It was the first day of the new school year and everyone was feeling a bit nervous, especially Hannah. Over the last few weeks she'd been acting really weirdly around the house and had barely slept last night because all she could think about was starting school. Rachel had tried her best to reassure her but she wasn't sure how well it had worked. Privately she was also feeling quite nervous about Hannah starting school, she was still quite young for her age and wasn't sure how she was going to handle being in secondary school.
When Hannah had changed into her new school uniform she went downstairs and found Rachel in the kitchen with ivy
"Wow don't you look smart" Rachel remarked, she had a feeling in a couple of months time Hannah's uniform wouldn't look quite so smart and a few rules would be broken.
A few minutes later Gaby and Amy also came down.
Rachel sighed heavily when she saw their uniforms, especially Gaby's.
"Girls I think you need to make a few adjustments, Amy you need a tie and blazer on and wipe the lipstick off. Gaby your skirts so short I can practically see your knickers, you've got way too much makeup on and the buttons on your shirt need to be done up"
Both girls rolled their eyes and sighed
"I mean it girls, go and sort it out, we don't want to start this year off badly on the first day!" Rachel said "Gaby if you don't sort that skirt out you can change into trousers"
Reluctantly the two of them went upstairs to go and sort their uniform out
They came down a couple of minutes later and although Rachel still wasn't exactly happy they were looking a lot better than when they'd first came down.
"Mum do we have to go to assembly first thing?" Gaby asked "or is it optional?"
"Tell me that's not a serious question, when has assembly ever been optional, of course you have to go"
"Can you please not make it drag on forever then" Gaby sighed
"Well if you're not in assembly you'll be in lessons so I don't know why you're so bothered"
"We won't be in lessons" Amy said
"Why where are you planning on going?" Rachel asked
"There's always something that's gone wrong with the timetables so we end up staying in our tutor groups all morning just chilling"
Rachel sighed, although Amy did have a point, nothing ever seemed to run smoothly on the first day back
"Do I have mr Dillon for maths?" Gaby asked
"I don't know Gaby funnily enough I haven't memorised each individual timetable out of the hundreds we've printed out"
"I hope I have him he's so fit" Amy said
"And he looks even better now he's had a hair cut, Lauren saw him in town and sent a picture to me the other day" Gaby said
"Well then Lauren can come and see me in my office" Rachel said "and if you don't pack it in the pair of you can join her"
"Come on mum, even you must see that he's fit" Gaby said laughing
"He's definitely the best looking teacher in school"
"No the new PE guy is pretty good"
Rachel couldn't believe the conversation she was hearing first thing on a morning
"Girls pack it in the pair of you, it's really inappropriate" she said sounding pretty strict, she was feeling tense enough already without having to put up with a load of adolescent nonsense.
Hannah was too nervous to eat breakfast, she was just playing around with it.
Suddenly her stomach started to feel really funny so she got up to dash to the toilet
"What's up with her?" Amy asked
"Well it's her first day at secondary school so she's probably feeling a little bit nervous and I don't think you two are helping" Rachel sighed "just calm down a bit will you?"
She then got up to go and check on Hannah
She knocked on the bathroom door
"Hannah it's just me, is everything alright?" She asked
Hannah came out about a minute later.
"I don't think I can go to school today" she said
"Why not?" Rachel asked
"I've got a really sore stomach, that's why I had to go to the toilet"
Rachel crouched down slightly and put her arm around her
"It's just nerves darling I promise you" she said "you'll be absolutely fine once we get there"
"I won't know where anything is" Hannah said "I don't understand the map thing we've been given"
"Well luckily I happen to know the place pretty well by now" Rachel said laughing slightly "come on it's going to be okay, you'll have a great time"
"Will I have to call you miss at school?" Hannah asked
"When we're around other people I'd expect you to" Rachel said smiling slightly
"That'll be so weird"
"You'll get used to it soon enough"
Hannah still felt sick at the thought of today but knew she didn't really have a choice about going in.
About 10 minutes later it was time to leave so they all got in the car
Rachel dropped ivy off first, it made Hannah feel weird seeing her old school, she wished she was still there
When they pulled up at school Hannah felt even more nervous. Rachel looked at her in the mirror and could see she was really scared, she looked on the verge of tears.
"Right, off you go then girls" she said to Gaby and Amy "have a good day"
Gaby and Amy got straight out the car and walked off, leaving Rachel and Hannah alone
"Are you okay?' She asked
Hannah just nodded her head. Rachel realised it would be better for them to just go in, the longer they spent hanging round the worse Hannah would feel
"Come on then you, let's get going" she said calmly "you're in miss James' tutor group aren't you? I'll show you where to go and then she'll take you all to assembly"
Hannah got out the car and followed Rachel in, it all felt so overwhelming for her, everyone seemed so loud and boisterous
Rachel guided her through the crowds of kids and showed her where to go
"Okay I'll see you in assembly in just a few minutes, if there's any problems you come straight to me"
Rachel squeezed her shoulder and then walked off. She felt bad leaving her but she knew Hannah would settle in quicker if she wasn't around.
Hannah stared around the classroom, there were some people already there, however they were all chatting in small groups, they seemed to know each other already, she didn't feel comfortable going over to them. She sat down by herself, she felt close to tears but tried her hardest not to cry. Her friend from primary school who was meant to be in her form had dropped out at the last minute and decided to go to a different school so she didn't know anyone
About 10 minutes later it was time to go in for assembly
Hannah followed them all in and sat down
It felt really weird seeing Rachel deliver the assembly, she couldn't believe that she was her head teacher now
Rachel was about half way through her assembly, when she realised that Gaby wasn't there. She obviously couldn't do anything about it at the moment so waited to the end and then went over to her form tutor
"Have you seen Gaby this morning?" She asked
"I was going to come over to you actually, she was here for registration but then her and Samantha have both been missing from assembly"
Rachel rolled her eyes "great" she said "I'll go and have a look for them now"
She then went off, she had a good idea where they would be. There was a certain toilet block all the kids seemed to go to when they skived off, the staff were starting to cotton onto it by now.
Sure enough when Rachel went in she found Gaby and a couple of her friends in there
"Well isn't this a good start to the year girls" she said sarcastically "my office now the three of you"
The girls sighed, they couldn't believe they'd been caught out, they thought no one would notice that they were gone
Reluctantly they followed Rachel up to her office
"Right can one of you please explain why you were in the toilets chatting when you should have been in assembly"
The three of them looked uncomfortable and didn't say anything
"Well?" Rachel asked raising her voice
"Sorry miss, Sam's been away in America all summer, we just wanted to catch up properly" Sophie explained
"Please tell me you don't think that seriously constitutes a valid excuse" Rachel said "tell me you don't really think it's acceptable to skip school so you can have a catch up"
"Well we only missed assembly, it's not anything really important" Gaby said causing Rachel to glare at her
"Well if you had attended the assembly you'd have heard about the new punishment for skipping any part of the school day" she said "one weeks detention for all of you"
The girls groaned at this, it seemed very excessive for just skipping assembly
"That's well tight" Gaby said
"I can happily make it 2 weeks"
The girls didn't dare argue any further, they could all tell Rachel wasn't in the mood for it
"Right off you go to your lessons, and I do not want to see any of you In this office again, is that clear"
"Yes miss"
"Now get out"
The three of them traipsed out and went to their lessons
The rest of the morning passed pretty smoothly and Rachel was able to get a fair bit of paperwork done
Hannah was still feeling pretty low, she'd stayed in her tutor group most of the morning and they'd stayed together at break, but she just didn't seem to click with any of them and felt weird about joining in with the others.
After break it was time to go to their first lesson. They had English with Mr Budgen
"Right get your homework out from over the holidays, anyone who hasn't got it will be in detention"
The teachers had all given them little tasks to do over the holidays for their transition work, however they never normally asked to see it
Hannah suddenly gasped, she had forgotten to bring it and had left it in her room. It had totally slipped her mind, she couldn't believe that she was going to end up In trouble on her first day
She didn't dare tell him she hadn't got it, she knew he'd get really angry at her and she was terrified of getting into trouble.
In the end she put her hand up
"What?" He asked sounding grumpy
"Please can I go to the toilet"
"Make it quick"
Hannah got up and quickly went out of the room
As soon as she left she burst into tears, she hated it here and just wanted to be back at primary school, she didn't know where to go
As she was walking through the corridor she bumped into Steph
"Hey it's Hannah isn't it? I've seen you around with your auntie a bit"
Hannah nodded
"Is everything okay?" She asked. Even though Steph wasn't the best of teachers, she did care enormously about the kids and hated to see them upset
"Yeah" Hannah said although she was still crying
"Do you want me to get your auntie?"
"I'm okay" Hannah said
Before Steph had a chance to reply, Hannah walked off into the toilets
Steph decided to go up to Rachel's office to let her know about Hannah.
She knocked once on the door before going in
"Hey Steph, first lessons going okay?"
"Yeah all fine"
"What can I do for you?"
"I just found Hannah, she was in the corridor crying, she didn't want to say what was wrong."
"Oh dear, I think she's finding being in secondary a bit hard"
"Does she not know anyone from primary?"
"No not really, most of them went to St. Andrews with it being a bit closer. Maybe I should have sent her there"
"Why don't you switch her over to my tutor group, the girls are all lovely and I'll keep an eye on her for you"
"You know what that might be a good idea, maybe you could introduce her to some of the girls"
"Of course, I've got them for French as well as form, they're with me now. Send me a message when you've had a chat with her and I'll get one of the girls to come and meet her in your office and take her down to see us"
"Thanks Steph, I think that might be just what she needs, I just think she needs a bit of looking after."
Rachel knew Steph would keep and she on Hannah for her and even though they'd had their disagreements, she did trust her to look after Hannah.
"Did you see where she went?"
"English block toilets"
"Okay I'll go and find her now" she said "thanks again Steph"
Rachel smiled at her and then walked out
She went across to the toilets and when she went in she could hear Hannah crying
"Hannah are you in there?' She asked
Hannah felt worried, she didn't want to get into trouble with her auntie as well.
She didn't say anything and stayed in the cubicle
"There's no one in here just me, come out and see me love" she said "it's okay you're not in trouble"
Hannah waited a bit longer but then unlocked the door
She was sobbing quite hard now and Rachel felt really sorry for her, she understood how strange everything must seem at the moment
She quickly pulled her into a hug and Hannah started crying into her
"Rachel I didn't mean to but I completely forgot the homework we were supposed to bring in, I did do it but I left it in my room, and now Mr Budgen is going to be really angry and give me detention but I honestly did just forget and .." Hannah said but she couldn't finish because she was crying so hard
"Right, it's all okay we can sort it" Rachel said calmly, she felt so sorry for Hannah getting in such a state over it and she knew Grantly was hardly the most sensitive of teachers
"Do you want to come up to my office l so we can have a little chat in private hmm?" She asked
Hannah nodded her head so Rachel led her upstairs, luckily they didn't bump into anyone on the way
As soon as they got inside Rachel closed the door and pulled the shutter across
The two of them got in and sat on the sofa
Rachel put her arm around Hannah and pulled her into her chest
She couldn't help but think about how young Hannah still was, she could easily be mistaken for a kid of 8 or 9, she always found it difficult to think that Gaby was only a year older than her
"Rachel I don't like it here" Hannah said through tears
Rachel grabbed a tissue and handed it to her
"I know it must seem strange but you've just got to give it some time"
"Everything's so different, Mr Budgen doesn't like me"
"Strictly between you and I, he's not the friendliest teacher in school" Rachel said laughing slightly
"Are you annoyed about my homework"
"No, you just made a mistake that's all and now you'll remember to make sure you have it with you next time won't you huh?"
"Yeah it won't happen again I promise"
"Don't worry about it love, there's been worse crimes committed at this place trust me" she joked "now me and Miss Haydock have been thinking and we thought maybe it might be an idea to move to her form group, then you know one of the teachers don't you and you might feel a bit more comfortable"
"Yeah that'd be really good" Hannah said "Won't the others wonder where I've gone and say stuff though"
"Don't worry about that I'll sort it"
"I don't mean to be a baby, it just feels strange here and I didn't really talk to anyone"
"I know love, just give it a couple of days yeah?"
Hannah nodded her head
"Right dry up your tears and then we'll get you settled in"
Hannah stayed in Rachel's office for a couple more minutes then Rachel sent a message to Steph
A few minutes later a girl called Megan came up to take Hannah down
Almost as soon as she started chatting, Hannah started to feel more relaxed, she seemed so nice and she could tell they were going to get on well.
The rest of the day went by really quickly and before long hannah had made friends with quite a few girls from her class. They all seemed so lovely and really welcoming
They arranged to meet up later after school and go to the park
Hannah went running up to Rachel's office at the end of the day
"Hey darling, how was this afternoon?"
"It was so good, I made friends with loads of girls in my class and we're going to go to the park tonight all of us. And we did drama which was so fun"
Rachel was so happy Hannah was feeling better and seemed to have settled in a bit, she wasn't entirely happy about her handing round the park but didn't want to stop her when she'd made some friends
She waited around a bit for Amy and Gaby and then they all set off to go and collect ivy.
As soon as they got home Hannah went upstairs to get changed into something to go out in tonight
Rachel went upstairs to bring some washing in to her room
"Oh sorry I didn't realise you were getting changed" she said
"It's okay" Hannah said "I really enjoyed school in the end"
"See I told you, you would"
"I'm so excited for the residential trip we get to go on, it'll be so fun"
Rachel was amazed at how different Hannah seemed now than how she'd been this morning, it was like talking to a different girl
"Well it's not for another month, but yeah it should be pretty good"
"Rachel can I ask you something"
"Yeah of course"
"What's a virgin?"
Rachel was a little taken aback by this, she guessed it was something Hannah had heard at school today which made her a little worried about what the year 7s were talking about
"Why do you ask that love?" She said calmly
"One of the boys said it today"
"Well do you remember a while ago we had the talk about sex?" Rachel asked, praying she did remember as she really didn't fancy going over it again, once has been bad enough
"Yeah"
"Well a virgin is someone who hasn't had sex"
"Oh really. So I'm one"
"Well yeah"
"You can't be one because you must have had sex to have Gaby" she said matter of factly
Rachel's cheeks started to burn red, this really wasn't the discussion she wanted to be having with her 11 year old niece
"Darling can we maybe talk about this a bit later I really need to start tea"
"Okay" Hannah said much to Rachel's relief
"What time are you going out?'
"About 5 I think, will I have time for tea?"
"Yeah if you eat quickly" she said
Rachel then went downstairs to start cooking the tea
About half an hour later she shouted them all down
Hannah quickly ate hers
"Are you going out then love?' Rachel asked
"Yeah"
"Okay be careful won't you, please make sure you call me if you need to"
"I will do" she said
"Be in for no later than 8, you've got school tomorrow remember"
Hannah then went off, she was really excited to see all her new friends
The evening passed quite quickly.
Rachel was just getting on with some work when Hannah came back home
"Hey did you have a nice time"
"Yeah it was so fun" Hannah said smiling
"I'm so glad you've met some friends Hannah, I knew you would"
"I think I'm going to like school"
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