a couple of minutes later Sonya returned with Stevie. Sonya knocked on the office door.
"come in" shouted Christine.
"you wanted to see me?" said Stevie, Christine could tell he was worried about something
"come on in, take a seat" said christine smiling "youre not in trouble lovely, i promise you" she nodded reassuringly as stevie took a seat at the other side of the desk. "you okay?" stevie didnt say anything, he just nodded in agreement. "youre mum came in earlier.. she said youve been having issues with Shaznay again, could you tell me whats happened?"
"nothings happened with shaznay.." he started "well not really"
"you can tell me, you know that dont you, you usually do ey?, i know i havent been in recently, but you didnt mention anything last week.." said christine "i know before i couldnt do much, but now, now i can, so why dont you tell me ey?, tell me whats going on"
"she mocked me again" he mutterred
"okay.." said christine "well thankyou for telling me" stevie didnt say anything "but you see, stevie, ive been your head of year for over a year now, and youve been in my english class for two, and something tells me theres something else.." stevie nodded as his eyes began to well up "hey come on" said christine "its alright, whatevers happened, ill help you as best as i can, i know the talking parts hard ey, but i cant help you if you dont tell me whats wrong" stevie didnt say anything "you dont even need to talk to me stevie, i can get mr clarkson to speak to you when hes back, mrs budgen?, mr budgen? your mum? speak to someone ey" he didnt say anything, christine slid her chair on to stevies side of the table "its me your talking too stevie"
"i cant tell you. i swore"
"I won't tell anyone if I don't need to stevie. I promise."
"You can't promise"
"A problem shared it a problem halved" she stated "I can vouch for that"
"You won't understand"
"Won't I?" Said Christine "how do you know I wouldn't ey?, come on ey, all secrets out in the end and I for one should know that better than anyone" she smiled softly "your mums really worried about you Stevie, and truthfully so am I, so come on ey, tell me what's wrong?"
"It's dad" he muttered
"What about him?"
"He's been writing.. from prison"
"Righr okay.."
"He's coming out next week.."
"I take it your mum doesn't know?" He shook his head
"She can't know... she'll get too upset"
"Oh Stevie" she sighed "why will your mum get upset ey?, won't she be happy?"
"No... he beats, he's vile... I want him to rot in his cell"
"Oh lovely" Christine didn't know what to say "you know I'm going to have to tell your mum don't you?" He nodded "but I'll do everything I can, I promise you.. and I don't break promises. You know that" he nodded "I understand, I've been in your shoes love, don't even worry now ey, just breathe it'l be alright. As soon as your mum knows it'll feel easier, honestly"
"Why are you so sure"
"When I was your age, maybe a little bit younger, my own father was a bit like yours, in and out of prison, always writing to me, you know.. him and my mother most definitely didn't get on. It was more emotional than physical but. You know. See I was slightly older than you when my dad got out. But I rember not telling my own mother. Worst mistake of my life. Wasn't the prettiest home coming.. put it that way"
"What happened?"
"Well things got slightly heated and my dad ended up going back down for ABH. So"
"So you get it"
"Oh I get it" nodded Christine "and you can speak to me about stuff like this, anytime I promise you" nodded Christine "now it's up to you ey, I can tell your mum, or you can, it's completely up to you"
"I'll tell her" said Stevie wiping away his tears
"Promise me you'll tell her?" Said Christine "cause you know I'll check with her?"
"I promise" said Stevie
"Good" she nodded "and as for shaznay, I'll have a word alright. I won't let her get away with it again. Especially now I can take proper action okay?"
"Thankyou miss" said Stevie
"You're welcome" nodded Christine "I'll call your mum. Tell her you've got something to talk to her about alright?"
"Alright, thanks"
