Sorry very short chapter and I'm afraid this weekend there will be no update - I have to go down to my sister's and do some emergency babysitting.
Hope to see you all Monday.
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Mrs Wilson the head of Pine Valley School received a phone call from Bianca Montgomery five minutes after the first news van appeared. Being the school for children from a number of prominent families, Mrs Wilson wasn't a stranger to reporters poking around looking for a story. What she wasn't expecting was the sheer numbers of journalists arriving. She made a call to the police immediately to set up a cordon around the school building and sent her secretary around the class rooms to tell the teachers to keep the children in over break and warning them not to talk to anyone. The caretaker and some of the catering staff were sent as temporary guards at all the main access points to stop reporters simply wandering into the building before the police arrived.
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The conversation with Miss Montgomery told Mrs Wilson the story the journalists were looking for. That poor family seemed to suffer one mishap after another but almost all of it tied to that one fateful day at the Chandler Mansion and that crazy woman with the gun… Mrs Wilson made a note; that might be a good lead into her press statement. She would have to tell the press something or they would never leave.
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Mrs Wilson stood at the podium in the school hall looking out over the cameras and journalists sitting in place of her pupils. Jesse Hubbard, the Chief of Police had come in person to help co-ordinate security for the building. He had started the press conference with a statement of his own. Warning the press that they're presence was unsettling the school children and asking them to keep a respectful distance.
Mrs Wilson shuffled her notes and cleared her throat, trying to push down the thought that millions of people could be watching. She hoped her press statement would be enough.
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the press. I was very surprised by your arrival this morning and very surprised by your reasons for being here; your interest in AJ Chandler and his new family... All I can say to you is that AJ is a very brave, thoughtful and intelligent young man and also, as of the last few months, very happy... As for AJ's new family, Miss Bianca Montgomery and Ms Marissa Tasker are both excellent parents and have tried their best to create a caring home for all their children. This has not been easy given all the trauma they have faced since the fateful shooting at the Chandler Mansion almost a year ago... It certainly hasn't been easy for AJ after his father's breakdown... I have read in the newspapers the accusations of a mother keeping a father from his son. It is probably not my place to say this… but I feel someone should. Of course she kept AJ from his father, JR Chandler was out of control, drinking heavily. I have had personal experience of this as he even came to the school in a drunken state to try and see AJ while a restraining order was in place. His later nervous breakdown culminated in a violent assault of Miss Tasker's girlfriend and he was held in a secure facility and has only recently showed signs of recovery. Add to this that JR Chandler is currently awaiting trial for the attempted murder of Miss Tasker. I wonder how you can even begin to paint JR the victim here... The real victim is AJ Chandler, a little boy who in a year almost lost his mother and certainly lost his father… but he is a very strong child and I am very pleased to say he has clearly found happiness with his new home and family. I hope you can respect the family enough to let them all be happy. That is all I have to say. Thank you."
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