Tom sighed to himself. It had been a long day at work today. It was hard to look Kacey Barry in the eye anymore because, if he did, a fresh wave of guilt swept over him. It had been him that had let her play in that match- which of course had triggered her brother's unacceptable behaviour.

Perhaps Michael had been right to consider suspending him. That was another thing that was bothering Tom: Michael. He kept casting ominous glances towards Tom at the most inconvenient times. This included during lesson time, meetings and many other places. In Tom's opinion it was highly unprofessional... but then again... after the whole thing with Kacey Barry Tom didn't have much right to judge what was professional or not.

The only person that didn't seem to be at his throat was thankfully Nicki. She was treating him like she'd always done. Well, with the exception of her being strangely nice to him. Perhaps she was feeling sorry for him. As harsh as it sounded, he didn't really need her comfort.

As he walked slowly out of the school, he found a small squishy football lying stranded on the road. It seemed as lonely and as deflated as he felt. He shouldn't have really been annoyed at Nicki. Being with her was much more preferable than being left alone to drown in his own guilt-ridden thoughts.

He knew that Kacey didn't blame him for her gender identity crisis- but he had made it worse.

Without really noticing what he was doing, he started to kick the football as he walked. It could still move well- just.

'Hi,' said Nicki as she walked up to him. The school grounds were pretty much empty now. Tom had been tasking his time for no particular reason and Nicki had gone to clean up the mess that Barry had made after his fit of rage this morning in the PRU.

'Hi,' replied Tom, not raising him head to look at her.

Nicki considered Tom's expression. It was clear that he didn't want to talk right now but she still said, 'you know kicking that ball won't make you feel any better.'

'Better?' Challenged Tom, 'I don't feel bad if that's what you're getting at.'

'Really Tom,' smiled Nicki, 'I can tell when you are feeling sorry for yourself.'

'I'm not!' Defended Tom defiantly.

'Really?'

Nicki sighed before trying to change the subject, 'look on the bright side. You are great at football.'

'Yeah well,' answered Tom, 'one of the teachers have to be I guess.'

Nicki grinned before saying, 'for your information, Tom. I happen to be the best in my family at football.'

'Wow,' chuckled Tom playfully, 'then your family must be pretty crap then.'

Nicki opened her mouth.

'Okay, come back to mine then and show me how amazing you are at football,' offered Tom.

Nicki was taken aback by this sudden request but nevertheless accepted his challenge.

If I haven't updated I will soon