Chapter 20
Thankyou so much for the suggestions I'll definitely use them, this chapter isn't Ivy based, but the next couple will be
It was a Thursday afternoon and Rachel was at her desk doing some work. She had a meeting in 20 minutes with some of the governors, so she was trying to get as much done as possible before they came in. She'd had a really busy week, so she was looking forward to spending some time relaxing over the weekend, it just still seemed like ages away as she had to go on a course tomorrow which was going to take up most of her day.
She'd just finished her work and was making a cup of coffee when one of the teachers came into discuss a pupil, meaning she didn't get any time to relax before the governors came.
They were about twenty minutes into the meeting when suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Sorry, I did ask for us not to be disturbed unless it was urgent" Rachel said apologetically.
She then got up and went to open the door
To her surprise Amy walked in
"What Is it Amy?" Rachel asked "We're right in the middle of an important meeting"
"Can I go out tonight, everyone else is" Amy asked, not acknowledging the people in the room
The governors all looked confused, they didn't know that Amy was Rachel's niece
Rachel felt mortified, she couldn't believe Amy had interrupted them to ask this
"Amy this isn't the time or the place, get back to your lesson right now" Rachel said, trying to keep calm
"But Rach I need to know now"
This caused a ripple of laughter to spread around the room, Rachel could feel her cheeks burning. She realised she was going to have to speak to Amy outside before she embarrassed her any further
"Outside now" Rachel said frostily "Excuse me for just a second, Amy's my niece" she said to the governors
Amy went outside of Rachel's office and her auntie quickly followed, closing the door firmly behind her
"Amy what the hell are you playing at! You've just completely shown me up in front of some very important people. You can't just waltz in and interrupt an important meeting for something completely inappropriate." Rachel said angrily, although she was trying to keep her voice down as she didn't want the governors to hear. "and don't let me ever hear you call me Rach again in school, especially in front of other people, I've told you about that before"
"Chill out, I just needed to talk to you"
"Well it clearly isn't a good time, you know flaming well you do not come up to this office during school time unless you've been sent here or it's for something very urgent"
"Alright I'm sorry, but can I go?"
"You seriously think now is the right time"
"Well just answer the question and I'll go" She said "Literally everyone else's parents have said yes"
Amy and her friends were desperate to try and sneak into the new night club that had opened in town, they did a really good student night on a Thursday and all the girls had managed to get some ID off some older girls.
"What are you even going on about?"
"Jess is having a sleepover can I go?"
"It's a school night"
"So?"
"So, I don't want you sleeping over"
"Please Rach"
"I've just told you not to call me that young lady!" Rachel said
"sorry, please can I go Miss?" Amy said, just a little sarcastically
Rachel sighed heavily, but realised Amy wasn't going to go until she said yes "If and only if, you get all your homework done before you go, you can stay over"
"Thanks Rac… I mean Miss" Amy said hugging her, delighted the plan was going to work
"Right, now can you please leave me to get on with my job"
"Sure"
Amy ran off and Rachel shook her head before going back into her office
The meeting didn't end up taking very long in the end which Rachel was relieved about, she felt like she hadn't had a moment to herself all day
A soon as they left, Rachel finally got to make herself a cup of coffee
She sat on the sofa with it and stared out of the window
Suddenly she saw a young girl run across the playground, Rachel sighed realising she was now going to have to deal with a skiving kid. When she looked closer she realised it was Hannah, this shocked Rachel as Hannah would never normally do something like this.
She quickly got up and ran out of her office.
Luckily, Hannah hadn't gotten very far in the time taken for Rachel to go down the stairs. She quickly spotted her so ran over
"Hannah what are you doing?" Rachel asked
Hannah jumped when she saw her auntie behind her
She didn't know what to say so just stood there
"Why aren't you in lessons huh?" Rachel asked "You know better than to run out of school, it's really serious Hannah. Unless there's a very good explanation you'll be doing detention tomorrow, it's totally unacceptable"
Rachel hadn't meant for it to come out as harshly as it did, she was just feeling really stressed and on edge today
Hearing her auntie shout made Hannah start to cry, she desperately tried to wipe the tears away with the sleeve of her school jumper
Rachel softened when she saw the tears, she felt bad for shouting
"Come on, lets go inside out of the cold, I'm freezing out here" She said
Hannah didn't say anything but followed her auntie inside. Rachel put an around her an led her up to her office.
Rachel always did feel very protective over Hannah, she was still very young for her age and always looked far too young to be in secondary school.
By the time they got up to Rachel's office, Hannah was crying even more so Rachel closed the door and sat her down on the sofa
"You want a drink?"
"Yes please"
"What would you like, I've got water, juice or I can do hot chocolate"
"Can I have hot chocolate please?"
"Sure, give me a minute"
Rachel made her drink and then handed it to her and passed her a couple of tissues
"I can finally have my coffee too, I feel like I've not had chance to have a drink all day" she said, sitting down next to her
Rachel waited until Hannah had calmed down a bit before saying "so do you want to tell me what you were doing out of your lesson?"
"I don't feel well" Hannah said sounding small "I wanted to go home"
"Okay, but you must know you can't just walk home without telling anyone where you're going, we need to make sure we know where you are so we can keep you safe"
"I'm sorry"
"Why didn't you come up and see me if you weren't feeling well?"
"I don't know" Hannah mumbled
Rachel couldn't help but think Hannah was acting a bit strangely
"How don't you feel well?"
"My head and stomach really hurt, and I feel hot"
Rachel felt her forehead "You don't feel hot to me"
"I just don't feel well" Hannah said, crying again
"Sweetheart has something happened?" Rachel asked gently
Hannah shook her head "I just don't feel well" she repeated
"Which lesson are you supposed to be in now"
"PSHE" Hannah replied
"Miss Thomas's class?"
"Yeah"
"Where does she think you are?"
"Toilet"
"I better get a message to her, she'll be worried about you" Rachel said, she quickly got up and sent an email before sitting back down with Hannah
She got the impression something had happened in her lesson that had more to do with being ill
"What were you doing in class today?"
"I don't want to talk about it" Hannah said before bursting into tears again
Rachel felt really sorry for her and put an arm around the little girl
"Oh love" she said "I won't make you talk about it if you don't want to but just tell me, Is the reason your upset because your feeling ill or because of something that happened in class"
"Something that happened in class" she admitted
"Okay, and are you sure you don't want to tell me what is was, sometimes it can help to talk things through"
"We were doing a lesson on sex and Miss Thomas kept saying how it's important to talk to your Mum or Dad about it, and then Maisie told her off because she said I don't have a Mum or Dad and that she shouldn't assume everyone does, she was trying to be really nice but I got upset and then everyone starter asking me loads of questions about it and I felt really panicky so I had to go out"
"love, I do understand why that would have upset you, you should have come to see me about it" she said "I know how much you miss your Mum"
"I feel bad talking about her" Hannah said
"Why do you feel bad?"
"Because you've been so good to me and I don't want you to think I don't like it at yours because I do"
Rachel's heart melted hearing Hannah say this, she was such a sweet girl
"Oh darling, you don't have to worry about me. I know how hard it is to lose someone so close and no one will ever be able to replace your Mum." Rachel said "But I am always here, if ever you need someone to talk to about anything at all"
"Yeah I know" Hannah said
"I know you're at such a difficult age at the moment and it's a time where there are things you will need someone to talk things through with, I know I'm not your Mum and I'll never try to be but you can always come to me. And, If for whatever you feel like you can't talk to me, Gaby and Amy are always there for you too"
"Thanks Rachel" She said, attempting to dry her tears
"Do you want to stay up here for a bit before you go back to class?"
"Yeah, I don't want the others to see I've been crying"
"Okay, 10 minutes then it's back to class, I need to get on with some work"
Hannah suddenly felt really tired, she hadn't slept that well last night, she laid down on the sofa and within minutes fell asleep
Rachel became so engrossed in her work she didn't even notice Hannah. It wasn't till she looked at the clock she realised she needed to send Hannah back to class
"Hannah it's time to go back to …" she began, however she stopped when she saw Hannah
Rachel couldn't help but smile, she looked so cute on the sofa.
She knew she should probably wake her and send her back to class, but she didn't have the heart to. Instead she put her coat over her to act as a blanket
Hannah was so sleepy she didn't wake up until the bell went
She jumped and opened her eyes
"Rachel what time is it?"
"Oh you're finally awake, I think I remember saying 10 minutes and back to class" She said, she was joking but Hannah looked worried
"Sorry, I didn't mean to"
"I know it's okay, I should have woken you up but you looked so comfortable"
"I felt really tired"
"Do you feel better now after your sleep?"
"Yeah loads better"
"We'll set off soon, Amy's going on a sleepover tonight so she'll need to get some stuff together"
"I thought you said we weren't aloud sleepovers on a school night"
"Yeah well I didn't have a lot of choice, she didn't exactly choose the best time to ask me"
A little while later, Gaby and Amy came up so they all left to pick Ivy up from after school club
By the time they got home Rachel felt quite tired, she'd had a really busy week and was ready to finish for the weekend tomorrow
Amy quickly went upstairs and started packing some stuff, she put the dress she was going to wear right at the bottom of the bag so that Rachel wouldn't notice, she felt a bit nervous but also quite excited as she'd never been to a proper night club before
About an hour later Rachel dropped her off at her friends house, she wasn't suspicious at all at the moment and really did just think they were going for a sleepover
When she got back she made tea for everyone
About twenty minutes later she called the three of them down
"Mum did you hear about what happened in school today" Gaby said
"Well funnily enough I tend to hear about most things, so I might need a little more to go off"
"In miss Haydock's class"
"no" Rachel said sighing slightly, whenever there was drama Steph would always be involved
"Really! There was a massive fight and everything"
Rachel was a bit concerned now, she couldn't understand why she was hearing this off Gaby and no one else had told her about it
"What happened?"
"Well basically Sophie Cotton in my year has been going out with Sam Turner and she found out today that he did stuff with …"
Rachel frowned and tapped her arm lightly, gesturing towards Ivy
"Sorry, but anyway he's been cheating on her with Megan Jones and then they're in my French class and today they had a massive fight in the middle of class, it was so funny but then Mr Lawson came in"
Rachel was really shocked about this and couldn't understand why nobody had told her before now, but she didn't want to make too big a deal with it in front of Gaby
"Are you sure you're telling me the truth Gaby, you're not exaggerating huh?"
"No I'm telling the truth I swear"
"Okay, well I guess that's something else I'll have to deal with tomorrow isn't it?"
"Why it's over with now"
"Because believe it or not I actually need to deal with these things Gaby, it's all very well you standing there laughing at it but it's not on, not in my school" Rachel snapped
Gaby was taken back by her Mum's tone
Rachel sighed "Sorry I don't mean to snap, I'm just a bit stressed that's all"
The four of them finished their tea and then the girls went off
After the girls had all gone to bed, except Gaby who was watching Tv in her room, Rachel decided to have a bath. It was needed after a stressful day at work.
It was about 11 when Amy arrived at the club, she already felt quite drunk as her and her friends had been drinking quite a lot before they got there.
At first everything seemed so exciting, it was packed full of people, the lights and music seemed so cool to all the girls. They couldn't believe they'd actually been able to get away with the ID they'd used. A few of them went to the bar and ordered some more drinks.
The girls all started dancing together and before long some boys came over to join them.
It wasn't long before all the girls started to feel very drunk and were behaving really out of character.
Amy started chatting to one of the guys and eventually they made out
He started feeling her up, normally Amy would have pushed him off but she was drunk so just went along with it.
"Fancy going somewhere"
Amy nodded her head and the guy led her out to a quiet part of the smoking area
They started making out again and he was all over her body
"Let's go back to mine"
"No I don't want to, not yet"
"You need to loosen up" he said, he then reached in his pocket
Amy looked at the pill he had
"Ever wanted to try it?"
Amy had never been near drugs before, and normally she would refuse in an instant but in her drunk mind it seemed like a good idea
"What is it?" she slurred
"Just MDMA, it won't harm you"
Amy took it off him, put it in her mouth and swallowed
At first she felt fine, in fact it's effects were making her feel great, everything seemed so much more intense
However, after about 20 minutes she really didn't feel right, everything was spinning and seemed to be booming out at her. Her chest began to feel tight, her friends could tell something wasn't right.
They took her outside, but by this point Amy was totally out of it, her eyes kept rolling back into her head
"Amy what have you taken? Did that guy give you something?"
Amy didn't answer, she just started laughing hysterically
"She's clearly on something, we need to get her home"
"Miss will kill us"
"I know but there's nothing else we can do"
"We don't have to tell her she's taken drugs"
"We could just drop her off, check she's home safe"
The girls eventually managed to get Amy in a taxi and took her back to her house
Amy was in a really bad way and had thrown up all over the taxi so the driver was furious
The girls realised they were going to have to knock on the door and wake Rachel up even though they were all dreading it and they really didn't want to get Amy into trouble
It took two of them to drag Amy to the door
Rachel was in bed and got the shock of her life when she heard a knock at the door, as she was just about to go to sleep
She jumped and then got up and wrapped her dressing gown round herself to cover up.
She felt a bit nervous as she went down, wondering who the hell would be knocking at this time
Cautiously she opened the door
She couldn't believe it when she saw Amy and a group of her friends, she quickly realised Amy was extremely drunk
"Girls what the hells going on?"
"We're sorry, we've been out. Amy's got into a bit of a state"
"Yes I can see that. You're 15 years old, where on earth have you all been?"
"We went into town, we had fake ID's" One of the girls said sheepishly
"Hello Rach, we're all fucked" Amy said laughing "was fun, I was sick in the taxi and he's not happy"
"How could you go behind my back like this! Have you got any idea the sort of trouble you're in young lady" Rachel shouted, "Inside right now"
Amy couldn't walk on her own so Rachel had to grab her and drag her in
"Girls how are you getting home?"
"We'll order another taxi"
"Did you get charged for Amy being sick"
"Yeah £40"
Rachel sighed and reached for her purse, she handed them some money. She couldn't believe they'd all gone out, she realised though it wasn't her place to tell the other girls off.
"Thanks Miss, you didn't have to"
"Well you shouldn't have to pay for Amy" she said
Luckily the taxi came quickly and the girls went off
Rachel turned her attention to Amy
"How dare you behave like this, anything could have happened"
Suddenly Amy was sick all over the floor
"oh for gods sake Amy, couldn't you have gone to the toilet"
Amy started to feel the room spinning around her, Rachel's voice sounded all echoey
Her eyes rolled back in her head and she fell to the ground
"Amy" Rachel gasped
She quickly crouched down next to her and shook her. It was only then she realised her pupils
"Have you taken something?" she said in disbelief
Amy just continued to laugh
"Have you taken drugs?" Rachel practically screamed
Amy nodded her head "It's fun"
"You stupid girl, what you taken? Tell me now"
"Ecstasy"
"Have you got any idea how dangerous that is Amy! What the bloody hell were you thinking" Rachel shouted, though now her anger was mixed with quite a lot of worry
Amy wasn't responding and was clearly completely out of it
A couple of minutes later she was sick again, all over Rachel
Rachel didn't know what to do, she didn't know how to bring her round. Amy seemed to be getting worse and looked unconscious
"Amy can you hear me, Amy" Rachel shouted trying to wake her up
Amy stirred slightly but then promptly fell back to sleep
Rachel began to get really worried, if Amy had taken drugs then it could end really badly, especially since her body wasn't used to it at all.
Rachel decided she needed to get her to hospital, as she really didn't feel comfortable not having her checked out
She didn't know what to do about the girls, she knew Gaby and Hannah would be okay but wasn't so sure about Ivy
In the end she decided to wake Gaby up and ask her to keep an eye on ivy
After she'd spoken to Gaby, Rachel quickly got changed
"Amy I'm going to take you to the hospital, just to make sure you're alright"
Amy didn't really respond.
It took a lot of effort to get Amy into the car, as she could barely stand let alone walk
Rachel put her seatbelt on and then drove off with Amy
She was furious with her of course, but she really just wanted to make sure she was okay as right now she felt very worried
When they got to the hospital Rachel realised she was going to have to get some help with Amy as she'd passed out again
Luckily one of the porters was on hand to get Amy into a wheelchair and into the hospital
Rachel was in shock, she couldn't believe the night had ended up like this and the amount of danger Amy had put herself in, she knew she could be naïve but never imagined she'd do something like this
Amy was rushed through pretty quickly
Rachel tried to explain what had happened as best she could
The doctor explained that they were going to give her a charcoal drink to induce vomiting and get everything out her system
It took some doing getting the drink down Amy but eventually she managed to drink it
It didn't take long for the effects to kick in and Amy was violently sick, Rachel sighed and got up to hold her hair back, while the nurse put the sick bowl in front of her
"I'm so sorry about this" Rachel said to the nurse once Amy had stopped "it must drive you mad having teens come in like this"
"We see it all the time, they're just so impressionable."
"Is she going to be okay"
"Yes doctor said she'll be fine within a few hours, but we're going to keep her in over night to monitor her"
"I had no idea she was going out, never mind taking drugs" Rachel said, on the verge of tears
The nurse put a hand on her shoulder
"Hey don't beat yourself up over it, kids will be kids, my son was in here a year back for a similar enough reason. Just give her a talking to tomorrow"
"Oh don't worry she won't be doing this again in a hurry" Rachel said smiling slightly "Thankyou" she added
The nurse then left them to it
After being sick a few more times Amy eventually went to sleep
Rachel didn't know what to do with herself, Amy had been put in a room on her own, so Rachel ended up staying with her for the night. She fell asleep on the chair next to her.
Rachel woke up early the next morning and after an hour or so Amy woke up too
"Rachel" Amy said sounding scared and confused, she could barely remember anything from last night
Rachel jumped, she hadn't realised Amy had woken up
"Where am I?"
"You're in hospital. Do you remember anything that happened last night?"
Amy's eyes filled with tears, she sort of remembered taking a pill but nothing after that
"Not really"
"Well let me fill you in, so you went out clubbing and got so drunk you took an ecstasy pill that landed you in here. Have you got any idea how worried you made me, you could have died Amy"
"I'm sorry"
Rachel was about to say something, but realised now really wasn't the time for an argument
"How are you feeling"
"Crap"
"I'm not bloody surprised, you and me are going to have a serious chat later" Rachel said "You're lucky it wasn't a whole lot worse"
The next few hours passed quite quickly. As soon as Amy had been assessed she was told she could go home
Amy was dreading the car journey back. It was obvious Rachel wasn't in any sort of a conversational mood and was still furious at her
They got in the car and at first neither of them spoke, which made it feel even more awkward
"Rachel I'm really sorry"
"And that's good enough is it! You could have died Amy, what the hell were you thinking. I just can't believe you'd do something so stupid, I really can't. Honestly I'm disgusted in you, taking drugs I mean come on, do you not have even the smallest amount of common sense, that pill could have been anything"
Amy was sobbing hysterically now
Rachel sighed, no matter how angry she was, she still hated seeing her upset
"I don't mean to make you cry, I just need you to understand how dangerous it was, you could have died" Rachel said
"I don't know what to say to make it better, I'm just so sorry" Amy said again
"Well there's not a lot else I can say either, other than that you're grounded for at least a month"
"I know I deserve it"
"You deserve a lot more young lady." Rachel said "Look we'll talk more later, let's get home for now though"
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