1388: Untitled etc. etc. Part 6

“Hey, Sian, you coming down the shop?”

It was Nicola, and Jasmine was trotting up the corridor just behind her.

“Um,” said Sian, thinking for a moment. “Okay. I just… need to go and pick something up.”

She’d left Miss Charles’… Kristina’s class without saying goodbye, and she was feeling a little guilty, so she wanted to poke her head in before she headed to the shops with Jasmine and Nicola. Of course, she didn’t really want to tell the girls that — she had a feeling they wouldn’t really be on board with the whole “being friends with a teacher” thing — and so she concocted an excuse in her head with an appropriate amount of detail should either of them ask any questions.

Fortunately, they didn’t. They did offer to come with her, but Sian managed to convince them to wait by the entrance for her; she said she wouldn’t be long. Before they could protest, she took off down the corridor towards the music department at a half-jog, conscious of the fact that she was moving in the opposite direction of most of the foot traffic through the school.

Moments later, she was outside Kristina’s room. She was about to push the door open but suddenly had a crisis of conscience and decided to knock instead. There was no response for a moment, so she peeped through the small window in the door and was very surprised by what she saw.

Kristina was kneeling down in front of Edward, who looked as if he was in tears. There was a teaching assistant standing with her hand on his shoulder, too, and both of them looked very concerned. Kristina was saying something, but Sian couldn’t hear what it was with the door closed. It looked like a serious conversation, though.

She hesitated a moment, then knocked again, moving away from the window so as not to give herself away. After a moment, the door opened with its distinctive “click”, and Kristina emerged looking slightly flustered.

“Oh… Sian,” she said, sounding a little dazed. “Good timing. Can you do me a favour, please?”

“Sure, Kr… err, Miss,” she said, correcting herself. She figured she should probably remain appropriately formal within the walls of the school. “What’s up?”

“Please go and fetch Mr Rhodes for me,” she said. “Please tell him it’s extremely important.”

“Okay,” said Sian. Mr Rhodes was the deputy head teacher who tended to deal with the more difficult children in the school, and Sian figured Kristina probably wanted him to help deal with Edward. But it was strange; Edward wasn’t being his usual angry self, and it didn’t look as if he was in trouble this time around. What could it be? She was curious, and couldn’t help herself asking.

“What should I say to him if he asks what it’s about?” said Sian as innocently as she could manage.

“Tell him…” Kristina paused for a moment. “Tell him it’s about what we had that training day about on… no, that’s not right… Oh, just tell him it’s about Edward, please, and that it’s very important. Very important.”

“Okay,” said Sian. “I’ll be right back.”

She jogged back through the corridors and into the school’s entrance hall. Jasmine and Nicola were still there; Jasmine was leaning against the wall fiddling with her phone and Nicola was wandering around aimlessly. They looked bored.

“Sorry,” she said. “I’m going to be a little while. Go on ahead without me.”

Nicola looked up.

“You all right, hun?” she asked. Sian hated when Nicola called her “hun”, but she knew all too well that her friend’s playfully provocative nature meant that telling her to stop it would just make her do it more.

“Yeah,” said Sian. “Yeah, I’m fine, I just have a couple of things I need to sort out. It’s fine.”

“Okay, if you’re sure,” replied Nicola. “Come on, Jas.”

“Catch you later, Sianie,” said Jasmine. “Text you later.”

“Talk to you later,” said Sian. And then they were gone. Sian immediately turned to the corridor that led to the staffroom and headteacher’s offices, and tapped gingerly on the dividing door. She wasn’t convinced anyone could hear her, but she was hesitant to step through it; that area had always felt like a “restricted” zone in which students weren’t welcome. But no-one was in there right now; how would she find Mr Rhodes?

She took a deep breath, opened the door and strode purposefully through it. Mr Rhodes’ office was just inside the corridor, so she didn’t have to go far; his door was slightly ajar when she reached it, so she tapped tentatively on it.

“Come in,” came the response almost immediately. She pushed the door open to reveal Mr Rhodes sitting at his desk.

Mr Rhodes had always reminded Sian of a kindly old uncle — it was something about the combination of his grey and ginger beard and his gentle voice. He normally set her at ease, but she felt out of her depth coming to his office; she’d always associated coming to one of the offices in this corridor with being in trouble — something that she’d mercifully avoided for all of her school career to date.

“Sian!” he said, putting down his pen and throwing his arms up in an exaggerated gesture of welcome. “Hello. What can I do for you?”

“Um,” said Sian. “Miss Charles sent me. She said she needed your help. Something to do with Edward. I don’t know any more than that, I’m afraid, but she said it was important.”

“Okay,” said Mr Rhodes. “Just give me a moment…” — he picked up his pen, quickly scribbled his signature on a couple of pieces of paper, then put the cap back on it purposefully — “There. Lead the way.”

Sian blinked, but he didn’t seem to notice. He stood up from behind his desk and walked out from behind it, so Sian headed back out into the corridor and aimed for the music department, with Mr Rhodes in tow.

When they arrived back at Kristina’s room, Sian stood back from the door. Mr Rhodes looked through the window, then turned back to Sian.

“Thank you Sian,” he said. “You should get home now.”

Sian’s curiosity was bubbling up inside her, but she knew there was no way she was going to find out what was going on right now, so rather than protesting she said her farewells and headed back in the direction of the school’s entrance.

 

*  *  *  *

It was cold outside. Sian pulled up her hood and immediately felt a lot warmer. She felt safe inside her hood; it was like a barrier she could put up not only against the cold, but against the whole world. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed to be seen or anything; more that she just wanted some time alone with her thoughts.

This time around, her thoughts turned once again to Kristina, and to Edward, and to what could have transpired between them. She’d left the classroom before whatever had happened had unfolded, so she had no idea whatsoever, and didn’t know Edward well enough to take a guess as to what the issue might be. What she had seen was new even to her; her relatively few encounters with Edward in the past had been limited to times he’d been exploding in a rage or storming out of the classroom, so to see him so vulnerable like that was more than a little disturbing.

Sian didn’t like to think what could have caused that. She knew Longmore had more than its fair share of students with problems at home that occasionally spilled into their school life, but Edward had always been an extreme case, so she figured whatever it was must be something serious. She felt bad running through the possibilities in her head, but couldn’t help herself.

Eventually, she pulled out her phone in an attempt to distract herself. There was a message from Jasmine on the screen.

u comin yet? xx

Yeah, she typed back. Are you still at the shop?

“The shop” was the local supermarket that was a few minutes’ walk away from the school. It was a frequent stop for the three girls after school let out; it wasn’t a particularly nice place to hang out, but it did have a café, a good selection of chocolate bars and a bus stop right outside, making it a convenient place for them to chat, gossip and then go their separate ways for the evening.

Sian felt like she wanted to talk about what had happened, but wasn’t quite sure how she was going to raise it. She knew Jasmine in particular hated Edward with a passion, and Nicola usually followed Jasmine’s opinions on things like this. She didn’t think either of them would be particularly sympathetic or understanding towards… whatever his plight might be, and thus came to the conclusion that bringing it up probably wouldn’t be a brilliant idea.

It wasn’t long before she reached “the shop”, and Jasmine and Nicola were waiting outside for her.

“You all right?” said Jasmine. “You’re not in trouble, are you?”

“Please,” said Nicola. “When has Sian ever been in trouble?”

“Oh, come on,” said Sian, but she knew they were right. She felt she should change the subject. “Fancy a coffee?”

“Sure,” said Jasmine. “You paying?”

Sian sighed. “Have you not got any money again? I swear you owe me about fifteen coffees by now.”

“I’ll buy you something nice,” said Jasmine. Sian didn’t believe her.

The three trooped into the shop and made their way straight to the café. It was usually pretty quiet at this time of day, and today was no exception. Jasmine and Nicola sat down, and Sian went to order the coffees.

“So you had Miss Charles again today, right?” said Jasmine. “Did she explode again?”

“Yeah, I heard it was crazy!” said Nicola. “I saw Edward was in again today, did he wind her up?”

Sian paused for a moment and took a sip of her coffee.

“No,” she said meekly, suddenly worried about standing up to her friends. She cleared her throat and tried again. “No, it wasn’t like that.”

“Oh?” said Jasmine. “What happened, then?”

Sian paused and took another sip.

“Edward came in and was particularly… Edward, you know?” she said. “He was screaming and swearing and knocking things over and all sorts. It was horrible. Miss Charles didn’t explode; she did her best, but I don’t blame her for being freaked out by what happened. Edward is scary, and she’d never met him before.”

“Edward’s a wanker,” said Nicola. “Ain’t that right, Jas?”

“Yeah,” said Jasmine. “Wish that little arsehole would just fuck off like he normally does. No-one wants him in school. Not even the teachers, I bet.”

“I’m not so sure,” said Sian philosophically.

“Eh?” said Jasmine. “You what?”

“Oh, nothing,” said Sian. “I just… don’t think it’s quite as simple as all that. I think there’s something a bit more complicated going on with Edward. I sort of want to know what, but at the same time I want to stay as far away from him as possible, you know?”

“Heh,” chuckled Jasmine. “I get that. Actually, just the last bit. I wouldn’t worry about it, Sianie; he’ll be expelled before we know it.”

“I’m surprised he hasn’t been already,” said Nicola.

“Yeah,” said Sian. “I wonder why he hasn’t?”