The Royal Betrayal

Chapter Two

"Darling, you need to get up and get ready for school."

I bury my face deeper into my pillow. "Go away."

"What is wrong with you? You haven't left your room since yesterday afternoon, you refused to eat dinner last night and now you won't get up for school. Talk to me, Kayla. Tell me what is going on."

The thin mattress dips beneath me as mother sits on my bed.

I ignore her.

"Did something happen at school?"

Gee, it's always problems at school and never at home, I think, mentally rolling my eyes.

Mother sighs. "If you don't tell me what is going on, I can't help you find a solution."

I roll over and stare at the water damaged ceiling. Father trusts that it won't fall down on me but I'm not so sure.

Without looking at mother, I say, "Why can't you get a job and do more for us so we have a better life? Do you think I enjoy being teased or ignored for not being like everyone else? I get judged because I don't have the same basic human priveliges as they do. It's embarrassing!"

"I do everything I can for you, Kayla. I go hungry just so you can eat. Just because some parents throw away things and replace things that can easily be fixed, I spend my time fixing everything, including your clothes. I might not have a lot of money Kayla, but I do have a lot of love. Is that not enough?"

"No. That doesn't fix the problems people have with me at school. I hate my life. Sometimes I wish I had a different family."

Mother turns pale. "That is not a very nice thing to say, Kayla. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't even be here." She gets up and storms out of my room.

I don't even feel bad for being rude. With truth comes hurt. She'll eventually get over it.

Sighing, I get up and get ready for school. I comb out my blonde hair and wash my face to freshen up. Even though I am hungry, I avoid breakfast and head straight out the door before mother sees me.

I don't see Justin on my walk to school but I didn't really expect to. After all, I am running late so he would have left quite a long while ago.

A clap of thunder in the distance quickens my steps and I finally make it to school ten minutes late. I dart straight for my first lesson, Science.

As soon as I open the lab door, all eyes land on me.

Jodie flicks a braid over her shoulder and smiles coyly. "I suppose you can't afford a watch to keep track of the time. Poor Kayla. Life must be so hard living in the swamps."

My face turns beetroot red. I quickly take the spare seat in the front row and blink away a tear.

"That comment is unnecessary," Mrs Donald quips.

"What? lt was just a joke," Jodie drawls. "Can she not afford a joke, either?"

Mrs Donald slaps the text book on her desk. "Jodie, that is enough. I'm sure your parents raised you better than that."

Jodie rolls her eyes. "And I'm sure yours didn't raise you to be an uptight hypoc-"

"My parents raised me to treat janitors the same way I would treat the C.E.O. One day I hope you understand what that means. You have detention during second break for speaking back to me," Mrs Donald snaps before facing me. She looks pretty with her red hair in curls and soft pink rouge on her cheek bones. "Kayla, you may borrow my text book. Turn to page eleven."

Mrs Donald has always stuck up for me. While every other teacher favours the priveliged students, Mrs Donald has taken a strong liking to me. I have always felt completely safe in her classes because she never fails to rescue me from nasty students. Grabbing the text book from her desk, I return to my desk and open the text book to page eleven.

Jodie mutters under her breath but the rest of the lesson goes smoothly and undisturbed. Weirdly, so does the rest of the day.

****

As I leave the school grounds, I feel the first drop of rain. That would be my luck. The rain holds off all day and as soon as I'm about to walk home, it decides to release itself.

"Kayla! Wait up!"

I spin on my heels and spot Rachel running towards me. What does one of Jodie's side-kicks want to do with me? Her ginger ponytail sways behind her back as she jogs towards me.

"Hey, thanks for waiting for me."

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Listen, I've been thinking about something Mrs Donald said this morning. I cannot get her words out of my head."

I crinkle my nose, confused. "Why? I'm pretty sure she was talking to your friend, Jodie."

"Yes, but I haven't been kind to you, either."

"'Um, O.K," I murmur, not sure what to say.

"I want to apologize for everything I've ever done and said to you. You're life must be hard enough. I'm sure you don't need me or anyone else making your life even harder."

"Right."

Rachel smiles softly. "Are you willing to accept my apology?"

"What about Jodie?"

Rachel shrugs. "She is her own person. All I can do is promise that I will change and leave you alone. How about a clean slate?"

She extends her hand. I eye it off, hesitating.

"'You can trust me, Kayla. I meant what I said. I'll thank Mrs Donald tomorrow for knocking sense into me in just a few words."

I glance at her extended hand one more time. "Fine," I finally say, shaking her hand.

Her smile widens. "Great! Hey, I couldn't help but notice you had no lunch today." She digs around her bag and hands me a sandwich. "Here, it's ham and cheese."

"No thanks. Thank you for the offer but I'm-"

"Please, take it. It'll only get thrown in the bin."

I am starving and find myself taking the sandwich. "Well, thanks."

"No problem. I better head off before I miss the bus. I'll see you tomorrow."

She waves goodbye as she skips away to catch up to the other students who are boarding the bus.

Ignoring the rain drops, I amble my way home. When everyone is out of sight, I quickly unwrap the sandwich and take a large bite, ready to gobble it down in only a few mouthfuls.

Something rough crunches between my teeth and my mouth fills with a foul, dirty taste.

I spit it out.

Sucking on my tongue to draw saliva, I spit several times. I open the sandwich and spot a layer of dirt between the cheese and ham. I throw it in the grass, disgusted.

How stupid am I for trusting Rachel's apology and kindness? I should have known she doesn't have a kind bone in her body.

Tears roll down my cheeks and mixes in with the raindrops that is slapping against my face.

I run home, completely embarrassed. My vision is blurry but I keep a steady pace.

Ignoring my wet shoes and the dirt splatters up my legs, I hurl inside, run for my bedroom and slam the door behind me.

Mother will probably curse me for leaving dirty tracks inside our shack but I don't care. I dare her to say something...

She doesn't curse me, though. Instead, she treads gently into my room and gives me time to calm down before talking to me.

"Kayla?"

I sit up and wipe my eyes.

"Are you ready to talk to me?" she asks, concerned.

"No," I growl.

"Darling, do I need to get Doctor Mahreen to come and see you? You have been awfully angry and depressed lately. Maybe she can help."

"I don't need to see anyone! I just need to move away! I need to get out of that stupid school! I need to be normal!"

Mother wrings her hands on her purple tattered apron. "Kayla...you are normal. You have ten fingers and ten toes. How much more normal do you want to be?"

"You still don't get it, do you?" I fire. I barge to my tiny window and look out at the water soaked back yard. It looks like a muddy slosh pit.

"Get what, Kayla? What I do know is, you need to stop comparing your life to everyone else's. You don't have it as bad as you think."

I scoff. "Really? Snap back to reality, would you? You might be able to find clarity in all of your excuses but I can't. There are no excuses for dealing with mean, nasty girls."

"You're getting bullied?" Mother whispers.

"Yep. Every day. I ate dirt this afternoon. Yesterday it was name calling. Gee, I wonder what tomorrow will bring? I tried explaining this to you yesterday but as usual, everything that is negative goes straight over your head."

Silence fills the gap between Mother and I.

"Don't be too quick to tell me everything will be alright," I snap, full of sarcasm.

I turn away from the window and glare at her.

"I...I had no idea, Kayla. I'm sorry to hear that. I just thought-"

"Just leave my room. I want to go for a bath if that's O.K with you?"

"Of course. We can talk about this later."

I laugh sardonically. "No, we won't. I don't want to hear your positive notions on how to turn this around in a good way. There is nothing 'good' we can do about it. It is what it is. Now if you will excuse me," I snap, nodding towards the door.

Mother takes the hint and quickly leaves my room. I grab dry clothes and set off for a cold bath.