Alice ran home, she opened the front door and crept inside.
"Who's there?" a slurred voice asked.
"Just me dad, it's Alice." she shouted. Shit he was awake. She was hoping he'd be asleep. She knew not to ignore him. The last time she'd did that he went mad at her shouting in her face.
"Oh it's just you!" he said in a bored voice.
"Yep just me." she echoed.
"Where you bin all day anyway?" he asked.
"School dad!" she said. She dropped her bag by the front door and took her blazer off, she hung it on the coat rack.
She walked into the kitchen and saw a pile of dishes. She best get started he wasn't going to do it. She piled them into the sink and squirted washing up liquid in the sink. It soon began to fill with warm water and suds.
"Why you bother goin there?" he asked. "You'll never amount to anything anyway!" he said meanly.
The words meant nothing to Alice, she heard this more often since her mother died 18 months ago. They used to upset her at first but now they didn't bother her. They'd lost the ability to hurt her long ago.
"Yeah whatever dad!" she murmured.
He walked over and grabbed her by the neck of her shirt. "Don't answer me back in that tone girl!" he snarled. His putrid breath washed over her.
"Ok dad sorry!" she said. This worried her, this was the first time he'd ever went to hit her. He released her and pushed her away. With nothing to grab onto to steady herself she went down and hit her head off the corner of the bench. Her dad walked out of the kitchen and didn't look back. One day she was kill him in his sleep, she vowed. He was a bastard and she hated him! Blood trickled down her forehead. She got up and walked to a cupboard for a clean tea towel. Her father hadn't always been like this! When her mother had been alive he'd been a good dad. He knew he resented being stuck looking after her by himself! He'd lost it when her mother had died and unfortunately she was left to bear the brunt of his anger. He'd never went to hit her though. The first time he laid a hand on her she was leaving. She wasn't putting up with that! She dabbed her head with the tea towel and winced. Luckily the cut was in her hair, it should hide it. She didn't want to try and explain it to anyone.
Once her head had stopped bleeding she gathered the dirty clothes and put the washer on. She had to do it. If she wanted clean stuff for school. God she hated her life, she felt a little depressed at the moment. She wished she could go home! She missed Glasgow. She walked into her room and looked at the unpacked boxes. Maybe she 'd feel better if she unpacked her stuff. She sat on her bed and opened the first box, a picture of her mother smiled at her from above her folded quilt covers. She picked it up and caressed her mothers face. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her voice. After a minute she could. It worried her she had to think about it now. Tears filled her eyes and trickled down her cheeks one by one. "Oh mum why did you leave me? I loved you so much and I begged you to stay and you still left me!" she whispered. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. "I still love you mum, I miss you more everyday!" she told the picture. She placed the photograph under her pillow. Her dad didn't like having the stuff on show. He was fine when he was sober but when he was drunk he turned nasty! She hid a box full of her mothers jewellery and pictures and perfume under her bed. This picture, her favourite picture stayed under her pillow. She unpacked the rest of her boxes quickly then decided to make a start on her codes of conduct. She sat at her wooden desk and set to work. Her thoughts strayed to Danny. He was so cute! She thought. His green eyes twinkled with natural good humour. His grin god it almost stopped her heart! She liked him but that was all. There was no way she was getting close to him. But she could have a good time with him and of course she could wind up Sarah with him, that's a definite bonus.
Alice had fell asleep on her desk. No one cared enough to come and check on her to tell her to go to bed. She stretched and moved her aching muscles. They protested the movement. She then jumped in the shower. After her shower she braided her black hair and went into the kitchen. She placed a slice of bread in the toaster. Her dad sat at the kitchen table.
"Look Alice about last night…your head…" his voice trailed off.
"Dad I don't really wanna talk about it ok!" she said. She still felt like she did last night. She just wasnt happy! "Your gonna have to pick up some shopping today!" she mentioned. This is how her life was she was 15 and having to tell her father to pick up shopping. God what had happened to her childhood?
He handed her her dinner money, "See ya dad." she said.
She grabbed her toast and left.
She walked into her form tutor the next morning. Sarah was in it, but Danny wasn't.
Mrs Hedley came over and smiled kindly.
"Hello you must be Alice, I'm afraid I missed you yesterday!" she said.
"Hello Mrs Hedley." she said softly.
"If you need anything advice, guidance or someone to confide in I'm here ok!" she said.
"Thanks but I'm fine." Alice said. The only chair free was one next to Sarah she walked over and sat down.
Although Mrs Hedley didn't know this girl she knew something was wrong. Her eyes looked dull and lifeless and she looked like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. She looked unhappy, borderline depressed . She was gonna keep an eye on her! She vowed.
Alice didn't want to deal with Sarah today. She just didn't the way she was feeling at the minute she either out her fist in her face or the wall. The first option being preferable! She was about to sit on her chair when Sarah kicked it hoping to see her fall.
"I swear to God Sarah leave me alone or I'm gonna have you!" she said in warning.
"Ooooo I'm scared!" Sarah replied.
"yeah well you should be!" she retorted. "You don't know why I left my old school!" she said and grinned cockily.
Sarah's eyes widened for a second. "Your lying!" she said.
"Go ahead Sarah! Try me!" Alice said.
Sarah quieted but soon after she started muttering to her. Throughout PSE she did that. She was just being stupid. Alice ignored her. She wasn't happy today and didn't want what Sarah was saying to get to her. All she wanted was to be left alone! Sarah unhappy that she hadn't elicited a response from Alice started to get mean. she'd heard her mother tell her father that Alice's mother was dead. She grinned meanly and said loud enough for Alice to hear
"I heard Alice's mother was a whore and ran away with someone. Just up and left!" Sarah said.
It was that comment that Alice finally snapped. She dropped her pen to the table and turned slowly.
The look in her eyes was deadly and she was breathing heavily.
" Oh no you didn't just say that!"
Sarah just grinned meanly.
"What you need me to repeat it?" she asked. "Your mother is a W….." she didn't get to finish her sentence.
She jumped out of her seat and grabbed Sarah's head and pounded it off the table. She then pushed her off her chair onto the floor. She punched her face her nose exploded and blood poured down her face. Alice went to hit her again and Sarah moved her head so she hit the floor, pain streaked through her hand.
"You never talk about my mother in that manner!" Alice yelled. "NEVER!"
She went to hit her again when someone grabbed her from behind and pulled her away.
"Get off me!" she yelled. "I'm gonna kill her! You hear me Sarah I'm gonna get you!" she yelled Alice's arms flailed. She was dragged down to the French block office.
When in the office Mrs Hedley tried to calm her down.
"Calm down Alice!" she said softly.
Alice was pacing too agitated to sit still. She heard Sarah.
"She's a psycho! I didn't do anything!" she complained.
Alice charged towards the door. "Lying Bitch!" she yelled determined for Round 2.
Mrs Hedley stopped her. "Calm down Alice C'mon here's some water." She sat her at a table and chair. Alice sipped the water and felt the anger ebb slowly from her body. She laid her arms on the table and rested her head on her arms still breathing heavily.
"You ok now Alice?" Mrs Hedley asked.
"No!" Alice replied. Her head still on her hands so the reply was muffled.
"Look Alice you've got to try to ignore whoever provokes you! I've seen your test scores from your previous school. Your extremely clever!" she said.
"I don't care Alice said." Still muffled. "I'm gonna get her!" she vowed.
Someone new walked into the room.
"No-one is getting anyone! Do I make myself clear?" she said firmly.
Alice's head shot off the table. "You can't stop me!" After what Sarah said it was the least she deserved.
The teacher looked at her clearly annoyed at being talked back to.
"Go back to your tutor group Mrs Hedley, I'll sort this out!" the other teacher said.
Mrs Hedley patted Alice's hand. "Keep calm!" she murmured and left the room.
A minute after Mrs Hedley left the other teacher said, "I don't believe we've met!"
"Yeah well it's a big world - there's a lot of people I haven't met yet!" she said sarcastically.
The teacher was quickly losing patience. "You've got one minute before I go to the headmaster and recommend he expel you!" she warned.
Alice considered it for a second. She reluctantly said "Alice Collins. I started yesterday!" she said.
"Well it seems we have a trouble maker in our midst. Only your second day and your already fighting!" the teacher said angrily.
"If you think today was good you should see what I've got planned for tomorrow!" Alice said dryly.
"Maybe we should just get rid of you now, save ourselves the trouble later we don't want trouble makers in our school."
Alice hated being labelled anything.
"Yeah well you'll have to get rid of half the school then won't you!" Alice retorted. "Who are you anyway, I don't believe we've met!" she echoed.
"You can cut the cheek! For one. I am Mrs Craig your head of house!" she said. They were both silent for a minute.
"If your waiting for applause you'll be waiting along time!" Alice said.
"Do you realise what your doing, do you realise how close I am to expelling you?" Mrs Craig asked.
"I'm pretty sure you can expel me but me sucking up to you isn't gonna change that. I don't think you will though
A I've only been here 2 days. I think you'll give me a longer chance than that.
B isn't there a procedure you've got to follow, like detentions or something and
C she deserved it after what she said to me!
But even so go ahead expel me to be honest I'm not exactly bothered!"
"We can bypass that stuff after what you just did, you assaulted another pupil you were swearing and offensive. You disrupted not only your own lesson but the neighbouring classrooms too and after what you said to Miss Pinnock yesterday.
Alice frowned.
"yes I heard about that!" she said.
"It was a misunderstanding!" Alice said angrily.
"Have you got her Codes?" she asked.
"You make it sound like I had a choice!" Alice retorted.
Mrs Craig couldn't take anymore sarcasm. "ALICE! Your obviously clever but your doing yourself no favours here!" she said angrily.
Alice opened her mouth to reply but decided against it.
The teacher saw it. "That's the smartest thing you've done all day! You can stay in isolation with me for the rest of the day then your suspended for the rest of the week. When you come back on Monday we'll discuss whether or not to expel you." Mrs Craig said.
"Big Whoop!" Alice muttered.
Well Alice's morning had been eventful. She was now sat in a classroom with the year sevens as Mrs Craig taught them Spanish. They were all sitting quietly completing work. She unfortunately had nothing to do. She'd completed 5 lessons worth of work in 1 hour. She swung on her chair.
Mrs Craig walked over, "Don't you have work to do?" she asked.
"Nope, Done it!" Alice said.
"Well complete the next piece." Mrs Craig replied.
"Done that too!" she retorted. "Along with all the rest too."
"Your supposed to complete it to an acceptable standard." Mrs Craig told her.
Alice was offended. "Read it!" she said and pushed the books towards her.
She saw Mrs Craig's eyes widen.
"Is that acceptable to you?" Alice asked.
"How long it take you to complete this?" Mrs Craig asked.
"That one bout 10 minutes." Alice said.
Mrs Craig was shocked. By the looks of this work Alice was very clever. She decided against telling Mr Zaraga to expel her. She would be keeping an eye on her though. She walked back to her desk and grabbed out a file. It had all the test scores of all the children in her house. She flicked to the C's and checked Alice's. God this child was clever, she averaged 90% in her tests.
She walked back over to her desk.
"I want to speak to you when this lesson is over." Mrs Craig told her. She then walked back to her class.
"Oh god what have I done now?" Alice muttered under her breath.
The bell rang 15 minutes later. Mrs Craig's next lesson was free.
"Come over here please Alice." Mrs Craig said. Alice saw Mr Hedley enter the room too.
"Was there something wrong with my work?" Alice said defensively. Her arms were crossed over her chest.
"No Alice, by the looks of your work your extremely gifted or cheating!" Mrs Craig said.
Mrs Hedley looked at the work. "An hour for all of it!" Mrs Craig said.
"Wow." Mrs Hedley breathed.
"I don't cheat!" Alice said angrily.
"Were you like this in your old school?" Mrs Craig asked.
"You've read my file, you tell me!" Alice said.
"Why do you insist on making trouble for yourself!" Mrs Hedley asked. Her brown eyes radiated with kindness.
Alice didn't look at Mrs Hedley's eyes. They reminded her too much of her mothers. She looked down at her crossed arms.
"No I wasn't. I was their A* pupil. Everyone expected me to do well!" she answered quietly.
"What happened, what's changed?" Mrs Craig asked.
"My mother died when I was 13!" she answered her voice still cracked when she mentioned her mothers death.
"O Alice I'm so sorry about that!" Mrs Craig said softly.
Alice's temper flared. "Why! You didn't know her!" she said angrily.
She saw a look pass over Mrs Hedley's face. "I heard the word mother mentioned about 5 seconds before you lost it. You hit Sarah because she mentioned your mother didn't you?"
Alice kept quiet and kept her eyes glued to the floor.
"If you don't tell us we cant help you!" Mrs Hedley said.
Still Alice stayed quiet,
"Well Alice if you can't give us a reason your suspension still stands!" Mrs Craig said.
"What is this good cop bad cop? If I want anyone's help I'll ask for it ok!" all I want is to be left alone!" Alice yelled. She jumped from her chair. the chair fell over from the force of the movement. Alice paced back and forth.
Both women watched her. "You pace when your angry. Why?" Mrs Hedley asked.
Alice picked her chair up and sat on it. "When I'm angry I get like a burst of unwanted energy. If it's left unresolved it build and manifests itself as cheek among other things." Alice said. "I pace because it releases it."
"So maybe we find a way to deal with your excess energy then we deal with the other stuff." Mrs Craig said.
"I'll sort it for Monday." Mrs Craig said and walked away.
Alice was left alone with Mrs Hedley. "We just want to help you, you've got all this potential. We won't allow it to go to waste."
Alice nodded.
"How'd your mother die?" Mrs Hedley asked.
Alice cleared her throat. "Cancer!" she said softly. She inhaled deeply trying to contain her emotions. "I miss her a lot. Even after 18 months it still upsets me!" she admitted.
"Did Sarah mention her?" Mrs Hedley asked.
Alice looked at her "Off the record?" Alice asked.
Mrs Hedley didn't like it but she agreed.
"Yes she did. She told everyone my mum was a whore who ran away and left me for some random man!" she said. Her voice laced with anger as she remembered.
Mrs Hedley gasped.
"I couldn't let her say that!. Remember you promised me this was off the record!" Alice said.
Mrs Hedley could see that Alice was upset. She got up and let her compose herself. Alice was obviously a extremely gifted but mixed up young girl. She had to learn to deal with her resentment otherwise it would just consume her.
It was the fifth lesson of the day. Spanish with Mrs Craig. Danny was bored. Alice was sat on the right to him. He scribbled her a note and passed it over. Alice opened it.
Where you been all day?
It asked. Alice scribbled a reply.
Isolation with Mrs Craig. She's my head of house as well as my jailer!
She passed the note back to Danny.
Lol I was hoping for more help in English! :) I'll talk to you later meet you at the gates!
He passed it over. Mrs Craig seen them. "You passing notes Daniel. Do you mind if I read it?"
Alice shoved the note in her blazer pocket.
"Give me the note Alice!" Mrs Craig demanded.
"Ninguna Manera!" Alice replied in a perfect Spanish accent and grinned.
"Your in enough trouble Alice, give me the note!" she said.
Danny piped up trying to deflect blame from Alice.
"I wrote the notes in Spanish. Does that not count as school work?" he said grinning.
"I don't find anything funny Daniel. I'll have 3 codes from you tomorrow! Alice I'll talk to you later." she walked away.
"Thanks!" Alice murmured to him.
"No problem!" he replied, they both got back to work.
The end of the school day came quickly. Alice was walking towards the gates and saw Danny. He waved to her.
"Hi " he said.
"Hello! Look I just want to thank you for taking the flack for me from Mrs Craig. You didn't have to but I appreciate it!" she said.
"Like I said no problem. I'm sorry about Sarah too. Everyone knows what she said to you, I must say you did a number on her face!" he said.
"My hand too!" she said.
He grabbed her hand and looked. "Wow you did too. You split 3 of your knuckles!"
"That wasn't Sarah that was the floor." she said
He looked confused.
"She moved." Alice elaborated.
"I see!" he said laughing. "Damn her eh?"
They both grabbed a donut from Greggs. "Hey snap!" he said. When he noticed they'd got the same thing. "Great minds think alike!" he said.
"At least I showed her anyway!" Alice said.
"You sure did!" he replied grinning.
"Unfortunately I'm suspended for the rest of the week." she told him.
"O are you?" he asked sadly.
"Why you gonna miss me?" she asked.
"Yeah I am actually. Whose gonna kick my ass at football? And help me with my English. And pass notes to me in Spanish?" he asked.
"well I can come to yours and do all that now!" she told him.
"you sure?" he asked.
She nodded they jumped up from the seat. "Wait a minute." he brushed his thumb against her lip. "bit of icing, couldn't resist it!" he said.
They walked to his house. "Mum I'm home!" he shouted. His mother appeared. His mother was really small about the same size as Alice. Danny shared her green eyes but she was blond while Danny's hair was brown.
"Hello Mrs Trevanion!" Alice said and shook her hand.
"Call me Amanda dear and you are?"
"I'm Alice." she told her.
"Oh the infamous Alice, Danny couldn't stop talking about you last night!" she said.
"Muuuuum!" Danny groaned.
Alice blushed.
"Alice is helping me with my English work!" he said.
He smiled at her, Alice smiled back. Alice and Danny just looked at each other for a minute. They just stared. They were too lost in each others eyes to realise what was happening but Amanda seen it. Her little boy was in love for the first time and by the looks of things Alice felt the same way.
"Go on then kids, do you need anything?" Amanda asked.
"I'll just grab us some coke from the fridge. They went over to the dining room and sat at the table.
"We'll have to sit here, I'm not allowed girls in my bedroom alone!" he said.
"Like I'd accompany you to your room! You wish!" she said.
They laughed and set to work.
"I don't get it!" Danny said. They were looking at the poem "Before you were mine" by carol Ann Duffy "How do you know it's a kid talking to her mother?" he asked.
"Coz it's obvious!" She told him "And it tells you on the second last line!"
Danny read it "Oh god am gonna fail!" he said.
"No your not, you just need to think."
"I am thinking!" he said.
"Tell me what you think then!" she said.
He leaned in close, "I think, you think I'm cute. Which is why you volunteered to help me!" he said seriously. Alice blushed scarlet.
"No I don't!" she said seriously.
"Aw my poor heart! Shot down in my prime!" Danny said dramatically.
She looked at him and narrowed her eyes.
"Not even a little?" He asked.
"Ok then you're a little bit cute!" she admitted.
"That's good to know coz I think your stunningly gorgeous!" he told her.
All the breath left Alice's lungs and all she couldn't form a coherent thought. He was about to kiss her when his mother shouted that tea was almost done.
Alice blinked and regained her senses. "I've gotta go!" she stammered.
"Look Alice…" Danny tried but she left the room.
Danny's mother walked in. "Oh is Alice not staying for tea?" she asked.
"No mum she's not" he said sadly Danny was gutted!
A/N abit of a bad chapter for Alice but she and danny got close at the end. dnt worry alice's life gets better :) heep reading and review please x
