It was only 8:30AM and Eddie was already stressed. He'd just got off the phone with the Council about the potential trespassers. As he'd suspected, the field they were staying on was (legally) school property and the Council had, had no idea that they were there until he had informed them. He should call the Police, he knew that. But he wanted to try and negotiate with them first.

Bernadette had left him with a simple folder and no further help or information. He didn't know any of the new student's names, their ages, learning abilities or what their grades were like. He was sure Bernadette didn't either. It was ironic really. Bernadette had banged on about schools not caring about what happened to traveller children, but she herself couldn't wait to get away! This was evidently just a job to her.

It wasn't so much the taking on of extra pupils, he didn't mind that and he knew Rachel wouldn't either. Everyone was welcome at Waterloo Road and had a right to an education. It was just the lack of preparation and information they had been given.

As far as he was aware, Waterloo Road had never had traveller students. He didn't know what the protocols or procedures were. Bernadette had basically just dumped these eight children and left them, expecting the staff and the kids to know exactly what to do. It was like throwing someone who couldn't swim into a deep body of water and hoping they wouldn't drown! They were in the middle of a school term, mock exams had just finished, and the real exams were just a few months away. It was just inconvenient!

He was wondering if it was even worth the effort of trying to assess their abilities and getting them settled. The word 'traveller' was self-explanatory. These kids wouldn't be staying here for long, he just didn't know how long. He could get all the resources and things in place and then next week they could be gone!

He sighed as Kim walked into the office.

"Eddie, have you got a minute? It's Janeece, I..."

Eddie stood up and was about to interrupt her when she spotted the folder on the desk. She frowned.

"What's that?" she asked curiously

"Only EIGHT traveller kids, all with DIFFERENT abilities! So no one knows what level they're at, or if they'll even be here this time next week! And the fact that they've just dumped them on us in the middle of a term when we've got exams coming up in May and all the teachers are stressed, particularly the Head Teacher, who is also pregnant, but is that a problem to us? Oh no!!" he ranted, making his way out of the office

"Eddie, I still need to... Jan..." she called after him

It was no use, he'd already gone.

She sighed.

It would have to wait.

...

Eddie marched back over to the field. Normally, he would be calmer about something like this and wouldn't be in such a desperate rush to fix it. But with Rachel coming back to work tomorrow, he didn't want her to come back to this. If she was here now, she would be on the verge of tearing her hair out.

As he approached the caravans, he was greeted by the man he had seen earlier, evidently a parent of one of the kids. He was scruffy, with an overgrown beard, plaid shirt, tatty jeans, and a tanned brown jacket.

"Eddie Lawson, Deputy Head" Eddie greeted, offering his hand for the man to shake

The man shook his hand, smiling politely.

"What are the kids supposed to have done now?"

"Nothing. As far as I know they've settled in very happily" he reassured

It was then that Eddie spotted a younger boy sat on a stool, cleaning some machinery. Eddie frowned. He was tall, but he was definitely a teenager.

"Shouldn't he be with them?" Eddie asked, nodding to the teenager

The boy looked offended and disgusted by his question.

"I'm not going in there!" he grumbled

It took only his attitude to confirm to Eddie that he was definitely a school-aged teenager. He sighed. Not only was he dealing with trespassers now, he was also going to have a battle with this boy and his Father to get him to come into school.

He shot a stern glare at the boy.

"I think you'll find it's the law" Eddie said firmly

The boy rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of which, you do know this is school property?" Eddie added, returning his attention back to the Father

"Is that right?" the man replied, smirking

"So, have you got permission to be here, or not?" Eddie questioned

"One of the lads will have sorted it" the man shrugged

Eddie couldn't really tell if he was lying or if he genuinely believed that. One thing was certain, none of the 'lads' (if there were any at all) had called the Council to get permission. So someone was lying.

That wasn't really Eddie's primary concern right now though. It had been when he'd made his way down here. But now, his concern was the teenage boy who should be in school but wasn't. Something had to be done about that before anything else could be dealt with.

"How old is, er...?" Eddie inquired, nodding to the teenager

"Kyle? He's fourteen" the man explained

"Well, Kyle, it looks like you've got Maths first period. With me" Eddie told him

"No way!" Kyle scoffed

Eddie sighed.

"Look, I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I've got a legal obligation for you to attend" Eddie argued

"Oh and what are you going to do, eh? Threaten to have him taken away? By the time you get the paperwork through we'll be gone! Save yourself the trouble" the man huffed

Eddie smirked. It seemed that these two were used to Teachers backing down when trying to persuade Kyle to come into school. Eddie wasn't planning on going down without a fight. If he'd learnt anything about being a Head Teacher from Rachel, it was to be patient, but persistent. Sympathetic, but strict.

"You'll find I can surprise you, I normally get my own way" he said

"Oh, here we go! The 'big man' talk! Very professional!" the man exclaimed, rolling his eyes sarcastically

Eddie smirked.

"Mr, er?..."

"Peters" the man answered

"Mr Peters, you have the choice to live your life how you want. But why inflict it on the kids at the expense of their education?"

"I'm happy with my life!" Kyle cut in

Eddie scoffed.

"I'm sure you are. It looks like the Life of Riley from where I'm standing" he shot back

Kyle rolled his eyes.

"While you are under sixteen, I need you in school with the rest of the kids. It's either that or I'm going to call the Council" Eddie threatened

Kyle stood up, slowly walking over to his Dad.

"Dad, I reckon this man in charge is... very serious"

His face broke out into a cheeky grin.

"He's a cheeky little scamp, isn't he?" Mr Peter's chortled

Eddie was far from impressed.

"Yeah, he is. I'll have a bit less of your cheek and a bit more getting your head down, Kyle"

There was silence for a few moments.

"You'd better go with the man, Son" Mr Peter's said

"Why? I won't learn anything!" Kyle protested

"You know what'll happen if you don't. They'll just make trouble for us, like last time"

Kyle sighed.

"Alright, fine. But it won't be good" he huffed

He turned to Eddie.

"Don't say you haven't been warned"

Eddie scoffed, leading him away across the field.

...

Whilst Eddie was busy negotiating with the travellers on the back field, Kim was taking on the task of getting the new students into their classes. Thankfully, the folder that had been left had a small amount of information about each student that she could work with. It was only their names and ages of course, but it was a start. She planned to follow the already established timetables of the year groups they should be in for today and their abilities could be assessed from there.

She made her way down to the canteen where the eight new students were waiting after having something to eat at the breakfast club.

She knew from the second she walked into the room that there was already a rift between the Waterloo Road kids and the new kids. The canteen was split in half, the Waterloo Road students sat as far away as possible from the eight traveller kids, glaring and whispering to one another, making it clear they wanted nothing to do with them. That was now another thing she needed to keep her eye on today.

The eight new students stared at Kim expectantly. Having done this many times before, they probably knew how everything worked and what to expect. Kim wished she had a better understanding of it. For now, she would just have to pretend she knew what she was doing.

She smiled at them all reassuringly.

"Hi. I'm Miss Campbell, Head of Pastoral Care. If you've all finished eating we're going to get you sorted into classes, alright?" she explained, looking at her clipboard

Once the register had been taken and everyone was ready to go, Kim led them to their classes one by one. As she'd expected, Grantly was far from enthusiastic about having three new students in his classroom. Kim didn't see what the problem was. He didn't like the kids that were already in there, so what difference would another three make?

Steph had complained about the one student who was joining her class, Donna Ellis, claiming that her Year 10 class were just doing revision today so there was nothing for her to do. Kim had told her to improvise. Steph's version of improvising was to give Donna a generic word search magazine. What Kim didn't know wouldn't hurt her and Donna was more than happy to do it anyway.

Once all the students were settled, it was Kim's non-contact time. She had a feeling this hour would be the only chance she would get to breathe today, so she was planning on making the most of it.

When she saw Paul Langley sat on one of the benches in the corridor, she had a feeling her hour of peace was going to be less than an hour. She sighed.

"Paul? Don't you have a class to go to?"

"I'm on a free, Miss" he mumbled

"Ok, well, why don't you make the most of that time and get some course work done, eh?" she suggested

"Miss? How long are those gypsies going to be here for?" he questioned, changing the subject

Kim sighed.

"They are not gypsies, Paul. They are just travelling around the UK" she corrected

"Living in caravans and staying on land illegally? They ARE GYPSIES, Miss!" he shot back

"What does it matter, Paul? Their presence isn't directly impacting you, is it?"

"Yes, it is, Miss! I got hardly anything to eat from the breakfast club this morning because they took priority over everyone else! It's not fair, Miss! They can't just walk in here like they own the place!"

"Paul, that's enough, ok? EVERYONE is welcome and given a chance at Waterloo Road, you know that! Those kids have the same right as you to go to the breakfast club, ok? If you want to get a decent breakfast, you should have arrived earlier, yeah?"

"The last time 'everyone' was welcome at Waterloo Road, Miss, a LUNATIC called Earl Kelly was let in and he KILLED Maxine! And let me remind you, he was also a traveller, just from house to house and not in a stupid caravan!"

"That isn't going to happen this time, Paul" Kim reasoned

"Really? We didn't think it'd happen last time, but it did!"

He stormed off angrily down the stairs, causing Kim to sigh. She wanted to say Paul's behaviour was pathetic and irrelevant to the current situation, but she couldn't. Not that long ago, the school had been shaken by a tragedy. A student that everyone at Waterloo Road had been fond of had been murdered by a student who had been welcomed with open arms and trusted without a second thought. It was understandable that the kids felt threatened by these new arrivals. She would just have to keep an eye on the situation and hope that no disasters occurred.

...

Half an hour later, Eddie was midway through his first lesson of the day with his Year 9 class. So far, the lesson was going well. Kyle had (unwillingly) settled in and was getting on with his work. It hadn't stopped him from glaring at Eddie though, but that was something he chose to ignore. The fact that he hadn't tried to walk out yet was a good sign.

The task he had set the class (answering a set of algebra questions) was being done in silence, giving him the opportunity to get on with some marking. He had a feeling it would be his only chance to get some done today.

Kyle stood up quietly from his seat, beginning to wander around the classroom, taking in the displays on the wall. He really didn't see the point in being here. He hated it. The travelling (even though he was used to it) was bad enough. Having to start a new school every single time made it a million times worse.

It was the same vicious cycle every time. Not knowing anyone and no one wanting to know him either. He hadn't had a single opportunity to make friends or to join clubs. Not only that, he couldn't related to any of the kids his age. They all had stable home lives and had probably lived in the same house their whole lives. Kyle had never stayed anywhere longer than two weeks.

In the past, he'd had experiences where he'd settled into a school perfectly. But the following week, he and his family would move on. It was an exhausting and relentless process, a torturous way to live. But what choice did he have?

The reason he had refused to go to school over the last six months was because it was pointless. Deep down, he was frightened of starting to settle and then being dragged away again a week or two later. He had no chance to learn anything or to get to know anyone. What was the point?

Every Head Teacher he'd met recently had tried and failed to get him to come into school. Mr Lawson had put up a fight and he didn't understand why. Head Teacher's hated taking on traveller kids. They saw him and his siblings as a burden and would do anything to avoid having them attending their school. Mr Lawson, however, seemed different and Kyle was far from impressed by it. Why was he making such an effort when he most likely wasn't going to be here in a week's time? Why did he care?

Eddie sighed as he watched Kyle wandering aimlessly around the back of the classroom.

"Kyle, your seat is next to Colin, will you take it, please?" he requested

Kyle turned around, a smug smile gracing his lips.

"I'm REALLY thinking about things, Sir. Like, who actually needs Maths?"

Eddie smiled to himself. He loved this question. He'd been asked it by students time and time again and he never once got bored of answering it. He was more than happy to have this conversation and possible debate with Kyle.

"Everyone needs Maths" he answered calmly

Kyle raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"Does a zookeeper? A bus driver?"

"A bus driver needs to count his fares at the end of his shift" Eddie pointed out

"Yeah, but that's COUNTING isn't it? It's not maths! Who needs equations and stuff? Venn diagrams or ratios?" Kyle challenged

"Sir, just send him home!" Colin cut in, causing the rest of the class to laugh

Eddie stood up, slowly making his way over to Kyle and guiding him back to his seat and pushing him into his chair.

"Sit there and do not budge" he instructed

"I did tell you I didn't want to be here. Not my fault you didn't listen!" Kyle shrugged

"Can you just pack it in? Some of us actually want to learn here!" Lauren snapped

The class erupted with laughter.

"You? Since when?" Sambuca giggled

"What's the problem? I just want to be left to do what I want. It's not like I'm stupid!" Kyle shrugged

"So, if everyone just 'did what they wanted', what kind of world would we be living in? No one bothering to go to work, no shops, no schools" Eddie challenged

"More places to park!" Kyle commented

"No law and order" Eddie finished

"Sounds good to me" Kyle replied

"Sir, can you just shut him up?" Lauren huffed

Eddie sighed. He knew he wasn't going to get anywhere arguing with Kyle. It was disrupting the class. Kyle was doing it deliberately to try and get a reaction out of him. He wanted to see how far he could push before he gave up on him. Unfortunately for Kyle, it wasn't going to happen.

"Just get on with your work, Kyle" he mumbled, sitting back down at his desk