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Chapter 6: Look On the Bright Side

The two teenagers stood adjacent to one another, in front of Rachel's desk. Eddie noted that for Bolton, once upon a time this had been a regular occurence. And yet in recent months, he had turned himself around thanks to Rachel's input. As for Philip, this was entirely out of his natural character and tendencies. The boy had his moments, undoubtedly, but he had never resorted to violence in the past. So surely, something significant and meaningful had happened here to give rise to this reaction from Philip.

Similar thoughts were stirring around in Rachel's brain, during the brief silence as she gathered her choice of words. She thought back to the day of Philip's arrival, and how cruelly Bolton and Paul had treated him at the time. Rachel had been furious with Bolton, having seen him as one of her greatest achievements. After the conversation which had undergone following on from his actions, Rachel doubted that he would react in this way again, in particular towards Philip. Rachel was no fool though, she had seen how Philip punched Bolton first. But as already acknowledged, violence wasn't one of her nephew's mannerisms. He must have been provoked substantially beforehand.

"Right," Rachel began, capturing the attention of the two students, "I have to say boys, I am incredibly disappointed in the both of you. Bolton, I thought we'd turned a corner with all this…"

"But miss, he punched me first man!"

"And I'm well aware of that Bolton. But do not interrupt me when I am talking to you."

The teen looked mildly apologetic, and Rachel took this as her opportunity to continue.

"... what I was saying Bolton, is that this is the old you, provoking your peers, searching for fights. Why do it?"

He glanced down, as if considering his actions. Rachel could only hope that she was getting through to him once more.

"And as for you Philip, this behaviour is a world away from your character. You should know that violence is not tolerated in this school."

Rachel and Eddie witnessed a crimson blush flash across Philip's face, as if he was suddenly feeling rather awkward and ashamed by his recent actions. Rachel had hoped that her opening words would encourage her pupils to open up about what had gone on, but there was no such look.

"Miss Mason's right, you should both know that," Eddie added, hoping that he could try his hand at resolving this situation and help Rachel in the process, "now are you going to tell us what has gone on here."

Again; silence. Bolton tilting his feet, constantly staring down at them, Philip twiddling his thumbs, longing for this situation to just disintegrate.

"Bolton," Rachel spoke, rather concerned with the lack of response she was getting from both boys at this point, "let's start with you. What was said to generate that reaction from Philip, hm?"

"Look I was being an idiot, Paul and the lads were egging us on innit."

"I don't doubt that Bolton, but you still haven't told us what was said."

"I just said some daft crap about his mum and that."

Rachel sighed deeply as Philip averted his gaze from all possible eye contact. She should have seen this coming, her nephew was bound to be taunted after the entrance his mum had made to his English class earlier. Rachel knew that she now needed to get to the bottom of the specific things that Bolton had aggravated Philip with. Now aware that the general topic was Melissa, Rachel didn't want Philip to have to endure listening to those comments again.

"Mr Lawson," she spoke, turning to Eddie, "can you take Philip down to the cooler. I would just like to have a private word with Bolton, and then I'll be with you."

Eddie nodded before taking Philip's lead out of the office. Rachel gestured for Bolton to sit down opposite her, whilst taking a seat herself. By all means, she guessed that this could be a fairly lengthy conversation, it just depended on the exact comments which Bolton had taunted Philip with. Rachel had to be sure that an event like this wouldn't happen again, her nephew had already been severely hurt by recent events as it were.

"Bolton, I know I've already said this, but I thought you were past all this macho rubbish."

"Anno miss. An' I am sorry."

"Okay, well how about you start by telling me the truth. Perhaps then we can start making some amends."

"Right well, the thing is, I think Phil was tryna be funny, making random comments and that. And anno I shouldn't, but I just started taking the piss."

Rachel tilted her head slightly, appreciating that Bolton was finally opening up but not necessarily liking where this conversation was going.

"It started out as a joke really, then I guess I took it too far."

"Which was when you started commenting on Philip's mum?"

Bolton nodded, "I didn't mean it though innit… not really."

"Bolton, just tell me. We need to get to the bottom of this situation."

He sighed, knowing that there was no way out of this one, "I said… that no wonder he's such a freak, if that's what his mum's like. And then, I said that he wouldn't be allowed to get away with owt in maths now that Lawson's not sleeping with his mum."

For Rachel, this was an extremely difficult position to be thrown into. Currently, she was attempting to brush aside her own feelings so that she could concentrate on the facts here. But it was seemingly difficult when, part of what Bolton was saying related to the reasons for her heartache in recent months. It was just a painful reminder of everything that had occurred. Rachel mentally shook herself, as a way of packing up her spiralling emotions. She had to focus on Bolton and Philip here, as well as the best course of action forward. Be a headteacher rather than an aunt or Melissa's sister.

"You do realise Bolton, that Philip didn't ask for any of what happened today? He didn't want his mum to storm into his English lesson, revealing his private life for the whole class to gawk at. So I'm extremely disappointed with you Bolton, for intervening with something which is frankly, none of your business."

"Yes miss… sorry miss."

"I don't think it's me you need to be saying sorry to Bolton, you owe Philip a grovelling apology. And I do understand, that he retaliated with violence, so he will be punished accordingly. As for you, you two after school detentions, and you'll be spending the rest of today in the cooler. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes," Bolton responded, hanging his head slightly lower in shame. It appeared that Rachel had gotten through to him once more. Just when she thought she had Bolton cracked, he goes and does something like this.

Rachel nodded before gesturing for Bolton to follow her to the cooler. This would be an interesting conversation between the two boys, Rachel just hoped that Bolton would keep up his side of the bargain and rightfully apologise.

….

Eddie hadn't expected much form of conversation from Philip. But when silence seemed to control the boy, it concerned him. Several times Eddie attempted to approach the subject with him, and Philip just brushed his questions off with grunts and nods of the head. Perhaps once Rachel arrived the teen would open up; Eddie hoped so, it seemed like the only way forward at the moment. He had said that Rachel was into black magic before, so he guessed she would be needing it today once more.

Once Eddie had turned his mind to Rachel, his thoughts couldn't seem to avert back to an alternative. He couldn't get the way she has responded to his feelings out of his head. She loved him too, and finally, he was able to show just how far head over heels he was for her. All of Eddie's attention was focused on Rachel, and despite current occurrences with Philip and Bolton, he felt that he couldn't be happier.

When Eddie looked up, he saw the woman herself walking down the corridor with Bolton, towards the cooler. He was of course thinking about Philip and Bolton, and how all of this was going to play out. But Eddie couldn't help but get distracted by the way Rachel's hair was currently bouncing up and down with every step she took. He longed to run his hands through and feel the softness against his skin. Before Eddie allowed his thoughts to go any further though, he managed to compose himself. Partly because Rachel was now opening the door and entering, but mainly because Eddie realised that this wasn't the place to get lost in such thoughts.

The slight smile Rachel offered him as her and Bolton entered, didn't exactly lend itself to assist with pushing back Eddie's musings.

She stepped back as Bolton made his way over to Philip, angling her body so that she could speak to him discreetly.

"Any luck with Philip?"

"None," he responded, desperately trying to not get distracted by how close she currently was to him. Or the way her warm breath seemed to be caressing his cheek.

Rachel raised her eyebrows slightly, presumably wondering where on earth they would go from here with Philip if he hadn't been willing to open up yet.

For now though, she turned, hoping that Bolton was going to prove himself yet again and show remorse to her nephew. From the way Rachel's gaze was fixed on Bolton, Eddie guessed that her conversation had gone better than his. The taller teenager's facial expressions told all; Bolton looked as if he was truly thinking through the consequences of his actions. Realistically, Eddie knew all along that Rachel would be able to get through to the boy once more.

"Look man," Bolton began as he approached Philip, "I'm sorry yeh? What I said was daft, I didn't mean it innit."

For the first time since entering the cooler, Eddie saw a new emotion form in Philip's features. Evidently, he was extremely surprised that Bolton had just presented him with such a genuine apology. Eddie and Rachel just had to trust that Bolton wouldn't use any of this against Philip in the future. For Rachel in particular, she guessed that Bolton had learnt his lesson. This was very telling from the way his whole demeanour had changed after their earlier conversation. The teen was truly regret and guilt-ridden: his recent actions weren't something he would be repeating again.

As Philip looked up, he nodded; his way of telling Bolton that he accepted his apology. Perhaps the pair wouldn't be the best of friends, but Bolton wouldn't be singling out Philip for all the wrong reasons.

"Thank you Bolton," Rachel said as she approached the two boys, genuinely pleased and proud with the way that Bolton had handled this situation since acknowledging that his comments were out of order.

"Philip," she began, turning to her nephew, "can you come with us please?"

It wasn't a request, and even though it was put across in that manner, Philip knew that. For Eddie, the word 'us' used in Rachel's sentence didn't go unnoticed. She wanted his help with this one, and Eddie was more than willing to do just that. It was mainly for Rachel's benefit, but he felt as if he owed it to Philip too. Eddie still couldn't get the feeling of being partially responsible out of his mind.

The boy nodded, standing to follow his aunt and maths teacher out of the room, leaving Bolton with the teacher on duty of the cooler. The two adults shared an exasperated expression as they approached Rachel's office. Neither of them were sure how this talk with Philip was going to play out. Right now, his feelings seemed to be mysterious and elusive.

Almost automatically, Philip took a seat on one of the sofas in the corner of Rachel's office. Rachel and Eddie joined him, noting the way he shifted uncomfortably in his seat and twiddled his thumbs. He had always tended to bottle up his feelings, something which Rachel could relate to entirely. But she could also acknowledge how amazing it felt to find that one person who you felt as if you could open up anything and everything to. In her case, that was Eddie. She just hoped that Philip would at least let her in a tiny bit.

Before playing aunt though, Rachel couldn't let the fact that Philip was her nephew affect the way she dealt with his violence.

"Philip, you know that I can't treat you any differently just because you're family. So I'm afraid for your actions towards Bolton, you're going to have to spend a day in the cooler tomorrow. Now it would be more than that, but because he provoked you, I can understand why you were riled."

Philip nodded, "I just snapped. I'd had enough, of him and the other lads taking the piss."

Rachel shared a worried glance with Eddie, clearly these comments were a regular occurrence, even before Melissa had made her entrance.

"So, are you saying this sort of stuff normally happens?" Eddie asked, cottoning on to Rachel's way of thinking.

Philip looked hesitant, perhaps as if something personal to him had been revealed, "erm...sometimes… I mean no, not really."

The way with which Philip stumbled over his words captured Rachel and Eddie's concern. But it was clear the teen wasn't willing to reveal this particular aspect of his school life. Rachel wasn't going to push him, she just hoped that with time, he would naturally begin to talk about it.

"Philip, I know how awful this must be for you," Rachel began, "what with your mum leaving. But I need you to know, that Eddie and I, we aren't going anywhere. Okay?"

"Thanks Rach, and Eddie."

The two adults smiled in response. Rachel hoped that by giving Philip constant reassurance, he would eventually feel able to divulge all with what went on at school.

"Now, would you like to just sit in here for the rest of the afternoon? I doubt you'd rather sit in the cooler with Bolton."

Phil just smiled and nodded, changing his position so that he was now sitting at the nearby circular table.

Deciding to leave him be for a few moments, Rachel got up with Eddie to walk out of the office.

Once the door was closed, Eddie turned to face her, watching as she emanated a sigh. The tension was evident in her features and with the way she held herself.

"Look on the bright side," Eddie said, smiling as he gently caught hold of her elbow, "you have my amazing cooking skills to look forward to this evening."

Rachel leant forwards, so that she was slightly closer to him and laughed, feeling genuinely happier and more relaxed upon thinking about the evening ahead.