Chapter 4. An Unexpected Ally
I wanted to be happy too but all the way home on the bus, I had a heavy heart. My phone pinged as soon as I got in the house. Tagged again. I thought about this week's hashtag … #foodbankgirl? #nomoney#nosupermarket?
I didn't want to look but I wanted to know what people were saying about me. Be brave, Meghan! Ok, here goes. I looked at my screen. There was another big photo of me and the hashtag #theyellowstickergirl#totalcharitycase. The worst thing was the comments though: ‘Disappear, you sad loser!' and ‘Tell your lazy dad to get a job!' That was it, I couldn't read any more. I threw my phone on the floor and lay on my bed crying into my pillow. Why were people so horrible? My poor dad wasn't lazy, he was fantastic. After a few minutes, I heard a knock on my bedroom door. It was mum.
‘Come and have a vanilla yoghurt, love,' she said as she came into my room but she stopped when she saw me on the bed.
‘What's wrong, Meggie?' she asked. ‘Come here, love.'
Mum gave me a big hug and I really wanted to tell her about Kyla and the other kids at school.
‘Remember, you can tell me and dad anything Meggie,' mum continued.
‘I know but you and dad have enough problems at the moment,' I said.
‘Listen to me, Meggie,' mum said in her serious voice. ‘Your dad and I have some money problems, that's all. The most important thing for us is that you and Leah are happy. Now, tell me what's wrong.'
Between my tears, I told mum everything. I told her about the photos at the supermarket, at the bus stop and outside the food bank. I told her about my new nickname, ‘The Yellow Sticker Girl' and about how everyone laughed and pointed at me.
Mum listened quietly and then she finally said, ‘Ok, don't worry about anything, Meghan. I'll go to school on Monday morning and talk to the headteacher.'
No! No! No!
‘Mum, please don't go to school. Everyone will see you!'
Mum agreed not to go to school …YET… but there were two conditions: I had to tell her everything from now on and I had to speak to my form teacher about the situation. Great! Lucky for me, I got a bad cold that week and stayed home from school. TV in bed? Tick! No homework? Tick! No bullies? Tick. What a great week! By Saturday I was better and decided to go to the food bank with mum after work. I liked Maureen and I really wanted some more vanilla yoghurt. But my good luck was about to end … as soon as we entered the hall, I saw Kyla! What was she doing here?! Mum saw her too and waved. Kyla was with her mum and two little brothers and they all came over. No! Please! Kyla didn't look like her usual self though and she certainly wasn't laughing now. ‘Is everything ok?' mum asked Kyla's mum. ‘No, not really,' Kyla's mum replied sadly. ‘My husband is unemployed at the moment.' ‘Don't worry,' mum said. ‘We're in the same situation but everyone here is really friendly. Meghan, go and show Kyla what to do.' What? Me? I was about to protest but mum gave me one of THOSE looks. I knew I didn't have any choice. Kyla didn't look very happy either but I took her over to a table where there was some rice and pasta in a box and gave her a shopping bag.
I thought mum was crazy! I didn't want to talk to my bully and I definitely didn't want to help her. I wanted to be mean to Kyla. I wanted to make her feel embarrassed. I wanted to make her feel as bad as she made me feel at school. I wanted to … I stopped and looked at Kyla. She looked so sad and scared.
‘Look, Kyla,' I said. ‘It's not…'
Kyla interrupted me, ‘No, Meghan, there's something I need to say first: I'm sorry.'
Sorry? Wow! I wasn't expecting that!
‘You're sorry?' I asked.
‘Yes,' replied Kyla. ‘Really sorry.'
‘Why did you do it?' I asked.
‘I didn't want people to know that my dad hasn't got a job and that we haven't got any money,' she confessed. ‘I didn't want people to laugh at me so I got them to laugh at you.'
Great! I was a distraction!
I was still a bit mad but then Kyla started to tell me about her situation at home and it was terrible. Her mum was sick so she couldn't work and then her dad lost his job last year. They didn't have enough money to pay the rent or bills and she was worried about her two little brothers.
I still didn't really understand why she bullied me but I understood how it felt to want to protect a brother or sister. Maybe me and Kyla had more in common than we thought. I decided to give her a chance.
‘Look, let's start again, Kyla,' I suggested. ‘We were friends at primary school, maybe we can be friends again.'
‘Really? Thank you, Meghan,' she replied.
We were talking about all the fun we had in Miss Murphy's class at St. John Fisher Primary when Maureen interrupted us.
‘Girls!' she shouted. ‘We have a small problem. Two of our volunteers are sick today and can't come in and help. Saturdays are our busiest day so I need two new volunteers.'
Kyla and I looked at each other.
‘Do you mean…?' started Kyla.
‘You want us to…?' I asked.
‘Yes, yes. Come on girls,' replied Maureen. ‘You are my two new volunteers. Remember: smile, bag, food and smile again.'
Kyla and I laughed and followed Maureen to one of the tables. We passed mum on the way and she gave me a thumbs up. Why are mums always right? !
Our first customer was Mrs Worthing, a sweet old lady. She lived on her own and didn't have any family. We tried to fill her bag with tinned goods but she only wanted a couple of things.
‘Save the good stuff for the kiddies,' she said. ‘I'm fine with a couple of tins of beans.'
There were lots of other people after Mrs Worthing. Some of them were new to the food bank and some of them were regulars. But not all the people who came that day needed food, some of them BROUGHT it. Mr Polonski from the mini-market brought some sandwiches and biscuits; Mrs Duffy from the greengrocer's brought some bananas and Mrs Singh from the chemist's brought some nappies and shampoo. It wasn't only local business people who donated things to the food bank; I saw a couple of families from my street coming in with parcels.
‘Look,' I said to Kyla. ‘There are so many people who want to help.'
‘I know,' she replied. ‘It's amazing, isn't it?'
I looked around the hall and suddenly felt happy and proud that I was helping too.
