Don’t Believe Them by Leah Parker (the beginning after the end read novel TXT) 📖

Today, Mum needed me to go to the shop for her and if I had one Euro for each stare and comment, I’d be richer than Her Majesty Queen of England. And the Queen is stinking rich. It was nice to be noticed but for the wrong reason. I would like to be noticed for being a hero or something along those lines.

Dreading it, I logged back onto my Facebook and it caught my attention that Adalyn was sticking up for me. One of the comments were:

Stop living! You almost killed others, you deserve to die!

And Addie wrote:

Are you kidding? He didn’t do it. I promise. He was cuddling me. The new kid next to us was texting and I was sobbing. Trust me, Jesse doesn’t have the guts.

Doesn’t have the guts, eh? Imagine. If everyone found out about Tucker and his skeletons in the closet, they’d want a hero. If I hurt or killed him, I would be the hero. But knowing my luck, he’d still be alive and I would be arrested and taken to prison. That’s probably not the best idea after all. Okay, I don’t want Tuck to die, I just want him to be seriously injured.

When we go back to school in September, everything will be back to normal. Whatever normal is. And Tuck will not be there. He’s already said he was going back to Wales in September so . . .

Today I decided to wear my baby pink and white polka dot shirt with my dark blue jeans and a red dickie bow or bow tie depending on how you say it. Usually, I wear either a black one or a blue one, but today I am wearing a red one. Looking in the mirror to blow dry my hair after a shower, something caught my eye. I had a volcano on my face. Argh! No! This volcano NEEDS to erupt. I’m still wondering who this -unknown- person is. It can’t be Tucker because I have his number, the same with Mickey so I’m really confused.

After getting dressed, I went back downstairs to watch television with Mum. We watched this game show where you have to guess answers but the only hint is if it’s a tv programme or book or whatever. Charades basically just with words. Mum was staring at this newlywed couple who won the game and won €100,000.

“What would we do if we had that money?” She looked at me and I saw a tear welling up in her eye.

“I don’t know, mother” I replied as calmly as possible. She was emotional and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Not even I knew how to calm her down when she cries; it scares me. She scares me.

I left the room before she blew. But as soon as I got over the threshold into the hallway, I got another message from -unknown-.

Jesse, you know who I am. I am best friends with the person who bullies you and I want to apologise for her. I’m sorry.

Chelsea x

Chelsea? So Eilis set her up. Eilis was behind this. I bet Ricky was too, I bet they’re still together and just lying to me so I trust them and then they betray me by spying on me. Woah, and it’s my mum who gets paranoid.

1/7

I didn’t write last night because I was with my mum having an all-nighter. It was fun but she fell asleep at about midnight on the sofa so I brung a blanket from the airing cupboard and tucked her in.

Oh what a surprise, it’s raining again. I’m still not sure whether I should forgive Chelsea or not. Everything is just floating around in my brain and I cant seem to get it off my chest. Chelsea seemed sincere about it but it was over message and it’s difficult to tell if it’s a lie or the truth. I need to tell a secret, in the first year I had a small crush on Chelsea but she didn’t like me in that way. Luckily it was just a phase and now all I feel is disgust. About a year ago, I heard that Chelsea had a boyfriend but she was paying him to be hers. I was surprised that he accepted the money. I saw them kissing in class, once and I honestly thought I was going to hurl; it was that gross.

Chelsea is a nice girl but she does have her mean streaks. When we went to school together, she had brown hair with blonde streaks- which is forbidden- thick glasses but she wasn’t a nerd. She was on the cheer team which made her popular. Ever since first year Eilis and Chelsea had been best buds and it made me vulnerable to their bullying. What I might do is call her and meet up with her. If Ricky is here, so should Eilis and Chelsea.

I rang the horrible girl and she picked up.

“Hello, Chelsea.” I said with a tone.

“Jesse, hi. I’m so glad you called. I wanted to say I’m sor-”

“I don’t want to hear it” I said cutting her off “tell me, why did you hurt me all these years and now feel sorry for me?” I asked a serious question and I didn’t get an answer; she hung up. Looks like she never practiced that question. I grinned at my phone as I she hung up, she didn’t have the right not to give me a genuine answer so I rang and rang and rang but just like you thought, she rejected all those calls.

I got another message from Tucker- I kept them all and didn’t answer.

Jesse, I saw you. Come get me, or I’ll come get you. Let’s fight like men, not like girls- oh wait you are. What a mummy’s boy.

That’s it. He wants a fight, he’s going to get one. I threw on my slob top and a pair of jeans that I hate. I didn’t want his blood to get on my nice clothes, or my dickie bow.

I stormed out of the house slamming the door, waking my mum up. I stomped all the way to his and out of nowhere he hit me at the back of my head. It shocked me. I got up from the floor and punched him in the mouth. He had a posse. Little did he know I had told Mickey, who was already here. I saw him at the corner and nodded my head discretely. Mickey came running over and ambushed Tucker. He tackled him to the ground and allowed me to punch the life out of him. Tucker rolled onto his back and kicked Mickey in his balls. Mickey fell to the floor screaming in pain. If he messes with my mate, he messes with me too.

Tucker’s friend slit my arm with some plastic so I spun his arm backwards and lifted it up. He was yelling in agony begging me to let him go but I gave no mercy. He ran off crying to his mother of something and I was left to deal with Tuck on my own. It was a revelation. I never thought I was capable of this but it just goes to show that I am evil under my skin. I’m more than a picture. I was picturesque.

Looking into Tucker’s eyes I could see he had had enough and he was a coward. I was not a phoney, I was a fighter. All these bullies pushed me to this point and I want to thank them all because if they didn’t pick on me I wouldn’t be here now beating up the person who almost killed a school of children and nearly burnt mine and me mammys relationship to the ground. I wasn’t going to give up that easily. I knocked Tucker round the gob and he dropped to the ground. Finally, to finish him off, I sat on top of him punching him with all my might. I was so tired and out of breath. I had no energy left but I was going to carry on hitting until he surrenders.

Someone from the public pulled me off of Tucker and I was fuming. I wasn’t going to let him get away. I managed to get free and I sprinted home, my arm dripping with blood. I left a trail of blood all the way home.

I tore through the door and Mum looked at me like I had told her I was a girl. I could tell she had been crying. She ran to me and slapped me round the face. I was shook. She had never, ever laid a finger on me. Shocked as hell, I ran to the bathroom to clean my arm, I looked into the mirror and saw a red raw handprint on my pale, sweaty face. Did she hate me that much, she had to hit me? I’m pretty sure I’m disciplined enough that she doesn’t have to lay a hand on me. I ran down the stairs fuming.

“Why did you hit me!” I screamed at the top of my lungs. She turned around and gave me the eyes.

“Why did you beat up that kid?!” She replied. She was nowhere near as angry as me though.

“He threatened me! He sent me horrible messages! He framed me. Did you think I did that?” That was a tough question but if she truly loved me, she would be on my side.

“Yes! You did it, okay. There you got me to say it. You are a total disappointment and embarrassment to our legacy. IM ASHAMED YOU’RE MY SON!” now that hurt. I nodded me head and stormed out the house. She didn’t have to say that, that was plain rude and disrespectful. I couldn’t help it, but I was angry and I started crying. The anger and the sadness had to come out one way or another. Was she ashamed to have me as her son?

3/7

I apologise for not writing yesterday. I went home and someone had called social services. I bet you any money it was Tucker. Mum tried hiding all her pills and I hid my arm. I didn’t want to leave my mum when she needed me the most.

The social worker, Lacy, noticed I was holding my arm. She unbuttoned my cuff and rolled up my sleeve where she saw a bandage. I reassured her my mum didn’t do that, but that just made her even more suspicious. The police looked around the house and found all of mum’s medication. She was as shocked as I was. I asked Lacy how she knew what had happened and she said:

“CCTV and a blood trail. It’s very suspicious.” That was true.

This morning, Lacy and the police knocked on the door. Mum answered it and I saw her kneel on the ground, sobbing her heart out. The Garda and Lacy saw me at the top of the stairs and forcibly restrained Mum as they shot up the stairs.

“What’s going on?” I asked as calmly as possible. Lacy took me into my room and told me that I was being taken to a care home. Those words ‘care home’ made me feel sick inside. Lacy helped me pack my bags- which took a couple of hours- and matched me out the house. I wasn’t even allowed to hug my mum goodbye. Many tears fell from my eyelids, I couldn’t control it.

The care home was clean and didn’t smell like cats. My room was huge and I had plenty of room to do what I like. They took my phone for evidence while I unpacked. It was nothing like home, but I was still homesick. I missed my mum, I hope she missed me too. I know it had only been six hours since I had left my home, but I decided to write Mum a letter. I knew the exact address but it could