Chapter 21
"I'm sorry Mrs Black but I've got no other choice but to permanently suspend Elsa" The headmistress announced in a regretful tone. Freddie couldn't believe his eyes, Sandy was sat inside the office looking distraught at the news of her daughter being expelled from school, Freddie barged into the room and approached her.
"Mum" he said in a shocked tone, Sandy turned around her face lighting up at the sight of Freddie.
"Freddie? What are you doing here" Sandy enquired, pulling Freddie into a hug.
"I'm here for a meeting with the headmistress, me and Linds think our little girl's getting bullied" Freddie proclaimed, Sandy smiled at the mention of a little girl she had always wanted a grandchild.
"How old is she?" she asked.
"She's nearly 5, how's Elsa?" Freddie questioned, thinking back to seeing her storm off earlier.
"I really don't know, her behaviour is unsettled lately. I've tried everything and she just wont behave herself" Sandy sighed, running a hand through her hair.
"I saw her earlier on having a disagreement with a teacher, I can't believe how alike she is to Robbie, he's got a mini me" Freddie laughed, thinking back to when Robbie was small.
"I know, that's my worry I don't want her to follow in his footsteps of getting into trouble with the law" Sandy looked to the ground, quickly wanting to shake the thoughts of Elsa ever getting into trouble with the police.
"I'm sure she wont, you know Robbie is doing well for himself now? He's got himself a girlfriend and he's head supervisor at the garage, his naughty spell ended a long time ago" Freddie said with pride, smiling at how well Robbie was now doing, he hadn't got into trouble for ages and had calmed down a lot.
"Ah I'm ever so glad, how's Jase and Ziggy?" Sandy asked.
"They're doing okay, Ziggy's been with a girl for 3 years! A new record for him" Freddie laughed.
Freddie looked around for Lindsey but she wasn't there, had she come to the meeting? He thought to himself.
"He must have grown up a bit then" Sandy laughed.
"Yeah he has actually, we all have. It's been awful without you, you know mum" Freddie announced in a saddened tone. The past 5 and a half years had been awful for the whole family.
"I've missed you all so much too, so many times I've wanted to phone you the times I couldn't cope with Elsa and work but I didn't want to bother non of you, I've managed" Sandy informed, with a sigh. Freddie was horrified by what Sandy had said to him, he wouldn't have cared if Sandy would have phoned him, he would have gone straight to her in a heartbeat if he knew she was in trouble.
"Where are you living, Me and Linds will come over and spend the day with you if you want" Freddie offered, Sandy looked at the headmistress and again at the floor not wanting to make any eye contact with Freddie. The headmistress smiled at her sympathetically.
"Why don't we go into town instead, me you Lindsey and Elsa it will be nice to catch up with you both" Sandy said quickly hoping to change the subject.
"Yeah that will be great, I'll call Linds and tell her the good news" Freddie beamed, sounding very happy that Sandy and Elsa were back in his life, he still had that burning question to ask Sandy, why did she leave unexpectedly? And why was she being evasive about where she and Elsa lived?
Freddie left the office and went to phone Lindsey, she had popped to the corner shop to get Ruby some tuck for break time as she had forgot to put some in her lunch box due to having to rush out early that morning, once Lindsey dropped Ruby's banana off at her classroom she met Freddie outside of the school, because Elsa had been so naughty the headmistress asked to reschedule their appointment so she could properly sort Else's situation out. Freddie had arranged to meet up with Sandy and Elsa in an hour in a restaurant in the town centre, this gave him time to explain to Lindsey what was going on. Lindsey was quite happy but also a little curious to see how Elsa had grown, even though she had a daughter of her own Lindsey couldn't help but think of how she cared for her for a couple of weeks after her birth before Sandy left.
"You are okay to meet up with them aren't you?" Freddie enquired as he and Lindsey walked into town making their way to the restaurant.
"Yeah of course I am, why wouldn't I be?" she asked
"It's just seeing Elsa is going to be a surprise that's all" Lindsey sighed, clearly sounding nervous.
"Don't worry it's going to be okay" Freddie gave her a hug, and kissed her lips softly
"Have you met her?" Lindsey asked hopefully.
"No, I've seen her though. She's Robbie's double" Freddie laughed.
"Really, I hope she hasn't inherited his behaviour" Lindsey joked.
"I'm afraid so, she's just got expelled from school" Freddie announced.
"You're Joking? Poor Sandy she must be so stressed" she said
"She seemed okay, but I asked her where they're living but she changed the subject" Freddie said in a concerned tone.
"What are you saying?" Lindsey asked, wondering what Freddie was getting at.
"I think there's something fishy about where they're living, usually she would have told me. I need to find out where they live just so I can make sure they're both okay" he added.
"Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions slightly" Lindsey said hoping he would shake off the idea of there being something wrong.
"No, something isn't right Linds I just know it" he said, Lindsey placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Let's just get today over with yeah? Then we can try and find out if everything's okay" she soothed.
"Yeah you're right, we'd better go to the restaurant they'll be there soon" Freddie added, he and Lindsey made their way to the restaurant, Just outside there was a man selling personalised balloons. Freddie suggested that he bought Elsa one, Lindsey agreed so he ordered her one, after 5 minuets it was ready. Freddie picked it up and carried it into the restaurant.
Elsa and Sandy were already there when they arrived, As soon as Elsa saw the balloon her little face lit up, she got up off of the chair and walked over to Freddie and Lindsey. Sandy allowed her to carry on as she saw who was holding the balloon.
"Is that for me!" she beamed politely acting as if butter wouldn't melt.
"Yeah it's all yours, here you go" Freddie said with a smile, handing her the balloon.
"Thank you!" she said and ran back to Sandy.
"Look Mum! It says my name" she beamed, trying to tie the ribbon around her chair.
"Let me do that sweetie" Freddie made his way over to the chair and did it for her.
"Thank you" Elsa smiled.
"Mummy, who are these nice people" Elsa enquired, Sandy smiled and looked at Freddie and Lindsey.
"This is your brother Freddie and his fiancé Lindsey" Sandy announced proudly.
Elsa studied their faces and frowned.
"But you said I would never see any of them when you told me about them" Elsa announced, Freddie looked at Lindsey guessing that Sandy had told Elsa about him and the others. Lindsey smiled at Freddie.
"Don't worry Fred, it's a lot for a 6 year old to take in" she whispered, Freddie smiled and nodded.
"I know sweetheart but things have changed now" Sandy said softly.
"Does this mean we can live in a nice house again away from that bad man" Elsa asked, Freddie's eyes widened, What on earth did Elsa mean? Were they in danger? His enquiry about something being wrong with where they lived really seeming correct. He could see the panic in Sandy's eyes.
"No sweetheart, Freddie and Lindsey have just come to visit today. We have to go home soon, they have to pick up their little girl from school" Sandy soothed.
"Okay" Elsa sighed, Lindsey's heart broke at the look on her little face. She could tell something was wrong.
"How about you choose something to eat" Freddie said handing Elsa a menu hoping to distract her from the awful situation which had been created, Elsa nodded shyly and took the menu from him.
"I'm just popping to the toilet, keep an eye on her please" Sandy said, quickly making an exit to the toilet. Lindsey followed her to see if she was okay, leaving Freddie and Elsa at the table.
"So Elsa what's your favourite food?" he asked with a smile.
"Chips and beans, mummy makes that for me most nights before she goes to work" she announced.
"Do you want that today? Because you can if you want to" Freddie smiled.
"Yes please, you're very kind to me and mummy" Elsa said with a smile, Freddie couldn't believe how well behaved she was being and how polite she was, her attitude was completely different from when he saw her that morning.
"You're both worth it, does mummy work nights?" Freddie enquired.
"Yes, a lady comes and looks after me but she isn't very nice, her husband comes and he shouts!" she announced with a look of fear in her eyes, Freddie's heart sank.
"How about you come and stay over at our house tonight?" Freddie offered, he couldn't stand the thought of her spending another night with this woman which made her feel so scared.
"Can I" she jumped up in her seat with a beaming smile.
"Yes of course, You can meet our little girl Ruby as well" Freddie added, smiling at the thought of both girls running around the house together.
"I have a friend called Ruby at school, but school tell me off all the time so I don't get to play with her at break time" Elsa said. Freddie couldn't believe his ears, he didn't want to say anything about his little girl just in case there was another girl with the same name but the possibility that Elsa could already know Ruby made him smile.
"Wow that's nice, maybe you and my Ruby can become friends too" Freddie said.
"She might not like me because I'm horrible" she said with a serious look on her face, she looked upset.
"Of course she'll like you, you're not horrible" Freddie soothed.
"Teachers at school say that I am, they keep me away from all the other children because their parents don't let them play with me" she said, this time with tears forming in her eyes.
"Don't cry it'll be alright, I promise. How about you have a big pudding now instead of a meal?" Freddie said with wide eyes and a big smile. Elsa stopped crying and smiled.
"Can I have the Chocolate Oreo Cookie Crunch please" she beamed.
"Yes of course, let's get it ordered for you!" Freddie flagged over a waitress and ordered her pudding. After a while the pudding arrived and Elsa ate all of it, Freddie realised that Sandy and Lindsey had been in the toilet for ages. He couldn't leave Elsa so he phoned Lindsey:
L- Hello
F- Where have you got to? Elsa's finished her food plus we've got half an hour to get to the school to pick Ruby up
L- Sandy's told me some things, you go and pick Ruby up and take Elsa with you, I'll explain later
F- Is everything okay? I'll phone you once Ruby's with us
L- I can't go into too much detail, I'll speak to you later.
F- Okay, see you later. Love you Linds
L- I love you too Freddie.
As Lindsey hung up Freddie asked for the bill, once the bill was paid for he took Elsa to look in a toy shop, letting her choose a small treat. He picked up a little something for Ruby too, it was then time to go to the school. As Freddie took his place in the playground waiting for Ruby to come out Elsa tensed up a little as an older girl walked past with her mum, Elsa gripped onto Freddie's hand a lot tighter than previously.
"Hey, what's wrong" he soothed, bending down to her level.
"That girl over there, she's been really horrible to me and some other girls" Elsa announced.
"She wont hurt you when I'm around, why don't we go and speak to the teacher about it hey?" Freddie offered, Elsa nodded.
"Wait till Ruby comes out and we'll go and speak to a teacher about it" Freddie said. 5 minuets later Ruby came out of school, skipping over to her daddy. She saw Elsa and started running.
"Elsa!" she beamed as she ran over and gave her a hug.
"Hello Ruby! This is my brother Freddie, he's your daddy too I think" Elsa giggled, Ruby joined in with the giggling too. Freddie held each girls hand and headed over to the teacher who was standing by the door.
"Hi Mr Roscoe" the teacher said politely with a smile on her face.
"Hiya, I'd just like to report something if you don't mind" he informed her.
"Yes of course that's fine" the teacher said
"I have a incline that Ruby and Elsa are getting picked on by a girl in year one, what's the girl's name Els?" Freddie said, looking down at Elsa who was on the left side of him swinging her small shopping bag.
"Bethany" she said shyly. The teacher's eyes widened and looked at both Elsa and Ruby.
"Is she being horrible to you too Ruby" the teacher asked softly, Ruby nodded and hid her head behind Freddie.
"Okay then sweetheart, don't worry we'll get to the bottom of this. I'll put it forward to the headmistress and we'll get this sorted" the teacher proclaimed, smiling at the girls.
"Thanks so much, come on girls lets get you home" Freddie beamed.
Freddie took the girls to the park and then arranged to meet Lindsey and Sandy somewhere, as they made their way to the arranged meeting point Freddie took them down a short cut knowing that they would get there quicker. As they left the short cut a high pitched screech filled the air and a car came hurtling towards them, both girls began to cry and scream with fear. Not thinking about anything but the girls he quickly held them both close to and shielded them from the impact as the car came to a halt..
I was just wondering who you want Robbie, Jason and Ziggy to be dating in this story, I have a few idea as to who but I thought I'd let you choose. Thank you for reading, I hope you're enjoying the story.