Chapter nine everybody. I would like to thank Ms. Adventure, for her lovely review to the last chapter, and her reassurances that I needn't have apologised so much, so thank you, it made me feel a lot better. That was very kind of you. I want to thank everyone who has been following my story and reviewing. You're all very kind. I would also like to thank everyone who has added my story to their favourite's list and/or alerts. It makes me smile, so thank you. With all that said, I would just like you remind you that I do not own St Trinian's, but I'm sure you all know that, and I hope you like chapter nine.
Annabelle and Kelly sprang apart when they heard a knock at the door, although they had only been hugging, Annabelle's cheeks reddened and Kelly applied her trademark look before calling for the intruder to enter. Annabelle lowered her head and allowed her hair to fall across her face, hiding her rouge cheeks, as she picked at a loose thread on her skirt. The twins opened the door and walked to Kelly. Nobody said a word, what was there to say? Although Tania and Tara hadn't seen Carnaby hit Annabelle, they had been witnesses to him dragging her to the car and forcing her in, they had heard Annabelle's screams of protest and distress. Silently they handed Kelly Carnaby's car and house keys, his wallet, phone and the key to the room they had locked him in, which Kelly promptly placed to one side on the bed. With a nod of thanks from her, the two turned and left the room, each gently placing a hand on Annabelle's shoulder as they walked past her. When Kelly and Annabelle were once alone again there was a silence between them. Each girl dealing with her own thoughts, before Kelly turned and asked Annabelle the question that had been edging its way to the front of her mind.
"Annabelle, if he beat your mum, then why did you look up to him? Why did you admire him so much? I just don't get it."
"Well, he never hurt me, I thought he had changed. I genuinely thought he was different, and I think that it was that that I admired, that someone could see their faults and change them without anyone saying so. I mean, obviously there were times that we got into arguments, that we didn't see eye to eye, and he looked at me, for one split second, as if he was going to, but he never did. Well, not until today that is."
"Oh, I see. So, we have him secure, do you want to go and face him again?"
"No, i gave him the choice, he made his decision, and he lost; game over. I don't want to see him."
"Okay, well, just so you know, I'm not letting it go so easily. I have a few words I think he needs to hear. But no rush. I think we'll leave him to sweat for a while." Kelly had a devilish smirk on her face and an evil glint in her eye; she reckoned that Miss Fritton would also have a couple of words of her own for the man. "Just for my own peace of mind Annabelle, is this what's been wrong with you the last couple of weeks, is he who was on the phone to you the other day?"
"Yeah, sorry I didn't tell you sooner, I just thought it was empty threats, Y'know?"
"Yeah I know. But next time Annabelle, please, tell me sooner?"
Annabelle gave out a soft giggle before nodding in agreement. The girls both went back to their own thoughts and after five minutes, Kelly noticed that Annabelle looked on the verge of tears. The girl who had been laughing just moments before looked as though she were about to break down and cry. Reaching out for Annabelle's hand, Kelly covered it with her own two.
"Hey, don't look so glum. What's up?"
"You remember the other day? And i… well, I slapped you?"
Wincing at the memory Kelly nodded her agreement; she remembered that moment very well, a little too well.
"Well, I just realised, I'm my dad, but in a like, younger female form. I'm my father in miniature!" Annabelle looked positively terrified about this; the dawning realisation that she had acted just like her father. When she got angry at Kelly, she had lashed out at her; she had harmed her, just like her father had done with her mother, and now, her.
"No you are not. Don't be stupid Annabelle. Firstly, I had deserved it, what I did was inexcusable, and I needed a good wakeup call, your father does it for no good reason and also a lot harder then you did. Secondly, it's not like you slapped me and then proceeded to drag me across the hall, whereas he, being the bastard that he is, decided that he didn't mind dragging you anywhere. Thirdly, you are genuinely sorry about what you did, and I doubt he gives a rat's ass about his actions, his history proves that, and fourthly, you are a lot better looking then he is, there is no way you are a miniature Carnaby with those looks. So shut up and wipe those silly thoughts from your mind before I ask Polly to come and examine your head."
Annabelle giggled slightly in a nervous sort of way and blushed at Kelly's fourth point. The girl sure knew how to raise Annabelle's spirits in a weird, flirtatious sort of way, but that's just how their friendship was, flirtatious. Kelly stood up off the bed and turned to face the younger girl, smiling at the glow of her cheeks, she enjoyed making Annabelle squirm and loved watching as the girl tried to come back with an equally witty and sexual comment, she was getting better at it, but sometimes Kelly still managed to stump the girl. Apparently this was one of those times.
"Okay, I'm going to go and deal with daddy dearest."
"Kelly, be careful, and don't be long, or I'll worry."
"Jesus Christ Annabelle, we're not married!" but all the same, Kelly let out a soft laugh and picked up the possessions and key of the bed. Making her way to the door she heard Annabelle shift on the bed, stretching herself out across it, and for a brief moment, she longed to be beside her, to lie beside Annabelle on the big bed, but she cleared the thought from her head with one quick shake. As she pulled open the door she looked over her shoulder at Annabelle, who had now made herself quite at home, and winked at the younger girl. "Don't wait up for me love."
Smiling, Annabelle cocked her head to one side and played with a strand of her hair. "If you say so honey."
Laughing lightly to herself Kelly moved out into the hall and closed the door softly behind her. It didn't take her long to get to Miss Fritton's office, and stopping just before she got to the headmistresses door, she opened Carnaby's wallet and withdrew all the notes inside, quickly tucking them into her bra, fully intending to give them to Annabelle later. It was quite a wad of cash, on a brief glance, Kelly guessed at possibly £300-£400 in total, and she knew if she hadn't taken the money then Camilla would have, and no matter how much the woman loved her niece, Annabelle would have barely seen £100 of it. It wasn't Camilla being selfish, it was more along the lines of, the woman acted under finder's keepers sort of rules. Kelly just wanted to be sure Annabelle got what little compensation she could from her father. Closing the wallet once more, Kelly made the final few steps to the headmistress's door and knocked smartly on the wood. Hearing the woman's call of 'enter' she opened the door with her free hand and strode into the room, dumping Carnaby's keys, phone and wallet onto the desk, but holding onto the key for the room he was in.
"I was just about to go and have a word with our little guest and wondered if you cared to join me?"
Miss Fritton looked slightly bemused at this, she could hear the complete loathing and hatred in Kelly's voice when she spoke about Carnaby, none of the girls were around and she didn't have to hold up any pretence, being as open minded as she wanted. Anger flashed in the head girls eyes and Miss Fritton wondered how much of her anger had to do with what Carnaby had done, and how much had to do with that it was Annabelle he had done it to. Miss Fritton was one of the only people that could see through Kelly's façade. Possibly because Miss Fritton was one of the people Kelly let her guard down around, however more recently, she found that she was letting Annabelle in more and more. Who knew? The two Fritton's of the school would be the two people Kelly felt comfortable enough around to be her normal self.
"It would be my pleasure to accompany you Miss Jones. A verbal castration is just what that man needs."
"No, what that man needs is to get his head out of his own ass. That, or a good, swift kick."
"Now, now, Miss Jones. We don't want to stoop to his level. Where is Annabelle?"
"She is in my room, Miss." as the two left the office, Kelly once again put on her formalities, purely for the sake of the girls, Kelly had taught them to respect Miss Fritton, do what they like with the other teachers, but show respect to their batty headmistress who owns the school of anarchy and mayhem. She had always told the girls that Miss Fritton chose to keep the school open, it wasn't forced upon her, she chose to accept the girls that no other school would, she didn't have to accept them, she chose to allow the girls to run the school, she didn't have to let them. And for that, she told the girls that they must show their headmistress a certain amount of respect, and one way of enforcing this was that she too showed the woman respect.
"Oh dear. She hasn't locked herself away again has she? I say, that girl is a little too hot headed at times. Her mother was the most patient woman in the world. No, she definitely gets her feisty temper from the Fritton blood line. I see a lot of myself in her, when I was her age. Ahh, to want of a better time."
"No Miss, I think she just needs some time alone. Umm, Miss? Do you know what room Carnaby is in? The twins forgot to say."
"Hmm? Yes, incidentally, I do. He is locked in the religious studies room."
The two walked in silence from this point, Head Teacher and Head Girl, each musing at their own thoughts. When they reached the particular room Miss Fritton gestured for Kelly to head forwards and unlock the door. Kelly knew that Miss Fritton was peeking in the man's wallet behind her back and let a small smirk out at the barley audible sigh of disappointment. The headmistress had gathered Carnaby's belongings off the desk before they had left the room and had, apparently, been waiting for the right moment to take a look. After Kelly had twisted the key in the lock, she paused, allowing her hand to slip from the handle, not quite ready to open the door. She turned around and faced Miss Fritton, ridding all traces of the previous smirk from her face.
"Could I have his phone for a second Miss?"
Nodding, the headmistress handed Kelly over the phone, not questioning the girl's motives. Kelly quickly unlocked the phone and proceeded to go through his contacts, deleting Annabelle's number. She then went through his call log and text messages, repeating the process. Once she was fairly certain that there was no longer any trace of Annabelle's number on the phone, she handed it back to Miss Fritton. She knew it wouldn't completely prevent him from contacting his daughter and she knew it wouldn't be long until he managed to get hold of her number one way or another, but it would be a set back. Meaning Annabelle would get at least a week of peace from her father and it would give them enough time to get her a new sim and number. Nodding once at Miss Fritton and receiving a nod in return, Kelly turned back around and opened the door. The girls had done a good job. Carnaby Fritton was tied to a chair in the middle of the room. All the other chairs and tables had been pushed back against the walls. The blinds had been pulled leaving the room in a dim and bleak atmosphere and they had even gone as far as to point the CCTV camera, which was in his line of vision, right at him, and leave him a lovely message on the chalk board, the white of the chalk shining through the darkness. 'We're watching you.'
Smiling at the effort the girls had gone to, to put him out of his comfort zone, Kelly strode confidently into the room, Miss Fritton hot on her heels. Carnaby was awake; Kelly could hear his breathing change as he heard footsteps enter the room, shallower, like he was panicking. Smiling to herself she let Miss Fritton close the door as she moved around him towards the windows, lifting the blinds, one at a time, allowing sunlight to stream into the room. The adjustment of the light made Carnaby blink a few times and cause him to squint to see who had entered the room. As his eyes adjusted he saw his sister, Camilla Fritton, standing behind a girl he didn't know. Why the girl was here, he had no idea, he suspected she was a friend of his daughters, but he could tell nothing from her cold, heartless stare. Kelly took a step forward, using intimidation and his lack of ability to move to her advantage.
"I'm going to keep this simple. Contact Annabelle again, and we will kill you. Lay a hand on Annabelle again, and we will kill you. Return to St Trinian's, and we will kill you." Kelly was now walking rings round him, she wasn't even looking at him, because looking at him made her want to throttle him, and she refused to sink to his level. "Trust me when I say, this is not the worst we can do, our wrath does not end at ink guns and paint bombs. So unless you want us to whip out the high explosives and shot guns, I suggest you do as we say."
"I want to see Annabelle. Bring her here at once." Carnaby may have put on a brave face but his eyes flashed with fear when Kelly finished her last lap around him and stopped dead in front of him, staring at him with a kind of menace.
"She does not wish to see you. If she did then don't you think that she would be here instead of me? Like I was saying Mr Fritton, you will be escorted from this building, and should you decide to return than I suggest that you don't, for your sake, not ours. We will not hesitate the second time round, we will not be so kind the second time round. And Mr Fritton, just so you know, if you do choose to return, we promise, you will not even make it past the gates." With her last word Kelly turned on her heel and strode back to Miss Fritton, giving her a slight nod to indicate she was done and that the woman could proceed.
"Carnaby, I do hate to do this, but I must agree with the girls on this one, it would be unwise for you to return to our school. There will be no need for you to collect Annabelle next Friday for the half term; I will make other arrangements for her. How anyone let you be a father I'll never know, and why nobody took her away from her sooner is beyond me. You do not deserve her Carnaby. Parenthood is a privilege, not a right."
"Well I will not be paying for her education here, a school of psychos and sluts, and I will not be held accountable for my daughter turning into one. Good luck and good riddance I say, to her and to the lot of you!"
"You're an ignorant shit Carnaby Fritton and I will be glad to see the back of you." Camilla roughly undid the ties that bound her brother to the chair and thrust his belongings at him, the quick change of events took him off guard but he went along with it, figuring that resisting would just land him in another dark room, tied up like a hostage. Kelly led the way out of the door and with a narrowed look from Camilla he followed, her bringing up the rear. They walked like this his car, where they watched him get in and start up the engine. Talking into the com still in her ear Kelly told the girls to leave the goodbye attack and just let him go, getting a conformation from Polly via text when he was out of the grounds. Kelly let out a breath of relief, she knew she would need to talk to Polly later on about possibly getting a tracker on him at some point, but for now she said a parting goodbye and headed back to her room to see how Annabelle was holding up. On her way she passed Celia, oddly noticing the girl had cloth wrapped round her hands, Kelly stopped her to question her about it.
"Celia, what happened to your hands?"
"Oh, splinters, I got lots of splinters in my hands and they had to be pulled out. It hurt quite a bit and my hands bled. So I wrapped them in cloth. That's what you're meant to do right?"
"Well yeah, but why did you have splinters in your hands?"
"Oh, I was the one throwing the chairs out of the window."
Kelly let a smirk cross her lips, the Trustifarian never ceased to amaze her, and carried on up the stairs. She remembered how everyone had banded together to pull off the heist, and now with Annabelle, although they were all different and separate, and they all argued and got on each others nerves, when it really came down to it, they were a family, and would do anything to protect each other. When Kelly reached her room she opened the door and walked in, stopping dead when she noticed the figure on the bed, Annabelle really had taken her words and not waited up for her. The girl was sound asleep, masses of curls sprawled across the pillow, lips curled upwards in a smile of contentment; it took Kelly's breath away. She quietly closed the door and leaned her back against it, tilting her head to one side and watching the sound sleeper.
Everybody now! 'Awwwww!' reviews make me smile a lot like an idiot, so please review . let me know if you liked it or if you didn't, what you thought was good or bad, anything that could help me improve. And I, in turn, will write chapter ten for you. Thank you everyone for reading, I hope you enjoyed it.