Pieces Of My Life (Waterloo Road)

Chapter 12

The rest of the morning went by slowly. I noticed I kept looking at the clock every so often just to see how long it was until her visit. It was now ten o'clock which meant it was half an hour until I had to go downstairs and an hour until Rose actually came.

Whilst on Facebook I had occupied myself with different conversations from different people. Speaking to Lewis brought back an emotion I couldn't describe. It was a mixed feeling; a mixture of both guilt and loneliness. I hadn't been away from Lewis ever since I moved to Rochdale so I really was missing the guy. This then made me think back to my previous conversation with Rhiannon. She was right. I think I will end up moving back to Rochdale but I have no idea when.

Half an hour soon passed by and before I knew it, I was sat in the common room waiting with the others for Rose's arrival.

Knock knock

This was it. Rose was up in Scotland. Mr Byrne got up from his seat and made his way to the door. The rest of us remained silent as we were nervous to see her. I began to play with the hem of my sleeve, it was something I do when I get nervous/anxious. As I looked around the room I began to relax a little as I noticed everyone seemed nervous. I caught Phoenix's eye and he gave me a sad smile which I returned.

"Everyone this is Rose. Denzil's mum." Mr Byrne and Rose walked into the room. Rose caught my eye and I noticed immediately the pain trapped inside her eyes. She gave me a slight smile then sat down in the chair Mr Byrne had pulled out for her. She looked awful, as if she hadn't slept since she found out the news. I nervously looked over at Scout and I could see she was just as nervous as I was.

"Hi I'm Mr Chalk. We're very sorry to hear of your loss." I was entirely grateful that Mr Chalk had spoken out loud as the room was quickly becoming uncomfortable.

"So you're the 'bestest' maths teacher, eh?" Mr Chalk seemed taken back at the words which came out of Rose's mouth.

"The best?" Confusion was plastered all over Mr Chalk's face.

"Yes, well you were Denzil's anyway." Rose let out a smile. "He used to come home from school and mention how much he enjoyed your lessons."

"I don't think he really enjoyed my lessons."

"Maybe not the actual maths itself. But he used to talk for hours about how much you made the class laugh. He thought you were one of the best teachers especially since you helped him with the death of his sister." Rose's voice cracked at the last part. It must be so hard for her to loose two children in less than two years. However she shook her head and reached into her bag for a tissue. Mr Byrne took this opportunity to speak.

"He was a good kid and he will always be a part of Waterloo Road." Rose smiled at this part and I felt something different in the air. The tension had lifted and to me, it felt as though Denzil was actually in the room with me and this have me comfort.

"This reminds me. As Denzil will always be a part of Waterloo Road we were wondering whether you would be okay with us hanging a photo up of Denzil in the school building?" Rose seemed surprised at Mr Byrne's idea but never the less she nodded and let a smile fall across her face.   "Thank you. I would love that."

She gave another smile which filled my heart with a warm soft feeling. Rose then opened her mouth to say something else but she was unfortunately interrupted by the entrance of Miss Croft.   "I'm sorry to interrupt but Rose are you okay to have chicken wraps for lunch? I've not done a big shop yet so I'm using up bits of food Mr Clarkson bought the other day."

"Yeah that's fine. It sounds good." Rose smiled then Maggie walked out of the room, presumably to start cooking the chicken.  

"Denzil would've liked this." Rose admitted. I prayed that she would not start crying as I wouldn't know what to do. However, she turned the conversation around. "It looks like I'm just going to eat his for him" She then began to laugh slightly and everyone joined in. I can see where Denzil got his sense of humour from.