One day rolled into the next and before they knew it, it was the week the AS/A level exams started and the year 12's had been hard at work preparing.
"Pops. We have 10 minutes, I want you out of that room and ready to go." Chris Mead shouted from where he was stood in the kitchen."Poppy?" Chris called for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He had been calling her continuously for the last 5 minutes, it was her first day of exams and she couldn't be late.
Chris, himself had been rushing around, he had an early morning meeting with Michael, Tom and Sian before the first exam. He couldn't be late either. Poppy should've been ready by now. She wasn't even going to have time for breakfast at this rate, they'd just have to pick something up on the way.
"Poppy?" Chris called, again as he deposited his mug into the sink.
When Poppy didn't answer Chris knew he had no choice but to see what was wrong. Maybe she over slept and she herself was rushing around to make sure she wasn't late.
Opening the door he noticed that Poppy wasn't in her room. Her bed sheets were made, her school stuff was gone, it was like she hadn't even slept in here. She hadn't left early. He had been up since 5 and was generally a light sleeper, which had made parenting a teen that much easier so surely he would've heard her?
"Shit." He muttered. Entering further into the room, Chris - out of fear - checked his daughter's wardrobe, praying that she hadn't run away. It wasn't that he thought Poppy would do such a thing but he could recall previous years where she would freak out about assessments but Charlotte had been there then, she was always great with that kind of stuff.
Sighing in relief, the teacher backed out of the room when he noticed nothing was out of the ordinary. Maybe Tom and Michael had been right, she was acting out because of Charlotte. He had been reminded that the anniversary of the accident was fast approaching and he knew it was going to be difficult on not only Poppy but himself too.
"Come on pops. Where are ya?"
Chris panicked. His daughter wasn't home, he quickly reached for his phone, dialling anyone and everyone that would know where Poppy was. His first point of call had been Lauren.
He stood running his hand over his face as he waited for his daughter's best friend to answer. When she finally did, he sighed in relief. "Lauren? Lauren, yeah it's-"
"Mr Mead? Everything okay?" Lauren asked, slightly weary. Granted, Chris Mead was her best friend's dad and it hadn't been unusual for her to speak with him but this seemed...strange.
"You haven't heard from Poppy have you?"
On the other line, Lauren paused before she spoke. "...no, is she okay? She was pretty nervous about the exam today. We told her to come over but she said she wanted to stay at ho-"
"What? I thought she was revising with you lot?" Chris was now even more concerned not only was Poppy not there but she hadn't been where she said she was going to be the previous night either. Had he missed something? Was all the arguing with Amy Porter a way of acting out?
"Mr Mead? Is she okay?" Lauren asked nervously. Poppy had been acting out recently, what if it was more than just exam stress?
"Look. Lauren. I've got to go but if you hear from her, just let me know." He pleaded, before hanging up and quickly leaving his home.
All these questions and no answers.
Chris searched everywhere. He had left soon after getting off the phone with Lauren Andrews. He had tried calling and calling his daughter but she wasn't answering and he was seriously concerned. She, like every other teenager was glued to her phone and she would always answer her dad's calls, without fail.
He had arrived at the staff room, 15 minutes late. He hadn't even had the time to confront Tom and ask him before Michael Byrne arrived for the morning briefing.
"Good Morning. Thank you for all coming a little earlier today." Michael greeted his staff as he arrived to brief them ahead of the exams that would be starting this morning.
"We might as well cancel the exams and let em all start revising for the re-sits." Grantley grumbled from behind the racing paper.
Michael chose to ignore him and concentrated on addressing the staff. "Now, let's appreciate that this is a stressful time for our year 12's so let's offer our support when and where we can. That'll be all." The headteacher dismissed. "Chris, Tom, Sian. Is it okay if we take our meeting to the offices now?"
Sian nodded from behind her cup of coffee. "Fine by me. Now?" She checked as she moved from where she sat beside her husband, Jez.
"If that's okay." Michael, with a nod left the room.
"I suppose we've been summoned." Tom sighed, placing his coffee cup in the sink he tapped Chris on the shoulder.
Chris nodded, muttering that he would be right there. Mirroring his friend and colleagues movements they made their way to Michael's office.
Whilst Tom and Chris were now both deputy heads, Sian had taken up the role as pastoral care, something she had volunteered to do. Michael hoped with the female teacher taking over the role that any issues were easily resolved, especially with a female confidante encouraging these actions.
The conversation seemed to flow around Christopher Mead and he could barely concentrate with the increasing worry he currently had for his missing daughter. He had clearly been wrapped up in his thoughts when he failed to acknowledge Michael.
"Everything okay?" Michael checked with Chris who seemed to be in the clouds during their whole meeting. "Chris?" He tried again.
"Sorry. Sorry." He apologised quickly, "What were you saying?" He said, clearing his throat as he shifted in his chair.
"Is everything okay, mate?" Tom asked, suddenly struck by his friends flat mood. "Poppy's not been giving you a hard time again, has she?" He added with a chuckle.
Leaning forward in his chair, Chris pressed his elbows to his knees and intertwined his fingers shakily. "She wasn't home last night." He shrugged. "I thought she was with Sharky and Lauren but apparently not."
"She's missing?" Sian questioned, trying to work out what the deputy head was trying to tell them. "Have you reported it?"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." Michael reasoned, his palms in downward motion. Turning to Chris, he spoke. "Is there any reason she would miss this exam in particular? Maybe not revising enough?"
Chris shook his head but Tom spoke up and was quick to defend Poppy's case. "Guaranteed, her work hasn't been up to her usual standard but she's been over mine 5 days a week revising with Josh. If anything, she's thrown herself into this revision too much." He said, eyeing the three other teachers from where he perched against the arm of the sofa.
"The kids should be lining up outside the hall now. If she's not here already then we go from there." Michael offered.
And with that, the four teachers began to make their way down towards the hall. Chris could only hope that Poppy was with Finn.
"Have you seen Poppy? She was supposed to bring me her notes" Finn grumbled.
Poppy had offered to lend him the notes he'd be needing for today's exam, probably because she knew he wouldn't do the work or maybe the fact that she was just that kind of friend. Either way, he hadn't done the work.
Whilst Josh just shook his head, Lauren couldn't hold her tongue anymore. Finn had been going on and on, he needed to give it a rest.
"She's missing and all you're worried about is if she's don' your work for you?" Lauren hissed, her eyes sending daggers straight towards Finn. "Unbelievable"
"Lauren? What are you on about?" Josh piped up for the first time that morning. He had been carrying around his revision with him, eager to please his Dad.
The teenager shook her head, she shouldn't have said anything.
"Woah. Hold up. You ain't said anything about Poppy being missing. Lauren? What are you talking about?" Finn double took. Josh and himself had been around Lauren for the past 40 minutes and she had failed to mention anything about their closest friend going 'missing'.
Lauren huffed, she had well and truly done it now. "Just leave it, she's probably just trying to-" Lauren stopped herself upon seeing Mr Byrne, Mr Clarkson, Mrs Diamond and Mr Mead wandering down the corridor, perking up to see if Poppy was straggling behind them too. There was no sign.
"Come on year 12, let's get you in then." Tom Clarkson organised upon his arrival. "Quietly, please."
Whilst Tom and Sian continued organising the students, Christopher Mead continued to look around for Poppy. But with still no sign it was looking highly unlikely that she was going to turn up.
"She'll be here." Michael assured, patting the man on his shoulder.
Chris Mead sure hoped so.
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