by David Barron
Chapter Four Molly has trouble with Roland
Molly was ready for school and waiting in the kitchen, for her mum, it being the start of the new term. Molly’s mum grabbed her bag and coat from off the kitchen table, and with her car keys in her mouth, ushered Molly from the house and into the back of the car. She leaned into the back and whilst making sure Molly had her seat belt on she said,
"Ok now Molly it’s the new term, so I want you to work really hard, you know lots of catching up to do, what with going to a new school."
"Yes I know mum, I’ll try my very best", and with that they were off down the road. Molly settled back into her routine quite quickly and after a few days, things were back to normal. Two weeks after she had begun her new term, Molly was out in the play-ground with Amy, and the two were talking, about their favourite pop stars, and what they had been given for Christmas, when Roland leant his head in between them and started laughing. "Ooooh guess who got a dolly for Christmas then, bet she’s out every day pushing it in her toy pram." His other friends then joined in the Mickey taking, and Molly got quite upset. Amy had run away as she had had some dealings with these boys before, and didn’t really wish to get involved.
"I’ve been watching you", he said, "Think you’re a proper little miss don’t you with all your airs and graces." Molly said she didn’t know what he was talking about, and then he started to copy everything that she said, in a bad imitation of her voice. Of course the rest of his little band of trouble makers thought that this was hilarious, and egged him on all the more. Just then the bell sounded and as Molly made to go back to the classroom, Roland told her to keep quiet or he would beat her up after school. Molly could not wait for the end of the day, and watched the clock all afternoon, which seemed to be going very slowly. That night Molly sat up in her room and cried, for although she was no coward, she was just a girl, and Roland was a very big boy for his age, and he had the backing of all those other boys, so she couldn’t see how she could get herself out of this one. At the sound of her crying, there appeared from under the bed, her friend Fluff, who looked at her quizzically.
"Now then what have we here Molly, why the tears, I thought you liked going to school."
"Well I did", she said, and started to tell him then of all that had happened to her that day. Fluff shook his head and sighed, "Well we can’t have that now can we; we must formulate a plan to take this young scamp down a peg or two", but Molly did not see how this could easily be achieved. Fluff then told her of his intentions for next day and that he would have a few of his friend’s to help him. Molly said,
"But won’t they see you Fluff", but he assured her that everything would be all right and that she was to trust him.
That night Molly did not sleep much as she was starting to worry if this was a good idea. What would happen if it just made things worse? In the morning she rushed about as usual, shower, dressing in her school uniform, and trying to eat her breakfast quickly before her mum hurried her out of the door. For some reason they were always late, and too make matters worse her mum had now found a part time job in the local post office and she had to be in early every morning. At school she was met by Amy at the gate who told her she was very sorry for having run away from her the other day, but Molly said not to worry as she understood why she had done it. That morning in class Roland was being particularly nasty, elbowing her when the teachers back was turned and hitting her in the back of her head with his ruler, whilst mouthing cry baby and sniggering. Molly sat quietly and never rose to the bait, and later the bell went for the first break of the morning. Once outside Roland made straight for her, but tripped and fell flat on his face. Everyone started laughing, and he did not like that one little bit, and determined to make Molly the butt of some more of his cruel jokes. He stood up and looked around, for he thought that someone must have tripped him but there was no one near enough for him to blame. He started again in Molly’s direction, a cruel smile playing across his face, but yards from reaching her he fell again, this time face down in a puddle from the previous night’s rain. Again everyone laughed at him, and fuming he retreated, and went back in to school. Lunchtime came and went with no incidents with Roland and Molly thought he might now leave her alone, but she could see he was still livid from his humiliation of the morning. The next day started well for Molly and Roland kept his distance, but by lunchtime he had determined to give her a beating just for the hell of it. Amy had just walked away from Molly to talk to another girl, so when Roland spied Molly standing on her own, he rushed over to kick her. At the same moment he lifted his leg up, he fell backwards with such a wallop to the back of his head, that he started to cry. Amy looked down at him and said, "Well who’s the cry baby now then", and the whole school erupted into laughter. Roland was jeered at and made to look a right fool. After that episode his standing with the other boys diminished, and he was never the same around Molly ever again, in fact he became a very quiet boy, for he feared that his old friends would bully him. Molly’s life at school became a joy, and she did well in all her exams, but she always knew she had Fluff and his friends to thank.
As time went by Molly made more friends, and had them round to her house to play on the swing her dad had put up in the bottom of the garden. Fluff was waiting every night when she got home, and the two would sit and talk and laugh, after she had finished her homework of course. Summer was drawing near, and Molly knew she would be leaving soon for the summer break. She could not wait for dad had said they might go to Spain that year. Molly had only been abroad the once, and that was only to France and they’d stayed in a tent near some forest, she could not pronounce the name of. She had enjoyed it, well especially the forest, wandering through the trees and watching the sunlight filter through the leaves, and of course the swings, that people put up from them. Whizzing up into the air on a swing was great fun, which is why she’d asked her dad to put one up at the bottom of the garden. That night she lay awake and thought of those trees, and swinging through them like Tarzan or Jane. Fluff had said he would miss her terribly as he’d grown quite attached to her, and she noticed never left her side much nowadays. When she was in school, she knew he was there too, even though she could not see him, and sometimes wondered how he got there so fast before her, and how he got home too. The days marched by and then it was the last day of term and all the children were very happy, talking about their plans for the summer. Some like her were going on holidays abroad, some holidaying at home, and some who were not so well off as the rest, were going nowhere at all. Molly thought that this was a bit of a shame, for everyone deserved to go on holiday, that’s what they were for surely. Molly got home that night and had asked her dad why some of the kids weren’t able to go on any kind of a holiday, and he had said that it was a great national shame, that some kids didn’t even have enough to eat in this country. They were living below the poverty line and that it was governments fault, and that it didn’t matter who was in power, they only cared about themselves, and had proved it often enough. Molly had said that was awful and why didn’t the people do something about it, but dad just replied that they were apathetic and didn’t believe anything would change no matter which side were in. Molly determined that she would do something about it for next year, too late now as they were leaving in a week’s time.
