Irreplaceable – part 1

Rachel Mason studied her immaculate reflection in the rear-view mirror of her brand new Mazda C6; not that she should ever feel obligated to of course, her warm sun-kissed complexion seemed to beam akin to a halo hand crafted by the most talented of angels; the caramel tones in her hair making her brown eyes pop into the faces of in awe spectators. However lately it helped drown out the bothersome sound of her 16-year-old daughter droning on monotonously about yet the most recent fashion vogue.

"Mum! Can you give me one plausible reason of why I can't get one?!" Rachel didn't even rotate in order to face her daughter directly; as to be frank she was not inclined to engage further with this futile tête-à-tête; hence she merely looked her daughter in the eye through the rear-view mirror speaking in a serene tone.

"Naomi, we've spoken about this and you know that it's out of the question, now can you please drop the idea please?" Rachel did not avert her authoritive gaze from her daughter, motioning for Naomi to hand over the stack of folders on the back seat, hitherto Rachel had become all too aware that Naomi was 16, she was temperamentally irritable at times, and if Rachel knew her daughter accurately she wasn't going down without a fight.

"I seriously cannot believe that you are doing this to me! Mum, in case you've failed to notice I'm 16 years old." The reverberating sound of Naomi's voice inconspicuously caused Rachel to groan almost inaudibly before retaliating to her daughter's futile demands.

"Exactly Naomi! 16, not 18, therefore no tattoo." By now Rachel had completely bowed in her seat in order to epitomize her daughter's resolute facial expression. "If I sought my child to follow what everyone else was doing, I would have raised a sheep and I didn't so don't ask again or believe you me, you will not like the consequences." By now Rachel tone was laced with such an authoritive conduct that it dripped with seriousness, which in turn caused a defeated Naomi to merely glare at her mother before scowling loudly, flinging her self out of the car and illustrating her anger by slamming the door with a lot more vigour than necessary.

It was now Rachel's turn to glare at her daughter as she stormed towards the entrance of Waterloo Road. 'What ever happened to my little girl?' Rachel thought to herself as she stepped out of the car onto the tarmac, she was well aware that she herself hadn't been too easy to live with these days with the constant tension of LEA inspections wearing out on her, but what necessitate was there for everyone else to be so god damn hostile towards her? Glancing at her watch Rachel sighed stressfully before closing the car door with the similar force her daughter had used only a few moments prior, only to perceptibly curse when the pile of folders that were balancing in her arms toppled to the ground.

"For fuck sake!" Rachel hissed loudly, bending down to gather the array of files that had dispensed messily around her.

Eddie Lawson and Philip Ryan had been stood next to Eddie's car, witnessing the scene between mother and daughter, disbelieving looks spread across their features.

"Phil mate, do you mind waiting inside a minute while I talk to Rachel?" Eddie uttered to Philip as he began to head in the direction of a very peeved Rachel Mason.

"Good luck with that one Eddie" Philip called amusingly as he ran to catch up to his cousin.

"Want to tell me what that was all about Rach?" Eddie enquired brusquely as Rachel slowly remained an upright deportment, trying not to wobble in her heels.

"Eddie I can't be done with you and you're snide little comments today" Eddie bit his lip in order to suppress his retaliation to the venomous reaction that Rachel had given him. 'Well if that's the way the wants to play the game then so be it' Eddie deliberated as he locked his car door, not for one second averting his glare from Rachel who was now half way up the stairs heading towards her office. However like all pig headed men, Eddie Lawson could not distinguish how to do anything but impede where he was not welcome, and in this case his opinion was certainly not invited. Of course a certain Mr Lawson failed to consider this factor before bee lining for Rachel's office, more that willing to bite back.

"What the bleeding hell is your problem Rach?" Eddie scolded, stepping aggressively in to Rachel's office. Rachel didn't retort to Eddie's rampant outburst, he wasn't even convinced whether she had chosen to acknowledge his presence as she was too preoccupied with taking her frustration out on the piece of paper that lay in front of her; and if Eddie didn't know any better he was sure that she could have turned the pen into a noxious weapon.

"RACHEL!" This time Rachel snapped round, her eyes burning with aggravation, still she remained silent staring Eddie down as his chest heaved with an adrenaline surge to fight. Though if Eddie had cared to approach her fully he would have seen the yearning tiredness in her eyes; the sign that she simply didn't have the energy to fight as they had done now for the past 3 days.

"Eddie, just leave it, I'm not in the mood to have an argument right now…" She tried to keep the calmness evident in her voice yet couldn't contain the slight waver it gave as Eddie interrupted with yet another hostile dispute.

"Well then when are you in the mood huh Rach? When are you, because to be quite frank you're never in the mood these days? Your problem with Naomi is not going to go away on its own, you can't just sweep it under the carpet and expect a magic flaming wand to make it disappear!" Rachel gave an exasperated sigh, why couldn't he just see that she didn't want to argue, but then again the niggling anger and frustration was beginning to over shadow her better judgement. That's when she snapped.

"FOR GOD SAKE EDDIE, WHY DO YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO INSTIGATE AN ARGUMENT ALL THE BLOODY TIME?! I DON'T HAVE THE TIME FOR ALL OF THIS!"

"So what are you saying Rach? Giving up on us, running away at the first little hurdle?" Eddies voice was now quiet yet still oozed poison as his eyes spat disgusted looks at her. "You know what Rach? You need to sort that head out of yours, and come find me when the real Rachel Mason decides to make an appearance." Before Rachel could register Eddie's cold words to retaliate she found herself looking back at an empty space; she let out a shaky breath to keep the frustrating tears that were beginning to creep up on her at bay before solemnly making her way towards the staff meeting.

"Come on Haydock, you yourself should know that Rachel isn't going to let you go on this trip, not after what happened last time." More often than not Matt Wilding would hastily jump at the likelihood of a complimentary excursion courtesy of the school funding, however granted the hefty bill brought back last time Steph Haydock was allowed to venture into the domain of France, he refused to build his hopes only to have them demolished in two seconds flat.

"For Christ sake Matt, give over will you?" Steph scoffed as she swung her legs around to rest on Matt's legs, not noticing the mug of tea in his hands, sending the now luke-warm liquid soaring.

"Steph!" Matt attempted yet failed to restrain the cry of annoyance that emulated from his lips as he peered down incredulously at the tea stain on his clean trousers. Steph opened her mouth in order to share the incredibly tongue in cheek comment she'd thought of regarding the gauche stain that could leave all to the spectators imagination, however her well devised come-back was forced to stay dancing sharply on the tip of her tongue as Rachel walked through the door.

"Ok, listen up I haven't got time for your futile chatter therefore I suggest you zip it!" The whole room fell silent as all eyes immediately averted towards Rachel who needless to say wore an expression that even the toughest of men would cower away from. Excluding there was always that inevitable one.

"Somebody didn't pull last night," Steph sang a little too vociferously, earning a warning glance from Matt and Jasmine who had now become aware of the death glare Rachel had bestowed upon that area off the staff room.

"Steph I know that you're a loquacious gob shite but I seriously suggest that you try your very best to refrain from unnecessary commentating." A number of faces around the room couldn't help but smirk at the speechless expression plastered transversely across Stephanie Haydock's features.

"As I was saying before interruptions," Rachel continued with a sigh as she scanned the piece of A4 paper in her hands. "I have with me a list of this terms budget, now as always it is down to the head of department how the money allocated is spent. I cannot stress enough that this money will only come once so if I were you I would shy away from extravagant materialisms. Okay… Kim, the art budget this term is £402. Matt, the dramatic arts department doesn't need an awful lot so you'll be receiving £200." Matt audibly groaned at the miniscule amount of money that was being given however he soon mentally kicked himself when Rachel paused and turned to face him, causing a nervous lump to form in his throat.

"Mr Wilding I can always give you nothing so be grateful" Rachel warned through an elongated sigh before continuing after convincing herself that Matt had wisely opted for the latter of the two choices.

"Ok, science budget again, nothing needed so £200. Sports I'll give you £350, you could do with some new equipment." Unexpectedly Rachel became vocally congested as she paused from reading off of the sheet of paper in her hands. Not that anybody was aware of this but Rachel did not personally arrange the finances of the school, yet as soon as she visualised the maths department budget she was all too aware of how the recipient would construe the pronouncement.

"Um… next, the maths department budget…" The stone cold look that had infested Rachel Masons face just moments earlier had now completely evaporated as she yearned for a forgiving look in Eddie's eyes yet when all she received was a cold glare, she timidly sustained with her gaze averted to an inconspicuous spot on the carpet.

"..Well is £250, as is the English departmental budget for this term. Rachel could hear the unruly grunts and groans coming from Grantly budgeons as he moaned yet again about the English departments financial allowances, however Rachel wasn't in the mood for arguing with an ancient fool such as Grantly Budgeons therefore simply dismissed the staff before padding swiftly out of the room leaving the staff let out a breath that most were not even aware that they were holding.

As the teachers of Waterloo road quietly made their way out of the staffroom the monotonous voice of Steph Haydock reverberated into the ears of anybody who could be bothered to listen.

"Moody cow, can't she take a joke or something?"

Part 2