Early in the morning around 3:30 a boy wakes up to the sound of a girl yelling for help. The young
boy, Chris, looks out his window into another window to see a girl that was around the same age as
he was. The yelling he heard came from the girl he was looking straight at. All that the boy could
see was that the girl was being beaten by an older woman that looked like her mother. The girl's
mother was screaming, "You good for nothing kid." The older woman pushed the child into the wall
and slapped her across the face. "No, no please stop!"cried the girl.

By that time it was 4:52. Chris was so scared he didn't know what to do, tell his mother and
father or just hope the mom doesn't hurt the girl so bad that she could end up in the hospital or
worst die. Like anyone who would see such a thing like that he ran to tell his parents. "Mom, dad,
there is a girl who is getting beat real bad!"said the boy almost crying. "Not right now son,
we'll deal with it in the morning."mumbled the father. So Chris walked back to his room, sat
himself down in the bed and pilled the covers over his head to drown out the screaming and the
yelling from the next house.

Beep! Beep! The boy jumped up thinking that his parents taken care the problem. But he had only
heard the alarm clock going off. Chris got up and ran to the window to see if the girl was still
there. She wasn't. He ran down the stairs to his mom and asked, "Mom, the girl what's going to
happen to her?""What are you talking about dear?"the mother replied. "The girl I heard
last night, what's going to happen to her mom?""Oh, honey you're over reacting nothing like
that has ever happened here in this little town. Dear, you worry too much. Oh my, your bus is here
you better get going." Chris' mother said hugging.

He walked out to the bus trying not to look at the house where the girl had been beaten at. He got
on the bus, "Have a good summer Chris?"asked the bus driver. "It was ok"Chris said sadly.
He went to the back of the bus and sat down and didn't talk to anyone the whole bus ride.

He got to school and walked into his new 7th grade class room. Sat down in the back of the class
room. The rest new 7th grade class and the new teacher walked into the class room. Most of the
people Chris knew. Chris' one friend, Jay, came over to Chris and sat down and said, "You picked
good seats this year."Chris said nothing. Jay looked at Chris and said, "Yo, dude what's your
problem you're always talking on the first day of school, your either trying to tick the teachers
off.""Every one please sit down."Said the teacher, Mr. Weller. "So can we sit any where we
want?"said Chris' friend, Jay. "Just for to day."replied Mr. Weller. "Ok class, we need
to make room for the other class because they are coming over to listen to the first day of school
speech."said Mr. Weller. The whole class made room for the other class.

The other class piled in. "Hello, my name is Mr. Weller, for those who don't know me."said
Mr. Weller. "And I am Mr. Keen."said Mr. Keen. The door opened and teacher and a young girl
walked in. The teacher walked over to Mr. Keen and Mr. Weller, the girl followed the teacher. It
looked like the girl was trying to hide her face. Chris leaned over to Jay and said, "Hey, I think
I know that girl!""Students, we have a new student. Her name is Mattie."Mr. Weller looked at
Mattie and said, "Mattie why don't you face the class and tell us a little about yourself."

You could now see her face. It had an innumerable amount of scratches on the girls face. "I moved
here from New York"said Mattie sadly. "Chris, why don't you show Mattie around the school.
For right now Mattie can take that seat on the other side of you."said Mr. Weller. Mattie walked
back to her new seat and sat down. "Do I know you? You look so familiar."asked Chris. "Sorry
I don't know anyone here."Chris turned his head and shook it and said quietly, "I was pretty
sure that she was the one I saw who was being beat by that lady."

Mattie placed her hand on his shoulder and said slowly, "How do you know about that?"Chris
looked at her and started to cry. "I saw you last night."He placed his head in his hands and
said, "It's my entire fault. I could have helped you from being beaten."Jay walked over and
said, "Man, what's your problem? First you don't talk to anyone, you don't tick the teachers
off and now you're CRYING!!"Mattie stands up and walks in front of Jay and said, "Will you
shut up? Leave him alone!""What's the matter Chris? Got to have your new girl-friend stand up
for you? Looks like she had to fight to protect you."Chris said pointing at Mattie's face.

Chris stood up and walked over to Jay and pushed him into the chair and shouted so the teachers
could hear him, "Shut your mouth Jay! I'm tired of you riding my back. So get a life and stop
sucking up MINE!"said Chris. "Boys are there a problem?"asked Mr. Weller rushing back to the
back of the class where Chris, Maddi, and Jay were. "No there's not!"Jay said glaring at
Chris. Mattie stepped out and looked at Chris. Chris had a feeling that she was going to tell the
teacher what had happened last night. "No."Chris whispered. "What?"asked the confused
teacher. Mattie opened her mouth.

Everyone was now looking at her. "Mr. Weller?"asked Mattie. "Yes?"replied Mr. Weller.
"The new girl talked!"shouted one of the students. Mr. Weller turned and faced the class and
said, "Settle down."The class had now calmed down. He turned back around to Chris, Jay, and
Maddi. "Can I see you three in the hall?"asked Mr. Weller pointing at the three he was talking
to. "OHH!"the rest of the class shouted.

The three of them stomped out and into the hall. "You three stand here."Mr. Weller said
pointing beside the door. "I'll be right back. Stay here."said Mr. Weller walking away.
"Thanks a lot for getting us in trouble!"said Jay rudely looking at Mattie. "Leave her
alone."Chris said standing in front of Mattie. "Is everything ok here?"asked the same lady
who brought Mattie to her new class earlier. Mr. Weller followed her to the three children. "What
is going on? I was in a very important meeting."said Mrs. Varner looking at the three children
that was on the wall beside the door.

Jay stepped away from the wall and said pointing at Chris and Mattie, "They got me in trouble.”
"There's no need for pointing fingers."said Mrs. Varner. Chris turned to Jay and said,
"Don't blame it on Mattie. You're the one who got you in trouble, and if you want to get
someone in trouble blame on me, just don't get Mattie in trouble."

The rest of the class started filing out of the classroom. "What's going on out here?"asked
Mr. Keen. "That's what we're trying to find out right now 'Mr. Weller said glaring at Jay,
Chris, and Mattie. "I told you it's not my problem. You can yell at them. I didn't do
anything. I'm sick and tired of getting yelled at!"Jay said pointing at Mattie and Chris and
then stomped off back into the abandon classroom. Everyone turned to Mattie. "Is it true, did you
get Jay in trouble? Mr. Weller asked.

Mattie looked at Chris and said so only he could hear her, "I'm going to tell them I made Jay
mad, so you and Jay won't get in trouble.""No!"Chris said looking like he was going to
cry. "No you can't."cried Chris. "Can't do what?"asked Mr. Weller.

The door was now ajar and kids were poking their heads out of the door. "Let me see. I want to see
Chris cry."shouted several kids. "Mr. Weller if you please could you take the class in the
classroom."asked Mrs. Varner. "Ok. Class can you get in to the class room?"asked Mr. Weller.
As he and the rest of the class walked in to the class room Mrs. Varner demanded to know what was
wrong.

Chris told her about what he had seen the night before. He told her about the infamous mother. He
also told her what the mother looked like. "What is this true Mattie?"asked Mrs. Varner writing
something down. "Well you two go back in to class and I'll take care of this if it kills me.”
Mrs. Varner told them.

They walked in to the class and everyone got quiet even the teachers. "Let's get back to our
seats."Said Chris quietly. Mattie nodded her head and the two of them went back to the seats in
the very back where Jay was sitting. Jay was now glaring at Mattie. "How could you? I mean stick
up for HER?"Jay asked Chris.

"Uh, Chris, Mattie. We have a homework assignment. You have to do a narrative and you can have
dialogue in your story."Mr. Weller told the two of them. The door opened but intend of a teacher
it was a police that had walked in. "Can I please see Mattie and Chris?"asked the police man.
"Yes you may"replied Mr. Keen.

Chris and Mattie stood up and looked at each other in terror. When they got out of the class room
they saw a very familiar woman. "Ahh!"screamed Chris. The woman was trying to get free from the
other officer. "You little twitch. I told you to keep you mouth shut."Said the woman. She had
now gotten free and almost grabbed a hold of Mattie but grabbed a hold of Chris instead. The police
ran after the woman and pulled her away from Chris.

He had fallen on the floor. Mattie fell on the floor crying. "That's the worst thing anyone
could ever do to their child."Said the one officer. The other officer was of the walkie talkie
saying, "Get an ambulance here right now we have a child down here, he's all beat up! Said the
officer in the walkie talkie. When Chris had woken up he was confused and his head hurt. "What's
going on? Where am I? What happened to your mom?"asked Chris. "Calm down, that witch went to
jail."Said Mattie looking happy to see him. "What's going to happen to you?"Asked Chris.
"We already talked about that. Your parents are going to adopt me. Your parents made a promise to
never let anything happen to me."she said happily. "No, our parents."Chris corrected her.
Chris got slowly out of bed to give his new sister a hug. They lived happily and never fought. Chris
made sure that no one could ever hurt his new sister.