Baby May

Nationals

*Warning* contains bullying and signs of depression

"I heard you came fifth place in your skating competition last week," Eva makes her presents known. Alyssia was waiting in the playground after school for Victoria and Zoe when she came over.

"Yeah, I did and Vicky came fourth. We're both going straight to Nationals in October." She's pretty proud of herself and Victoria, they both hoped to be in the top ten but they never believed they'd make the top five.

"Oh, I wasn't congratulating you," Eva smirks, backing Alyssia into a corner where none of the teachers can see them, "You came fifth, Psycho. Even Mousy did one better than you."

Her pride disappears and she bows her head muttering, "I stumbled in my routine."

"You know what would have affected that, right? This extra weight," The brunette grabs Alyssia's cheeks then pokes her stomach, "If you get rid of this it won't affect your routine in future and I bet you'll get a higher score at your next competition if you do what I say."

Alyssia curiosity gets the better was her, "What would I need to do?"

"Skip meal in the day, cut out the sugary snacks and maybe stick to the salads," Eva tells as if it's not a stupid thing to do and yet Alyssia is considering it, "If you don't believe me, try it until your next competition. If your score doesn't improve then I'm wrong, if it does improve then I'm right."

"Oy! Leave her alone," Zoe comes to Alyssia's rescue Victoria right behind her.

"Going," Eva chuckles, holding her hands up and walks away because she already knows her work is done.

"What did she say?" Victoria asks, she's been on the receiving end of Eva's taunts, she's plain evil.

"Nothing, it doesn't matter."

"Clearly not if she had you backed into a corner," Zoe is not having it, she knows Eva is playing with Alyssia's confidence, "What did she say?"

"She just teased about how Vicky and I only came fourth and fifth."

"Only!" Zoe gasps, "You part of the top five in London. If I can do that well in my competition this afternoon, I'll be buzzing."

"Then let's go or you'll miss it," Alyssia brushes past them, heading to where Zoe's dad promised to pick them up.

Zoe has her first swimming competition today and Alyssia and Victoria are going along to support her and cheer her on.

The swimming competition went well but Alyssia hardly paid attention to any of it, when she gets home, she heads straight for the stairs, "Hey love, how did Zoe get on?" Anita steps out of the living room having heard her come in.

"She did really well, she came third," Alyssia informs her then runs upstairs, ignoring her mum's question of are you alright?

She slams her bedroom door and slides down it in tears, Freddie stalks over to comfort her, she picks him up, crying into his fur.

That's what she loves most about Freddie, he's a very affectionate cat and he loves cuddles, "Do you care that I'm fat, Freddie?" She sniffles, he does the sweetest thing and lick her face getting rid of her tears but it just makes her cry more.

"Lissy," Her dad knocks on her door, trying to open it but of course she's sat behind it, "Can you let me in?" Anita sent Brian up to talk to her because lately if she tries to have a serious conversation with her daughter they'd end up fighting, so Brian is the better choice.

"Go away!" She shouts back.

He stops trying to get in and results to sitting the other side of her door, his back against it, "Did something happen at school?"

"No," She sniffles, giving away that she's crying.

That hurts Brian more than anything because she never cries, "Lissy, please let me in."

But she won't do that because her mind is telling her that Eva's theory could be right, "Please just leave me alone," She mutters, "I don't want to talk about it."

Hearing him sigh then leave has her crying more, she's fat, her friends probably don't trust her because she lied about Eva and now her parents are annoyed too.

In actual fact, he left because he knows that pushing her usually results in an argument, but the way Alyssia is starting to act around family and friends has him concerned.

He knows the withdrawing from family and not wanting to talk are signs of depression and he really hopes that's not what is going on here. He knows she's being bullied though and the school won't do anything.

------

October 1999

Novice Nationals quickly came around. Alyssia has stuck to what Eva said and honestly, her parents are concerned, she's losing weight, she won't talk to them.

Alyssia's short program skate went really well that morning and she received a score of 5. But she hasn't spoken to Victoria all day.

She came out of the dressing room ready for her afternoon free skate.

"You look beautiful," Anita compliments, "That green suits you." She's well aware of how emotional Alyssia is right now, one wrong word could cause the flood gates to burst or angry to boil over.

"Thanks, mum," Alyssia whispers, adjusting the dress in the mirror. Anita hugs her and then leaves with Jodie to get to their seats.

Stood at the side waiting to go on, Alyssia feels more focused than nervous this time, "You've got this, Lissy," Katie squeezes her shoulder, "Forget about everything else while you're out there."

"Good luck," Victoria hugs her from behind.

Alyssia smiles muttering a small thank you and she steps onto the ice.

Her free skate is flawless but not filled with the right emotion, Brian could see it. That stumble may have made her more determined and focused, but because of everything that is going on at school, it's killed her passion for the routine.

She receives a standing ovation from the audience and, of course, her family cheer for her. He's happy to see her smiling when she skates off this time, but deep down, he knows it's for show.

Katie collects the results a while later Victoria receives fourth once again, but Alyssia comes third, receiving a bronze medal and a photo on the podium with the female figure skaters that came first and second.

It would be a happy moment if it wasn't for the fact that Alyssia now believes that Eva's way works, her score improved as Eva said it would.

Jump ahead

Guys, I posted this on my page yesterday, but I wanted to check here too. I seem to have lost a lot of readers over the last few chapters including readers that I used to see regularly voting and commenting, I do read every single comment, it's the best part of updating for me. Can someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong?

Are my books becoming boring and predictable? Because I'm trying to put plot twists in there and there are plenty more on the way.

Or is it my updating schedule? Are they too close together? Would you prefer them to be more spaced out throughout the week like they used to be?