When two paths cross

Twenty-Five

//

It was now lunch and so far Toff hadn't done anything else, their had been a few words said by Becca and Kay but apart from that nothing. Obviously the words were effecting Dianne, but she was also too tired to care. Joe had come over to sit with Dianne and her group as Ashley had said that she had nearly fallen asleep in her last lesson.

"Are you gonna eat your salad?" Joe asked Dianne as she was sat just staring into space.
"I feel sick. I can't eat." She said, jet lag was not her friend.
"Okay, I won't force you. Do you wanna have a nap?" Joe asked her, it was currently 1pm in England however that meant it was 8pm in Australia, so it was getting later, and Dianne was on 2 hours of sleep and no food.
"Can I?" She asked.
"Sure, rest your head on my shoulder. No one will know, and if people see it's fine, your jetlagged. No one will judge." Joe said, she nodded and rested her head against him. Joe started to play with the ends of her hair, knowing that it sent her to sleep usually. Within 5 minutes she was asleep.
"How much has she eaten today Joe? She refused to eat anything at break." Ashley said.
"She had half of that toast this morning. It is probably because she's feeling ill due to the jet lag." Joe said.
"Maybe see if you can get her to eat something in art, your teacher will let her right?" Stacey suggested, worried that the red head hadn't eaten anything today.
"Yeah I will. He should be fine with it, I can't see him saying no. Especially if I explain."

"Dotty, we need to go to art." Joe said as he heard the bell go. "You guys can go, we'll be fine." Joe said as Ashley and Stacey stood waiting.
"You sure?" Ashley double checked, Joe nodded. "Okay, I'll see you later." She said as they headed off.
"Dot darling, wake up." Joe said, Dianne opened her eyes slightly and yawned. "Hello. We need to go to art, the bells gone." Joe said as he sat her up more straight.
"Okay." She said as she stood up and they walked down the corridor to the art classroom. They didn't talk the whole way, Joe knowing that Dianne needed a few minutes to wake herself up properly.
"Go sit down, I need to ask sir a quick question." Joe said, Dianne nodded and headed to the back of the room where their seats were. "Sir, can I ask a question." Joe asked as he walked up to the teacher.
"Go on Joseph, are you okay?" He asked.
"Yeah I'm fine, it's Dianne. She's fine don't worry but she's extremely jetlagged, she was asleep all lunch. She's not eaten anything all day either, she claims she doesn't feel well, probably caused from the jet lag but I was wondering, if I can convince her, is she able to eat in the lesson, it won't be something much, she made a salad for lunch and has a pot of fruit." Joe asked.
"That's fine Joe. Also how much sleep has she had overall? Like for today?"
"She had 2 hours at night and then around 40 minutes at lunch. It's around 9pm in Australia at the moment so she'll be on that time." Joe let him know.
"Okay, if she needs to, let her nap, all we'll be doing is looking over the homework. So just get her to have that out and then if she needs to nap, let her. It's fine by me, and if any senior member of staff comes in, I'll explain." The teacher said.
"Thanks sir."

"It's your lucky day Dotty, but first, get out your home work and either your salad or your fruit." Joe said, he watched Dianne slowly get her art folder out of her bag and place it on the table aswell as her fruit pot, which contained strawberries, mango and passion fruit.
"Sir has said you can eat. So please eat this, do you feel any better after your nap?" Joe asked, Dianne shook her head. "Bless you, do you think you can try and eat some of this? I just worry that you haven't eaten all day."
"Okay, just the strawberries?" Dianne asked.
"That's fine." Joe said, just glad she was getting some food in her, but made a mental note to let Rina know when he walked her home after school.
"That's it, well done." Joe said as she finished her last strawberry, having also eaten a few pieces of mango.
"I'm so tired still, that nap didn't do much." Dianne said.
"Well, as I was saying, it's your lucky day. Sir has said if you need to nap, you can. It's fine by him. Just ahve your homework out, which you do." Joe said.
"Did sir definitely say that's okay? He doesn't mind?" Dianne asked.
"He came up with the idea, it's fine, come on, get comfy." Joe said.
"Can I swap seats with you so I'm next to the wall? But then can I lean against you again? If you wrap your arm around me? Is that okay?" Dianne asked, hoping it would be okay.
"Of course." Joe said as she stood up so Dianne could moved across to his seat. "Come here, give me a hug doll." Joe said as Dianne snuggled into his side and closed her eyes.

The art teacher came round looking at everyone's homework and stopped when he reached Joe and Dianne's. He looked over at Joe and started mouthing things, not wanting to wake Dianne up.
"Your fine, shes a deep sleeper, she won't hear anything. It won't wake her." Joe said as she draw circles on Dianne's side with his thumb.
"Oh okay, I was just gonna say, Joe you've done very well with your homework. I'm very impressed well done." He said.
"Thanks."

"MR POTTER! WHY DO YOU HAVE A SLEEPING STUDENT?" Mr Ball, the head of year, shouted as he walked into the classroom.
"Oh sorry sir, don't worry, I've given permission. It's Dianne Buswell, she's extremely jet lagged. And all we're doing is a feedback lesson so she can catch up easily at home." Mr Porter said as she walked over to the teacher, Joe making sure Dianne was still asleep, as she started to fidget.
"You can go back to sleep, it's fine." Joe said as Dianne sat up.
"No, I'm awake now, why they shouting?" Dianne asked.
"She's awake! Dianne, you shouldn't be sleeping in the lessons? If you can't be in school awake, don't come in." Mr ball said.
"Sorry." Dianne replied.
"I gave her permission sir, she's not well." Mr Potter said, not wanting to get Dianne in trouble.
"Whatever, but Dianne you can't spend the whole week sleeping in lessons. Either stay awake or not come in." He said and then walked out.
"I'm sorry Dianne, it's absolutely fine by me for you to nap. You don't look well darling." He said, Dianne thanked him and started looking at her art work.