Chapter Four

A/N: Thank you to LittleBooLost and amber for reviewing the last chapter.

"Right, guys, settle down." Simon instructed lightheartedly, as his final class of the day, Year Six, made their way into his English classroom. In truth, the lightheartedness was completely put on, as he was a little worried about Sue. He had had an extremely important meeting with Christine to deal with at the beginning of lunch, he had known that to start with, but just a minute or two after he had stepped out of it, a huge fight had broken out outside, resulting in him spending the rest of his lunch hour lecturing the boys in the Cooler. 'I hope that she was alright.' he thought, before turning his hand to the lesson he now had to teach.

However, it took only a few moments for Simon to realise that something was not right. The class were extremely quiet, far too much so for such an outspoken bunch, and this led him to become very suspicious. They were hiding something.

"What's going on with you lot?" he asked, and the room seemed to become even quieter, if that were possible. He frowned a little, though he contradicted himself by smiling as well. "What are you trying to hide?"

"Nothing, sir." Rhiannon spoke, on behalf of the rest of the class. She tried her best to make her smile seem convincing, but acting had never been one of the girl's strong points, and Simon did not believe her in the least. However, he still had no more leads on what had caused their sudden good behaviour, and so he proceeded with the lesson, trying his best to focus his mind on the text he was supposed to be teaching.

Twenty minutes had passed, and the students had been set a task to do in pairs on the contradicting beliefs of Mr. Gradgrind and Mr. Sleary, in their set text, 'Hard Times'. Simon was not entirely happy about this, and had even contemplated beginning the work for the next lesson and setting them the task as homework, just for the sake of having something to occupy his racing mind, but he had not wanted to be unfair to the pupils, and so he had allowed them to start the task and complete it at home instead. However, now that the students were busy, and still quiet, there was nothing to stop him thinking about what had caused them to behave so abnormally.

Finally, Simon could not stand it any longer, and he crossed to the table where Dynasty and Imogen were sat, opposite Rhiannon and Kevin. 'If anyone will tell me the truth,' he thought. 'Then it'll be them.'

"Girls, could I have a word, please?" he asked quietly, catching the attention of all four of them, and endeavering not to do the same for the rest of the room. Suddenly, the redhead's expression became one of extreme guilt, and the other three shared a glance that suggested they knew the exact reason behind the class' odd behaviour.

"Is it about Miss Spark? I mean, um, Mrs. Lowsley." Kevin stuttered slightly, and Rhiannon turned to him, her guilt giving way to frustration. Simon suddenly frowned. This exact class, with one or two exceptions, would just have come from Sue's science lesson. 'Something must have happened.' he realised, and immediately, guilt swamped him as well. 'I should have kept my promise.'

"What about Mrs. Lowsley?" he asked, but the boy had already fallen silent again. He pleaded with them. "Guys, if something has happened, then I need to know."

He received his answer soon enough, though it was not from Kevin this time, but Imogen. "She was teaching us about genetics and stuff, and she was teaching really well, but then someone started asking her loads of questions about her family and her job, and she just ran out. I think she was crying."

Simon took a deep breath, trying to remind himself to deal with this as a deputy headteacher, and not as Sue's husband. Thus far, it was not working. "And who was it, asking all the questions?"

"I can't say, Sir." Imogen responded, shaking her head slightly. "I don't want to get anyone into trouble."

The English teacher had been going to continue to press them for an answer, but it turns out that there was no need for him to, as Dynasty piped up almost immediately. "Well, I do. It was Rhiannon."

"Dynasty!" exclaimed the girl in question, her face now bright red as she realised that she had been caught out by the worst possible person for the current situation.

"Oh, what?" she asked in response, the anger clear in her tone. "It was you, and Miss Spark doesn't deserve to be humiliated like that. We saw it enough last term with my brother without you doing it as soon as he's out the door. Just give her a chance."

"Dynasty's right." Imogen agreed. "She might actually be a good teacher, but if we never give her a chance, then how will we know?"

While the girls had been arguing over her teaching ability, Simon had been attempting to call Sue on the house phone, and on her mobile. She always answered her phone if she saw that it was him or her dad, and on most occasions, her sister, but this time, it just get ringing for half a minute, and there was no sign of her answering. Now, Simon's worry had intensified. 'What if something's happened to her?'

Seeing no other road to go down, the Deputy Head decided what he had to do. He would have to go and find her himself. And so, setting some tasks for the class to be getting on with, and leaving Dynasty in charge for the time being, he too ran out of the school building, getting into his car and beginning to drive away, hopefully before he could be spotted by George or Christine.

As he drove, he looked up at the picture that hung from the car mirror by his side. It had been Sue's idea; she had thought that they might as well advertise their relationship, now that they were actually married and could no longer keep it a secret. The image was of the two of them together, on their last day at their former school, Mayberry Comprehensive, where, true to the story Simon had told in the staff room, she had done her teacher training. It was probably the latest photo they had of them, bar the photographs they had taken at their little wedding, which Sue had reserved for the album and the mantlepiece.

Sighing, he looked away from it, reaching up with one hand to remove it from the mirror and place it, face down, on the passenger seat. 'If anything has happened to her,' he thought, trying to keep tears from his eyes as he even considered that something had done. 'Then I will never forgive myself.'

A/N: I'm sorry the updates are few and far between, but I'm getting ready to do a lot of exams, so when those are over, in around the middle of June, I will be updating more regularly. Thanks for the patience and please review!