Wrote this on the plane and didn't have chance to finish it, so this is just the first half. Will write another chapter when I come back from my holiday in about 3 weeks time.
A few weeks had passed and Hannah had seemed to settle into school well now, she'd found some of it quite difficult but she'd made quite a few friends and was enjoying it a lot. She was going for a sleepover tonight with some of them and was feeling quite excited about it.
It was Friday afternoon, the time seemed to be dragging but eventually the bell signalising the end of the school day went off. Everyone was very relived including Rachel who'd had a particularly stressful week, she was really looking forward to being able to relax over the weekend.
She'd just finished some work when Hannah came up to her office.
"Hey love, how's today been?" She asked
"It's been good, I'm really excited for tonight" Hannah said "I'm starving"
"Did you not have school dinner?"
"yeah but it was horrible, the chicken was pink" Hannah said
"I'm sure it wasn't Hannah" Rachel sighed, but she knew the food sometimes did leave a lot to be desired
"Do you have any food I can have"
Rachel rolled her eyes but reached in her bag and threw her a bag of crisps that she hadn't bothered eating with her lunch
"Here" She said
"Thanks Rach" Hannah said smiling "what time are you picking me up tomorrow"
"Anytime really, but remember we're having a bbq tomorrow afternoon"
"Oh yeah I remember"
"We'll just wait for Amy and Gaby then we'll get going okay?"
A few minutes later Amy came up
"Rach is it okay if I go to Jess's house?" She asked
"Yep, are you going to walk home with her"
"Yeah if that's alright"
"Fine by me"
"Okay see you later then"
Rachel waited a few more minutes but she was getting a bit impatient waiting for Gaby
"Come on let's go and see if we can find Gaby" she said to Hannah
The two of them picked up their stuff and walked out of the office
As she was walking she saw Amy and Jess on their way out of school
"Girls have either of you seen Gaby?" Rachel asked
Rachel immediately noticed Amy looking uncomfortable
"Where is she?' She asked sternly
Rachel and Gaby had been falling out a lot recently, Gaby just seemed to be getting into trouble all the time, she'd also been seeing a boy in her year and Rachel wasn't exactly happy about this as she thought Gaby was far too young for anything like that.
"I think she's in the cooler" Amy said reluctantly
Rachel sighed heavily and went off, this really wasn't what she wanted on a Friday evening, she just wanted to go home
"Hannah do you want to go and wait in the car, I'll be along in a minute"
"Okay"
Rachel reached in her bag and pulled out her car keys, Hannah got them and walked off so Rachel went across to see Gaby
When she walked in she noticed Gaby was the only one in there
Gaby sighed when she saw her Mum coming in, realising this encounter was going to result in a big lecture
"Miss Thompson can I have a few words with Gaby please" she asked "In fact you get off, I'll cover your duty here"
"Oh thanks, that'll be great"
Rachel smiled at her as she gathered her stuff up and walked out
As soon as she left, Rachel turned her attention back to Gaby
"Right, would you like to explain to me what you're doing in here?"
"Not particularly" Gaby said cheekily
"Oi mind your tone" Rachel said icily "Do you realise the amount of complaints I've had recently about your behaviour young lady?"
"Mum I honestly don't care"
"Well maybe it's time you started caring!" she said starting to lose her cool "Now why are you in here?"
Gaby sighed and chucked her planner over to her Mum, which had a note in it for her to sign
Rachel picked it up and looked at the note
"Gaby, it says here you stormed out of your English lesson, is that true?"
Gaby just shrugged her shoulders and stared at the floor
"I said is it true, and look at me while I'm talking"
Gaby sat up "Yes it's true"
"Why did you do it?" Rachel asked trying to remain calm
Gaby shrugged her shoulders again
"if I see you shrug your shoulders again one more time we're going to fall out, now why did you do it?"
"I don't know"
"You don't just storm out a classroom for no reason" Rachel said, raising her voice now
"I just felt like it"
"What and you think that's acceptable do you? It's alright to just do what you fancy because you felt like it"
"Mum I don't want to talk about it" Gaby said sounding angry and upset
"You know what fine. You're grounded for a week and you can do breaktime detention all next week"
"That's so unfair" Gaby shouted
"Actually, it's not unfair, the way you've been behaving recently is unfair to everybody" Rachel said "And I'm not happy about the way you've been at home either"
"I've been fine at home"
"No you haven't, you've been moody and sulky and just a general pain in the butt"
"Because you don't just let me do my own thing"
"Is this about Josh?" Rachel asked, Gaby hadn't been at all happy when Rachel had tried to stop her seeing him last night
Gaby didn't say anything
"Gaby you're 12 years old, you're too young to be having boyfriends" Rachel said, she did understand how Gaby was feeling, but she just really felt like she had to put a stop to it and she really didn't think it was appropriate for Gaby to be seeing a boy of Josh's age
"Josh says he thinks I'm mature for my age"
Rachel just shook her head "and why do you think he might be saying that huh?"
"Because it's true"
"No Gaby, boys say all sorts of things when they want something, and I don't like the effect he seems to be having on your attitude"
"What do you mean, when he wants something?"
Rachel sighed, Gaby was still very naïve really and clearly didn't understand the way boys minds worked
"Gaby he's 14 years old, and he might start to pressurise you into things you're not ready for and don't feel comfortable with" she said
This struck a nerve with Gaby; the truth was Josh had been asking Gaby for weeks to send pictures of herself to him and finally last night she had, only today he seemed really distant with her
"You don't know anything" Gaby shouted, getting up and going to storm out
"Oi where are you going?"
"Away from you" Gaby said "I'm walking home"
"don't be stupid, we're literally going home now"
"I don't want to be in a car with you"
"You know what fine, if you want to be so petty you'd rather spend half an hour walking home than coming back with me, then be my guest"
Gaby pushed passed her Mum and walked off
Rachel rolled her eyes and walked out to the car.
It had started raining but Gaby was already walking off ahead
"Rachel can I put the radio on?" Hannah asked
"Just leave it off for now love"
"Why isn't Gaby getting in the car"
"Because she's being very silly" Rachel sighed
The rain seemed to be getting heavier now and Gaby didn't have a coat, so Rachel realised she couldn't let her walk home alone.
She quickly drove over to Gaby and wound the window down.
"Gaby stop being stupid and get in the car"
For a moment or so Gaby continued to walk off, but then she realised she was going to get soaking wet if she walked all the way home, and she really didn't fancy it, so she turned back around and got in the back seat
"Don't expect me to talk to you" she said as she fastened her seat belt
Rachel chose to ignore her and drove off to pick Ivy up
The journey back felt a bit tense as Rachel and Gaby weren't talking to each other at all, they could both be really stubborn at times
As soon as they got home, Gaby flounced off to her bedroom
"You can stop with the amateur dramatics, it's not going to get you anywhere with me young lady" Rachel called up
Gaby ignored her and slammed the door behind her
Rachel rolled her eyes, she really didn't know what had gotten into Gaby lately
"Hannah are you going to go and get changed love, then you're all ready to go"
"Yeah okay" Hannah said before going off upstairs
A few minutes later she came down with the bag she was taking with her
"Are you ready to go love?"
"yeah I think so"
"Okay come on then"
Rachel called Ivy down and then the three of them got in the car
"Rachel, you know how a while ago Gaby didn't eat much" Hannah said
"Yes" Rachel replied, wondering where this was leading
"Well I think she's doing it again"
Hearing this made Rachel instantly start panicking, she always held a fear of Gaby relapsing into her eating disorder, she couldn't stand to go through all the pain of it again
"Why do you say that Hannah?" Rachel asked calmly, although her heart was racing
"I was sat near her at lunch time and she didn't eat anything"
The truth was that Gaby was just so upset about the way Josh had been with her all day, she just hadn't felt like eating anything, however obviously Rachel didn't know about any of this
"Okay, well I'll have a little chat with her"
"Is she okay?" Hannah asked
"I'm sure everything will be fine, but you did the right thing letting me know"
As soon as she dropped Hannah off Rachel started to worry, she really hoped Gaby was eating okay and it was just a once off
"Rachel my stomach hurts" Ivy said as they were driving back
"Really, when did that start?" she asked
"It's been hurting a bit all day at school"
"Well keep an eye on it see how It goes, try going to the toilet when you get in, sometimes that helps"
"Okay"
As soon as they got home Rachel went upstairs and into Gaby's room
"Gaby I need to talk to you" she said, sitting down on the bed next to her
"I'm not in the mood for a lecture"
"I don't want to lecture, I just want a talk that's all"
"What about?"
"You know you can tell me anything don't you?" Rachel said "No matter what I'm always going to be here for you"
Gaby's heart missed a beat, she thought somehow Rachel must have found out about the picture
"What do you mean?"
Rachel thought carefully about how to word this
"Hannah was a bit worried about you"
"Why?"
"She tells me you weren't eating today at lunch"
"Oh right" Gaby said, immensely relieved
"Have you got something you want to talk about?"
"No, honestly it's just because I wasn't feeling that well, I promise it's nothing to do with trying to be slim. I'm over all that for good"
Rachel could tell Gaby was telling the truth and felt relieved
"Okay, I just wanted to check" she said "Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah totally"
"I was going to order Chinese for tea"
"Sounds good"
Rachel was about to leave when she turned to face Gaby again
"I meant what I said, you can talk to me whenever you need to"
"I know" Gaby said forcing a quite smile
Will continue this chapter soon as I get back
Sent from my Iphone