Chapter 4
This is set a few weeks later
A few weeks had passed, and Gaby was now recovering well from her operation, however Rachel had noticed she'd become increasingly quiet around the house and seemed to spend a lot more time in her bedroom that she had done before. Although Rachel had tried talking with her about it on several occasions, Gaby had insisted that she was fine and was just feeling a bit stressed out with school work so Rachel hadn't pushed it.
Amy and Ivy had both fully settled in now and were relaxed around the house, they both seemed to be enjoying school too, which Rachel was glad about, she'd been so nervous about how Ivy would settle but she seemed to be loving it at the moment.
It was a Friday afternoon and Rachel was sat at her desk catching up on some paperwork when there was a knock at her office door
"Yeah come in" she shouted, she hoped it wasn't going to be anything too important as she was rather hoping to get away on time tonight
Jasmine opened the door and came in
"Hey jasmine, how can I help?" Rachel said smiling
"I'm on a free period, I was just wondering if I could have a word about Gaby?"
"yes of course, just shut the door and come and sit down"
Jasmine sat opposite Rachel, it felt weird to be talking to her about this but Jasmine had been concerned for a few weeks now and felt it was her duty to bring it up to Rachel
"Is there some sort of trouble with Gaby?"
"Well no not exactly, though her work has been slipping quite a bit, but she just doesn't seem herself at all, she's so quiet in class which is so unusual when she's so bubbly normally and I found her crying in the toilets at lunch time"
"Really?" Rachel said feeling worried
"Yeah, I think she might have had a falling out with some of her friends too, she just seems a bit upset and lonely at the moment"
"To be honest, she hasn't been right at home either" Rachel sighed "I have tried talking with her a couple of times"
"Look I know it's not my place … in fact maybe I should just keep my mouth shut"
"No no go on, I could do with the advice to be honest"
"It's just sometimes I guess it's hard to talk to your mum about stuff, that's why the kids come to us sometimes. I suppose maybe it might be easier to talk to you as a teacher and not a Mum"
"You know what Jasmine I think you're right there" Rachel said smiling slightly "Thanks so much for letting me know, I really appreciate it"
"It's no trouble, Gaby's such a good kid"
Jasmine then left her office, leaving Rachel feeling quite worried
She decided to check Gaby's progress report, to see how her grades were doing, when she got it up she was shocked to see how poorly she'd done on the recent tests they'd had. The year 7s had been given a letter to take home to their parents about their results and it was only now that Rachel realised she hadn't had hers off Gaby yet.
Rachel had realised what Jasmine had said was true and decided to try and have a chat with Gaby at school, thinking maybe if she spoke to her as a teacher and not a Mum it might be easier for her to explain what was going on
"Bridget, could you tell me what class Gaby Mason's in?" Rachel asked
"Yes of course I'll just have a look now" Bridget said "She's with miss Haydock in 304"
"Thank you, look why don't you get an early finish, you deserve it after all that packing work you did for me yesterday, I haven't forgotten"
"Oh, are you sure?" she said smiling
"Yes of course, there's only 20 minutes left anyway, you get off home"
Bridget packed her stuff away and Rachel walked down the corridor to Steph's classroom, before going in she looked through the window and she could see Gaby sat not paying attention just staring down at her desk
She walked over and knocked on the door before walking in
"sorry to interrupt Miss Haydock, I just need a few words with Gaby"
"yes of course, maybe you can come back with your head in your French sheet and not the sky Gaby"
Everyone laughed at this and Gaby blushed before going outside with her mum
"Sorry Gaby, this shouldn't take too long, just come through to my office"
Gaby was confused but followed her Mum through, however when they got there they were surprised to see Amy and her friend with Mr Thompson
"Miss mason, I've been looking for you. These two have been acting up in my lesson all afternoon, I tried sending them to the cooler and they swore at me"
"I really hope that's not true girls" Rachel said sounding quite serious "I really hope you wouldn't be stupid enough to cheek a teacher like that"
The two girls looked at each other and giggled which caused Rachel to lose her cool
"How dare you laugh at me when I'm talking to you" she shouted "Inside my office now, believe me you won't be laughing after we've had a little chat girls"
The two of them did start to look a bit uncomfortable now
"Gaby wait out here love, I dare say it won't take two long to deal with these idiots"
Rachel then went into her office and sat behind her desk
"What do the two of you have to say for yourselves then huh?"
"Sorry miss" Jess said
"Amy?"
"I'm sorry I swore at him but I'm not sorry I acted up in his lesson, I was bored and if he didn't want people acting up he shouldn't have made such a boring lesson"
Rachel leaned In closer to Amy
"Listen to me very carefully because I'm only going to say this once, you will never disrespect a teacher like that again in my school, you ought to be ashamed of yourself" Rachel said, she wasn't shouting but she sounded scary all the same "I mean it, you ever speak like that again and you'll be suspended, and don't think the fact your my niece is going to work in your favour have you got that?"
"Yes"
"Yes what?"
"Yes, miss" Amy said deliberately emphasising the last bit
"Go to the cooler Amy, you can stay there till the end of the day"
"No"
"No?"
"I haven't done anything wrong"
"Fine I'll give you a choice you can either go to the cooler or you'll be suspended for 3 days and don't for one second think I'm going to make being at home an easy ride for you"
"This school is shit" Amy shouted before kicking the chair and leaving
Rachel sighed heavily and rolled her eyes "Jess you'll have detention every lunch time next week, and you're to apologise to Mr Thompson, is that clear?"
"Yes"
"Now get out"
Rachel had to take a minute or so to get herself together, she felt extremely let down by Amy, but she had put it to the back of her mind for now
She opened her office door
"Gaby, come through love" Rachel said
Nervously Gaby went through to her Mums office
"Let's sit on the sofa"
Gaby and Rachel went to sit down
"Am I in trouble"
"No, it's nothing like that. Gaby a few teachers have come up to me, they tell me … they tell me you haven't seemed yourself and I've had a look at your monitoring data, you seem to be struggling a bit"
"Why did you have to come and find me, why didn't you just ask me at home"
"Well because Gaby, I'm concerned about you as a teacher not just as your Mum"
"I'm sorry I probably should have just worked a bit harder for the tests" Gaby said
"Did you find them really hard?"
Gaby just shrugged her shoulders and stared at the floor
"It's not just about the tests though Gaby, they've been saying you've been really quiet in class, now that's just not like you, normally you can't be shut up" Rachel said causing a trace of a smile to appear on Gaby's face
"I guess I've just been stressed with school, its so much harder than primary"
"I know it is, but you were doing so well Gaby and I just don't believe the way you've been acting at home and at school is all because of school work" Rachel said
"I just find it hard"
Rachel paused for a moment before saying "Miss Koreshi said she found you crying in the toilets at lunch, you wanna tell me what that was about?"
"Nothing"
"Well it can't be nothing it must be something"
"I just had a falling out with Katie"
"What over?"
"Nothing, please just leave me alone Mum"
"Gaby I can't help unless you talk to me"
"There's nothing to talk about, I'm fine"
Rachel sighed but realised she couldn't exactly force Gaby to talk if she didn't want to talk
"Okay, but you know If you need anyone to talk to I'm here don't you"
"Yeah, can I go now?"
"Yep go on, try and come out quickly tonight, remember we've got that meal with grandma and grandad tonight"
"Okay" Gaby said before walking off
She didn't go into class though, she went and hid in the toilets and started sobbing. The truth was some girls in the year above Gaby had started bullying her, at first it had just been daft teasing but now it had turned nasty, to the point Gaby was terrified of coming to school. They'd started writing things all over Facebook about her and at school they wouldn't leave her alone, they'd even got some of the year 7s to join in as well. Gaby just felt so scared and alone, but she knew she couldn't tell anyone because it would just make it worse.
She was just about to leave when one of the girls came in
"Oh look who it is" Leah said laughing "Have you been crying? God you're so pathetic"
"Leave me alone"
"Sorry I can't, Jessica wants to see you outside"
"What for?"
"I don't know, come with me"
Gaby didn't dare argue and followed her outside
Leah took her over right to the back of the playground where no one could see them, Jessica was already stood there
"Oh our best girl Gaby's come to see us" She said laughing "Though I guess you can't really call her a girl, she looks more like a boy to me" Jessica said staring at Gaby's chest
"I've never done anything to you" Gaby said sobbing
"You were born, that's enough" Leah said "It's your lucky day though, we're going to make you a film star"
"What?"
"We're going to make a nice little film of you and post it for everyone to see"
"I don't want you to though"
"Tough shit, I want to, so we will" Jessica said "Now get down on your knees, Leah start filming"
Gaby got down on her knees, shaking with fear
"Eat the grass"
"No" Gaby cried "I can't"
"Do it" Leah said giving her a kick
"No"
"I said do it" Leah said sounding quite threatening
Gaby didn't dare argue and put the grass in her mouth
"Say moo like a cow would" Leah said causing Jessica to giggle
Gaby did it, praying this would all stop soon
"Can you stop now"
"One moment" Jessica said before winking at Leah
Leah then went over and yanked Gaby's skirt and tights down
"Stop it please" Gaby said "Please don't show anyone that"
"We'll show who we want" Jessica said "Though I guess we should show our thanks"
Jessica then went over and kicked Gaby hard in the stomach causing her to double over in pain, her stomach was still particularly sensitive from when she'd had her operation
"You're fat, you're ugly and pathetic" Leah said "And if you dare tell your Mum about this, you'll be dead"
The two of them then walked off, leaving Gaby crying on the ground
She heard the bell go for the end of school, however waited at the back of the playground for about 15 minutes until most people had left
She knew her Mum would be looking for her, so got her stuff together and went inside. Her stomach was really hurting from where Jessica had kicked her
She ran upstairs to her Mums office
"Gaby I've been looking everywhere for you, I thought I told you to go back to your class, Miss Haydock said you never turned up" Rachel said
Gaby couldn't help herself from bursting into a fresh flood of tears
Rachel immediately put down her paperwork and went over to her
"Gaby what's wrong, what's happened hmm?" She asked, worry evident in her voice "Come on love, come and sit down"
Gaby sat on the sofa, she knew she couldn't tell her mum what was wrong, but it was just nice to feel secure and safe in here
"I'm going to get you something to drink, hot chocolate or coffee?" Rachel asked, she knew that she was going to be late for Ivy, however right now she needed to concentrate on Gaby, she decided to send her Mum a text asking her to pick Ivy up, since they should have arrived at her house by now. Although Rachel's mum wasn't close to her brother, she'd always tried to keep in touch with Ivy and Amy as much as possible, so the girls felt quite comfortable around her
"Can I have a hot chocolate please?"
"Of course, I'll make one for myself as well"
"Mum don't you need to go and get Amy out the cooler"
"Nope she can stew in there for a bit longer, I dare say it won't do her any harm"
"What about Ivy?"
"Grandma's picking her up"
Rachel made the drinks and brought one over to Gaby
"Thanks Mum"
"That's alright" Rachel said "Now are you going to tell me what's upset you so much"
Gaby thought for a moment before saying "I just don't feel well, I've got a really bad stomach, that's why I couldn't go back to class"
Rachel frowned slightly, not really believing her
"Well that must have come on very suddenly, you seemed aright when you let my office"
"I know it just really started to hurt when I went back to class"
"Does it hurt where you had your operation?"
"No it's just kind of everywhere, I'm sure it'll be fine soon"
"Darling are you sure that's the only thing that's bothering you, you can tell me anything you know, no matter how shocking you think it is, I'm not going to get angry I promise"
For a moment, Gaby thought about telling her Mum everything, she really wanted to but then she remembered what Jessica had said to her
"I'm fine I just feel ill"
"Okay, well before we go out maybe you should have a little lie down or something hmm?"
"Yeah I probably should"
Rachel wasn't entirely convinced and still felt worried about Gaby
They finished their hot chocolate and then Rachel decided she should probably get Amy
"Right why don't you go and wait in the car, here I'll give you my keys, I shouldn't be too long"
Gaby went off and waited inside Rachel's car, about 10 minutes later Amy and Rachel came out of school, both still looking pretty annoyed at one another
"It's so unfair, no other teacher would give me 2 weeks detention and you only gave Jess one week and she was the one who swore at him"
"Yes but you were the one who was cheeky in my office weren't you. I'm not backing down Amy so you can either accept it or throw a massive sulk all weekend, quite frankly I don't care which you choose"
"And you've grounded me for a week, which is so unfair because you always say that you treat me no differently, but you couldn't ground Jess could you?"
"No and I'm not grounding you as a teacher I'm grounding you as your guardian"
"you just get to know everything about me and I hate it"
"I rang jess's parents to let them know what happened" Rachel pointed out
They continued to argue for a bit longer until eventually things started to settle down a bit
When they got home, Ivy ran up to Rachel and gave her a hug
"Hey love how you doing"
"Good, Molly in my class asked if I could go and play around her house tomorrow, but she said that her mum said that I've got to ask you first"
"Well its fine by me love, did her mum give me a number to call to grandma and grandad"
"Yeah they've got it"
"Okay well I'll give her a call later"
Rachel then went over and gave her Mum and Dad a hug, she hadn't seen them in a couple of weeks, so she was glad they were going to be staying for the weekend
She got them some coffee and they stayed downstairs chatting for a bit, however then they realised they had to get ready
"I've made up the spare room on the second floor, I just though because it's got an en-suite you'd feel more comfortable there"
"yes that'll be perfect, thanks for all the effort you've gone to Rachel"
"It's no trouble at all"
Gaby was in her room, she was staring at herself in her mirror. What the girls had said to her earlier about being fat and ugly kept going around her head. She took her school uniform off and stared at her body in the mirror, she squinted at herself, maybe it was true, her chest was basically non-existent, and her stomach did seem to pop out a bit, she looked at her legs, they seemed pretty normal but when she looked closer she thought maybe they did look pretty wide after all. She began to cry, it was all true, she did look like a boy and she was fat.
Suddenly Gaby's door opened and Rachel walked in
Rachel stopped for a moment when she saw Gaby in her underwear, staring at herself in the mirror
"Gaby what are you doing love"
"Go away" Gaby screamed "You can't just come in my room, get out"
Rachel was shocked at how hysterical Gaby was getting
"You know what Gaby no, I'm not going to go away" she said firmly before closing the door behind me
"I don't want you in here" she sobbed as she quickly put her vest top and leggings on
"I know you don't but I've just seen you staring at yourself in the mirror and crying, now why would a beautiful girl like you be doing that huh?"
"I'm not beautiful, I'm fat" Gaby blurted out
"What?" Rachel said sounding really worried "Gaby you couldn't be any further away from being fat, you've got a lovely slim figure"
"No I haven't, I haven't even got a figure, I may as well be a boy"
Rachel sighed and sat down on the bed "Love come and sit down a minute"
Reluctantly Gaby went and sat next to Rachel
"Gaby you're 11 years old, you're no where near a woman yet and neither are any of the other girls in your year no matter how much they stuff their bras"
Gaby couldn't help but laugh a tiny bit at that
"But I haven't developed at all, and my thighs are huge"
Rachel shook her head in disbelief "Love has someone at school said something?"
"No" Gaby said a little too suddenly
"You can tell me if they have you know"
"They haven't"
"So where on earth have you got the idea from that you're fat then?"
"I don't know, I guess I just kind of saw when I looked in the mirror"
"Well you obviously need to look again, don't you? Because you are an absolutely stunning girl and anyone who says any different is telling you a great big lie"
Gaby gave a weak smile
"Thanks Mum"
"So no more talking nonsense okay?"
"Okay"
"Good, now you better start getting ready, hadn't you?"
Rachel then left, as soon as she'd gone Gaby turned to look at herself in the mirror again, she thought maybe she could make herself look different, maybe if she wore makeup like the older girls did she'd look like them and they would stop bullying her
Gaby didn't own that much makeup though and she didn't really know how to apply it, however she thought maybe Amy could help her out
She went and knocked on Amy's door
"Yeah"
Gaby walked in and found Amy getting changed, she wished she could look more like her cousin
"Hey Gaby"
"Amy will you do my makeup, just like how you do yours?"
Amy smiled, she loved making people over
"Sure, come and sit down, though I won't do it exactly like mine you're lucky because you've got that lovely blonde hair, you wouldn't suit really dark makeup"
Gaby sat down on the chair and Amy got some of her makeup out
"Amy do you think I'm fat?"
"What? Are you kidding, of course not. Who's said that to you?"
"No one"
"Someone's been giving you a hard time and I know it" Amy said
"It's just some girls in the year above, but its fine I know they don't mean it"
"Which girls? I'll sort them out for you" Amy said
"No, it's not like that, it'll be fine honestly"
"Have you told your Mum about them?"
"No" Gaby said "It'll make it worse, it's fine really, I just need to stand up to them a bit"
"Well if anyone does start giving you any grief you come and let me know about it"
"I will" Gaby said smiling
It made Gaby feel quite relaxed being in here with Amy, although a lot of people found Amy intimidating, she really was a lovely girl and would always stick up for people if she thought someone was bullying them
Rachel was just walking past Amy's room and was about to come in and put her washing on the bed for her, when she heard Gaby's voice
"Amy can I ask you something?"
"Sure"
"How old were you when you started your period?"
"Erm 10 I think"
"10? But I'm 11 does that mean I should have started mine by now"
"I thought you said you had started yours?" Amy said confused
"Oh.. well I just said that because I didn't want you to think I was a baby"
Amy laughed slightly "Of course I wouldn't have done, I was really early starting mine, so of course you're not abnormal or anything"
Rachel couldn't help but be concerned when she overheard this conversation, she couldn't understand why Gaby wanted to grow up all of a sudden. However, Rachel knew that it probably wouldn't be the best idea to say anything as she didn't want to embarrass Gaby so she decided just to leave it
She waited a moment and then knocked on the door
Amy shouted for her to come in so Rachel opened the door
"Amy's doing my makeup Mum"
"Well that's very nice of her isn't it, your eye makeup looks lovely" Rachel said
"Thanks"
"Don't go getting any ideas though young lady, if you ever turn up to school with that much on I'd hunt you down with a wet wipe"
Gaby smiled, she couldn't wait to see what she looked like with all the makeup on
After about half an hour Amy was finished
Gaby turned to look at herself in the mirror and smiled, she looked really grown up, maybe if she looked like this every day people wouldn't pick on her as much she thought
"You look stunning" Amy said smiling
"Thanks so much Amy" Gaby said giving her a hug
About 10 minutes later they were all ready to go so they got in Rachel's car and set off
"Rachel can I go out tomorrow?" Amy asked
"Out where?" She said suspiciously
"To my friend's party"
"Which friend?"
"Sam in year 12"
"No Amy, I'm sorry you're not going to a sixth formers party. You know what happened last time"
"That was ages ago"
"Yes and I still haven't forgotten about it, I'm sorry there's just no way I'm going to let you go"
"You're so unfair" Amy said "Everyone else Is allowed to go except for me"
"Yeah well, I'm obviously completely unreasonable, then aren't I? But my answers still no"
"You're not my Mum" Amy said "If I want to go I'll go"
"Amy we'll talk about this later" Rachel sighed, she wanted to have a nice evening with the girls and her parents, so she didn't want Amy to ruin it
It took them about 20 minutes to get there, Rachel was impressed when she saw it, it really did look very nice
They all went inside and got their table
It was really nice for them to all be together, Gaby seemed a lot happier too which Rachel was glad about
They were just about to order some food, when Rachel looked up and saw that one of her students, Josie March coming in with her family
Gaby's heart sank when she saw her coming over, she was another one of the girls bullying her, she stared at the ground praying she wouldn't see her
Rachel smiled when she saw her and quickly said hello
As she was walking past Josie smiled sweetly at Gaby, however this just made her feel even more nervous than before
They then ordered their food and started chatting again, however Gaby had suddenly gone all quiet again
"I'm just going to the toilet" Gaby said before going off
Unfortunately, Josie had seen her go in, so followed her inside
Gaby came out the cubicle and got the shock of her life when Josie was there
"Hi Gaby, how are you?"
"Fine" Gaby mumbled trying to push past her, however Josie stopped her
"Not so fast" Josie said "We haven't said hello yet"
"Hello"
"You're very tarted up tonight" Josie said laughing "Who's it for eh?"
"No one"
"I never knew Gaby Mason was actually a slag, who's have guessed it"
"I'm not a slag"
"Really. I'm going to let everyone at school know how I saw you with Zach Jones today, how you were getting off behind the bike sheds"
"But you didn't see me do that"
"People will believe whatever I tell them, though won't they?"
"Why do you hate me so much" Gaby cried
Josie just laughed
"Here lets get another picture, you must want people to see how much of a slag you look"
Josie got her phone out and took a picture, however just as she was putting her phone away Rachel walked in
"Hey Gaby we were wondering where you'd got to" Rachel said and then she noticed Gaby's face "Have you been crying?"
"I'm fine" Gaby said before running back to the table
It was only then that Rachel realised Josie was there
"I've been trying to tell her it doesn't matter miss, but she just keeps getting upset"
"That what doesn't matter?" Rachel asked
"Oh sorry I thought you would have known already, I don't want to drop Gaby in it or anything, we're quite good friends"
"Josie look I'm worried about Gaby so if you know something I want you to tell me now" Rachel said
"Well she went mental in Budgens's class today at us all, told us all to f off and everything, we were only teasing her about Zach Jones"
"Zach?"
"Well she skipped form today, so she could get with him behind the bike sheds, we didn't mean to make her upset"
"What? Zach Jones, he's in year 9 isn't he" Rachel said shocked
"I think they were only kissing but…"
"But what?"
"Well April said that Gaby told her she sent pictures to him"
"Josie are you sure?"
"Well I'm sure about her getting with him, I saw it with my own eyes and so did a load of other people, but I don't know if she sent pictures, it might just be a rumour"
Rachel was so shocked by this, she couldn't believe it of Gaby but it would explain her behaviour, she wanted to confront her about it immediately but knew it wasn't the best time and it would have to wait till they got home
"Right, well thanks for letting me know I guess. I'll see you on Monday Josie"
"Bye Miss, I haven't got Gaby into trouble have I? We were all worried about her"
"Well I'm worried about her to" Rachel said before going back to their table
As soon as she sat down Gaby could tell something was wrong and started panicking about what Josie might have said
Rachel had seemed in such a good mood before, however now she was acting weirdly and not really talking that much
"What's wrong Mum" Gaby asked nervously
"We'll talk about it later Gaby, me and you need to have pretty serious discussion I think"
The rest of the meal felt a little bit awkward however Amy was still chatting away to her Grandparent. All Rachel wanted to do was get home, so she could confront Gaby.
Eventually it was time to pay the bill. Rachel's Dad insisted on treating everyone despite Rachel's protests.
Rachel's Mum Joan, could tell something was wrong with her daughter and wanted to find out what it was
"Kids why don't you go in Grandad's car on the way home, you always love going in his jeep don't you Ivy? I'll drive back with your Mum Gaby?"
Rachel sighed, knowing it was just a ploy to get her on her own, but the girls seemed happy about going back with their grandad, so she couldn't really say anything.
Joan and Rachel went back to the car and put their seat belts on
"What's up Rach? I can tell somethings happened, you went really quiet after you went to find Gaby"
Rachel sighed before saying "I'm worried about Gaby Mum. She's been acting so weirdly over the last few days and Josie, the girl who goes to my school who I said hello to, well she just told me then that Gaby had got with some older boy behind the bike sheds today when she should have been in class and she's been… she's been sending him pictures of herself"
"Pictures?"
"It's what they do these days, they send pictures of themselves without any ..or at least very few clothes on"
"What? That doesn't sound like Gaby"
"I know but it does kind of figure I suppose" Rachel sighed "I'm just so worried, she's far too young for all that"
"I don't know I seem to remember tearing my hair out over you and your boyfriends when you weren't that much older that Gaby is now"
Rachel couldn't help but smile at this, she knew her Mum was right, and she hadn't exactly been a model child during her teenage years
"So what do you think I should do Mum? I feel so angry"
"Look you need to talk about it with her, me and your Dad will make ourselves scarce, we'll take Amy and Ivy out to choose a film for tonight or something and you can have a talk with Gaby"
Rachel smiled at her Mum, they had a great relationship now and Rachel was glad of the support
"Thanks Mum"
They chatted a bit more as Rachel drove home and when pulled up outside Rachel's house at about the same time as John
"Amy, Ivy why don't we go for a walk to the shop, we can get some snacks and pick a film to watch tonight"
"That sounds good" Ivy said
The four of them walked off leaving Rachel and Gaby alone
"Come inside Gaby"
Nervously Gaby followed Rachel inside and they took their shoes off
"Let's go though to the back room we can talk in there"
They went through and Rachel sat down on the sofa, indicating for Gaby to do the same.
Rachel turned to face Gaby
"Gaby I'm going to ask you something and I want you to be honest with me, I know it'll be difficult, but I just need to know"
Fear flooded through Gaby, she knew Josie must have told her Mum something and whatever it was she didn't sound very happy about it at all
"What is it Mum?"
"I spoke to Josie earlier, she told me that you were with Zach Jones today when you should have been in class"
Gaby couldn't believe this, she didn't know what to do because if she told her Mum the truth that she hadn't been with or even spoken to Zach today then her Mum would confront Josie about it on Monday and that would make everything even worse.
"Gaby is that true?" Rachel asked hoping somehow Josie had got the wrong end of the stick
Gaby didn't say anything, just stared at the ground and nodded
"What were you doing with him?"
"Nothing"
"Well that's not what Josie tell me, no she tells me you were kissing" Rachel said sounding pretty stern now
"Yeah but that's it"
"What and that isn't enough is it? You were sneaking out of class to see some year 9 boy, what sort of girl does that Gaby? You've never done anything like that before"
"I'm sorry"
"Well you know what it's not good enough I'm afraid. Gaby, I don't know what to do with you, why would you do something like that?"
Gaby just shrugged her shoulders "I don't know"
"Well you better start thinking Gaby because I'm not happy, I'm not happy at all. You've got more sense than to behave like that"
"I won't do it again I promise"
"Too right you won't. I just don't understand you Gaby. You're not the type of girl to be kissing some random boy, you're far too young to be behaving like that"
"I'm sorry" Gaby said again, tears filling her eyes
"That's not the only thing she told me" Rachel said
Gaby began to wonder what on earth Josie could have said about her beside from this
"What else did she say?"
"That you've been sending pictures to Zach"
"Mum I haven't I swear" Gaby said crying
"Well Josie did say it was only a rumour and there was a time that I would have taken your word for it that it is just a rumour, but I clearly can't trust you at the moment can I. So I need you to pass me your phone"
"Why?"
"Because unfortunately Gaby I just don't trust you and I need to look through it"
Gaby knew if she gave her Mum her phone then she'd see all the messages the girls had been sending her and it would make it so much worse
"No"
Rachel raised her eyebrows at this
"Got something to hide?"
"No, I just don't want you going through there its private"
"No Gaby, your 11 years old and if I'm worried about your safety then I've got act now pass me your phone"
"Mum there's nothing on there"
"Well I don't know that do I, hand it over Gaby"
Gaby didn't know what to do, she couldn't stand the thought of her Mum thinking what Josie had said was true but equally she couldn't let her see all the messages
"I can't"
"If you've got nothing to hide then you wouldn't mind"
"I'm not handing it over"
"Gaby did you send Zach a picture of yourself?"
"No" She screamed through tears
"Then why won't you hand over the phone"
"Because I've got private stuff on there" Gaby cried
"Like what Gaby, what have you got on there that you don't want me to see"
"Conversations between my friends and stuff"
"Well I can't possibly think what you can be talking about that's so awfully private, but I don't want to look at your messages to your friends, I want to see the pictures you have on there and the messages to Zach"
"Fine, but don't look at anything else"
Gaby handed her phone over to her Mum and Rachel took it off her
She'd never been through Gaby's phone before however she really didn't feel like she had a choice
She started scrolling through Gaby's pictures and was immensely relieved to see she didn't have anything on there except some pictures of her friends and other typical stuff
She then went into Gaby's contacts but was surprised to see Zach wasn't even on there
"Gaby where's Zach's number" Rachel asked
"I don't have it, I don't even talk to him over the phone"
"Well if you've been kissing each other when you should be in class, surely you must have his number? Surely you talk to one another"
"it's not like that"
"So what made you decide to do it then?"
"I told you I don't know"
"Well I don't need to tell you how disappointed I am"
"Can I have my phone back now"
"No, I'm going to keep it for the weekend. And can you bring your Ipad down too please"
"But why? There was nothing on there"
"Because I'm worried about you Gaby and I'm still not one bit happy about today"
"Can I turn it off then, I don't want you seeing my friends messages to me"
"You know what maybe I should see what your friends are talking about, because It must be pretty bad if your so worried about me seeing it"
"No don't please" Gaby begged
Rachel sighed but switched the phone off all the same
"Go and get the Ipad please, you can keep your computer to do school work on but other than that you don't use it"
"Fine"
Gaby went upstairs and brought her Ipad down
"Thank you"
"Can I go now?"
"Yep"
Gaby then ran upstairs and closed her door behind her. She instantly began to sob, she couldn't believe what Josie had told her Mum and didn't know how all of this was going to end.
She logged onto her computer straight away and went onto facebook. She couldn't believe how many notifications she had and saw that Jessica really had posted the video she'd taken of her earlier.
Suddenly Gaby had to run to the toilet to be sick. She'd never felt more upset in her life and couldn't believe that a few weeks ago she'd felt so happy.
She stayed in the toilet for a while, as she could hear that the rest of them were back and didn't want to face them.
However, after about 15 minutes she heard a knock on the door
"Gaby what are you doing, you've been in there ages?" Rachel shouted through
"I'm just going to have a bath"
"Okay, don't use all the hot water"
Gaby ran herself a bath and stayed in the bath for about half an hour, tears running freely down her face
Eventually she got out and wrapped a towel around herself before going into her bedroom and getting into some pyjamas
A little while later she heard a knock on the door, she hoped it wasn't Rachel because she really wasn't in the mood for another lecture
"yeah"
To her surprise Amy walked in and sat down on the bed next to her
"Rachel sent me up, she wants to know if you want to watch a film with us"
"No, I'm okay thanks"
"What's up Gaby" Amy asked gently "Are you in trouble or something? You can tell me, I won't tell your Mum I promise"
"No I'm okay"
"You know you can always talk to me if you feel upset, I can actually be quite a good listener and I would never judge you, not for anything. I'm sure I've done far worse"
"It's nothing honestly"
"Well you know where I am, if ever you do need someone to talk to"
"Thanks Amy"
Amy smiled before leaving Gaby to it
It was about midnight and Gaby still hadn't slept, she kept crying and checking her laptop, looking at all the comments people had left
She'd heard everyone else go to bed about half an hour ago, although she knew her Mum wasn't asleep because she'd gone in the bath
She didn't want to tell her what was wrong, but she hated feeling so low
Rachel had just got out the bath and had changed into her pyjamas when she decided to go and check if Gaby had got off to sleep, she'd felt a bit bad about not coming to sort things out with her earlier
She gently eased open her daughter's bedroom door and was surprised to find her with her laptop on
"Gaby its midnight what are you still doing awake and I think I remember saying you could only use that for school work" Rachel said however she didn't sound too cross
"Sorry" Gaby mumbled before putting it away
Rachel went and crouched down beside her bed
"I'm sorry if you thought I was being too harsh on you earlier"
"It's fine, I know I shouldn't have done it"
Rachel smiled slightly before tucking a piece of Gaby's hair behind her ear
"Gaby is there something going on with you that I don't know about"
"No"
"Because you can tell me anything"
"There's nothing"
"Okay, I just wanted to check" Rachel said "Come on, it really is time for sleep"
"Mum, can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Gaby asked
"Yeah, come on" Rachel said
The two of them went into Rachel's bedroom and got into her large double bed. Rachel then flicked the light off and put her arms around Gaby
For the first time today, Gaby felt safe and secure and it didn't take her long to drift off to sleep
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