Locked Memories-Part 21:

Things had settled down and Ariana soon learnt that things wouldn't change just because Elly was now also her guardian as well as Amy. In fact the girl had completely forgotten about it and was relieved to find out that she wouldn't have to be a witness in the investigation as she was unable to remember anything about the day.

Amy had been relieved as well as the last thing she wanted was Ariana being forced to remember things that she just couldn't remember. She turned her head as she heard Ariana sigh. The girl and Xanthe were sat at the kitchen table doing their homework and Ariana was beginning to struggle as she always did but she didn't want to be treated any differently so never asked for extra time to get her stuff done.

"Maybe a break might be a good idea," Amy said, "go outside for a while, and get some fresh air." Ariana had instantly nodded but grabbed her stuff and went outside with her books. "Is she ok?" she asked Xanthe.

"Yeah. At least I think she is. She's just trying so hard with everything and she's missed half of the year," Xanthe replied, "she'll be ok. Elly's not letting her do too much but Ben, Piper and I are keeping an eye on her." Amy nodded and Xanthe headed off to join Ariana in the garden.

Ben and Piper eventually made their way over to the Canning house and were soon out in the back garden as well helping Ariana with her work. The girl rubbed her head and wrote down what was being explained to her. Amy was watching and wondering if Xanthe was protecting Ariana and covering for her. In the end she just decided to keep an eye on the girl. Karl had said that Ariana could get headaches and just to keep an eye on her and if they got worse to call him immediately. Usually there was never much worry but, considering how little they knew about Ariana's past, there was the constant monitoring that was going to happen for quite a while.

The next day was another school day and Ariana woke up with another slight headache but luckily after some breakfast it had gone away so she didn't say anything to Amy. She just headed off round to Susan's with Xanthe. Elly, of course, had noticed something was wrong with Ariana but waited until the teens had left before turning to her aunt.

"Something isn't right with Ariana," Elly said, "She did look pale didn't she?" Susan looked at her niece,

"See you're beginning to notice things. I knew this would happen. Yes she did. All we can do is keep an eye on her. I'll get a note out to all the teachers and ask them to keep an eye on her but if she says that nothing is wrong with her then we can't really do anything. Want a lift today?" Elly nodded and went to gather her possessions together.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary and soon it was time for Piper and Ariana to have their English lesson with Elly. They went and sat down in their usual seats and the lesson began.

Elly was, of course, keeping an extra close eye on Ariana and noticed that she was still looking pale. She wondered if she was alright and decided to ask once the class were off on their independent work.

"Ariana, what's your view on this?" she asked, trying to pull the girl back from her daydream.

"Why are you always picking on me?" Ariana asked, "Why do you always ask me questions? Are you too thick to answer them or get someone else to answer them instead?"

Everyone looked at Ariana and Elly had been stunned into silence. Nobody had expected those words out of Ariana's mouth.

"No," Elly said, finally finding her voice, "you weren't paying attention so I asked you the question to make you pay attention to the lesson again. Detention, break, lunchtime and after school. Don't even think about answering me back or I will make it more."

"You're not my mum!" Ariana shouted before getting up and wobbling as she just walked out of the room. Her little explosion had caused her head to feel like it was exploding. She hurried to the toilets as quickly as she could and locked herself in a cubicle.

Susan had heard the commotion and knocked on Elly's door,

"A word Miss Conway," she said and Elly told the class what pages to read before walking over to Susan, "What was that about?"

"Ariana just snapped, I mean properly snapped at me. She's not well at all and was unsteady on her feet as she walked off. I never thought she could have an outburst like that."

"Which direction did she head?" Susan asked.

"Towards the toilets," Piper said as she and Ariana always sat nearest the door, "she's trying too hard and giving herself headaches. Xanthe's trying to stop everyone worrying but you all are. Ari's up all hours trying to keep up with the work rate and speed."

"I'll go and find her and let you know once I've found her," Susan said before heading off towards the toilets. She text Amy before knocking on the door and her senses became even more alive as she heard crying and she rushed into the toilet and saw a cubicle door locked. She knew it was Ariana, "Ari," she said softly, "its Susan. Can you open the door please?" she asked, "I want to help. We can go to my office and you can even have my comfortable chair."

She waited and eventually heard the lock click and Ariana opened the door and her eyes were so red and puffy. Susan didn't care what happened, she just wrapped her arms around Ariana and took the girl to her office and stuck to her word and let the girl curl up in her chair.

"I feel sick," Ariana said and Susan instantly grabbed a bowl and Ariana was sick in it, "I didn't mean to snap at Elly," she said beginning to cry again."

"I know you didn't," Elly said, making both Susan and Ariana jump. Elly instantly went around to Ariana and grabbed a chair and sat next to her right as Amy rushed into the office and the bell rang making Ariana put her hands over her ears and Susan hurried to close the door quietly.

"Piper says you're up all hours trying to do schoolwork," Elly said, "She knew what had caused your headaches and none of them said anything because they were trying to protect you."

"I just want to be normal," Ariana whispered and Amy moved Ariana and sat down and pulled Ariana onto her lap.

"But you aren't and you're trying to have a normal timetable and be normal and it's not working," Amy said, causing Ariana to cry again, "you cannot go on like this. Something needs to be done."

"I want to stay in all my classes," Ariana whispered, this time to Elly and looked at the teacher.

"Maybe let her get her assignments in later and I'll step up on the one-to-one lessons," Elly said, "it's all true. The teachers say she loves her classes. She just finds the pacing hard to keep up with."

Amy looked down at Ariana and saw the girl was now asleep,

"Why get those three to cover up for her?"

"They chose to," Elly said, "Piper confessed everything once I let the class go. Keep her in lessons but get her homework assignments extended and don't put her in for the exams. Her coursework would be made the best it could. I think altering her timetable would start singling her out and she'd hate us if we made her a sitting target again."

Amy sighed and looked at Ariana,

"Why couldn't she tell me?"

"Because teenagers think they can control everything," Susan said, "Libby was the same. Ariana is doing fine Amy, but now the pace is starting to increase she's getting behind and it began to get overwhelming and rather than admit it she decided to struggle on." Amy nodded,

"So every two weeks she has to make sure all her homework is handed in? That enough time?" she asked stroking Ariana's hair, "I might keep her off school tomorrow and let her spend time with dad, give her someone to talk to away from everything. They really did hit it off."

"That's enough time and it'll give me a chance to get everything and new deadlines in place," Susan said, "I think leave her here in my office for now and then maybe just some light reading for the rest of the day once she's awake."

"Yes. I need to get back to work. I don't like leaving her like this but I have no choice," Amy said.

"We've got her," Susan said and Amy nodded before kissing Ariana's head softly and carefully passed her to Elly who instantly secured the girl on her lap.

"Sometimes I wonder if she really is as old as we think she is," Elly said, "she looks too small."

"There's nothing we can do and taking her away from her friends won't help her," Amy said, "any major problems call me," she said before heading out of the office.

Elly looked down at Ariana before watching Susan and then Susan left the office and Elly just held Ariana and got comfortable. She wasn't going to move until she had to and that wasn't for a few minutes yet.