A/N: Thank you again for your lovely reviews and to anyone that read. I have no idea where this story is going, I've just got quite a few ideas that I'm gonna throw into this story, hope I can link them and hope that they work! If you have time, I'd love to know what you think. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy this part! xx
Dreamer - it's okay to think that ;) I want something bad to happen to Gabriella too ;) maybe it will, maybe it won't ;) maybe something bad will happen to someone else ;) I haven't decided yet xD
~Mini Peacelet~
Born To Fly - Part 15
Nikki's face was still concealed by her hands. Slender fingers rubbing her throbbing temples in a feeble attempt to reduce the dull, tedious ache. Her features were kindled with regret. She continued to reminiscence the events from less than a quarter of an hour ago with Gabriella. And the more she thought about it, the more the wretched remorse multiplied.
How could she have been so obtuse? Irrational and gullible. She should never have even contemplated handing the wealthy adolescent that cash. Yet, at the same time, she wasn't amenable to confide in her wild and irresponsible actions.
There was a tiny part of her that trembled with fear. She didn't trust Gabby. Or whoever her supplier was she was helping and protecting. She suspected Barry Barry. That was controlling her. And that was maintaining her silence.
She quickly began thinking of lies. Convincible dishonesty. The brunette comprehended that she would be totally useless at masking her apprehension - especially with this being rather serious, or at least that was how she considered it - so decided to blame other things for her forlorn distress.
Her clenched fist collided with her desk potently, generated a loud thud. An abrupt release of cumulating anger and rage. That spur of the moment judgement was definitely going to haunt her for some time.
The English teacher only snapped out of her intense trance when she heard someone banging on her classroom door. Christine. She jumped to her feet and darted across the classroom, flicking the lock on the door and tugging the door open. "Christine?" She attempted to maintain a calm and composed manner but there were still obvious hints of jitteriness.
The headmistress smiled kindly, "Hi, why's the door locked?" She inquired perplexedly, stepping into the room out of the way of the clusters of teens that reverberated the walls of the school.
"Yeah, uh..the lock, it's dodgy. Sorry. It's been playing up for a while. It must be bust." Nikki mumbled and jerked her shoulders, cursing mutedly for faltering over her words. She needed to sound convincing.
"Are you okay?" Compassion laced the blonde's tone, "It's unlike you not to be in the staffroom with a cuppa." She added a chuckle to the end and studied her wife intently.
The former army captain's lips twitched into a positive curve, a short spurt of muffled laughter escaping her lips, "Uh...I've had a busy morning. Pretty horrendous actually." She shrugged futilely and fiddled with her fingers anxiously, "My head's splitting, I just, uh, wanted some peace and quiet for an hour." She dropped back onto the chair behind her desk.
Christine nodded, an expression of sympathy refining her features, "Well, I bought you some fruit; exotic, of course." She deposited the packet of mango, pineapple, mellon and papaya onto the desk with a fork, "Who's been bothering you this morning? Maybe an afternoon in the cooler wouldn't do them any harm. Or I can find someone to cover the PRU this afternoon if you'd rather go home..."
"No." She cut her off sharply, "No. It's fine. I'll be fine. There's no need for any of that. It's nothing I couldn't handle." She clarified firmly, "Just the usual, Gabriella, Kacey, Rhiannon and Darren not wanting to do their work." She forced a fake smile and glanced up at her boss.
Her lover nodded with a friendly smile and perched on the edge of the desk, "Sorry I couldn't come sooner, I got caught up in a meeting with Lorraine. It over ran considerably."
Nikki frowned slightly. A mystified frown. "Lorraine? As in Lorraine Donnegan?" She stifled another blunt laugh.
The head teacher nodded, "Yes, Lorraine Donnegan." She verified and continued to elaborate on the former benefactress's reasons for her presence. Neither had seen her since their holiday in the Bahamas.
"As you are aware, the council are aiming to close down Waterloo Road and merge it with Havelock high?" She paused as the brunette gave a subtle nod, "Well, Lorraine has returned to re-obtain her role as benefactress and fund the school, so that way the council won't be able to shut us down."
The younger woman nodded again, running her tongue roughly over her lips momentarily, "The kids, they need this school. We can't let the council close us down."
"Exactly," Christine nodded, "Which is why this is the best option. You are okay with Lorraine coming back aren't you?" She endeavoured tentatively with knowing the history between her wife and the multi-millionaire.
"Yeah." She shrugged, "It's what's best for the school, isn't it?"
The blonde nodded, "Yeah. Anyway, I'll leave you in peace before your class return. Don't get too stressed, you know it's not good for you know what. And I'll see you when school finishes." She smiled as she regained her equilibrium and strode across to the door.
"I won't." The teacher promised, "And thanks for this." She gestured to the packet of fruit, tearing the plastic film carefully and grasping the fork. She wasn't hungry, her stomach was still doing somersaults. But she knew she had to eat; if not for her own sake, for the baby.
Thankfully, the afternoon went significantly smoother than the morning. All the students behaved themselves and got on with their work as instructed in moderate silence. The brunette loathed being trapped inside a classroom with Gabriella Wark, earlier events playing constantly on her mind. She realised that come Monday, after the weekend, she would have to approach the PE teacher and somehow arrange for him to meet the affluent adolescent.
The end of day bell chimed and the teenagers scraped their chairs against the carpet and clinked the legs against the metal legs of the table and filed out with their stuff, the chatter already starting to build. "Remember that your essays are due in on Monday, no excuses." She prompted firmly.
Nikki grabbed her handbag and jacket before flicking the light switches, exiting and locking the door to the PRU. Her sturdy heels clanked against the tacky, linoleum floor as she paced the corridors. The school was rapidly emptying as the adolescents filtered out the doors and across the playground.
The English teacher was heading for her wife's office when she halted abruptly, a commotion capturing her attention. A bunch of students had gathered at the bottom of the stairs, a couple of teachers amongst them, and were surrounding one particular teen who was laid on the floor, unconscious.
Squinting, she deciphered the kid to be Lenny Brown. Her attention was then diverted to Kacey forcefully dragging Gabriella up the stairs. Nikki shot into a vacant classroom, out of site and listened.
"Did you sell Lenny some of them dodgy shots?" The youngest Barry hissed, prodding the blonde harshly in the chest with her index finger.
"I don't know what you are talking about." Gabby stated matter-of-factly, expression holding no answers.
"You did didn't ya! How could you! Now look what you've done." She spat, briefly glancing to see if Lenny had regained consciousness.
"Look," The wealthy teen started, "I wouldn't say anything if I were you because I'll only blame Barry. And with what I know, I have enough knowledge that can get Barry to go down. You wouldn't want that would you? It might mean that your Mum would actually have to get a job. Either that, or I guess Dynasty could go work in one of them sleazy clubs." She shrugged.
Kacey went to smack the blonde around the face but a teacher had intervened, instructing them to go home before they got into anymore trouble.
Nikki emerged cautiously from the classroom. She could see that Christine was with Lenny. Knowing that she was hopeless at lying convincingly when under pressure, she silently walked down the corridor and paced down the other staircase and departed the school. When she was out of the school grounds, she broke into a hasty jog that soon quickened into a run and headed in the direction of the beach.