My Dawn

Chapter 4

Jessie and Patrick followed after her. Laura tripped and accidentally pushed Dawn off the board making her fall. Dawn scraped her chin and arms. Laura looked shocked as she got up. Dawn looked at her angry.

“GO HOME LAURA!” Dawn screamed.

“Talk to me!” Laura cried.

Dawn was getting visibly upset. She was turning red trying to control herself. Jessie and Patrick got closer.

“Just go back to your privileged life.” Dawn said.

Laura watched Dawn turn away from her and get back on her board.

“Dawn.” Laura cried.

Jessie grabbed Laura as Patrick kept running after Dawn and pushed her again.

Dawn had been pushed to the ground again.

“Stop being a b***h to Laura!” Patrick shouted.

Dawn looked at Patrick and kicked his leg.

“You all should return to your home! Stay away from me from now on. The friendship bridge between Laura and I, it has officially been burned down! If she cared about the friendship she would have listened and given me time. Now go to your f*****g family and your privileged lives and leave me the f**k alone!” Dawn screamed.

Lucas and Scott were running to interfere as Tate was getting in his car to drive to her. Patrick was about to get up but Lucas grabbed his arm.

“Trust me, stay down and let her leave.” Lucas whispered.

Dawn turned around and started skating faster away from them. Laura was crying into Jessie’s arms as he walked closer to them. Lucas helped Patrick up.

“You should have given her time. Now she’s going to be hurt.” Scott said.

“Why do you care if she’s hurt? She just hurt Laura’s feelings.” Patrick snapped.

“And Laura hurt her feelings first. Read between the lines.” Scott snapped.

They looked at Scott confused.

“We were told without permission which is why we are the only ones who know. Dawn talked about telling Laura when she knew she could trust Laura. We advised her to wait until she knew Laura was a real friend.” Lucas said.

“Dawn said ‘home’ and ‘privilege’. Not once did you hear her speak about parents. Put two and two together you idiots.” Scott snapped.

Patrick and Jessie looked at each other. Jessie let go of Laura.

“She has no parents or a home?” Jessie asked.

Patrick looked at Jessie confused.

“Tate, Anna and Richard are her support workers. She lives in a temporary home. They have been passing her along from home to home because the other kids try hurting her. They want to remove her because she stands up against bullying. She’s literally the only person I know who fights to try to protect others. Dawn fights to feel powerful because she has no power in her situation. And you pushed and pushed which broke her feelings. She tried to leave, because she doesn’t like showing she’s upset or hurt. And you still tried, you still pushed her. We haven’t known her long and even we have learned to give her space.” Lucas said.

“We look after her at school because we know her story, Richard explained it to us. Now you can choose to apologise the next time you see her, or leave her alone. She doesn’t need another person to make her feel like shit.” Scott said.

“She tried killing herself by swallowing a lot of pills in the last home. And this one she’s in now, has a creepy man that stares at her all the time. But until he touches her, they can’t move her. That’s their rules. So, Dawn feels alone and she’s scared. She comes out here to avoid his gaze. She tries to stay out as late as possible. Even Dawn has considered sleeping on the streets but she knows winter is coming soon and she won’t survive it.” Lucas said.

“So, do us a favour and do Dawn a favour by stay away from her. And the next time you.” Scott started saying.

He was gesturing to Patrick.

“Touch her or hurt her, I will come for you. I am a black belt and I won’t stop until I break your bones and make you cry for mercy.” Scott threatened.

Patrick looked concerned. He stepped back and Lucas stood next to Scott.

“Laura, you should keep her life a secret from everyone. We aren’t going to hurt you, but if Dawn finds out others know, she will know you told them and you know she won’t like it.” Lucas said.

Scott and Lucas walked back to their things then left. They were pissed off because of the boys with Laura, and because of Laura. Laura just stood there crying. Jessie was walking away from them.

“I thought you were sleeping over?” Patrick asked.

“I will another time. I need to think.” Jessie said.

Jessie started to run down the road. Laura and Patrick walked home slowly crying.

Jessie was running to Dawn, she was walking up the footpath on the hill slowly. She was carrying her board. His heart was racing as he ran closer to her. Dawn heard heavy footsteps and got spooked. She turned around and saw Jessie puffed out and exhausted. He grabbed his ribs and gestured her to wait. Dawn was near the top of the hill. She kept walking.

Jessie was struggling to breathe but he walked slowly until he fell to his knees. Dawn put her stuff on the grass next to the footpath at the top of the hill. She walked back and helped him up from his knees. He was gasping and wheezing as he breathed heavily. Her arm around his chest as she held his arm over her shoulder. Dawn helped him to sit down at the top of the hill. His face was red. Tate got out the car.

“Is he okay?” Tate asked.

“Can you grab us a water?” Dawn asked.

Tate nodded. He walked to the back door of his car and opened the esky to pull out two cold waters. He handed them to Dawn.

“Thank you, Tate.” Dawn said.

Dawn opened one and handed it to Jessie. He nodded slightly as he tried to lean himself upwards. Dawn opened the other one and drank a few sips. Jessie was gasping and wheezing. There was silence between them after the wheezing.

“Care to explain why you tried giving yourself a heart attack?” Dawn asked.

Jessie nodded. He was still catching his breath but it wasn’t as loud as before.

“I wanted to talk. To apologise.” Jessie said as he wheezed.

“There is nothing to talk about. They were told to wait until I was ready and they chose to press on it. It was disrespectful and honestly hurt my feelings a lot. I wouldn’t have forced someone to speak.” Dawn said.

“Patrick cares about Laura, and Laura cares about you. If I get them to agree to not bring it up again, could you forgive them?” Jessie asked.

He was getting a steadier breath.

“I don’t know. The damage is done. And Patrick f*****g pushed me. First Laura did but I was willing to overlook it because I saw she was on the ground. So, I know she fell. But he did it on purpose. I will never trust him so there’s no point in forgiving them. They are a bad bunch of rotten eggs.” Dawn said.

“Sometimes trust has to be built to withstand storms. And the same goes for relationships. So even though you called her your best friend, you can fight still. You two are great and hilarious together. We saw that when we saw you on the stairs running today. You helped get her out so she was able to cheer up. If Patrick ever did that to me, I’m pretty sure I’d consider him my number 1 best friend. I have 3 best friends.” Jessie said.

“You know the definition of best friend means the best one out of all of them. You can technically only have one. So, you’re sort of lying to yourself if you say that you have 3.” Dawn stated.

“She has a point.” Tate called out.

“Alright smarty pants.” Jessie said.

He drank some more water.

“Well, how about the fact that I also want to be your friend.” Jessie said.

Dawn looked at him confused.

“I want to be your friend, Laura wants to be your friend. Those two boys want to be your friend. I don’t know about Patrick. But we want to have you around. Will you consider it?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t know. I might be unable to have friends anyway. It’s why it was easier to shout that it’s burned. I’m probably going to end up at a different school soon.” Dawn explained.

“What if, and hear me out. What if we can ask to speak to the school and I pretend I did it. I can’t get suspended. I can pretend you stole the spray paint from me to protect me.” Jessie said.

“Then you’d get charges and you would get in trouble.” Dawn said.

“It’s worth it, if you get to stay with Laura.” Jessie said.

“Why are you determined to keep me close to Laura?” Dawn asked.

“Can you keep a secret?” Jessie asked.

“I’m good at secrets. I don’t talk to people about other people’s lives or life because it isn’t my life or my story.” Dawn said.

Jessie sighed as he looked at Dawn.

“I overheard my parents talking once when I was younger about how Laura and Patrick’s mother died in a car accident. Their dad was beside himself with grief. That’s why I first started hanging out with him. See, originally I just thought he was a dork. But I got to see he was a nice guy. He’s nice to his sister but she’s never had any friends over. She is always crying in her room. That is until recently and we learned she met you recently. I don’t know if you would be her best friend again, but I am hoping you could at least just be normal friends with her.” Jessie said.

Dawn looked down the hill and sighed.

“I didn’t know.” Dawn said.

“No one at school does.” Jessie said.

“I have no parents either. Mine were killed in a home invasion. I was hiding inside the toy box as soon as I heard the first scream. I have been from home to home since. At first, I was in a home for nearly 2 years, then the older boy tried to bath me without permission and raised alarms. So, I was passed along again and again. I haven’t stayed anywhere for more than 3 months since then.” Dawn said softly.

Jessie was looking at the ground as he listened.

“Why not explain that to them? Or I can so you don’t have to.” Jessie said.

Dawn sniffled and that’s when he noticed she had started crying.

“I’m sorry I made you cry.” Jessie said.

“It wasn’t you. It’s why I don’t like talking about it. It brings back the memories, the screams, the scene I saw when I woke up in the morning and climbed out of the toy box. I was only 7 when it happened. And I find it bad to cry in front of people. To show I am vulnerable. I see it as a weakness which makes others try to hurt me. When I started going to school with Laura, she was alone and sad. I noticed it on day one. The first day I stayed away from everyone because I was adjusting to the whole new school. But boys kept trying to talk to me, which you know already as Laura explained. Lucas and Scott did. They would sit near me during lunch. Except when I went to the bathroom, they followed me because they saw the hassle with the boys the first day. They would have protected Laura if they stayed there. But they couldn’t have known. I had a plan to get him back but I need her to confirm who it was.” Dawn said.

“What if I find out for you? Then will you forgive her?” Jessie asked.

Dawn sighed.

“If I’m moving, there’s no point.” Dawn said.

“What’s your number for where you are?” Jessie asked.

“Why?” Dawn asked.

“So that I can call you to talk and possibly tell you the name if I find it out.” Jessie said.

“I’ll be at the park down there tomorrow night unless I am removed from the home.” Dawn explained.

“Then I will see you tomorrow. Do you want me to explain everything to them so you don’t have to?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t want to tell them. If you want to, you can. But I don’t want to. Not after tonight. I wanted to tell Laura, but Scott and Lucas told me to wait until I knew I could trust Laura.” Dawn said.

“You can trust Laura. I will make sure that it stays a secret.” Jessie said.

Dawn nodded. She focused her eyes on a car flashing the headlights before pulling up.

“Why is that car flashing its lights?” Dawn asked.

“That’s Patrick’s dad. I am meant to be at their house tonight.” Jessie said.