Chapter 51

The weekend was over as quickly as it started and it wasn't long before Sinead, Jen and Tilly were sat in Mr Keeler's office on Monday morning. Mr Keeler was running late but his secretary told them to wait in his office. Jen sat on the sofa in the corner of the room, while Sinead and Tilly were sat on the two chairs in front of Mr Keeler's desk. No one said a word; Tilly wasn't ready to forgive Sinead yet. She could have ruined the most perfect thing Tilly had, even though she was completely unaware of what was going on with Tilly and Jen, she could have ruined it all, just because of her grudge against Jen.

When Mr Keeler arrived all eyes were on him. "I'm sorry I'm late, traffic was hectic. Okay so, Miss O'Connor you've made a serious allegation against Miss Gilmore concerning her relationship with your fellow pupil Miss Evans. What I am going to do is this; I shall talk to each of you individually starting with Miss Evans. Miss O'Connor you are to go to your lessons and you are not to talk about this to any of your classmates do you understand." Sinead nodded. "And Miss Gilmore, I have arranged cover for your lessons this morning so you can get on with other duties. I shall come and get you and Miss O'Connor when needed. I would like you all to stay away from one another unless it is necessary, we don't want any prepared stories and I would also recommend you do not go off school site without informing me, then this way we can get this over and done with quicker." said Mr Keeler. Sinead was the first to get up and leave Mr Keeler's office, followed by Jen.

Mr Keeler took out a notepad from his desk draw along with a pen. Tilly knew she'd have to lock away her feelings to get through this chat with Mr Keeler. To help her do it she split her memories of Jen in half. Locking away the ones of Jen and keeping out the one's of Miss Gilmore. "So Miss Evans, you are aware of the seriousness of the accusation, Miss O'Connor has made. Miss Gilmore is at risk of losing her job over this so I'd appreciate it if you could answer the questions as truthfully as possible." said Mr Keeler. "Yes sir." replied Tilly. "So, could you describe the nature of your relationship with Miss Gilmore?" asked Mr Keeler. "I'd describe it as a normal student and teacher one. Miss Gilmore is my art teacher, nothing more." answered Tilly. "Have you ever seen Miss Gilmore outside of school?" asked Mr Keeler. "Not really, I might have walked past her in the village or the coffee shop but that's It. I would occasionally see her at Sinead's house as she lives there, but I haven't met up with Miss Gilmore outside of school." answered Tilly. "And Miss Gilmore has never made advances?" asked Mr Keeler. "Never." replied Tilly. "Well thank you Tilly, you can go now. Unless there's anything you would like to tell me or add to this conversation." said Mr Keeler finishing off his notes before showing Tilly the door. Tilly picked up her bag and her jacket and left.

Jen was the next to be grilled by Mr Keeler. She sat down and Mr Keeler began. "I understand this must be a stressful time for you Miss Gilmore and I apologise but I must investigate an allegation like this fully. I hope you understand that." said Mr Keeler. "Yes, of course Mr Keeler." replied Jen. "I believe you lived in the O'Connor household for a period of time, is that correct?" asked Mr Keeler. "Yes, I lived there from the end of last August till a couple of weeks ago when I moved out." answered Jen. "Could you describe your relationship with Miss Evans?" asked Mr Keeler. "It was purely a professional one. She is my student and I am her art teacher." answered Jen. "Have you ever seen Miss Evan's outside of school?" asked Mr Keeler. "I live in the village. I might over see her around the village or in the coffee shop. Sometimes she'd come and see Sinead at O'Connor house when I was staying there, but I've never met up with Tilly outside of school." answered Jen. "And you or Miss Evans have never made advances?" asked Mr Keeler. "No, never." answered Jen, trying to hold her nerve. "Can you think of any reason why Miss O'Connor would make such an allegation?" asked Mr Keeler. "No, not at all." replied Jen. She would have told him about the weed incident but she knew she couldn't make things worse.

While Jen was in Mr Keeler's office, Tilly had gone to her first lesson of the day which was social studies. As she'd walked in late there was some speculation about where she'd been among the students. Tilly sat down in a seat in the back corner, next to Maddie and tried to focus on the lesson. She could hear the pair in front of her talking about her. "Wonder if she was with Gilmore?" whispered a tall girl with long brown hair to a boy with black hair. "If she was they must have had a fucking good time." replied the black haired boy. Tilly got up and left the room. A boy at the front shouted "Probably gone crying to Miss Gilmore!" The teacher stopped the lesson and looked at the boy. "You go to Mr Keeler's office now. Maddie would you like to go and check on Tilly." Maddie left the room after Tilly without a word. In the classroom the boy was less willing to leave. "Face it, we all know she was fucking Gilmore, but for how long?" said the boy. "That's it, I'm going to teach you all a little something. It is impolite and just plain rude to talk about a member of staff like that. As teachers we have a responsibility to teach and look after you lot. I want you and the rest of this class, as you think it's so funny back here at lunchtime." The class groaned, while the teacher took the boy and escorted him to Mr Keeler's office.

Mr Keeler's chat with Jen was cut short when the boy was brought in to the office. Jen got up to leave, but she was confronted by the boy. "You're fucking sick Miss, screwing your students. Hope they lock you up like the paedophile you are." said the boy before Mr Keeler intervened. Jen didn't listen to what Mr Keeler had said to the boy before shutting the office door behind them. Jen knew she needed to get out of here quick. She went into the staffroom and collected her things before walking over to her car. Even though she was disobeying Mr Keeler's orders she knew she had to go.

Maddie found Tilly in the toilets. "Sweetie don't listen to them, there idiots. It's just a stupid rumour, Sinead had no right to say that." said Maddie, putting her arm around Tilly. "It's not stupid if everyone believes It. Jen's career could be over and it's all my fault." said Tilly. "It's not your fault Tils, no one chooses who they fall in love with. You and Jen have done nothing wrong. Besides it's been over for a while so what does it matter." said Maddie. Tilly didn't reply, she couldn't tell Maddie she was seeing Jen again. Not with this mess Sinead's made of it, she needed to know where she stood with Jen after all this. "Come on, we've got a free period. How about we go to the common room and grab a coffee?" Tilly dried her eyes and picked up her bag.

When Tilly entered the common room everyone became silent. It was obvious they'd all been talking about her. She kept her head held high and stuck close to Maddie and Esther.

After Mr Keeler was done with the boy he went and collected Sinead. Sinead walked into his office and sat down. Mr Keeler explained the seriousness of what she'd said and that Miss Gilmore's job was at risk. Sinead refused to answer any of Mr Keeler's questions, so Mr Keeler came to the conclusion that Sinead must be lying as Jen and Tilly's stories seemed to match, which suggested that Jen must be innocent. "Sinead, what you've done is very serious. I have no choice but to suspend you until next Monday. You have ten minutes to collect your things and leave the school site. Before you exit the site you need to sign out at the reception." said Mr Keeler. Sinead didn't bother to defend herself she just took her stuff and left.

Mr Keeler went to find Jen but it looked like she'd already gone. He went and found Tilly and told her the good news. Tilly was speechless when he told her. She managed to muster the words 'thank you' before going off to find Jen.

Tilly couldn't find Jen anywhere and decided to go and look for her outside of the college. She tried the coffee shop, The Folly and The Shack but Jen was nowhere to be found. There was only one place left and it was Jen's flat, she knew it was a risk to try and look there. Liam still lived there and after the revelation of the job offer he probably thought their relationship was over. Tilly's need to see Jen was more important than what Jen's brother thought so she walked over to the block of flats where Jen's flat was.

She knocked on the door but there was no answer...