Pieces Of My Life (Waterloo Road)

Chapter 17

5 weeks later...  

The next morning approached pretty sooner than expected. I guess school had really affected me and tired myself out with the constant amount of homework I had received. It is now halfway through October which means there is now one week left until half term. I had given everything a lot of thought overnight and my decision was now a whole lot clearer... I was going to leave Waterloo Road at half term. If I was granted permission to leave, I would move back to Manchester. Looking at myself in the mirror I convinced myself I was strong enough to pluck up the courage to reveal my plan to Mr Byrne. I decided to visit his office during registration so there would be enough time to talk things over and explain why I wanted to move. Scout knew there was something wrong with me today as during breakfast she would not stop asking me to tell her what I was thinking about. She would only find out when I knew whether I was allowed to leave or not.

I walked into my form room and registered. Thankfully my form teacher didn't ask many questions of why I wanted to see Mr Byrne. Instead I was given the nod of approval. With his permission to leave registration I walked out of the room which earned many suspicious glances and I slowly made my way to Mr Byrne's office thinking about how I would break the news.

"You okay Charlotte?" A steady hand upon my shoulder shock me out of my deep thoughts. I turned around to become faced with Imogen.

"Yeah I'm fine thanks." I wasn't going to tell anyone the real reason until I had told Scout and Rhiannon.

"Are you sure? You look like your worried about something?" Imogen pointed out whilst looking worried herself. I really didn't want to worry her but at the same time I felt guilty for not telling her the entire truth.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. Don't worry about it." I smiled at her to make her aware that there was nothing to worry about. She would find out soon enough anyway. However Imogen didn't seem convinced in the slightest.

"Okay but if you ever want to talk, you know where to find me." This was one of the things I loved most at Waterloo Road. Even though the school had moved, the friendly community had remained.

"I will do. Thank you it means a lot to me." The fact that everyone looked out for each other was really great and this made Waterloo Road the place it was.

"It's okay. I'll see you later." She then walked off and when she reached the end of the corridor, she turned around and waved.

Once she was out of sight I continued my way down the corridor. As I passed the history room a few eyes glanced my way. I chuckled to myself as they were all sat in silence looking very bored. A few more strides later and I was in the presence of Janeece.

"Hiya Charlotte. You okay?"

"Yeah I'm good thanks. Can I speak to Mr Byrne?"

"Yeah sure. Hang on." She then went into his office. A couple of seconds later and she was back in her chair. "You can go in."

"Thanks." I began to shake as I made my way over to the door. My palms were sweating as I reached out to the door handle. I quickly knocked then went into the room.

"Morning Charlotte." Mr Byrne greeted as he looked up from his laptop.

"Morning." I was so nervous to ask him whether I could leave or not.

"Is everything okay?" This was my chance to open up.

"Yeah everything is fine." I smiled at him. Oh great, now he thinks I'm wasting his time. Good one Charlotte now he thinks you're weird.

"I can see something's up." He looked me directly in the eye. "You can tell me. I know you didn't come in here for nothing." I smiled. C'mon Charlotte you can tell me."