“Girls, it’s time to come in and set the table, and feed Ryan when you’re at it.” Mrs. Johnson called to her children, Hailey and Monica, who were playing in the yard.  At this time Monica was running around chasing the neighbor's dog, Bella, her light brown hair flying behind her in a high ponytail.  Hailey, under one of the many willow trees in their yard bounced baby Ryan up and down on her lap and tried, but failed, to teach him to say her name correctly. 
“We’ll be right in.” Hailey replied.  “Monica, can you walk Bella back over to Mrs. Peterson’s house and I’ll pack up all of Ryan’s stuff.”
“Sure, I’ll be right back.” Monica said as she led the little frisky beagle around to the yard to the front gate.  She turned and headed out the gate straight for their neighbors house across the street.
As she watched Monica go, Hailey folded the picnic blanket, scooped her little brother Ryan up, and headed inside.  She began to set the table, and feed Ryan some weird organic mush that her mother got, which he unfortunately hated.  “I know you don’t like this but you have to eat something.” Hailey pleaded with Ryan after he spit out a mouthful of boiled sweet potatoes.  “What if we try something else instead?” she asked as she headed over to the pantry.  “Let’s see we have canned carrots, canned green beans, canned peaches.  Oh look, Mom got some bananas, I know those are your...“ Hailey stopped as Monica came running in.  “What happened to you?!” Hailey exclaimed. 
Monica was covered in dirt and and her bright yellow shirt was splattered with what looked like mud or maybe dirt .  Her pants were torn at the bottom and her shoes had mud all over them.  Worst of all she had tears streaming down her face and heavy sobs shook her entire body.  Hailey being very protective over her sister, hated seeing her cry.
“I, I, I,” Monica tried to get out while crying, “was walking Bella back and this girl came up and wanted to pet her, but Mrs. Peterson told me never to let anyone else pet her so I, I said no.”
“Ok, then what happened” Hailey said trying to calm down Monica as she helped rub the dirt off of her and washed all her cuts and bruises.
“The mean girl got su, super mad and she started to throw dirt at me, then she chased me into the rose bushes where I got all scratched.” finished Monica.
“Wait where did Bella go?” Hailey asked worried for the adorable jumpy beagle.  “And where did the other girl go”
“I, I don’t know where the girl went, but I saw Bella run back into the Peterson’s yard.” Monica said trying not to hiccup.
“That’s good, now let's get all the dirt off of you and we’ll go see Mom about all those cuts.  Just let me finish feeding Ryan his banana.”  Hailey said as she began to cut the banana into small pieces and give them to Ryan one by one.
The next day Monica was feeling much better, but she was still a little sore.
As she got dressed she couldn’t stop worrying about that mean girl across the street.  How would she be able to walk Bella or ride her bike if that girl was always waiting for her?
“Monica, hurry up and get ready. We promised Mrs.Peterson we would walk Bella this morning.” Hailey called while she finished her breakfast.
“I don’t think I’ll go this morning. Can you just walk her, I’m not feeling well.” Monica replied.
“Are you sick, you don’t feel warm.” Hailey said as she felt Monica’s forehead.  “Do you want me to go get Mom, maybe we can take you to the doctor.”
“No, no, no, I think I’ll just rest here maybe take a nap.” Monica said avoiding eye contact with her older sister and stared down at her shoes.  The last thing she wanted to do was go around their neighborhood and practically announce herself to the the horrible girl that bullied her yesterday.  She didn’t want anyone to find out especially Hailey, because most likely she would just make her go confront the girl and that was the last thing Monica wanted to do right now.  Hopefully, if she just pretended to be sick none of her family would make her go outside and she be safe from that awful girl.  Unfortunately Hailey wasn’t fooled.
“Are you sure your little sickness doesn’t have anything to do with the bullying incident yesterday” Hailey asked skeptically.  
“Maybe.” Monica said her cheeks turned red with embarrassment.
“It’s okay to be a little nervous, that girl was really mean, but you shouldn’t let that one moment ruin all the great ones you’ve had in our neighborhood.  You love walking Bella, and this time I’ll be by your side so if she does come back we can both talk to her.” Hailey said.  “If you really want we don’t have to walk around our neighborhood, we can just pick up Bella and go to the other side.
“Fine, but can you go pick up Bella then meet me back at the house once you get her.  From there we can go together to the Brookside neighborhood.”
“Alright.” Hailey agreed.  To tell the truth, Hailey was surprised Monica had agreed to go at all.  She had the same stubbornness as their dad, if it wasn’t bigger.
As Hailey returned from the Peterson’s house with Bella, Monica was waiting in the yard.  “Are you ready to go?” Hailey called as she approached the house. 
“Ya, hopefully we don’t run into her, whatever her name is.” Monica said, still remembering the painful scratches she got running away from the girl.
Both of the girls headed down the road, Bella walking in front of them sniffing everything that caught her eye.  It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining, and it was that time in the year where the leaves turned colors and it got a bit chillier.  Not fall yet, but getting there.  On the way Monica picked up pretty leaves to put in their dining room, since there was no more flowers.  Every once in awhile Hailey had to pull Bella back as she got distracted by a squirrel or a little sparrow in the tree.  Then out of the corner of her eye Monica spotted someone she recognized.  A girl a little younger than Hailey, but older than Monica was walking down the other side of the street in the opposite direction.  She had light brown eyes, and her hair was a dirty blonde with a hint of red cropped to her shoulders.  Monica instantly knew that she was the girl who bullied her the other day and couldn’t stop herself from gasping.
Being a very attentive sister Hailey noticed Monica’s mood change immediately and saw the girl was the cause of it.  “Is that the girl who bullied you yesterday?” Hailey asked her voice full of concern, her eyes never leaving the girl as she continued walking closer to them.
“Yes, I’m positive it was her” Monica replied getting nervous as she approached them.  “Maybe we should turn around and go home, then we will have no chance of running into her.”
“No, she hasn’t done anything to us and if we don’t walk Bella long enough she’ll be really antsy with Mrs.Peterson.  Let's just ignore her and keep on walking, maybe she won't do anything since there is two of us.” Hailey decided
As they continued walking they could tell the girl was watching them.  She glanced their way, her eyes kept drifting across the street and snapping back when the girls noticed her.  She came closer, without meaning to they kept glancing her way.  All of a sudden she stopped and turned to face them.  Something about her attitude was rubbing Hailey the wrong way, not to mention the fact that she attacked her sister.  Bella began to growl at her and that only seemed to make the girl more irritated. 
“Oh no, she coming this way, she’s coming this way” Monica whimpered.  “What should we do?”
“Nothing, just ignore her and keep walking.” Hailey ordered.  They continued walking, the girl drew closer and closer, eyeing them, and Monica got more and more nervous. 
“Hey, nice mutt you got there” the rude girl taunted across the street.  “Hope he has all his shots, I don’t want to get infected by anything he has.”
“Do you have a problem with us, because I’d really like to know why you keep bullying me and my sister.” Hailey called right back.  “First you throw dirt at my sister and chase her through the rose bushes, and then you insult our dog.”
“Haven't you ever heard the saying treat people the way you want to be treated?!” Monica chimed in.
“Don’t talk to me about treating people nicely, in my old neighborhood everyone bullied me.”
“Then why are you doing this if you hated when people did it to you, you are being even worse than them, because you know how it feels yet you still do it.” Hailey shot back.
The girl was silent at that.  Monica and Hailey could tell  she was thinking hard at that. For a while no one spoke.  Then all of a sudden the girl began to cry.  Small tears ran down her cheeks and fell to the pavement below.  Her face twisted into a grimace like she was ashamed of crying, and Monica and Hailey just stared.  Both of them felt kinda bad for this girl, she was obviously bullied a lot in the past and it still affected her a lot.  Both of them remembered the stories their mom told them about how one of their cousins had been bullied and caused the whole family to move.  She had told them if either of the girls ever saw someone in a similar situation they should do everything they can to help them.  Another time their father had read an article in the newspaper about a highschool boy who suicided because of all mean things kids said to him at school.  At the time neither of them understood how that boy could do such a thing, but looking at this girl, they began to understand how much hurtful words could affect someone.
Hailey couldn’t imagine what it was like being bullied, for she had always tried to avoid people like that.  But she could relate not having any friends.  It took her a while to gain the trust of others and build bonds with her friends when she moved to her new school.  She remembered how horrible it was being alone at lunch or after school.  Before she realized she had walked towards the girl and put her arm around her.  The girl’s sobs shook her whole body, but Hailey did her best to soothe her. 
“I’m sorry” the girl choked out.  “I didn’t realize what I was doing was wrong, please don’t tell my mom.”
“Look calm down, we won’t tell your mom.” Hailey promised.  “What’s your name, we just want to know why you keep bullying us.”
“My name is Amber, and I really don’t know why I have been hurting you.”  she answered.  “I just moved here and it's been really hard making friends and when your sister refused to let me pet your dog I guess I got a little angry.”
“The only reason I didn’t let you pet Bella is, because, one I had no idea who you were, and two her owner told us to not let strangers touch her.” Monica said defending herself.
“How about this, you stop bullying us and we’ll let you come over sometime and play with Bella and us as long as Mrs.Peterson is ok with that.” Hailey said.
“Ok” Amber’s face lit up as she smiled.  “I should go home soon, but I can’t wait to play with you guys soon.” She picked herself up and started running back the way she came.
“Poor girl, she must not have many friends or siblings, look how much happier she was when we invited her over.  We’ll ask Mrs.Peterson and Mom if we can have her over with Bella.” Hailey decided and with that the two girls turned hand in hand and started back home, Bella trailing behind them.

                                                      The End