Chapter 2
"Mum stop stop" Josh shouted as the icy water rushed onto his head "Mum please" Josh shouted again "think it's big and clever do you, staggering in drunk you're 14 years old" Nicki shouted. Finally, she let Josh up and passed him a towel. "what the hell do you think you were playing at" Tom said firmly worried about waking the girls. "I don't know, we were just having a laugh" Josh said suddenly becoming a lot more sober "you are 14 years old- nowhere close to the legal age for drinking I can't believe you would be so stupid. We haven't even got onto the fact that you lied to us" Tom said glaring at his son "I'm sorry alright I won't do it again" Josh said half meaning it "you're damn right you won't sunshine, you are grounded until further notice" Nicki said "and you can hand over your phone while you're at it too" Tom added "oh please, I've promised I won't do it again" Josh pleaded "yeah and we're making sure you don't, and when you have a hangover tomorrow don't even think about asking for the day off" Tom said "now go up to bed" Nicki said. Josh stumbled off the chair and made his way up to his room. Nicki sat down on a chair in the kitchen "what did we do wrong Tom, getting drunk at 14" Nicki sighed with her head in her hands "he's a teenager Nic, he was bound to push the boundaries at some point" Tom reassured her "come on, let's go to bed" Tom said wrapping a comforting arm around his wife.
The next day Tom was awake early and heard Josh vomiting in the bathroom, he went in and rubbed his sons back "now this is nature's way of deterring you from doing idiotic things" Tom said with a half-smile. Josh felt shocking he managed to sit up and rest his head on his dad's knee "I'm really sorry dad, I know how stupid it was" Josh said meekly. "it's ok son, just don't do it again yeah and you're still grounded if that's what you were wondering" Tom said ruffling Josh's curly hair "yeah, I know" Josh said before vomiting again. Florence ran from her room and straight to Tom "daddy daddy, Joshie is poorly" Florence said very concerned for her big brother. "He's okay princess, he broke some rules yesterday and now his tummy and his head is telling him why that wasn't a good idea but he'll be okay" Tom reassured his daughter cuddling her "shall we get some breakfast" "yes please" Florence responded quickly.
By the time they were all at school Josh had a thumping headache, "can I get some paracetamol my head is killing" Josh said "here you go" Lauren handed him two tablets and took two herself "so what happened last night, my mum and dad went ape at me" Lauren said "I've been grounded for a month" she added. "my mum put my head under the tap to sober me up, they grounded me until further notice and took away my phone" Josh said "wow that's rough and I thought I had it bad" Lauren chuckled. "How am I going to see you, I can't sneak out again, my life literally wouldn't be worth living" Lauren said "I don't know babe, we'll figure something out"
Rachel and Eddie arrived at school that morning having heard about the party, luckily Esme hadn't dared sneak out as she was already grounded, and Grace was still down in the dumps about the breakup. It was careers day at school that day and there were lots of local businesses in school in an aim to inspire the kids. "are we ready for a productive day everyone" Rachel said as she addressed the staff in the meeting "timetables will be suspended today and all of the pupils will be encouraged to talk to all of the business people and take part in the workshops" Rachel added enthusiastically. "getting them ready for the world of work…that's a laugh in itself" muttered Grantly "nice to see you getting involved" Tom laughed tapping Grantly on the back. In the hall there were lots of local businesses ready to talk to the pupils. Esme Lawson was making her way down the hall looking at the different stalls. All she had wanted to do since she was very little was be an actress but there was no way her mum and dad were ever going to approve of that, they wanted her to do sensible subjects for GCSE and A level and didn't see any point in drama school. The more Esme pushed the harder Rachel and Eddie pushed back. Grace was the more academic twin, she wanted to do Biology at University despite the fact that she was only in year 9. "see anything you're interested in love" Eddie said as he saw Esme wandering. "I know exactly what I want to do Dad but you're not interested" Esme said quietly "Es we've talked about this haven't we, Mum and I just want you to keep your options open that's all- we haven't said no" Eddie said putting an arm around his daughter "It's all I've ever wanted to do Dad, I know it's only because you and mum love me but you need to see that" Esme pleaded. "well it's a long way away just yet, we'll talk about it at another time" Eddie said quickly changing the subject.
Meanwhile at Florence's school something else was happening, "you're a weirdo" the girls said "no I'm not- you're the weird one" Florence said defending herself "don't talk to me, I might catch a disease" the girls responded back and with that Florence hit Daisy Walgreen in the face. She was only 6 but she had a pretty good right hook and within minutes the two girls were fighting, kicking and punching and pulling hair as if they were a couple of teenagers.
The office phone rang at Waterloo Road- Joyce made her way down to Tom Clarkson's classroom "phone call for you Tom, its Florence's school" Tom rushed to the office worried "hello, this is Mr Clarkson" Tom said as he nervously picked up the phone "hello Mr Clarkson, this is Mrs Leek- I'm afraid you will have to come and collect Florence, she has been involved in a physical fight" the headteacher said concerned. "a fight, she's 6 how did that happen" Tom said shocked "it broke out at lunchtime between Florence and another girl, the other girls parents have been called too, we do not tolerate fighting in this school and I'm afraid Florence will have to be suspended for a day tomorrow" the headteacher said "of course" Tom responded "I'll come and collect her right away" "Joyce can you let Nicki know that I've gone to collect Florence from school and I'll fill her in later" Tom said "no problem" Joyce said leaving the office. Tom went into Rachel's office "Rachel I'm going to have to go and collect Florrie from school, there has been an incident apparently and she is suspended tomorrow for the day, can I bring her in with me" Tom said "of course Tom, she can go to the creche, hope it's nothing too serious" Rachel reassured Tom. "I hope not" Tom responded and then quickly got into the car to drive down to Rochdale Primary.