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Chapter 3

Rachel sat upright in bed, her back resting against the headboard as she tilted her head back, eyes slightly closed her chest rising and falling with precision as her thoughts danced around her head like a fallen leaf in an autumn breeze. The repetitive shrill of the alarm echoed through the room, her hand slamming down hitting it off in an instance.

5.30am. How was It morning already? She had barely closed her eyes in a poor attempt to get some sleep no less than five minutes ago, she was sure of it. She kept her eyes firmly closed but was pulled from her thoughts as she felt the warmth of Eddie's arm spread across her middle. She leant her head towards him, fluttering her eyes open slowly as sleepy smiled etch on her face as she gazed down at him adoringly.

'Good Morning Ms Mason' he mumbled, snuggling closer into her body, reluctantly to start the day just yet. Rachel grinned, he had greeted her with the same line every morning for the last nine months.

'Good morning you' She whispered, her fingers tentatively running though his salty hair.

'So, did you get any sleep at all?' He questioned

'Hmm, some I think.' she moved her hand to rub her eyes and stretch out with a yawn.

'Well something had you tossing and turning all night' he observed, pulling himself up and planting a kiss on her cheek. 'Is everything ok?' The concern lingering as he looked at her.

'I'm ok, I just…' she trailed off, unsure how to finish her sentence without lying to him. Eddie waited patiently giving her the space to continue. She looked at him with a sorrowful look in her eyes, the small lump in her throat forced down as she battled her thoughts and tiredness. Eddie remained silent, his hand capturing hers as this thumb soothed the back of her hand.

'I was thinking about Eleanor, wondering at first what today would bring when we meet her but then I got to thinking about her past and how little we know, how little we know of all our students really' she began to ramble, her thoughts a jungle with no clear path. 'I..' She paused, inhaling. 'Eddie, remember in the summer we spoke about things and I said that there were still parts of my past that you didn't know about and in time I'd tell you?' She chewed her lip and he nodded calmly. 'I just had all of that swirling around and well it's not a recipe for a good night's sleep' she half lied, her mind shutting off as she couldn't bring herself to bring up notions of her past.

'Ok, well next time you wake me up, and we can lose sleep together.' He winked, pulling her into his side and holding her close. He knew she was lying to him but he also knew that it was never intentional. She had been through a lot over the last year and he just remained thankful that she had shared with him what she already had. He kissed the top of her head, his hand tracing light strokes up and down her arm.

'We need to get up.' she mumbled and groaned in response.

'I knew dating the head would have its downsides, we can never pull a sickie' he scoffed in jest and she dug an elbow into his side causing them both to laugh as they climbed out of bed. 'I'll go and make us some coffee, maybe an extra strong one for you as you're pulling all nighters now like our pupils' he winked with a chuckle In his throat. Rachel rolled her eyes and laughed making her way to the en-suite.

The morning passed quicker than either of them would have liked. Rachel took one final look at herself in the smaller mirror hanging in the hallway before grabbing her bag and turning to glance up at Eddie who was patiently waiting with the front door open for her.

'Come on then' she grimaced and walked out of the door, pausing opposite Eddie and leaning forward to kiss him gently on the lips. He held out his arm and stopped her walking off, capturing her gaze in his, holding it intently as he spoke to her.

'When you're ready to tell me whatever it is that is on your mind, I promise I will be there to listen' he reassured her. She smiled and nodded, leaning back in for another kiss, this one lingering with more depth. Of course he knew she wasn't entirely truthful earlier. He knew her too well. 'Come on then otherwise we will be late and the head will not be impressed, and from what I hear, she has a very busy day today.' he teased pulling the front door shut and unlocking the car for them both.

As they set off towards the school Rachel glanced at Eddie haphazardly. He caught her gaze as he glanced between her and the road before them. She smiled lovingly at him, her hand slipping onto his knee, resting in place as he continued to drive.

'I will tell you Eddie, I'm not afraid to tell you, it's just there are some things I am unclear about myself so it's difficult to explain to others.' She offered a reason. 'I love you Eddie and I want to just stay In this bubble of bliss for a little while longer before I bring anymore baggage from my past'

'I love you too Rachel, more than you'll ever know. Which is why when this so-called baggage arrives, I'll help you unpack it, it will be ours to face.' His words were soft and sweet as they landed in her lap.

'What did I do to deserve you?' She whispered, her words slipping without thought.

'Ooo something really good I'd say' He chuckled at himself as she shook her head in disbelief.

'I hope your Maths lessons are better than your jokes Mr Lawson' she warned playfully, the car pulling into the school gates.

'That reminds me, I've got my year 11 GCSE class first period today. Will you and Kim be ok to meet Eleanor without me?' He asked, parking the car and turning his attention to her.

'Yep, all will be ok' she said, breathing in deeply, she held her breath and glanced around the empty school yard. She couldn't explain why she felt nervous about meeting a pupil. There was something deep inside that was warning her about something, but she couldn't quite put a finger on it. She let out the air inside her lungs and pushed the door open, waving at the cars pulling into the car park.

'Arh good to see we still made it before the rest of the misfits' Eddie mumbled, his choice of words purposeful as he glanced at Rachel with a smirk.

'Will you stop that!' She warned, this time with more seriousness in her tone as they walked into the school building.

'Oh come on, Grantley can refer to everyone as riff raff but I can't use misfits?' He argued back defending himself.

'Grantley is not my deputy head nor is he as kind as you, don't stoop to his level' she reasoned, her brows furrowing as she spoke with sincerity.

'Ok, I hear you. His lack of passion just irritates me, you have to care about this job and he clearly doesn't.' Eddie moaned

'But he is a teacher in this school, a member of my staff and well, he's Grantley' she flustered, running out of reasons to defend him. Eddie raised an eyebrow at her but decided against arguing his point further.

'Try and have a good day Rach' he blew her a kiss as he parted ways from her to head to his classroom.

'You too' she called after him before turning to head to her office.

~ WR ~

Eleanor could have sworn she had been travelling all through the night just to be here now. The three hour car journey up to Manchester yesterday was either filled with awkward silences or lectures from her social worker, reminding her constantly how this was her last chance. When she arrived at the care home it was late, she unpacked the four items she owned, dug out some clothes from the spare clothing basket and laid on her bed, staring aimlessly into the room. Very much like now, her vision was so vacant she couldn't even see through her eyes. All of her thoughts escaped her leaving her feeling emptier than ever. She felt the warmth of the cushioned chair beneath her as she waited to be introduced to yet another person who in her eyes was more than likely going to ship her out of school the moment they could. That's what everyone else had done.

She twisted her fingers as she waited, her impatience growing. She didn't even want to be here let alone be waiting. Why could they just fail her now? She was a lost cause, she knew that and they did. She didn't understand the need for this extra effort. It felt like she was being set up to fail. Her legs bounced on the floor and her teeth grinded down hard. A tell tale sign that she was struggling to sit in this room. She glanced at her social worker who had her head buried in her phone tapping away what Elle presumed was some sort of text. She dipped her head and looked down at her lap. Her legs were wrapped in skin tight black jeans, and her white oversized top was hanging loose. She used to spend a lot of time wondering where the clothes she wore came from, who did they belong to before she took them from the lost property section, but she had now become accustomed to it that it never crossed her mind.

'Good Morning, sorry to keep you both waiting' Kim smiled as she entered the little reception outside of Rachel's office.

'Sue, Eleanor, would you like to come though?' She grinned widely.

Great, a smiler. Elle thought as she cursed this woman out in her head. She reluctantly stood after Sue gave her a death stare. She dragged her feet into the office where she clapped eyes on the second woman in the room. Another smiler. She rolled her eyes and stopped in the doorway. She was in the room she thought to herself.

'Hi Eleanor, My Name is Ms Mason, I am the head teacher of Waterloo Road. This is Miss Campbell, Head of pastoral care and head of the art department.' Rachel smiled, walking around to the girl in front of her. Her eyes cast over the young girl before her. Her body wrapped in clothes too big for her, her blonde hair thrown up into a messy bun, looking a little unclean and her face although quite nicely tanned Rachel could see how withdrawn her features were. Rachel's heart began to ache, Elle was clearly not cared for, and did not appear to care much for herself. The deep dark bags under her eyes spoke volumes as did this girls tiny frame. Rachel smiled and held out her hand. 'Hi Elle isn't it? That's what you prefer?'

Elle ignored her, she stared right into Rachel's eyes, her expression remained emotionless as she held her gaze. Rachel sighed and pressed her lips together. 'It's ok if you're nervous, that's normal sweetheart.' She lowered her tone offering a calmer approach. Elle did not budge, she stood rooted to the spot, refusing to offer any cracks through her hard exterior.

'Ok, well Elle If you'd like I can give you a little tour of the school? Explain a bit about your timetable and who your teachers are?' Kim attempted to engage the young girl before her with no such luck. Her gaze shifted from Rachel to Kim but that was it. She had remained completely silent, almost hoping that if she didn't make a sound or move they'd forget she was even there. Rachel clocked her eye movement, letting her know that she was at least listening to them.

'Eleanor' Sue spoke through gritted teeth. Her tone caused both of the other females in the room to glance at one another and back to Elle. Elle turned to face Sue, the anger boiling inside her whenever this woman spoke to her. It was taking everything in her not to shout or run away. Her fist curled tightly at her side, her nails digging into her skin as she glared towards her social worker. Rachel glanced down and noticed the sudden change in emotion, watching as Elles nails dug harder into her skin, her knuckle turning white.

'Its ok Elle, we're here to help.' Rachel soothed, fighting the urge to reach out and hold this girl. Elle looked down to her feet, and continued to hold up her silence.

'She is normally quite vocal, but perhaps she is tired.' Sue laughed nervously. 'Ms Mason I'll be based back down south where Elle has just come from but I am going to remain her social worker. I'll be doing monthly check-ins with you but if you need anything in the meantime please call me or contact the children's home.' She smiled. 'Right Elle, I'll pop back up soon and see how you're settling in. Remember what we discussed now, yeah?' She warned, her eyebrow raising as she stared at Elle.

Rachel did not like Sue's tone at all, it was something that unsettled her in the meeting yesterday and now seeing Elle shut down in front of her she didn't half blame her. She opened the door for Sue and took a moment outside the office to have a more private chat.

'I'm sorry about the uniform, or lack of. We didn't have time to sort anything and she never had any at her last school; she often refused.' Sue bit her lip nervously.

'It's ok we will work on it, the important thing is that she is here right now.' Rachel smiled.

'Good Luck… you're going to need it' Sue quipped as she exited the office swiftly. Rachel placed her hands on her hips and sighed heavily before walking back into her office.

'Ms Mason I've got Elle's timetable here, she has English with Mr Clarkson first. Are you happy for me to take her? Or did you want any further chats with her?' Kim asked unsure how to play this. They were expecting a vocal girl and instead they were met with a wall of silence.

Her? I am standing right here you know. I don't like you already. Elle thought as her eyes walked Kim up and down. Rachel twisted her lips for a moment looking between Elle and Kim. Elle turned slightly to face Rachel causing Rachel to smile gently at her as she did this.

'I think Eleanor can go to class. Having me prod you for information when you clearly don't want to speak isn't going to be helpful now is it?' Rachel winked. That was easy, how soft is this headteacher. Elle thought. Her hands slowly unclenched from her fists and she looked over her shoulder to Kim, silently waiting for her to guide her to the lesson.

'Right, well. Follow me' She smiled while escorting the young girl from the office.

'Eleanor, before you leave' Rachel stopped her in her tracks, she lowered herself more to her level and captured her gaze fully in hers. Her piercing brown eyes absorbed Rachel fully as she watched her speak.

'If you need anything, anything at all, my office is always open.' Her words were soft and held so much promise. Elle turned around completely disregarding her offer and followed Kim out of the room. Rachel stood upright and watched her disappear outside the room. She ran her fingers through her hair and chewed at her lips. How was she going to help this girl? And more importantly, Why did she feel like it needed to be her?