Has this become just a big tourist site? I don't see any students- Dalton?" Leigh stopped once she saw that he was looking at something.

Dalton pointed inside of a classroom.

Leigh came to his side and peeked in.

She recognized one of her old teachers speaking to a group of people. It looked as if she was addressing parents and their children. Some of the children seemed to be unable to stay still. There were a few boys twisting their bodies and acting as if they wanted to run off while there were girls who acted a lot more well behaved. The children ranged from maybe ages 7-13.

Leigh listened in on what was being said.

"Of course I remember what she was like. I taught her in year three and I must say that she seemed to be a brilliant gem from the start. She would always be done with her work first and then take a break to play with her toy. Whenever I asked her if she was through she would pause before nodding her head at me. And when I checked her work it would always be correct. The other students were often jealous that we allowed her to carry her toy to school but she was attached so we made an exception." The lady said kindly.

An eager little girl raised her hand.

"Yes?" The teacher said. Leigh remembered her name. It was Ms. Matthew. She supposed that she was a nice teacher. She was never mean or anything.

"And Leigh-Anne Pinnock got bullied because she was autistic too?" The little girl asked. She had bright eyes underneath black glasses. Her eyes shone through.

"Yes she did. She really did and it was so upsetting because no matter how hard we tried it just seemed that the other children couldn't be nice." The teacher shook her head.

"I get bullied too!" A little boy said with his hand raised. "That means I'll be a doctor when I grow up and I'll be rich and have a pretty girlfriend!" He started hopping up and down while clapping his hands. He was screaming as well. His father had to hold him down to try to get him to relax.