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Cassie nodded, but before she had even begun her next sentence, Jocelyn, a little girl from the other Year Six class, came bounding over and enthusiastically squashed them up on the bench so she could sit down too.
‘Hi, Cassie,’ she said.
‘Hi,’ Cassie replied shyly. Sophie recognised herself in Cassie as she became physically smaller and folded her arms. She knew what it felt like to feel anxious in social situations and wondered whether that too might be something Cassie was having to deal with.
‘I heard you talking about Christmas. You’re lucky you’ve got your nan and grandad coming over. One of my nans lives in Australia and the other one died last year. I can’t wait for Christmas, though. It’s only a few days away now. I can’t wait for school to finish. But I don’t want the nativity to end. I love playing a shepherd and after Christmas we have to do boring SATS practice.’ The girl barely drew a breath. ‘What have you asked Father Christmas for?’ She paused only briefly before proceeding to list her own requests while Cassie listened. It reminded Sophie of her mother’s telephone conversations, and she made a mental note to call her again. They’d not spoken since she’d bumped into her at Fortnum & Mason. She surprised herself at feeling the pull to do so.
Cassie pulled down her hood and turned to face her new little friend as she told Jocelyn what she’d asked for from Father Christmas. It warmed Sophie to see her talking to another child and looking happy about it. Jocelyn was a lovely little thing, too.
While they spoke, the drizzle had developed into snowflakes and they began to fall at an alarming rate to a chorus of squeals from the children in the playground.
‘Come on,’ Jocelyn said after watching for a moment as the heavens opened and the deluge began. It was already heavy enough that the school building was almost obscured from sight across the playground. ‘Let’s have a snowball fight!’ Jocelyn jumped up and ran off into the centre of the playground, where children were already gathered, scraping the snow from the climbing frame and picnic benches quicker than it could land. After glancing at Sophie briefly and Sophie giving her a nod of approval, Cassie joined her, less self-conscious than Sophie had seen her in a long time, if ever.
She let them play for a minute until she was forced to blow the indoor whistle to get the children out of the snow; it was fast turning to icy sleet. With ten minutes left of lunch, at least Cassie and Jocelyn would be allowed to mingle in the wet rooms before the bell went for afternoon lessons. Sophie didn’t want to cut their conversation short. She had a good feeling about Jocelyn.
With the festively themed art-come-D&T lesson opened up to both Year Six classes, Sophie watched as Jocelyn and Cassie pulled out their projects and found a table to work at together. Today they would be putting the finishing touches to their Christmas decorations. Let the festive glitter extravaganza commence.
Jocelyn beetled around the classroom, collecting supplies. At the table, Cassie pulled back her long hair and tied it up so she could get down to the very important business of gluing a glittery pipe cleaner halo onto her Angel Gabriel toilet roll. It was the first time Sophie had ever seen Cassie with her hair up and she was beautiful – the same big hazel eyes as Liam looking out from under her messy fringe. It made such a difference to her face and to her mood. For once, Cassie seemed much less introverted and chatted happily to Jocelyn while they stuck silver and gold sequins onto their angel decorations. Across the room, Cassie caught Sophie’s eye and gave her a smile, which she returned, pleased to see her content for once.
At the end of the day, after some quite serious cleaning up of glitter and glue, Sophie walked to the school gate with both Year Six classes. Cassie and Jocelyn were still chattering away, and another child, a little boy called David, had joined them. At the gate, Cassie waved to Jocelyn and David, and ran into Liam’s arms as he waited for her. She squeezed him tightly, and he returned it, looking up to see Sophie across the playground. He smiled and looked down at Cassie, running his fingers through her tied-up hair. His eyes were asking Sophie how she’d done it. She shrugged, but smiled and waved before walking back into the school building.
Chapter Twenty-Five
‘You don’t look very pleased to be here, Kate.’
‘You’d be right there, Sophie.’ Kate didn’t bother disguising her irritation. She shifted from side to side on her seat and folded her arms high on her chest, poking out her bottom lip like a caricature.
‘Are you unhappy because the pub’s busy or because you’re sober?’
‘Both. And I’m fat.’ A small smile broke from behind her arms. ‘And it doesn’t help that Tom seems to have consumed enough drinks for us all.’
Sophie turned to see their TA, Tom, standing on a table and bending into a deep bow, having just shared some kind of performance with his adoring fans – all two of them. He already had his tie around his head and it was only 6.30 p.m. She was glad when someone grabbed him by his waistband from behind as he went to crowd surf on top of the two dinner ladies who were clinging on to each other as well as Tom’s every word.
‘I think they do a mulled apple juice cocktail at the bar. Shall I get you one? I might get Tom a pint of water too.’
‘Go on then.’ Kate smiled and uncrossed her arms.
‘I’ll be right back.’
Sophie pushed her way through the festive crowds towards the bar. She had to step onto the gold bar that ran along the bottom of it to see over the taps. She leant on the edge of the bar, which was covered in a prickly green garland, to keep her balance. Huge bows hung down along the front of the wooden panels and behind, merry little workers were dressed as elves.
She ordered and pulled her purse out of her pocket to find the money while the barman poured her drinks.
‘Hi.’ A man sidled up next to her, squeezing his way through the crowds and queues. He was tall and wearing far too much aftershave. Supermarket own brand at best, Sophie guessed. His plaid shirt, jeans and sheer size gave him the air of a lumberjack. He wasn’t unattractive.
‘Hello,’ Sophie replied.
‘Did you manage to get served? It’s mad in here, ain’t it?’
Sophie glanced sideways at him, but kept her head forward. She nodded. ‘It seems everyone’s out for office Christmas drinks.’
‘Yeah, I’m here with the boys.’ He nodded towards a group of similarly dressed men perching around one of the standing tables. Sophie couldn’t work out whether they were in fancy dress or perhaps real-life tree surgeons.
‘We work over at the builders’ yard,’ he added, as if reading her mind.
‘My lot are over there.’ Sophie indicated the group of school staff, skewing her direction slightly to pretend Tom didn’t belong with them now that he was doing a very enthusiastic Macarena with the dinner ladies, despite the jukebox playing ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’.
‘I don’t think I’ve seen you around before,’ he said, and then put his order in for another round of beers when the barman came his way.
