It was a Saturday morning and Poppy was sat in the lounge watching some TV when she heard Rachel, Amy and Lucy come home.
They'd been into town to get a few bits however Poppy hadn't wanted to go as she'd had a party the night before so was feeling a bit hung over from that.
Poppy went out into the hallway to say hello however when she did she realised that Rachel and Amy must have fallen out.
Rachel was trying to stay calm but in actual fact Amy was making her feel extremely angry.
"Just go up to your room Amy and have a think about the way you've been behaving this morning"
Amy took her shoes off before pushing past Rachel and running up to her bedroom.
Rachel sighed before following Poppy into the kitchen. Amy had been a really bad mood for the past few days and seemed to have developed a bit of an attitude and Rachel was struggling to deal with her at the minute.
"What's wrong with Amy?" Poppy asked
"I just don't know what's got into that girl lately, she keeps snapping at everything I say, she made Lucy cry twice and the way she's speaking to me is completely unacceptable"
"It's just her age I guess"
"That may be the case yes, but she still needs to learn that she can't get away with treating me the way she has been"
"I know"
"I'll go and speak to her in a minute, I just think its best I give her a bit of time to calm down first. Anyway how are you feeling now?"
"Just tired really, and my heads killing"
"That'll teach you then won't it"
"I'm going to go and have a shower"
"Okay love, do you fancy a walk somewhere this afternoon?"
"Yeah that sounds nice"
Poppy went up for her shower so Rachel made herself a coffee before going and sitting in the lounge where Lucy was playing with some toys.
Lucy went over and sat by Rachel and snuggled into her.
"Rachel"
"Yes love"
"Is Amy in trouble?"
"A little bit yes"
"Are you going to shout at her?"
"I'm going to go and have a little chat with her in a minute about the way she's behaving"
Rachel looked at Lucy and noticed she had tears forming in her eyes.
"Hey what's wrong why are you crying?"
"I just don't want you to get angry with Amy, because Mummy used to get angry with her all the time and make her cry"
Rachel picked the little girl up and placed her on her lap and started rubbing her back.
"Oh sweetheart I'm not going to do anything to make Amy upset or anything like that, I just need her to know that she can't carry on with how she's speaking to me at the minute"
"I promise"
"Okay Mummy used to be really horrible to Amy and Poppy when they hadn't really done anything wrong"
"Well I'm sure your Mum had her reasons, but I'll only ever tell you off when you need to be I don't enjoy having to do it so I only do it whenever I really have to"
"I know Mummy used to shout everyday"
Rachel didn't really know what else to say so continued to cuddle Lucy until she'd calmed down again.
"Are you going to carry on playing with your toys? I'm just going to go and have a word with Amy but I'll be nice"
"Okay"
Lucy started playing with her toys again so Rachel went upstairs and knocked on Amy's bedroom door. She didn't get a reply but she went in anyway.
"Leave me alone" Amy shouted
"No I just want a little word"
Amy rolled her eyes as Rachel went and sat down on the bed next to her.
"Have you got anything to say about this morning?"
"Sorry" Amy said although it didn't sound very meaningful
"I wasn't being unfair earlier but the way you were speaking to me was completely unacceptable"
"I said I was sorry didn't I?"
"Okay we'll forget about it then shall we, but I hope you're going to be in a better mood when we go for a walk this afternoon" Rachel said before getting up and walking off. She could tell Amy was still in a pretty bad mood and didn't want to make it any worse after seeing Lucy so upset earlier
Rachel went into the kitchen and started to cook the sausage sandwiches that they were having for lunch.
Once they were ready she called the girls through.
Rachel could tell by the expression on Amy's face that she clearly hadn't changed her attitude, however she didn't say anything to her about as she didn't want to wind Amy up even more.
"Amy please could you pass me the tomato sauce?" Lucy asked however Amy didn't pass it to her
"Amy" Rachel said
"What?"
"Lucy asked you to pass her the ketchup"
"Sorry I didn't hear" Amy said before passing it to her little sister
Once they'd finished their lunch Rachel told the girls to go and get ready to go out. Poppy still had wet hair so she went straight upstairs to dry it off.
Rachel put all their wellies into the boot and made sure the girls all had plenty of warm clothes as it was quite cold out.
Soon they were all ready so went and got into the car.
Rachel decided they would go to the lake for a walk because they all liked it there.
When they arrived they got out and changed into their wellies and put their coats on before starting to walk around the lake.
Amy was being really miserable and barely joining in with the conversation other than with one word answers when she was asked a question.
Rachel was beginning to get fed up with her as there was absolutely no reason for her to be acting like this. She knew she needed to have another chat with her when they got back and she was hoping that this time she would actually get through to her.
Lucy was running ahead when suddenly she slipped over a big branch that was in the middle of the path.
Rachel saw her do it so ran up to where Lucy was lying on the floor crying.
"Up you get sweetheart it's all wet and muddy down there"
"My knees and my hands hurt"
"I know, stand up and I can have a little look"
Lucy stood up with tears rolling down her cheeks. She had cut her knees quite badly so Rachel got a pack of tissues out of her bag to try and clean her up a little bit.
When Lucy looked down and saw the blood and her ripped tights she started crying harder.
"It's okay, it just looks worse than what it is it won't be so bad once I've cleaned it up"
Once Lucy was all cleaned up they started walking again.
However Lucy was still really teary as she walked along holding Rachel's hand so Rachel thought it was probably best they turned around, normally they did a loop but there was still quite a way to walk before they got to the halfway bit.
It didn't take long before they were back at the car.
Rachel took them into the café knowing they'd all like a hot chocolate.
They found a table and went and sat at it.
They chose what they wanted but it was quite busy so it took quite a while before someone came to take their order.
"Rachel please can I go to the toilet?" Lucy asked
"Of course you can come on let's go"
Rachel took hold of Lucy's hand and lead her to the toilets.
Lucy went into the cubicle and Rachel went into the one next to her.
Rachel was sat on the loo when Lucy started shouting to her.
"What is it love?"
"I need you"
"Okay hang on a sec, I'm just on the loo"
Rachel quickly finished and then unlocked the door and went out. She knocked on the door of the cubicle Lucy was in.
"Luc it's me, are you going to let me in love?"
Lucy quickly opened the door and let Rachel in.
Rachel slipped inside and closed the door behind her. When she turned around she saw that Lucy had tears running down her face again.
"Oh dear are your knees still hurting?"
"Yes and my tights are stuck to them so I can't pull them down"
Rachel tried to gently ease them away from her legs but they were stuck.
"Ow that hurts" Lucy cried
"Sorry darling"
It took quite a long time but eventually Rachel did manage to get her tights down so Lucy went to the loo.
Once she'd finished Rachel tried to help her pull her tights back up.
"I don't want to put them back on they'll stick again"
"You'll be freezing though"
"But it really hurt when you pulled them down last time"
"Okay I'll tell you what I'll give you my jumper to wrap around your legs"
Lucy took her tights off and passed them to Rachel who put them in her bag.
The two of them then went out and washed their hands before going back to the table.
"You two were gone ages" Poppy said
"Lucy's tights were stuck to her knees"
Lucy sat down on the big comfy sofa so Rachel wrapped her jumper tightly around them not wanting her to get cold.
They hadn't been sat down for long when their hot chocolates came.
After they'd finished them they went back and got into the car.
Rachel had been planning on going to Mel's on the way back home however she didn't see the point with Amy acting the way she was, she just wanted to get her home.
Once they got in Rachel took Lucy into the lounge and put a film on.
She was just on her way out to get Lucy some pyjama bottoms to put on when Amy walked in.
"Go up to your room Amy"
"Why?"
"Because no-one wants to put up with you when you're being like this"
"Being like what?"
"You know exactly like what, go on up you go"
Amy gave Rachel a look before stomping up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door shut.
Rachel sighed, she didn't know what had happened to put Amy in such a bad mood.
She went into Lucy's bedroom and got her a clean pair of pyjama bottoms out of her drawer and then went into the bathroom cupboard and got some plasters. She then went back downstairs and helped Lucy to get changed.
"Are you going to watch the film with me Rachel?"
"Yeah course I will love"
As Rachel was sat there she was feeling a bit guilty about sending Amy to her room, it wasn't something she would do very often however she thought it best that they both had a bit of time to calm down.
Rachel knew that if she went and spoke to Amy now she would end up saying something she would regret because Amy was making her feel really angry at the moment.
Poppy came in and watched the film with them too. They finished up watching the whole thing before Rachel went up and spoke to Amy.
She was hoping she was in a considerably better mood by now, there was nothing Rachel could think of that she'd done to upset her.
Amy was in her bedroom talking to one of her friends on facetime when she came in.
"Amy can I have a word please?"
"I'm talking to Beth"
"Well you can call her back in a minute once I've spoken to you"
"Sorry I have to go now" Amy said whlst glaring at Amy
Amy ended the call before staring at Rachel.
"Amy have I done something that's upset you?"
"No why?"
"You just seem incredibly moody and snappy"
"I'm sorry I don't have a smile on my face 24 hours of the day"
"Well you've seemed like it for the last few days"
"There's nothing wrong I'm fine"
"In that case then why have you been acting like this?" Rachel asked beginning to lose her temper again
"Oh my god I haven't been acting like anything"
"Yes you have and I'm sorry but I'm not going to put up with it, I don't know how your Mum used to let you talk to her but you haven't shown me any respect…" Rachel said but then she got cut off by Amy
"You can't tell me off, all you care about is us all being perfect children so we don't show you up. You're not my Mum so stop trying to act like it"
Rachel's eyes started to fill with tears at this, she knew she wasn't the girl's Mum but she did think that Amy saw her as a sort of motherly figure and she couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
"I'm sorry you feel like that" Rachel said before walking out the room
Amy started crying as well as soon as Rachel walked out so laid on her bed and had a good cry.
She didn't mean to snap at Rachel, she was just really winding her up so it had come out, she was really regretting it now though.
Now that she was laying there thinking about it she realised the way she'd been treating everyone over the last few days really hadn't been fair, especially Rachel.
Amy went downstairs wanting to find Rachel and apologise however when she got down there she couldn't see her.
"Where's Rachel?" Amy asked
"Upstairs I think" Poppy replied "have you been crying?"
"No" Amy said before going back upstairs
Amy went into Rachel's room and found her sat on her bed.
"Rachel I'm sorry"
"Its fine, I know I can never replace your Mum and I thought you knew I knew that so I'm sorry if you felt I was trying to be your Mum"
"I know you weren't I…"
"Don't worry I get it" Rachel said before going into her en suite and closing the door
Amy felt really bad now, Rachel seemed really upset and she hated seeing her like this. More tears started to form in Amy's room so she ran back to her room.
Rachel sighed, this really wasn't the Saturday she had planned. After a busy week at work she'd really been looking forward to spending some time with the girls.
Rachel realised that how she just spoke to Amy was really unfair on her and knew she needed to go and sort this out once and for all.
She cleaned up her tearstained face the best she could before going into Amy's room.
She felt really bad when she saw Amy lying on her bed crying into her pillow.
"Oh Amy I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you like this"
Amy turned around so she was facing Rachel.
"No it's me who should be apologising, I really am sorry for how I've been speaking to you I know it's wrong"
"You're right how you've been speaking to me hasn't been fair, but I also know that how I just spoke to you also wasn't fair I should have listened to you when you were trying to apologise"
"I don't blame you after the way I've been"
"I'm glad you're realising that you were in the wrong"
"I'm really sorry, I don't know why I've been in such a bad mood everything everyone does just seems to be winding me up at the minute"
"I would say that's your hormones love, it's just part of growing up"
"Well it's really annoying"
"I know, I've been there and I can remember feeling as if everyone's against me but just remember we're all here for you, so whenever you're feeling angry or upset just come and talk to me"
"I will, I really am sorry Rach"
"I know you are darling, we'll just forget about it and move on yeah?"
"Yes please"
"Okay then, why don't you sort your face out a bit and then come downstairs with us?"
"Yeah okay"
Amy burst into tears, it was so nice to be getting on with Rachel again but for some reason it was just making her feel really emotional.
"Hey it's okay, we've got it all sorted now haven't we?"
"I know, sorry I don't even know why I'm crying"
Rachel laughed before wrapping her arms around Amy and giving her a big cuddle which was much needed for Amy.
Once Amy had stopped crying Rachel went into the bathroom with Amy whilst she wiped her tears and washed her face.
Her eyes were still a bit red and puffy because she had been crying quite a bit but she followed Rachel down the stairs and went into the lounge where Poppy and Lucy were cuddled up on the sofa.
Rachel and Amy went down and sat with them too and continued watching the film they had on.
Mel had been expecting Rachel and the girls over so Rachel decided to invite her and Phil over for a takeaway, she really couldn't be bothered to cook.
After her chat with Rachel Amy was feeling a lot happier, she was glad everything was back to normal again because she hated it when her and Rachel did fight.
It took them a while to decide on which takeaway to have, but in the end everyone agreed to have an Indian.
"Mel how long before your baby will come out?"
"Another six months to go yet so quite a while"
"That's ages, why does it take so long to grow a baby?"
"It's just how long it takes"
Rachel looked around and everyone seemed really happy, it was such a relief because Amy's bad mood seemed to have made everyone pretty miserable over the last few days so it was nice to see them all back to their usual self.