Chapter 3
It was the Sunday evening and Rachel wasn't looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow. The girls seemed to be settling a little more and they'd had a really nice day together today. It was getting late now, Rachel had already put Lexi to bed, and she had seemed to go to sleep straight away, she realised she should probably get Libby to bed too, otherwise she'd be hard to get out of bed tomorrow morning.
The girls were all sat in the living room watching some TV, Georgie and Amelia were chatting on the sofa and Libby was on the chair, she couldn't help but feel a little left out at the moment, her and Amelia had always been so close but now she seemed far more interested in talking to Georgie.
"Libby it's time for you to go to bed love" Rachel said
Libby pretended to ignore her, she'd been In a bit of a bad mood all evening, she hated Sundays as she dreaded going to school on the Monday.
"Libby bedtime" Rachel repeated.
Reluctantly Libby got up and went upstairs
"Girls I don't want you two staying up late either, you can have another half an hour then bed"
"Do you want to go up to my room and chat for a bit?' Amelia said, her Georgie were quickly becoming good friends, they loved being in each other's company.
"Sure"
The two of them ran upstairs and went into Amelia's room, closing the door behind them.
Rachel turned her attention back to Libby.
"I'll wait in your room while you go and brush your teeth" She said
Libby went off to the bathroom, she was feeling really worried about tomorrow and was starting to dread going in. She'd always found lessons quite hard but recently some of the girls in her class were being really mean to her, she hadn't told anyone about this though, so neither Rachel or James understood why she was so reluctant to go to school.
After she'd finished in the bathroom she went into her bedroom where Rachel was waiting for her.
"have you been to the loo?" Rachel asked.
"I'm not a baby, you don't need to ask me that" Libby snapped as she got into bed
Rachel was quite shocked at Libby talking to her like that, but she didn't say anything and started tucking her in.
"Mum I don't feel well" Libby lied
Rachel sighed heavily; they'd go through the same routine every Sunday night "What's wrong?"
"My head hurts, so does my stomach, and I feel hot and …"
"Right and I suppose this has nothing to do with the fact it's school tomorrow" Rachel said
Libby didn't say anything, just shrugged her shoulders
Rachel tucked a piece of Libby's blonde hair behind her ears.
"Darling, you've got to go to school, I know you're finding it hard at the moment but that doesn't mean you can just stay home."
Libby wished she could tell her Mum what was really going on, but she felt too scared to.
"Okay" Libby whispered
"Good girl, now I want that light out in 10 minutes okay"
"Mum, what's happening to Lexi tomorrow?" Libby asked
"Well luckily James spoke to Grandma earlier and she has agreed to have her for the day" Rachel said "I wanted to take her in with me, but I've got so many meetings, so it makes more sense for her to go with Grandma"
"Yeah that makes sense"
"she asked if you wanted to go over next week actually, maybe sleepover on Friday, what do you think about that hmm?"
"yeah maybe" Libby said
"Alright love, well sleep tight, I'll see you in the morning" she said, giving her a quick kiss goodnight "Love you lots'
"Love you too'
Rachel then closed her door and left.
Georgie and Amelia were in Amelia's room, they were sat on her bed chatting.
"Are you looking forward to school tomorrow?" Amelia asked, to which Georgie pulled a face
"It's not that bad, some of the teachers are quite nice"
"What's your Mum like at school?"
"Strict, I just stay out of her way most of the time though, except sometimes you can't, like the other week she caught me and my friends mucking about in PE and she got really annoyed about it"
"We have to do PE?"
"Yeah course, we have it twice a week, sometimes you can make up an excuse though"
"Like what?"
"Like if you've got your period or something, but you need a note from someone at home and Mum knows I haven't started mine yet so I couldn't really lie…have you started yours yet Georgie?"
Georgie's cheeks went red "Yeah but I've only had it once" she said
"What's it like?"
"I guess it just makes your stomach hurt, and it's really embarrassing" Georgie mumbled
"Well at least you can use it to get out of PE"
"Do we all have to get changed together for PE"
"Yeah, normally"
"But I can't" Georgie said suddenly sounding worried
"Why not?" Amelia asked
"Because my skins all sore still and It looks weird" She said "I really don't want to do it"
"You can get changed in the toilets if you wanted, but honestly nobody would care" Amelia said
Georgie started biting her nails, she was beginning to feel really nervous about school now.
"I wonder what year you'll be in; I hope Mum puts you in my year"
"I still can't believe Rachel's the head, she seems too nice"
"Wait until tomorrow, it's like as soon as she puts her work suit on she changes, she's always a nightmare on a school morning'
Georgie was about to reply but suddenly Rachel came in "Who's a nightmare on a morning" she asked
"You are' Amelia said
"oi you cheeky little madam" Rachel said pretending to smack her over the head
"Well it's true, you're always nagging us"
"Maybe if you would just get ready on time for once I wouldn't have to, would I?" Rachel retorted "Anyway, I want you girls in your beds now, we'll be up bright and early tomorrow"
"Oh can't we stay up just a bit longer?" Amelia asked
"Nope, come on, start getting changed into your pyjamas"
Reluctantly Amelia agreed so Georgie went back into her room and put on her new pyjamas before getting into bed. It still felt surreal to have a room as nice as this all to herself, she wondered how long it would all last for though.
A couple of minutes later there was a knock on the door and Rachel came in
"Hey love, you all comfy, do you want anything?"
"Yeah I'm all good thank you"
"Okay, well try and get to sleep soon, remember shout if you need anything"
"Rachel, can I ask you something about school?"
"Yes of course, it tends to be my area of expertise"
"What year am I going to be in?"
Rachel had thought about this quite a bit, she knew it would make sense to keep Georgie back a year after all the school she'd missed but then again she didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable with people younger than her.
"Where do you want to be Georgie?"
"In Amelia's year' She answered instantly
"Okay then that's what we'll do and maybe review in a week or so okay?"
"Can I be in Amelia's form?"
"I think maybe it might be good for you to have different groups of friends, although I'm sure she'll help you settle in" Rachel suggested
"Okay" Georgie said, although she sounded a little hesitant about this.
"Anyway, you'll have to come up to my office tomorrow anyway to talk about your timetable and everything so we can discuss it some more then okay? I think you should try and get some sleep now though" Rachel said
"Okay, night Rachel"
"Night, night' she said, before closing the door.
Rachel then went back downstairs; she had a glass of wine with James and chatted for a bit, before the two of them decided they were going to go to bed.
As they were going up they heard someone walking across the landing, when they reached the top of the stairs they realised it was Lexi, she instantly looked scared when she saw them.
"Hey Lexi, I thought you were asleep" Rachel said
"I was but then I woke up" Lexi explained
"Oh, is everything okay?" James asked
"I had a bad dream" Lexi said
"Oh dear" Rachel said scooping the little girl up in her arms, "Why don't I go and tuck you back in"
"Can I go and sleep and Georgie's bed" Lexi asked
"no darling, Georgie's sleeping" Rachel replied "Come on we'll get you all comfy"
She carried Lexi through and put her back in her bed.
"Now the thing you've got to remember about dreams is even though they can seem horrible and scary, they're not real and you're nice and safe here"
"But my dream was real once, I dreamt about Dad and how he used to get scary"
A lump formed in Rachel's throat "Lexi nothing like that is going to happen to you here, I promise, neither me or James would ever get angry like that, not ever"
"Do you promise?"
"I promise" Rachel said "Now how about I stay with you until you back to sleep?'
"Okay"
It didn't take Lexi long at all to go back to sleep, after she did Rachel left her room and got into bed herself
"Was she okay?" James asked
"Yeah she was fine, she went straight back to sleep' Rachel said "Do you know I'm actually amazed at the way they've settled in, they really do seem to be feeling more relaxed now'
Rachel sand James chatted for a bit longer before they went to sleep.
It was about 2 when Rachel was woken up, she jumped as someone was tapping her.
Sleepily she opened her eyes and saw Libby stood over her.
"Libby go back to sleep" she mumbled
"I can't, I woke up and now I can't go back to sleep, can I sleep in your bed"
Rachel sighed, she moved over in bed and held out her hand for Libby to get in next to her.
Libby instantly snuggled up to her Mum
"Now straight to sleep, it's the middle of the night"
"It's not night time anymore" Libby pointed out
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"your clock says it's 2am so it's actually morning"
"Go to sleep Libby" Rachel said
Libby was quiet for a few minutes and then said "Mum are you asleep"
"Yes" Rachel mumbled
"Well you're not that's why you're still replying'
"Oh Libby, I'm trying to go to sleep, what is it?' Rachel said sounding frustrated
"When can we get a dog"
"Do you really think now's the time to discuss that?"
Libby was quiet for a couple more minutes and Rachel was falling back to sleep
"Mum"
"Libby if you don't button it, you'll have to go back to your bedroom"
"I don't think I'll be well enough for school tomorrow"
"There's not a chance we're having this discussion again, now it's either you go to sleep or you back to your bedroom, your choice" Rachel warned, she knew she was being harsh but all she wanted to do was go back to sleep
"Okay, night Mum"
"Night, now please go to sleep"
After a little bit more fidgeting Libby did eventually go to sleep.
As always, the alarm went off far too quickly, James had already left for work and Rachel was so comfortable in bed, she decided to switch it off for 5 minutes.
This was a mistake, she ended up going back to sleep for another half hour. She slowly woke up and then got a shock when she saw the time.
"Shit" she said as jumped out of bed
"Mum that's a bad word" Libby said "you were really annoyed when Amelia said it that time"
"Libby get up and start getting dressed, we're late"
Rachel quickly put some makeup on and did her hair, before getting into her work stuff, she'd normally have a shower on a morning, but she'd have to do without this morning.
She then went into the girl's rooms and woke them up.
Eventually everyone was ready, so they went downstairs for a quick breakfast.
"Amelia can you please sort that skirt out, it's bordering on down right ridiculous" Rachel said
Amelia sighed but pulled it down a little bit, she knew better than to mess with her Mum first thing in a morning.
It was strange for Georgie to see Rachel like this, she seemed different now she was in work mode.
"Right, school time" Rachel said once they'd all finished their breakfast.
"Mum I feel sick, I can't go" Libby said
"Libby we are not having this conversation, you're going to school and that's final" Rachel said sounding quite strict now.
Libby really didn't want to go in but knew there wasn't anything else she could do.
The five of them got in the car and drove off, they dropped Lexi off first, then Libby and then drove to Waterloo road.
Georgie felt nervous as they pulled in, it looked so big and the children looked scary. There were some boys messing around and shoving one another.
Rachel got out the car, "Lads pack it in and get to your class please" she said
Georgie felt really scared now, she wasn't sure if she was going to fit in here.
"Right, Amelia why don't you go up to class, Georgie come with me to my office"
Georgie followed Rachel up, she felt really anxious, part of her wanted to run off, but she went into Rachel's office. It felt a bit calmer in their at least.
"Rachel, I've had Mike Hill on the phone, he wants your full Science budget reports by 12 today" Bridget said
Rachel sighed, "Right, well tell him I'll get it done as soon as I've got a minute"
"I also had an incident report handed in, one of the year 10 boys has damaged one of the windows near the back of school"
"What? Damaged how?" Rachel sighed, this was already turning into a nightmare of a morning
"Threw a brick through it"
"Oh for gods sake, is he in the cooler?'
"Yep, it's Shay Mitchell"
"Right, I'll deal with that now, Georgie, go through to my office, I'll be back as soon as I can .. in fact Bridget, will you do a new starter form with Georgie"
"Yes of course" she said
"Thank you" Rachel said squeezing her shoulder, before rushing off downstairs.
Georgie sat with Bridget to fill the form out, it didn't take that long to do and Rachel still wasn't back by the time they'd finished.
"Do you want a drink or anything while you wait?"
"No thank you" Georgie said
It took another 10 minutes or so before Rachel turned back up again. She looked quite stressed out.
"Sorry Georgie, I had a few things to sort, anyway, let's go through some stuff then I'll take you through to your form group." Rachel said
She got some forms and things out and went through them with Georgie, it took them quite a while to go through everything.
"Right I think we're finally sorted, I'll print your timetable, it looks like you've got English first with Miss Cooper, I'll take you over there now, and remember any problems throughout the day just come straight to me okay?"
Rachel was worried about Georgie, she also was a bit apprehensive about the form group she'd put her in, but it was the emptiest one so it made the most sense to put her in there.
Georgie felt incredibly nervous, her stomach was in knots.
"Right, here we are" Rachel said, before knocking on the classroom door. As she went in he could see that the kids were just mucking around, there was lots of talking and Miss cooper looked quite nervous stood at the front.
As soon as Rachel walked in the kids instantly quietened down and started looking as if they were working.
"Put your things down and look this way" Rachel ordered "Now when I walked in I was not impressed by what I saw, not one bit, when you're in class you do not sit and chatter, you focus and get on with work, anyone failing to do that and follow our expectations I want sending straight to me, now is that clear?"
They all nodded, feeling quite sheepish now
"Miss Cooper, this is Georgie, it's her first day today"
"Thank you miss mason; Georgie go and take a seat there next to Michelle"
Rachel waited for a moment before smiling at Georgie and then walking off, she really hoped everything would be okay.
Georgie could feel all eyes on her, it made her feel really uncomfortable
"Miss can she sit somewhere else, I don't want her next to me" she said
Georgie instantly felt a lump form in her throat, she hated things like this.
"Yeah we don't like it when new people join our form" someone else said "can't you go back to your old school"
"why's she so skinny, have you got something wrong with you"
Georgie felt like she could cry, she felt horrible and wanted to leave.
"Oi settle down the lot of you, you heard what Miss Mason said" Miss cooper shouted
The taunting didn't really seem to stop, Georgie wished she could stand up for herself but didn't know what to say.
She wished the ground would swallow her up, she was determined she was never going to come back after today, she hated it here
"Georgie, what do you think about the poem?" Miss Cooper asked
Georgie jumped, she hadn't been paying attention.
"Erm.. I .. I .." Georgie stammered
The class instantly started to laugh, much to Georgie's dismay.
"so she's stupid as well"
Georgie felt her eyes well up with tears, she instantly tried to brush them away.
After what seemed like forever the bell went. Georgie had no idea where she was supposed to go next, she saw on her timetable she had Science but she didn't know where that was.
"Are you lost?" One of the boys asked, coming over to her
Georgie nodded
"Where are you going?"
"Science"
"well to get to the Science block, you need to go left then carry on walking then right and then first on the left"
"Okay, thanks" Georgie said, it was the first time someone had been nice to her all day.
Georgie went off, the boys were laughing behind her, but she didn't notice.
It was only when she got there, she realised this was definitely not the science block. Georgie couldn't believe how awful everyone had been here.
She was already late for her next lesson and didn't want to stay here any longer. She decided to make a run for it, she figured it was such a big school that there was no way anyone would realise she was gone; she'd just come back up for the end of school.
She waited in the toilets for a little bit before running out of school, luckily no one saw her. Georgie didn't really know where she was going, it was freezing and had just started to rain, she didn't have a coat to keep her warm.
Now she was out of school she didn't really know what to do with herself, she walked around for an hour or so, although the rain was getting quite heavy now.
She realised she was quite hungry so went to the little corner shop and bought herself a can of coke and a bag of crisps, before going to the park to eat it.
Georgie was getting really bored, and she was shivering from the cold, time seemed to be dragging.
Rachel was starting to feel less stressed now, she'd done most of the jobs for the morning. She wondered how Georgie was getting on, she'd looked so scared when she'd left her this morning and looked really young compared to the other kids, despite the fact she was older than them.
She decided to check up on her, she thought she could just walk past whichever class she was in and check she looked settled.
She did a quick search and realised she should be In Maths, so went for a walk over there, when she walked past her classroom however, she realised she wasn't in there.
Rachel was a bit confused but thought she'd maybe just gone to the toilet or something, so she knocked on the door.
"Mr Clarkson, sorry to interrupt, can I have a quick word"
Tom followed Rachel outside "Sorry Tom, I just wanted to check where Georgie is?"
"Georgie? Oh she's the new girl, I saw she was on the register, but she didn't turn up"
"What?" Rachel said confused
"yeah and she was marked as absent for her last lesson too"
"Oh right, thanks Tom" Rachel said
She instantly began to feel worried; Georgie didn't seem the type of girl to skive off, plus it was pouring down with rain outside.
Rachel had a look round school, checking all the usual spots the kids would hide out in, she realised she wasn't there though.
She put her coat on and grabbed her car keys.
"Bridget, I've got to go out over lunch, I'll be back as soon as I can, anything urgent, just call me"
"Okay, no problem, I'll let people know if they co me looking for you" Bridget said
"Thanks"
Rachel then went out; she ran over to her car and got in.
She didn't really know where to look for her, she tried all the local shops and streets but couldn't see her anywhere. Rachel was getting really worried by now.
She decided to try the park, although she didn't think Georgie would have gone there.
When she pulled up she saw someone on one of the benches, as she got closer she realised it was Georgie, she was soaked through and shivering.
Rachel instantly got out and ran over, Georgie couldn't believe it when she saw Rachel, she never expected her to find her here, panic began to flood through her, but she was also sort of relieved, she was freezing out here.
"Georgie, what the hell are you doing here?' Rachel asked "You should be in school"
"I hate it there, everyone was horrible and I'm not going back, you can't make me"
Rachel sighed, she suddenly felt really sorry for her, after all she'd had a horrendous few weeks.
"Get in the car, it's freezing and your soaked through, we'll talk in there"
Georgie didn't need telling twice, she instantly ran over to the car and got in.
Rachel got in beside her.
"I'm not going back to school" Georgie repeated "I'll run away if you try and make me"
"Georgie I'm sorry you didn't have a very nice time" Rachel said "I promise we can fix things, but you can't just run off, I was worried about you, you should have come and seen me"
"I always used to run off at my old school and no one used to care then"
"Well I care Georgie, and I want you to be happy in school"
"Why would you care? We're not even going to be living with you for much longer"
Rachel thought for a moment before saying, "It doesn't have to be like that, well not if you don't want it to be"
"What do you mean?"
"If you wanted, you and Lexi can stay with us permanently, we love having you and I know we haven't known each other long but I want you to be part of the family"
Georgie didn't say anything for a moment or so, she couldn't believe what Rachel had just said "What you mean like forever?"
"If that's something you'd want"
"But you've already got Amelia and Libby"
"Well there's plenty of room for you as well"
Georgie couldn't believe it, nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She didn't say anything but wrapped her arms around Rachel.
Rachel was a little taken a back, Georgie had never hugged her before, but put her arms around her.
"Is that a yes then?" Rachel asked to which Georgie nodded.
"Thank you Rachel" Georgie whispered
"It's okay' Rachel said "now, we also need to decide about school, I know putting you in that form group was probably a bit of a mistake, I know there's some .. er challenging characters there should we say. How about I move you to Amelia's group, for the time being, they're a really nice form group and I know Amelia will look after you"
"Yeah I'd like that"
"Okay, so how about we go home, you can dry off and get yourself sorted then we'll go back to school"
The two of them then drove back home, Georgie couldn't believe how happy she was feeling.
Please review/suggest ideas xxx