The Burden of Secrets

Chapter 24

My stomach gurgled with hunger as I sat outside the school offices.  It was ten minutes before the lunch bell was due to go and my knee bobbed up and down in anticipation.  I'd been sat out here for almost fifteen minutes after being pulled out of class with no explanation.

The last time I had been here was after I had gotten into a fight with Gary Cross and it hadn't been pleasant.  My parents were called in and I got into a whole load of trouble at school and at home.

I had a few ideas as to why I was called down here.  Top possibility was them realising that I had bunked last lesson a few weeks back, followed by the fact that I hadn't been handing in homework.  My hands were slippery and I rubbed them along my black school trousers.  The door opened and Mrs Mack appeared; her eyes wrinkled as she looked at me;

"Come on in Zeke."

I followed her into the small office where there was a round table with four chairs.  In one of those chairs sat Mr Fisher.  They couldn't be calling a meeting about my missing lots of football, could they?

"Hey sir."

"Hi Zeke, take a seat."  He looked as uncomfortable as she did.  I took a seat as Mrs Mack did, so I was facing them both.

"What's going on?"  My heart rate increased as it occurred to me that maybe something had happened to Dad. 

Mrs Mack spoke:  "We just wanted to have a little chat with you about a few things."

I relaxed slightly.  It didn't seem likely that they would approach a death in such a manner.

"Mr Fisher and myself have both been aware of a few changes with you.  You are coming in late to school and your teachers are saying you aren't handing in work."

I squirmed a bit. 

"I'm normally telling you to stop talking to your friends,"  Mrs Mack gave a crooked smile, "but now you barely speak.  You even fell asleep in my class the other day."

I opened my mouth to respond but Fishy started talking, nodding in agreement with Mrs Mack.

"You are missing football training and matches without any notice or reason.  You have always been my most committed player...I can see that you love the game."  Mr Fisher cleared his throat.  "I rang Jeff Boyd at Whitwell Rangers and he said that you hadn't turned up there for weeks and haven't returned any of his calls."

I was surprised that he had rang my other coach.  Mrs Mack interjected then.

"On top of that, you look thin and tired all the time."

Mr Fisher leant forward in his seat and put his arms on the table.

"What is going on with you Zeke?"

A hundred potential lies flitted through my mind.  I hated lying.  Lying to Mum, Dad, Zane, most of my friends, and now it would be to them.  I could just tell them the truth – every last piece of it – but I didn't trust that it wouldn't get back to my Mum.  I crossed my arms around my chest.

"Nothing is going on sir."  I didn't bother looking at them and fixed my gaze to a scratch that had been etched into the table by someone else under interrogation.  There was a pause as they looked at each other for a moment.

"Two weeks ago you came into school with bruises and yesterday, again."

I jerked up and looked with them. 

"Like I told you both, I was in a fight.  It wasn't anyone from this school, so you don't have to worry."

At least that wasn't a lie.