Chapter 10

A/N: Apologies that this is a bit of a build up chapter! The end of it is a bit more exciting but does also come with a trigger warning. As always, any suggestions please leave them in the reviews!

The walk to school was… fine, ish. She had to admit, the obvious flirting between Carrie and Lenny was annoying, but she was happy for them. She was happy that her best friend was starting to find someone she loved and trusted as well as her. Love, trust. What did those words even mean to her anymore? They certainly had much more depth to them than she ever thought two words could.

"Chlo?" Carrie snapped Chloe out of her daze.

"What?" Chloe replied somewhat blankly.

"We were talking about what lessons we have today." Lenny replied.

"Oh umm, history with McFall, French with Windsor, home ec with Mrs Budgen and uh… I'll have to check my timetable!"

"Wow Chloe! June of S3 and you still don't know your timetable!" Carrie jokes which got a laugh from Lenny, a joke Chloe herself would normally laugh at. Instead, nothing. "It's okay, happens to all of us." Carrie covered up as she sensed that Chloe's sense of humour was not like it normally is for whatever reason today.

"What's Mrs Budgen going to say about you not being in the school house then Lenny?" Chloe inquired, genuinely curious, moving the conversation along.

"Oh Mrs B doesn't mind, she knows I'm waking with you guys today, I didn't stay overnight at Carrie's anyway." All of the school house students referred to Mrs Budgen as Mrs B. She was a mother figure to all of them, and so they all relaxed the whole 'teacher' thing around her.

"Ah I see, that's cool." Chloe finished off the conversation as they all headed through the school gates.

She didn't really know what to expect from today. As far as she could tell, from now on the days could go any way. It all depended on whether people left her alone or not. As much as Chloe loved people and needed to be around them, right now she just needs time by herself to gather her thoughts.

Chloe sat next to Carrie in registration as Mrs Mulgrew read out the notices for the day.

"And last off, anyone in Miss McFall's history class period 2 today please go to the computing lab for your lesson. Alright there's a couple minutes before the bell, so just talk quietly amongst yourselves and gather your things." Chloe and Carrie started talking about their plans for the weekend when Miss Hutchinson appeared by the doorway to the classroom.

"I said talk quietly!" Mrs Mulgrew said just as she saw Lorna. Lorna gave Christine a sceptical look, using her deputy headship to try and discipline her colleague. Christine smiled awkwardly and acknowledged that she had let the class get a bit too rowdy. She didn't like the fact that she was head last year and now Lorna who is much younger than her is her boss.

"Sorry to interrupt Mrs Mulgrew, but could I borrow Chloe?"

"Of course. Chloe." Christine gestured for Chloe to leave.

"Sorry for pulling you out, I just wanted to see if you'd spoken to your mum about what we talked about yesterday. I did send her an email, she hasn't replied as yet, but she's a surgeon isn't she…" Chloe nodded, "yeah I thought so, if she's busy I'm not expecting fast replies or anything!"

"We spoke a bit last night." Lorna expected Chloe to go on with her sentence, but prompted her when she realised she wasn't going to.

"What did you guys think? Our end goal here is to make you feel as comfortable and capable as you can when faced with exams. Did you talk about any ways you would want to try?"

"No not really." Chloe was really upset last night. She was the sort of person who hated remembering things like that and replaying them over in her mind, they just made her sad all over again. Lorna sensed this conversation wasn't really going anywhere, so decided to give her and Ange more time to think about how they want to move forward.

"Okay, well how about I give you some more time yeah. When you're ready just email me or come to my office and we can get something in place.

"Okay thank you."

"Thanks Chloe, see you." Lorna finished as she opened the door for Chloe to come back in the classroom just as the bell went. Chloe felt guilty that her stupid exam stress was causing such a fuss that the deputy head was involved. Well, her science teacher, but still. She hated having the attention on her for things like this.

"Hey. What did Hutchinson want?" Carrie asked as she stood up and got her bag. Chloe decided to tell Carrie. She trusted her, and besides, it wasn't a big deal.

"It's just like exams and stuff. You know how, I… um…"

"Get a bit stressed." Carrie finished calmly.

"Yeah. Just stuff about that."

"Okay, well if I can help then I'm here."

"Thank you."

"We could always do a study session one weekend again if you'd like."

"Yeah sure. I'll check when I'm free."

Chloe's first period was maths which went well. She enjoyed maths as it was logical, like science. The only downside is that she was in a different set to all of her friends. That wasn't an issue though because she came to school to learn, not have fun. Sometimes her friends wished she'd let loose a bit, she is always so uptight even when there aren't any distractions in her personal life.

She met back up with Carrie and Lenny after maths and they made their way to history together.

"Oh remember guys history is in the computer lab today." Lenny announced proudly. He was proud that he'd actually remembered something said in registration for once.

"Ooo look at you!" Carrie joked, honestly impressed at Lenny paying attention.

"I'm surprised you didn't remember that Chloe." Lenny joked with good intentions, however Chloe didn't take it that way. This was the second 'joke' of the morning that she didn't find remotely funny. Maybe she was just being paranoid. That had to be it. Paranoid and over sensitive.

"You okay Chlo?" Carrie asked genuinely. She received a meer nod as her answer.

When the trio arrived in the computer lab Audrey McFall, an older woman with short grey hair wearing a floral blouse and deep green knit cardigan stood at the front of the room. Most seats were filled with the odd few dotted around the room.

"Alright you three, if one of you could sit there," Miss McFall gestured to a seat in the middle of the room "and of the other two could sit there for me please." she gestured to two seats together at the back of the room. Carrie gestured to Lenny that she'd go with Chloe. She sensed that Chloe was feeling 100% herself today so ditching her for her new crush wasn't exactly a smart or kind move.

"It's fine Carrie. I can go on my own." Chloe insisted, after afraid that she was being an inconvenience.

"No, it's okay. I want to sit with you." This whole conversation probably sounded a bit childish to the other members of the class, but it was reassuring for Chloe that Carrie was still her best friend and she wasn't going to lose her.

"Right let's get started." Miss McFall announced in her northern accent over the noise of the class. "The reason you're in here for your lesson today is because we're going to be carrying on with your topic of 'the history of medicine'. This is the final lesson we're going to spend looking at this, and you will need this for your exam. You've got the computers to use for research and I want you to make a poster or presentation in pairs of the history of medicine through different time periods. This won't be graded, but I want you all to finish the topic in a high, and have a good revision resource to come back to."

Chloe got to work researching whilst Carrie got supplies to make their poster.

"This website seems really good." Chloe said as she showed Carrie her computer screen.

"Yeah that's really good Chlo. Can I use your pens? I left mine at home."

"Sure." Chloe replied. She was going to get them out of her bag for her, when she found Carrie already looking for her pencil case. Her heart sank when she realised that Carrie had pulled out 'that' pencil case instead of her normal one.

"This new? It's really nice." Carrie said, holding it and looking at the design on it. She was about to unzip it when…

"Put it back. Please." Chloe announced unexpectedly.

"Why?" Carrie asked, innocently.

"Just please put it back." She said once more, now gaining the attention of the students next to her.

"Chloe if it's like, you know, feminine stuff then we all have it. I keep a pencil case in my bag as well. It's perfectly natural and nothing to be ashamed of." Carrie was trying to be reassuring, she really was, but the truth was that she had no idea.

"No, it's not. Look, it doesn't matter, but put it back." Chloe stated, more forcefully this time.

"Chlo you've got me all worried now. You know that you don't have to hide anything from me." Both of them had completely forgotten that they were in a classroom full of other students at this point.

"It's nothing. Just please. Please!" As Chloe became more distraught, the whole class was looking in their direction, and Miss McFall had noticed too.

"Chloe. Could you come outside with me for a minute please?" Not very encouraging 'oooos' were exchanged across the class as Chloe walked to the front of the room and went out with Audrey.