Allie’s Story.

The sunlight glowed through the smiley-face print curtains. Allie yawned and sat up. She blew a few strands of ruby coloured hair out of her pale skinned face and, stretching, drew back the curtains. She blinked her emerald green eyes in her bright room. “Are you awake, Allie?” called her mum. 

“Half awake,” Allie replied. She pulled on a shirt and jeans. She trudged to the kitchen. “Eat with your mouth closed, Tom, and stop... Oh, there you are, Al! Have a good sleep?” Her dad and little brother were sitting at the table eating breakfast. Well, her dad was, Tom was ‘experimenting’ and throwing cookies everywhere. “Remember, kid, if Randy starts bullying you again, just tell us and we can sort it out,” declared Allie’s mum, sitting at the table, with a bowl of hot porridge in her hand. Allie did remember. Oh, yes, she did. Days and days and days of “Redhead” and “Idiot” and “Sucker” and “Smelly Allie.” Randy, the school bully, loved tormenting kids that were smaller than him, but his main (and favourite) target was Allie. 

She gulped down her toast, fed her guinea pigs, kissed her mum and dad goodbye and headed off to Eugene Bell’s Primary School Of All Knowledge, with her schoolbag slung over one shoulder. Tom crept up behind her. “Hey! Allie, Allie, Allie, Allie, Allie, Allie? Can we play I Spy? Please? Okay, I Spy with my little eye, something beginning with...Allie, what does grass start with?” 

“G,” replied Allie. 

“Oh yeah, something beginning with G!” announced Tom. 

“Grass?” suggested Allie. 

“How did you know?” asked Tom. 

Finally, the towering gates of Eugene Bell’s Primary School Of All Knowledge stood above them, huge and grey. “Meet you at the giant magnolia tree after school, okay, Tom? Have a great day!” Allie walked to her classroom and opened the door. 

“HEY! EVERYBODY! It’s Smelly Allie!” Randy’s skinny face appeared in the doorway. “You can’t come in, Ginger! It’s invitation only!” Allie pushed past him, cheeks scarlet. Breathe, Allie, breathe. Ignore him. “Take no notice,” Allie told herself. 

“WEIRDO!” jeered Randy, with narrowed eyes. Fighting back tears, she tiptoed into the classroom. “Hey, hey, hey! How’s my favourite buddy, Al?” Her best friend Isla strode into the classroom. Isla had wavy, long, brown hair and warm brown eyes. “Did you have a good...” She stopped and looked at the tears now streaming down Allie’s face. “What’s wrong?” asked Isla sympathetically. 

“I’m sick. Of Randy,” Allie let out a miserable sob. “I’ll never be able to do anything without Randy attacking me with mean insults all the time!” 

“Cheer up, Al! Don’t be miserable! Be happy!” Isla pulled a stretched, going at 900,000mph face that was supposed to be a smiley face. “You’re right, Isla. Being silly. Need to cheer up.” muttered Allie, wiping her eyes. 

The high pitched school bell rang out into the cold morning air. Allie and Isla rushed into the classroom, along with a stream of other students who were also in Room 6. Their teacher’s name was Miss Jean, and she was probably one of the coolest, prettiest, and friendliest teachers in history. She had short, shoulder-length blonde hair, and beautiful, sapphire blue eyes that made everyone who looked at her trust her immediately. “Hello, my little monkeys! How are you today? It’s so good to see you all bright eyed and bushy tailed! Well, most of you, anyway. What happened, Allie? Oh, I think I know,” Miss Jean glanced towards Randy. Allie nodded and sighed sadly, wishing she could run, hide, or curl up in a ball. Randy's bullying has gone too far, thought Isla. He really needed to stop. Isla patted her on the back and glared at Randy. At the moment he was carving swearwords into his desk, so luckily he didn’t see Isla. 

“Okay, class! Get into groups of four and try to work out these maths questions, which I don’t think you will be able to, because I made them extra hard!” Miss Jean exploded with maniacal laughter, which made the whole class jump. Allie and Isla sat down at their table and snatched the maths sheets. “Didn’t Miss Jean say groups of four? Because there’s one thing I know: this thing here is a group of two!” A second after Isla had uttered those words, two freckly faces appeared at their side. “Hello! Do you need an extra two people? If not, we’ll go somewhere else. If so, Amy and Jamie Robinson at your service!” The Robinson twins flung themselves into an orange fluffy sofa that was squatting next to the table. They were both wearing colourful dungarees with giant buttons. “Now, how hard are these math questions?” wondered Jamie, grabbing the sheets. Five minutes later they had finished. They took it up to Miss Jean, who immediately approved of the group’s quick maths skills. “Wow! I thought I came up with hard division questions! Obviously not, huh? I’m really impressed!” said Miss Jean. 

“Huh! Allie’s just an ugly cheat!” snorted Randy. 

“RIGHT! THAT’S IT, RANDY! STAY IN AFTER SCHOOL!!” yelled Miss Jean.

Half an hour later, it was lunchtime. Amy, Jamie, Allie and Isla were the first ones out of the class. “Oh man, it’s great to have something to eat! I was starving in there!” said Allie, munching on a cookie. “Allie Smith! You had breakfast not that long ago! You must have a never-ending pit for a stomach!” exclaimed Isla, amazed. “Although it’s good to see you’ve cheered up.” Just then, Amy let out a GIANT belch, and the four of them exploded into peals of laughter as the bell rang to indicate the end of lunch. 

They marched into the classroom and Miss Jean pulled Isla aside. “So how’s things going with Allie?” asked Miss Jean. “A lot better. She cheered up during lunchtime. Poor little Allie. I feel sorry for her, getting bullied by Randy,” said Isla. “At least she’s happy again.” Isla glanced at Allie, who was comfortably chatting with Amy. “Isla? Can you keep an eye on Allie, please?” asked Miss Jean. “Hmm? What do you mean? Spy on her?” Isla was flicking dust balls off the desk, so she immediately misheard her. Miss Jean laughed. “No, silly. Keep an eye on Allie. Just keep close to her, sort of... um.... how shall I say this.... ah, yes, protect her. Don’t tell Allie I said this, because the poor little kid has got enough on her hands already, okay? Keep a low profile, if you know what I mean.” With that Miss Jean walked over to her teacher’s chair and started writing end of year reports. “Copy that.” muttered Isla. She raised a hand to her head in a little salute and skipped towards Allie, Amy and Jamie with a huge smile on her little face. 

“Right, kiddies! Today we are going to be doing a bit of chemistry! Pull on your lab coats and goggles and I’ll start handing round ingredients for you to mix.”

“This is awesome!” whispered Allie. Miss Jean strode over to their table, and put down a plate of ingredients. Jamie grabbed a bowl and a cooking spoon. A blonde girl and a black haired boy came over. The boy whispered "Can we join your table? We've got absolutely nowhere to go!" He and the girl looked at the small group with pleading eyes. “Of course, Alex!! The more the merrier!!” said Amy. You’re very kind,” said the blonde girl, whose name was Ruby. Ruby and Alex were brother and sister, even though they looked nothing alike. 

All was going well until Alex mixed baking soda with vinegar. BOOM!!! The sour smelling liquid trickled down the sides of the bowl, off the table, and dripped onto the carpet. “Oops, shall I get a cloth?” squeaked Alex. 

“Oh man, that vinegar STINKS!!!” said Isla. 

“That’s where you’re wrong. It’s Allie that stinks!” grunted Randy. Allie glared at him. 

“What do they put in that stuff? Don’t bother Alex, I’ll do it.” assured Isla. 

“No, sit down Isla, I’ll do it.” Ruby began to mop up the putrid liquid. 

At the end of the day Allie and Isla hugged Miss Jean, grabbed their bags and headed off home. 

Tom had long gone, but if you squinted you could see a little blue onesie with a mop of red hair, in the distance, running back home. 

“Wait!” yelled a gruff voice. Allie and Isla turned around. It was Randy. “Wait!! Allie!! Miss Jean talked to me just now, and I feel really guilty. I’m sorry about bullying you. It’s just I get really angry sometimes and I take it all out on you. I’m SO sorry.” Randy hung his head. The two girls looked at each other. They hadn’t expected this. “That’s okay, Randy.” said Allie. “Cool,” Randy breathed a sigh of relief. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.” 

With that, Allie and Isla turned and skipped back home.

The End

By Emma!