Hey guys, glad you're enjoying the story! I wanted to upload this chapter last night but the damn servers wouldn't let me sign in. Really enjoyed writing this one, let me know what you think! x

They stared at each other. The air was heavy. Annabelle recognised this face. This was the face Simone pulled at the beach, when she walked in to Annabelle reading Amanda's suicide letter.

"Please tell me it isn't true" Simone said, sternly.

"What?"

She took a step closer and grabbed Annabelle by the wrist. "If you're sleeping with a student then you obviously haven't learnt anything, do you have any idea what you're doing!?"

Annabelle quivered, in both shock and fear. "I'm not… I just, I uh… what have you heard?"

"That text told me everything I needed to know. Jesus Annabelle, who is she?"

"Her name's Lucy, she's in my dorm… I don't know, I think she has a crush on me. She's really shy around the other girls but for some reason she feels more comfortable talking to me. NOTHING has happened, I swear."

Simone saw the disbelief and desperation in Annabelle's eyes and began to feel bad, realising that she was maybe out of line. "Okay. I'm sorry it's just… It's been a hard couple of days."

"Yeah no doubt," Annabelle replied, perching on the edge of her bed.

Simone glanced down and was visibly uncomfortable. "Well, I'm really tired so I'm going to head to bed. Good night."

"Good night," Annabelle called as Simone left the room. She smiled, half to herself and half at Simone.

The next morning Annabelle awoke in disbelief, did yesterday really happen? Was it all a strange dream? By the time she got dressed and was outside locking her door, she noticed Gemma lurking in the hallway. "Can I help you with something?" she asked.

"Oh nothing, I just had a little trouble getting to sleep last night Miss Tillman," the young delinquent replied. "Lovers tiff was it?"

Annabelle's chest tightened and she felt the blood rush to her head. "You're late for class," she stated, firmly, and turned to walk away.

"Whatever," Gemma replied, obviously looking for further reaction. She wasn't going to get it.

Later in the dining hall Annabelle opted to sit at the staff table. She wasn't sure if she wanted to be closer to Simone or further away from Lucy, just to be safe. As everyone was enjoying their lunch, a familiar sound caught people's attention and Simone stood up to address the group. "Good morning girls. Sorry to take you all away from your meals but I just thought I'd formally introduce myself. I'm Miss Bradley, and I actually used to teach at this school. As you all may have heard, Mother Immaculata is unwell and I'll be taking her position as headmistress. I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you and helping you on the journey that I myself was once on. If there's anything you need, please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you."

Annabelle found herself looking up at Simone in adoration. She was so generous and kind, the kind of headmistress she wishes was there in her time. She snapped back to looking at her food, not wanting to give anything away. "Miss Bradley," she said under her breath, and laughed. It had been a while since she heard that name.

Luckily, it was a Friday night. The week was finally over. Unluckily, Annabelle was rostered on to supervise prep. This was the study period where girls would sit in the library for two hours and pretend to work. It became too exhausting to actually bother disciplining them, plus Annabelle was secretly on their side, so she would usually bring a book and zone out. Tonight was no different, she rested her feet up on an extra chair and swayed from time to time if she got bored. As she leant back, she spotted something unusual. She got up and made her way towards the hooded individual, who was curled up in the corner between two bookshelves. "Lucy, are you okay?"

She was sobbing. "Not exactly."

"What's going on?" Annabelle asked, resting her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Gemma, last night. She said she heard you and Miss Bradley talking."

"Oh…" Annabelle muttered, slowly joining dots together.

"She told the whole dorm that I was gay and I was going to go to hell, and it's not even true!" Lucy buried her head in her hands.

Annabelle could feel herself getting furious. "I'll talk to her. Bullying is absolutely unacceptable and I won't tolerate it."

"Thank you…" she trailed off.

"Would you like to see the school counsellor?" Annabelle asked.

"I'm not sure it would help much… I can't change who she is."

"No, I mean…" Annabelle hesitated. "Sexuality is an issue for a lot of people your age. It can be very confusing and you might feel something one day and completely different the next. It can help to talk to someone about it."

"Oh, but… can I not talk to you about it?" Lucy asked.

"I'm not sure that would be appropriate."

"But you understand. The school counsellor is a catholic who is probably going to try and 'cure' me. You're the only other one in this school like me…"

"What do you mean by that?" Annabelle asked, frowning.

"Well… you're gay aren't you?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You and Miss Bradley. Jessica told me, she wasn't trying to be mean or anything, I swear, it's just she knows about it because her Mom was at school the same time as you were or something."

"Kristen…" Annabelle whispered.

"Yeah that's right, Kristen!"

Annabelle shifted her weight away from the young girl. She was processing everything she'd just heard but also wanted to be sure more than ever that she wasn't compromising her role as a teacher.

Lucy looked for eye contact. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Annabelle looked back and before she could say anything Lucy rested her hand on her knee.

A voice in the distance echoed through the library, "Sorry to interrupt girls, I'm looking for –" Simone stopped dead in her tracks. She looked down at Lucy's hand and back up at Annabelle. "…. Miss Tillman," she breathed, finishing her sentence. Lucy dragged her hand away slowly, as if to make it invisible.

Annabelle coughed, "Miss Bradley?"

"See me upstairs."