(A/N): So, I had a sudden burst of inspiration for this story, and my brain is absolutely chock full of ideas for this, though I think part of that is because I love Waterloo Road and Reddie so very much. The programme actually reminds me of my secondary school, though I confess without the guns or crazy policemen haha. I recall a time when we set the clock forwards to get out of lesson early, and then thirty of us had to run out of the school with a teacher chasing after us because we'd been caught! Then again, I think everything was nicked if it wasn't nailed down, haha.
Still, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and the next chapter should have the start of Alia and Jack's grand adventure in stealing the marriage records of Melissa's, and I'm thinking of including Rachel's birthday in this fic, even if there is no specific date ever mentioned for it. I still don't own Waterloo Road, and please tell me what you think!
HeavenSkye x
What The Heart Wants
Chapter 7
The following morning, Rachel and Alia sat listlessly at the kitchen counter, picking at their respective pieces of toast. Neither particularly wanted to go in that morning, knowing that Rachel's and Melissa's mother, Fiona, would be there from break onwards. Rachel was simply thankful that Fiona hadn't insisted on staying with her, something which the auburn haired woman knew she would never do, and Alia would hate it as well. Rachel knew that out of her parents, Alia only liked her father, and hated her mother, despite the two having never even met. Alia hated her for one reason, and that was how Fiona treated Rachel.
Alia's mobile rang, and she rushed to pick it up, eager for any distraction that morning, not bothering with the ID as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Ali, its Philip. I don't have much time."
"Phil, what's wrong?"
"It's Gran. She came early. She's sat in our living room now."
"What?" Alia asked in shock, sinking back down into her chair. "Shit. Does that mean she's coming in with you and Aunt Mel?"
"And Eddie. Can I nip round to yours and come into school with you and Aunt Rach?"
"Well…"
"Oh, please, Ali! She's only been here five minutes and I've already been criticised fifteen times."
Alia sighed. "Fine, but you need to get here within fifteen minutes or we're leaving without you."
"Thanks, Ali. See you in ten."
"See you later, Phil." Alia hung up and threw her phone back to rest next to Rachel's on the counter, along with both female's bags and Rachel's car keys. Rachel glanced at her daughter curiously.
"What did Phil want, love?"
"To warn us. The Wicked Witch of the West caught an earlier train." Alia informed her reluctantly, wincing as Rachel stiffened at the knowledge that her mother was already in Rochdale. "He's coming round so he doesn't have to go to school with her, Mel and Eddie."
Rachel sighed, a lone tear slipping down her face that she hurriedly wiped away. "Alright. Have you made any headway on the other little thing?"
"Yeah. Jack's staying with us on Wednesday and Thursday night next week. We'll be going out on Thursday, if that's alright."
Rachel managed a small smile. "You and Jack are practically attached at the hip, so I should've known you'd ask him to help. Jack's always welcome here; you know that."
Alia grinned. "Thanks, Rach, Jack loves you too." She teased, sticking her tongue out at her mother. Rachel laughed, sticking her own tongue out in return.
"Jack's like a second child to me. He'd have to be, the amount of times he's stayed over with us."
"I know." Alia jumped up at the sound of the doorbell. "That'll be Philip. And don't worry so much, mum. Everything will be okay."
…
Eddie couldn't wait to get out of the car, practically diving out of the passenger seat as soon as the car stopped moving. Mel's mother, Fiona Fenshaw, had been in the back seat, constantly talking the entire way there. It didn't help that she alternated between praising Melissa to high heaven and then speaking so badly of her other daughter, Amanda, that it made Eddie torn between throwing up in disgust and yelling at the vain, self-centred woman then and there for daring to say anything bad about Rachel.
He hurried up the front steps after seeing that her car was already parked up and almost ran up the stairs and into the head's office, where Rachel sat doing paperwork. She looked up as he slammed her office door closed. "Oh, hi Eddie. What's wrong?"
Eddie flopped down onto the couch, looking exhausted. "Is she always like that?"
"Who?"
"Mel's mum." He said, a little concerned about whether or not he could also say that she was Rachel's mother. All the colour left Rachel's face and she set down her pen before her hands started shaking too badly.
"She's talking shit again, isn't she?"
"Yeah. Listen, Rach…"
"She disowned me." Rachel interrupted, needing to tell him at least some of it, needing to let some of her story out to the one person she trusted most, other than Alia. At that moment, it didn't even matter to her that the man had practically broke her heart. She just knew he would listen. "That was when I became a prostitute. I needed the cash to help Mel out with something, I can't remember what, and in return, that woman disowned me and made my dad do the same. She made me pick between ludicrous choices, putting me in a ridiculous position, and when I refused to choose, she told me I was dead to her. I left that same day and never looked back. I returned two years later because Mel needed my help again, but I left as soon as I had helped her, and went back to my flat, where I promptly did a runner." Rachel laughed self depreciatively. "I knew my pimp would kill me if I tried to leave the honest way, so I ran away again, this time to my Grandfather, who lived the other side of London to where I had been staying at the time. He helped me change my name and retake my A levels as Rachel Mason rather than Amanda Fenshaw."
"So, your mum's still disowned you?"
"I went back home to talk to my family a few years later. I've since sorted things out with my dad, but my mum refused to believe she did anything wrong, and still treats me as she did when I was a child. Oh, and my parents are divorced, by the way, so it will probably be best if you don't mention him to her. For your sake."
"So everything I've just heard her saying…"
"Are things that I've heard her say every single day of my childhood." Rachel confirmed, taking in a shaky breath. Eddie stood up, concerned, and made his way over to her, holding her hand and leaning on the desk beside her.
"Oh, Rach. I'm sorry. Would she say anything? I mean, does she know you're the head here?"
Rachel shook her head. "I don't think so, well, not yet at least. Why?"
"Do you think she'd try to badmouth you to the pupils, like try and tell them that you were a prostitute?"
Rachel let out a shaky laugh. "She'd have a shock if she did. The pupils all know and don't care, remember?"
"I remember." Eddie used his free hand to rub Rachel's back, much as he did when trying to calm his son down when he was upset.
Alia poked her head in the door, not bothering to knock, before abruptly removing her head from the room and closing the door quietly. It had looked as though they were in the middle of a moment, and Alia would do her absolute best to make sure they weren't disturbed.
Eventually, Eddie had to get to his first class, and Rachel had to get back to paperwork. Stepping out of the office, he found Alia sat on the window sill just outside the outer office, looking bored as she swung her legs back and forth idly.
"Alia Falan, shouldn't you be in form?"
"I had to see Miss Mason about something, but you two were busy, so I left you to it."
"I- we weren't…" Eddie stuttered, turning red. Alia sent him a small smile.
"I know you weren't, Mr Lawson. I just didn't think other people would see it that way, so I kept them all away from the office." Alia jumped off the window sill, once again landing on her feet, and picked up her bag. "I better head to form. Oh, and Mr Lawson?"
"Yes, Miss Falan?"
"I didn't see a thing." Alia winked at him before she walked off down the corridor to Tom's classroom. Eddie shook his head in amusement at the girl and how topsy-turvy she could be as he too walked to his classroom and entered, yelling for the noise to quiet down so he could take the register.
…
For second lesson, Eddie had year eleven maths, which included Alia. Trying to keep Rachel's impassioned words in mind, he attempted to see Alia as Rachel apparently did, and was generally astounded by what he saw. Whenever she thought no-one was looking, she'd write down the answers to any questions set so quickly that Eddie's eyes almost didn't catch it, and she wore a small, content smile as she wrote, as though she genuinely enjoyed herself in working out the problems Eddie had set the class. Once she'd finished and double checked her work, she went back to doodling in the back of her book and looking out of the window, though even then, Eddie could tell she never stopped listening to the lesson.
At the end of the lesson, Eddie dismissed the class but kept Alia behind, ignoring all the "ooooooohh"'s that followed, the other students believing that Alia was in trouble once again. Alia put her book away in her bag but remained seated.
"I'm sorry." Eddie told her quietly as he sat on the desk in front of her. "I misjudged you, Alia."
Alia nodded. "I do like math, Mr Lawson. I just got a little further than this when I was studying from home, that's all."
"I get it, don't worry." Eddie grinned. "Go on, off you go and enjoy your break time. Your work is amazing, Alia. We'll have to show all your fine work to your mum at parent's evening, won't we?"
Alia blinked in shock and seemed to flounder for a moment before sending him a tense smile. "If she shows up, that is."
"You don't think she would?"
Alia shrugged. "Eh, she's busy a lot." She moved towards the door before pausing and turning back to the math teacher. "Mr Lawson, can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can."
"Well, say someone called you special, that they really liked you, only, you got scared and pushed them away a little, wanting to see if they'd wait for you, only for the guy to move on within a week, what do you think is going on?" Alia blurted out, hoping that her delivery made Eddie think it was something concerning the teenager, and not specific to himself and Rachel. Eddie smiled a little.
"Then maybe the boy is an idiot, who didn't see what a precious jewel he really had. He's a fool, Alia."
"Yes, you are." Alia murmured as she slipped out of the door and made her way directly to Rachel's office, leaving Eddie alone to his thoughts.
…
Rachel walked into the canteen at dinnertime, Alia not far behind, both dreading seeing Fiona, who they'd both managed to avoid so far. Chlo rushed up to them, almost beaming as she stopped before them. "Miss, my scan's next week and me and Donte are so excited!"
"That's wonderful, Chlo!" Rachel returned warmly, placing a hand on Chlo's arm. "How's your school work going?"
Chlo shrugged. "Its hard work, but I'm getting there, Miss. Tom's helping me with lots, especially English, and Donte does his best too, you know, to support me and that. Miss," Chlo frowned a little, lowering her voice. "Did you have anyone, you know, when you were like me?"
"I had my grandfather, Chlo, but he wasn't much help in regards to coursework and such." Rachel told her softly. "You're lucky that you have so much support, and I think you can do anything you want to do."
Chlo nodded, still beaming as she glanced between Rachel and Alia. "Miss, you know when you told me about… yourself… Is that your Alia?" She asked hurriedly, desperate not to inadvertently reveal Rachel's secret when the headmistress had been so wonderful in helping her out. Rachel gestured for Alia to step forwards, which she did, before sending a smile to Chlo.
"Yeah, Chlo, this is Ali. I'm sure if you need any information about the earlier years, Alia can tell you what it was like from a child's perspective."
Alia nodded. "Sure. I don't remember much, but if I can help in any way…"
Chlo nodded. "Aright. Ali, do you want to sit with us for dinner? I have to rush off after that, to finish my Sociology essay that's due tomorrow."
"Sure." Alia agreed, sending an apologetic look to Rachel. "See you later, Rach."
Rachel smiled as they left, happy that Alia was friends with Chlo, as she could have had so many worse friends than that, and had done when Alia had first moved in. When Alia had only been with Rachel a month, she was out all the time and usually came back at varying hours of early morning, in various levels of sobriety, despite her claims to the contrary, and the fact she was only twelve years old. After three months, it slowly petered out, though the late nights still continued occasionally. Alia was far too focused on her music and her career to mess it up by becoming an alcoholic or shirking her responsibilities.
…
Alia had had a good time eating lunch with Chlo, Donte, Janeece, Marley and Flick. Maxine hadn't been there, and it made Chlo, Janeece and Alia share worried looks. They knew she'd snuck off to be with Earl Kelly, despite Steph's protests about the relationship, and the girls were worried about her. She couldn't see straight where Earl was concerned, and the girls knew that should they try to tell Maxine anything bad in regards to Earl, it would be falling on deaf ears.
Looking up, Alia's eyes widened and she tapped Chlo on the arm to get the blonde girl's attention as she saw a tall, slender, grey haired woman with sharp hazel eyes and a malicious expression walking over to Rachel, who sat with Steph, Kim and Tom. Chlo looked in the same direction as Alia, confused. "What's going on?"
"That's her mum." Alia whispered in return. "She disowned my mum when she was seventeen, you know, when she became a …"
"Prostitute." Chlo finished in a similar whisper. "What's she doing here?"
"I don't know, but it's probably going to be nasty."
"Shall we save her?"
"Are you sure you want to help?"
"Definitely."
"Let's go then."
…
Rachel laughed at a story Steph had been telling about her year nine group that she'd had just before dinner. She was sat with Steph, Kim and Tom, with Davina having only just left so she could sort some of her coursework out to become a fully qualified teacher.
A shadow fell over their table, and Rachel looked up, praying it was one of the students and not who she thought it would be. Unfortunately, her luck wasn't with her, and it was indeed her mother, Fiona Fenshaw, with a guilty looking Melissa a few steps back.
"Amanda, how old you look." Fiona sneered down at her. Rachel took a deep breath before looking round, faking confusion.
"I'm sorry, there's no Amanda here." Rachel returned evenly whilst the other three teachers shared concerned looks, all recalling that Rachel used to be Amanda and wondering who the woman was.
"Fine, Rachel, ugh, such an awful name."
"Grandfather didn't think so." Rachel countered.
"Anyway, darling Melissa tells me you run this dump." Fiona looked around the canteen with open disgust. "What a shock. The school clearly reflects its leadership."
Rachel swallowed a little. "What do you want, Ms Fenshaw?"
"Is that any way to address your mother, Amanda?"
"Rachel." Rachel bit out.
"I'm sorry, but who are you?" Steph cut in, eyeing the woman warily. Steph may not have liked Rachel very much in the beginning, but Rachel had gotten Steph out of messes that any other head would have thrown her to the wolves for, and the two were tentative friends, so Steph didn't appreciate the way the woman was turning Rachel into a ten year old that needed to be pulled down a few pegs. Steph could practically see the self-confidence in Rachel diminish with every second that the woman was there.
Fiona turned to Steph with a smirk. "Hi, I'm Fiona Fenshaw, Rachel's mother. And you are?"
"Steph Haydock, French teacher." Steph returned in the same tone. Fiona's eyebrow raised slightly, but she made no other indication of having heard Steph's tone of voice as she turned back to Rachel.
"So, Melissa has been so very busy, ah, the work of a teacher is never done. So, you're going to have to show me round this place." Fiona demanded. Steph opened her mouth to defend Rachel when Chlo and Alia appeared at Rachel's side.
"Miss Mason?" Chlo asked, sounding hesitant. Rachel turned to the girls, relief shining in her eyes.
"Yes girls?"
"Uh, we have an idea for an after school club. Can we discuss it with you?" Alia asked, studiously avoiding looking at her grandmother. Rachel nodded and stood up.
"Of course we can. Let's go to my office. Chlo, is Donte coming with you?"
"Ah, no miss. He and Marley were going to have another look at the old van to see if they could get it going in time."
"Alright then, off we go." Rachel ushered the girls out of the canteen quickly, sagging with relief once they were out of sight. "I take it that you two don't really have an after school club in mind?"
Alia and Chlo shook their heads.
"We just wanted to help, miss, that's all." Chlo told her softly. "I don't like that woman. She's awful."
"I hate her too, and she's technically my grandmother." Alia added with a laugh.
"Well, thank you, both of you. Are you going finding your husband now, Chlo?"
"No miss. We're going finding Maxine."
"Ah. Still hanging round with Earl Kelly?" Rachel asked knowingly. The girls nodded. "Right, well, I won't tell Steph for now, but see what you can do? The boy isn't good news."
"We know, Rach. We'll try." Alia and Chlo walked away, leaving Rachel to walk up to her office alone. Instead of going there however, Rachel made her way to the staffroom, knowing she rarely went in there anymore, but also knowing that her mother was less likely to think her in there than her office.
Entering the room, she slumped down into a chair in the corner, resisting the urge to whack her head off the table as Steph hurried in, clearly looking for the head as she spotted Rachel and made a beeline towards her, sitting herself down in the chair next to her. "Rachel."
"What is it, Steph?"
"Is that really your mum?"
"Unfortunately."
"Ah." Steph glanced around before leaning further in. "Rachel, I think your mum is trying to sabotage you."
Rachel frowned. "No, Steph, she's said worse when I was a child. Trust me, it's nothing new."
"It's not that. After Chlo Grainger and Alia Falan got you out of there, she took your seat and began to tell us that you weren't fit to run a school. She said that you were mentally unstable, and a prostitute too, before going off on a rant about it all." Steph confessed as Tom entered the room and joined them in the corner.
"God, that woman is insane." Tom commented as he sat down. "Uh, sorry, Rachel, I didn't mean to…"
"Don't worry about it. She disowned me years ago. I can't stand her either." Rachel assured the other two. "Chlo and Alia just got me out of there in the nick of time."
"Well, I think she's going to be in for a bit of a shock." Tom told her with a reassuring smile. "At least if she tries to tell the kids about you, she won't get the response she's clearly looking for, and the LEA already know about your past too. She can't touch you, Rachel, not really."
"Thanks, both of you. She just gets under my skin a little."
"Well, don't you worry." Steph reached out and squeezed Rachel's hand in comfort. "Everyone's on your side, and she'll get what's coming to her if she speaks to me again."
Tom laughed. "Yeah, she'll talk French until it kills your mum."
Steph whacked Tom on the arm. "Oy, cheeky sod!"
"Can you deny it?"
"Oh, shut it, Tom!"
TBC?
