Born to Fly - Part 23
Nikki exited the PRU and efficiently checked that she had locked the door. She paced the vacant corridors with an assertive march and navigated her way towards Christine's office, perplexed with who her visitor could be.
"Sonya?" An inquisitive smile graced her features as she entered the secretary's sanction and subconsciously tucked her hands into her pockets of her smart jeans.
"Nikki!" The younger brunette beamed, "It's this young lady over here." She pointed in the direction of the teenaged girl that was perched anxiously on one of the chairs lined along the back wall.
The teacher nodded simply, although she remained bemused to who this girl was and why she wanted to specifically speak to her. She was nothing special, just another ordinary teacher. She didn't recognise the girl and she identified that she wasn't a student at the school judging by the fact she sported a casual attire rather than a compulsory uniform. "Hi, are you new?"
The girl nervously regained her equilibrium and flashed a small smile, fingers interlaced and twisting together, "Uhm, not really. Well, sorta..." She paused momentarily, lost in a daydream that she was actually speaking to her mother, "It's me...it's-" she faltered faintly and sucked in a sharp breath, "it's Eve."
Her entire frame trembled with shudders as she shakily stepped back before freezing to the spot. The colour briskly drained from Nikki's face; a shade of ghostly white replaced her usual perky complexion. Breath accumulated in the back of her throat, she choked on her words. Her lips parted but she couldn't stutter a single word. The dominant feeling of shock had temporarily paralysed her body.
"What?" She uttered with a gasp, a barely audible whisper as she tried to control her jittery heart beat and grant her starved lungs oxygen, "It can't be-" a hand raked through her sleek bob, "you..your not supposed to know about me." Her feet were retreating towards the door hastily. "What are you doing here?"
"I've come to be with you." Eve clarified quietly, "Dad's away on business - again. I hate him, he can stay abroad and never come back, for all I care. He told me you were dead! For seventeen years, I've believed that my own mother was dead when actually she's alive and healthy! Gran told me; she's really not well and wanted me to know. I deserve to know." She edged closer to her mother cautiously.
"No," The former army captain murmured beneath her breath, "this can't be happening." She scrunched azure orbs shut, masking the pure fear, repulsion and misery that glimmered innocently. Her eyes fluttered open and she departed in a dash, sprinting through the corridors. Lorraine and Hector attempted to stop her but she kept running. She left her daughter screeching 'Mum!' in a fluster. Outside, by the school gates, she halted to catch her breath. Her head was a jumble; a chaotic clutter of thoughts. And a car was zooming towards the school.
Christine emerged from her office, irritated that her peace had been interrupted while she tried to complete mounting paperwork, "What's going on out here?" She demanded, eyes flickering from her secretory and the girl who had snatched her attention with her shouting, "And who an earth are you?"
The teen pirouetted round sharply, "Eve."
"She's Nikki's daughter!" Sonya blurted out in additional before had hand shot to her mouth as she realised she had forgotten Christine and Nikki's personal relationship. Well done, Son, you have well and truly put your foot in it this time.
"Right, okay." The headmistress nodded as she digested the information and racked her brains to remember the conversation with her wife regarding Eve, and what the agreement had been. She peered round the door to the corridor, glancing both ways. But there was no sign of her partner, "Okay, Eve. Are you here to enrol?"
Eve twitched her shoulders in the approximation of a shrug, "I don't get it? I thought Mum would be happy to see me! Dad stopped us from seeing each other - I hate him so much! He has ruined our lives! I need to find her." Her fingers curled into first as she vaulted towards the mechanised door.
"No, wait." The blonde darted in front of the seventeen-year-old, "Give her some time to let all this sink in. It's a big thing, you know. You haven't seen one another in what? About seventeen years?" As the girl nodded, Christine continued, "It's bound to be quite a shock, don't you think? Come into my office. I've got a good pair of ears if you want to talk, or rant." She guided the girl into her office and gestured for her to sit down before requesting two teas from Sonya.