I had to split this chapter in two as it ended up massive so I'll post the second part tomorrow.

I looked around at everyone still staring at me in shock, as my anger wore off and I realised what I'd done.

"Tee, just go to the office, okay?" May-Li ordered. "We need to talk about this."

I went, without a word. I didn't know what was going to happen now, and really, I was past caring. May-Li came in a few moments later.

"What was all that about?" she demanded, staring at me as if I was mad, which I was starting to think I was. I shrugged, unsure what to say.

She just looked at me. "I don't know whether I should be angry with you or worried," she said. "This is completely out of character for you; why would you want to ruin the vegetables?"

"Shouldn't you be grateful that I took it out on plants, this time?" I retorted. "Last time I nearly killed Mo, remember?"

"By accident," May-Li reminded me.

At that moment Mike walked in, and he looked livid. I didn't know if it was because of the vegetables or not, but what was disconcerting was the cold way he looked at me - like I was a stranger.

"I just got a phone call from your head teacher," he said. " What on earth got in to you this week? Apparently you've been stealing, bullying, cyber-bullying, and vandalising the school. What's happening to you? Because this just isn't you - at all."

My heart sank; this was all I needed. It looked like Thomas had told Mrs Dormer, even though, in the end, I hadn't shown her the video. And made it look like I'd done everything else, too.

"No, I wasn't!" I cried, shocked. "Look, I wrote that stuff online, but I didn't do anything else! I was set up."

"Well earlier I would have believed you, but after what you did to the garden I'm not so sure," said Mike coldly. "You've been acting strangely all week, and don't think I won't get to the bottom of this, because I will. You walked out of school today, as well. "

"I did do that," I admitted. "Things... just got too much for me. And I put that stuff online. But that's all I did, I swear. Look, I know that was a mistake now. I shouldn't have done it."

"So why do it then? And stealing, too."

Well..." I wondered what to say without getting Jenny into trouble. "Look, I don't know, it's hard to explain..."

"Tell that to the school," Mike said. "Mrs Dormer was ready to expel you. So if something's wrong, I think you should say now, before you get into real trouble."

"Oh, yeah?" I was angry now; Mike was acting all caring and concerned, but he'd been just as bad as anyone. "Well, actually, there is something wrong. What's wrong is that you and May-Li didn't tell me about my dad! But you told Carmen and Bailey, and now the whole school knows!" I burst out.

Mike looked shocked then, which just made me glad. "That's why I walked out of school. So obviously I can't even trust you and May-Li, or my own mum for that matter."

"Carmen and Bailey told you?" Mike said, startled.

"No, but they did tell this guy in my class - the one who threw glue all over Lily's sister, who's been trying to ruin my life all week - How could you all keep this from me anyway?"

"We were trying to think of the best way to tell you," May-Li said patiently. "We wanted to protect you."

"Protect me?" I repeated, in disbelief. "Well you did a great job with that, didn't you? Well done, May-Li, because thanks to you and Mike "protecting me", I ended up finding out the worst way possible. Along with the rest of the school!"

"Okay, so maybe we could have handled the whole thing better," Mike said, still irritatingly patiently. I hated how they were being so calm about everything - like they didn't care at all what they'd done to me by keeping the secret.

"Yeah," I replied, "You could have handled it better!"

"Well, we still need to talk about your behaviour at school," Mike said. "Whatever has happened, you can't behave like this; I really don't know what to do about you, so I've arranged for you to talk to your social worker about it tomorrow."

"What? No way! Like my social worker could do anything to help - all she ever does is force me to talk about a load of stuff which she doesn't give a crap about, then writes it all in my file and walks away thinking she's actually made a difference. No one cares about me anyway, so what's the point in talking?"

"Well the way you've been behaving there's obviously something wrong with you, and you won't tell us, so it's the only other option. You're lucky you're not being expelled."

"Fine! I can tell none of you are bothered." I cried, stomped out of the office and slammed the door behind me. I stood outside for a moment, though, listening in. In case there were any more secrets.

"That could have gone better," Mike was saying. "Do you think I was too harsh?"

"Well, maybe," said May-Li. "She has had a nasty shock. But you do need to find out what's going on."

"I know," Mike sighed. "But what she's been doing at school, and in the garden, that just can't go on. She's out of control, and to be honest I don't know what to do about it. She's normally so calm, but she's lost her temper before, and that time, Mo got hurt. We can't afford to put the other kids at risk."

"Yeah, but look at Johnny, or Bailey," May-Li argued. "They've both got anger problems, and they're all right."

"I know, but the difference is that with them, you know what to expect," said Mike. "But with Tee, it's always unpredictable... she's been at Ashdene Ridge for years, but this... it's just so out of character, and when it comes down to it, we don't really know her."

"So what do you suggest we do?" May-Li said. "It didn't sound like she was willing to speak to her social worker, and I don't think it would benefit her. Do you think she should speak to a counsellor or a psychologist or something?"

"I don't know," Mike said, "But we have to do something, it's been hard enough persuading the school to let her stay. And we really need to find out if she really did all that, and if so what's happening."

I'd heard enough, and went up to my room, upset by what I'd heard. It sounded like they thought I was out of my mind or something, and I didn't blame them; the school thought I'd done everything else as well as the internet stuff.

I got out my sewing stuff; I'd wanted to make a toy for Hope, but I couldn't concentrate on anything. All that was going round in my mind, over and over, were Thomas's words. "That abusive monster who used to slap you around, who got you put in care... that's your real dad." I've noticed that with bad news, anything you wish you hadn't heard, that the way you're told, the exact words of the person who tells you, stays in your mind for days, only making the pain worse. "Well, there's definitely resemblance, I'm sure everyone can see it. There's a violent thug, and then there's Tee here, his sneaking bitch of a daughter."