Chapter 3
Tom made his way into the doors of Rochdale Primary; through the glass panel he could see Florence sitting outside the headteacher's office. "hi, I'm Tom Clarkson I've come to collect Florence" Tom said being asked to take a seat. Florence came into reception a couple of minutes later with the headteacher "Florence can return to school on Thursday" the headteacher said Tom glared down at his daughter with a disappointed look on his face "what do you say to Mrs Leek Florence" he said sternly "sorry Miss" Florence mumbled "well let's hope you have a good think about why we don't fight in school while you are away and come back with a better attitude" Mrs Leek said gently. Tom took Florence by the hand and walked her back to the car. When she was in her seat, he drove them back to Waterloo Road, they arrived in Tom's classroom neither of them had said very much on the journey back. "right young lady, you're going to tell Daddy what is going on" Tom said gently but with a firm tone. Just as he did Nicki came into the room "Florence Rose Clarkson" Nicki said firmly "What is going on" "it wasn't all my fault" Florence protested. She went onto explain about the new girl Daisy and the things that she had said to her and all of the things that had been happening in the last couple of days.
Tom and Nicki watched as their 6-year-old explained exactly what was going on and what had led her to reacting eventually in the way that she did. Florence was a bright girl and very articulate and Tom and Nicki couldn't help but be a little proud of the way she had handled herself. Once she had finished explaining Tom spoke to her "right, I understand that all of that was going on and Mummy and I are going to deal with that separately, but you mustn't ever lash out and hit someone like that Florence its very naughty and not the right thing to do" Tom said calmly. "now you are coming here tomorrow but you're not coming to play, Mummy is going to print you off some worksheets and you can sit at the back of my classroom and do them" "then you can do some reading and some maths" Tom added "you are also going to write Mrs Leek a letter to say you are sorry for hurting her when she tried to split the two of you up, Daddy will help you with that tonight" Tom said "ok daddy, I'm sorry" Florence muttered. Florence looked up at her Mum and Dad "Can I still go dancing tonight" Florence asked hopefully, "not tonight I think you need to have an early night and have a think about your behaviour today" Nicki said Florence did not like this one little bit and proceeded to stamp her feet and cry "you are not a two year old Florence" Tom said very calmly lifting his daughter off the floor "Florence, calm down" Tom said firmly. Eventually Florence calmed herself down and fell asleep in her Dads arms.
By now it was lunchtime and rather than wake her up, Nicki brought Tom's lunch to his classroom and they ate together with Florence still on her Dad's lap fast asleep. Charlotte walked past her Dad's classroom and saw this "hi, whats Florrie doing here?" Charlotte looked confused "disagreement at school" Nicki said not wanting to go into lots of detail then and there. Charlotte accepted this. "Anyway wanted to show you, I got an A in my maths test today- Mr Lawson said I would be a shoe in for GCSE and A level the way I'm going" Charlotte said excitedly "ah well done kiddo, we're really proud of you" Nicki said hugging her eldest daughter "well done love, that's brilliant" Tom said. "Have you seen Josh today" Nicki said "yeah, he was complaining that his head hurt earlier" Charlotte commented. Nicki rolled her eyes at Tom and Tom did a similar look back neither of which Charlotte noticed.