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Addie preferred to spend her breaks in school at the library. It was quiet and mainly empty, the perfect place to try to relax in between stressful and often overwhelming classes. Since Miss Murphy had left the school, a new teacher Mrs Simmons had starting teaching her classes and even though she was a lot nicer and helpful when Addie got overwhelmed, she still needed to decompress afterwards.
But for the last week the library had been closed. During a storm, a tree collapsed into the library roof and the entire room got flooded. Because of this, the school would not let any students go in until the roof got repaired but they hadn’t let anyone know when that would be.
Keedie had said it was because the school didn’t have enough money to fix the roof, but Addie didn’t get why that meant she couldn’t go in the library. The tree had been removed and she could just hide under the bits of roof that were still up but they wouldn’t allow that.
Because she couldn’t stay in the library, Addie had to go outside in the courtyard where everyone else was. She hated it. Audrey had found a quieter spot for them both to sit, but it was so loud. People all around them chatting, footballs flying around and constant strange looks exhausted Addie. Sometimes either of her sisters would come and sit with the two of them and even if it did help, she couldn’t wait until the library was finally open again.
One day, as Audrey and Addie were eating their lunch outside, Addie heard a conversation from three boys in a year or two above them that drew in her attention.
“And it completely bit off both of his legs.”
“What happened to him?”
“He died from the blood loss. I saw the pictures online it was so gross.”
“Shit, those sharks are real monsters.”
“That’s not true.” Addie said as she stood up and walked over to the group nearby her. Audrey following close behind her, holding both of their bags.
“What do you want kid?”
“You were wrong. Sharks aren’t monsters, they aren’t bad at all. You should be nicer because they are amazing creatures.”
“I don’t think the sharks can hear us so we are fine to say what we want.” One of the boys said as the other two laughed. She didn’t understand how that was funny. Obviously no sharks could hear them but that didn’t mean that they should say incorrect things about them.
Noticing the confused look on the younger girls face, another of the boys walked closer to her “What’s your problem? You and your friend should get lost and not listen in to conversations that are none of your business.”
Audrey tried to get Addie to follow her but she couldn’t. “I overheard you speaking loudly and you were incorrect so I told you that you were wrong.”
The boy closest to her rolled his eyes at her response “Does it matter?”
“Yes it does.” Addie started to get upset. She hated when people sad bad things about sharks just because they don’t understand or know anything about them. She knew that sharks were wonderful, intelligent animals that didn’t deserve the cruel things that people said about them.
The group got frustrated at her answer. One of the other boys walked closer to them and pushed Addie. It was a light push, but not expecting it, she fell over.
“What was that for?” Audrey asked, but they just ignored her and walked away. She turned back to Addie, who was still sitting on the ground “Are you ok?”
Seeing her younger sister walking up to a group of older boys, Keedie started walking over to make sure everything was ok. She knew a lot of the people in their school could be cruel and she didn’t want any of them to hurt her sisters. When she saw one of the boys push Addie, she ran over.
“What’s happened?” She asked her sister, but frozen still she didn’t respond. Instead Audrey did.
“They were saying some rude things about some shark attack that happened recently when Addie overheard them. She tried to tell them that they were wrong but they wouldn’t listen.”
This didn’t surprise Keedie. Whenever something negative was said about either of the sisters special interests, it felt like it physically hurt them so she understood why Addie tried to talk to the older boys.
Sitting down next to her sister, she noticed a tear falling down her face. Wiping it away pulled Addie out of her trance and she noticed her sister next to her. She pulled her little sister into a hug and she hugged her back.
“I’m sorry they were saying such horrible things. I know you care so deeply for sharks and I am proud of you for sticking up for them.”
Addie didn’t reply, but she rest her head on her older sisters shoulder, glad that she understood her.