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“Why do you ask?” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ears.
There was no question of where I’d seen her, or what was wrong. I might not know much, but I knew my daughter.
“Sit down,” I said, pointing to one of the chairs at the table. “And tell me what’s going on.”
“Nothing is going on.” She looked anywhere but at me, so I knew that was a lie.
“Now tell me the truth.” I was ready to wait for as long as it took. Thankfully, Maddy’s worry for her friend must have been foremost in her mind, because she confessed straight away.
“You know her mum messaged to ask if she’d been to school?” I nodded. “Well, the next day she came to school drunk off her face, Dad.”
“What?” I leaned forward, unsure if I’d heard her properly. “Say that again.”
As she bit on her bottom lip, I reached for her. “Take my hand, sweetheart, and tell me everything.”
“She’s been moody for a couple of weeks but seemed to have pulled out of it. Then yesterday, she turned up at schoolabsolutely legless. And I mean literally legless, Dad. She couldn’t stand up. Zak and Liam had to help her walk to Zak’s mum’s car.”
“So, the boys took her home?”
“We all took her to Emma’s house and stayed the day there with her.”
“You all took the day off school?”
She winced. “I know, and I’m sorry, Dad, but she was in a real state, and we didn’t want her to get in trouble with her parents. Please don’t tell them. I’ve only told you in case we need your help.”
The trepidation in her eyes was justified, but Ana was more import than Maddy missing a day of school. I was just glad she felt she could come to me for help.
“What happened at the house? Was she okay?”
“She puked a few times, and we put her to bed, checking on her. After a while, she got up, but then puked again.” She sighed heavily. “So, we put her back to bed and then eventually took her home. We haven’t seen or heard from her since.”
I squeezed her hand. “I saw her in the supermarket, doing her mum’s shopping.”
“Did she look okay?” Maddy’s bottom lip trembled slightly as big brown eyes almost pleaded with me.
“A bit pale, none of her usual makeup, which is understandable if she was hungover.” As Maddy’s fingers gripped mine, I scrubbed my other hand down my face. “Do you have any idea why she was drunk? Why she’s been moody lately? Because I’m guessing the two are connected.”
“We just thought she was in a bad mood,” she replied with a shrug. “Then when she stayed here, when you went to the wedding, she was fine. She was laughing and joking and…” Her words trailed off and her shoulders dropped. “How did we not notice, Dad? We should have known something was wrong.”
“Don’t beat yourself up about it, Mads. The main thing is that you’re there to help her.”
“How do we do that? I know her, and she won’t tell us what’s wrong; I know she won’t.”
“Maybe speak to her parents?” I suggested.
Maddy gasped. “No way. She’d never speak to me again.”
I shook my head, wishing my daughter had already had the benefit of experience and hindsight. “She might not speak to you for a while, but at least she’ll have people—her parents—looking out for her.”
“Dad,” she groaned. “I can’t speak to them. Honestly, she’ll go mad, and what if she gets into trouble for drinking?”
“Then she gets into trouble for it, sweetheart. But you have to know her drinking at eight-thirty in the morning isn’t a good thing. It’s a bad thing, and she’s clearly got something troubling her.”
She nodded solemnly. “I know. Can I speak to her first, though. See if she’ll tell me.”
“I think that’s reasonable, but if she won’t tell you, then her mum and dad have to be told. Okay?”
With an inhalation, she nodded. “Okay.”
