Ninja School Mum

by Lizzie Chantree

  ‘A date?’

  ‘Okay, a few dates then. If it will shut you up, it will be worth it. Actually …’ he paused for effect, rapidly making a few mental calculations and smiling broadly, ‘I was thinking of holding an event to launch the new-look business officially, with my integrated apps, so I might have some sort of marquee and music. Well, I was hoping you might know someone who could help me organise it?’

  Mike reeled back onto his heels, seemingly shocked. ‘A ball! Here? But that means you’ll have to be social and talk to people? Someone …’ he waggled his eyebrows suggestively and smacked his lips together, ‘might get you drunk and pounce on those big pouty lips of yours.’ Zack gasped in mock horror. ‘Before we get ahead of ourselves, I’ll believe the ball idea when I see you set up a planning meeting,’ said Mike. ‘There’s a quiz night at the school in a few weeks. If you don’t have a date by then, you owe me an extra week’s holiday to enjoy some time off with my beautiful wife, who is complaining that I’m working every hour of daylight for my tyrant of a boss.’

  Zack ignored him and pretended to look dreamily out of the window at the trees. ‘Ah, the gorgeous Marlo…’

  Mike threw his empty coffee cup at Zack’s head and he ducked good-naturedly, chuckling to himself – but also glad he had used the disposable cups for their coffee.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Thea smiled as she listened to the birds singing and smelt the fresh grass, which had just been cut by the school’s caretaker, Mr Sawyer. She sent him a wave as he happily sped along the verges. He was a bit of a boy racer and she was sure there should be a speed limit for his lawnmower. He must have added a bigger engine to it, as he flew across the school field whenever he mowed it, almost leaving scorch marks. The headmistress was always too busy with the endless queues of parents and teachers who wanted to talk to her, and never quite managed to work out how Mr Sawyer completed his jobs so quickly.

  Thea scrutinised an intricately-designed poster on the school notice board as she approached, and inspected the stunning landscape painting at its centre, which was breathtaking. It appeared that a local artist was having a private viewing of her work, but so many mums and dads were crowding around the poster she couldn’t get near enough to see more. It looked like it would be a great success if so many people were clamouring to see the artwork. Thea stepped closer to see what all the fuss was about, and the main throng of people moved away to huddle round the circular bench located outside the school by the rain shelter. The bench was there for students to eat their packed lunches in sunny weather, but one or two parents used it if they were not standing in groups chatting with friends. Thea squinted and leaned in closer to the delicate writing at the bottom of the poster, which looked like it had been written by hand in intricate text and complemented the painting incredibly well. Thea gasped in shock, and did a double-take, as the surname of the artist was same as that of the mousy redhead, who always sat on her own. Thea looked up in astonishment as the woman blushed and parried questions from the usual ‘mum scrum’ that were, for the first time, huddled around her.

  Watching Skye happily observing proceedings like a proud mum, Thea quickly walked over to join her. The way Skye was taking in everything that was happening, and looking very smug about it, made a weird kind of sense. Noticing Thea for the first time, Skye rapidly composed her features and turned to greet her friend. ‘You did this, didn’t you?’ Thea accused. She didn’t know how she knew Skye had a hand in it, but she just did.

  Thea could tell that Skye briefly thought about lying, but decided to come clean.

  ‘I have some contacts in PR and if Felicity wants to be part of that group so much, then she can decide for herself once she’s in. If she realises they are all a bunch of airheads, then she can jump straight out again.’

  ‘Felicity?’

  Skye laughed at her friend’s confused face. ‘That’s her first name... the redhead.’

  ‘Is it? She’s so quiet and always huddled into herself. She doesn’t exactly give off the ‘come and talk to me’ vibe,’ Thea indicated the buzzing group surrounding Felicity. ‘I only know her as Sally’s mum. They’ll eat her alive.’

  ‘Not now she’s cool,’ observed Skye. ‘I reckon she’ll last about a day before she’s had enough of them. I introduced myself to her last week and nearly frightened the life out of her. She’s actually quite nice and an incredibly talented artist, but boring as hell otherwise.’

  ‘Skye!’ gasped Thea, spluttering and covering her giggles with her hand. Skye had the decency to look abashed for about a second, before they both burst out laughing. When Thea had caught her breath, she stared Skye down with one of her piercing looks that Skye seemed to find it impossible to wriggle away from.

  ‘What have I done now?’ asked Skye.

  ‘When are you going to tell me the real story?’

  ‘I didn’t make it up,’ protested Skye, checking over the heads of the mum scrum to see if ‘Flick’, as that was her new arty name, was surviving her ordeal. She actually looked really happy and her face was flushed and animated for once. ‘Her name really is Felicity.’

  ‘You know perfectly well what I mean,’ said Thea seriously, standing with her hands on her hips to show she meant business.

  ‘Oh, you mean about me?’ asked Skye, innocently. ‘What do you want to know?’ she queried smoothly.

  ‘Why did you move here?’

  ‘My job brought me here,’ parried Skye.

  ‘You said you were an author, but I haven’t seen any of your books online, plus you also said you were an Olympic squash and gymnastics champion,’ Thea wasn’t convinced at all by the tall tales. She wondered if Skye was a compulsive liar, who had been bored and got a bit carried away with her story this time. She probably hadn’t thought Thea would actually listen, or care that much.

  ‘Wow,’ said Skye. ‘You actually looked me up? If you wanted to read my work that badly, you could have just asked. My first book, on rock climbing, is with my new agent and she’s trying to find me a publishing deal, which can take years and years,’ she waved her hand around as if to exaggerate the point and distract Thea from staring at her so much. ‘I don’t have anything online or in stores yet, but thanks for making me feel like crap about it,’ she said, seeming to lay it on thick. ‘I came here to write another one, but I think the first one will die without trace and I might give up already.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Thea, looking a bit abashed. ‘What about the last bit?’ she continued. ‘Is that how you know what to teach the kids? Did you win medals? Again, I couldn’t find you online.’

  Skye sighed theatrically. ‘Do you do background checks on all of your new friends?’ Thea had the good grace to look ashamed of herself. Skye was starting to look tense with all of the questions, but seemed to be steeling herself to answer. Maybe she had read one of those glossy magazines that you pick up at the supermarket, thought Thea. The kind of thing that said, to make girlfriends, you had to bare your soul and let them into your life, or some sort of crap, or they would get bored with the lack of drama and gossip and go and find more interesting friends.

  Chapter Fourteen

  It had been a long time since Skye had let anyone into her life. Her old friends were from work and she had cut all ties with them when Reece died. They had tried so hard to be there for her, as Reece was their friend and colleague too. They had been like a tight-knit family and knew pretty much everything about each other, as this was the best way to stay safe. It had worked for a long time, until Leo had come along. Skye had missed their last rendezvous, to care for her child, and something had gone wrong. She didn’t blame them… she didn’t. It could have happened at any time. If anything, she blamed herself for not being there to protect Reece, but then perhaps Leo might have lost both parents and that would have been even more horrific than the hell they had been through. At least they had each other to hold on to. She might not be the best mother in the world, with her hair which hadn’t been cut for
years reaching halfway to her bum, plus her inability to provide her offspring with nutritionally balanced meals at the end of each day, but at least she was present. He had one parent to listen to him at night when he cried in his sleep with a raised temperature and one parent to watch his school play football at the weekend. Not that he played, as he had absolutely no interest in the sport, but they had got into the habit of watching Allie play; the girl had talent. Skye wouldn’t let anyone harm a single follicle on her son’s sweet head and woe betide those who tried. She couldn’t let her son down the way she had his father.

  She realised that Thea was patiently waiting for an answer to her question. ‘You really wouldn’t believe me if I told you.’

  ‘I would,’ said Thea solemnly and the mood suddenly felt gripped with tension, even with the high-pitched gaiety coming from the ‘mum scrum.’

  ‘I…’ Skye began. Thea held up her hand to stop her.

  ‘Let’s take the kids to the park, somewhere out in the open,’ she said meaningfully, making Skye start in surprise. ‘We can talk there.’

  Skye was awash with confusion. Thea had become very serious and bossy all of a sudden and she wasn’t sure she liked this side of her friend. She did want to unburden some of her fears and finally be honest with someone, but she knew that could be dangerous and the last thing she wanted to do was to draw attention their way, or cause anyone to hurt Thea and her little family.

  The people who had killed Reece were still out there. She had given up years of her life dragging Leo around the world trying to stay undetected, knowing that her former team had been targeted. They hadn’t survived, only the back office remained intact and she wasn’t taking any chances with Leo’s life. He had happily adapted to each new place, but when he reached school age, she had realised she couldn’t carry on this way. He needed some stability and she had to cure the wanderlust that clawed at her soul. Her son was more important than the overwhelming urge to run. If it wasn’t for Leo, she would actively seek out the bastards who had killed Reece and make them pay for his senseless murder. They had killed him to stop her team from doing their job and the pain and loss tore at Skye’s heart every minute of every day.

  It ripped her apart daily without exception and she would kill herself with grief if she didn’t let it go soon. Leo needed her and she knew this was what Reece would have wanted. She had to keep herself safe so that he wasn’t alone in the world. Every time people started to pry into her life, invite her to parties and get to know her better, she packed up their belongings and scarpered to another location far away without a backward glance. She didn’t need them and they didn’t need her. Most of the people she loved got taken away from her, so there was no point opening herself up to more pain. It would finish her off.

  Although Leo was pretty versatile and already spoke three languages, she couldn’t keep moving him around any more. Instead of opening up a new world for him, she often felt she had prevented him from making his own lasting friendships, because she was scared to let anyone in. Her previous employer had told her that she was safe and the people who killed Reece and her team wouldn’t be searching for her, but she didn’t trust anyone now. Reece’s killer had meant to wipe out the entire active team, but she was still alive. They had been compromised somehow and the thought terrified her. They had walked straight into a trap and Reece had tried to save them. Skye originally contacted her bosses at work every few days, but they all knew it posed a risk each time she made the call and they tried to persuade her to come back to work every time she made contact. Whenever she finished the call she had a new burning desire to put further distance between them for the sake of her son. In the end, she had stopped reaching out to them, for her own sanity. It had been years since Skye had made contact and, in that time, she had begun to build a normal life for her and Leo.

  Two years ago, she had been so lonely that she had opened a Facebook page with a few family photos, albeit under false details. She had been at rock bottom and had tried to make friends with people from Leo’s old school. These days, people seemed to live their life through social media and it would have seemed strange if she wasn’t on there. She had carefully selected a few pictures that didn’t show their faces and stuck them there for the world to see. Regular people would just assume she was camera shy or was one of those parents that didn’t let their kid’s photos go on the school newsletter or on group chats. She would have to add further back history, but for now it would do. It hadn’t worked anyway, as she had still avoided the groups of mums and dads and spent much of her time alone. In the end, they had got sick of asking her to places, being friendly, and being turned down, so they had started to keep their distance, assuming she was a miserable old cow.

  Skye was surprised when the school bell rang, a piercing sound that made her jump and snapped her out of her maudlin reverie. Before she could calm her racing pulse, Felicity ran over and threw her arms round Skye in an exuberant hug, thanking her profusely at the same time for all she had done for her. Skye balked and backed away, mumbling that it was nothing, before the other mums had a chance to see them or hear what they were talking about.

  Thea and Skye quickly drew the children aside and explained that they were going to the park to play, and for an ice cream each, which resulted in noisy whooping and high five hand slaps, making Miles scowl. He had just been told by his classroom assistant to ask his mum to see the head teacher. His mum had then turned, red-faced, and dragged him indoors by his ear for embarrassing her in front of such an important local artist.

  As they reached the park, the children ran off to climb the colourful ladder that led up to a winding green slide, which looked like a slithering snake reaching for the ground. Other children spun round on the bright yellow roundabout and sang songs as their feet flew into the air and the swings rocked to and fro as young mums pushed their toddlers, while chatting happily about the day’s events. Skye and Thea sank gratefully onto a wooden park bench, which was positioned far enough away to enjoy the lush greenery of the park without the ear-splitting noise of children having fun, yet close enough to watch them enjoying themselves. It gave the children a slight feeling of independence, while not realising that their parents were actually aware of their every move.

  Skye got up and wandered over to the little coffee stall at the side of the play area and ordered two coffees, knowing they would be disgusting and taste like bath water, but wanting to put off her chat with Thea, who started settling Flo onto a soft blanket on the floor, in the shade beside the pram. Walking back slowly and placing the plastic cup down next to Thea on the blanket with an apologetic shrug of her shoulders, Skye grimaced as she tasted her coffee, then quickly spat the offending liquid onto the grass, which broke the tension and made Thea smile.

  ‘Why did you buy the coffee when you know it’s so awful?’

  ‘I thought that, as they’ve had so many complaints, they might have changed the brand they use by now. Obviously not!’

  Thea waved Skye to come and sit next to her and looked into her eyes as if deciding something important. ‘Let me tell you about my past,’ she said, surprising Skye, who slumped down next to her beside the blanket and started tickling Flo’s feet, making her gurgle and her eyes sparkle with joy.

  Skye, although quite happy to put off having to lie to Thea again, was curious to hear what Thea was going to say. She was getting a bit twitchy, while Thea appeared to have drifted off to an angry place in her mind by the way she was scowling. Skye berated herself for not continuing to present a professional front to everyone she met and preparing a proper back story for herself and Leo, but she had grown exhausted by all the running and she was emotionally drained from having no one to turn to. To be perfectly honest, she’d made the squash and gymnastics stuff up because she was bored out of her mind spending so much time alone. Maybe it was time to rejoin the world and get a proper job? Perhaps she could become a real author and write her own life story? It would certainly be a page-turner,
although she doubted people would believe half of it. She would sound completely unhinged and they would probably cart her off to the place where they lock you in a room and spoon-feed you porridge.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Flo wriggled until she had managed to turn herself around on the mat by shuffling on her tummy and both women gasped in surprise. Thea grabbed her phone to take a photo of her brilliant child. She stroked Flo’s soft baby hair and made her more comfortable, before she gave Skye a hard stare to tell her she was still on topic, and began. ‘I’ll go first and tell you about my past.’

  ‘Okay,’ sighed Skye, brushing a stray ant from her leg and making herself more comfortable on the grass.

  Thea thought back over the last decade. She had been good at her job and had undertaken in-depth training for her new career. She had worked diligently and gone over and above what was required to prove herself worthy of her new role. She didn’t talk about her life choices to anyone and certainly hadn’t told her family, as it was top secret. They would find a way to undermine her decision and belittle her success in some way, without realising they could be in danger by association. If they ever caught a look at her bank account, they would drop dead in shock anyway. She didn’t need to work for her sister; in fact, she never needed to work again, but she didn’t want the insufferable woman to target her as competition. Even Flo already had a healthy trust fund, but it was easier to let her sister carry on believing that she was helping Thea out after she had made such a mess of her life again, getting knocked up and abandoned, penniless and destitute. The only actual way her sister was helping her, was by keeping her occupied using her as a ridiculously cheap child minder. If she wasn’t looking after Allie, Thea knew she would be paying someone else to spy on her ex-lover and her old boss and the resulting chaos would be pure torture. Instead, she had packed up her meagre belongings, walked away from them both and added firewalls to her computer to stop her from cyberstalking them too. The problem was that Flo reminded her of her ex every single day.