by A. E. Radley
Rosie was looking through books on a low shelf when a boy called Quentin approached her. Alice had noticed that Quentin was a rather boastful boy who hadn’t learnt some of the finer aspects of socialising yet.
“My daddy has built me even more bookshelves because I have sooo many books,” he told Rosie.
Alice tried to maintain a neutral expression and not roll her eyes despite Quentin’s obvious brag.
“I don’t have a daddy,” Rosie replied evenly.
“I have two,” he said. “A black one and a white one. You can borrow one if you like?”
Alice smothered her snort of laughter behind her hand and tried to look like she wasn’t eavesdropping.
“That’s nice of you, but I don’t think I want a daddy. And we don’t really have room to keep one.”
Alice took a step away, so she was behind the bookshelf so that neither child could catch her chuckling.
“They are pretty good,” Quentin admitted. “If you need bookshelves.”
“I don’t need any bookshelves. I get all my books from the library. I always have room for more books.”
“But no daddy?” Quentin asked.
“No, just me and Mummy.”
That was confirmation on Lucy’s earlier comment about Hannah being a single mum. She couldn’t help but wonder what the story was there. Obviously, there were many single parents all around the world, but curiosity often made her wonder what circumstances had led up to the arrangement. Not that it mattered. She found herself quite pleased to learn that there was no Mr Hall in the picture.
Looking up, she noticed that Colin was speaking to Simone and that the girl was starting to look upset. Alice pushed herself away from the shelves and walked over to them. As soon as Colin saw her arrive, he went suspiciously quiet.
“Everything okay here?” Alice asked.
“Yes, miss,” Colin said quickly.
Alice fixed Simone with a friendly look. “Simone?”
Simone nodded her head, obviously not wanting to elaborate on whatever it was she had missed.
Alice gave Colin one last look, letting him know that she was watching him. Even without Lucy’s comments, she would have known that Colin was trouble waiting to happen. She turned around.
“Class, class,” she said, waiting for them to settle and look towards her. “I want each of you to pick one book that you will sign out of the library. You’ll read the book during silent reading time in the classroom, and you’ll also take it home and will read it for homework.”
She paused to allow the groans to subside. Luckily, they came from just a couple of the boys who were already complaining about the idea of homework.
“Thank you for your enthusiasm,” she said playfully. “Now, choose a book and see me at the front desk. I’ll show you how we sign books out.”
She took a seat at the desk and opened up the old library log, immediately missing the electronic system at her old school. Willows School wasn’t simply underfunded. It was stuck in the dark ages with no desire to progress.
A large book landed on the desk. She looked up at Daniel, and then at the book.
“What did you choose, Daniel?” she asked.
“A book.”
“Which book is it?” she tried again. She already knew she’d earn her salary with Daniel this year.
“I dunno.” He shrugged his shoulders.
She picked up the world atlas and put it to one side. “Might I suggest that you go to the section over there and have a look at those books? Look at the cover and read the back to see what the book is about. You might find something a little more suitable there.”
“Okay.” He turned and walked away.
As time went on, she learnt more and more about the children. Colin was a potential troublemaker. Simone was loud at times. Daniel was either challenged or unaware of the world around him. Rosie was shy. Quentin was a horrible brag.
It was fascinating to see their personalities starting to shine through and to decide what she needed to do in order to help them excel. No two children were the same, she passionately believed that each child needed a personal touch in order to thrive.
She was pulled out of her reflection by a cry and a thud. Colin was standing over Simone, having obviously just pushed her.
“Colin! Go to the headmaster’s office right now,” Alice instructed as she jumped to her feet. By the time she got to Simone, the girl was already standing back up.
Alice crouched down and quickly checked her over for injuries. “Are you hurt?”
“No, miss.”
“What happened?”
Simone made a face. “Colin is just mean.”
Alice turned around to see the boy strolling towards the door as if he had all the time in the world.
“Colin, do not test me,” she warned.
He picked up the pace and disappeared into the corridor.
She looked at Simone. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes.”
“If he does anything like that again or says anything you don’t like, you come to me or one of the other teachers, okay?”
Simone gave a half-hearted nod.
Alice stood up and addressed the rest of the class. “As per the rules we agreed on yesterday, we treat each other with respect. We do not say mean things, and we most certainly never push each other. It won’t be tolerated. Do you all understand?”
The children nodded.
“Right, good. Let’s put this behind us and choose some nice books to read.”
She sat back down, wondering what had caused Colin’s behaviour or if it was normal acting out for attention and control. Whatever it was, she needed to figure it out and put a stop to it.
9 HOMEWORK AT LAST
Hannah waited anxiously by the school gate. She had to hurry back to the salon to deal with grumpy Mrs Harper. Like many of her clients in Fairlight, Mrs Harper was retired and had all the time in the world. However, she always wanted her appointment at the most inconvenient time. She also hated to be kept waiting and had a terrible habit of arriving early to her appointment.
Adrian was with another client or else he would have picked Rosie up to allow Hannah to wait for Mrs Harper’s arrival.
Hannah knew that it didn’t matter if she hurried or if she dawdled. When she got back to the salon, Mrs Harper would be waiting. She was convinced the old battleaxe hid around the corner and waited for Hannah to step out of the salon, just to get in her status quo of complaints for the day.
Still, she wanted to minimise the amount of friction and hurry back.
Despite her time concerns, she couldn’t help the smile that overtook her face when Rosie appeared, still weighed down by a ridiculously overpacked rucksack. She’d need to have a talk with her about that. None of the other children seemed to have a bag twice their size strapped to their backs.
“Mummy, I have homework!” Rosie announced gleefully as she threw herself against Hannah’s legs.
“Wow, that’s great news.” Hannah bent down and did up Rosie’s coat. “Come on, pumpkin, we have to get going.”
“It’s reading! The school has a library. Did you know the school had a library?”
Hannah couldn’t remember a library, but then again, she had spent years trying to rid herself of all memories of that time in her life.
“I’m not sure.” She took Rosie’s hand, and they walked up the street.
Hannah found herself glancing over her shoulder, wondering if she’d catch a peek of Miss Spencer. She made eye contact with one of the other teachers, Lucy Gibson, and quickly looked away.
“I have to write in my homework journal what I read,” Rosie continued. “Miss Spencer wants us to read the book we got from the library for fifteen minutes and then write down anything else we read.”
“I hope it’s a big journal,” Hannah quipped.
“Why are we hurrying?” Rosie asked.
“I have an appointment with Mrs Harper.”
�
�Oh.”
“Yes, oh. She’s probably already there and looking very grumpy.”
“Why is she always grumpy?” Rosie asked.
“I think she enjoys it.”
“How can anyone enjoy being grumpy?”
“Some people do. Some people prefer to be grumpy rather than happy.”
“That’s silly,” Rosie said.
“It is, but we’re not those people. We just cut their hair. Well, I do. You’ll be reading and having an afternoon snack. Unless you want to switch? If I got you a chair, you could stand on that and cut Mrs Harper’s hair. What do you think?”
Rosie giggled. “No, I don’t think so, Mummy.”
“Oh, shame. Anyway, tell me how school was.”
Rosie shrugged. “It was good.”
“Did you tell your story?”
“No.”
“No?” Hannah asked.
“No. I didn’t want to.”
Hannah could see the scene play out in her mind. Rosie probably had a story in mind but lost the courage to tell it to the class.
“Maybe another day,” Hannah said, not wanting to push her too hard just yet. “How is Miss Spencer?”
“She’s nice.”
“Have you spoken to her yet?”
“No.”
Hannah tried to remind herself that it was only the second day. There was still plenty of time for Rosie to gather her courage and actually start talking to her teacher and classmates.
They arrived at Chopz, and, sure enough, Mrs Harper was waiting in reception looking miserable about it, despite the fact that she was fifteen minutes early for her appointment.
Hannah sent Rosie through to the staff room where she’d prepared a snack of vegetable sticks and dips for her. Rosie had spent so much time in the room that it was her home away from home.
Mrs Harper looked pointedly at her watch. Hannah knew better than to argue with her strange sense of timekeeping. Pointing out that she was early would just sour her mood further. The old woman had already threatened to go to the other hairdresser in town on a couple of occasions. As much as Hannah disliked her, she was a paying client, and that was more important.
This was especially true, seeing as Hannah’s pool of clients was relatively small. She mainly dealt with the older people in town, the ones she hadn’t attended school with. Now and then she styled hair for people her age and a little older, but as she did, all she could think about was what they were thinking about her. It was better for everyone if she stuck to the forty-and-over crowd. They were probably as judgemental and gossipy as the rest of them, but at least they had better acting skills than most.
As so often happened at Chopz, time rushed by.
Two back-to-back appointments were over before she knew it. Although she knew it would be a quick dinner and then practically straight to bed for Rosie, Hannah let out a sigh of relief that it was finally time to go home. The balance between earning money and having time with her daughter was still one she was working on.
She had grabbed the broom out of the closet and started to sweep up the hair from her last appointment when Adrian grabbed the broom out of her hand.
“I’ll do this, you head home.”
Hannah shook her head and reached for the broom. “No, it’s my client, my mess.”
“My salon, my choice,” Adrian pointed out. “You make me lunch tomorrow and we’ll call it even.”
She paused. She hated feeling like she wasn’t pulling her weight, but getting home a few minutes earlier meant more time with Rosie.
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, get out of here.”
Hannah didn’t need to be told twice. She kissed his cheek. “You’re a star, thank you.”
She grabbed her coat and bag and popped her head around into the staff room. Rosie was reading, as usual.
“Pumpkin, time to go home.”
Rosie nodded and placed her homemade bookmark into her book. “What’s for dinner?”
“Whatever takes three and a half minutes to cook,” Hannah replied, glancing at her watch.
“Sounds yummy,” Rosie deadpanned.
Hannah helped her to pack up her. They hurried out of the salon and towards home.
“Quentin says I can have one of his daddies,” Rosie said during the walk.
Hannah laughed. “I don’t think he should be offering. You don’t offer me to people, do you?”
“No. But you don’t put up bookshelves.”
“Oh, is that why he offered? Because his daddies put up bookshelves?”
“Yes. I told him I don’t need any.”
“Shelves or daddies?”
“Either.”
“Damn right,” Hannah mumbled through a grin.
Quentin was the adopted son of Lucas and Tom, the other gays in the village. Or rather, the other openly out gays. She had question marks over some people and wouldn’t be at all surprised if they were choosing to live in the closet. Fairlight was a nosey town and everyone knew everyone else’s business. Although, giving credit where it was due, she’d never experienced negative comments about being gay. Everything else, sure, but she’d never been the victim of any homophobic abuse. She imagined that there were some homophobes somewhere in the village, but thankfully, they kept to themselves.
Still, as safe as she felt being out, she knew she was a topic of conversation, and so were Lucas, Tom, and Quentin. Fairlight residents liked to talk about people, especially anyone who stood out.
Hannah sighed, shook her head, and unlocked the door.
“You need to sign my homework book,” Rosie said as they took their coats off in the apartment hallway.
“Okay, I’ll do it after dinner.”
“You’re supposed to test me to see if I read what I’ve said I read.”
“That would mean that I’d have to read it, too,” Hannah said, rummaging through the fridge for a healthy dinner that wouldn’t take too long to prepare.
“Yes.”
“We both know that isn’t going to happen. So, you’ll just have to be honest with what you put in the homework book, or I’ll tell Miss Spencer you lied, and she’ll eat you.”
Rosie laughed. “She won’t. Miss Spencer is nice.”
Hannah started preparing a chicken and potato salad. “She’s nice now. But what if you lie on your homework book?”
“She will still be nice,” Rosie decided with certainty.
Hannah was glad that Rosie had taken to Miss Spencer, even if she hadn’t spoken to her directly yet. It was more than she had had when she was starting school.
The evening ran away from her, and Rosie was in bed much later than usual. Hannah knew that this would probably be the new normal now that Rosie was in school. She wondered if she could cut back on her late afternoon appointments or try to make a hot meal for Rosie while at the salon. There had to be a solution. Everything about their lives so far had been an uphill struggle and a hunt for solutions.
It was tough, but she knew she’d find one that worked for both of them.
She cleaned up the kitchen and wiped down its surfaces. On the edge of the counter was Rosie’s homework book. She opened the page and saw that Rosie had finished the entire book she had picked up from the school library and started another book that she had picked up from the public library the day before. She chuckled to herself. So much for fifteen minutes of reading.
She signed the indicated box to agree that Rosie had read what she said she had and popped the book into Rosie’s rucksack.
10 ROSIE OPENS UP
Hannah hurried down the hill towards the school. A check of her watch told her that school had been out for just over five minutes. She was a little late after Mrs Perkins wanted to keep on talking about her twelve-year-old demon dog, Princess.
She weaved through the crowd of parents returning from the school gates with their kids, catching a few eye rolls as she did. She imagined most of the parents thought she was the worst mother in the world t
o be racing towards the gates after the bell had rung. Some were probably considering an anonymous tip to child services.
Upon entering the playground, she couldn’t see Rosie anywhere. She looked around, in case Rosie had suddenly become interested in the climbing frame or talking to her classmates.
Nothing.
Panic was beginning to seep in when she saw Miss Spencer crossing the playground towards her.
“Miss Hall, I was wondering if you had a few moments to speak?” Miss Spencer asked.
“Rosie?” Hannah asked.
“She’s still in the form room,” Miss Spencer replied. “There’s nothing wrong, I just wanted to have a quick chat.”
Hannah couldn’t remember a moment when a quick chat with a school teacher had been a good thing. She also couldn’t remember a time she had ever managed to get out of one.
“Okay, sure,” she said.
Miss Spencer smiled, and Hannah felt herself melt a little. She didn’t know how someone could have such a warm smile. It even shone from her eyes.
She gestured for Hannah to follow her, and Hannah stepped into her old school for the first time in years. Dread crept up her spine. Miss Spencer was making small talk, apologising for the flicking lights in the stairwell, but Hannah was too busy facing down her demons to take in what was being said or to reply.
Her feet were heavy as they walked along the top corridor. She didn’t know which room Rosie’s form room was, but she had a strong suspicion that fate would play a cruel joke on her. Sure enough, Miss Spencer turned and led them into her old form room. The epicentre of all her school bullying.
“This room hasn’t changed a bit,” Hannah noted.
“Did you attend this school?” Miss Spencer asked.
“Unfortunately.” Hannah looked around the room. It was just as run-down and miserable as she remembered. The only bright spot was Rosie was sitting at a desk and reading her book. “Hey, pumpkin.”
Rosie looked up and smiled.
Smiling, good, Hannah thought. Can’t be anything too bad.
“Rosie, I’m going to have a chat with your mum. Carry on reading, we won’t be long,” Miss Spencer told her, taking a seat at her desk.