Broken Words

Chapter 10-2/3/19

"I'm not sure about this dad."

Jane glanced up at the school that stood before her, the school that her father had attended.

"Come on, my best girl isn't going to drop out on me now."

Her dad placed a strong hand on her shoulders and smiled at her, a gesture that was supposed to be encouraging. She looked back out of the window, still staring up at the school. How out of her depth she felt, a little fish in a big pond.

Once again she hadn't said no to her dad. Once again, she'd been a coward and allowed him to decide everything for her. Here she was having to look at business and economics, two subjects that repulsed her, when she wanted to take film studies and food tech.

Her dad has refused to let her take these, of course.

"Come on, we don't want to be late to see your head teacher do we," Her dad opened the door and clambered out the car.

Sighing, Jane did the same, tucking her hands into the pockets of her blazer. The thing was too big for her, it was one of the things her mother used to wear, one of the few things that she had left of her.

Rain began to fall from the colourless clouded sky, framing the situation. This was the first memory that Jane was going to have of her new school.

"Jane come on!" Her dad yelled impatiently from the front doors, only just having noticed that his daughter wasn't right by him.

She followed him up, ignoring the glances of the few people positioned on the steps. Why were they still outside, it was raining for gods sake.

To Jane's delight, there were a lot more people inside, more than she'd expected. When her dad was here it'd been a small school, with about seven hundred kids in total. Not it looked like there were seven hundred kids in each year.

"You know, when I was here, I was quite close with the head master," Her dad said, noticing Jane's raised eyebrows. "I was! We were on the football team together."

"Was there a point to that story? Or were you just trying to show off how important you were and what I have to live up to?" Jane asked, knocking on the office door before her dad could reply.

The lady behind the desk looked up and her jaw fell open.

"Richard! Oh my, it's been years," She gushed, scurrying around the side of the desk as fast as her little legs could carry her.

She was short and plump in a woollen green dress and cardigan and glass that magnified her eyes to the point where it was terrifying.

"It's been too long," He gave the woman a hug before turning to Jane. "Jane, this is Pam. Pam, this is my daughter Jane."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Jane held out her hand which Pam gladly shook.

"Ah yes, I remember now. You have a meeting with the principal soon, I'll just get you your locker combination and your timetable and then I'll show you there myself," Pam bustled back behind her desk, rummaging through her draws.

"Actually, I was hoping to go by myself, show Jane the scenic route and where we all used to hang out," Her dad replied, taking the paper with the combination and another piece that read her timetable from Pam and passing it to Jane, who pocketed it quickly.

"Oh, Ok," Pam's face fell but she quickly brushed it back up into a cheery smile. "We'll have to arrange a get together soon."