Chapter 31
Set a few weeks later
It was a Sunday evening, and everyone was getting ready to go back to school after the half term holidays. They'd all had a really relaxing time together and had even managed to have a few days away in Cornwall. Nobody was looking forward to going back, least of all Hannah who had found school especially tricky since going back after being in hospital. Her friends seemed to be purposefully excluding her at the moment and it was making her dread going back.
Rachel had just put Ivy to bed, she was feeling nervous about going back to school, she always did after the holidays. However, she knew as soon as she got back into the swing of things it would be fine.
She went downstairs and into the lounge where Gaby and Amy were watching some TV together.
"Are the two of you sorted for tomorrow?" She asked, wanting to check everything was in order before tomorrow morning, the last thing she wanted was a last-minute dash.
"Yeah, everything's fine" Gaby replied
In reality Gaby had no intention of going back to school tomorrow, her and a couple of her friends had made a plan to bunk off together and chill back at the house. Naturally Gaby felt a little nervous but excited at the same time. She knew if her Mum found out about it, she would go crazy, however, she figured she would be too caught up in her own work on the first day back to notice.
"Have you got all your homework done?" Rachel asked, causing Amy to roll her eyes. "Hey, I saw that this is a very important time for you young lady, you're right in the lead up to your exams"
"I know Rachel" Amy sighed, she hated Sunday nights, Rachel would get more and more into teacher mode "I've done everything that needs to get done, I promise'
"Well, I'm glad to hear it because …." Rachel stopped midsentence as her attention was suddenly drawn to what the girls were watching, unfortunately she'd come in just as a scene was playing out. "What is that you're watching?" she asked making a face.
"It's the new season of Bridgeton" Gaby replied
'Well, it hardly looks very appropriate, especially when Hannah's around"
Gaby and Amy exchanged glances, they normally enjoyed chilling and watching some TV with Rachel on an evening, but she was clearly not in the best of moods tonight.
"You didn't seem to mind it in the first season, you and Angela watched it together and we heard you going on and on about how attractive you thought the duke was in it" Gaby responded, causing Amy to giggle.
"Oh, don't be so ridiculous, I don't even remember watching the stupid show" Rachel replied, however, in reality she remembered her and Angela sharing several bottles of wine and having a good giggle at it.
"Well Hannah's not even down here" Amy said
"Where is she? I haven't seen her since we had dinner?' Rachel asked
"In her room I think"
Rachel decided to go back upstairs and check on her so started to leave the room
"She's in a great mood" Gaby whispered; however, she wasn't quite quiet enough for Rachel not to hear.
"Excuse me I heard that' Rachel snapped
As soon as she was safely out of ear shot Amy turned to Gaby "Don't tell me you're still thinking of skiving tomorrow?"
Gaby just nodded her head; she'd told Amy about her plans earlier as she trusted her to keep quiet.
"You're brave, with the mood she's in you'll be dead if she catches you!"
Gaby knew Amy had a point, but she didn't want to let her friends down and besides the thought of bunking off together was quite exciting.
Rachel went upstairs and knocked on Hannah's door, she knew Hannah would always get nervous before going back to school so wanted to check she was ok.
When she went in, she found Hannah on her bed reading her book. Rachel couldn't help but think how young she looked, she always struggled to believe there was only a year between her and Gaby.
"Hello darling, are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Yeah" Hannah replied biting her lip slightly.
"Good girl, Gaby and Amy are watching telly downstairs, why don't you go and join them? Although I'll have to get them to turn the ridiculous show they're watching over"
"It's ok, I just want to read for a bit"
"Ok love, well I'll come and say goodnight in a bit" Rachel said, "I've just got a bit more work to do in my study, have you got all your homework done?"
Hannah was about to nod but then suddenly gasped remembering the geography homework that was due.
"I've forgotten to do my geography" Hannah said instantly starting to worry
"Well, it's a good job I asked you about it then isn't it?" Rachel said, "Don't worry, you've still got time, why don't you bring it through to my study? We can do some work together"
Rachel knew how stressed Hannah would get about this sort of thing and didn't want her to get herself into a state.
"Ok" Hannah agreed, getting it out of her bag and following Rachel through to her study.
Rachel got her laptop back out and started typing, instantly locking herself back into her work.
"Rachel" Hannah said
"Hmm" Rachel replied, distracted by the email she was typing.
"How do you know if you're pregnant?"
This made Rachel immediately stop what she was doing and look up at Hannah.
"Well, your period would be late" She answered "But I guess some people know before then, they might have some cramps or sickness"
"How do you get pregnant?"
"Darling we've spoken about this before, it can happen when a man and a woman have sex" Rachel explained.
"But is that the only way?"
"Well, no … some women who can't get pregnant naturally have to go about things a different way"
"Can you get pregnant by accident?"
"Sometimes, I guess some people have sex without meaning to get pregnant but then it just happens because they haven't used contraception, or it didn't work properly"
Rachel was confused as to why Hannah was asking her about this but didn't want to stop her from asking questions.
"What's contraception?"
"Something that stops you from getting pregnant"
"But can you get pregnant if you haven't had sex and you don't want to get pregnant?"
"Hannah is there something you want to talk to me about?" Rachel asked, thinking this must be leading somewhere
"I haven't had my period in ages, and Chloe said you can get pregnant from the swimming pool, is that true?"
Rachel shook her head in disbelief, the conversations the Y7's were having really did make her worry. "No that is utter nonsense, there is absolutely no way on earth you could get pregnant from swimming in a pool"
"But then why haven't I had a period in so long"
"It's normal for your periods not to be regular when you've first started them, it's just your body adjusting"
"So, it doesn't mean there's something wrong?"
"No darling it doesn't"
Rachel and Hannah carried on with their work for the next hour or so before Rachel realised it was time for Hannah to go to bed.
"Right you, bedtime I think" She said "Are you all sorted now?"
"I think so"
"Ok well you go and get ready for bed; I'll come and say night in a few minutes"
Hannah went to the bathroom and put her pyjamas on before getting into bed.
Rachel came in and crouched down next to her.
"Night my love, sleep well" She said "Oh you've got the Year 7 residential on Wednesday, haven't you? That's something to look forward to isn't it?"
Hearing Rachel say this instantly caused Hannah to start worrying, she'd forgotten all about it. The idea of spending two nights away from home made her fill with dread.
"Yeah" Hannah said quietly
"Right, I'll see you in the morning, bright and early!" Rachel said, kissing her on the forehead, before leaving the room.
Hannah started to feel anxious as soon as Rachel left, she was dreading school tomorrow.
She spent most of the night topping and turning and barely got any sleep. She was so worried about going in and being left out again.
Rachel sighed when her alarm went off in the morning, it seemed like she'd barely been asleep for two minutes!
She quickly got herself ready before waking the girls up, things always were so hectic on a morning.
Before long, they had dropped Ivy off, and they were on their way to school.
"Rachel can I got to a party on Friday?" Gaby asked
"Whose party?"
"Joe Alexander's, there's loads of us going"
"I'll have a think, it will depend on your behaviour this week I guess won't it?"
As soon as they got to school, Gaby and Amy jumped out and went to go and meet up with their friends. Hannah hung back, reluctant to get out.
"Are you going to go and see your friends?"
"I don't feel that well" Hannah lied
"How don't you feel well?"
"My stomach hurts"
"It'll just be first day back nerves Hannah, you'll be fine as soon as you see your friends" Rachel said "Go on, go and have a good day"
Hannah didn't really want to leave the car but realised she didn't have a lot of choice. She reluctantly got out the car and walked over to Olivia and Jess who were giggling together, the three of them had been friends since primary but recently they seemed to be leaving Hannah out all the time.
"Hi Jess, hi Olivia" Hannah said nervously.
"Hi" they both replied, before turning their attention back to each other
"Oh my god Jess did I show you this photo I took from our holidays" Olivia said, getting her phone out and showing Jess who instantly started laughing.
"Can I see?" Hannah asked
"Yeah, in a minute" Olivia replied
"Liv you have to come around my house later, I've got so many new clothes to show you" Jess said
"Can I come too?" Hannah asked
"My Mum says I can only have one person .. sorry" Jess replied
To her horror Hannah suddenly felt tears in her eyes, she felt like she was invisible.
She mumbled something about needing the toilet before dashing off.
"God, I wish she'd take the hint and just leave us alone" Olivia said
Hannah overheard this and It made her feel even more upset, she wished it was the holidays again so she could go back to feeling safe and included.
She rushed inside to the toilets and hid in one of the cubicles, she decided to stay in there until registration as it wasn't as if she had anywhere else to go.
Meanwhile, Gaby had just met up with Hattie and Charlie, the three of them were still planning on skiving today.
"Gab are we still ok to go round your house"
"Yeah, it makes sense since there's no one there" Gaby said "I made sure to bring the key with me"
"Your Mum won't find out will she"
"No, she'll be far too busy, besides there's only three of us and there's a school of 600 how are they ever going to notice?"
"If we go now the gate will still be open"
The three of them felt quite nervous as they slipped out of school, however, as soon as they were out of the school grounds, they began to feel quite excited. They caught the bus as it was too far to walk to get home and before long, they'd arrived back at the house.
"Your house is so nice Gaby" Hattie said
"You've been here loads of times before' Gaby said, it was true, her and Hattie had been friends forever.
"I know but it's just so big. I wish I lived here" she replied, "Do you think your Mum will let you go to the party this weekend?"
"I asked her this morning and she said it would depend on my behaviour this week. I guess I can't let her find out about today" Gaby said giggling slightly. Although she knew full well if ever her Mum did find out about today, she certainly wouldn't be giggling.
A couple of hours went by and Rachel had just started looking over some reports, she'd barely been in her office all morning as she'd had to deal with quite a few issues that had come up.
Suddenly there was a knock at her door and Miss Smyth, Gaby's form tutor, came in.
"Hi, how's the first day back going?' Rachel asked
"Not too bad actually, kids seemed to have settled back in well so far" she said "I'm just doing the attendance notes for the my form group, there's a couple not in today"
"Oh really, who?"
"Hattie, Charlotte ..oh and Gaby but obviously you know about that already. That's why I came up here actually, I wanted to check why she was off? Then I can input it onto the register"
"I'm sorry what? Gaby's not in?"
"No … I assumed she was poorly"
"Nope, I dropped her off this morning." Rachel said in disbelief "Quite the coincidence that her best friends are also not there"
"Oh, so I guess the three of them will most likely be together"
"Yep. have we contacted the other parents?"
"Yes but there was no answer. I'm sure Gaby will be fine if she's with them though"
"Well, she will be until I get my hands on her" Rachel said "I'm going to see if I can find them, my guess is they'll have gone back to my house given that Hattie and Charlotte's Mum's will be home"
Rachel thought about ringing Gaby but knew if she did Gaby wouldn't answer so decided to go back home. She felt so angry at Gaby right now, she couldn't believe this is what she'd spent her first day back doing.
Rachel grabbed her coat and car keys and headed out towards her car.
Before long she pulled up on her drive, she wondered if the girls would be there at all or if they'd have decided to go out.
She got out the car and went to unlock the door but realised it was already open, confirming her suspicions.
"Shit who's that?" Charlie asked
Gaby suddenly froze, realising someone else was in the house
A few seconds later, a very angry looking Rachel appeared at the door.
"Having fun girls?" Rachel asked
The three girls looked at each other, not knowing what to do.
"The three of you have around 5 seconds to get your butts off that sofa and into my car"
They didn't need telling twice, they leapt off the sofa and headed outside. Rachel locked the door behind her and followed them into the car. The three of them got into the back, none of them wanting to be in the front with Rachel.
The drive back was spent in silence, they could tell how angry Rachel was. Gaby instantly realised how stupid she'd been in thinking her Mum wouldn't find out about it.
"The three of you need to go straight up to my office" Rachel said "I need to catch up with your form tutor to let her know where you've been and then I'll be up. You are to wait for me in silence got that"
The three of them nodded, none of them daring to argue.
They walked ahead and went straight up to Rachel's office.
They waited anxiously for a few minutes, knowing this was not going to be good.
After what seemed like forever, Rachel came in, her face told them all she had clearly not calmed down.
"Right, would one of you like to explain to me what on earth you were doing in my house when you should have been in lessons?"
The three of them looked at each other, none of them wanting to speak.
"Well?" Rachel said raising her voice now.
"I'm sorry Mum … I mean Miss" Gaby started, correcting herself after Rachel threw her a glare "We just thought it would be fun to you know .. spend the day at home"
Rachel stared at her daughter in disbelief "And you seriously think that's acceptable? You thinking it would just be fun to skip important lessons. I can't believe this of you girls"
The three of them now stared at the ground.
"Right, all three of you can spend the day in isolation. You can also do a detention every day for the next week. Charlie and Hattie, I will be contacting both of you parents to let them know about today"
They couldn't believe this, they were sue no other teacher would have dished out as punishment half as bad as this, however, they all knew better than to challenge Rachel especially when she was in a mood like this.
"Now you're to go down to the cooler, explain to whoever is in there you will be spending the remainder of the day there." Rachel said "Go on, get out"
They all got up to go before Rachel said "Gaby wait back"
Gaby sighed; she might have known her Mum would want to speak to her separately.
Hattie and Charlie looked at Gaby sympathetically before getting up and going out, leaving Rachel and Gaby alone.
"What were you thinking? I don't believe you Gaby. You know how unbelievably stupid it is to skip school and for what? So you can watch a few films at home"
"Mum I'm sorry … I wasn't thinking"
"Clearly" Rachel said sharply "And how many times do I need to tell you in school I am not your mum I am your head teacher"
"So then why did you only keep me back and not Charlie and Hattie?" Gaby asked
"I'd think very carefully before answering back if I were you young lady, do you actually realise the amount of trouble you're in"
Gaby decided it was best that she remained silent now.
"You're grounded for at least a week so you can forget all about this party you were asking me about." Rachel said "Now go along and join the others, and if I even get a hint there's been any more trouble today believe me I will not be happy"
Gaby quickly took the chance to leave her Mum's office and got up to join her friends.
As she was going down she saw Hannah, she noticed how lonely she looked.
"You ok Hannah?" Gaby asked
Hannah just nodded her heads in response.
"You sure?"
"I don't feel that well, do you think Rachel would take me home?"
"If I were you, I would stay as far out of her way as you can, she's in a foul mood, she caught me and my friends skiving' Gaby sighed, feeling really stupid about it all now.
Gaby then walked off and headed to the cooler.
Hannah had been having an awful morning, Olivia and Jess were excluding her entirely and she'd heard them saying some really unkind things to her in class.
It had just got to lunch, and Hannah had no one to go to, she was just walking around by herself.
Suddenly one of the boys in her year came up to her with some of his friends.
"Jack says he wants to go out with you' He said smirking
Hannah tried to carry on walking but he stopped her.
"Oi I was talking to you" he said "That's not very polite is it?"
"Just leave me alone" Hannah mumbled, trying to push past him.
"Hang on a second we need to show Jack what he could get" he said, before Hannah could no anything about it he lifted her skirt up exposing her underwear, this caused the rest of the boys to burst out laughing, one of them even took a photo.
Hannah felt mortified, she ran off tears in her eyes. She spent the remainder of her break hiding in the library. She prayed no one would find her in there. She wished she could go and see Rachel but felt too embarrassed to tell her what had just happened and knew that if she told her she would immediately want to speak to the boys which would make everything worse.
As soon as the bell went for the end of lunch, Hannah made her way to her form room.
To her horror, she felt people giggling at her as soon as she walked in, her form tutor wasn't in yet so she was alone with them.
"You going to flash your knickers for us Hannah" One of the boys shouted, causing everyone to burst out laughing.
Hannah couldn't believe the video had already got around so quickly, she wished she could leave the room and hide, even Olivia and Jess were giggling with everyone else.
"Thank god she's finally taken the hint, it's so much more fun when she's not around" she heard Olivia say.
Hannah bit down on her lip hard, trying not to cry.
When her form tutor finally came in, she told them all to get into groups to prepare their presentations. Hannah was left alone with no one to go with.
"Hannah which group are you working with?" Miss Smyth asked
"I'll work on my own" Hannah said
"Don't be silly, go and join Olivia and Jess"
Hannah saw Jess roll her eyes at Olivia but Hannah knew she had no choice but to go over.
They ignored her for then entire time and giggled together and whispered things to each other.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, Hannah was surprised to see her auntie.
"Sorry to interrupt, could I borrow Hannah quickly?" Rachel asked
"Of course"
Hannah got up and went to see her auntie, she could feel some of the class staring at her but none of them were stupid enough to make a comment in front of Rachel.
"Sorry Hannah, this won't take a second' Rachel said "I'm going to have to stay late tonight, I've got a report suddenly come up that I need to write today, Grandma is going to pick Ivy up for me and stay home until I'm back, so do you want to get the bus back, save you having to wait around for me?"
"No" Hannah said suddenly, the thought of being on the bus with everyone made her feel sick. "I mean … I'll just stay and wait for you, I've got homework to do"
"Homework already?" Rachel said, she couldn't help but think Hannah was behaving a bit strangely.
"Yeah"
"Ok well if you're sure, Gaby's staying back for detention but Amy will probably go home"
The rest of the day seemed to drag; Hannah was relieved when the bell finally went. She made her way over to Rachel's office. Rachel wasn't inside but Gaby was waiting on the sofa for her.
"Hey Hannah, how was your first day back" Gaby asked, "More successful than mine I hope?"
"Not too bad" Hannah said
"Mum went mad when she found me at home" Gaby sighed "And now I've got the joy of her company while I do detention because she wanted to split me, Hattie and Charlie up, they get to stay in the cooler with Clarkson and I get the female version of Mussolini, how's that fair?"
She hadn't realised Rachel had just come back in and had heard every word.
"Female Mussolini is right here" Rachel said, "And I hardly think you're in a position to talk about what's fair after today do you?"
Gaby noticed she didn't seem quite as angry as she was earlier, still, she didn't want to push her luck so got straight on with her work.
The three of them sat quietly for a while before Rachel finally finished her work and put her laptop away.
"Right, home time I think."
They all walked out together and got into Rachel's car. Gaby allowed Hannah to sit in the front as she didn't want to be sat with Rachel just yet.
"Was your first day back ok Han?" Rachel asked
"Yeah"
"You sure?" She said, thinking Hannah didn't sound overly convincing.
"Yeah"
"Do you want to play out with your friends tonight?"
"No I've got homework" Hannah said
"But you've just done it" Rachel said confused "That's why you stayed back with me"
"I just don't want to play out ok?" Hannah snapped.
Rachel was taken aback by Hannah's tone, it was very unlike her to be rude, however, she decided to ignore it on this occasion.
"Mum if I spoke to you like that I'd get a right tongue lashing" Gaby pointed out
"If I were you I'd stay quiet" Rachel warned "Don't think I've forgotten about today"
By the time they got home Hannah felt utterly exhausted, everything had been far too much for her.
A few hours passed and before long it was getting late so Hannah went up to bed.
She went upstairs and into her bedroom and decided to go on her phone for a bit.
As soon as she switched it on she saw that she had a load of notifications on Instagram, she opened it up and to her horror saw that someone had posted the picture from earlier. Hannah gasped she couldn't believe it. She felt like she could be sick so quickly dashed to the bathroom, locking the door behind her.
Rachel was doing some work in her study, she decided to have a bath as she felt ready to relax for the evening.
She noticed the bathroom door was locked but didn't think anything of it, Gaby and Amy were still downstairs watching TV so assumed it was just Ivy or Hannah going to the loo.
She checked on Ivy who was still fast asleep so realised it must be Hannah.
When she hadn't come out after a few minutes she knocked gently on the bathroom door.
"Hannah is everything ok?"
"Yeah" Hannah replied, trying to wipe her tears away.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm just on the toilet" Hannah said
"Ok, well just leave the light on when you come out, I'm going to have a bath"
Hannah tried to stop crying, the last thing she wanted was Rachel questioning her about it. She tried wiping her eyes but when she looked in the mirror saw they were still all red and puffy.
After 5 minutes or so Rachel saw the bathroom door was still locked, she thought this was really strange as there was no way Hannah would ever be this long.
She knocked again, "Hannah are you not feeling well or something?" She asked
"Go away, I'm just on the loo"
"Darling you've been in there ages, has something happened?" Rachel asked gently
"No I'm fine, just leave me alone, I'll be out in a minute" Hannah insisted.
She knew it was obvious she'd been crying but realised she was going to have to come out soon.
A minute or so later she opened the door, to her shock, auntie was still stood there
"Why were you waiting outside?" Hannah asked
"Have you been crying" Rachel asked sounding worried.
"No" Hannah lied, quickly trying to brush past Rachel but she held her back gently
"Woah wait a minute" Rachel said "I can see you've been upset now what's happened?"
"Nothing, I was just on the toilet" Hannah said trying not to cry again
"What for 30 minutes?" Rachel said, not believing her.
"I have a bad stomach, I don't feel that well"
"Do you need some medicine?"
"No I'll be fine" Hannah said "I just want to go to bed"
"Ok well I'll come and say goodnight In a minute, I'll just start my bath"
Hannah got changed into pyjamas and got into bed. A few minutes later Rachel came in.
"Hey darling are you ready for bed?"
Hannah nodded her head
"Are you sure you don't need any medicine?"
"Yeah I'm ok"
Hannah thought her auntie was going but then she crouched down next to her bed.
"Hannah, you know you can always talk to me don't you?" She said stroking Hannah's hair gently
Hannah nodded
"I mean it, even if you think it'll make me angry or shocked, or you think it's embarrassing, there's nothing you can't tell me, I promise"
Hannah wished she could tell her auntie but knew it would just make everything worse.
"I know" Hannah replied
"Ok well try and have a good sleep, I hope you feel better in the morning, come and get me in the night if you need to ok?"
"Ok, night Rachel"
"Night my love, sweet dreams"