I don't think I'm ever going to be happy with something I've written but I've been told this is good so here you go. Thank you Beth and Nat for reading this for me. Berena cuteness will be next chapter to break up the drama. Opinions welcome. Kat xx
Jac had been called to Mr Hanssen's office that morning. By the way she had stormed out of the room and down the corridor, it was obvious to everyone who saw that it was for more than just a friendly chat. It was now nearing towards the end of the lesson before break time and her bad mood was still raging. Elliot was trying to get her to talk about it but she wouldn't. She looked up at the clock and sighed. It had only been two minutes since she last looked. It didn't help that Zosia was in the class and kept trying to catch her attention. Normally if she was feeling down, that would make her feel better, but today it only made things worse.
The lesson finally finished and Jac tried to escape but before she could there was a familiar voice calling her name. She couldn't just ignore her so stopped and turned to face her. "Yes Zosia."
She could tell something was bothering her. "Could we meet up at break? I've got this impossible maths homework." She asked quietly.
"I'm afraid I can't meet you today Zosia. In fact we have to stop this I'm sorry." She had to look away. She wished she didn't have to do this.
"Oh…ok. Well if you've got better things to do then yeah that's fine I understand." She felt her heart drop. Miss Naylor was bored of her. She knew this would happen.
"No it's not that at all. It's your dad. He's reported me to Mr Hanssen." She looked around and slowly moved back into the now empty class room as she spoke. "I think we…"
She interrupted the woman before she had chance to finish. "Reported you? What for? You've done nothing wrong?"
"He saw us going into our room after school on Monday. He's put two and two together and came up with 20. Hanssen wants to investigate so he'll probably talk to you. My course leader might want to as well in her decision whether to change my placement or just kick me out altogether." She was heartbroken. All she'd ever wanted to be was a teacher. It was the only thing that has made sense in her life, the only constant. And now it was being snatched away because of Guy bloody Self.
"I'm so sorry. I'll explain everything to them. I'll tell them exactly what happened. That you helped me and that nothing wrong or bad happened. This is all my fault. If I hadn't been too proud to admit I was stupid then none of this would have happened." She spoke frantically. She felt so guilty but also so angry at her dad.
She shook her head. "No you are definitely not stupid. And don't worry about me ok just concentrate on your studies. I know you can do this."
"No. No I can't. Not without you. They have to let you stay. I'll fail without your help." She was really panicking now.
Jac didn't know what to do. She desperately wanted to reach out and comfort the girl but she couldn't. It would just get her in more trouble if anyone saw. "Come on Zosia, take deep breaths. There are plenty of people that can help you, Professor Hope for example. And your dad, he's only done this because he cares I'm sure." She hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder. "Try and slow your breathing."
Nothing she was saying was making any difference. Zosia's breathing was fast and her thoughts were swirling in her brain.
She sighed. "I'm going to have to take you to your dad. You need someone to comfort you and calm you down. I can't do that. Not anymore." She led the way to the classroom of the last person both of them wanted to see but ironically he was the only one who could help. Zosia followed reluctantly behind. Jac knocked on the classroom door and waited.
When Guy opened the door he immediately had a stony expression when he saw who it was. Then his gaze moved to Zosia and it changed to worry. "Zoshy? What have you done to her!"
"I haven't done anything! I would never do anything to intentionally upset her. She asked me for help with homework and I was explaining why I couldn't. As you can see she didn't take it well." Her voice was full of blame and she had a stony glare on her face.
He held his arms out for his daughter. "Zoshy sweetheart come here. You're safe now, I've got you." He pulled her into a hug but she pushed back against him.
"No! I hate you. I'm going to fail everything because of you!" She shouted.
The redhead took this as her cue and silently slipped out of the room.
Guy frowned down at his daughter. "I'm just protecting you! What do you mean you're going to fail? All of your teachers say you're doing really well. Better than ever in fact."
"Yes because Miss Naylor has been helping me. We've been meeting after school, in secret because I didn't want anyone to know I was struggling, and she's been helping me to complete my homework and to revise. And now you have ruined her career and any chance I had at getting one. I hate you!" She was yelling now, her voice full of anger as she pointed her finger at her dad.
"Zoshy baby you don't have to stick up for her. She can't get to you now."
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you listening to anything I'm saying?"
"Look I know that Miss Naylor is a beautiful and intelligent woman and I understand why you would be attracted to her but it's wrong. She is an adult and teacher, you are a child. She shouldn't have encouraged you."
"You're jealous aren't you? That's where all this stupid stuff is coming from." She ran her hands through her hair to brush it off her face.
"No of course I'm not, but you're saying there's something to be jealous of?"
"No!" She roared. "You're jealous because I was spending time with her and she actually likes me whereas she thinks you're a fool"
He looked angry again now. "She told you that?"
She shook her head. "No but she didn't disagree when I said it."
"You spoke to her about me?"
"I spoke to her about everything. It was great. If anything was bothering me I could tell her and she wouldn't judge, she'd just listen. She let me talk about mama, she let me talk about school, she let me tell her how annoying Dom was but how I still love him dearly, she let me talk about stupid boy stuff. All the things I could never talk to you about." Her hands were gesturing wildly.
"You can talk to me about anything."
"No! No I can't. Miss Naylor listens, comforts me and gives advice if I need it. You just try to control me and force your opinions on me."
"Ok maybe I haven't always been the best. But if anything at all has happened between you and her then you can tell me. I won't be angry at you."
"Nothing has happened! Ok maybe deep down I've wished that it could but Miss Naylor would never even consider it while I was at school. I know she wouldn't."
"So you're planning to get together once you've left school?"
"Will you stop twisting my words!" She was so fed up. The emotions were making her exhausted. "We haven't discussed it. We haven't discussed anything like that. You really think there's a chance she likes me dad? You're more deluded than I am."
He couldn't believe it. He's been so certain about what he'd seen, surely he couldn't be wrong. He hated being wrong. "But I saw you. You were laughing and smiling. I hadn't seen you that happy in months."
"Oh wow a teacher making a joke is against the rules now? You should go and report Professor Hope while you're at it. But don't worry you're completely safe. Now if you don't mind I need to go and stop Mr Hanssen from kicking Miss Naylor out." She turned to leave the room.
"No darling wait."
She span round angrily. "No dad nothing you're going to say is going to make me forgive you at the moment so don't even try. Just let me go and calm down then sort this ridiculous mess out ok?"
This time he just watched her go as she walked out of the classroom and down the corridor.
She rushed into the nearest block of toilets. She angrily hit the sink and allowed the tears to fall. How was this happening? None of them had done anything wrong and yet they were both being punished. She went to grab some toilet roll and wiped at the tears. Looking in the mirror she grimaced at how much of a mess she looked. It made her think of the time Miss Naylor had done her eyeliner for her when she'd cried it all off. There were many other times where she'd cheered her up whether she was crying or not. She'd never hug her but all it would take was that firm hand on her shoulder, showing her she was there, and then those kind intelligent words. She always knew what to say. She wiped away the rest of her makeup whilst taking deep breaths. When she was ready she left the bathroom again. She had to talk to Mr Hanssen, make sure he knew the truth.
A few minutes later she'd arrived at the head teachers office and was knocking as hard as she could against the door.
"What do you think you're doing?" Mr Hanssen's voice boomed as he opened the door.
"I'm sorry but I need to talk to you about Miss Naylor."
"Ah I was just on my way to tell her to go home."
She stepped in front of him to stop him. "No wait surely you need to talk to me first. I'm involved in this I deserve a say."
"Yes I was going to ask you to come to my office later, but Miss Naylor needs to go home until I've made my decision." His voice was calm but strong as usual.
Zosia was not going to give in. "Well I'm here now, please just let me explain exactly what happened?"
He nodded and motioned for her to come into the office and sit down in the chair opposite his desk, whilst he took his usual seat behind it. "Ok you need to tell me everything, right from the beginning."
She did so and tried to decide what to start with. "Ok well as you probably know, Professor Hope arranged for me and Miss Naylor to meet up on Fridays after school so I had someone closer to my age to talk to. So yeah that happened for a while but then she noticed that I was struggling with my work. She said she would help me but I was too embarrassed to let anyone else know so insisted that we did it in private and that she couldn't tell anyone. It was all my choice, not her. Then on top of the problems with my school work, I fell out with my dad and had some worries about what to do when I left here. She let me talk to her about any issues, thoughts, anything. I promise you nothing inappropriate happened. All she did was listen and help me with homework or revision. You should be praising her for doing a good job, not kicking her out." She tried to judge the look on his face but it was always unreadable.
"As I thought. Thank you Zosia. Would you be willing to write down everything you just told me and sign it." He slid her a piece of paper and a pen.
She nodded. "Yes of course. You never thought it was true did you?"
"It was a serious allegation from a senior member of staff. I had to investigate fully."
"Yes but that isn't what I asked." She knew she was pushing her luck.
"I understand that you can't help who you develop feelings for but no I didn't believe Miss Naylor would be stupid enough to act on them."
It took her a while to make sense of what he was saying. "You think she has feelings for me?"
He stayed silent, his face unchanged. Zosia could have sworn she saw a small nod but surely not?
