CHAPTER SIX
When Belle left the school after the row with her mother, she was immediately confronted with Bolton Smilie. Suppressing a groan, she made her way over to him.
"Look, before you start-"
"Wasn't gonna."
She quirked an eyebrow. "You weren't?"
"Nah man!" He held her bag out to her. "I grabbed it for ya when ya didn't come back to class."
She took it from him with a half-smile. "Thanks."
"Yer dad left, by the way. Just got in his car 'n' drove off." He sounded mildly concerned.
"Thought he might've done. He doesn't really stick around after a confrontation, prefers to lock himself in his study and stew over it instead."
"You gonna be alright?" He may not be the most academically inclined, but Bolton wasn't stupid, and he'd seen the look on his friend's face when her dad had shown up.
"Yeah, course." She was only half lying. She knew she wouldn't have a run in with her father when she got home, because he'd already be locked in his office. That fight would come another day. It was only her own emotions that would be a problem.
"I don't believe ya, but I ain't gonna bother ya, either. If ya wanna talk about it, well," he looked at the floor, his shoulders rising in an unsure shrug, "I'm here, y'know?"
She smiled inwardly. "Thanks, Bolt. Really."
They started walking towards the gates.
"If ya tell me to piss off, I won't blame ya, but… did yer dad mean what I think he meant?"
Belle heaved a sigh. "Suppose the whole school's gonna know by tomorrow anyways," she shoved her hands deep into her pockets with a frown, "yeah, apparently Miss Mason's my mum."
"Woah. That's tough, man."
"In a biological sense only!" She said, shooting him a warning look.
He held his hands up. "I didn't say nothin'! But you didn't-?"
"No, I didn't know before today."
"That's crap luck, that is."
She let out a bitter laugh. "Tell me about it."
They walked in silence for a while, until they came to the point where their paths differed.
"I'm this way," Belle said awkwardly.
"Right, and I'm-" he pointed in the opposite direction.
"Right." She hovered. "Thanks… for sticking around, y'know?"
"Nah, B, don't mention it. Just-" he paused and she raised an eyebrow, "you're not actually gonna leave, are ya?"
"I dunno. My dad wants me to, but I'm happy at Waterloo Road. What happened today should've distracted him for a bit, at least."
"Yeah, hopefully. It'd be proper boring without ya, is all."
"Yeah?" She grinned at him.
"Yeah." He grinned back. "Who else am I supposed to share the cooler with?"
She let out a genuine laugh at that. "Well, when you put it like that!"
"I'll see ya tomorrow then?"
"For sure." Before she had chance to second guess herself, she rose to her tiptoes and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek before walking off, forcing herself to keep staring ahead so she didn't see his reaction, or the wide smile spreading over his face.
True to her word, when the next morning rolled around, Belle was back at school. She was not, however, on time.
"Belle Munroe!"
She looked up and groaned when she saw the deputy head standing in front of the doors.
"Sorry I'm late, Sir, it won't happen again."
"I'm sure it won't. But it's nine-thirty! School started forty-five minutes ago."
"I know, I didn't mean to-"
"Miss Mason's office, now."
She froze. "No."
Eddie's eyebrows shot up. "What?"
"No!" She shook her head stubbornly. "I'll go to the cooler, I'll take detention, anything else- but I'm not going to see her."
Eddie's voice softened slightly, knowing how hard it must be for the kid. "Look, Belle, this isn't just about you being late, alright? The school's been trying to get in touch with your dad, we need to know whether or not he's still pulling you out of this school."
"I'm here, aren't I?"
He sighed. "Just- come on. I'll be there too. You won't have to be alone with your mum if you don't want to be."
She groaned again. "Does everybody know?"
Her teacher's wince was answer enough. She sighed and followed him through the school to the head's office.
"Rachel?" Eddie said, gently ushering Belle through the door before him.
Rachel looked up and relief spread across her face. "Isabelle!"
Belle narrowed her eyes and raised a brow; she looked, in Eddie's opinion, startlingly like her mother- so much so that he wondered how he hadn't noticed it before.
Sensing the tension, he took the lead, closing the door behind them and standing between the two. "Belle, we had a bit of a panic when you didn't show up to registration this morning, your dad did sign the paperwork to pull you out yesterday."
"Yeah, well, you can shred it. I'm staying." Belle crosses her arms over her chest.
Rachel couldn't help but let out a small smile. "That's good. You've spoken to your father then?"
A shadow flickered across Belle's face. "Yeah. We had a, uh, conversation this morning."
"Is that why you were late?" Eddie asked, not missing the way her voice tightened around the word conversation.
"Yeah. He said I could stay." She paused, before shooting a spiteful glance towards Rachel. "He only wanted me to leave because of you, but now he knows I don't want anything to do with you, he's fine."
"Belle!" Eddie reprimanded, defensive over his colleague and, well, his friend.
"It's alright." Rachel said softly, knowing that Belle's words came not from a place of malice, but hurt.
"Can I go now?"
"Yes, Belle, you can go." Rachel said, trying and failing to catch her eye.
The moment the door slammed behind her daughter, Rachel slumped into her seat, massaging her forehead delicately.
"It'll get better." Eddie told her, moving closer to the desk.
"Hopefully…" She looked doubtful.
"It will! D'you want me to ask Tom to have a word with her?"
"No. No, I don't think she'd respond very well to attention being drawn to the issue. Just maybe," she considered briefly, "maybe ask Matt to keep an eye on her? He spends a lot of time with her anyway, what with her extra music lessons and her helping him with the musical. Just- keep it low key."
"Will do."
He left, and Rachel rested her head in her hands. She couldn't tell if the headache she could feel was from lack of sleep or stress. Probably both.
Belle spent her entire day avoiding the main student body. Her close friends had already been filled in by Bolton, and had purposely avoided the subject, for which she was grateful.
She had music last period, and she could practically feel her teacher's eyes on her for the whole lesson. If she could just make it to the last bell, she told herself, it would be just fine. Just half an hour left-
"Oi Munroe!" Michaela shouted, sauntering across the classroom towards her.
Belle knew it was too much to ask for. "What?"
"Is it true? You're Mason's kid?"
Belle gritted her teeth. "Not by choice, I can assure you."
"But you are?" The other girl pressed. Belle's silence was an answer in itself and Michaela sniggered. "So yer mum chooses to spend every week looking after hundreds of kids, but you were so crap that she dumped you."
Belle drew her fist back, but before she could connect with Michaela's face, she found herself being held back by her teacher. Matt gripped her around the arms and hauled her from the room, Belle struggling against him the whole time.
Once out of the room, Matt guided her a short way down the corridor and out of sight of the classroom. Keeping his hands on her arms, he stood in front of her, crouching slightly to see eye to eye, not that she was looking at him.
"Deep breaths, Belle. Calm yourself down."
"Sir, she-!"
"I know! I know, and believe me she won't get away with it. But if you hit her you've not only gotten yourself in trouble, but you've proven to her that she can get to you."
"But she can!" Belle said, frowning deeply and breaking out of her teacher's hold to pace heatedly.
"That's exactly what she wants to hear, Belle! Do you really want to give Michaela White what she wants?"
"No!"
"So calm yourself down, and prove her wrong!"
"I can't." She was clenching and unclenching her fists, and her jaw was working furiously.
"You can't what?" Matt was patient, keeping his voice level and his face showing only compassion and concern.
"I can't calm down."
He took the girl in, the restless energy that she was clearly trying to work out, the eyes darting all over, the way her breaths were coming out heavy and fast. She was going to work herself into a panic attack if she wasn't careful.
"Right. Alright. Belle… Belle?" He waved a hand to get her attention, which was drifting. "Give me one second, stay here."
She barely acknowledged him, just continued to pace.
"Isabelle!"
She looked up at that. People rarely used her full name, unless they were berating her...or unless they were her mother, but that was another matter entirely.
"Belle, will you wait here? I need you to promise me that if I leave you alone for a minute you'll still be here when I come back."
She nodded, meeting his eye at last. "Okay."
Matt dashed back into the classroom, leaving Belle alone.
She continued to pace. She wanted to scream, to scream as loudly and for as long as she possibly could- and she had the lungs of a flute player, it would be very loud and very long. There was a pressure building up inside her- this was more than anger, more than rage. This was years of emotions that she'd kept inside; like a cola bottle, being shaken up over again, and she was just about ready to explode. She was unsure whether it would end in sobbing or screaming, but something would have to be done to release the pressure, or she'd just...break.
She thought about the smashed glass bottles she'd seen when they were overshaken.
She shut her eyes tight and resumed pacing.
"Belle!" Matt said, exiting the classroom, her backpack and ukulele case in his hands. "Come with me."
"What about-" she glanced at the classroom door.
"They'll be fine for a little while. Come on." He smiled at her, and she couldn't help but relax a little. She felt a little of the mounting pressure begin to die down.
He led her to the pastoral care office, and as soon as she realised where she was, she stopped dead. "Nuh-uh."
Matt turned around. "Belle," he waited until she looked at him properly, "do you trust me?"
"I dunno." She clenched her fists again, her nails digging into her palms.
"Even just a little bit?" He coaxed.
"Maybe. You're not as bad as the rest of the teachers, I guess."
"Good to know." He said, trying to keep the amused note out of his voice. "Now, I'm gonna need you to rely on that maybe-trust, alright? Mr Clarkson doesn't bite. I'll tell him what happened; you don't even have to talk at all. But this office is a safe space for you, you won't be around dozens of students asking you questions, or Michaela winding you up. Does that sound alright?"
She shifted her weight onto one foot. "I'm not gonna talk."
"That's not a problem. I just think some quiet away from it all will do you good."
She eventually nodded. Her breathing had calmed, but she still held her anger in her face and body language.
Matt pushed open the door, allowing her to walk in first. Tom sat at his desk, marking papers. At Matt's signal, he left the room, leaving Belle to take a seat on one of the sofa's inside.
"What's gone on?" Tom asked curiously.
"I had to hold her back from punching Michaela White."
"Bloody hell…"
"To be honest, Tom, I don't blame her. I was of half a mind to let her." He explained what had happened.
Tom nodded. "I'll shoot Rachel an email to let her know. Maybe she'll be able to stop Michaela mouthing off."
Matt humphed. "She'd have to be a miracle worker. Anyway, I couldn't just send Belle to the cooler, you should have seen the state she was in, I thought she was going to have a panic attack!"
"I'll keep an eye on her Matt, even if she doesn't want to talk."
"Thanks, Tom."
He left to go back to class, and Tom turned to observe the girl through the window- she;d brought out her ukulele and was plucking at the strings quietly, the music seemingly bringing her some calm. He had no clue how to help her circumstances, but he'd be damned if he wasn't going to try.
So I'm not overly happy with this chapter (mostly the second part), but I've reworked it way too many times already so I'm just going to leave it as it is now. I just wanted to show how the other teachers were interacting, especially Matt as I thought Belle would be closer to him what with her music and that. As always, any suggestions or improvements are welcome, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!
As another side note- updates may start being slower because I'm in the process of trying to move out of my parents (at the age of 21 it's gonna be a relief!), so flat viewings as well as working extra shifts to save up more money is taking up more time. I'll try to keep chapters less than a week apart though, just to keep my momentum going more than anything else. Thanks again -Elvii :)