(A/N): So, I know I have other fics to be getting on with, but this chapter was already written up, so I figured I'd post it. It was supposed to be up earlier, as were new chapters for the other ones, but I have somehow ended up with less time than I did before. I'm not sure how it happened, but it did. Ah well. A big thank you to all who reviewed, favourited and followed. You're the best! Oh, and as a side note, the thing with the Skype later in the chapter, I have no idea if it is indeed possible, but for the sake of this fic it is. You'll understand what I mean after you've read it. Hopefully.
I don't own anything, as per usual.
HeavenSkye x
What The Heart Wants
Chapter 5
Ten minutes later, the tour was complete and Rachel delivered Alia to her form room, which was also Tom's classroom. "Okay, this is your form room, with Mr Clarkson. Philip's in there too, if that helps. Ali, you'll be fine, I know it." She told the teenager, who looked a little nervous, but nowhere near as terrified as she had first walking into the school. Rachel knocked on the door and opened it, as about half the form class was there, as was Tom.
"Mr Clarkson, here is your newest addition, Alia Falan. Alia, this is your form tutor and English teacher, Mr Clarkson."
"I know, I met him earlier." Alia responded as she moved into the classroom. "Nice to see you again Mr Clarkson."
"And you, Alia." Tom looked around the classroom, trying to mentally remember where there was a free seat. "Uh, you can sit over there, next to Philip Ryan." He pointed over to Philip, who sat on his own two rows from the back. Alia nodded, throwing Rachel a thankful look before moving over to stand beside Philip's desk, where the boy was gazing out of the window in a daydream and hadn't yet seen Alia.
Rachel nodded to Tom and ducked back out of the room as a few more pupils wandered in. Despite wanting to stay and see how Alia got on in her first class after three years, she knew it was far better to let Alia get on with it, to let her find her own way. With that thought at the forefront of her mind, Rachel wandered back to her office to get some more work done, including the paperwork concerning Alia, such as emergency contacts and the like.
"Can I sit here?" Alia asked, resisting the urge to smirk when Philip jumped at being pulled out of his daydream.
"Uh sure." Philip moved his bag from the spare seat as Alia sat down, setting her bag at her feet. "Ali, how you doing?" He asked in a much lowered voice, trying not to let anyone else know of the prior connection between the pair.
"I'm fine Phil." Alia responded in a similar tone. "It's hard, but I'm dealing with it. Rach is so happy, I can't let her down."
"She'll love you no matter what."
"Uh huh." Alia nodded, though she looked a little uncertain. "Well, you wanna come round for tea tonight?"
"Sure, does Aunt Rach mind?"
"She won't, don't worry about it. It'll be fine. Plus, it means you won't have to spend it with your mum and Eddie."
"Eddie's great, but I just…"
"Don't want to spend the time with him, knowing it'll only end in him getting hurt?" Alia finished for him, smiling sadly as Philip nodded. Just then, Bolton Smilie and Paul Langley sloped in, five minutes late as always, making their way to the desk behind Philip and Alia. Bolton stopped short at the sight of the new girl sat beside Philip, hitting Paul's arm to make him notice too.
"Philip, who's the girl?" Bolton asked, making the pair look up, Philip with a little wonder and chagrin in his face and Alia simply curious.
"Uh, this is Alia. Alia, this is Bolton and Paul." Philip introduced. Alia nodded, smiling up at the pair.
"Bolton Smilie, at your service. That's Paul Langley." Bolton made a mock bow, at which Alia raised her eyebrows.
"Alia Falan." Alia returned evenly as Tom cleared his throat, making Bolton and Paul move reluctantly to their seats.
"Okay, form, we've got a new girl joining us; Alia Falan. Anyway, let's get on with the register, and then we've got to go through the announcements for the week, alright?" Tom moved to pick up the register and Alia let out a long silent sigh. The day had only just begun, and she could already feel it dragging on.
…
Break time arrived at a snail's pace for Alia, who had spent a very boring double lesson in science, alternating between doodling in her exercise book and staring out of the window. She'd been working her own way along the GCSE syllabus at home, and had gotten further along than the rest of the class had, which had been the main reason she'd been so bored. She had ended up making a few friends, as the Year 11 top set also had a few A level group students that were retaking the GCSE or wanted extra background on the work they were doing for their A levels. She'd found that Janeece was very talkative, as was Michaela. Philip hadn't been in the same set as Alia, so she'd kept to herself for the most part.
"Hey, Alia, come and meet Chlo and Maxine." Janeece exclaimed as she rushed up to Alia's side, grabbing the younger girl's arm and pulling her over to where Chlo and Maxine sat atop a low wall, talking and sharing a packet of crisps. "Hey guys, this is Alia Falan, from the GCSE science set. Alia, this is Chlo Charles and Maxine Barlow."
Chlo's head shot up at hearing Alia's name, and she stared closely at the girl, noticing a few characteristics that were the same as that of her headmistress along with the posture the girl had. It had to be the Alia Rachel had told her about. She gave Alia a warm smile. "Hi, Alia, I'm Chlo. Max, say hi." She nudged Maxine, who glanced at Alia and waved, her mouth chock full of crisps. Alia smiled back at the pair as they all fell into easy conversation, even if Chlo did send her the odd look of surprise and confusion.
…
Third lesson was Maths with Mr Lawson, and Alia made her way to the classroom with Chlo as a guide, eager to make up her own mind about the deputy head that had her mum's heart unknowingly. Chlo sent Alia a smile as they paused outside the door to Eddie's classroom. "You'll be fine, Ali." Chlo assured her softly. "Mr Lawson's nice."
"Thanks, Chlo. You going to the library?"
"Yeah, French essay's due tomorrow, and Haydock'll have it for me if I don't get it done." Chlo sighed dramatically, though she was smiling as one hand drifted to her stomach. Alia's eyes followed the movement as the younger girl smiled knowingly.
"How long?" She asked quietly, causing Chlo's eyes to snap to hers. Chlo sighed and shrugged.
"About a month. Only Tom and Donte know, so can you just…" Chlo trailed off as Alia nodded. Chlo had deliberately left Rachel out of the list of people who knew, simply because she didn't know for sure if Alia was Rachel's daughter or not, and didn't want anything to slip out by mistake.
"Of course. I won't say a word. I better get in there then." Alia smiled thankfully at Chlo again before turning and walking into the classroom as Chlo walked further down the corridor to the library.
Alia walked up to the front of the room where Eddie stood, his back to her as he wrote a starter activity on the board. Clearing her throat hesitantly, she watched as he jumped before turning quickly to see her stood in front of his desk warily. "Uh, hi, I'm Alia Falan. New kid." She added as an aside, the corners of her mouth turning up into a half smile.
Eddie felt himself smile automatically in response to Alia's words. Not many kids would label themselves on their first day, or do it in such a matter-of-fact manner either. He nodded. "Mr Lawson, though I think I introduced myself earlier this morning." He replied candidly before gesturing to a seat halfway down the class. "Can you sit there?"
Alia nodded and moved to sit in the seat he'd pointed out as the last stragglers strolled into the classroom and sat down. She stifled the urge to roll her eyes as Eddie told the class they'd be studying Pythagoras' theorem and possible exam questions for the topic. She'd learnt that particular topic about five months earlier, and so she anticipated another boring lesson.
…
Eddie clenched his jaw as he glanced at Alia, who was slumped in her seat, doodling in the margin of her exercise book. He'd kept glancing at her throughout the forty-five minutes that the lesson had been going on for; worried about her ability to keep up with the class work, but instead he'd given himself a headache trying not to yell at her out of irritation. She had alternated between watching whatever was out of the window, and doodling in the margins of her book, and Eddie was irritated that she didn't seem at all interested in the work he'd provided. He came to a stop by her desk, his looming form making her look up reluctantly.
"I suppose you've already finished all fifteen questions, Miss Falan?" He asked sarcastically. Alia blinked up at him, flipping from the back of the book where she'd been doodling to the front, where her perfectly presented answers to the fifteen questions were written, all correct to three decimal places.
"Uh, yes sir." She answered slowly, pointing at her book. Eddie picked it up, his eyes quickly scanning through her answers. It irritated him even more that she hadn't a single thing wrong with her work, even if ordinarily it would make his day to have someone that got everything right. He scowled, putting her book down and walking to the front of the class, ignoring the muted snickers of the pupils that had heard his conversation with the brunette teenager. Growling internally, he turned back to face the class and demanded answers to the questions to be read aloud, relaxing a little when Alia didn't put forward an answer, needing that little extra time to calm down. Needless to say, Eddie was extremely thankful when the bell rang and the class filed out, including Alia, who sent him a small smirk on her way out.
…
Dinner time came and went, and all too soon it was the end of the school day. Alia said a quick goodbye to Chlo, Janeece and another two girls called Georgia and Katie before walking home alone. After Eddie's Maths class, she'd had double Art, which had soothed her and allowed her to get lost in her work, the teacher leaving her alone enough that Alia didn't feel crowded. Alia allowed herself a small smile. Despite her misgivings about school and going back into education after three years out, she'd almost enjoyed herself, and she'd made friends, something she hadn't exactly worried about, but it had wriggled its way in as a potential nervous moment anyway. Of course, she knew most of the pupils' backgrounds from conversations with Rachel over the last year, but Alia preferred finding things out for herself.
She pulled out her phone and fired off a quick text. She'd already texted Rachel to let her mum know that she was walking home and that Philip was coming round for tea.
To: J
Hey, fancy getting ice-cream with me soon? A x
She put her phone away and carried on walking, getting onto the front drive of her house before she received a reply.
From: J
You bet! Meet you tomorrow at 4? P.S. Sam's on chat now. J x
To: J
Thanks. See you tomorrow. A x
Alia rushed inside the house, barely remembering to shut the door and hang up her keys before she threw her bag down at the bottom of the stairs and slung her blazer over the banister of the stairs and rushed into the living room, where she'd last left her laptop. Firing it up, she quickly found her Skype and opened it up. Selecting a military secured device as her chat destination, she waited impatiently as it rang, excitement bubbling up inside her as the chat was accepted and the background of the inside of a camouflaged tent came into view, with a man in army gear sat in the foreground, grinning widely at the screen.
"Little Ali!" He greeted cheerily. "I haven't seen you in forever, Princess." He smirked as Alia rolled her eyes.
"Hey Sam, Jack told me you were online. It's good to see you too." Alia smiled. Sam was her godfather, and had been her dad's best friend, and probably would had been best man if her parents had ever actually gotten married, as Sam himself liked to brag on many occasions.
"I can see you're doing alright for yourself, Princess." Sam's voice softened as he watched the girl he considered a daughter carefully. "How's your mum?"
"Rachel's fine. She's finishing up some paperwork before coming home." Alia told him, ignoring the way he called her Princess. Sam had called her that ever since she was three years old and had told everyone on the base at the time that she was going to be a princess, and that no-one could stop her. From that moment, Sam had taken to calling her princess, and had never stopped.
"Oh? Alright, I will have to embarrass Rach at some other time then." Sam teased, making Alia laugh. Sam's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of the tie hanging loosely round Alia's neck. "Alia, can I ask you something?"
"Sure."
"When did you start going back to school?" Sam asked cautiously. Alia sighed.
"Since today. Rach asked me to. It's kind of a long story.
Sam glanced at something over the computer screen before redirecting his gaze to Alia. "I have about an hour or so until I'm needed. I'm on night patrol right now. Why don't you start at the beginning?"
…
Rachel let herself into the house about three quarters of an hour after Alia, stooping a little under the weight of paperwork she'd brought home with her. Her daughter's laugh made her drop the bags and rush to the living room, where she found her daughter sat on the couch with her back to the door, talking to Sam on the laptop. Rachel smiled. Sam had been James' best friend, and as a result, Sam and Rachel had become close friends too, with both of them having the same top priority: Alia.
"Hey, Rach, long time no see!" Sam called out, making her smile as Alia turned in her seat to look at her.
"Hey Sam, still in Afghanistan?" Rachel asked as she came to sit down beside Alia.
Sam nodded. "Yeah, but I'm coming home soon. This is my third stretch out here and they've agreed that I can do community work near you guys after I finish out here. Just five more weeks." A call from outside the webcam's vision made Sam alert and he cast apologetic eyes to the two females on screen. "Sorry, I have to go."
"Stay safe, Sam." Rachel called, making Sam nod distractedly as he stood up.
"Will do. See you soon, Rach, Princess." And with those final words, the connection went dead and the main screen popped back up. Alia closed the laptop slowly, turning watery eyes to Rachel.
"He'll be okay, right mum?"
Rachel pulled Alia in for a comforting hug. "Of course he will, love. He's an idiot, but he's not stupid. He'll come back to you, I promise."
"You can't make that kind of promise. That's like a pastry promise; easily made, easily broken." Alia clarified at Rachel's puzzled look. Rachel shook her head.
"I can because I know Sam will make it home. Ali, this won't be like your dad."
"And how do you know that?"
"I can just tell, sweetheart." Rachel pressed a kiss to Alia's forehead. "Now then, what shall we have for tea if Phil's coming round?"
TBC?
