Chapter Two

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost and SweetiesNCupcakes for being my first reviewers on this story. I really appreciate it!

The bus had barely been in motion for five minutes, and already trouble was stirring. It had been an extremely bad idea, on reflection, to have the majority of Years Four, Five and Six on the trip, accompanied by only five members of staff, especially given that there were a fair few troublemakers seated together at the back of the bus, and Sue found her head slipping to rest against the cold glass of the window, hoping that the bitter temperature would soothe the pounding in her skull.

The science teacher was almost certain that the students were being deliberately disruptive, and with new student Gabriella Wark in the midst of the trouble, she would not be surprised if they were. They had been laughing, screaming and singing obscene songs for a couple of minutes now, unpunished, as Simon had been too busy checking the paperwork to stop them, Hector could not be bothered by the looks of it, Nikki was checking the map and Vix had made the valid excuse that she was not a teacher, and therefore they would not listen to her. Sue herself did not have the natural authority to even try and stop the students, and so decided not to get involved.

However, soon the bus went completely quiet, something that the majority of the staff found extremely suspect. For silence to have fallen so quickly, without any staff intervention, they would have to be planning something. Typically for such outspoken young people, though, it did not take long for them to find out.

"Miss!" came an exclamation from the back of the bus, clearly the voice of Rhiannon Salt, judging by the heavy accent. At first, Sue took no notice, passing it off as a general cry. Nikki turned to the source of the sound, to check that everything was alright, and Vix did the same. But the second call made it indisputable who the girl was speaking to. "Mrs. Lowsley!"

"What is it, Rhiannon?" the redheaded teacher called, turning her head towards the back of the bus.

"Miss, Harley feels really sick." Rhiannon responded, her voice seeming to be filled with just a little too much worry. She heard Dynasty Barry comment on this, but could not distinguish her words from such a distance. She was half tempted to just turn around in her seat and ignore the kids, but she knew that, as the only qualified first aider on the trip, she was the one responsible for making sure all the students were healthy and safe.

"Harley, do you want a paracetamol?" she asked, moving to undo her seatbelt and standing up, moving quickly past Simon, who sat beside her, and into the aisle. The parents had all given permission for paracetamol to be used in the recommended dosage if students were ill on the trip, and it was the first port of call for these kinds of situations.

"No, it's alright, Miss, I think." he responded, and for a moment, Sue was confused. If Harley was feeling ill, then why was he refusing to take any medication to relieve the symptoms. Suddenly, she realised the reason behind this. But not quickly enough, as before she knew it, the Year Four boy had called out the words that might as well have been a rallying cry. "I think I just need a sickbag!"

It took hardly a split second for the chants to start, just as they had done in her Fourth Year Physics class the previous term, and quickly, the woman pushed past Simon, who was now undoing his own seatbelt, to collapse in her chair by the window. Things were already bad enough, she did not need the pupils to see her cry, it would only make the situation worse.

"Right, guys, stop it now!" yelled Simon, and the students did so quickly. They may make fun of her, Sue noted, but they would never ignore the direct instructions of their Deputy Head. "It has only been five minutes since we left the school, and it will only take five minutes to take you all back there. Is that what you want?"

"No, sir." chorused the students, some more sheepishly than others.

"Right, then. Let's just calm it down a bit, shall we?" Immediately, the noise level dropped to near silence, and Sue could not be happier about that. After quickly checking that she was alright, and her giving a falsified answer that he was too preoccupied to notice, Simon moved forward a seat to the space beside Hector, and immediately began to discuss the plans for when they arrived at the camp.

The redhead could not disguise a sigh when her husband abandoned her, in favour of discussing cabins and cross country with Mr. Reid, but she hardly managed to suppress one either, when Vix shifted over to the seat Simon had just vacated. There were many things she needed at that point in time, but a pep talk from her older sister was definitely not one of them.

"You alright, sis?" she asked, although it was clear in her expression that she already knew the answer. Automatically, after years of doing so and lying, Sue opened her mouth to say that she was fine, but once again, her sister's expression stopped her in her tracks. "Are they always like this?"

"They used to be." she answered truthfully, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "But after Barry went, it calmed down a bit. He was always the ringleader. But now, I think they're taking instructions from Rhiannon and Gabriella instead."

"Did you tell Dad about what they were like?" the caramel haired woman asked. Sue merely shook her head.

"Of course I didn't. I didn't even tell Simon until I'd gotten in way too deep." she responded, slightly more sharply than she had intended to. She was going to leave it at that, but having seen the unspoken question on the woman's lips, she went further. "I wanted him to think that I could cope, that I was good here. I wanted him to be proud of me. How proud could he possibly be if he had to bail me out of a classroom full of teenagers?"

"Sis, he is already really proud of you. He always has been, even when you were off gallivanting around the world on RyanAir." Vix told her sister, ending the sentence with a slight laugh, which was mirrored by Sue. "He'd rather you told him you couldn't cope and went to find another job, than just stay miserable in this one for the rest of your life to try and make him happy. Because he won't be, not if you're not. So, if you want to get out of there, then do it."

"Thanks, sis." said Sue, and she genuinely meant it. "You always manage to say exactly the right thing. Although it was British Airways, not RyanAir."

"Whatever." Vix sighed, moving back over to her seat beside Nikki. "But you'll think about it, yeah?"

"Let's just get this week out of the way first." the younger woman suggested, casting a quick glance behind her at the students, who were now beginning to become rowdy again. "I've got a feeling that I'm going to be needed here."

A/N: Please review!