Hold my hand.

~2~

[Two weeks later.]
[Friday.]

-So what are you up to this afternoon?
-Not much, I'll probably have to work once I get home.
-Yeah, how come you finished early?
-I've got a voicemail from Blake's headteacher yesterday. They want to see me today.
-Oh no! What has he done now?!
-I asked him yesterday if he got in any troubles at school but he said no. I hope it's nothing serious...
-I'm sure it will be fine.
-I don't know Leigh. He's always onto something. He reminds me more and more about his dad everyday...
-I'll stop you there, Pez! He will never turn out like Theo because he's got you.
-I hope I'll be enough. He asked lots of questions about his dad lately.
-And what have you been telling him?
-Nothing, really. I try and change the subject everytime.
-Does he not remember him at all?
-No. The only thing he said he remembers is sleeping in our bed and a loud bang on the door. I think he's talking about the night we left. Oh, and he remembers Theo's name.
-You've got nothing to worry about. He doesn't know where you are and hopefully he's not gonna come out for a while. You and Blake will be just fine.
-Thank you. We would have been lost without you.
-Don't say it. You know I'm always here for you. I'm taking Penny and my nephew to McDonald's for a treat tonight, I'll pick up Blake and take him with us if you want, so you can finish working in peace.
-We'll see if he deserves it after my meeting. Call you in a bit, love you!

'Come on in, Miss Edwards.'
Perrie felt like she went back twelve years, when she used to be called in the head teacher's office.
Mrs. White, the head teacher, and Mrs. Thirlwall, Blake's teacher, were sitting behind the desk.
'We're sorry to disrupt your day, Miss Edwards.'
'What's going on? What has Blake done now?'
Mrs. White continued. 'Blake is a brilliant little boy. He's very smart, he's already ahead of the rest of his class for his reading and his maths, and...'
'Is it about his behaviour?'
'I see you want to get straight to the point. Miss Edwards, is you we're worried about.'
Perrie looked at them confused. 'Me? What about me?'
'Mrs. Thirlwall has been keeping a close eye on Blake in the last month or so. Mrs. Thirlwall?'
'There was a few episodes that concerned me. He's been having a few conflicts with some classmates about his family life.'
'You all know our situation, so I don't understand why this is new to you.'
'It's not, Miss Edwards. But Blake's beginning to be really upset about it. He also...' Mrs. Thirlwall took a small pause, then continued. '... he also came back to the classroom a couple of days ago really upset after playing in the garden, saying that you would be really angry at him for ripping another pair of trousers and you wouldn't be able to buy him any more uniforms.'
'What parent wouldn't get angry at their child if they kept ripping their trousers? C'mon, this is ridiculous!'
'Miss Edwards.' Mrs. White gave Perrie an incident form filled in by Mrs. Thirlwall. 'Can you explain to us what happened in this occasion?'
Perrie quickly read through it. 'What do you want me to say? It was a bruise. The sofa bed wasn't closed properly and Blake ran into it. The bed shut on his arm, Blake was fine. He's five, kids suffer injuries all the time.'
'That was a dangerous situation, don't you think?'
'We live in a studio flat, not much I can do about it, Mrs. White. Where is all this going?!'
'Miss Edwards, as I said at the beginning, we are concerned about yours and Blake's circumstances. We think you need some help and support. We have duty of care, which means that, I'm really sorry, but we'll have to report your situation to social services.'
Perrie felt her heart sink into her chest.
'What do you mean?! Why!'
'We're not working against you, Miss Edwards. Your welfare and Blake's welfare is our first interest. You'll receive a call tonight I believe, from a social worker. We'll go from there.'
Perrie tried to hold back the tears whilst she picked up her bag to leave the room. 'We've got really different ideas about what helping someone means, Mrs. White.'
The girl left slamming the office door. As she made her way to the entrance, waiting for Blake to finish his school day, Perrie heard footsteps behind her.
'Perrie, wait.'
Mrs. Thirlwall.
'Jade, really, you're the last person I want to talk to right now.'
'Perrie, I'm sorry. I had to.'
'You've been knowing me since we were in nappies, Jade! How could you even think I would hurt my child?!'
'We're just trying to help!'
'Stop saying it!' Perrie raised her voice, before remembering she was still inside her son's school.
'I have to go, Blake will be out in a minute.' Perrie the sarcastically added. 'See you at the next meeting, Mrs. Thirlwall.'

'It's crazy! Can you believe it?!'
'Absolutely mad.' Leigh-Anne hugged her friend. 'Oh, I'm so sorry P. Wish I could do something to help.'
'You're taking Blake out for the evening, that's more than enough. I'll see you later, bye Blakey, be good!'
Perrie closed the door behind her, put the boiled water from the kettle into her cup, then went to sit in front of her laptop to catch up with a few emails from clients.
Not long into her work, Perrie's phone started to ring.

-Incoming call from Unknown-
-Hello?
-Hello, is that Miss Perrie Edwards?
-Speaking.
-Hi there, it's Mr... fro... rvice...
-Sorry I can't hear you.
-Can you hear me now?
-Yes.
-I was saying, I'm calling from the London's Children's safeguarding department.
-Oh, yes. Of course.
-I believe you were expecting my call then.
-I was.
-We've had a chat with Mrs. White, your son's headteacher, is that right?
-Yes.
-We understand this might be a bit of a shock for you and your little boy, but we're here to help. The first step would be meeting you and your son to have a little chat. Would you be able to let us visit you on Monday?
-Have I got any other choice?
-Miss Edwards, we und...
-I'm sorry, yeah, I know. You're here to help... sure, Monday is alright.
-It's four o'clock a good time for you?
-Four should be fine.
-Fabulous. Enjoy the rest of your evening and see you on Monday.

[Hello lovelies :) how are you?
I'm so bored of this week off already lol
Next chapter's here! I've been wanting to post this all day lol
So... Perrie and Jade have history 👀
And things begin to get interesting!
Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy it ;)
Peace and love to everyone and keep safe xxx]