Rose remembered how an new teacher took them for an arts lesson in family trees. He was rather shouty and bossed them around which was a giveaway in Rose's eyes that in reality he was obviously nervous. The class all scrawled away with little stick like people with family titles and names written at the sideand wiggly lines interconnecting the family tree. Rose set to work along with the others with no hesitation. She drew one mummy marked Helen in her dress and pudding bowl haircut and another mummy called Nikki who was harder to draw as a distinct mummy figure though she did her best. She scrawled lines to three grandparents, being in danger of going off the page so she had to foreshorten them a bit. As she finished her drawing , the teacher passed by her desk and asked in a tone of voice which put Rose on her guard. He looked at the Nikki figure and frown lines appeared on his face.
"You've spelt him wrong, Rose. Nikki isn't spelt that way. It should be Nicky, short for Nicholas," he said sternly.
"This is right. Nikki is my other mummy," protested Rose mildly.
"She's always saying that. She's making it up to sound special, different from the rest of us. Two surnames as well," laughed one of Rose's enemies. The little girl's boldness infuriated her three enemies who were on the back line of desks, one of whom did the dirty work
"Quiet. I'll have no arguments in class," the teacher yelled, shutting everyone up. Rose glared at the teacher's back and also at her enemy. She'd been insulted and the teacher hadn't treated her fairly and that got her angry. She didn't think to doubt the normality of her upbringing so this injustice grated on knew Roisin and Cassie, Trisha and Sally Anne and her Uncle John. Any of them would have handled the situation differently and needless to say either of her two mummies. She was sure the teacher had disapproved of her work but she chose the opportunity when he was distracted at the end of the lesson to slip her piece into the pile of work at the end of the lesson.
Rose's spirits brightened as she waited for her next lesson to start. She'd presented her English exercise book with her latest essay on how she'd inveigled her new friends Trisha and Sally Anne (not her mummies' friends) to join her in a game of hopscotch along with her neighbours. It was written in her own droll, inimitable style and she sneaked in a few new words she'd learnt that felt right. meanwhile Mrs Stevens, the comfortably middle aged fair haired teacherwas pacing towards the form room, full of good intentions to impart her lesson plan. At the back of her mind, her soul was grinning at her charge's amusing, literate story that was built up on an everyday occurrance. With a great effort of will, she handed out the pile of exercise books and avoided crossing eyes with the little green-eyed girl to the side of the class. She had a soft spot for the girl's originality but knew she had to give equal attention to all her class. Rose grinned briefly as she saw the mark, a tick and a little 'smily' face that Miss Stevens had drawn in a moment of weakness. She settled down for an enjoyable lesson but took care not to stick her hand up too often to name the right answer as it was no coincidence that her enemies struggled in this lesson.
Rose found lunchbreaks could be problematic depending on who you ended sitting with but cheered up when she lined up with her best friend Emma in the dinner queue. They shuffled forwards in the bright, airy dining room in the modern block and, after carrying their meals on blue4 trays, found themselves a handy corner to gossip amongst themselves. The two girls were in different classes unfortunately so this was the best time to get together.
"You looked down in the dumps when you came in," volunteered Emma. Rose sighed as she hadn't thought that her disgruntlement was that obvious but she ought to have realised that her friend could read her moods. She knew she was more wary and guarded at school where she had to but, left to herself, her feelings were easily visible in her body language.
"I had a lesson on family trees. You can guess what happened. If Mrs Stevens had been teaching, she'd wouldn't have made such a song and dance about my family. Of course, I got jumped on. OK I have two mummies. Some families have one mummy, others have a dad and a mummy. We're all different and that's the way I live so get over it," Rose said, keeping her voice down low when she wanted to shout it out loud.
"That's really awful. I don't see why they don't understand. They must be really sad and unhappy or their patrents are really wierd," Emma said in her forthright fashion. It did the trick and cheered Rose up. It prompted her to pop a question she'd been dying to ask. She knew that Emma liked her but she wasn't sure if it because of her own family background or despite it. She was of an age that other girls talked of sleepovers for a whole variety of reasons, some of which didn't impress Rose. However, she thought that having something like a sister would feel good. The question was about parents. She shut her eyes momentarily which was her way of psyching herself up and popped the question.
"Emma, you know we're good friends. Trouble is that we go home and don't see each other. Why don't we have a sleepover," Rose said, her words all in a rush. Immediately, she felt embarrassed and awkward and worried in case her friend would reject her. That was one thing that could upset Rose as it happened very infrequently and never at home. Emma opened her eyes and mouth wide and to Rose's intense relief, the expression was one of pleasure and not shock.
"That's brilliant. Why did we never think of it before. Mum always worries that I'm on my own too much and doesn't realise that it isn't too lonely where I am. Your house or mine?"
This threw Rose into a ridiculous state of indecision. She hadn't thought things through that far.
"I tell you, bags me your house. It sounds interesting but I have to talk to mum first,"Emma said, starting to chatter away.
"Eat up your dinners. You're supposed to be out to play," called out an inevitable loud voice. Both girls realised that there weren't many there at dinner. They looked down at their lukewarm dinner, bolted it down, politely handed their trays back and ran with carefree abandon as soon as they were out of the door. They'd only got ten minutes till afternoon lessons.
Unfortunately, the afternoon started with maths and this was Rose's weak area. she could not get her head around what sounded like an infinity of rules. As she walked back to her formroom, she was already starting to feel diminished and she knew that her enemies wouldn't hesitate to help rub her nose in her deficiencies. The teacher only made matters worse as he was a short-haired man with a tight knotted red and white striped tie and his manner concealed the fact that he really disapproved of Rose's very existence. She was due to have her homework handed back and she feared that it was bad news. Sure enough, too many angry crosses populated the pages and the number of grudging ticks offered cold comfort. The teacher's sarcasm was his worst feature as she couldn't defend herself against it and it hurt her to her core.
"One of these days, Rose Stewart-Wade, you'll know what adding up and carrying over is all about. I suppose you know your two times table," was his parting shot accompanied by joking laughter from her enemies and dull acquiescence from the rest just before the bell for afternoon break. Rose rushed out of the formroom oblivious to everything except for her need to go somewhere safe and quiet like the girl's toilets where she could cry on her own. Putting her hands up to her face did no good to stop it.
The PE lesson did something to mitigate the hurt as Rose was nimble and quick-witted and it discharged a little of her wound up hurt and anger. When the final bell rang, she felt as if she'd been through a wringer and she rushed out of the school entrance barely acknowledging a concerned Emma and she sought the safety of Helen's car which was parked a little distance away. As Helen smiled warmly at her daughter, she knew in a flash that something was wrong with her but she saved up her quwhen they got back home and left her to watch children's TV till Nikki came home.
From the other side odf the glass window, Helen saw her daughter walk disconsolately towards her, got into the back seat and was very quiet during the journey home. It was clear that she felt that everything had gone wrong for her though she responded to Helen's periodic attempts at conversation. As soon as they got home, Rose took herself to her bedroom, a state of affairs that Nikki picked on immediately when she arrived. They made attempts at light conversations over evening dinner and, at last, Nikki posed the question Rose had been secretly dreading.
"What's been going on Rose? We know there's been something."
"Nothing much," came the ungracious reply. In reality she hated to lay worries on her mummies and any suggestion of blame for bringing her into the world and therefore responsibility for her predicament. Helen exchanged glances with her partner to think before speaking and she composed her thoughts into logical order.
"Rose, Nikki and I know how proud and independent you are and that's such a joy to us in watching you grow up. I'm sure you're having trouble dealing with what's gone wrong today and that happens to all of us some time or that's the case, please let us in so we can help you."
It was these compassionate words and two pairs of loving eyes that got through Rose armoured guard. All along the journey home, she'd worried in vain for an answer to her troubles, being sneakingly aware of sharp observation from the driving seat. She realised that this had rumbled along in a low key way for a long time before sharply peaking today. While she kept her two fists to her eyes, all her hurt and upset poured out in a stream of words. even then, the account held together with a certain ragged coherence. When she'd finished, she flung herself into Helen's arms who gently soothed her troubles with her shapely fingers, helped by Nikki who brought herself nearby.
"This needs stepping on straightaway," Nikki said with quiet determination as she and Helen let shock and horror floods through their systems and set their faces in stone as much as they loved their daughter deeply."How quickly can you get into the school? I'm asking as I'm absolutely stucvk to get time off and somehow, it feels better coming from you than me."
"it'll be my pleasure. I know I can do it," growled Helen."i'll take it up with the school head and if she doesn't play ball, we'll drag in the heavy artillery. Either Jo mills or George Canning would jump at the chance to have their guts for garters."
"Jo," questioned Rose, her head spinning around as she couldn't work out this grown-up talk. To her, Jo Mills was the kindly woman who'd had a knack for talking with chi8ldren and had settled her down with her less confident friend, Jane Lancaster. She'd not talked very much about herself."She's nice but what can she do?"
"Only that both of them are top class barristers- they deal with laws and arguing in court. if mummy's verbal muscle doesn't work, our friends can make it very hard for the school," Nikki explained with masterly understatement." Those two teachers need cutting down to size. Once that's done, I'm sure you can handle the rest2
Rose'd eyes opened wide and her mouth formed a perfect nought. She never knew how much her mummies and her friends could do.
In a white hot fury, Helen made an appointment with the head teacher the following day. She got an urgent appointment in the morning and stormed into the little office and opened up without any preamblepreamble.
"My name's Helen Stewart and I wish to make a complaint about the way my daughter Rose Stewart-Wade has been treated by two of your behaviour amount to homophobia and leaves my daughter to being bullied by other pupils which also happened. Rose should never have been picked out for public humiliation You know that I've got all the rights in the world for my family to be treated in a way that doesn't discriminate," Helen stormed in her best Wing Governor's style.
The head teacher had been expecting this as soon as the appointment had been made. As he did his rounds of the school, he couldn't help but notice the very lively little girl who had the knack of standing out from the crowd. The school file on his desk contained details of Helen Stewart and Nikki Wade as next of kin with a red scrawled note in the margin of the first page advising of the relatyionship. He'd also come across disturbing rumours, nothing certain, of the way she was treated and he had concerns about the maths teacher's unfortunate manner. all in all, he decided to tread carefully.
"Ms Stewart, I appreciate your concern but you have to understand I do not necessarily keep tabs on every child who is under my care. I know you're angry but it would help me get to the bottom of the situation by telling me everything in logical sequence," he spoke with quiet firmness.
This response momentarily took Helen aback as it had a closer similarity to her own modus operandi. She steadied herself and as she unreeled her concerns, she judged that the man was really listening rather than going through the motions as he winced a couple of times. Nevertheless, he needed to probe the evidence further.
"From my memory, your daughter is a really excellent pupil who is a credit to you and your partner's upbringing..."
"Oh thank you," smiled Helen in premature gratitude.
"...but her one weakness is in maths. Isn't it possible that your daughter was justly marked down on her homework and took offence atr it. At the very least, she has come catching up to do."
"I think you know more about my daughter than you're letting on," Helen retorted with a knowing grin on her face.
It was the head teacher's turn to feel uncomfortable as this shrewd thrust sank home. This Ms Stewart was no blusterer but was tougher and shrewder than most. A long silence elapsed as there was a silent internal; debate as to who would make the first move...
In another part of the school, Rose had a distracted air as she knew that her formidable mother was going into battle and any moment now, the scales of fortune were tilting, possibly in her favour.
"Rose, I'd like an answer to the question you put your hand up to answer," called out her English teacher in kind hearted tones. The little girl looked a mile away and that was unusual.
"Oh yes, sorry miss, I was a mile away," the flustered little girl answered while her enemies laughed secretly behind the palms of their hands at her.
Finally Helen spoke at the moment of decision.
"All right, I know maths is Rose's weak point. I work with accounts but that's as far as I go. Nikki is strictly arts biased. I need to think over how I can help. What I want in return is whether or not you're prepared to make a full enquiry and, if you agree with me, make sure you kick a few backsides."
"And if I were to refuse?" replied the head teacher.
"Then I'll take the matter to either of my two female barrister friends and sue the backside off the council. The buck has to stop somewhere," retorted Helen with a glitter in her eye.
"In that case, I'll carry on where I left off and there'll be a thorough impartial investigation and, if you've got the facts right, I'll have words to say to as many teachers and pupils as I see fit. This won't happen again, I guarentee it."
Helen extended her hand forward and shook the teacher's hand warmly as the man's perspective tilted ever more sharply towards belief in her. There's one hour and fifteen minutes work well spent, she thought.