Tracks

by Karen Woods

  ‘Right, Chelsea, what do you drive?’ She walked over to his car and kicked his tyre.

  ‘I don’t drive, sir, I’m a kid, durrrrr.’

  ‘Exactly. You don’t even have a car, so when you do have one then you’ll understand how much they cost to run. It gets me to work and that is all that matters.’

  Chelsea was unruffled, the rest of the students in her thrall as usual. ‘Oi, you lot, get a look at sir’s motor. Tell him it’s a rust bucket. I would rather walk than drive about in that shed. Sort it out and get something decent. I mean, look at the way you dress, you’ve not got nothing going for you, sir.’

  The students were sniggering as they started to walk into the building. Sinclair shook his head. Best to ignore her, to walk away before he said something he would regret. He looked down at his old tan shoes and his black trousers. Maybe she had a point, he could do with a shopping trip to revamp his wardrobe. Damn you, Chelsea. He was annoyed he’d let her get to him. It wasn’t like she had anything much going for her. She wasn’t academic and he’d have put good money on her landing herself in jail when she was older. He knew they were meant to find the good in every student, but on days like this, he had no time for her, none whatsoever.

  The students gathered in the main hall as they did at the start of every school day. As the kids found their seats, Donny answered a call from Susan.

  ‘Hi babe, morning assembly in a minute, I’ll bell you later.’ There was clearly something up – he could tell just by a few words. He ended the conversation quickly, before he got drawn into an argument, and strode into the room.

  Donny stood at the front; he didn’t look like he was in a good mood but he made sure his presence was felt in the room. The teachers stood against the wall, waiting to take the students off to their various lessons. Tina was in the corner of the room texting – Donny glared at her, and she quickly shoved her mobile back in her pocket. The rules were there for the students and staff too. No mobile phones to be used throughout lessons or in morning assembly. He watched as she edged out of the room and headed for the toilets.

  Donny welcomed his charges like he did every morning. Working in a school like Second Chance meant the place was small enough to know each pupil properly – and each teacher. Melanie stood to his left and he could feel her eyes on him. He blushed slightly as he caught her gaze. ‘Good morning, everybody.’ There was no reply. Donny raised his voice higher and repeated himself. ‘I said, good morning everybody, can nobody hear me or what?’

  Chelsea was first to respond. ‘Good morning, sir, why are you shouting? Take a chill pill. Don’t take your moods out on us.’ She had an answer for everything, could never stay quiet. At least Donny had their attention now.

  ‘Guys, some of you have lost your breaks today. I’ll read your names out at the end of assembly. It’s your own fault, if you go on the system for your behaviour, you know the consequences, so deal with it.’

  A few of the kids were complaining all the same. One girl, Annie Watson, folded her arms in front of her and made sure everyone could hear her.

  ‘I hope I’m not on the list?’ She shot a look over at Melanie and gritted her teeth together. ‘That silly bitch over there probably put my name forward, she’s got it in for me. Her lessons are boring, and, just because I told her I wasn’t doing any of her shit lessons she got all arsey.’

  Donny cut her short; this kind of talk was not acceptable. ‘Annie, rein it in. In fact, go up to my office and wait for me there. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to. Miss Peters is a member of staff and I won’t have you speaking to her like that. Do you talk to your mother like that?’

  Annie stood up and her cheeks were red with angry defiance.

  ‘My mam gets told too; you can say what you want to me. I’m not arsed, her lessons are still shit.’

  Donny blasted his voice over at her. ‘My office, now!’

  Chelsea turned to Nancy and smirked. ‘You tell her, sir,’ she piped up. ‘No respect, that’s her problem and that’s why she’ll end up getting a slap from me if she carries on with her attitude.’

  Donny snapped. ‘Shut up, Chelsea. Stop making it worse for her.’

  Annie stood with her hand placed firmly on her hip. ‘Sir, she’s just a daft slag who I don’t listen to. She’s just a sperm bank. Ask any of the lads, they’ll tell you.’

  Chelsea bolted up from her seat and ran at Annie. She was screaming at the top of her voice, ready to knock ten bells out of the girl.

  ‘We’ll see who’s a slag when I knock you out. Just you wait until after school when these knobs are not here stopping me. I’ll rip your fucking head off.’

  This was not a good start to the morning. The staff were all over Annie and Chelsea and separated them quickly.

  ‘Mr Sinclair, take Annie to my office and stay with her until I get there.’ Donny kept Chelsea by his side. ‘Teachers, please take your students up to lessons. I’ll come and see them all soon.’

  As the crowd dispersed, Chelsea was still fuming, pacing up and down and not shutting up. ‘I swear to you now that bitch is getting wasted. Who does she think she’s talking to?’

  Donny blocked the door by standing in front of it. ‘You’re going nowhere. You’ll be in isolation now all day until I’ve sorted this out. You can’t just threaten people, you know that as well as anyone.’

  ‘Sir, don’t you dare try and blame me for this. That slapper started it, you heard her, she’s the one who’s got attitude.’

  ‘Yes, just like you. You’re the one who made threatening remarks, remember?’

  Chelsea clenched her fist tightly. ‘We’ll see then, won’t we? She’ll get what’s coming to her. I don’t know where she’s got her balls from, talking to me like that.’

  Donny let out a sarcastic laugh. ‘Who the hell do you think you are? Everyone is equal, you can’t call the shots around here.’

  Chelsea slouched down on the nearest chair and sat biting her fingernails. ‘I need a cig. Sir, you can let me go out or I’m getting off on my own. Trust me, I’ll be gone.’

  Donny could see she was stressed out. Although there was no smoking policy in school, he knew perfectly well that most of these kids stood chugging on cigarettes all the way through their breaktime. After all, he did the same if he could find a corner where he wouldn’t get seen. There wasn’t much he could do about it either – most of them smoked in front of their parents anyway, so threatening to tell them was pointless. He looked over at Janice, the teaching assistant who’d stayed back to see if there was anything she could do to help.

  ‘Miss Ellis, can you escort Chelsea off site while she has a bit of time out. Then bring her straight back and take her upstairs to isolation – I don’t want her mixing with the other students today.’

  Chelsea stood up with a cocky swagger. ‘Bothered?’ she hissed as she walked out of the hall with Janice close behind her.

  Donny sighed. What a morning. Hopefully the day would get better, but he wasn’t holding his breath.

  Donny was pacing up and down the side of the building, where no one inside would see him. His phone was pressed to his ear and his voice was low; he seemed stressed, looking around him before he spoke. ‘I said, I’ll be there later, fuck me, how many times do I have to tell you not to ring me when I’m in work?’ His nostrils flared as he sucked hard on his cigarette. As the call ended, he stood with his back to the wall for a few seconds, thinking. A few of the kids from the local high school walked past and Donny looked over at them. These were the ‘normal’ kids, the full uniform, homework done brigade. Arse lickers, he liked to call them. He watched them go by and smiled at them. The kids from his school had had plenty of beef with this lot before now and he’d had to come out of school to stop his pupils starting on them. As he headed back to the fray, he spotted Melanie sitting in her car. Trying to get a moment’s peace between lesso
ns no doubt. This was his cue to go back inside; there was no way he wanted to get caught up talking to her on his own. Best to keep giving her a wide berth for sure.

  Donny made for the door; he could see her using her rearview mirror to reapply the candy-pink lip gloss she never seemed to be without. He picked up his pace but too late, she’d spotted him.

  ‘Hello, boss, have you been waiting for me?’

  Donny was cornered. He smiled at her though it didn’t reach his eyes. He was making an effort, didn’t like to appear rude.

  ‘Hello, Mel, you’re looking well. Did you have a good weekend?’ She locked her car and leant against the door.

  ‘You’re joking, aren’t you? I had the ex on the phone half the time. After he heard somebody had dropped me off that night after the pub, he hasn’t stopped giving me the third degree.’

  Not what Donny wanted to hear. It wasn’t like there was even anything going on. Even so, if his missus got wind of this, she would scratch her eyeballs out and cut his balls off.

  ‘Just tell him it was a work thing; you work with me. If he needs to speak to me about it, then fine.’

  Melanie burst out laughing, pulling her coat tighter around herself. It was cold again. ‘Are you having a laugh or what? He’s a total head-the-ball. Trust me, you want nothing to do with him.’

  She followed Donny as he headed inside. ‘I’ve told him a hundred times you’re a happily married man, but he said he doesn’t believe me.’

  ‘He sounds like a right one. Surely there’s somebody who can get him off your back?’ Donny pulled the door open and let Melanie go first; he thought she pushed herself against him suggestively as she brushed past him – or maybe he was just imagining it. ‘I’ll see you later, I’ve got a pile of things to get through.’ He left her in the corridor and headed for his office.

  Tina was stood by the staircase, on her phone again. ‘Chris, are you really going to keep pretending that nothing’s going on? She’s making me ill. I was awake all night again thinking about the things she’s been saying. I’m the innocent party in all this. I’ve only tried my best. Please, sort it out.’

  Donny edged past, tried to give her some privacy, though airing her dirty linen in the middle of the school corridor wasn’t exactly ideal. He paused at the door; was that alcohol he could smell on her breath? That was all he bloody needed. Tina had been on the bottle before she went off sick, but, when she came back, she promised she’d knocked it on the head. Clearly not. Donny sighed. This needed nipping in the bud. A pissed-up teacher was something he really didn’t need in his school right now.

  As he sat down, his phone started ringing again. Susan.

  ‘Babe, I was just about to ring you back, you wouldn’t believe the shit that’s been going down here today.’ He dropped the pen he’d been fiddling with. ‘What? You’re outside school? What for? Why aren’t you at work?’ He was already pulling his coat back on as he left the office and started to walk back down the stairs. ‘I’m coming out now, just wait there.’

  Donny took the stairs two at a time and then headed outside. He could see his wife straight away. He marched over to the car and opened the passenger door. ‘What’s up? Is something wrong?’

  Susan kept her eyes focused on the steering wheel. ‘I can come and see you, can’t I? Do you have a problem with that?’

  ‘No, why would I? It’s just funny you turning up, that’s all.’

  With perfect timing, Melanie appeared – she must have left something in her car. She didn’t even seem to be able to walk across the car park without wiggling her arse. Naturally Susan clocked her straight away. Her nostrils flared.

  ‘Who’s the dolly bird?’

  Donny swallowed. ‘Oh, that’s just Melanie, one of the new teachers.’

  Susan watched her like a hawk, never took her eyes off her. ‘Pretty little thing, isn’t she?’

  Donny reached over and touched her shoulder. ‘Babe, I only have eyes for you. I’m not interested in any other women.’ His words bounced off her like water off a duck’s back.

  ‘I’ve only come to see if you wanted to meet up for some lunch later. We don’t get any quality time together lately and I want to make an effort to keep the spark alive.’

  Donny was confused. ‘We’re sweet, Susan. Saturday night showed we haven’t lost the spark, and it was good, wasn’t it? I can’t see any problems.’

  Susan watched Melanie as she headed back into the building. ‘I just want to make sure I’m being the wife you want me to be, that makes you happy.’

  Donny looked at her. ‘Susan, what the fuck is going on with you? You’ve been acting strange for a while now and fuck knows what I’ve done. If I’ve upset you or not done something that I should have, please just put me out of this misery and tell me what it is?’

  Susan started to straighten her hair, didn’t look him in the eye. ‘There’s nothing. I’m fine, Donny, completely fine. If you’ve not got time for lunch shall we book a table for a pizza tonight?’

  He knew that the easy option was to agree, but he’d got nothing done so far today and didn’t want to fall further behind. ‘Babe, I’m rushed off my feet. School reports need sorting out and stuff for the education authority, can’t we just get a takeout? We can cuddle up on the sofa after if you want, watch a film. Maybe something to get us in the mood if you’re up for it?’

  She smiled at him, a strange smile, he still couldn’t work out what was happening here.

  ‘Whatever makes you happy, Donny.’

  His phone started ringing again. ‘Fuck’s sake, I’ve only been out of the bloody building five minutes … Listen, let’s speak later on when things calm down here. I’ve got to go back and sort that lot out, honest, today is something else, the kids are all over the bloody place. So, is that a deal, we sort something out later?’

  She nodded and watched him as he scrambled out of the car. He turned back before disappearing back into the building.

  ‘Love you, babe, speak later.’

  There was no reply.

  As soon as Donny was gone, Susan started the engine and made a call, put it on loudspeaker before she drove out of the car park. ‘John, I can’t take this much longer. Something’s going on and I need to show the bastard exactly who he’s messing with. I’m going to start taking money out of the joint account like you said. I want to leave him with nothing, do you hear me, fucking nothing.’

  John agreed. ‘I hear you.’ Nobody messed with his sister, nobody.

  Ged looked like a different kid with Frankie at his side. Thick as thieves they were now, brothers-in-arms. Frankie steered him away from the other students loitering outside and kept his voice low.

  ‘So, you’re on it again tonight? I’ve got another parcel that needs taking up to Blackpool. I could do with you staying there for a few days to be honest, make sure them bollock heads are not having our eyes out. Let’s say the count was a bit low with the last lot.’

  Ged was distraught. ‘I never touched a penny, I wouldn’t take the piss out of you when you’ve done so much for me.’

  Frankie nodded his head. ‘Yeah I know, I’m not saying you would have me over, it’s them pricks up there. They think I’m green. Maybe I need a trip up there myself to tell them straight. I’ll kick fuck out of each and every one of them if it happens again, so make sure you tell them that. Another thing while we’re on the subject; you need to fuck Nancy off. She’s a liability and I don’t want her knowing shit about what we’re doing. I let it go before because it was your first time up there, but that’s the end of her. Cart the cling-on and tell her you don’t do drops anymore. Nancy’s got problems, she’s well known for going missing. The dibble will be all over you if she’s chilling with you. Think about it, it will be on top.’

  Ged was gutted but hid it well. He liked Nancy, enjoyed being with her, she made him laugh. She also seemed to
know more about this job than he did. But there was more to it than that. They’d slept together too, that first night in Blackpool, but there was no way he was admitting that to Frankie. Especially when he was always slagging her off. But Ged had been walking on air since and Nancy would go sick if she knew what Frankie was saying about her – there definitely didn’t seem to be any love lost between them. Ged slowed down as they neared the door.

  ‘My mam said she was coming into school today. To talk about my progress and all that.’

  Frankie pressed his lips together. ‘Yeah well, make sure you tick all the boxes, don’t start having this lot on your back and involving any third parties, like social services. Just agree to anything they suggest.’ He kicked the floor as he stood on the spot. ‘How’s your mam been with you, is she still pecking your head?’

  Ged sighed. ‘You can say that again. Every fucking night she’s asking where I’m going and what time I will be in. She’s doing my head in. She needs to chill the fuck out and leave me to it. It’s not like she can check if I’m in the house when she’s at work all the bastard time anyway.’

  ‘Just keep her sweet like I said.’

  As they headed back into school the minibus was just pulling up – a group of students had been off site at the gym. Ged and Frankie turned round when they heard the noise. Ged blushed furiously when he spotted Nancy hanging out of the window shouting his name. Frankie nudged him and whispered into his ear.

  ‘Sort it out, mate, cart her before she starts blabbing our business to every Tom, Dick, and Harry.’

  ‘Yeah, yeah. I will, leave it with me, she’ll be gone don’t you worry.’

  Later that afternoon, Ged sat next to his mother on the small grey sofa in Donny’s office.

  Donny put Ged’s file on the small table between them and sat back with his legs crossed. Tina was first to speak.