AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘No problem.’
He didn’t seem to flinch at the coincidence. Didn’t he care that this was the third time they’d met within a week? Or that not one of the meetings was in any way pleasant?
‘What’s been happening?’ he asked, straight to the point.
Sophie was warm, her face and neck flushing at something she couldn’t explain – was it the mildly uncomfortable nature of the conversation she was about to have with a parent? The shock at the coincidence of Liam Hawthorn being the father of a child in her class? Or that each time she’d seen him in the last week, she’d been mesmerised by his eyes and the scent of sandalwood and jasmine that he carried with him wherever he went? She brushed a hand through her hair, pulled her cardigan sleeves down over her hands and invited him into the classroom.
Sophie sat down on one of the children’s chairs and gestured for Liam to do the same opposite. She had a flashback to his knees being up around his ears on the tiny stool in the pub during that first dreaded date, those hideous balloons bobbing about between them. She shivered and shook her head, banishing the memory.
‘So, Mr Hawthorn.’ She paused a moment, considering what to say and cursing herself for not thinking it through earlier in more detail – when Liam Hawthorn wasn’t sitting right in front of her, waiting. ‘The reason I needed to speak to you is because …’ She swallowed and jumped in. ‘Today at lunchtime, Cassie got into a fight with another child.’
Liam regarded her and waited, rather than reacting. Sophie, perhaps predictably, filled the silence. She couldn’t bear the awkwardness of it all.
‘She said it was something to do with her Lupin Turtle pen?’ Sophie phrased it like a question, hoping he would join in with the conversation.
‘I’ve already spoken to Cassie,’ he said, ignoring her question. He sat back in his chair with his arms folded across his chest. ‘She told me about the other girl, Lily. It sounds like she started it all. And that this isn’t the first time she’s been in trouble at school.’
Ah, so he was going to play it like that, was he? Sophie sat up in her chair and leant on the table. ‘I do believe that Lily was to blame. It seems like she took Cassie’s property, which led to the argument that started it all.’
‘I’m just a bit confused why I’m here, Miss Lawson. Cassie has done nothing wrong, but it sounds like you want to talk about her involvement.’
‘Well’ – Sophie considered her words for a moment – ‘I do. Whatever the circumstances leading up to it, Cassie was in a fight today. She was injured and I want to reassure you about that aspect of things, but we also need to address the way both girls handled the situation.’
Liam’s eyes were cold. They’d not had the best start to their acquaintance over the past week, but Sophie hadn’t seen him quite like this before. She opened her mouth to continue, hoping to calm the situation. But Liam got there first.
‘How is it this Lily girl has been in so many fights, yet she’s still allowed to tear into my daughter?’ He spoke evenly, not a crack in his voice, but it was laced with parental anger. Sophie was an expert at recognising the signs.
She swallowed anxiously. ‘Mr Hawthorn, I understand that you’re feeling frustrated. It’s unfortunate that we even need to be talking about this.’
He tutted and rolled his eyes.
Sophie hesitated, nervous about how to continue and irritated by Liam’s petulant reaction. ‘Lily will have to deal with the consequences of her poor behaviour choices, I can promise you that,’ she said. ‘But when I witnessed the fight and stopped it in the playground at lunchtime, both girls were attacking each other equally. They were both fighting.’
‘Look, Miss Lawson.’ Liam sat forward in his seat; Sophie leant back into her chair. ‘I struggle to see how a school that prides itself so on keeping children safe can allow these things to happen. I suggest you talk to this Lily girl’s parents and get them to sort her out. Cassie hasn’t done anything wrong here.’
She struggled to look him in the eye. How was it Liam Hawthorn managed to take away her decade of experience and leave her feeling like a trainee having a difficult parental conversation for the first time? If she thought he’d annoyed her previously, he was really upping his game now. She steeled herself and continued.
‘Mr Hawthorn, my colleague is having the same conversation with Lily’s parents as we speak.’
‘They don’t need the same conversation,’ he said, emphasising the word same. ‘They need to be told that their child is a menace!’
His resolve remained steely. He didn’t shout, but his words threw Sophie’s professional façade. This conversation was going nowhere and Sophie was starting to panic. How was she going to bring this back around?
‘Mr Hawthorn, I really don’t think …’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. ‘Look, I know Cassie was angry about what happened between her and Lily today and in time she will probably feel upset too. I feel for her, I really do. But we simply cannot have children fighting in the playground.’ She sounded more assertive than she had planned to. She sounded more assertive than she thought she could be.
‘What do you mean, angry? In time she’ll feel upset?’ His eyes narrowed.
‘I’m afraid Cassie wasn’t particularly remorseful when I spoke to her at lunchtime. In fact, she was quite dismissive about the whole thing,’ Sophie said, looking at her lap when she finished, afraid to meet Liam’s eyes. She knew it had to be said, but there was a part of her genuinely worried about Liam’s reaction.
‘That’s probably something to do with how it seems you have handled this whole situation. Look—’
‘Mr Hawthorn. That’s slightly unfair,’ Sophie interrupted, sensing that this was escalating into one of those conversations where she handled herself perfectly well in the classroom and then cried in the office afterwards. She just hoped it didn’t morph into one of those conversations where she couldn’t handle the confrontation at all, and cried on the spot. It was close. She could feel hot angry tears brewing under the surface.
‘Miss Lawson. If you can’t control the children in this school, then I really do feel that Cassie will have to go elsewhere.’
‘I don’t think we’re going to resolve anything here this afternoon, Mr Hawthorn.’ Sophie wanted nothing more than to end the conversation and get Liam out of her classroom. ‘So, I’ll look forward to seeing you again at parents’ evening next week. Perhaps we can talk more then, when you’re not feeling quite so angry about the situation.’
It was a poor attempt at defusing what had quickly become an uncomfortable conversation, perhaps more uncomfortable than their original date – if that were possible.
