(A/N): Another chapter! I am definitely on a roll here. This chapter is slightly longer than usual, because I couldn't find a good cut off point before the end of it, and I am working on the next chapter already. I no longer get breaks like the typical uni students, so I will have to try and get back into the work I should be doing as well (I have no energy for it). Plus I am still working on the new waterloo road fic as well when I can. Anyway, please read and enjoy, and I will try to get to reddie eventually. Honestly, I do want the story to end up there as much as you all do.
What the Heart Wants
Chapter 15
"Max, it's not worth it!" Chlo tried to reason, to no avail. Maxine was head over heels with Earl and there was nothing any of them could do about it. She hadn't mentioned her own pregnancy to her friends yet, apart from Alia who already knew, and she watched in growing concern as Maxine talked to them about how she and Earl had plans to have a baby, start a life together.
"Chlo, we're in love. We're going to have a life together." Maxine replied earnestly, not seeing the concerned looks Janeece, Chlo and Alia shared. "We're going to have a baby and be a real family."
They all knew that Earl was playing on Maxine's wanting to have a baby, to have a family of her own. Only Max herself couldn't see it, and she'd been arguing quite a bit with Steph over Earl, without having the news of a baby thrown in.
"Max, are you absolutely sure about all this?" Janeece checked. Max nodded, her face growing stubborn in the face of her friends' concern. "Okay then. If you're happy then that's what matters."
They all schooled their faces as Steph approached them, her face set in disapproval. Clearly she'd found out that Maxine had snuck out to see Earl again last night. They just hoped she hadn't heard anything about the baby she wanted. Steph took a double glance at Alia that had her and Chlo frowning in confusion, having been the only ones to see it. "Maxine. Why have I just found out that you were off with Earl again last night, and not Janeece here?"
Maxine looked at Janeece, betrayal in her eyes, but Janeece held her hands up innocently. "It wasn't me. I didn't tell her."
"No, I overheard from some of the kids that Earl had a party last night and you were with him," Steph confirmed, hands on her hips. "Well, missy?"
"So what?" Maxine responded defiantly, mirroring Steph's pose. "We're going out. You can't stop us."
Chlo, Alia and Janeece all drifted slowly away from the argument between the two and made their way to their first lessons. They were trying to get through to Max but there was only so far they could push before she stopped confiding in them. They really didn't want it hitting that point. They didn't want her isolated to just Earl and no one else.
…
It was break time. The perfect time. Fiona knew that due to the awful weather outside, most of the school would either be in the canteen or the assembly hall. All it would take would be a few words to the right people, and the school would be abuzz once more. Whether or not it was true or not didn't matter. It would hurt Rachel either way, and once the initial rumour had kicked in, then she could kick it up a notch. She wouldn't be leaving until her ungrateful brat of a daughter was as well, preferably in disgrace.
…
"Hey, Phil, have you heard?"
Philip and Alia had been stood in the queue at the canteen that lunchtime. She'd managed to tell him that they had the proof, but not much more than that. She still had to hand the folder over before the end of lunch, as she had Eddie that afternoon. She was already dreading that class after her passing out last time.
"Heard what?"
"The rumours going round. I don't believe them, like, but it's everywhere." Bolton stopped beside them, outside of the queue but close enough to talk without being overheard. Not that there was much chance of that happening with how loud the canteen was. He wasn't Philip's biggest fan, not by a long shot, but he thought someone had to tell him properly. It was about his family after all. "I think that witch of a woman you called gran started it but I can't prove it." He referred to the previous week when they'd been scaring Fiona into leaving them alone, when Philip had called her gran.
"What rumour?" Alia asked curiously.
"Miss Mason and Mr Lawson are having an affair." Bolton told them as their mouths dropped open in shock, much like the reaction of all other students that had heard the rumour. Bolton honestly wasn't sure how the rumour hadn't reached the staff yet. "Like I said, I don't believe it, but I dunno. It's a right nasty thing to spread 'round, 'specially with Mason and Lawson. Not that there weren't rumours about them last year, cos there was, but I know damn well that Mason and Lawson wouldn't be together whilst Lawson's with Miss Ryan."
All colour dropped from the cousins' faces. This was bad. They knew how much Rachel hated rumours going round about her, though she'd weathered the ones about her and Eddie's personal lives the previous year quite well. Apparently no-one was completely sure whether or not the two most senior teachers were going to jump each other or kill each other. But such a blatant untruth, spread in such a fashion, after everyone had found about her past, her darkest secret? They shared a look. They needed to find her. Quickly, they ducked out of the queue, food being the last thing on their minds that lunchtime.
"Yo, where're we going?" Bolton asked, hurrying to catch up with the cousins. He'd told Philip because he thought someone needed to, thinking Philip might go tell his mum about it. However, he hadn't expected Alia with him, nor for the both of them to start running as fast as they could from the canteen, in the opposite direction to the Adult Learning area.
"To see Mason," Philip managed to huff out as the three raced up the stairs, ignoring the warnings they received off at least two teachers about running, barely even pausing as they reached the antechamber and rushed past Rachel's assistant, who half stood in protest at the three students hurtling through as though hell was on their heels.
Not bothering to knock, they burst into the headteacher's office to find Rachel sat behind her desk doing paperwork, a half-eaten apple in one hand, with Eddie sat at the round table also doing paperwork, a sandwich in hand. Both dropped their food and stood up in alarm at the abrupt entrance of the three students. "Well this isn't going to help any." Alia managed to find her voice first, as all three were panting heavily from their race through the school.
"What's going on?" Rachel asked, a picture of concern as she ushered the three pupils to the corner sofa and made them sit and catch their breath. She noticed the horror that appeared plastered on her daughter and nephew's faces, with the somewhat milder horror on Bolton's.
"Tell her," Philip urged the other boy, still trying to catch his breath.
Bolton shifted nervously, more nervous about telling the headmistress than he had been telling her nephew. "Well, see, thing is, there's a new rumour. Started at break as far as anyone knows. I think, but I can't prove it like, that the witch that Phil here calls gran, started it."
"Rumour about what, Bolton?" Eddie asked, moving to stand beside Rachel, a move that didn't help the students as they winced in near unison. Both teachers looked confused, having seen the winces but not having a single clue what had caused it.
"You two. Having it off behind his mum's back." Bolton gestured to Philip, looking sick at having to even repeat the rumour to the subjects of said rumour. Or maybe it was because of the rumour itself.
Rachel and Eddie gasped, their jaws dropping almost simultaneously. Rachel paled considerably, whilst Eddie went rather red in the face.
"We ran straight here to tell you, because we figured you didn't know," Alia explained when it became apparent neither teacher had the capability of speech. "Which obviously, you didn't. We couldn't let you find out in public."
"Don't think any of the teachers've found out yet," Bolton added, in an attempt to be helpful.
Rachel managed to turn one of the chairs in front of her desk to face the students before falling into it, Eddie just about doing the same. Both were in shock. Neither one of them was stupid; far from it. They knew all about the betting pool the teachers had, and that they'd been favourite candidates on it since Rachel's second week on the job. But to insinuate that they would go behind Melissa's back and have an affair? Rachel would never even consider it, and Eddie wouldn't do any of them the dishonour of doing such a thing. It being completely false though didn't help with the rumour. Whoever had started it, and they were both coming to the same conclusion as Bolton, had no care as to who it hurt, though Rachel was pretty sure it was aimed at her. Discredit her in her own school, again, make her feel guilty over her sister, whilst dragging Eddie's name through the mud too. It made a sick sort of sense.
Alia and Philip had seen the teachers drop their professional façade before, for obvious reasons, but Bolton was left gaping as the two teachers slumped in their seats, looking lost and angry and hurt all in one. They seemed the furthest thing from the head and deputy head of the school in that moment, instead just looking like any two people that had received shocking news. He wasn't sure how to handle it, something which confused him more as he glanced over at the other two students, who were watching the two adults with concern. Philip, he could understand, he'd obviously seen Lawson with his mum, and Mason out of school as she was his aunt. But Alia had the same expression, watching them carefully with concern, none of the confusion that Bolton was feeling.
"But- I… We… couldn't, we wouldn't…" Rachel murmured, confused, more to herself than the room, though everyone heard her. Eddie's jaw tightened at her obvious confusion, turning to face her a little more than the kids.
"Rach, I know that and you know that. These three know that too. I bet there's more kids out there that know it as well."
"Most people just seem confused where the rumour came from, there's loads that dismissed it straight off, and only a handful actually believe it, from what I saw on the way here," Alia offered softly, trying not to spook them anymore than they already were.
Eddie sighed. "Bolton, not a word about what's about to happen. I mean it." He fixed the teenager with a firm look, to which Bolton nodded his agreement, still visibly confused as the deputy head then turned to Alia. "Alia, go on. She needs you."
Alia nodded, standing up and making her way over as Rachel practically fell into her arms, holding each other upright. She could almost feel Eddie and Philip's concern, and Bolton's confusion, but her focus was on the sleep deprived headteacher in her arms, who had just heard slanderous rumours about herself and her deputy. None of it was fair, and she was really sick of one thing after another just being thrown in Rachel's direction and her being expected to just take it. The rumour was vicious as much as it was blatantly untrue and she couldn't help but hate being the bearer of the news. Hadn't Rachel been through enough without this on top of everything? "We can work through this." She found herself saying, running a hand comfortingly up and down Rachel's back.
"Why? Why would anyone even do something like this?" Rachel murmured; her face buried in her daughter's hair.
"What are we going to do? Mum's going to go spare when she finds out," Philip complained, blinking in surprise as his aunt and cousin separated instantly and all the occupants of the room shot him a horrified, bewildered look. Thinking back over his words, his eyes widened comically as he shook his head. "No, I didn't mean it like that! I don't think you two are actually, y'know, doing that. I just mean mum's going to go spare as soon as she hears the rumour. You know mum, she's not going to think about it before she comes after you. She'll fight with you before thinking it through."
"People are going to notice if you two start acting different, like," Bolton pointed out, waggling a finger between the two senior teachers. "That'll be just telling them all they're right in the rumour if you act off with each other."
Eddie chanced a glance at Rachel, who still had one arm around Alia's shoulders, but was watching the boys on the sofa. "The lad's got a good point, Rach."
"I know." Rachel ran her free hand through her hair in frustration. "What if we do nothing?" It was her turn to have the room's occupants stare at her. "If we act differently, we're essentially confirming we have something to feel guilty about, like Bolton said. I know we don't, but the kids are not going to see it that way. They've already said it seems to be the students that know right now, not the teachers. So we act just as ignorant as the rest of the staff. We'll go down to the canteen, together, and eat down there in full view of them all." They did eat in the canteen about three lunches out of five unless they had management meetings or a crisis prevented them from doing so. It wasn't unusual at all. "All we have to do is wait until one of the braver lot actually asks us about it, or insinuates something. Then we can deny it, and they'll take it a lot better than if we were to get these three to try and deny it on our behalf."
"How would you explain our mad dash through the school though?" Alia asked from her position under her mother's right arm.
"Did anyone see you lot run in here specifically?" Eddie replied, brow furrowed in thought.
"Rach's assistant." Alia shrugged. "She tried to stop us. Apart from that the last teacher only caught us running up the stairs. The upper corridors were completely empty."
"Right, we can sort that out. She won't say anything. What if you kids run the length of the corridor, towards the staffroom, and then slow down your running a little on the other set of stairs down? Make it look as though you were chasing around looking for someone else, Phil's mum, for instance, but you couldn't find her?" Eddie suggested, before a thought occurred to him. "Wait, she wasn't in the canteen was she?"
Alia and Bolton both shrugged, but Philip shook his head. "She took gran out for lunch. Gran said something about appalling food and not wanting to be poisoned at break time. Mum hustled her out of there before Bolton's mum really did poison her." Bolton managed a smirk at the thought of his mum going after the witch.
"Alright, good." Rachel nodded. "You three, follow what Eddie- I mean, Mr Lawson, said, and find yourselves a table, get something to eat. Maybe even comment that you couldn't find Philip's mother. We will be down in about five minutes. It would be best if we weren't seen together."
"Kind of hard when you've practically got one of us in a chokehold." Rachel looked confused at Bolton's comment until she glanced down and realised that she still had Alia under her arm, drawing comfort from her fifteen year old.
"Oh, sorry love." She released Alia from her side, though the teenager just looked vaguely amused as she glanced at Bolton's confused visage.
"You're not very good at this secret thing, by the way," She told her mum, amusement colouring her tone as she addressed Bolton directly. "The bit you don't know, is why I'm involved in all this."
"Don't tell me you're Mason and Lawson's secret love child," Bolton joked, though his laughter died quickly at the glares he received from the mentioned adults. Philip looked slightly ill at the thought, and Alia bit her lip to contain the laugh bubbling up at the adults' expressions.
"No, unfortunately you're only half right. Hi, it's nice to meet you." She held a hand out to Bolton mockingly. "I'm Alia Mason."
"What?! No way! Miss, I mean, what?!" Bolton cried out, his gaze flicking between the mother and daughter rapidly, waiting for someone to tell him he was being pranked. "No, there's no way man! Like, how?!"
Rachel felt her lip twitching at Bolton's response. She knew it wasn't obvious in their interactions at school, and she tried her hardest not to give in to her mothering instincts too much, knowing it wouldn't be easy once her daughter was known as the headmistress' child, and not just Alia Falan, another new girl. They must have been doing even better than they thought at trying to downplay the connection, if it hadn't been bandied about the school by now. Bolton's reaction had just confirmed it. "Do you really want a lecture on the birds and the bees from your headteacher, Bolton?" Bolton immediately coloured as he shook his head, clearly embarrassed at her teasing. Taking pity on the embarrassed teen, she continued. "But yes, Alia is my daughter. That little piece of information is to stay in this office though. I mean it. If it gets around the school, then I know who I'm punishing for it."
"I won't say a thing, I swear. Explains how you always know so much about us lot though."
Alia looked offended as she glared at Bolton for daring to insinuate that she grassed on the students to the headteacher, just because she was her mum.
Rachel fought the urge to roll her eyes. "She doesn't tell me a thing about 'you lot'. I wasn't born yesterday, and I've been a teacher a long time. You'd be surprised just what all us teachers know." She glanced at her watch, noting with surprise that the students had been in there well over five minutes. "Alright you three, you need to get down to the canteen. Mush." She ushered them out of the office, gesturing for her assistant to let them go as they hightailed it out of the antechamber and into the deserted corridor.
Halfway down the corridor, Alia pulled Bolton to a halt, her expression dark. "I do not snitch. If I did, they would have found out about that year 12 drinking thing three hours before they did, and they wouldn't still be searching for who nicked all the stuff from the supply cupboard in English. Don't ever accuse me again unless you're willing to back it up." She turned away and picked up her pace once more, leaving no choice but for Bolton to try and catch up to them, slightly shook. That speech had had scary Mason vibes, though he could understand why most people hadn't figured it out. They looked sort of similar, but they needed to be next to each other to really see it, and Alia's tones and attitudes didn't really resemble those of the headmistress. Not until just then anyway.
They raced all the way back to the canteen, finally able to grab some food from Candice, who told them off for leaving it late, but accepted their explanation of needing to find a teacher. The look she gave Bolton let him know he had questions to answer later though. They tumbled into seats on the only completely empty table, the cousins next to each other, Alia on the end of the row, with Bolton opposite her, openly talking of trying and failing to find Melissa, or anyone else. They'd barely settled into their food when the doors opened once more and an unnatural hush descended. Glancing up from their lunches, they saw Rachel and Eddie stood in the doorway, just as close as they always were, eyeing the room with innocent curiosity. They were good actors, at least.
The two teachers ignored the hush, instead making their way to Candice and grabbing something to eat, moving to where they could sit beside each other, their backs to the wall, on the other end of the table from the three teenagers that had warned them of what was going on. Rachel could feel the stiffness with which Eddie sat beside her.
"Act natural," She muttered from the corner of her mouth before stabbing a piece of lettuce with her fork and continuing in a normal voice. "As I was saying, the governors want the paperwork by Friday. For some reason they want S32s as well, which seems excessive."
"I've got year 11's this afternoon, the final intense revision class for the mocks next week, but I could take half the proposal forms to do in non-contact time tomorrow morning," Eddie offered as he speared a chip with his fork.
"That'd be great. I've got a meeting with that year 9's parent this afternoon."
They continued to talk as they normally would around their food, noticing when the noise kicked back up to normal levels for the students. It didn't last long as a particularly brave year 13 student made their way over and the noise immediately ceased again. "Uh, miss, sir?"
They both looked up to the barely eighteen year old boy, Bailey, who they knew would have been put up to it by his friends and girlfriend. "What's up, Bailey?" Rachel asked kindly, placing down her fork to give him her attention.
The boy flushed even further, clearly uncomfortable. "Well, it's just… uh… are… y'know… are you two, y'know, together?" He flushed even further, having rushed the latter part of his question, shifting as though he'd rather be anywhere else than stood their asking his headmistress and deputy head about their personal lives.
Both Rachel's and Eddie's eyes widened as they glanced at each other, the shock not even faked as they hadn't really gotten past the shock of Bolton, Alia and Philip telling them ten minutes earlier. "What?" Rachel managed to choke out, thankful she hadn't taken a bite of her salad before the boy had spoken. Clearing her throat a little, she fixed him with a firm look. "Not that it's any of your business, and I assume everyone's business if the silence is anything to go by, but no. Mr Lawson and I are friends and colleagues, nothing more."
"Does that answer your question?" Eddie added as he noted most of the student population in the room seemed to be telling the minority 'told you so'. A small part of him that wasn't mortified by the rumour was proud that so many of the students clearly knew and respected them enough to not believe in the rumour. "We need to stop Fiona," He murmured to Rachel without moving his lips, face focused back on his food.
"I'll deal with it, no need for you to get involved."
"I'm already involved."
"I've got it covered, Eddie."
"Rachel…"
"Just leave it."
Eddie sighed, returning to his chips. Just when he thought he'd got Rachel to open up a little more, she went and put those walls up ten times higher than they'd been before. At this rate, he'd be pushed away again before the end of lunch.
TBC…
