(A/N): Sorry, the last few days, weeks really, have been manic. Every sort of stressor happened, and then I got stuck trying to write about five different fic ideas at once. Anyway, this is the next instalment, and I should have the next chapter within a couple of days, because I've already most of that written out. Read on, enjoy and let me know what you think!
What the Heart Wants
Chapter 37
The three girls trudged up the steps to the school the following morning, Janeece back in her uniform and Maxine and Alia still in leggings and vest tops. Most of the props had been painted or made the day before, so all students were required to go to their lessons, though the same policy of easy lessons and no homework was in place for the rest of the week. Because of this, Rachel was taking Maxine and Alia to the hospital that afternoon for their arms to be checked along with their general health, possibly getting smaller dressings and bandages on their arms to increase the number of clothes they could wear. Steph had back to back lessons all day, and Eddie only had one free first thing in the morning, which he was using to help Rachel with the police and everything else concerning the shooting. Over breakfast that morning, the three teens had provided Rachel with a few ideas they'd come up with on how to help Kim, though none of them were convinced it would do much good.
They entered the sixth form common room together, offering smiles to Charlotte, who was occupying the room until lunch, when Rachel was taking two of them up to the hospital and she could take over the headmistress' office for the afternoon. However, they soon stopped short when they found a tearful Kim Campbell sat opposite the counsellor, holding a tissue and staring at the girls with wide eyes.
"Sorry, we'll just… go." Maxine apologised as they began to back up, to head to the canteen in their wait for registration instead of relaxing in the common room.
Kim jumped up from her seat, shaking her head. "No, please, stay. All of you." Behind her, Charlotte nodded discretely at the teens, to let them know it was probably in everyone's best interests if they did as the Art teacher asked of them. Slowly, they moved to perch together on the brown, squishy sofa, as Charlotte and Kim took up the nearby armchairs, eyeing the adults warily. Kim sucked in a deep breath, her teary eyes focused on the three sixth formers. "I'm sorry."
The teenagers exchanged a puzzled look. "What for?" Janeece asked with a furrowed brow.
"If you shot us, it was one hell of a disguise." Maxine's comment prompted laughter amongst her friends, and a veiled smile from the psychologist. Kim, however, didn't seem appeased by the joke, wringing her hands together in her lap and nearly shredding the tissue she held.
"No, no, I'm really sorry. I should've known Max was lying to me, telling me only one side of things. And I… I believed him, believed in him. What does that say about me?" She hurriedly swiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. Ordinarily, she would definitely not be discussing anything of the sort with pupils, but these girls deserved an explanation. They were the most affected, after all. "I should've seen through it, but he told me you all were lashing out at him just because he wasn't Waterloo Road. The more he went on, the more I believed him. You do hold tight in loyalty to this school, after all."
"We also kept your secret last year." Alia pointed out quietly, gesturing between herself and Maxine. "I didn't even tell Rachel about that kid not being yours."
"Hang on, you two knew?" Janeece questioned in astonishment. "Was that why Steph pulled you both to one side the day everyone found out?"
Maxine nodded. "Yeah, we'd known for a few weeks at that point; Steph told us. Ali got into a heap of trouble for not telling Rachel what was going on."
"Doesn't matter, she's over it now for the most part." Alia waved it off. "The main thing we've shocked her with other than our new arm accessories was how many detentions we accumulated recently." All three of them glanced at the noticeboard, where the tally chart was pinned to show who had the most detentions accumulated.
Kim's face fell even further at the knowledge the sixteen year old had accepted getting in trouble with her mum over keeping her secret regarding Grace. She'd been flattered by Max's attention and had willingly provided him with the flyers for the school uniform, not being in the room when he'd addressed the 'problem' pupils and only seeing the worst of the offenders when Max had pointed it out to her. "How… how did anyone get that many detentions?" She asked faintly, staring at the paper in stunned surprise. "Wait, is that Sambuca Kelly at the top? How many detentions even is that?"
"Nearly two hundred." Maxine smirked. "Jan and me had forty two a piece, and Ali had sixty seven. We reckon Alia would've won by a landslide if Tyler had known who she really was, y'know, Mason's kid."
"Still the best kept secret this place has ever seen." Janeece seemed oddly proud even as Alia blushed.
"I told you, it wasn't like that." Alia shook her head fondly at her friends, who were both smirking at her. Instead, she turned to Kim with a half shrug. "Did you bother to find out the rules of our uniform that Max imposed? We got a different detention for every individual piece of uniform that was wrong, according to him and sometimes you, each day. All lunchtime ones so our parents wouldn't need to be informed. The only reason mine didn't find out was because Eddie was running the lunchtime detentions last week and thought someone else would have informed her."
Kim's face lost all colour as she recalled Max's veiled glee whenever he'd pull up specific students over their uniform, and the students seeming immunity to the man's threats. No wonder really, if they'd gotten enough detentions to fill up their time as a student and then some. Plus, she realised with a sinking heart, they'd all been original Waterloo Road students, no former John Fosters despite the sometimes worse ways they wore the school uniform. At least Waterloo Road kids were consistent in their disregard for certain rules. "I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know." A lot more of the pupils' behaviour was starting to make sense, for from an outside perspective, it did look as though she was in collusion with Max, that she shared his principles and ideals. She would have said that the students knew her better than that, but she knew she had a tendency to be a little harsh on Alia, and sometimes the other two girls as well. No one would stop to wonder if she knew what Max was up to, because from an onlooker's perspective, the answer was obvious. "God, no wonder the kids are out for my blood. I was unwittingly in league with the man that deliberately hurt students."
"Lindsay told me he went through three deputy heads in a year before he got Chris." Alia informed the room lowly. "Apparently, he beat them down pretty quick until they were either his puppet or quit. He hadn't had the chance to do the same to Chris before the merger. It was well known amongst the John Fosters pupils, but they couldn't prove anything and most of the teachers were fanatically loyal to him as well, so they couldn't tell anyone."
"I feel sick." Kim shot up and rushed to the sink just in time to throw up, emptying her stomach as it rolled in protest at what the students were telling her, what they'd heard and been through. And it had culminated in already traumatised teenagers being traumatised even further and shot, again. How were Rachel and Steph not complete nervous wrecks by this point? Their girls seemed to lurch from one thing to the next at warp speed, and that was before anyone considered that one of them had classes to teach and the other an entire school to run. Eventually, she rinsed her mouth out with a glass of water and turned back to the four waiting patiently for her with varying degrees of concern on their features. Max was even worse than she'd found out so far, and she'd actually liked him, willingly invited him into her life and her bed. Of course, she'd kicked him out the day he'd allowed a random man in the school that had hurt their pupils, but she hadn't truly known the extent to which Max had set out to damage the school, both the pupils and the teachers. "I swear, I will do everything in my power to keep him from ever hurting any of you again."
"Are you still with him?" Janeece asked bluntly. They were going to wait for Rachel to have that conversation with Kim, but the moment had presented itself and she wasn't one to pass up such an opportunity.
"No, of course not!" Kim's eyes were wide with horror and regret. "No, I could never be with someone like that, not once I knew!"
Charlotte hid a smile as the three teenagers skilfully interrogated the head of pastoral care until their concerns were laid to rest. The trio had spoken with her the previous afternoon for well over an hour, about their fears over what had happened, and the future, including the worry they'd never get use of their arms back and would always be beholden to the past with the two shootings. She'd spent a long time reassuring them and getting them to think up practical solutions that would help in their worst case scenarios. So that even if the worst did happen, they would be able to work around it, or through it, and still have busy, happy, productive lives. They'd exited the session looking lighter, and Charlotte honestly thought that she'd helped them, even if they did have a remarkable resilience to events. She'd also pulled Alia to one side near lunch the previous day for a quick one on one chat, as both Rachel and Eddie had cornered the counsellor to warn her that Alia had a history of fainting when the shock was too much for her mind to overcome. Alia had managed to assure her that she was in no danger of fainting, but she would definitely try and talk to someone before she felt as though she was going to pass out. The psychologist didn't bother to hide her smile as Kim left the room with the three sixth formers, talking of going to see Rachel with ideas on how to change the tide of opinion with the students. This school really was something else altogether.
…
The end of the school day came both too quick and too slow for everybody present. Rachel had had to find Lindsay and Emily to tell them that the trial for their mother was finally scheduled for the end of November, rather quick where the CPS was concerned. Emily had burst into tears, though Lindsay had nodded stoically to the headmistress, wrapping her arm comfortingly round her younger sister. Still, as the headmistress left the school building with Eddie at her side, she couldn't wait for a quiet night at home, even if her house was packed to the rafters. It would be even more hectic that weekend, as Jack was going to be there and so was Michael.
"Mum!" Rachel barely had time to open her arms before Alia was in them, sobbing lightly into her shirt. Wrapping her arms round the sixteen year old's shoulders, she glanced, concerned, at Eddie, who obligingly glanced round to see what could possibly have upset her daughter. Catching sight of Maxine stood a good few feet away, waiting on Steph, his face fell as she mouthed a word to him. He touched Rachel's back gently to gain her attention.
"Jack," He mouthed worriedly.
Rachel nodded her thanks to him, pressing a kiss to her daughter's hair. "Love, what happened?"
Alia sniffled, but glanced up to her mum's worried mien all the same, fighting to keep her voice from cracking as she told them both what had happened barely ten minutes earlier.
"Alia!"
Alia shared a glance with Maxine, as they were both waiting for an adult to take them home, before turning to the sound of the shout. Her face dropped, losing any colour it had as her eyes widened. "Jack?"
Jack stumbled to a stop just a few steps from her as she turned, his eyes fixated on the arm strapped to her chest before glancing at Maxine and finding her in a similar position, both watching him warily with wide eyes. Maxine was more concerned for the sixteen year old, as she knew Alia had been keeping the news from him for as long as possible in a bid both to pretend to be normal with the other sixteen year old and to not worry him any further than she had already. She was much like Rachel that way, wanting to keep things to herself so as not to worry anyone or put anyone out. "What?" His voice was faint, before he managed to force a laugh out. "Good one, you two. Almost had me for a moment. It's not Halloween you know."
"What?" Max asked for the pair of them, both instinctively frowning at him.
Jack gestured to their slings. "Your arms. Way to fool people like, but you'll have to do better than that with me." He turned solely to Alia. "Why've you been ignoring my calls all week? It's not like you."
"I haven't," Alia defended herself weakly. "I've been busy." She let out a shuddering breath, closing her eyes briefly as she knew she had to admit to what had happened to her best friend. "I spent most of Monday in the hospital, Jack. Rach has been hovering like mental ever since and I've been tired and in a shit tonne of pain."
"Hospital? What?" He glanced between them again as realisation dawned on him. "No, no. I heard about Monday on the news, but they didn't release any names. I thought… no, I knew if it had anything to do with you, then you would've told me."
"Jack…" Alia felt her panic rising at Jack's hurt, angry features. "Jack, please. I can explain."
"Oh can you? Because from here, it looks like you lied to me, deliberately kept me out of your life and for what?" Jack scoffed, his anger overcoming his usually better judgement. "What could you possibly say that could make any of this better?"
"I didn't want to worry you. Damnit, I wanted us to be normal for a change!" Alia desperately tried to explain, reaching out with her good hand toward him. "Jack, I just wanted us to be normal, goofy sixteen year olds for a bit. Is that so wrong?" She glanced at Maxine, who was watching them silently, though she was definitely worried. "Jack, please. I was going to tell you this weekend, I swear." That was true, as she'd finally gotten through his busy life and scheduled plans to get some proper time with her best friend that weekend. She didn't know why she'd barely seen him recently, but she'd accepted it as part of him. But it seemed she was the only one in that part of their odd sort of friendship.
Jack stared at her for a few long moments, almost as though she were a stranger. Her heart cracked as he shook his head slowly, looking colder than she'd ever seen him before. "No, you did this for you, Alia. I thought we were close, that we didn't need to keep things from each other. I can't do this. I'm out of here, I'm done."
"Jack!" He shook off her attempt to stop him, storming out of the school and not looking back, even when he heard her calling his name desperately. Alia turned to Max, her eyes welling with tears. "Did, did that just…?"
Maxine nodded solemnly, reaching out with her good hand to clutch Alia's tightly, comfortingly. "He did. Come on, who needs boys anyway?" She sighed as her words only prompted the tears to spill over. "You'll always have your mum, and your Godfather, and Eddie and Steph, and me and Jan and Chlo. You're not alone, Ali. You'll never be alone."
"Oh sweetheart." Rachel knew just how much her daughter relied on her best friend at times, how much she'd wanted to tell Jack in person rather than over the phone or in a text. Rachel had spoken with Jack's mum the previous week and found out that Jack had gone to a different sixth form than his high school and was taking every opportunity he could to go out with his new friends, be with them and socialise as much as possible. She hadn't told Alia, had wanted to see that their friendship would still be there, despite everything, but apparently she was wrong. "I've got ice cream in the freezer, and we can have a girls' night in."
"Girls and Eddie." Alia hiccoughed slightly as she turned red rimmed eyes to the deputy head. "You're invited too."
"Thanks, Ali. Do we hate all the other men in the world tonight?" Eddie asked gently. He hated to see her upset and had to fight down the surprisingly strong urge he had to go after Jack and beat him to a pulp for reducing such a strong girl to such a state, particularly at a time when she needed him more than ever.
Rachel nodded for both of them, smiling gratefully at her boyfriend. "Yes, something like that. We can pick up some chocolate on the way home too."
"Thanks mum."
"I've told you; it's what I'm here for. Girls' night in, the six of us."
…
Rachel shut the door to her daughter's room quietly, hoping not to disturb the still hurting sixteen year old. The girls' night in had gone fairly well, with Maxine informing Janeece and Steph on the way home what had happened, so everyone was fully up to speed before they'd all tumbled into Rachel's house. Everyone had changed into pyjamas and spent the evening in the living room with ice cream, chocolate and silly movies, including some kids cartoons the adults had all thought the teenagers too old to enjoy watching them, but they seemed to revert into smaller children that evening, cheering and laughing along until they'd worn themselves out. They were all still sharing a room, though none of them seemed to mind, and Rachel was actually quite thankful for the two seventeen year olds, as it meant Alia wouldn't be on her own. She definitely knew it had deeply hurt and upset her child when Alia had clung to her for the last fifteen minutes, curled up tight on her lap awkwardly to accommodate her arm, despite Maxine and Janeece awkwardly still in the room.
Eventually though, Rachel had managed to calm her daughter and settle her down for the night, though she wouldn't be surprised if Alia woke her in the middle of the night, as she had done the last time she and Jack had fallen out, though it had been on a much smaller scale. They hadn't truly understood that their friendship couldn't be exactly the same once Alia had moved in with Rachel, and the twelve year old had been helping Jack out with something for a while, which was why she'd come back at all hours of the night for about a month. Rachel had had to confront her child over it, telling her that it was dangerous, particularly as they were both twelve and wandering the streets of Manchester at all hours, not the Army base they lived on the same street together on. Alia had eventually seen the pure concern behind Rachel's intervention and had promised her mum that things would be different, though it apparently hadn't translated well when she'd told Jack. They'd fallen out for all of two days before they'd made up, vowing that no matter what, nothing would come between them. Somehow though, Rachel doubted this particular argument would be cleared up anywhere near as quickly or easily. There were many more feelings involved, which would only serve to complicate things even more. She placed her head on the doorjamb to the right of her child's bedroom door, wondering why everything had to blow up so spectacularly just when it all seemed to be going so well as well. She nearly jumped a mile high as a hand came to rest gently on the juncture between her neck and shoulder, massaging the tense flesh lightly.
"You know, you're pretty incredible, right?" Eddie murmured in her ear, pressing a kiss to the corner of her jaw just below. Rachel tried to smile, her eyes closed as she didn't bother to move from her leaning position on the doorframe.
"I don't feel it. She's hurting and there's nothing I can do about it." Rachel forced her tears to retreat. It wasn't about her, and if anyone deserved the right to cry, then it was Alia, not her.
"I've never wanted to hurt a kid more than today, for upsetting her like that, so I can only imagine what you're feeling." Eddie pressed another kiss to her jaw, letting his hands rest comfortingly on her shoulders. "You're here for her, which is all you can do."
"Jack's a good kid at heart." Rachel honestly didn't know why those words sounded like a defence of the boy over her own child, as she hadn't meant it that way, just to try and explain her own mind somewhat. "But he definitely overreacted with the situation and honestly, I want to see him pay for hurting Ali. I know it's wrong, we're both teachers, but it's hard to not be invested when it's your own teenager." She sighed, leaning back into her boyfriend tiredly. "It was those words he said 'I can't do this' that really hurt her. It's what James' girlfriends would say when they found out about her, or what my previous boyfriends said when they were introduced to her as well. Not that it was too great to hear it myself as they were running out the door, but still. Jack knew that phrase would hurt her most and he still went ahead and said it."
"Teenaged boys can be idiots." Eddie agreed, wrapping his hands more firmly round Rachel, taking most of her weight. "Come on, time for bed. We've got a movie night to supervise tomorrow, remember?"
"Ugh, you just had to remind me of that, didn't you?"
…
Sam had thought long and hard about her choice of movie, which had to be at least somewhat age appropriate due to the range of pupils invited to the evening. After much debate, she'd eventually settled on Grease, which Rachel had on dvd, so the headmistress had brought the film in with her that Friday. She still wasn't happy with how the movie night had come about, beyond horrified that such a thing as those detentions could go on under her nose for two weeks without her even being aware of it. However, she couldn't deny that the resulting movie night had been nothing short of a stroke of genius by the sixth formers, particularly Bolton, Paul, Vicki and Katie, who had floated it as the initial idea. The prospect had encouraged the students, and sign up once Rachel had made the night available to everyone had been surprisingly high, over half the school seemingly showing up that evening, well, four o'clock. The film was nearly two hours long, and with the interval Rose and Candice had agreed to cater for, the students wouldn't be leaving much before seven o'clock at the earliest.
Excitement seemed to build throughout the day, to the point where when the final bell rang and Rachel made her way to the hall to begin setting up for the film, she was amazed to discover most of the sixth formers originally from Waterloo Road setting up rows of chairs, though notably Sambuca, Denzil, Ros, Emily and Lindsay were also there, the latter seeming a little more reserved than her other rowdy students. Alia and Maxine had been parked on the front of the stage as they couldn't lift chairs, and Rachel had a sneaking suspicion that that had been Bolton and Paul's doing, as both boys occasionally glanced back to make sure they stayed there and didn't try to help.
She paused in the doorway, watching them with a smile as they efficiently set up for the evening, many laughs and jokes making the rounds before Philip caught sight of her, pausing in his placing of a chair to wave at her. "Hey, Rach. We had a free last thing, so we thought we'd help."
"I'm amazed, truly, Phil." Rachel's smile widened. "I thought you lot couldn't work together on anything." She noticed the former John Fosters pupils stiffen in surprise at her presence, instantly clamming up in the teacher's presence, whilst the rest of the pupils all laughed, taking the tease in the way it was intended. "Unless of course, it involves ganging up on teachers." She eyed them knowingly.
Michaela rolled her eyes. "Yeah well, the game got well and truly spoilt for us now." Alia had pulled her to one side the morning before to inform her that almost all the teachers now knew who she was, and why. It was disappointing to mark the end of the game that had been going on for several months at this point, but completely understandable. Half the sixth formers were ready for murder once they found out what had happened with Max at the pub mid-week, though they'd instead settled for hanging round their headmistress slightly more than normal to make sure she was alright in their own inimitable way.
"Miss, great, you're here." Rachel raised an inquisitive brow at Bolton's relieved tone.
"What's up, Bolton?"
"Now you're here, you can keep those two in line." He pointed at the two injured sixth formers, both of whom pouted at the boy in response. The headmistress could well believe that they'd not only tried to assist the other students in setting up the hall, but also given Bolton and Paul hell for making them sit out. From the corner of her eye, Rachel noticed Ros, Lindsay and Emily all stare at the interaction between the student and headteacher in shock, clearly surprised that a teenager would dare to give an order to the most senior teacher in the school.
"Let me guess, they've been giving you hell for not letting them help." Rachel smirked as Bolton nodded emphatically. "Girls, you both know you can't lift chairs right now." She shook her head at the two girls, who turned their pouts to her, good arms crossed over their chests over their slings. Their bandages had been redone at the hospital the day before when Rachel had taken them both for the outpatient follow up appointment for the pair, much reduced in size to make it easier for them to wear clothes other than the leggings and vest tops they seemed to practically live in at this point. As of Monday, they had both said that they would try to wear their school uniforms again, though Rachel wasn't holding her breath on it being successful. Most of the time, they forgot their arms wouldn't work and moved it by accident, prompting worry from everyone when they cried out in unexpected pain.
Maxine pouted mutinously. "We look like a right pair of divs just sat here though." She nudged Alia gently, as their good arms were together, their injured arms on the outside of their positions. Maxine and Janeece had stuck to the younger girl like glue since the previous afternoon, going as far as all three skipping their lessons that day to stay either in Rachel's office or in the sixth form common room together. Rachel was actually quite grateful to the two seventeen year olds for sticking with her child so diligently, keeping her spirits up and making sure she wasn't dwelling on Jack too much.
"Speak for yourself Max." Alia managed a small laugh, though Rachel's sharp gaze took in how those closest to the sixteen year old all glanced at her in worry, obviously knowing that something wasn't right with her. "I only tried to move a table, not a chair."
Rachel would have taken that as a joke, had Chlo and Bolton not rolled their eyes in unison at the brunette teen. "That's worse than a chair, Ali." Chlo shook her head in exasperation. "That's why Bolton picked you up."
Rachel couldn't help the smirk as Janeece sidled up beside her and informed her that Alia had tried to move a table one handed despite everyone's protests, and it had only been solved when Chlo had sat on the table to make it too heavy to be moved and Bolton had actually picked Alia up and carried her over to the stage, clear the other side of the room from the table that would hold the projector and laptop for the film. "I'm going to end up strangling her at some point," She murmured just loud enough for the year 13 girl to hear, prompting Janeece to try and stifle a giggle. She raised her voice to a normal level as she approached the stage. "You two are going to be the death of me, especially you." She directed her eyes at her daughter for the last portion of her statement, who half shrugged though she seemed vaguely apologetic.
She hopped up to sit on the stage on the free side of Alia, swinging her legs idly as the assembled students all moved back to finish setting up the assembly hall, the Waterloo Road mob all laughing and joking just like before, apparently uncaring when they made a particularly distasteful or risqué joke in the hearing of their headmistress.
Ros managed to pull Philip over to one side where Lindsay and Emily were both stood, all three girls eyeing the boy with concern. "Philip, why's everyone acting so weird?" Ros asked in a low voice, trying to keep their conversation as private as possible.
"What do you mean?" Philip replied, glancing round at his peers with a slight frown. They weren't acting in any odd way that he could tell at least. Maybe a little more subdued than usual, but then they had all witnessed two of their own get shot less than a week ago.
"Whoever he is," Lindsay gestured to Dom, who was near-ish the stage with Bolton, Paul, Katie and Vicki, "he was making remarks that would've seen us in detention for at least a month, in full hearing of Miss Mason! And he didn't care!"
"Plus, Miss Mason seems really calm about everything, even with sixth formers telling her what to do!" Ros added urgently. "This is not how a normal school works, Philip!"
"This is Waterloo Road, normal is thrown straight out the window before you get through the gates." Philip shook his head. For all the former John Fosters students were slowly settling down, there were still moments when it was glaringly obvious that they were still very much independent school kids, not state school kids, ones that had absolutely no idea whatsoever how this school worked. "Rach, uh, Miss Mason, isn't like Tyler. Not one bit. She believes in every single one of us, no matter where we're from or what we've done. Not one of us sixth formers would likely be here without her."
"This school is nice." Emily proclaimed. "Much better than John Fosters. Plus, you said yourself Lindsay, that Miss Mason was a decent head. She's stuck up for us more than anyone ever did before."
"Just keep an open mind," Philip advised the three girls. "You might actually surprise yourself." He nearly jumped as Eddie strode into the hall, as they'd moved near the doors in an attempt to keep the conversation as private as possible.
"Philip," The deputy head greeted warmly. "Is Rach here yet, mate?"
Philip nodded in the direction of the stage. "Up there, with the injury prone idiots."
Eddie smirked at his assessment but shook his head when he found them lined up like they were in trouble. "Why do they look like they've been put in a time out?"
"Because they have, well, Max got sent there by Jan and Chlo, and Ali got carried there under protest by Bolton. Rach is just keeping them company." Philip smiled as Eddie clapped him softly on the shoulder. Rachel and Eddie had both been nothing but supportive of him, just as they had when he'd been living under his aunt's roof, giving him a sense of security he didn't know he'd been searching for until he had it. He understood why Alia was still irritated with him, and knew she'd held her own counsel on the topic because they were family and loved each other at the end of the day, and neither wanted to ruin that bond by getting into an argument over his decisions at the end of the previous school year.
"That sounds like Ali, unfortunately. Thanks lad." Eddie offered Philip another smile before sloping off towards the headmistress with his hands in his pockets. His smile remained on his face as he approached the stage, offering a cheeky comment that caused the headmistress to swipe playfully at his chest and the two sixth formers to roll their eyes. Philip huffed out a laugh before turning back to his companions, all of whom had watched the exchange with wide eyes and a stunned expression.
"What?" Philip queried in confusion.
"This isn't normal." Ros pointed out for a second time. "You just spoke to the deputy head as though…" She trailed off, not sure what words would adequately explain what they'd just seen.
"The headteacher is my aunt." Philip reminded them with an eye roll. "Plus, everyone's lives here are horribly complicated. Eddie, Mr Lawson, went out with my mum for a bit, but now he's with Rach. That's not a secret; the whole school knows." He added at their shocked expressions. "That's why the top bet this year is when they're going to move in together."
"Oy, Phil." Paul appeared seemingly from nowhere. "You up for video games tomorrow? Dom and Bolton'll be there too."
Philip nodded. "Yeah, thanks. About eleven?"
"Sure." Paul eyed the girls with something akin to suspicion. "What's going on here?"
"Apparently, Mason and Lawson being in here and not yelling at us is noteworthy." Philip rolled his eyes as Paul snorted with laughter.
"Oh please, if Mason didn't go mental at us having your birthday party in her house, then she's not going to say anything about us being helpful for a change." Paul laughed out.
"She had a student party, at her house?" Emily cried out incredulously.
"She weren't there or anything." Paul hurried to clarify, only just realising how it sounded that the headmistress invited a bunch of random teenagers to her house. "It was for Phil's birthday. She went out with Lawson for the night, threatened Bolton into making sure nothing got wrecked." He glanced over towards the other sixth formers. "Come on, we best get helping or Mason will put us in the cooler forever." He threw his head back dramatically. "Back to work we go."
…
Lindsay managed to pull Alia to one side during the interval to the film, the brunette teenager the only student there from Waterloo Road that she was on the way to trusting, or at least becoming friends with them. Philip's words had stunned her somewhat, and she needed confirmation from a source that had no reason to mess with her over anything. "Alia, can I talk to you a second?"
"Sure." Alia mumbled out around a mouthful of pizza as she let the other sixteen year old pull her to the side of the canteen, pizza in her hand. She couldn't also carry a plate so she was just hoping she didn't drop her food. "What's up?"
"Ros was talking to Philip earlier, about this place." Lindsay started cautiously.
"Okay? So what? This place is a nuthouse." Alia let out a light laugh. "In case you didn't notice, we have guns and knives and diggers and fire and all sorts. Oh wait, and apparently one of the heads had a nervous breakdown, threw a bunch of stuff off the roof."
Lindsay ignored the girl's summary of the worst things that had happened in the school's history. "Well, I know Philip is Miss Mason's nephew, and he seems really casual with her and Mr Lawson."
"They are in a relationship." Alia's brow furrowed. "Lindsay, seriously, what's going on? Just spit it out and I'll tell you what I can."
"Okay, so the teachers here seem weirdly casual, and Miss Mason wasn't even mad we'd gone in the hall without her and she just took orders from Bolton like it was no big deal. Then Mr Lawson comes in and he's just as casual and they both seem to be way too calm about us knowing their personal lives!" Lindsay managed to rush out in a single breath, barely keeping her voice down low enough for their discussion. "Then I find out that there was a party at the head's house and she was fine with it! What kind of school is this?"
Alia's eyebrows rose throughout the girl's rant, resting halfway up her forehead as she tried to figure out what was best to tell her. "Okay, that was a lot. Let's start at the beginning, only not here, because if Mason catches us I'll be in for it." She smirked, gesturing with her head for Lindsay to follow her out into the corridor, where she then directed her into the nearest classroom, which happened to be a science one, trying to scoff down the rest of her pizza as quickly as possible. "Alright, the beginning. Rachel Mason started here nearly two years ago now, Eddie Lawson just over two years ago. Stuff happened, that I'm sure you'll find out about, but the long and the short of it is, they officially got together about January this year, have been together ever since.
"The party, if I'm guessing right, was Philip's birthday party. He was living with his aunt at the time and asked if he could have a house party at hers for his birthday, and she said yes. It was quite a good night actually. Most of the current sixth formers were there and a few from younger years."
"This place is mental." Lindsay breathed out, slumping against the nearest cabinet wearily. Alia moved to rest beside her with a knowing smile.
"I could've told you that from the start." Alia laughed. "Waterloo Road isn't just a school; we've all been through too much together for that. It's a family and we protect our own, no matter what." She took note of Lindsay's instantly wary features and sighed. "I'm not warning you off or trying to start a fight, Lindsay. What I'm saying is, if you want, let go of whatever's holding you back and join this mad, completely insane family. Let us help you."
"…No one can help me." Lindsay kicked at the floor ineffectually. "You'd run a mile if you knew."
"Try me." Alia challenged gently. Lindsay glanced at her, finding no judgement or even the smallest hint of the other girl being anything less than genuine.
"You know my dad's dead, right?"
"Kind of hard not to with the gossip circles we have here."
"Well, he… he hurt me. A lot." Lindsay blurted out in a near whisper, sinking slowly to rest on the floor with her back against the cabinet, Alia following suit after a moment's hesitation. "And he was going to start on Em. I couldn't let him ruin her life the way he'd ruined mine. I just couldn't let him do it, I had to protect her. So I…" Lindsay trailed off, unable to bring herself to say the words out loud. She didn't need to; Alia did it for her.
"You killed him." There wasn't any judgement, just a sad sort of realisation. Alia blinked a few times, trying to process the new information. She knew Lindsay had been hiding something, something more than what she'd already confessed to Rachel, but somehow, she hadn't expected this until she'd heard Lindsay struggling to tell her.
Lindsay nodded miserably, a couple of stray tears finding their way down her face. "My mum made me promise to let her take the blame for it, but the longer it goes on, the more it eats at me. She's stuck in prison for something she didn't even do. And I'm free, a murderer."
"No, a protector." Alia corrected quietly. "You did what you had to in order to protect your sister. That's not murder, that's love."
…
The two girls returned to the hall just moments before the film was due to start up for the second half, having spent a good few minutes chatting through what Lindsay had done, and different options she had in regards to what she could do next. They'd decided on an immediate plan of action though, one that Alia prayed wouldn't come back to bite either of them. She left Lindsay by the door and made her way to the laptop, where Rachel was stood with Eddie. Rachel only had to take one look at her face to hand control over to Eddie and place a concerned hand to her daughter's shoulder. "Outside." Alia murmured quietly, indicating the hall doors with her head. Rachel nodded, following Alia to the door and hiding her surprise when Lindsay also followed them out, all three stood in the cooler corridor outside the packed assembly hall.
"Alright, girls, what's going on?" Rachel asked kindly, taking in both of their worried, shaken features. What more could possibly have happened?
"I think we'd best do this in your office." Alia spoke after a quick glance to Lindsay. They definitely needed to be away from the hall just in case anyone came outside whilst they were explaining things to the headmistress.
Rachel nodded, biting her tongue on the many questions she wanted to fire at the sixteen year olds as she silently led the girls through the empty school and up to her office, bidding both of them to sit on the sofa whilst she grabbed a chair from the round table, twisting it to face the two teens. "Right, what's wrong?"
Alia turned to Lindsay, who was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "Linds," she hissed, nudging her. Lindsay looked up, wide, terrified eyes locking onto Alia's.
"I can't… can you, please Alia?" Her voice barely made a sound, but Alia caught enough of it, nodding her head understandingly. Despite not wanting to say the words, she knew she had to be strong for the other sixteen year old, had to prove they'd stick with her no matter what.
Alia turned back to her mum, silently praying that she took it well, or at least didn't yell. It wasn't like she was keeping yet another secret from her. "Lindsay's dad… he was hurting her, a lot." She was very careful to use the same words Lindsay had used with her, and not what she knew had happened from Rachel. That wouldn't help anyone. "That morning, he… he told Lindsay he was going to start on Emily. So Lindsay protected her sister, the only way she knew how." Alia took a deep breath, steeling herself as she repeated the words once more. "She killed him. Not her mum."
Rachel's eyes widened almost comically as she took in Alia's fearful features and Lindsay's terrified gaze. She could tell from that alone, that what her daughter had just confessed was the truth. Lindsay had murdered her father, to protect Emily from him. A lot more about the sixteen year old made sense now, particularly the overprotectiveness of Emily and the stark independence she emitted, not to mention the scowling way she seemed to instinctively protect herself both mentally and physically. "Oh." She cleared her throat a little, smiling reassuringly at the two petrified teenagers sat on her office sofa. "I'm guessing your mum is covering for you."
Lindsay nodded miserably. "She found me stood over him with the knife in my hand. I couldn't help it; I told her everything. She took the knife off me and told me to get Em and get to school, to swear blind we'd seen and heard nothing and she'd sort it." She chanced a tiny glance upwards, lasting a little longer once she saw no recrimination or judgement in her headteacher's eyes. "Alia, she said this place was a family, and family helps each other. I just don't know how anyone can help me now."
"We have a plan." Alia told Rachel evenly. "But we will need your help."
Rachel nodded. "Alright. Let's see what you've got and what we can do. Lindsay," She spoke softly, prompting the girl to involuntarily lift her face up to the headmistress'. "We will do our best to help you, I promise."
…
"Hold your horses." Rachel stopped Alia from following Maxine and Janeece up to bed that night, having held everything in through the rest of the film and the evening at home with the full house. She couldn't even begin to imagine how Lindsay had been holding it all in for so long before finally cracking. She shook her head at the others, all waiting in various spots in the hallway and on the stairs. "You lot can go; I just need a word with Ali." She ignored Eddie's concerned look. He'd find out soon enough, she wasn't daft enough to think she could hide this from him, hell, there was no part of her that wanted to. She waited impatiently for them all to disappear upstairs before directing her daughter to the rarely used dining room, which was mostly there as a storage room with a dining table for eight in the middle. Both Alia and Rachel much preferred using the kitchen table on a day to day basis, so the dining room table was mostly somewhere to keep paperwork and other odds and ends.
Alia sighed as Rachel deliberately closed the door behind them, having been waiting for the fallout ever since she'd spoken to Lindsay earlier that evening. "Look, I haven't kept anything from you, I swear." She pre-empted the inquisition from her mum with worry. "I convinced her to tell you because I didn't know what else to do. I really didn't know she'd confess to murdering her dad tonight, let alone to me!"
"I know love, I know." Rachel moved forward, embracing her child lightly so as not to hurt her injury any more than it already was. Alia let her head fall onto Rachel's shoulder, her good arm wrapping round her back to return the hug. "I'm sorry you had to deal with all that on top of everything else."
"I tried calling Jack earlier." Alia's mumbled confession tugged on Rachel's heartstrings, especially the teary, defeated tone. "No answer, cut off too early to have rung out. I've really lost him, all for something really stupid."
"Oh sweetheart." Rachel pressed a kiss to the top of her daughter's head. "You'll be alright, I promise. And thank you, for helping Lindsay. I knew there was something else she was hiding, but I don't think she would've said anything until it was too late to help her if it was just me."
"I just hope the plan works." Alia pulled back just enough to offer her mum a shaky smile, eyes still full of tears. "Don't leave me mum, please."
"Never, love. You're stuck with me for a long time yet."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
TBC…