Ash caught up with a few kids she knew and walked to school with them. She hung back as they approached the gates, something was wrong, there wasn’t usually a teacher on the gates. What was Mrs Dunlop doing there.
Mrs Dunlop didn’t seem to be doing anything but chatting and Ash decided to go in and risk it.
She’d just gone past Mrs Dunlop, keeping her head down and making herself as inconspicuous as possible, but it didn’t work. Mrs Dunlop prided herself on knowing every pupil at her school and she didn’t miss a trick.
“Ashleigh Wright, I want a word with you, please.”
“I’ll be late for registration, Mrs Dunlop,” Ash said and continued walking, though she knew that ploy was never going to work.
“Ashleigh,” Mrs Dunlop said. She didn’t have to repeat her request, that one word was enough. Ash’s friends deserted her and she stood alone.
“Yes, Mrs Dunlop?”
“There’s no need to look so scared, Ashleigh, you’re not in trouble, we’re just glad you turned up for school this morning,” she said.
“Why wouldn’t I turn up for school?” she said.
Mrs Dunlop didn’t answer, but her lips pursed in puzzlement and she put a hand on her back, between Ash’s shoulder blades to guide her inside.
“Come with me, Ashleigh,” the head teacher said and went up the stairs to her office.
She stood at the top of the stairs and opened the door for Ash to go in first. Mrs Dunlop probably knew what Ash’s reaction would be, which was why she allowed Ash to go first.
Ash turned to go back down the stairs as soon as she saw her parents sitting at Mrs Dunlop’s desk.
Mrs Dunlop guided Ash into her office.
Ash’s mum looked up with teary eyes and she was actually clutching a handkerchief.
Ash didn’t say a word.
“Where have you been all night, Ashleigh?” mum asked in a sweet voice.
“At home,” Ash said.
“Don’t play games, you’re in a lot of trouble!” Ash’s dad growled. At least someone wasn’t play-acting.
“No she isn’t, at least not as far as I’m concerned,” Mrs Dunlop said.
“Now, Ashleigh, we’re going to have to find out what happened yesterday. Can you tell us?”
Ash looked at Mrs Dunlop. The teacher had always been kind and Ash never liked lying to people she liked, but if she told the truth, there’d be hell to play when she got home.
“The first thing I’d like to know, though,” Mrs Dunlop said in a voice that had gone suddenly hard and strict. “Is what happened to her face?”
Ash put a hand up to where her dad had hit her the previous evening. It was tender and made her wince as she touched it.
“Don’t remember,” Ash said in a mumble. She looked down at her shoes. She really did not want to be in that situation.
“Let me see,” Ash’s mum said. “Come here, sweetheart.”
Ash looked up in surprise at her mum’s tone. What was going on?
“You said you were at home last night?” Mrs Dunlop changed the subject.
Ash decided to come clean, or at least, come just a little bit grubby.
“I had an argument with mum and dad over taking Stacey home from school. I ran off and didn’t come back in til late and I didn’t tell them I was back; I just went to bed. I got up early this morning and went out after I’d had breakfast.” Ash said in a garbled rush.
“I see, and where did you go from home, before coming in to school?”
Ash looked at Mrs Dunlop, silently pleading with her not to dig too deep on this. She was about to break, about to tell Mrs Dunlop everything and put a stop to her job, when her dad spoke up.
“Yeah? So you had all the bloody milk. There was none left for my breakfast,” Ash’s dad growled again.
The spell was broken and Ash came to her senses.
“I went out to get away from the arguments. I came home, had some jam and bread for supper cos I missed tea and I went to bed. It’s not my fault no one looked for me last night and didn’t even check to see if I was in bed, is it?” Ash said in a belligerent tone, defying her parents to do anything in front of Mrs Dunlop.
“I got up before Stacey pissed all over me as usual and I went out. I’m sick of sleeping in the same bed as her, I think it’s about time I got my own bed. She can keep her piss to herself then.”
Ash knew full well that swearing in front of her parents would get her a beating but because they were sitting with Mrs Dunlop, they couldn’t very-well make that move without getting reported.
Knowing she had a little ‘wiggle-room' because of the shock factor, Ash took the opportunity to open the office door and make her escape.
She also knew that the school doors were locked when everyone had entered and gone to class for registration, but the fire escape at the end of the hall couldn’t be locked. She dashed down the hall without fear of being told, ‘Walk, don’t run when we’re indoors!’ and bashed through the fire escape. The heavy door crashed against the wall and bounced back to lock behind her.
Not only were the school doors locked, but the gates were too, an unfortunate sign of the times. Ash leaped at the gates and landed part-way up. She scrambled up and over them like a feral monkey and was over and gone even as the caretaker shouted at her for slamming the fire escape door.
Ash ran in the opposite direction to Justin’s house but she made her way back there when she knew she had escaped entirely.
Robin had gone and locked up behind him, but if she was lucky, Brenda would be there by now and she’d be able to get into the house.
Images from google
Added by edit: I've altered the thing my husband pointed out. Ash's dad knew it was her that had the milk, but if they thought she'd come home, they wouldn't be at the school.