Hidden Hearts

Chapter 4. She who hears everything

The next morning Sang finish preparing her lunch, says goodbye to her dad and heads, along with her sister to the front of the house, where they wait for the bus. The two girls stand on the sidewalk without speaking or looking at each other. As if they were strangers. In looks they are nothing alike. In personality much less. Complete opposites.

When the bus arrives, having already collected the other children from their street, they both go inside. Marie sits in one of the seats in the front with her friend Danielle. Sang heads straight to the end of the bus and sits in front of two familiar young boys.

The sounds of children talking and occasionally screaming along with the noise from the bus was very loud, but Sang could still hear a little of what was being said behind her.

"Did they manage... the bottles?"

"Yeah... He don't get drunk this time..."

"Gabe is safe then?"

"Maybe... for now."

Sang knew exactly who Gabe was. He and his other four friends attracted a lot of attention among the girls in their class.

He was a small boy, with brown hair and sad blue eyes that called to her very strongly. Sometimes she found herself daydreaming, much the same way that the other boy, Luke, sometimes did during class, about hugging Gabe tight to her, kissing his brow to make him smile and tell him that "everything is going to be ok".

Except nothing was ok. Not in her house. Probably not in his either.

Arriving at school, Sang awaits for the crowd to descend before coming down from the bus herself. The two boys still behind her continued talking about their private affairs as if she were deaf. Silly boys...

"Your dad is home?"

"No, thank God."

"Good, that's settled then."

They kept on talking and she kept on listening. Information can be very useful, she'd learned that from her older sister, though she had no intention of ill using it like Marie.

Blackmail was bad. She wouldn't resort to it unless she was desperate.

Class went on as usual. Teachers passed a lot of homework, the kids complained and the school bullies were targeted by the five musketeers, again.

Five musketeers is what she'd decided to call the group of five boys her age that went around the school correction the wrongs and exacting revenge discretely. She didn't think anyone else had taken notice of them, for they kept to themselves most of the time. But she saw what they did, she heard them, and she did her best to shield them when possible. They were like her, she knew, children from broken homes trying to fix the lives of others since they couldn't fix their own.

Leaving her class momentarily with the excuse of going to the bathroom she went for a little walk. Meeting Sean and Owen had changed her plans of staying alone throughout her school years. She needed time and space to think and weigh the pros and cons of letting them in.

Passing in front of the school infirmary she hears a couple of familiar voices.

"Well then boys, how is going your mission?" Came the voice of Dr. Roberts, temporary substitute for Nurse Kat.

"Slowly, we still have no clue about who is responsible for the pranks and other strange happenings going on in this school. Thought a pattern is obviously starting to form."

"What do you mean, Sean?"

"It looks like someone is punishing the school bullies and correcting injustices that occur throughout the school."