Four hours later...
It was finally the end of the day.
Rachel was packing her things away. She was so tired and fed up. Her head was pounding against her skull.
She'd heard that Earl had been found with Sienna, and that both of them had been safely returned to school. Eddie hadn't been to see her, which she was fine with. He was teaching. But she hated the way they'd left things between them. It had prevented her from getting her paperwork done, because her mind kept wandering to him.
It hadn't helped either that Tom had passed her in the corridor earlier, giving her an icy glare. She didn't know why, but it had really got to her.
And it wasn't just Tom either. Every staff member she'd passed in the corridor had given her the same look. It felt like they were all against her, and she hated it. She was trying to do the right thing by everyone, but it didn't seem to be enough.
Even Eddie had made her feel like he was against her today. He'd never snapped at her like that before. Never. Of course it could have come out more harshly than he'd intended it to, but it had hurt all the same.
She was frustrated and tired, and, at the moment, she wasn't really sure if she was cut out for this job. She felt like she couldn't win. If she did the right thing by Earl, she upset the staff. If she did the right thing by the staff and excluded Earl, she hurt Earl, his family and his future.
She just wanted to go home and sleep. She was too overwhelmed. It was very rare that she got like this. When she did, it was bad.
Eddie stepped into the office, swinging his arms around awkwardly. Rachel eyed him wearily.
"Well, it looks like I've made some progress with Earl. Finally" he said, interrupting the deafening silence
Rachel continued to pack her things away. She didn't really know what he wanted her to say.
"It seems he's found a real passion for it. Steve's going to take him to the weekend classes" he continued
"That's good" she mumbled, refusing to look at him
Eddie sighed. He knew he'd upset her earlier. He really hadn't meant to, but he had all the same. He owed her an apology.
"Rach, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for snapping at you and for not listening. I... got caught up in the drama and overreacted"
She sighed, finally making eye contact with him
"Honestly? I'd kind of given up on Earl myself as well" she admitted
"No you hadn't" Eddie argued
"No, I hadn't. But it would make all of this so much easier if I had done. It would stop Tom and the rest of the staff from hating me and glaring at me in the corridors" she huffed
"They'll calm down, Rach" He reassured
Rachel shook her head, tears forming in her eyes. She'd finally hit her breaking point.
Eddie walked over to her, pulling her into his arms. He stroked her hair softly as she let the tears fall.
"Don't cry, Rach. It's ok" he soothed
She looked up at him tearfully
"I'm so tired, Eddie. You're right; I think I've burnt myself out. I made really good progress with Marley and Rose today. But I've made things worse with Tom and everyone else because of Earl" she blurted, burying her head in Eddie's chest in defeat
Eddie pulled her back, tilting her chin so she was looking into his eyes
"Hey, no you haven't, Rach, not at all! You've been put in a difficult situation, and you've handled it well. We know Earl isn't the one killing those birds. The staff know that now, and Tom, so it'll all calm down, yeah?" he reassured
Rachel nodded, unconvinced. She smiled at him weakly as he wiped her tears with his thumb.
"You're doing a great job, Rach. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise" he told her, kissing her forehead gently
She nodded again
"We don't have to go out tonight if you're not feeling up to it? We can stay home and watch a movie instead?" he suggested
"No, I want to" she insisted
"Ok. Let's get out of here then, yeah?" he decided, holding his hand out to her
She smiled, taking it, sighing contentedly as they walked down the corridor and down the stairs.
On the way out, they bumped into Marley and Flick.
"Sir, Miss? Look, I wanted to apologise for my little brother. He's er..." Marley started
"No, it's me who should be apologising. It turns out I got him all wrong" Eddie interrupted
Marley raised an eyebrow
"Yeah, he told me about your cat leaving those dead birds on Mr Clarkson's doorstep" Eddie explained
"Right..." Marley explained hesitantly
Rachel could tell by the look on Marley's face that something wasn't quite right.
"Is everything ok? Did you get to do your Head Boy speech in the end?" she asked
"Yeah" he nodded
Rachel smiled
"Well done, I look forward to the results!"
Eddie and Rachel walked away, Rachel suddenly feeling a little more at ease. Marley had gotten to do his speech, and he now had every chance of becoming Head Boy.
"I said we'd meet Philip at the Bowling Alley in an hour. It gives us time to go home and get changed" Eddie told her as they got into the car
Rachel nodded
"Are you sure you want to go?" he checked, noticing how tired she looked
"I do. I'm actually looking forward to it" she nodded, smiling
Eddie smiled back
"Let's go and have a paperwork-free evening, hey?" he smirked
Rachel giggled, putting on her seatbelt.
Meanwhile, Marley stood in the corridor, looking perplexed. Flick nudged him, beaming when he looked at her.
"See? It's not all doom and gloom! That's got to be good news about Earl, right?"
"Er... yeah. It would be... if it were true" he sighed
Flick frowned
Marley lowered his voice so only Flick could hear.
"We don't have a cat" he told her
Flick sighed
...
One hour later...
Back at the Kelly house, Earl had found a letter on the stairs from the Council. Despite Marley's protests, he'd opened it. He didn't like what he was reading. It was a written warning. One more disturbance and they were out. The anger bubbled inside him. He knew exactly what, or rather who, had prompted this letter. Tom Clarkson was about to get a lot worse than a dead bird on his doorstep. It was payback time.
...
Tom and Davina were having dinner. Tom had ordered a takeaway from a posh restaurant, by way of an apology for all the crap Davina had, had to put up with recently. Both from him, and from the Kelly's.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang, followed by the sound of a window shattering. Tom and Davina jumped, shooting up from the table.
"What the hell was that?" Tom asked aloud, running into the hallway
His heart filled with dread as he heard his car alarm blaring from outside. He dashed outside onto the street.
When he saw the sight before him, he groaned. The windscreen of his car had been smashed. A bin lay on top of the bonnet.
"I think it went that way... really big cat this one" Earl taunted, smirking
Tom glared at Earl. He'd had enough.
He pulled the bin off the car, throwing it at Earl, who ducked out of the way just in time.
"YOU'RE FINISHED, KELLY!" Tom yelled
Earl smirked as he spat on the ground
"Tom, leave it!" Davina ordered, holding him back
Earl grinned, walking away, leaving Tom and Davina to deal with the mess he'd made.
