A few weeks had passed since that evening, and it was a bit more smooth-sailing in the Mason household. Alicia hadn't been getting into as much trouble at school, Ros was now staying with Rachel, as even she couldn't persuade Ros' dad that Phil was a decent guy who wouldn't distract her from her studies. And Rachel and Eddie's relationship was flourishing

That morning, Rachel went on her normal rounds to wake up the children, both Phil and Ros were easy to wake, however, Alicia was a different matter

'Morning lovely girl, it's a lot less cold today, wake up now for school'

'Urgggh, I feel sick' alicia groaned and rolled away from her mother who was now perched on her bed

'This wouldn't have anything to do with parents evening tonight would it? - come on get up' rachel tried to tickle her daughter

'No' alicia said shutting her tired eyes again

'Alicia Mason out of that bed now' rachel said a lot more sternly 'I expect you to be downstairs in twenty minutes'

This routine happened most mornings, as unlike her cousin and his girlfriend, alicia was not keen to get to school - as she wasn't the brightest of students

Soon it was time to leave for school 'Alicia Mason down these stairs now, or you'll be walking to school'

'Just coming!'

Alicia ran downstairs, the last thing she wanted was to walk 40 minutes. However she tried to avoid looking at her mother.

Too late, Rachel gripped Alicia's chin and turned her head to face her 'far too much make up on, lovely girl, you'll be taking that off at school'

'Mum can you hear yourself? Everyone does it and I thought I didn't get 'special treatment' as I'm your daughter'

Rachel smiled 'Fine but don't let Miss Campbell or Miss Mason catch you with that on'

Alicia laughed and hurried out to the car

'Mum I still feel really sick'

'I'm sure it will pass lovely'

Alicia's changed in an instant, her favourite song had just come on the radio so the volume went full blast

'Alicia turn it down now'

'Why whenever you listen to Stoneage music fm you always turn the classical shit right up'

Rachel couldn't help but laugh, having all the children living with her, did make her feel old 'Less of your cheek madam'

'Phil, Ros can you walk home tonight as we'll be at school till 7'

However, the music was far too loud for the couple to hear Rachel, Alivia turned round to tell them what her mother had just said...

'Eww really, too much, toooooo early'

Phil and Ros were making out on the back-seat

They got to school, Alicia quickly ran out the car

'Laters mum, don't want Miss Mason running after me with a baby wipe!'

'Have a good day darling' rachel called back to her daughter, she then spotted Eddie coming over and smiled 'Good morning Mr Lawson, right today we need to go through this planning meeting and then there's paren-'

Eddie leaned in to kiss her 'that was to shut you up Miss Mason' his attention then focused on the couple still sat in the car

He tapped on the window 'oi you two out the car, less of the, less of the you know'

Phil go out 'bit hypocritical sir'

'Less of the cheek lad, now inside'

Phil and Ros both scurried on inside, whilst Rachel was laughing at Eddie, it was usually he who had to calm her down

The rest of the day went smoothly, and the school bell rang at 3 to signal the end of the day, ten minutes later alicia barged into her mum's office, without seeing Mr Clarkson sat with her

'Mum I was won... Oh sorry didn't realise, um I'll wait out here' alicia backed into Bridget's office

'No need Alicia, I'm leaving now' he turned to Rachel 'we'll talk more tonight'

Rachel nodded and then turned towards her daughter 'what have I told you about knocking?'

Alicia brushed off the comment and continued 'mum I was wondering if I could go round Nath's house tonight? Seeing as you're here all evening'

'Not tonight Alicia, you can stay here and get on with some homework, another night maybe'

'Fine ...ok' alicia sat down at the table and got her phone out

'Alicia I believe I said homework not texting'

'Out of school hours, Miss Mason is doing my head in, can mum come back?' Alicia joked to her mum

'Fair point, just work hard Alicia'

For about an hour, Alicia worked on her english project, she was close to tears because she didn't understand what she needed to put. However she didn't want to seem thick to her mum, so kept quiet. Also during this time, she felt her Mother's concerned gaze upon her and it was starting to annoy her

'Mum have I done something wrong?'

'Of course not darling, here's some money go and get yourself some dinner from the corner shop and then straight back here. Eddie will check up on you, I'm heading off to parents evening'

Rachel was about to leave the office when she turned to her daughter

'Alicia, promise me there'll be no nasty surprises tonight'

'I don't think there'll be any'

It didn't put Rachel's mind at rest, but she went to hug her daughter and kissed her head 'no matter what comes of tonight, I love you very much'

'Love you too Mum'

A bonus to being the headteacher, is that you got to avoid queues for teachers, because Alicia was an A level student she was only taking four subjects, so Rachel went to see Eddie first who had been teaching her maths since the start of term

'Well this seems strangely formal Rach'

'It's a bit odd isn't it, it's like we have to behave ourselves' They both laughed 'so how is Alicia doing?'

'She's a very bright kid Rach, I have no problems with her learning abilities, very good with equations and extremely good with trig'

Rachel beamed with pride, even though she didn't really have a clue what the maths expressions meant

'However, she is very much like her mother, a day dreamer and at times can be a little too cheeky which unsettles the rest of the class'

'Ok I'll have a word tonight, thanks Eddie' due to formalities at the end of the discussion they both stood up and shook each other's hand, whilst doing so Eddie stroked the back of Rachel's palm, sending shivers up her spine

Rachel then moved on to Kim

'Right Rach, you're daughter is incredible. Her art is simply incredible what time is it? Yep we've got time, come to the art room and I'll show you a few pieces'

'To be honest, Kim I've never seen any of her work she does some at home - but hides it from me'

'That's because it's her way of showing her feelings, when the moment is right she'll show you her personal works, what I'm going to show you is what she's had to do for her AS level, the title was investigation of yourself'

Kim layered paintings after paintings of Alicia's work

'Wow' Rachel exclaimed, to anyone else the paintings wouldn't have meant as much, but to Rachel she knew the meanings. For example one painting was of a small girl slightly hidden from view, she was portrayed as a black shadow with no colour. All around the black figure were a series of what looked like paper men delicately painted round the shadow, all in bright colours.

Kim was rambling about how she got the dynamics in the painting right, and how waterloo Road needed an abstract artist like her daughter

But for Rachel, the painting almost reminded her of the emptiness she saw in Alicia's eyes when she first saw her in her kitchen nearly a year ago

Kim could tell Rachel was getting emotional 'why don't we head back now?'

On the way Kim added 'but to conclude your daughter is very creative, and I want to predict her an A for her AS level'

Again Rachel's heart swelled with pride

Next Rachel went to see Tom, however she was huddled with Arthur, Alicia's history teacher

'Gentleman'

'Miss Mason' they replied in unison

'Tom I just came to have parents evening quickly'

'Uh yes, we both wanted to talk to you at the same time about your daughter'

'Oh ok...' Rachel replied a little unsure

'Well we both have realised the same thing, Alicia definitely has the brains to do really well in both our subjects as far as her answers go in class, but then when we read the essays she gives to us, they're very poor standard' arthur told the headmistress

'Yes Tom was telling me earlier, do you have any idea why?'

'Well to begin with, I for one thought she wasn't putting enough attention into her schoolwork, however as time has gone on we've both noticed the standard of the work slipping further, sentences don't make sense and spelling worsening'

Rachel was confused, her daughter had never let on she found these subjects hard

'Now you told us not to give Alicia any special treatment, so we followed normal procedure and sent letters home about two months ago, judging from your reaction I'm guessing you never received these?'

'Um no' rachel said, feeling a bit hurt alicia didn't feel she could talk to her

'Well we both think, alicia has a severe form of Dyslexia, that needs to be looked at very quickly in time for her exams, she'll also need extra tuition' Tom concluded

'Right, thank you, thank you very much' she stood up, shook their hands and then went to find her daughter

She walked into her office, to find Alicia crying

'Hey Lovely girl what's wrong?'

'Nothing, doesn't matter' sniffed Alicia

'I wasn't born yesterday Alicia, please tell me'

'I'm just struggling with this essay, it'll be fine soon, everyone goes through It'

'Why are you struggling? Does it usually happen?'

Alicia began to cry some more, 'come here sweetheart' tachel lead her daughter towards her office sofas and opened her arms for a hug

'Mum you're gonna think I'm stupid. And how can the headmistress' daughter be such a thick cow'

'No I'm not, darling.' A few moments passed 'tell me'

'It's always like this, and it always has been. Words always look jumbled up and putting words into sentences I find nearly impossible. At my last school they said there was something wrong with me, and they tried to contact you to give permission for extra tuition but they couldn't -so they gave up on me'

Rachel was horrified, that she had put her child's education into jeopardy, stroking her daughter's hair whilst letting Alicia cry into her shoulder, Rachel came up with a plan

'Ok lovely girl, here's what were going to do, we'll confirm it with a specialist at the next available spot, and then lucky for you, I specialised in both English and History at university, so you'll be having extra lessons with me after school.'

Alicia sniffed, and then replied 'thanks Mum, I'm sorry for being stupid'

'Hey don't you ever think that, you're not stupid, you're dyslexic - it only means you have problems learning. And I'll let you in on a little secret, Mel was dyslexic, and look she has a degree'

'I don't know what I'd do without you Mum' alicia hugged rachel tighter, and soon fell asleep, she was exausted. Soon after Rachel's head became heavy and then shortly after her eyes followed

At half seven, after the last parent had left, Eddie went looking for Rachel, she fount the heart-warming sight of them both cuddling each other whilst fast asleep. He knelt down by Rachel

'Rach, c'mon time to go home' he gently woke her

'It's half seven, wake Alicia and I'll give you a lift home you look knackered'

Rachel gratefully accepted his help, and soon they were back home

'Right I best be off, see you tomorrow beautiful, bye kids!' He yelled the last bit to make sure everyone in the house could hear him

He turned round, but Rachel grabbed his wrist preventing him from leaving

'Actually, Eddie wait. Please stay with me'