• Chapter Two: 24 Hours


    Walking out of the loos, I bumped into the school receptionist, Mrs Bline. Of course, we both dropped everything we were carrying, and so had to stoop to pick the items up.
    “I'm going to miss seeing you around you know” she said sadly.
    I had no idea what she was talking about, maybe she was leaving? But I decided to follow the conversation anyway.
    “Yeah, me too” I replies after a second of hesitation.
    “But you should do fine in your new school, I know a couple of people who went there and they did! It's a split site like ours so you should...” she trailed off as she looked back up.
    My hand had frozen in mid-air, a look of shock on my face. She quickly realised her mistake.
    “Oh, your mum hasn't told you yet has she?”
    Mum was a friend of Mrs Bline's, and had probably called her that morning. But wait, we can't be moving, can we?
    “Told me what?” I asked through gritted teeth, although I already knew the answer.
    “She lost her job this morning, but the company have relocated her, she said you're moving this weekend.”
    This weekend. It was Thursday afternoon. That gave me just over 24 hours before I would be uprooted and wrenched apart from all my friends.
    “Well, don't forget” she said, picking up the last of the papers, “you didn't hear it from me!” We stood up and she gently touched my shoulder.
    “We're all really going to miss you Maela,” and with that she walked off, leaving me to wrestle with my thoughts.

    I tried not to let any of my emotions show, but when I got home I ran up to my room and let them flow. My upset at the fact I would have to leave all my friends, my anger that my mum hadn't told me. Mum must have heard me, because she came in to see me.
    “Maela, can I come in?” she didn't wait for answer, she came in anyway. From one glance she realised what had happened.
    “Oh babe, I'm so sorry. They said that they couldn't trust me anymore with all my lateness. But don't worry, they've re-located us to a nice town called East Grinstead, and my new employers are much more lenient. You've got a great new school too!” She stopped as she realised my face hadn't changed.
    “Whats wrong?”
    “Oh mum, I don't want to leave here, all my friends, I've grown up here,” my tears threatened to bubble up over the surface again but I held them back. “Kyle will be the same when he finds out.”
    “I know honey, I know. But we don't have any choice. The council are kicking us out of the house on Saturday morning, whether we're ready or not. And I can't pay for anywhere else without this job.”
    I just nodded miserably.