My Sister’s Snitch

This was inspired by a friend who asked me to write a few pieces for a local high school and BeKindRewrite’s Inspiration Monday challenge prompt.

My Sister’s Snitch

You wouldn’t think to look at her but Tori had a secret and I was the one who found out what it was. Tori is fantastic as far as big sister’s go, we are really close. She is so talented that she landed a role in an actual movie and I am really proud of her.

Two years ago it was different, I had started at high school. She tried her best to ignore me. The only emotion it seemed she felt towards me was hatred. A few days after I started, I was fumbling with the change from the money Mum had given to me to buy my lunch as I scanned the crowded lunch room looking for a place to sit. That was when I spotted Tori, she was sat on her own, she had nothing but a bottle of water to drink. I sort of spied on her over the next few days and noticed she did not eat most days.

The next odd thing I noticed about Tori was how she was always racing to the toilet after lunch. I would spot her there sometimes between classes as well. One time I was late for class because I waited to see how long before she came out and the bell had rung.

Tori usually dashed home from school and shut herself in her room. She always said she had loads of homework to do but her grades were slipping, clearly she wasn’t doing any of it. I could hear her crying from my room but she didn’t know that. I was really worried she had an eating disorder or was using drugs.

Then one day, I walked in her room, to let her know Mum wanted her to come down to eat. I was expecting the usual response which was, “I’m not hungry.” She had taken her school jumper off and was just in her polo top. All down her right arm were bruises, and not just little ones either. She shouted at me to get out and slammed the door behind me.

The next day, I made excuses to leave my own classes early, after arriving late and I followed her. What I saw shocked me. In the course of the day I watched Tori hand over the money she had been given for lunch, hand over some homework she completed the night before and get pounded into the locker while her arm was twisted behind her back. At home I confronted her and then I told Mum.

Tori was being bullied at school. The school said they did not have enough evidence to do anything about it. They could not guarantee they were able to protect Tori either so Mum decided to home school her. She became much happier again and even had extra time to join a group where she practised singing and acting. That was where she was finally discovered. The best part of all is, I have my big sister back and now we speak out against bullying in schools, as a team.