I'll keep you safe

Chapter 156

Rachel had been expecting a few things to happen when she walked into the staffroom with Eddie. The room erupting with applause and cheers wasn't one of them. She couldn't help but smile as everyone walked up to her to welcome her back.

"Ah, our glorious leader returns!" Grantly greeted in his usual droning tone

"Nice to see you too, Grantly" Rachel quipped

"I take it that whatever illness you had isn't contagious?" he questioned

Rachel smirked as she looked at Eddie, who was trying not to laugh. What she had definitely wasn't contagious!

"No, Grantly. You're safe" she nodded

"What a shame, a few months off work would be so nice!" he grumbled sarcastically

Eddie snorted as he walked away.

"Come on, Mr Lawson, you have a job to do" Rachel reminded him

Eddie cleared his throat, turning his attention to the staffroom.

"Right! We've got a few announcements, so if you could all be quiet, thank you!" Eddie called, raising his voice

The room settled, allowing Rachel to step forward to make her speech.

"Uhm- thank you everyone for that lovely welcome. It's good to be back. I just wanted to say thank you all for your hard work this term, you've all been incredible. As you all know, I was going to resign last week, but- uhm- thanks to the governors and Mr Lawson, I have changed my mind. So I'll be here to welcome everyone back after the Christmas Holidays"

Everyone, bar two people, cheered at that. Rachel didn't miss the eye roll from Steph and the snort from Grantly. Steph was another issue she wanted to try and resolve today.

"I also just wanted to wish Rob good luck. I'm sure Bolton is going to be brilliant" she added

Rob smiled weakly.

"How is he feeling?" Eddie asked him

"Yeah, he's good. His nervous wobble is over. He's doing great! Honestly, I would hate to be on the receiving end of his fists! That boy is pumped up something rotten!" Rob replied confidently

Rachel smiled.

"Alright, well, great! I'll leave Eddie to talk about the arrangements for the afternoon. I hope you all have a lovely two weeks off!"

Once Eddie had talked through the arrangements for this afternoon and had, once again, wished Rob good luck, they left.

"I'm so glad she's back!" Jasmine smiled once they'd gone

"Oh, yeah, it's fantastic! Yipee, Miss Mason is back!" Steph grumbled sarcastically, rolling her eyes

"Steph! I thought you were done with this... dislike for Rachel?" Matt scolded

"Of course I am, Matt. I just don't see why everyone wants to be jumping for joy that she's back. It's not a big deal, is it?" she huffed

"She's been ill, Steph! And she was going to resign last week!" he reasoned

"Oh, so what? Staff round here are ill all the time and you don't see people rolling out the red carpet when they return!"

Matt scoffed.

"Steph, whatever was wrong was serious! Have you not seen how worried Eddie has been this last week?"

"Oh, please! Eddie follows her around like a lost puppy! Of course he was like that when she wasn't here!"