Momma and Carl beat me badly after Mrs. Winters came to ask if I could spend nights and vacation with their family. It wasn't because of Mrs. Winters, although she didn't exactly help. They hated my excited smile after they agreed to let me stay the night. They focused on my bottom mostly, beating me with a belt and yelling over the video games my brother played right next to us. He didn't even flinch each time they swatted me and I held my breath to keep the noises in, just told them to quiet down so he could hear the music.

I went to bed with my bottom numb and tingly, but when I woke up, I felt each movement like a punch. I struggled to walk up the stairs and into the car that waited for me. I didn't let on that I was in pain and hoped that Noah, the boy who knew me inside and out, didn't see right through my act. I acted the way I always did and aside from the looks Noah kept sending me, nobody noticed.

I don't know why I didn't want the Winters to have proof Momma and Carl beat me. I guess I didn't want to show them how weak I was. I was embarrassed that my family wasn't as loving as the Winters. The boys were like my brothers, aside from Noah, whom I secretly had a crush on. They made my life feel normal and treated me like their family.

Ezekiel sat in the front seat going on about how excited he was for his date that night. Ezekiel was my oldest brother-like figure and was very protective of me. He made sure that all of the boys treated me right and when they didn't, he taught them a lesson using various acts of brotherly torture. I was comfortable around him, always eager to make him laugh or smile. He had the best laugh. He would be graduating at the end of the year and we'd all miss him, but I think I would miss him the most. He was what brothers were supposed to be like.

Isaiah sat beside me in the SUV and I could see the subtle changes in him that seemed to have happened overnight. He was in eighth grade and school seemed to have altered him. He had changed his style, going for a more grown up, bad-boy feel, and he styled his hair in such a way, I barely recognized him. His face had become more angled and his forehead was dotted with pimples. But Isaiah's appearance wasn't the trait that worried the Winters. His attitude has changed him into almost an entirely different person. He picked on Noah and I relentlessly, pushing us around and calling us names. He brought friends, mostly girls, to the house that were rude and disrespectful. He even yelled at his parents on a daily basis.

Isaiah was protective of me too, especially when the twins talked about me in class, but I wasn't as close to him as I was the rest of the family. I wanted to be, but Isaiah seemed to always keep me at arm's length. He even treated his mother as if she was a stranger.

Joseph was going through his "awkward stage" as Mrs. Winters liked to call it. His brothers teased him all the time about his glasses and big belly and he had become very self-conscious of his looks. I wanted to tell him he looked fine and not to listen to their words, but I was still very incapable of talking. I had, however, learned not to fear to touch the Winters as much and would pat his back, as reassuring as my trepidation would let me be.

Noah, of course, was as loud, charming, handsome, and cheerful as ever. As such, everyone wanted to be his friend and nobody wanted me to be included. My classmates, girls and boys alike, competed for his attention and his southern-grown manners required that he be kind and share his time with them. However, they learned quickly that any jabs in my direction turned Noah into an entirely different person.

I knew from the start that none of my classmates liked me. I took too much of Noah's attention and they felt like I didn't deserve it. I agreed with them, I was useless and unwanted, my own family could never let me forget. But Noah wouldn't tolerate any rude comments and had been disciplined plenty of times from fighting on my behalf.

My pain had escalated throughout the day, my bottom aching at every slight movement. Momma and Carl were ruthless and had become brave with their abuse, thinking I'd never be able to tattle on them. I knew that I could not play at recess, so I walked directly to the bench on the playground. Noah followed like a dutiful best friend.

When a group of boys walked up to the bench and begged Noah to play tag, I pushed his arm gently, encouraging him to play. It wasn't fair of me to keep him from having fun. I sat by myself on that bench until Katie and Gracie, girls from my class, walked up to me. I hoped they'd ask me to play. Nobody ever did that and I wished for a change. I'd even worn my best dress and paid extra attention to my hair, thinking this day might be different. That someone might decide I wasn't worthy of the constant hate and choose to befriend me.

"What's wrong, Eden?" Katie asked, her eyebrows lifted high on her pristine head. "Did your bodyguard leave you? It's pathetic that you have to hide behind Noah all the time!" My smile vanished and my heart dropped to my belly.

"Yeah," Gracie agreed, "It's even sadder that he only stays beside you because he's too nice to be mean to you like everybody else! My mom said that your mom's a cheater! I bet you look so icky because your mommy hates you! Your stupid limp makes you look like some kind of monster!"

She grabbed one of my pigtails and dragged me off the bench. I was still at least a head shorter and weighed much less than most of my classmates. They took advantage of the fact every chance they could. "Eden, you're ugly and everybody knows it. Nobody likes you, not even Noah!"

She pushed me back and I went rolling down a hill at an incline. The brunt of my fall landed on my lower half- the place Momma and Carl hit- and to my horror, a gasp of pain and tears escaped before I could hold them back. I stayed on the ground, rocking and trying to alleviate the pain that wouldn't quit.

As most fights I'd seen play out, a crowd of people was at the scene in seconds, laughing and pointing, calling out names I didn't like to repeat. My tears continued and I couldn't seem to stop them. Noah broke through the crowd like a bulldozer, anger clearly plastered to his face. His head circled around to glare at the congregation of people before sitting on the ground beside me and grabbing my hand, pulling me to his side.

That was how the teacher found us, circled in people that loved to abuse me and Noah, the boy I had to believe honestly cared for me. They helped me inside and I was given ice packs for my pain. I wished for Momma's much stronger pain medication, but was grateful for what they had.

❃ ❃ ❃

At lunchtime, laughter still echoed the cafeteria. "Hey, Eden! I always knew you were still a baby! You looked just like my baby sister, curled up and crying for your Mommy!" Jarvis, a mean kid in my class, couldn't help but scream across the room. I'd never cry for my Mommy to comfort me anymore, but still, I held my head low, ashamed. My teacher had her head turned away from the ruckus, talking to the lunch lady.

Noah stood up, rage seemingly filling every pore in his body. He stomped over to Jarvis, his fist raised, ready to pound the boy to defend me. I was so tired of Noah getting in trouble for me. I knew my teacher would yell at him, Mrs. Winters would be mad, and Jarvis might not get in trouble at all, so I did the first thing I could think of. I grabbed a handful of my untouched noodles and chucked it at Noah. It caked his t-shirt, but he stopped advancing on Jarvis, and that was my intention.

I felt bad instantly. I didn't want Noah to be mad at me, but I hated when he got in trouble for something that was my fault. He turned around to face me slowly, his head cocked to the side. "Edith, what was that for?" I looked to my knees, playing with the hem of my skirt.

"Eden Morrison! Go to the principal, right now! I cannot believe you would throw your food at a classmate, Noah much less!" Apparently, my teacher was watching that part.

I nodded slowly, my eyes still looking to the floor. Noah was yelling at the teacher in protest. Tears filled my eyes and I looked into Noah's, begging for forgiveness. I had never been to the principal's office, but knew that it always warranted a call home. Momma hated calls home almost as much as she hated me. I shook in the office chair as the principal, Mr. Granville, talked to my mother, telling her I started a fight in school. I shook my head, adamantly trying to tell him I wouldn't do that, but he didn't seem to notice.

When he got off the phone, he smiled at me. "Your mother says I have permission to give you three licks from the paddle. I don't normally like using my paddle, but your mother insisted. Starting a fight is a very bad thing, Eden."

I nodded, shaking like a Chihuahua in the winter. My bottom ached already and I worried it couldn't take much more. Mr. Granville grabbed the paddle out of a drawer in his desk and instructed me to put my hands on the desk. He hit me three times with sharp licks that increased my pain tenfold. "Go back to class. Don't make a habit of starting fights. Your mother sounded very disappointed in you."

I struggled to my classroom, shuffling and stopping to rest along the way. Opening the heavy door, I was met with smug faces from my bullies. My teacher instructed me to sit down and told me she'd sign my folder for disrupting the class in a minute, another offense that would earn another beating from Momma. Noah looked beyond worried, and scraped his fingers through his hair, standing up to help me to my seat beside him.

I sat down gingerly switching from one side of my bottom to the other. He whispered to me, "I understand why you threw your noodles at me. I'm sorry I got so mad. You're very pale. Did he call your mom?" I nodded slowly.

"Is she angry?" I nodded again.

"Oh, boy. I'm so sorry, Edith." I grabbed his hand under the table and squeezed, assuring him that I didn't blame him for anything.