All of Me Read Online Free PDF Page B

was surprised to see me standing in the same place.
    ‘Quick sticks,’ she chivvied. ‘You need to get back to class.’
    Still I didn’t budge.
    ‘Okay,’ she sighed, ‘I’ll help,’ and she leant forward to undo my button. Still not moving, I folded my arms tightly so her fingers couldn’t get in. In a flash, her good mood vanished.
    ‘Stop messing around!’ she barked and tore my arms away.
    I tried desperately to knock her hand away, screaming, ‘Get off!’
    I honestly don’t know what came over me. All I knew is I could not let that woman undress me. I couldn’t explain it. She was a stranger. It was wrong. I couldn’t let her do it.
    Then things got worse. Another grown-up came over and she literally grabbed my arms from behind to restrain me, then forced me to the floor. Now I couldn’t even kick out. The other woman scrabbled around at my buttons, then stripped off my skirt as well. Both of them were shouting at me to behave but I couldn’t stop myself. The urge to fight them off was too strong.
    ‘Leave me alone! Don’t touch me!’
    ‘Nearly there,’ one of them said through gritted teeth. Then with an oversized but clean skirt fastened around my wriggling waist she said, ‘Right, done – now get back to your classroom!’
    I scrambled up and flew out the door, heart racing with every stride. Mrs Baldwin glared as I entered the classroom but all thoughts of the black paint had disappeared. Even the telling off from the headmaster was forgotten. There was only one thought in my head: They mustn’t touch me. I don’t want them to touch me.
    *
    Discipline-wise, life at home was much more straightforward. If anything, my sister bore the thick end of the attention there. I remember Lorraine doing her 11+ but when she decided not to go on to A-Levels Dad went apoplectic. Really, absolutely ballistic. It didn’t bother me in the slightest. Maybe it should have, but I was an outsider. That’s exactly how I felt, anyway.
    Lorraine rarely did anything wrong. I remember a few occasions when she got into trouble for mischief we’d both got up to, or sometimes she’d even get a telling off for something I’d cooked up on my own, but she never complained. Maybe that’s the advantage of an older sister. That just made me think she looked guilty because I always blabbed, ‘It wasn’t me!’ when I hadn’t done something. Not that it ever did me any good.
    It was horrible being around Mum and Dad when they argued but sometimes you couldn’t avoid it. Occasionally it was so bad that I’d burst into tears. I just felt so scared that they were being mean to each other and I was so young I didn’t know what to do. That normally quietened them down and then they’d both call out, ‘Come here, come to me’ and I’d be frozen with worry, not knowing which of them to go to. I remember Lorraine saw that once and rushed over and cuddled me herself. Then she turned to Mum and Dad and let them have both barrels for upsetting me.
    Every so often I would get found out for some mischief or other. Whereas at school I’d have received the ruler or perhaps even the slipper on the backside, Dad preferred to turn a blind eye whenever possible. Mum too. With her it was an all-or-nothing response. Sometimes she’d barely acknowledge my naughtiness. On other occasions she would fly at me with a rolling pin or rolled-up newspaper so I’d dart upstairs. She’d begin following, then stop, with me skulking inside my room safe in the knowledge Mum would already be turned around and wandering back down. She never made it to the top. You knew you were safe up there.
    Mum was happy enough pulling us into line but she refused to get involved in any outside quarrels. You know what kids are like. One minute you’re best friends with someone, then they’ve said something or borrowed something and you’ve fallen out like it’s World War Three and you’re on different sides. I remember being hit by a little girl on our