Ashton
"Ashton, you have an urgent call," chief said, "from the school,"
I got up, following her to the office where she handed me the phone.
"Hello?"
"Is this Ashton? It's Mrs Lockheart,"
"Yeah, it is."
"There's been a serious incident, Ava isn't hurt, but she is very upset. I want to have a meeting before the school day ends to decide what to do,"
"What happened?"
"It seems there is a lot, but Ava has heard someone in class talking about her, and it wasn't a very nice manner,"
I looked up at chief and she nodded her head towards the door.
"I'll be on my way,"
I didn't tell Calum, I just left. My stomach started to wobble, and twist- what could have been said?
I parked in the car park and conveniently it was class change over, so I had to make my way through the swarm of kids.
When I got to the office, Ava wasn't there.
"Ashton,"
"Where's Ava?"
"She's with Sam and Charlie, come in,"
I sat at the desk and folded my arms, anxiously bouncing my knee.
"I can't tell you a story that makes exact sense I suppose, because Ava has just spilled information here and there. In class today, she overheard two girls talking about her. One was very determined to stop the other, who was saying some nasty things like that her teeth were messed up, and her face was horrible, and that she was weird for seeing a therapist,"
I sat forward and covered my hands- they'd hit literally the exact spots we'd worked on for months. The amount of reassurance everyone had given, down the drain.
"The other girl was telling her to stop, saying her brother saw a therapist, and that she's had some troubles so that's why she perhaps wasn't like everyone else,"
"Okay,"
"And...," she sighed, "she's told everyone about Ava's sexuality, before Ava got chance to tell her friends herself, then proceeded to talk badly about it,"
"Can we get her parents in? Or get her out of the school?"
"I know you are angry, but we need to think about this,"
"I want to speak to her parents,"
"Okay, I'll call them. Ava is in the room at the end of the corridor,"
I got up and left, opening the door to Ava curled up in a young boy's arms.
"Dad," she cried, "dad,"
I sat against the wall as she stumbled over, falling into my lap.
"Dad,"
"Slow down," I whispered, "it's okay. Things will work out,"
"How?"
"I'm seeing her parents, and we will talk to the girls tonight,"
"Dad," she sobbed.
"I know," I comforted, "is there anything that could help right now?"
"My back hurts,"
I chuckled lightly, starting to rub her back as she continued to cry. The boy- who I assumed was Sam- took her hand, gently rubbing circles on it.
"What do you want to eat tonight?"
"Pie,"
"I'd better text Viola then,"
"Sam is my new friend," she said quietly, making me look up and smile.
"We are gonna need a longer summer, there's too many people to invite round,"
"Is there?"
"I was joking, we have enough time,"
For a moment, it was silent. Mr Carter was typing away, Charlie was fiddling with a bracelet on his wrist, and I was comforting my little girl.
That's what she was. She was small, and fragile, and vulnerable. Of course she could be full of life, but it was moments like this that made me realise how much I should treasure the energy she can give.
"I thought my teeth were looking better,"
"They are, okay? Viola and I are the professionals here,"
"And I was finally looking in the mirror at something I could admire,"
"You still can, we don't need to listen to such cold hearted people,"
"Ashton," Mr Carter said, "I agree, and get that you're angry, but if you start lashing out like that to their face then you are in the wrong,"
I nodded, kissing her head when she turned.
"Sam is Jordan's brother,"
"Harry's friend Jordan?"
"Yeah. He got my inhaler and helped me here, and he said he will sit with me,"
"That's nice of him," I smiled, "thankyou,"
"What friends do, right?"
"Will Amber and Sapphire hate me?"
"They might be a bit upset because you kept it from them, and thought you could trust them, but if they don't get over that then that's their problem. You aren't supposed to tell anyone at any time, you say when you're ready,"
"And Ava," Sam said, "people get told the news and either don't know you, or shrug it off. I promise there is barely anyone who thinks negatively,"
"It just sucks,"
"It's does," I nodded, "I'm talking to her parents, and then we can go home. You can have a bath and I can help soothe your joints, then we will have an early night. You look sick,"
"My throat hurts,"
"Nothing else is bothering you?"
She shook her head, and I knew she was lying. Her cheek was swollen, and the way she was eating added up. An abscess or infection left long enough could cause more sickness, and I was very concerned. Thursday was close, but not close enough.
"Well, I need to move your appointment to tomorrow, straight after lunch, so we can see from there,"
"Will I have to come to school?"
"Yes,"
"After all of this?" she stressed.
"The longer you leave a problem, the worse it gets. We will call the girls, I don't think Savanna will be in school tomorrow, and you are with Mr Carter for most of the morning,"
She sniffed, looking up at the door where Miss Lockheart appeared.
"They're here. Mr Carter, could you email Sam's lesson and tell them he's here, then get a statement. Charlie, please could you try a lesson?"
"I can't,"
"What about half?"
"Please,"
She sighed and nodded, clearly too stressed to argue.
"Now Ava, she definitely said all those things?"
"Yeah," she said, "Can I stay?"
"Yeah, why don't you come and practice some handwriting, we can talk and cool off," sir said, her weight lifted off as she stood up. Being able to see how much support she got was so reliving- they were on top of it.
Perhaps the school didn't seem to get as good grades as others, but that was because they welcomed everyone- of course there would be a range. Ava was supported in an instant, and was so lucky to be here. The headteacher was actively involved, and all the teachers know exactly what to do.
I followed Miss into her office, where two parents sat. I wondered how they could both get here, but perhaps like me they had lenient bosses.
Or, by the look of them, they were the bosses.
"What's this about?"
"Mr Irwin, this is Mr and Mrs Loans,"
"Did something happen to Savanna?"
"Quite the opposite,"
I shifted nervously in my seat, aware of how tired and rough I'd look in my scrubs compared to them in the formal clothing.
"I'll just give you so background. Ava Irwin is a student here who requires support, but will definitely accomplish whatever she wants one day. Her background is horrific, but she's managed to grow out of that little by little. There's a lot of work, but she can go into maths and English lessons now, she can sit in assemblies and she improves outside of school in many things,"
"How does this concern us?" Mr Loans said.
"Because, your daughter has made some remarks that,"- "all teenagers do. I don't see the problem,"
"You don't see the problem?" I laughed, "when I adopted Ava 9 months ago, she barely knew how to talk. She couldn't write, she thought she was disgusting, she couldn't eat, she was so underweight and scared of everything. I don't think you understand how incredible she is to come to school everyday,"
"That's all sad, but again, Savanna wouldn't have said anything that bad,"
"Savanna actually said a lot of things," Miss interrupted, "and you will not speak until I tell you them. She made fun of Ava's teeth, which she has braces for and has been a real struggle for her. She called her face 'rank', said it wasn't surprising that she was adopted, as well as calling her weird for seeing a therapist,"
"Well,"-
"And, on top of all the struggles Ava faces including medical conditions and mental health issues, she had to venture through finding out she was bisexual, which hadn't been shared with some of her closest mates, nevermind her peers. I'm sure you'll be thrilled to know Savanna took it upon herself to inform everyone she could about this,"
As she spoke, I felt my eyes welling up. This was my little girl, who we had fought so hard with to get past these things, and one person had destroyed it.
"She must be lying,"
"She isn't lying," I snapped, "if you saw how distraught she was, you'd know she wasn't lying,"
"Well perhaps we'd like to see," they said.
"That isn't necessary," Miss said.
"Then we will file a report for any punishments, because they can't be true,"
She looked at me, helpless, because neither of us wanted her to go without punishment. Slowly, I stood up, going back to the room.
"Ava, do you think you could come and talk to Savanna's mum and dad? They don't believe it,"
"What?"
She started crying, making me shush her. Her hands were shaking, her hair had been messed up, and the little bit of mascara she had put on was down her face.
"Just go in and tell them it was true, that's all we can do,"
She grabbed my hand and followed, still crying when we went in the office. I let her have the seat and crouched next to her, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Why don't you believe me?"
"Oh, I- we,"
"I now have to call my two best friend and apologise for not telling them something I wasn't ready to tell,"
"We are really sorry,"
"And now I don't ever want to leave the house again,"
"Ava," I soothed, wiping her tears, "it's one person,"
"But she picked at everything! And now my chest hurts and all my joints hurt and my head hurts and I wish you hadn't adopted me. I wish I was just left in that place all alone, because I probably wouldn't still be here,"
"Ava,"
I hugged her tightly, letting my own tears fall out to.
"And you might not see the problem of one teenager making remarks," Miss said quietly, "but it can mean a lot to some people. I'm suspending Savanna for the rest of the week, all her school work will be emailed and will be completed for Monday. I am not having any arguments, because we have a very serious mental health issue to deal with. Thankyou for your time, you can meet Savanna at reception,"
They got up, stunned and speechless, while I sat Ava on my lap.
"I didn't mean it,"
"This isn't the first time I've heard that,"
"I just meant I didn't want to be in this situation,"
"Ava, we will be checking in on you more often," Miss said calmly, "at the end of each day, Mr Carter will talk to you about how your day went, and we might get you to write things down,"
"That sounds great,"
She shrugged and hugged me, closing her eyes.
"I think we'd better get home,"
"Please,"
"Are we going to try our best to leave that behind? Because nothing she said was true,"
"We need to sort it out,"
"We will," I assured, "Amber and Sapphire will be fine,"