Symphony

Meeting

Nikki sits in the reception area with Freya in her arms, and Poppy sat beside her feeling sorry for herself, Nikki looks down at Poppy who has her head resting on Nikki's lap, "Poppy darling sit up for me please," Nikki speaks as she shakes Poppy's shoulder with her free hand.

"Mummy my head hurts..." She whines as she sits up and cuddles into Nikki's side.
"Oh baby, I know. Daddy is on his way he may have some Calpol in his car for you" Nikki responds, leaning forward she grabs her phone from her handbag hanging on her pram.

Soon the headteacher walks down the corridor towards Nikki and Poppy, "Mrs. Hodgson... I am Sandra Perkins... I am the headmistress. I understand you wanted to speak to me?" She smiles as she holds her hand out to shake Nikki's.

"Yes I do!" Nikki responds although she doesn't shake her hand as she has her hands full with Freya.
"Would you like to come to my office and we can talk about the matter at hand," Sandra speaks as she looks down at Poppy who is hiding her face on her mother's side.

"I will be, I'm just waiting for my husband" Nikki explains.
Sandra nods and heads back into her office awaiting a call to say Jack has arrived too. Soon Jack walks into the reception area, "Daddy!" Poppy grins as she gets off the chair and rushes over to her dad.

Jack smiles as he walks over to Nikki with Maddison against his hip, "Jack?... why do you have Maddie?" Nikki questions.
"The nursery's heating is broken so all children have had to go home," Jack smiles as he kisses Nikki's head. Nikki nods and then places Freya down in her pram and then shows Jack what has happened to Poppy before showing him the accident form.

Jack reads the accident form and looks up at Nikki, "Nik, darling... these kinds of things happen, it's clearly an accident" Jack responds.
"No it wasn't Daddy, she pushed me!" Poppy protests.

Nikki folds her arms and raises an eyebrow at Jack, "And you're telling me that you don't believe the words coming out your own daughter's mouth?" Nikki quizzes.
"Nikki, I'm not arguing with you over this now... let's just talk to the headteacher and see what she says" Jack responds.

Soon Jack and Nikki are taken into the headteacher's office and take a seat, Nikki sits with Freya in her arms while Jack sits beside her. Poppy has been taken through to the after school club to keep her out the way and the after school club leader has taken Maddison also free of charge while Jack and Nikki speak to the headteacher.

"...Mr. and Mrs. Hodgson, I do believe there was an incident that you wanted to discuss with me today?" Sandra speaks as she turns in her office chair to face Jack and Nikki.
Nikki nods and looks at Sandra and raises an eyebrow, "So, what are you going to do about it?" Nikki quizzes.

"Well, what part of the incident would you like to discuss with me?" She asks.
"Let's start with the fact that we wouldn't be in this situation if your member of staff didn't take Poppy inside!" Nikki speaks as she gently pats Freya's back to send her back to sleep.

"Miss Edwards did have a good reason for them to go back inside, you daughter didn't have the right resources to be outside."

Nikki huffs and Jack places his hand on Nikki's knee noticing her getting wound up, "She's Four-years-old for goodness sake, I would expect this Miss Edwards to have helped Poppy and get the resources for her," She responds.

"I appreciate your concern, but we are trying to teach the children to be independent of a young age, but I shall pass that on to Miss Wallace," Sandra speaks.
"Yes well, I teach my children to be independent at home, I work full time and so does my husband, Poppy is independent enough, she dresses herself, she feeds herself, she knows when to go to the toilet and how to deal with that, for goodness sake she even knows how to answer a bloody phone..." Nikki hisses getting slightly irritated by the situation.

"Nik, calm down" Jack speaks softly stroking her knee.
"Yes Mrs. Hodgson your husband is right" Sandra speaks and Nikki shoots her a glare.
"I want to see this teacher that pushed Poppy!" Nikki replies.

"We can't be certain that this member of staff even pushed Poppy, on the statement it says and I quote 'I guided Poppy to the thinking chair, Poppy Hodgson proceeded to throw herself back in temper causing the chair to topple backwards, resulting in Poppy bumping her head off the radiator" The headteacher speaks before looking up at Nikki and Jack.

"Hold on a second... my daughter wouldn't do that" Nikki speaks.
"Yes I agree, Poppy would never do that when she throws a temper tantrum!" Jack speaks noticing something isn't right with the situation.

"No parent would ever want to believe that their child is capable..." She is cut off by Nikki.
"Poppy's body weight would not result in a head injury of that extent. Poppy is 35 pounds... I'd expect that from a three and a half stone, seven-year-old female child." Nikki responds.

"There's not that much difference!" Sandra speaks.
"Ha... clearly someone didn't do very well in maths, there is a big difference between a four and a half year old and a seven-year-old child," Nikki replies and rolls her eyes at how stupid the teacher is.
"Nikki..." Jack warns.

"How would you know that is true Mrs. Hodgson?" Sandra quizzes.
"I'm a doctor... of pathology!" Nikki speaks.

Jack looks down at Freya who is sleeping soundly in Nikki's arms clearly unfazed by Nikki raising her voice. "Well I could look into this for you and get statements from the children in the room and also Miss Wallace," Sandra speaks as she turns back to her desk and logs on.

"Well, you need to do something, anyway I could probably find some of Miss Edwards' DNA on Poppy's clothing, places where it shouldn't be... oh yeah I'm a forensic scientist" Jack responds, Jack and Nikki then both watch as the colour drains from the headteachers face.

"Erm... well... you see... I think we have CCTV in the hall by Poppy's classroom that lands directly on the thinking corner, I could pull this up for you tomorrow," Sandra responds as Nikki notices her getting in a fluster.

"No, I want to see this now!" Nikki hisses.
Jack places his hand back on Nikki's knee and squeezes her knee again, "Mrs. Hodsgon I can't do that..." She replies.

Jack huffs and sits forwards slightly, "Now, or I will request a good friend of mine from Forensic data analyst, who is brilliant at recovering CCTV..." Jack replies.
"Actually, I have found it, here it is" Sandra responds as Nikki looks at Jack and smirks. Sandra brings the CCTV up and allows them to watch the CCTV with her, suddenly they see Miss Edwards marching Poppy into the classroom and shoves her down onto the 'thinking chair', they watch as the teaching assistant crouches down and leans into Poppy's face and shouts at her, they all watch as Poppy shy away from Miss Edwards clearly crying, then Miss Edwards grabs Poppy before shoving her causing Poppy to tumble back into the radiator.

"Now... tell me my daughter is lying!" Nikki replies with a smug look on her face.