"What were you thinking?" Michael shouted.
"I got angry!" Eva replied, her volume matching his. "I wasn't thinking."
"Clearly! Michael sighed. "What is your Dad going to say?"
Her Dad. She hadn't thought of him in her minutes of madness. "Does he have to know?" She asked in a tiny voice.
"Course he does." Michael had a smirk on his face at her audacity.
Sian piped up, "Eva, what you did is both illegal and wrong. You're lucky the police didn't find out!"
"I made a mistake!" Eva said desperately. "I got angry and I walked out but it was wrong and I know that now! All that's going to happen is my Dad'll have a blazing row with me, ground me for life and then look at me disapprovingly. Sian - I mean, Mrs Diamond - you saw how my Dad reacted when I left with Kyle for an hour - how will he react now?"
"That's what you will find out. Janeece!" He called, smiling as her head appeared through the hatch. "Can you call in Mr Mead, please? Tell him it's urgent and make sure you send cover."
Five minutes later, Chris was opening the office door, frowning as he saw Eva sat in there. "What has she done?" He sighed.
"Truanting." Michael said simply.
"What?" Chris gasped, leaning against the wall. "Just for an hour again or..." He trailed off.
"Since half twelve this afternoon." Michael explained. "We found her hanging out with Kyle in the park where she started running - straight into a brick wall."
"You what?" Chris demanded, turning to face her. She ducked her head in shame, her eyes closed with what was about to come. It would be anger, disappointment or both - something she could not take either of.
"I'm sorry." She muttered.
"Sorry doesn't begin to cover it!" Chris erupted. Anger. There wasn't a hint of disappointment in his tone. Slowly she brought her head up to look at him; his eyes burned with fury and his teeth were gritted. She'd never seen him so angry. "You missed two and a half hours of school so you could meet...Kyle?"
"It wasn't planned!" Eva explained. "I fell out with Madi and walked out. It just happened to be that I left school!"
"Course it was planned, Eva! I'm not stupid!" Chris shouted.
"I know but you have to believe me!" Eva begged. "I was fed up - you were lecturing me about Kyle, my friends were lecturing me about Kyle and Finn was lecturing me about Kyle. I'd had enough - it was the last straw. I'm 16 - I should be able to date who I want and do what I want."
"That happens when you're 18, Eva-"
"We'll leave you two to it." Sian smiled gently at Chris before ushering Michael out.
"How could you do this to me?" He asked, his voice become sad and soft.
"You always knew that having me live with you wasn't going to be easy." She sighed.
"'Not being easy' is having the odd bit of backchat in an arguement or falling out because you refuse to do your homework, Eva. What you've done is taken that to a whole new level and beyond! I knew you made a mistake dating Kyle but not on this scale." He looked weak; lines were etched into his face and he was pale. It was her fault.
"Kyle told me to go back to school, to stay out of trouble, but I didn't listen. I didn't want to pretend everything was ok when I was hating people for what they said. Being away from school and with Kyle made me forget what people thought of me - what people were saying behind my back." Eva said honestly.
"If that's how you feel you speak to me or Sian, you don't leave school and hang out with your boyfriend for hours. I feel numb, Eva, because neither your mother nor I brought you up to be like this." Chris sighed.
"I know you didn't but I'm not like anything. I had a few minutes of madness and I kept it going for a few hours - it won't happen again - I promise!" Eva said pleadingly, her eyes wide.
"Do what you want. I've done all I can." Chris sighed before exiting the room.
"Dad!" She called. Reeling from his departure, she fell onto the black leather sofa and burst into tears. Life was crap.
