With the herds of students arriving onto the schools grounds, it felt like a normal school day for the teachers, especially Linda and Kevin Thomas as they both got out of their shared estate car and walked up the steps to the main entrance of the school.
"Morning girls," Linda smiled to a group of year nine girls as they hung about at the bottom of the steps. "Don't forget you have an exam in the hall instead of your maths lesson today."
"We know, miss," the girls chorused.
Just as Kevin was about to hold the door open for his wife, his attention was caught to something else - two police cars driving into the school grounds. At Waterloo Road, this was more of a reoccurrence than it probably should have been, but it didn't stop it from drawing the attention from everybody on the school ground.
The police cars parked up in a line at the side of the car park beside the field and one by one, two police officers got out of each car.
Even more students were turning up as it grew closer and closer to the hour, each student looking at the police cars and police officers, who had started to head towards the main entrance of the school, in confusion. Gossip had already began to spread through the school and none of the police officers had said a word to anybody yet.
As they approached the entrance, Kevin hastily opened the door up for them and they filed into the building in complete silence, leaving behind a trail of whispers as they walked through the school corridors, following the directions on the signs towards the Headteacher's office.
"Never a dull day at Waterloo Road, eh?" Emma joked to Dylan as they headed in the opposite direction to the police officers towards their first lesson of the day.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Jessops but you do need to request taking your child out of the country during term time for a holiday prior to the holiday," Daryl explained to a parent on the phone. "Not only is it a school policy but it is a legal requirement and ties in with Annabelle's attendance - something which we at Waterloo Road take seriously. The only thing I can do now is.."
Daryl's attention slurred as he noticed the four police officers enter his office.
"Sorry. The only thing I can do now is give you a verbal warning in the hope that this doesn't happen again," Daryl abruptly continued. "Thank-you."
As he put the phone down, he looked across at the police officers before standing up to greet them politely. "Good morning, officers. Is there anything I can do for you?" he asked.
"Would it be possible to see the new headteacher please?" one of the police officers asked.
Daryl looked down at Shauna's schedule for the day. "I'm afraid Shauna's in a meeting this morning with the LEA. Can I take a message or be any assistance myself?"
"We need to speak to Shauna as soon as possible," the police officer responded. "It is really urgent."
"I'll have to ring her. Do you mind waiting in her office?" Daryl asked.
The police officers all nodded their heads in unison. Daryl quickly walked over to the door to Shauna's office and invited them in before running back to his desk and picking up the phone. After quickly dialling a number and putting the phone to his ear, Daryl glanced back across at the police officers who were now sat around the coffee table in the headteacher's office.
"Shauna. I know you said only to ring you in an emergency but this is an emergency. There's four police officers in your office needing to speak with you urgently," Daryl paused. "I don't know what it's about but looks pretty serious to me."
Putting the phone down, Daryl headed back to the door into Shauna's office. "She's on her way back now. She shouldn't be too long."
Stood at the front of her classroom that was decorated with French flags and French vocabulary tables, Shirley Brand looked helplessly at the students in front of her. "Not that I expect any of you would be able to, but can anybody tell me what is so special about these three phrases," Shirely began before taking a pause as she turned around to write some words on the whiteboard behind her. "So the first phrase is 'Si je vais, il ira aussi', and then we have 'si j'allais, il irait aussi', and finally, 'si j'étais allé, il serait allé aussi'."
Whilst the majority of the class looked up at the words on the board with expressions of confusion on their faces before returning back to their conversations, Dylan looked at the board for a few moments before putting her hand straight up.
"I don't know if it's right, but are they all conditional sentences?" Dylan suggested. "I mean, they have a combination of different tenses within them. Also, the first phrase uses the perfect tense, the second using the pluperfect tense and the third using the conditional perfect tense."
"Perfect," Shirley grinned in pleasant surprise. "Dylan, isn't it?"
Dylan nodded. "Yes, Miss."
"Well done."
As Shirley went back to lecturing the class, emitting his disappointment of seeing twenty A-Level French students, who had been studying the language for five years now, ignoring a relatively simple question, Dylan began to jot some notes down from the textbook that was open in front of her.
"So what happened last night between you and Danny?" Emma whispered as she pretended to be engaging in the lesson by imitating Dylan's actions.
"Nothing really," Dylan replied, focusing more on the textbook than on her best friend's interruptions. "He just walked me home and then kissed my cheek. It wasn't really anything. We stayed in an awkward silence for the majority of the walk home."
"Didn't you invite him into yours?" Emma asked.
Dylan shook her head.
"Girls," Shirley prompted as she looked at them both at the back of the classroom. "Don't make me send you to the cooler."
"Sorry, Miss," Emma apologised.
Just as Shirley turned her back to the class, Emma looked at her best friend and continued the conversation. "Why not? He seemed to really like you last night."
Dylan shrugged her shoulders. "Mum and dad were home. You know how my mum feels about any of my friends - especially boys. It took three years for her to even speak to you."
"True," Emma paused.
"Girls."
Tying her long black hair up behind her head as she darted up the steps to the main entrance of the school building, Shauna said 'good morning' to a few students as they all waited to enter into various classrooms off the main corridor as she made her way towards her own office.
"Shauna, they're in your office," Daryl said as soon as Shauna entered the office, looking very windswept and out of breath.
"Tha-thank-you," she stuttered, struggling to catch her breath.
As she walked into her office, she was greeted by all four police officers standing up. "Sorry about how long I took. Traffic was an absolute nightmare. The ring road is completely shut off so diversions are happening all over the town," Shauna rushed as she eventually got her breath back to a usual rate. "How can I help you?"
"Miss. Teasdale, right?" one of the police officers asked.
Shauna nodded. "Please, call me Shauna."
"Very well, Shauna. I'm afraid we have some bad news."
Shauna's face dropped as she noticed the seriousness on their faces. She knew this wasn't going to be a visit from the police that Waterloo Road was known for in the community - something had happened.
"What? What is it?" Shauna asked in a worried tone. "You're scaring me now."
"I'm afraid last night there was an incident involving one of your students," another police officer responded. "The body of Benjamin Taylor was discovered this morning on a grass verge by the ring road."
Shauna fell back to sit on the edge of her desk in disbelief. She stared at the officers as she tried to come to terms with what they had just told her. She had not prepared for this. On the drive back to the school she had mentally prepared herself for a student getting arrested or some sort of crime happening involving one of her students, but never in a million years would she have thought to prepare for something like this.
"That's awful," Shauna said, eventually breaking the silence that had erupted in her office. "That poor boy."
"We do need to speak to a few students of yours as we believe they are the last people to see him alive," another police officer insisted. "But we completely understand that it'll come as a shock to the school so we can interview them later on today."
"You don't think - you don't think they had something to do with Benjamin's death, do you?" Shauna asked.
"We can't say right now. The cause of death will be unclear until the post mortem is carried out this afternoon," they replied.
Shauna put her hand to her mouth as she tried to think of what to do. She had no idea where to start. This was out of her depth.
"Right, we'll get the students you need to interview out of their lessons as soon as possible for you. I'll call together the rest of the sixth year students to tell them as otherwise rumours will start and that'll cause more drama for everyone when it's going to be hard enough as it is," Shauna explained, starting to put a plan into action. "You may use my office to conduct the interviews and I'll be acting as their appropriate adult, I hope that is fine by you."
"Certainly."
"What are the names of the students that you need to talk to?" Shauna asked, letting her plan take over her shock.
"Sean White, Muhammad Mahila, Danny Walsbrook, Penny Spencer, Dylan Fletcher and Emma Miller," a police office replied as Shauna noted the names down on a scrap of paper that she found on her desk.
"Daryl," Shauna called as she stepped out of her office. "Could you please alert all of the sixth year staff for an emergency assembly in the assembly hall as soon as possible? I also need you to pull these six students out of their classes and get them to come here after the assembly."
As Shauna handed Daryl the scrawny note, Daryl nodded in compliance.
"No talking or you'll find yourselves in detention for the next month!" Amber Hussain ordered as she directed her class into the assembly hall. "I meant it, Hannah Connors. That goes for you too, Adam Montgomery."
"What's this even about, Miss?" Penny asked as she was led into the assembly hall.
"I don't know," Amber answered honestly. "I know as much as you do."
As soon as the assembly hall had all the sixth year students in it, sitting in neat rows on the seats close to the front, Shauna made the appearance she was dreading since she had been told the news no more than half an hour ago.
"Good morning, everyone."
Shauna was met by a scarce chorus of 'good morning's in return. Although the students had originally been sat talking in the hall at the start, they had now all hushed as they realised the serious look that was across Shauna's face as she stood on the stage in front of them.
"It is with great sadness that I have to tell you that last night we lost a talented student and a close friend to many of us here at Waterloo Road," Shauna paused as she tried to compose her words. "The police have alerted me that the body of Benjamin Taylor was found this morning."
The hall of silence was soon replaced with gasps and whispers.
"The police do need to speak to a few students individually after this but they should have already been alerted of their names," Shauna continued. "The school will also offer counselling for those who shall want it and we will organise a memorial service to remember Benjamin by."
As Shauna glanced around the room at all her staff, who were had a mixture of disbelief and devastation written across their faces, she felt as if the school had been ripped up with this news.
"I can't believe it," Alfie stuttered as he leant against the wall at the back of the school's PE department with a cigarette in his hand.
Putting the cigarette to his lips, he looked out at the football goal in the distance.
"Are they sure it was him?" Susie asked as she looked at Alfie and Luke. "I mean, you hear these stories where they mix up identities of victims. Maybe Benjamin just got drunk last night and stayed over at a mates?"
"I doubt it," Luke paused. "They wouldn't announce it to the school if not."
Alfie leant his arm around Susie's shoulders and gave her a comforting hug as they both stared into space.
"I bet it was Sean," Susie snarled. "He's always had it in for Benjamin."
"I don't think even Sean would have it in him to do something like this," Alfie replied. "He's capable of beating someone up, but not killing them."
"They haven't said how he died yet. You don't know. Sean could have easily just beaten him up but taken it one step too far and just killed him."
"So Sean," the police officer asked as he sat on the opposite side of the coffee table to Sean in Shauna's office. "How close were you to Benjamin?"
"Not very close," Sean stuttered as he stared down at the floor. "We'd had this feud since year seven. We used to be best friends in year six but then we got to high school and everything changed. Benjamin changed."
"When was the last time you saw Benjamin?"
Sean looked up at Shauna, who gave him a reassuring smile. "Last night at the party. He turned up and I told him to leave. He wasn't welcome at my party, but if I knew he'd end up dead this morning, I'd have let him stay."
"Did he leave with anyone?" the police officer asked.
Sean shook his head. "I didn't really take notice of him leaving but.." Sean paused for a moment as he took a deep breath. "I think he was alone."
"Right," the police officer nodded as he noted down some notes in his notepad.
"People will make out that I hated him, and in a way, I did, but it wasn't really him that I hated - it was who he had become," Sean sobbed. "I never wanted him dead."
"The school counsellor is available for you, Sean," Shauna hushed as she placed her hand on Sean's arm in a comforting manner.
"Thank-you, Miss. Teasdale," Sean sniffled as he took a tissue from the coffee table and blotted his eyes.
"That's all for now, Sean, but I'm sorry for your loss," the police officer sympathised.
Instead of responding with words, Sean continued to wipe his eyes as he sniffled. Standing up from the seat, Sean picked up his bag and slumped out of the office and into the corridor, where Muhammad, Danny, Penny, Dylan and Emma were waiting to be interviewed.
"Ha. They completely bought it," Sean laughed, throwing the tissue into a nearby bin.
"Bought what?" Danny asked.
"My tears," Sean grinned, pulling out a bottle of hand sanitiser. "Use this under your eye before you go in and you'll be bawling within seconds."
All five of them gave Sean a dirty look as he paraded down the corridor towards the canteen where the rest of the sixth years were congregating to make plans for Benjamin's memorial.
"Muhammad," Shauna smiled as she walked into the corridor to greet him. "Are you sure you're up to this? Sean took it a little to heart."
Muhammad nodded, trying his hardest not to drop his best friend in it. "I'm fine. I just want this over with."
"Remember guys, the police only want to know what happened last night and if you saw Benjamin after the party. You're not in trouble," Shauna reassured.
As Muhammad followed her back into the office, the remaining four stood in silence with their backs against the wall.
"Do you think Sean did it?" Emma asked quietly.
"I don't know," Danny replied. "He couldn't have done. He was with us all night. Well, until I left."
"We left not long after you," Penny added. "He had time to go and kill him if he wanted to."
"I don't think he's capable of it," Dylan paused. "Is he?"
"Neither did I at first but looking at him now, I don't know what to think," Emma contemplated.
"I'm not his biggest fan - as you all know, but I don't think he's capable of it," Penny sighed. "Poor Benjamin though."
Filing through the key cabinet in the caretaker's office, Daryl looked over his shoulder as if he was rummaging in search of something. Hearing footsteps just outside the door, Daryl threw a key into the shelf and slammed the door closed.
"Ah, Daryl. I'm glad to see you here. PC Kingston is wanting access to Benjamin's locker," Dale Bushley announced as he opened the door with a police officer standing directly behind him.
"So Muhammad, how would you describe your relationship with Benjamin?" the police officer asked.
"I wouldn't say I really had any sort of relationship with him," Muhammad replied as he ran his hand through his shaggy brown hair. "He was just somebody in my class. I met him when we were in the same geography class in year eight. He kept himself to himself but he was a bit of a class clown too. He was funny at times but could step over the line easily. I didn't really associate myself with him as Sean and him hated one another."
"Did Sean and Benjamin ever engage in violence towards one another?"
Muhammad nodded. "They had a few fights in year nine. It kind of stopped when we got to our GCSEs though."
"Did you see him at the party last night?" the police officer asked, looking up from his notepad with the pen in his hand.
Muhammad nodded. "I sort of remember him being there but I don't remember what happened. I was a bit out of it."
"Out of it?" the police officer questioned.
"Drunk."
"Aren't you seventeen?"
Muhammad nodded once again. "I don't drink much. I just did last night to celebrate first day of term. It's my birthday in three days anyway so it's not really illegal, is it?"
The police officer remained silent as he continued to jot down notes. Muhammad looked at Shauna as she kept silent beside him. "Miss, do you know if Benjamin's sister, Jasmine, is okay?"
"I haven't contacted his family yet as I'm sure they'll have enough to be dealing with today," Shauna explained. "I will ring them later on to give the whole family our condolences."
Muhammad nodded as he looked back at the police officer.
"You're free to go, Muhammad. Thank-you for your cooperation."
Stood beside Benjamin's locker, Daryl looked at the police officer as he scrabbled through Benjamin's belongings, putting various items into evidence bags and passing them to his colleague, who was watching from the side.
"Mr. Stuarts, do you know if drama is on tonight?" a student asked in the passing.
"Not tonight. Something's cropped up for Mr. Brooks," Daryl replied. "You'd better ask Mr. Mahila for clarification though as I'm not 100% sure."
"Mr. Stuarts, why are they searching Benjamin's locker?" Susie asked as she opened up her locker and placed a folder on top of the pile of various other folders inside the graffiti decorated locker.
"Police procedures," Daryl replied. "And get rid of that mess before Miss. Teasdale sees it. You know the school's policy on lockers."
Gulping, Susie slammed her locker shut and disappeared off towards the canteen before Daryl had chance to say anything else.
"Danny Walsbrook?" the police officer asked.
Danny nodded.
"Did you know Benjamin well?"
Danny shook his head. "I only spoke to him on two occasions at the most and both of them were related to breaking Sean and him up from fighting."
"So they fought a lot?" the police officer questioned.
Danny nodded. "But it wasn't anything serious. It was over petty things and they usually gave up after a few punches. Sean isn't the physically fittest kid ever, as you've seen, so he usually just got out of breath after a few punches."
"What happened after Benjamin left Sean's party last night?"
Danny looked down at his hands as he twiddled his thumbs before looking back up at the police officer. "Benjamin left without questions really. He did say that he didn't wanna be there anyway and he left without anything else being said. Sean calmed down within about five minutes and we just sat around talking until I walked Dylan home."
"What time was that?"
"She had to be home for eleven so we left the party at about quarter eleven," Danny paused. "She only lives down the road so we had a slow walk back to hers. She was home for just gone eleven."
"What did you do after that? Did you go back to the party?"
Danny shook his head. "I went home."
Walking through the corridors, Sean read one of the texts on his phone from his mate, Nathan Fables - an ex-student at Waterloo Road who got expelled for one hundred and one different reasons.
'Heard that dork u hated got killed last night. Shame. When do u next want sum gear?'
As Sean began to reply, a hand grabbed hold of his arm and pulled him into the corridor towards the male changing rooms.
"Kimmy, what's up?" Sean asked. "How was dinner with Aunty Marge last night?"
"Great," Kimmy, Sean's twin sister, replied. "What's this about you getting interviewed by the police?"
"Yeah. That Benjamin kid I used to be friends with got killed last night and they wanted to know about the party," Sean smiled as he pressed send on the message.
'No cash at the mo. Wait 'til weekend when I see my dad and i'll give u a bell.'
"Mum is gonna kill you about that party by the way. House is wrecked," Kimmy paused. "They don't think you did it, do they?"
"Course they do."
"You didn't do it, did you?"
Sean looked at his sister before putting his phone into his pocket. "You know me better than anyone, Kimmy. Do you really think I could do it?"
Kimmy shook her head. "I just.."
"I wish I did though. Would have loved to see him squirm before he took his last breath."
Kimmy looked at her brother in disgust. "You can't say crap like that. If anyone hears you, they'll think you did it. The police don't know you like I do and if they think you did it, then that's it. They'll do everything and anything to make sure you go down for it, regardless of whether you did do it or not."
"Whatever," Sean sighed. "Can I go yet? I'm hungry."
"Do you have an alibi?" Kimmy asked.
Sean shook his head.
"Well, don't you think you should in case they try to pin the guilt against you?" Kimmy asked.
Sean shrugged his shoulders as he scratched his stomach, looking more interested in the smells that were coming from the school canteen. "I guess."
"I'll say I came back from Aunty Marge's at eleven and was with you for the rest of the night," Kimmy groaned. "What time did everyone leave?"
"Most people left about midnight."
"Okay," Kimmy sighed. "I'll tell the police later and update you on the story. Meet me at the end of the field before next lesson and I'll tell you how it goes."
As Sean disappeared down the corridor in the direction of the food, Kimmy watched after him and shook her head as she let out a huge sigh. After eighteen years of knowing that boy and nearly eighteen years of getting that boy out of all sorts of trouble, Kimmy thought she would be used to it by now.
As all three girls sat down on the sofa in Shauna's office, they swapped glances with one another as they waited anxiously for the police officer to say something to them. After a few moments, he looked up at them and gave them a friendly smile.
"Did you three know Benjamin well?"
The girls looked at one another, hoping one of them would take one for the team and say something so that the other one didn't have to.
"Benjamin seemed lovely to us. If we saw him in the corridor, he'd always smile at us. We didn't have a problem with him," Emma replied eventually. "It was Sean who had the problem with him. He's the one who needs to be in here longer."
"Sean seemed very upset earlier so he's gone to attend counselling," Shauna added for the police officer's benefit.
"That's bullshit," Penny paused. "He used hand sanitiser under his eye to make him tear up - Mr. Brooks taught us that one first day of term in year seven."
Shauna looked at Penny in confusion. Had she honestly fallen for Sean's scheming ways?
The police officer looked at all three girls in turn before scrabbling some words out onto the paper in front of him.
"He's such a liar. He made it look like he cared about Benjamin but he didn't. Miss, he's hiding something."
With a staff room full of gossiping members of staff, discussing this morning's drama over the discovery of Benjamin Taylor's body, it was easy to see why none of the students were managing to get any work done when the teachers were so wrapped up in the rumours too.
"I bet that Sean White did it," Layla speculated as she stirred her cup of tea. "He was always a piece of trouble. The amount of fights I had to break up when they were in the same citizenship class was unreal."
"In my lesson yesterday, I had to tell them both to settle down," Yvonne added. "The amount of tension between them both was unreal. I felt as if Sean was about to hit out at Benjamin at any time. It seemed as if they both were egging one another on for a fight so I don't think it was just Sean's fault."
"Yvonne's right," Linda agreed. "Benjamin knew exactly how to wind Sean up and he used it to his own advantage."
As the ladies continued to discuss their theories over the crime, Kevin Thomas walked into the staff room with a piece of paper and pinned it to the noticeboard, taking pride in the placing of it directly in the centre.
"I know right now might not be an appropriate time to do this but I need definite 'yeses' by Friday so I can fully book the trip," Kevin began as he got the attention of the entire staff room. "As you know, our annual History trip for the sixth years happens every November and I need staff to volunteer. I need two males and two females - myself and Shirley are going as well with it being a conjoined French and History trip."
"I'll volunteer," Daryl replied instantly as he sipped his orange juice.
"Teachers only I'm afraid, but thank-you for your offer," Kevin lied.
"I'll go," Taj volunteered.
"Great. Anyone else?" Kevin asked.
"I'll go too," Will smiled.
"Two females. Ladies?" Kevin asked.
"Obviously I'll go," Linda laughed.
"I would love to go but I can't," Susan Bridges confessed. "I don't suppose the kids at the school house would let me go on holiday without them."
"I suppose I can go too," Amber suggested. "Will there be cover for our classes?"
Kevin nodded. "Cover will be arranged."
As Kevin jotted down the names of the staff volunteers, he glanced across at an angered Daryl, who had packed up all his lunch stuff and was storming out of the staff room in the direction of his office to finish his lunch in there.
With students talking about everything that had happened over the last day with everything going on with the whole Benjamin death, the canteen was filled with the hustle and bustle of voices fighting for dominance. As Muhammad queued up in the lunch queue, he stared down at the bowl of soup as the dinner lady placed it on his tray. It didn't look so appetising as he suffered with a hangover as a result of last night's drinking.
"Is it just me or does that soup look like sick?" Muhammad grunted to Danny as they both carried their trays to an empty table at the side of the canteen to escape all the discussion over Benjamin.
"I think it's just you," Danny laughed, placing his tray on the table and sitting down.
"That is the last time I'm drinking," Muhammad sighed as he poured himself a glass of water and gulped it down.
"It's your birthday on Friday though," Danny paused.
"Okay. It's the last time I'm drinking while being seventeen," Muhammad corrected himself. "Being a year older might make me a little more tolerant to the alcohol."
"You didn't feel like this this morning though. Are you sure it's the alcohol?" Danny asked.
Muhammad nodded. "I felt a bit queasy this morning when I woke up. I guess the shock of hearing about Benjamin made me forget it until now."
"I can't believe he's gone," Danny sighed as he took a bite out of his sandwich.
Muhammad shook his head as he stirred his spoon around the bowl of soup, looking down at it as if it was poisonous.
"Danny, don't suppose I can have a quick word with my brother in private do you?" Taj Mahali asked as he walked over to the boys' table and placed his apple and bottle of water on the table.
"Sure," Danny smiled as he stood up, looking quite relieved to get an excuse to leave the table for a bit. "I need to go find Sean anyway. I'll catch up with you in science mate."
"Alright," Muhammad nodded as he continued to stir the soup, completely failing to acknowledge his brother's presence as Taj took Danny's seat at the table.
"Heard you were at that party last night," Taj paused as he took the lid of his water bottle off and took a sip. "Mum's gonna flip if she finds out you weren't stopping at dad's."
"She won't find out though, will she?" Muhammad sighed. "Remember that little agreement we both made when you got the job here? Whatever you find out at school never goes home with you, just like whatever happens at home never comes to school. Tell mum and I can easily upload all those photos from our holiday to India three years ago when you got violent diarrhoea to the school website. Mum'll forgive me in time for drinking and going to a party and lying, but those photos will go viral and your reputation at this school will be made into a joke."
"Okay. I won't tell her," Taj promised, looking slightly worried about his brother's threat. "But just promise me that you have nothing to do with Benjamin's death. I can't help you if you don't tell me the truth."
"I have nothing to do with it. None of my mates do," Muhammad groaned as he pushed the soup away from him. "The police just wanted to ask us a few questions. Don't you think if I had done something, they wouldn't have let me go?"
"Okay. Okay."
"Can we just drop it now?" Muhammad asked.
"Sure. I'm gonna be late home tonight. Got to try and organise a memorial for Benjamin with the rest of the staff so let mum know when you get in. I'll bring a takeaway in with me though so she doesn't have to worry about cooking dinner," Taj smiled.
"Pizza?"
"Pizza."
Taking a deep breath as she stood outside the headteacher's office, Kimmy brought her hand up and knocked gently on the door.
"Come in," Shauna called.
As Kimmy walked into the office, Shauna looked at her in confusion.
"Miss. Teasdale, I know you don't know who I am but I'm Kimmy White - I'm Sean's sister," Kimmy explained. "I don't know if it's necessary or if it'll help the police with their enquiries but I've heard a few rumours that Sean is the suspect and I just wanna clear my brother's name."
"Sean isn't a suspect," Shauna smiled reassuringly. "But if you want to speak to the police, you can."
Kimmy glanced down at her shaking hands as she stood in the doorway as a nervous wreck. "I just don't want my brother to be treated like a bad person anymore. Everybody think he's just a bad person and blame him for everything that goes wrong, and I know sometimes - well, most of the time it is him, but he doesn't mean it. He's just, he's just messed up a bit. He doesn't mean to be the way he is. People just misunderstand him. Like with Benjamin, he knew exactly what buttons to push of Sean's to get him to react in the way he wanted. They used to be best friends and then Benjamin turned all nasty when we all moved to Waterloo Road in year seven. I know because I saw it all happening. People blamed Sean for his outbursts towards Benjamin but 99% of the time it was Benjamin starting them. Even though Sean just didn't know when to stop, I know he could never kill anyone. He's not that sort of person. He cares. Deep down. He really cares."
"It's okay, Kimmy," Shauna smiled as she went over to hug the distraught student. "We've just had confirmation from the police that they've looked at the place where Benjamin died and the post mortem results have come in - Benjamin died by falling over a rock. It's trivial but from the evidence, he fell over a stone on his walk home from the party, knocked his head on the ground and a blood vessel ruptured."
As the lunchtime bell rang signalling the start of the next lesson, Kimmy rushed out to the school ground and looked out onto the field to see Sean sat down on the grass, playing with handfuls of grass as he waited for his sister, just as she promised. Within seconds of the bell ringing, all the students that were sat on the school field began collecting all their belongings up and made their way back into the school building for an afternoon of learning. Apart from Kimmy. Smiling at her brother as he looked up at her, Kimmy rushed across the grass to the far end of the fields.
"So?"
"The police have closed the case. Turns out Benjamin fell over a rock, knocked his head and ruptured a blood vessel," Kimmy explained.
Sean looked up at her in confusion.
"You're off the hook, Sean. It was an accident. You're not a suspect," Kimmy smiled as she sat down on the grass beside him.
"I guess I should thank myself lucky?" Sean suggested.
"Only if you had something to hide."
Sean shook his head. "I swear, Kimmy, I didn't do anything. You know I would tell you if I did - I tell you everything, even when I know I've done something bad and shouldn't really tell you."
"Just try and stay out of trouble, Sean?" Kimmy asked. "I'm sick of fighting your battles for you. We've practically only got a few months until we leave here for good. Do you think you can stay out of trouble for that long? For me?"
"I can try," Sean sighed.
"Don't try," Kimmy replied as she stood up and looked back down at her brother, who remained on the field, playing with the clumps of grass that had been left by the lawnmowers over the summer holidays. "Just do it."
"Right, for this year, I have organised for you to all have lab partners for when we do coursework as it just makes the whole thing much more easier and means there is less work for you all to do as, believe me, there is a lot for you all to get through," Amber began to tell the class as they eventually settled down at various tables in the science lab. "You'll find the names of each lab partners dotted on each table. Please find your tables and get introduced to your lab partners. I have made a note of each person's place so don't go switching names so you're with your friends as I will know."
Followed by a chorus of groans, every student stood up and moved over to find their names. Looking satisfied, Amber perched herself on the edge of her stool at the front of the classroom and watched the students as they reluctantly sat with their assigned lab partners and began to introduce themselves to one another.
"Miss, what is our first experiment?" Susie enthusiastically asked after a few moments as she sat beside her lab partner, Penny Spencer.
"Today we're going to go right back to basics with chemistry to refresh your budding brains on chemical reactions," Amber smiled, happy that she had finally managed to get a class who were wanting to participate in the lesson. "Quite a simple question but what is the difference between reversible reactions and irreversible reactions?"
Five hands shot straight up in the air.
"Luke, is it?" Amber asked as she pointed over to the new student.
Luke nodded. "A reversible reaction is where you can get the original substances of a chemical reaction back to the state they were originally in, whereas an irreversible reaction creates an entirely new product using the two substances, meaning it is impossible to get the original substances back."
"Excellent," Amber smiled. "Today we're going to recapping reversible reactions and we're going to be developing your understanding on equilibrium."
As Amber continued to talk to the class, Alfie looked at his lab partner, Dylan and smiled at her, waiting for a response back from her.
"What?" Dylan laughed nervously, feeling quite paranoid with Alfie looking at her.
"You have amazing eyes."
Dylan grinned at Alfie as she looked up from her notes. "Thanks, I guess."
"You're welcome," Alfie smiled.
"Dylan, what's equilibrium?" Emma whispered from the next table.
"What an excellent question, Emma," Amber said from the front of the room, writing the keyword in mention on the board. "Emma, since you obviously know what it means as you were questioning Dylan if she knew what it meant, how about you enlighten the class with a definition of equilibrium."
Emma gulped as she looked up at Amber, who was smiling smugly to her flabbergasted student. "Um," Emma paused, trying to rack her memory for any clue as to what it meant. "Equilibrium is.. it's the.."
"Does anybody want to help Emma out?" Amber asked.
Dylan put her hand up.
"Dylan."
"I'm not 100% about it as Mr. Fields didn't really teach us it properly but is equilibrium the condition in which both the reactants of a chemical reason are balanced with regards to the forward reaction and the reverse reaction?" Dylan asked.
Amber nodded. "That's correct."
"Nerd," Alfie teased as Dylan continued to make notes in her book.
"Just because I won't be flipping burgers when I'm older doesn't mean I'm a nerd," Dylan joked, winking towards her lab partner as he laughed at her lighthearted banter.
Walking up the cobbled path towards the front door, Shauna gave a supportive but half-hearted smile to her colleague, Wayne Brooks. As they both reached the front door, they took a synchronised deep breath and Shauna knocked firmly on the door. The curtains in the front window twitched slightly before the sound of keys came from the lock. Once the door opened slightly, a woman poked her head from around it with red raw eyes that was still filled with tears of heartbreak.
"Mrs. Taylor, I'm Shauna Teasdale - the new headteacher at Waterloo Road and this is Benjamin's form tutor, Wayne Brooks," Shauna said, introducing the both of them to Benjamin's mother. "We just wanted to come see how you and your family were coping and you give you all our condolences. Nobody in the school had a bad thing to say about it - the teachers said he was a pleasure to teach."
Benjamin's mother opened the door fully, allowing them to enter her house. Shauna took the lead and then Wayne followed her behind.
"Can I get you anything?" Benjamin's mother asked as she showed them into the lounge that was filled with cards of sympathy and bouquets of flowers. "Tea? Coffee?"
"I'm fine thank-you," Shauna replied, taking a seat on the sofa.
"I'm fine too, thank-you," Wayne smiled, unsure of what to say as he sat beside Shauna.
"None of us could believe it when we found out," Shauna said as Benjamin's mother sat down on the armchair opposite to them. "I'd only met Benjamin once, but he was so lovely. Mr. Brooks obviously knows him a lot better than I did, but every teacher I spoke to today only had nice things to say about your son. He is a true credit to your family."
"Mum, I'm going to.."
As Benjamin's younger sister walked into the room and realised her drama teacher and new head teacher were sat on her sofa, she paused.
"Jasmine, take as much time off school as you need," Shauna insisted. "We'll help you catch up with any work you miss. Just focus on grieving for your brother. I know it won't be easy but the school is always there to support you."
"Thanks," Jasmine said, lifting the corners of her mouth to form a slight smile as she looked at her teachers.
"What is it, love?" Benjamin's mother asked.
"I'm just going for a walk. School'll be finishing soon and I just need to see my friends to take my mind off it for a bit," Jasmine replied. "I won't be home late. I just need some space."
Once her mother had nodded, Jasmine disappeared down the hallway followed by the front door opening and closing a few moments later.
"She's taking it so well," the bereaving mother smiled. "She's been my rock today. From this morning when we had the police waking us up to now, she's been a God send."
"I know it's the last thing you want to even be thinking about today considering the circumstances but the school are organising a memorial for this for next week and we'd love it if you and your family would attend," Wayne paused. "Benjamin was loved by so many of us and I know all his friends and teachers want to support you through this incredibly tough time."
"That'll be lovely."
Once all the equipment had been put away neatly, Amber turned to face her class - her favourite class so far in the two days she had been teaching at Waterloo Road. "Good work today guys," she smiled as she watched them all put their belongings into their bags. "Remember the assignment is due in for this time next week. And I want no excuses from any of you - you're all capable of doing it and it isn't a really demanding essay."
Closing up her folder and putting her textbook into her bag, Dylan got ready to go home. As she walked out of the science lab and down the stairs, heading in the direction of her locker, she felt a hand grab hold of her shoulder. Turning around in the middle of the stairs, she was surprised a little to see Danny standing right behind her with a smile across his face.
"I thought you had football practice tonight?" Dylan smiled.
"What?" Danny laughed, loooking at her, a little lost in confusion.
"I was talking to Sean earlier and he said something about you having practice with your balls tonight?" Dylan asked. "I just presumed he meant football practice."
Rolling his eyes, Danny automatically knew what Sean was meaning by that - and it was miles away from the conventional football practice. "Oh, I gave that up last term," Danny lied, not letting Sean's comment make things awkward between the pair.
"Okay."
"Anyway, I have to go do a few things before I leave quickly but meet me at the bike shed in ten minutes?" Danny suggested.
"Why?" Dylan giggled with uncertainty.
"Just meet me there."
Reluctantly, Dylan nodded in agreement before heading down the corridor to her locker as Danny darted off back up the stairs to run errands. Behind her, Amber headed down the stairs, struggling with all her folders and books.
"Hey, hey, hey. Let me take those," Taj insisted as she noticed her struggling from the bottom of the stairs so rushed up to help her.
"I really need to invest in a suitcase for these things," Amber joked, passing a few of the folders and books to Taj.
"Or how about a laptop so you don't need any of them?" Taj grinned.
"Oh, I can't work technology at all," Amber sighed. "I was never good at computers when I was at school. Always bottom of the class in ICT."
"I can teach you one day if you want?" Taj offered.
"Maybe," Amber smiled.
"One condition though."
"What?"
"You teach me about the periodic table because I skipped that lesson when I was at school and now it just bugs me when I can't answer a question on a quiz show about it," Taj grinned.
"Deal," Amber laughed.
Strolling across the school grounds as the students gradually emptied out of the building and dispersed into the neighbouring streets, Dylan looked across at the sun that was slowly setting in the sky and smiled. As she got in the bike shelter, she put her bag on one of the empty bike storage units and rooted through it, searching for her compact mirror. Checking out her reflection, she quickly reapplied a fresh layer of shimmery pink lipstick and ran her fingers through her loose curls.
"You made it," Danny grinned as he joined Dylan in the shelter.
"Yeah," Dylan smiled, shoving her mirror back into her bag before Danny caught sight of it. "I said I would."
"Good, because I need to talk to you," Danny said, taking hold of her hands as she put her bag back over her shoulder.
"What?" Dylan laughed - something she did when she was nervous or unsure about a situation.
"I like you, Dylan."
"And I like you."
"I mean really like you. And I don't usually like people."
"Like as in 'like like'?" Dylan questioned.
Danny nodded.
"Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Dylan asked.
"What do you mean what am I going to do about it?" Danny smiled as Dylan took a step towards him so she was standing inches away from him. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"This," Dylan paused.
Before Danny had any chance to say anything in response to Dylan, she had already leant towards him and connected their lips together. Kissing passionately, Danny allowed his schoolbag to slowly drop off his shoulder before moving his hands up to hold Dylan closer to him, pulling her in with his hands in the arch of her back. Moving her hands up, Dylan put her hands at the back of Danny's neck and let her fingers fall into his soft hair.
"That," Danny laughed as he took a breath from the kiss. "That was good."
"Only good?" Dylan grinned.
Danny winked as he picked his schoolbag back up from the floor. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand for Dylan to take. "I'll walk you home."
"Hold on," Dylan paused, pulling him back towards her.
Taking her thumb up to his lips, she rubbed her lipstick from around his mouth. "Better?" he asked.
"Better," she grinned, taking hold of his hand again before they walked out of the school grounds with their fingers intertwined.