I go to the lunch hall and grab an apple and melon fruit pot, I get in line to pay for my food. I'm at the till waiting to pay, tommy barges into me from behind and zeek grabs the note im holding in my hand.
They run off laughing and my bottom lip trembles. I look at the cashier and she tells me 'pay up or leave it'
I'm mortified!
Did she just not see them steal my money.
'They just stole it'
'leave or I'll get Mr Halt' she states firmly.
'no, you see that, that was my money!'
'Mr Halt' the lady calls over the hall, Mr halt and Mr Sinclair who are both having a conversation stop. They both look over in our direction.
My face drops when they both make their way over to the till.
The cashier explains that I'm refusing to pay and my mouth drops. Why would she not say anything about tommy and zeek.
Mr Halt looks down at me then looks at Mr Sinclair. Some sort of silent communication.
He nods and Mr Halt walks off. Mr Sinclair pulls out his wallet and pays the balance, picks up my fruit pot and then says 'follow me'.
I trail behind him slowly. Somehow he notices and then forces me to walk beside him. His grip is firm but not too hard on my arm.
When we get to his door he opens it 'inside' just a simple request but I hesitate. I try to take a step back but his right there, behind me.
He grabs my arm again and then pulls me into his classroom.
I stand there staring at the floor completely embarrassed by what he just walked in on. He looks at me for a moment before handing me the fruit 'sit' and my feet take me back to my chair for the day.
He shuts the door then takes a seat at his desk watching me. I eat quickly but quietly. He grabs the pot and dumps it into the bin when I'm finished then turns to me.
'What happened at break? I let you out for 5 minutes and you're already in trouble'
'it wasn't my fault' I mumble.
His eyebrows raise sharply, clearly not believing me 'how'
'My money was stolen sir, one pushed me and the other one grabbed my money right out of my hand, I had the money to pay until they turned up'
'who are they' 'give me names Abby'
'I can't they'll do worse things if I tell' I cry
His eyes roam my face, for what I don't know, then he sighs.
'Take your normal seat for this class, do your work, we will discuss this later'
I make my way to the back of the classroom where I normally sit for this class, Mr mcgregor's old seating plan.
The bell rings and the class rest of the class walk in, the girls giggling and chatting and the boys throwing themselves over the tables to get to their seats.
Tommys in this class and I see him swagger in at the end. His sat at the table next to mine with Matty.
When he passes me he drops a coloured in piece of paper with the marking of a note of money. 'Here, your reimbursement' he sneers and plonks himself down on his chair.
'You're an ass' now everyone's looking at me.
Mr Sinclair raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms over his chest.
'What exactly is going on you two?' He questions. 'She started it' tommy whines. I fake a loud laugh then throw the fake paper note he made at him 'your not funny you dick'
Mr Sinclair by the looks of things has seen enough. He swiftly moves to the back where we are. He looks down at what I threw at tommy and I see recognition in his eyes. He looks at me quickly. I look away, I don't want to confirm his suspicion. It's too late though, Mr Sinclair slams his hands down on tommys table.
' thieves go to prison, you realise that boy?' Tommy looks at me then smirks at Mr Sinclair 'pfft what you on about sir'
Mr Sinclair makes Tommy stand up then his shouting in his face
'you stole money from a girl, grow a pair and pick on someone your own size' he takes a deep breath then continues
'you have 5 minutes to go get your friend, if your not back with the money I'll take you to Mr Halt, do you understand?!' Tommy runs out the classroom to go find zeek.
'Outside' I know Mr Sinclair's talking to me so I stand up and go outside.
'Don't make a scene in my class again Abby, I will not tolerate disrespect from you. I understand he stole your money but you could have dealt with that differently. You could of given me what he gave you and I'd of dealt with it'
'Sorry sir, it won't happen again'
He snorts 'of course it won't, your back at my desk, go move'