Chapter 11
This is set a month later do the girls have gone back to school
It was a Friday and Ellie and Rachel had finished school and were on the way to pick Alice up from her after school group. They'd been back a week now and although at first they hadn't enjoyed the early starts and school all day now they seemed to be back to there usual routine and weren't minding it too much.
It didn't take too long for Rachel to arrive at the school so she got out the car straight away as they were already quite a bit late, she rushed over and saw Alice waiting.
"Hey darling did you have a good day?" Rachel said picking the little girl up in her arms and starting to walk back to the car.
"No" Alice said sounding grumpy
"Why not love"
"I don't like my new teacher she shouts at me for no reason" Alice said
Rachel opened the door for Alice and let her in before going back in the car.
"Well I'm sure she has her reasons" Rachel said although she had to admit she much preferred Alice's old teacher to her new one who seemed a bit grumpy and not particularly caring
"What's happened" Ellie asked wondering what her mum and sister were talking about
"Oh she's in a mood because of her new teacher"
Ellie rolled her eyes and looked out the window, she couldn't imagine what is was like to be Alice's age again and only having such small things to worry about
"She shouted at me just for talking"
"Well maybe you shouldn't have been talking" Rachel said
Alice didn't seem to stop talking the entire journey back and Rachel was quite glad when they pulled up on the drive and they all got out.
However when Alice was walking to the door Rachel noticed she was walking a little strangely
"Alice are your feet hurting"
"No but my toes are there all squished up"
"Well they shouldn't be we got you some new shoes just 3 weeks ago" Rachel said
"But they hurt"
"Well you said they were fine when you tried them on in the shop" Rachel sighed exasperated
She was getting fed up of having to keep buying new stuff because Alice would decide a few weeks after getting something she didn't like it anymore.
"But they really hurt mummy" Alice moaned
"Well why on earth didn't you tell me in the shop it would have saved me having to waste £30 on them"
"Because they didn't hurt then"
Rachel rolled her eyes however she really couldn't be bothered to continue arguing she just wanted to go in and relax.
"Hey" Danny Said as soon as he heard them all come in
"Hiya"
Rachel then went up and wrapped her arms around Danny
"Fancy a coffee" Danny asked
"You know what I would love a coffee"
Rachel then went and sat in the back room and stared out the window waiting for Danny to come in with her coffee.
A few minutes later he came back carrying two steaming mugs of coffee
"Thanks" Rachel said taking the cup
"So how's your day been"
"Not too bad, not exactly been relaxing though"
"You do look tired"
Danny then went over and started massaging Rachel's shoulders gently, something he knew she always appreciated after a hard day at school.
They'd been in there a few minutes when suddenly Alice came running in
"Mummy I need you to do the button on the back of my skirt"
"I didn't realise it had one" Rachel said
"Well the one you usually give me to wear doesn't but this one does and I can never undo it"
Rachel quickly undid the button for her so Alice went running off to finish getting changed out of her school uniform.
A couple of minutes later Rachel heard a knock at the front door so got up to answer it, wandering who it would be, normally they didn't really have many people come round on a Friday night except friends or family as if anyone was coming to see Rachel from work she'd arrange it on another night.
Rachel was surprised when she opened the door and saw her sister with tears in her eyes and her 5 year old daughter Chloe stood next to her.
"Mel what on earths happened" Rachel asked sounding really worried, she then saw Mel's 14 year old daughter Charlotte behind her and saw she was carrying a small bag full of stuff
"Can I come in" Mel asked sounding a bit frightened
"Of course you can" Rachel said
Mel and the kids both went inside and took there shoes off
"Chloe I think Alice is in her room why don't you go up and see her, the two of you can watch some tv in the playroom while I have a little chat with your mum and Charlotte Ellie's in the living room I think I know she'd love to see you"
The two girls both went off leaving Rachel and Mel alone
"Oh Mel what's happened" Rachel asked
Although Rachel and her sister didn't always see eye to eye and would often finish up having quite bad arguments, Rachel really did hate to think of her upset and right now she was feeling very concerned about her.
"Come on let's go through to the kitchen"
Mel followed Rachel through and sat down.
Danny was about to come in and say hello and sit down for a chat as he had always got on well with Mel however after seeing how upset she looked he decided it was best to leave it for now.
"Right come on what's happened"
"It's me and Paul, we've had another argument"
"Oh Mel not again, it really isn't fair on the kids you know, poor Chloe's only five she'll hate seeing you like this" Rachel sighed
Paul had been with mel for the last couple of years and in Rachel's opinion he was bad news full stop and she would avoid seeing him at all if it was possible as she always made her feel really uncomfortable.
"I know but it was more serious and I don't know what to do, we were yelling at each other and Chloe got so upset and then he started shouting at her and ... Oh god it's just been so awful"
"Oh Mel come here" Rachel said wrapping her arms around her
"The thing is I need to go back and try and sort this mess out but I don't want the kids there Rach, like you said it's not fair on them so I was kind of hoping..."
Rachel knew what she was going to say before Mel even said it
"Of course they can stop here you know there always welcome, but what about you, are you going to be okay going back there"
"Course I will" Mel said putting on a small little smile "look I need to go"
"Are you sure Mel, feel free to stay as long as you need"
"No I need to get back thanks so much for everything Rach" Mel said
She then gave her sister a brief hug before going, leaving Rachel feeling really baffled.
As soon as she'd gone Danny came back into the kitchen
"What was all that about"
"Her and Paul have and another argument, and by the sounds of it, it got pretty nasty so we're having the Kids for the night" Rachel explained
"Oh god is she okay"
"I hope so" Rachel sighed but she really did deal quite uneasy about all of this "look I'm just going to nip upstairs and check on Chloe, Mel said he started shouting at her too the poor little thing"
Rachel then went upstairs and into the playroom but saw neither of the girls were in there so went into Alice's bedroom and saw them both on the bed sat chatting
"Hey girls you both okay?"
"Go away mummy we're talking" Alice moaned
"Well I've only come to check up on you"
"But now you have can you go away" Alice said
Rachel rolled her eyes, however she knew Alice wasn't being too serious.
"Honestly Chloe she's very rude isn't she?"
Chloe started laughing at this, she always did find it funny when Alice was cheeky to her mum
"Anyway Chloe's going to be staying the night at our house so you'll have plenty of time to chat"
"Whys she staying at our house"
Rachel was about to answer, though she wasn't entirely sure how she was going to explain this as she didn't really want to bring it up in case it would make Chloe feel upset and knowing Alice she'd probably start asking questions, however Chloe answered for her.
"My mummy and Paul had a big argument"
"What were they arguing about"
"Alice just leave it love"
"Okay but can Chloe sleep in my room"
"I don't know love, she might get a better sleep if she's in one of the spare rooms"
"But she can sleep in my double bed with me"
Rachel knew this wouldn't be a good idea, from experience she knew Alice was exactly the same as Ellie as they were both very restless sleepers and if ever they came in with her she would finish up getting kicked and the cover taken off her.
"Not if she wants any chance of going to sleep, I'll get a mattress out and you can sleep on that Chloe"
"Okay" Chloe said.
Chloe was still feeling really upset and shaken up about earlier however she didn't want to admit this now or talk about what had happened.
"Right I'll leave you to it, if there's anything you need just give me a shout"
"Actually mummy there is something we need"
"And what's that?"
"Chocolate" Alice replied hopefully
She hoped her mum would give her some as she normally let her have some treats if she had someone over.
"No way you're having tea soon"
"But I'm hungry now, I only want a small bar please mummy"
Rachel rolled her eyes but knew her disinter wouldn't give up easily
"Fine I've got a box of heroes in my room and you can have a couple each okay no more"
Rachel then went and got them
A life immediately dived in and started picking ones out
"Hey that's enough?" Rachel said gently slapping her hand "do you want some love"
"No thankyou"
"Are you sure? You'll be doing me a favour by having some it'll mean there's less for that monkey to snack on" Rachel said
Both Alice and Chloe laughed at this, it was nice to see Chloe considerably happier than when she'd first walked in the door Rachel thought to herself
"I'm not hungry at the moment"
"Okay well the two of you can share these out later if you out a film in or whatever you decide to do"
Rachel then left and went back downstairs to spend a bit of time with Danny.
Ellie and Charlotte were in Ellie's bedroom going through all her films and deciding which one to watch later.
"Charlotte will you do my make up for me?" Ellie asked hopefully
Charlotte was very pretty although she didn't really have loads of confidence and was quite shy at school but she really did love spending time with Ellie even if she was a couple of years younger than she was.
"Sure, I brought my bag with me"
Charlotte then sat Ellie down and started working on her
"Does Rachel let you wear much makeup"
"Not loads but she doesn't mind me wearing a bit"
"You're lucky my mum didn't let me wearing it till I was 14"
Charlotte, although would never admit it had always been a bit jealous of Rachel's and Ellie's relationship although they would often fight they seemed to get along well still and they were so close unlike Charlotte and Mel.
Charlotte continued to do her cousins make up for a while before moving onto her hair.
After a good half hour they were done and when Ellie looked in her mirror she was very surprised at what an amazing job Charlotte had actually done.
"Girls teas ready" Rachel called
All four of the girls went downstairs and sat at the table.
Rachel hadn't bothered cooking that night and had just ordered some takeaway pizzas.
"Do you two know what time your mum wants you back tomorrow" Rachel asked the girls
"She didn't say she was in a rush" Charlotte replied
"Well if you dint have to be back early we could maybe go out tomorrow"
"Could we go swimming mum" Alice asked
Rachel laughed, Alice really did love the water and going swimming now
"You wouldn't have thought just a month or so ago you wouldn't have gone near the waiter but yeah course we can if everyone else is okay with that"
Everyone else seemed to like this idea to so that's what they decided to do, luckily both girls had spare swim stuff so they didn't need to call back at Mel's tomorrow to get stuff.
They chatted for a bit longer but Rachel noticed Chloe was being really quiet and was just nibbling her pizza,
"Is that pizza alright love, I can do you something else if you're not keen on it"
"it's really nice" Chloe said
She ate a little bit more but it was obvious she wasn't really hungry as she was just playing with it, Rachel saw this but thought she'd probably be too embarrassed to say she didn't want it
"Love if you've had enough just leave it, don't feel like you have to eat it all"
Chloe had a tiny bit more but then left it.
Soon everyone was finished so Rachel tidied up, before going into the living room where Chloe and Alice were sat
"Now it's already 7 and I want you bathed and into bed by 9 at the latest so if you're going to watch a film you better put it on now"
"But 9 is early mummy can't we stay up till 10"
"You're usual bedtimes 7:45 so how was 9 early"
"Well not early but it's not late"
"Well it's late enough now put a film on"
Alice kept arguing back about the whole bedtime thing for a while as she was desperate to stay up later like she always was, Rachel tolerated it for a while however soon Alice started to get really cheeky and Rachel got sick of her going on so sent her to her room for five minutes to calm down.
"Alice I can see you at the top of the stairs go to your room" Rachel said
While Alice was in her room Rachel helped Chloe pick out a film to watch.
"Alice you can come down now" Rachel called
Alice ran downstairs as soon as her mum said this but Rachel could tell she was in a mood.
"Hey if you're going to be all sulky you can go straight back upstairs young lady and me, Chloe and Danny will watch the film together"
"But that's not fair"
"Well stop being moody and put a smile on your face then"
"No"
Rachel sighed before going over and tickling her daughter, at first Alice tried to keep a series face but before long she was creased up laughing
"There now that'll teach you" Rachel said
"Your tickles hurt, your nails dig into me"
"Well then if you don't want to be tickled make sure you're not being all stroppy"
Alice then sat down on her mums knee and they out the film on.
Rachel was sat in the middle with Alice on her knee and Chloe and Danny on either side of her.
They all really enjoyed the film however by the end of it both girls were getting tired so Rachel took them upstairs
"Come on now you two let's get you bathed and into bed"
Rachel ran a bath and got the two of them in.
Alice immediately started splashing around however there wasn't really that much room with two of them in there.
"Alice you're getting me soaking, be a good girl and stop splashing"
Rachel then got a jug and poured hot water over both there heads before massaging shampoo into them.
"Rachel" Chloe said
"Yes love"
"Please could I give my mummy I call before I go to bed"
"Of course you can love, soon as we I've got you nice and dry yeah"
Rachel quickly finished bathing them before wrapping a towel round the pair of them
"Right there's a phone in my room you can use that to call your mum" Rachel said
Chloe sat on Rachel's bed as Rachel dialled the number in for her. Rachel waited until she was sure Mel had picked up before going out and closing the door.
"Come on then let's get your pyjamas on"
Alice quickly put her pyjama top on and was about to put her pyjama bottoms on but then said "mummy should I put one of my drynites on tonight"
Alice hadn't worn one for a couple of nights and had so far been fine but Rachel decided tonight it was best she out one on with Chloe being there
"Yeah might be a good idea just for tonight sweetheart" Rachel said
"Chloe won't know though will she"
"Course she won't"
Alice then quickly finished getting changed.
Rachel went back into her room and heard Chloe just saying goodnight to her mum
"Sorry darling I didn't mean to interrupt your chat with your mum I've just come to get the hairdryer"
"It's okay"
Rachel noticed that Chloe sounded quite subdued but didn't say anything, as she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable
Both Chloe and Rachel then went back to Alice's room and dried off both of there hairs, which took quite a long time as both of them had long hair.
"Right it's definitely time for bed now, you both looked very tired" Rachel said "go and brush you teeth and go for a last wee and then straight to bed"
A few minutes later both girls came back
"If you want I can sleep on the mattress and you can sleep in my bed" Alice offered
"Really" Chloe said sounding really pleased as she loved how big and comfy her cousins bed was
Alice nodded her head so Chloe got in
"That was very kind of you Alice" Rachel said
"I like sleeping on the mattress it feels like I'm camping"
Rachel smiled before going over and tucking Chloe in and then Alice.
She gave them both a kiss on the forehead before getting up
"Night girls sleep well, do you want me to leave this light on for 10 minutes so you can have a chat"
Both girls were really tired now so told Rachel to turn the light off
"Well I'll leave the bathroom light on in case either of you need to get up to go to the loo in the night "Rachel said "if you need anything just come and get me, straight to sleep now though"
Once both girls had settled properly Rachel left, she was about to go and check up on Ellie and Charlotte when she heard them chatting
"Charlotte can I ask you something"
"Yep"
"Have you done anything with boys yet"
"We'll not really I mean I've snogged and stuff but that's about it"
"Oh have you ever sent pictures"
"No I wouldn't dare there's loads of girls in my year that have and they've finished up getting round the whole year in about a day, I hope you haven't"
"No but this random boy on Facebook keeps asking me for them it's really weird"
"Why don't you block him then you idiot"
"Well because he's really popular everyone at school knows him but he goes to a different school" Ellie explained
Rachel had listened to the whole of there conversation and she couldn't help but feel shocked, she couldn't believe Ellie was even thinking about this sort of thing yet and wanted to talk to her daughter straight away so opened the door
"Hey girls is everything okay"
"Yeah we were just chatting"
"Oh right, Ellie could you pop downstairs with me for a second I need to you to help me carry some stuff up for Alice and Chloe"
"Yeah sure" Ellie said "why don't you just get Danny though"
"Because I'm asking you"
Ellie sighed but followed her mum
"Come in my room I want to talk to you" Rachel said as soon as they were out of earshot from Charlotte
Ellie guessed at once that Rachel must have been outside while they were chatting and now Ellie was feeling really worried
"Want to tell me what that was about"
"What, what was about"
"Oh Ellie don't pretend you don't know what I'm on about, your little chat you were having with Charlotte just then"
Ellie sighed not really knowing what to say
"I haven't done anything wrong mum"
"Did I say you had? I was just shocked that's all"
"But mum I wouldn't dream of sending pictured not ever please don't be mad, honestly I wouldn't do it in a million years"
Rachel thought for a moment but she did believe her daughter
"Okay good I do believe you, but I don't like the idea of some boy asking you so I want you to block him and I'll be checking you have later"
"I will do promise"
"Good girl" Rachel said "anyway why were you asking charlotte about how far she'd got"
"Because I was just wondering that's all"
"Well it's her business not yours okay"
"Okay"
"Right go on then"
While Charlotte was waiting for Ellie to come back she went to the loo, however when she did she realised she must have come on her period. She sighed because she had forgotten she was due on so hadn't packed anything.
A couple of minutes later Rachel came back in with Ellie
"Do you girls want any drinks or anything bringing up"
"Can you get us some coke"
"Yep but make sure you brush you're teeth well after"
As soon as Rachel had left charlotte turned to Ellie
"Ellie I've come on my period do youse any pads or tampons on you" Charlotte asked she knew Ellie had started a couple of months ago now so hoped she would
"No I used all mine up, just ask my mum for some" Ellie said
Charlotte sighed not really wanting to ask her aunt as she thought it would be very awkward however she realised she didn't really have a lot of choice
After a while Rachel came back in with drinks
"There you go girls, I'll come and goodnight in a bit okay"
Rachel was just about to close the door when Charlotte stopped her
"Rachel"
"Yes love" Rachel said coming back in the room
Charlotte didn't really know what to say as she felt so embarrassed asking
"Do you have any erm ... You know"
"No can't say I do" Rachel said laughing not getting what her niece meant
"You know girl stuff" Charlotte asked cheeks blushing furiously
"Oh right sorry love, yeah course I do, just go through to my bathroom and in the cupboard there's plenty"
"Thanks Rach" Charlotte said before quickly darting off
A few minutes later she came back and sat down on the bed
"Did you find them?"
"Yeah thank you" Charlotte said still feeling really embarrassed about having asked her aunt for them
"Do you need any painkillers or a hot water bottle heating up"
Charlotte shook her head in response as she was worried if she asked for a painkiller Danny would see Rachel getting it and ask what it was for and her aunt might tell him
"Okay well if you change your mind there's plenty in the bathroom okay"
"Okay thanks Rach"
Rachel smiled at her before saying "I'm going to go downstairs for a bit then I'm going to bed I'll check on you before I go up, goodnight girls"
"Night" they both said
Rachel then left and shut the door behind her.
Soon Rachel and Danny decided to go to bed, Rachel had been to check on all the girls and much to her surprise she found them all fast asleep, though she was almost certain Charlotte and Ellie were just pretending.
Rachel got into bed and went to sleep more or less straight away.
However not long after Rachel was awoken by Alice prodding her
"What's up?"
" I woke up because I think Chloe's really sad because she's crying loads but she wouldn't tell me why even when I asked I don't think she wanted me to get you but she seems really sad"
"Well you've done the right thing letting me know, I'll go and have a chat with her now"
Rachel wrapped her dressing gown round herself before going into Alice's room
When she went in she heard Chloe sobbing into the pillow
Rachel rushed straight over and crouched down beside her
"Hey, sweetheart what's wrong" Rachel asked sounding very worried
Alice stood behind her mum looking really worried as Chloe continued to cry
"Come on darling let's go somewhere private, we can have a little cuddle and a chat yeah"
Chloe nodded her head so Rachel scooped the little girl up in her arms
"Alice you go back to sleep love, me and Chloe won't be long"
Alice went back to her mates though she did feel really worried about Chloe
Rachel carried Chloe into one of the spare rooms and sat down with her on her knee
"I bet you've been wanting a little cry all night haven't you"
Chloe nodded her head
"You should have told me I'd have found you somewhere quiet to go" Rachel said stroking Chloe's hair gently "nothings happened while you've been here to upset you has it"
"No"
"Are you sure because you can tell me if it has? Have you and Alice had a little argument or something"
Chloe shook her head as more tears fell down her face
"I'll just be two secs love I'm going to nip and get some tissues for you to dry your eyes"
Rachel got up and started walking to the bathroom in search of some tissues however when she was on her way she saw Charlotte come out.
"Hey darling, I'm just getting some tissues"
"Okay"
"Yours sisters really upset she's in floods of tears in the spare room"
"Oh no what's wrong with her"
Rachel grabbed the tissue before saying "I think it's about what happened at home earlier"
"Can I come with you to see her"
"Sure"
The two of them walked back across the landing before opening the door and seeing Chloe, who was still sobbing
Charlotte rushed over and wrapped her arms around her little sister as she continued to cry. Rachel just let them stay like this for a while.
"You going to tell me what's wrong sweetheart"
"I don't want to go back home tomorrow mummy and Paul argue so much and i hate it, it gets so scary and sometimes when I'm in bed all they do is shout and I try covering my ears but it doesn't help" Chloe sobbed "and I'm not supposed to tell anyone so now I'll get in big trouble because I have"
"Hey you're not going to get a trouble, I wouldn't ever let that happen" Rachel soothed
"Are things that bad at home" she asked gently guessing Chloe felt a bit uncomfortable talking about it
"Yes it's horrible I get so scared of Paul, he started shouting at me and I thought he was going to hurt me"
"You're mummy would never let that happen"
"But he's big and she's little so she's scared of him too"
"Well the last thing I want is to have you frightened, so how about you and Charlotte if she wants, stay at mine for a bit longer if that's okay with your mum. If you had a little holiday here for a week or so things might have calmed down and your mum and Paul might have sorted things out"
"Really auntie Rachel you'd let us stay here"
"Course I would you're family, I'll ring your mum tomorrow and we can have a chat about it" Rachel said "now are you going to come to bed now you must be tired"
Chloe nodded her head so Rachel lifted her up, charlottes bedroom was just outside so she went back to bed straight away.
Rachel tucked Chloe back in and stayed with her for a while "night sweetheart" she whispered
"Night auntie Rachel love you" Chloe mumbled
Please review and suggest ideas xxxxxxxx