The Easter holidays had ended and even though no-one had been looking forward to going back, now they were back into their everyday routine they'd all got used to it again.
It was a Wednesday afternoon and normally Lucy loved Wednesday afternoons because it was when they had Mrs Jackson in to do music with them who was Lucy's favourite teacher.
However today Lucy wasn't joining in very much because she couldn't stop worrying about how angry Rachel would be when she found out what she'd done today.
The weather had been bad so they were inside at lunchtime. Lucy was playing with a few of her friends and they were pretending they were at the hairdressers. Lucy got a bit carried away though and ended up getting a pair of scissors and cutting a big chunk out of a girl's hair.
Lucy's teacher had seen and sent her straight outside to give her quite a big telling off which of course made her cry. Lucy tried apologising but it only seemed to make her teacher more angry so Lucy had been feeling really worried and upset all day.
Mrs Jackson had picked up on how unusually quiet and withdrawn Lucy was being so decided to take her outside for a little chat.
She came up behind Lucy while the others were playing on the xylophones and gently tapped her on the shoulder.
"Lucy could you come outside with me please?"
Lucy nodded before following her out presuming she was going to be told off again.
"Am I going to get told off again?" Lucy asked fearfully once they were outside the classroom
"Why would tell you off? You haven't done anything wrong"
"Yes I have"
"Well that's news to me, what've you done?"
"I cut off some of Annabelle's hair when we were playing hairdressers" Lucy said tears filling her eyes but she tried her hardest to push them away
Mrs Jackson had to try and stifle her laughter when she heard Lucy say this.
"I did wonder why she had a big chunk of hair missing I have to say. But no I didn't bring you out to tell you off, I just wanted to check that you're okay that's all?"
"I'm fine" Lucy said wiping a few tears away
"Are you sure?"
"Yes"
"Okay well let's go back into the classroom then"
The rest of the day passed and it was soon time to go home.
Lucy couldn't wait to get out of school after the day she'd had but she didn't want to tell Rachel about the trouble she'd got into because she didn't want to be shouted at again like she was earlier.
The only problem was it was parents evening later so Lucy was sure that Mrs Jones would tell Rachel then.
Mrs Jackson called Lucy's name because she'd just seen Rachel walk outside of the classroom so Lucy quickly picked up her bags and ran outside.
"Hi love how's your day been?" Rachel asked taking Lucy's bag thanks
"Fine"
"Just fine?"
"It was good"
They started walking back to the car but Rachel picked up that Lucy wasn't very happy straight away because usually she'd be chatting away about something.
"Is everything okay love?"
"Yes why?"
"You just don't seem yourself that's all"
"I'm okay"
Rachel could tell that something was bothering her but she knew it was never a good idea to push Lucy so decided to just leave it.
When they got home the girls went straight up to their rooms to get changed out of their school uniform.
Lucy was trying to think of a way to stop Rachel going to parents evening.
She thought about pretending to be poorly hoping Rachel would stay at home to look after her.
Lucy didn't think it would work but she really didn't want Rachel finding out about the trouble she'd got into so decided it was worth a try.
After she'd changed out of her uniform she was going downstairs to tell Rachel that she was feeling poorly.
However when she was on her way down she remembered that Rachel always felt her forehead when she was feeling poorly to see if it felt hot so she quickly ran up to the bathroom.
When she got into the bathroom she closed the door behind her before turning the hot tap on and letting it run. She then got a flannel and made it all hot before dabbing it on her forehead to try and make it all hot.
When she came out of the bathroom she found Rachel in her bedroom changing out of her work clothes.
Lucy went and sat down on her bed.
"Hi love" Rachel said but then she noticed her hair was all wet "how come your hairs wet?"
Lucy just shrugged her shoulders.
"Rachel I don't feel very well"
"How don't you feel very well love?"
"I feel hot, achy and I keep shivering and I feel sick and my tummy hurts"
"Goodness that must be making you feel awfully poorly" Rachel said but really she wasn't sure that Lucy was actually feeling poorly, she'd got pretty good at telling when the girls were lying about something
Rachel went and sat on the bed next to Lucy and put her arm around her.
"If you're feeling that poorly I suppose you should go straight to bed now and we'll have to have the chocolate brownie pudding I bought another night, you won't want it if you're feeling sick"
Lucy had been really looking forward to that for pudding however she really did want to get out of parents evening so she got off the bed and went into her room with Rachel.
Rachel pulled the covers back so Lucy could climb into bed and then she put them back on top of her.
She sat down next to Lucy and started stroking her hair so Lucy closed her eyes.
"I suppose I'll have to go to parents evening on my own if you're poorly"
Lucy immediately sat up when Rachel said that
"You're still going to go?"
"Yes of course I am"
"Who's going to look after me though?"
"Poppy and Amy will still be here"
"But I want you to leave me"
"I won't be gone for love"
Lucy laid back down again tears filling her eyes.
"Lucy are you sure you're feeling poorly?"
Lucy didn't say anything she just looked at Rachel.
"Because the thing is I think I've known you long enough now to tell when you're lying, and I don't think you're telling me the truth are you?"
Lucy just shook her head before bursting into tears.
"Please don't be mad" Lucy cried
Rachel picked the little girl up and placed her on her knee and rubbed her back.
"Don't cry sweetheart"
Rachel wasn't too happy about the fact Lucy had lied to her however she could also see that Lucy was clearly very upset about something.
"Now are you going to tell me why you pretended to be poorly?"
"I don't want to go to parents evening"
"Why not?"
"I just don't like it"
"I don't think it's anything to worry about love, or is there something you're worried about Mrs Jones telling me?"
Lucy knew this was the perfect opportunity to tell Rachel however she just couldn't bring herself to say it.
"No"
"Well there then. Do you fancy coming down and giving me a hand with tea?"
Lucy nodded before going down with Rachel.
Rachel had decided to make a bolognaise so then she could just quickly boil some pasta when she got back from Lucy's parents evening.
Lucy was starting to feel sick from worrying so much about going to her parents evening, she didn't want to get into trouble with Rachel but Mrs Jones had been really cross so she knew that Rachel would be too.
It was nearly time for Rachel and Lucy to leave so Rachel went into the lounge to speak to the girls before they left.
"Where's Amy?" Rachel asked
"She's in her room"
"Me and Lucy are off now, I've made the bolognaise so I just need to do the pasta when we get back"
"Okay, is there anything you want me to do?"
"No I don't think so, anyway we're off now see you in a bit"
"Bye" Poppy said before turning her attention back to the TV
Rachel and Lucy walked out to the car and got in. Lucy really didn't want to go to parents evening she just wanted to stay at home but she knew there was nothing she could do about it now.
Rachel drove to Lucy's primary school and parked up before walking into school with Lucy. Rachel signed Lucy in before the two of them went into the hall and took a seat to wait until it was their turn to see Mrs Jones.
"You're being very quiet love"
"Am I?"
"Yeah are you still feeling worried?"
Lucy shook her head despite how she was really feeling.
They'd been there for about five minutes when Mrs Jones called them over.
Lucy had got herself so worked up that she thought she was about to be sick.
"Rachel I really need the toilet"
"Go on then love, I'll go on over to Mrs Jones okay?"
"Okay"
Lucy ran to the toilets and went into one of the cubicles before bursting into tears.
Rachel went over and sat with Mrs Jones. She always did find it weird being the parent rather than the teacher, but she liked it.
"Lucy's just nipped to the loo"
"Oh right. Well I'm sure you know but Lucy really is a lovely girl and very bright too. Most of her levels are exceeding where she's expected to be at by the end of the year"
Mrs Jones and Rachel went on talking for another five minutes but there was still no sign of Lucy.
"I don't know where Lucy's got to. Has she been alright at school today it's just she's not been herself ever since she got in from school?"
"Well obviously there was the trouble with Grace's hair"
"Grace's hair?"
"Oh did Lucy not tell you what happened? I'd have thought she would have"
"No she didn't mention anything about it"
"Right well basically she was playing with a few of the other girls at lunchtime and I think they were playing hairdressers but Lucy got a real pair of scissors and cut a chunk of Grace's hair out"
"Oh no" Rachel said putting her hand over her mouth
"Well I have to admit I probably over-reacted a bit I'd had quite a stressful morning so I probably did go too hard on her"
"She is a sensitive little thing" Rachel said smiling
"Do you want to go and find her and bring her back here? I don't have another appointment for 15 minutes or so"
Rachel got up and went into the girls toilets. She saw one of the doors was locked in there and she could hear someone crying inside.
Lucy heard someone come in so tried to stop crying.
"Lucy is that's you?"
"Rachel?" Lucy said feeling relieved at the sound of Rachel's voice
"Yes it's me love are you going to come out?"
Lucy unlocked the door and walked out. When Rachel saw her tearstained face she wrapped her arms around her.
"Mrs Jones told me about what happened at school today" Rachel said softly
Lucy immediately pulled away
"Are you mad?"
"How can I possible be mad with you when your this upset over it, hmm?"
"Mrs Jones shouted loads so I thought I'd be in lots of trouble with you too and I don't like being in trouble with you" Lucy cried
"Oh love" Rachel said rubbing her back "you're not in any trouble with me I promise"
"Really?"
"Really, I think you've learnt from it and you're never going to do it again are you?"
"Never"
"Right so let's dry your tears up and then we'll go and have a quick word with Mrs Jones and then we'll go home"
"Is Mrs Jones going to shout again?"
"No darling, I think she wants to apologise about getting so cross with you earlier"
Rachel went got some tissue and wiped all of Lucy's tears away before the two of them went back into the hall to see Mrs Jones.
Mrs Jones felt quite bad when she saw how red and puffy Lucy's eyes were from crying.
"Hi Lucy, I'm really sorry for shouting so much at you today"
"It's okay"
"No it's not I wasn't having a very good day but I shouldn't have let it affect the way I treated you"
"I'm really sorry for what I did"
"It's okay I don't think you did it on purpose did you?"
Lucy just shook her head.
"And Grace's Mum took her to the hair dressers today so now you'd never know anything had happened"
The three of them chatted for a bit longer before Lucy and Rachel went home again.
"Mrs Jones told me how well you're doing in class" Rachel said once they were back in the car
"Really?"
"Yeah she said you're meeting all your targets and what a popular and caring little girl you are"
Lucy felt so much better now, she wished she'd just told Rachel about it in the first place.
"Rachel"
"Yes love"
"Can we still have that chocolate brownie pudding?"
"Yes" Rachel said laughing
When they got back in Rachel got on with tea because she knew the girls would all be really hungry by now. Once it was ready she called the girls though.
She noticed that Amy was being quite quiet all through tea but she didn't make a big deal of it because she knew this would only embarrass her.
After they'd finished their spaghetti bolognaise Rachel stacked their plates in the dishwasher before getting the chocolate brownie pudding out of the oven.
"Go and get ready for school tomorrow girls and then we can sit down and watch some TV or something, Lucy can you go and get your spellings love so we can go over them?"
The girls all went up to their rooms and did as Rachel said.
Lucy was about to go back down to do her spellings with Rachel when she realised she was actually quite desperate for the loo so she quickly ran into the main bathroom.
However when she did Amy had just got undressed ready to get in the shower so felt really embarrassed when she saw her little sister there.
"What the hell are you doing in here get out" Amy screamed
"Sorry" Lucy said before turning around and going back out again tears filling her eyes
She went back to her bedroom and picked up her spelling book before going downstairs.
"Rachel Amy shouted at me" Lucy said with tears rolling down her face
"Oh dear not the tears again, don't you think you've done enough crying for one night" Rachel said gently
She picked the little girl up and sat down with her on her knee
"So why did Amy shout at you then?"
"Because I went into the bathroom because I needed a wee but when I got in there Amy was getting into the shower but I didn't realise she was in there"
"Oh love I'm sure Amy didn't mean to shout she was probably just a bit shocked to see you standing there"
Rachel cuddled Lucy until she was feeling a bit better however then Rachel noticed that Lucy was wriggling about quite a bit on her lap.
"Do you still need the loo love?"
Lucy nodded before getting up off Rachel's lap and going to the downstairs toilet before coming back into the lounge.
"Right then let's go through these spellings quickly, I've got you some paper and a pen"
Lucy knelt down at the coffee table so Rachel opened up her spellings book.
"Rachel how come Amy got angry with me for walking in on her when everyone always walks in on me when I'm in the bath but I don't mind"
"Because Amy's at that age now where her bodies starting to change lots so it makes you feel self-conscious"
"What does self-conscious mean?"
"It means you worry about what people think, anyway let's get on with these spellings. The first one is boat"
After about fifteen minutes Rachel and Lucy had gone over the spellings and Amy and Poppy had come down so Rachel put on a film on Netflix.
Rachel sighed when she saw Amy was on her ipad but she decided to let her go on it for a bit, but she didn't want her to stay on for the whole time because it seemed as though she was on it all the time at the minute.
Suddenly Amy stood up causing Rachel to turn around. Amy rushed out of the lounge and up to her room hoping that Rachel hadn't seen the tears that were forming in her eyes.
Rachel wondered what was wrong with Amy but realised she needed to have a chat with her but gave her a couple of minutes first.
"Rachel I think Amy was crying"
"I know she was, I'll go up and see her in a minute"
Rachel left it for five minutes before going up to Amy's bedroom. She found her on her bed sobbing into her pillow.
Rachel went over and sat down on the bed next to Amy and started rubbing her back.
When Amy realised Rachel was sat there she sat up and immediately leant into Rachel so Rachel wrapped her arms around her.
Rachel comforted her while she continued to cry.
"Amy what's happened love?"
"Nothing you'll just think I'm just being stupid"
"I very much doubt it, try me"
"You won't understand"
"Won't I?" Rachel said laughing "you know I was your age once upon a time so I probably have some idea of how you're feeling"
Amy sighed realising she was going to have to tell Rachel or she wouldn't go away.
"All of my friends hate me" Amy blurted out before bursting into tears again
"I'm sure they don't, why on earth would your friends hate you?"
"Because they all think I'm trying to take Beth's boyfriend"
"Why do they think that?"
"Apparently I'm always talking to him at school and they said I keep flirting with him" Amy said her cheeks blushing a little bit
"Are you?"
"No I've always been really good friends with Joe but I don't even want him to be my boyfriend because I…" Amy said but then she tailed off at the end
"Because you?"
"Because I like Josh" Amy said looking away from Rachel's gaze
"Ah I see"
"But you can't tell anyone"
"I'm hardly going to tell anyone am I?" Rachel said but Amy just shrugged
"Well I'm not, and I wouldn't get yourself worked up about your friends just ignore them, they're obviously just being silly and it will all be forgotten about soon"
Amy just nodded. She was still feeling really upset over it but she was feeling really uncomfortable talking to Rachel about it and just wanted the conversation to be over.
"Okay"
"Are you okay now, do you want to come back downstairs?"
Amy nodded so the two of them went back down into the lounge.
Rachel sat with the girls for another fifteen minutes however then she saw the time so realised she needed to get Lucy into the bath and into bed.
"I'm going to go up and run your bath Lucy, I'll call you when it's ready"
"Okay" Lucy replied
Rachel went upstairs and started running a bath for Lucy before cleaning up a bit upstairs.
She got a bit carried away and forgot about the bath so when she finally remembered it was way too hot for Lucy.
Rachel sighed before turning the cold tap on.
Once it was ready she called Lucy up.
Lucy came into the bathroom and started getting undressed.
"Why's the bath so deep?"
"Because I made it too hot so then I had to add lots of cold" Rachel explained
Rachel was feeling quite tired after a busy day so just wanted to get into the bath herself really.
"I wish I could get in the bath now"
"Why don't you come in with me then?"
Rachel laughed before saying "I don't think we'd both fit"
"Yes we would"
"That's a very nice offer but I think I'll just wait until later"
Once Lucy had had her bath Rachel got her out and ready for bed.
"Brush your teeth and go for a wee, I'll wait for you in here"
Lucy went into the bathroom and returned a few minutes later.
Rachel got out the book she was reading to Lucy at the minute and read her a chapter.
After that Rachel turned off the lamp. She sat with Lucy for a few more minutes before leaving her to go to sleep.
"Night darling, see you in the morning"
"Night Rachel love you"
"Love you too"
Rachel went out and checked on Amy and Poppy.
They both seemed fine so Rachel decided to run a bath for herself because she really fancied having one now.
Once Rachel had had her bath she got into her pyjamas before going down and sitting with Amy and Poppy for another hour.
Rachel sent Amy up to bed at 9 and then stopped down with Poppy for another hour but the two of them both went to bed after that because they were feeling quite tired.
Amy heard Rachel and Poppy come up but she still hadn't been able to get to sleep yet.
She had too much on her mind and she was dreading going into school tomorrow.
After lying there for another hour and still not being able to get to sleep she decided to go in and see Rachel.
She was hoping she'd still be awake reading her book or something however when she got in there Rachel was fast asleep.
Amy felt bad waking her but she really needed a cuddle from Rachel so she went and stood next to her and tried to wake her up.
It took a while but eventually Rachel stirred.
"Amy, is everything okay love?"
"Please can I come in for a cuddle?"
"Of course you can" Rachel said before throwing the covers back so that Amy could get in
Amy climbed in next to Rachel and snuggled into her.
"Rachel I really don't want to go to school tomorrow" Amy said after she'd been laid there for a few minutes
"Why not?" Rachel asked stroking Amy's hair
"Because I can't stick another day of being on my own at lunchtime and break time and people talking about me behind my back"
"Oh Amy I had no idea it was that bad when we were talking earlier"
"It is" Amy said quietly
"Well I'll help you to sort it out tomorrow then"
"No please don't make me go in tomorrow"
"Hiding away from the problem never solves anything does it, hmm?"
"No but please let me have one day off"
"I'm afraid I can't have you skip school for no good reason Amy. If you tell me who's doing it I'll have a word with them tomorrow"
"No you can't do that just because you're kind of like my Mum now"
"Yes I can, I'd do it if it were any other pupil that had come to me" Rachel said, it was true the amount of times she'd had to sort out bitchiness between girls at school
"What if it makes it worse?"
"I don't think it will, I'll just tell them what you've told me and I'm sure everything will be back to normal in no time"
"Okay" Amy said she was still feeling quite worried about tomorrow however she was feeling better knowing that Rachel was going to try and sort it out for her.
"Seriously sweetheart you've got nothing to worry about now, who is it that's doing it all?"
"It's Beth, Maddie and Georgia mainly"
"Okay, I know girls can be really mean sometimes especially when you're at your sort of age"
"I don't understand why they have to be horrible"
"I can remember when I was at secondary school there used to be some real nasty girls in my year and I could never understand why they behaved the way they did, but once they'd grown up a bit they turned out to be quite nice girls"
"But why do they have to do and say things just to upset other people?"
"I don't know darling, I wish I knew but I don't"
After talking for a bit longer Amy was feeling quite a bit better so Rachel went back into Amy's room with her.
Rachel tucked Amy back up in bed before leaving her to go back to sleep.
On her way back to bed she stuck her head around Lucy's bedroom door just to check on her.
She smiled when she could hear her in there sleep talking, not that she could make out what she was saying. She could tell she was quite relaxed though and wasn't having a bad dream or anything.
Rachel went back to bed and quickly fell asleep.
It felt like she had only just closed her eyes when her alarm went off the next morning.
Rachel sighed before getting straight out of bed and into the shower.
The morning was a bit of a rush just like usual but eventually they all got to school ready to start another day.
Once the bell had gone for registration Rachel made her way down to Amy's tutor group deciding it was best to speak to Beth, Maddie and Georgia straight away knowing that Amy would be worrying about it otherwise.
She got the three of them out of registration and took them up to her office.
Rachel wasn't too harsh on them but she did make them realise that they were being too harsh on Amy.
Once she'd spoken to the three of them she went down and brought Amy up too where the four of them made up.
When Rachel looked out of her window at break time she was pleased to see Amy with her friends smiling and laughing.
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