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“You shouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Because,” I mutter, “it would upset Mav and Mama B.”
“Until you all tell me why he’s so hated, I’ll continue to see him.”
I sigh. “No, Ollie, you won’t. I forbid you to.”
He laughs, and I bite my tongue so I don’t say something I can’t take back. “Since when did you forbid me to do anything?”
I glance over at him, frowning. “I forbid you to do a lot of things. Like smoking, drinking, swearing.”
“Mum, you’re raising me in an MC, hardly a place you should want me to be if you don’t want me to do all those things.”
“Christ, are you doing those things?” I ask, realising I have no idea what he does when he’s away from me.
“You’d know if you were around more.”
I drive in through the school gates. “Well, that’s going to happen soon enough. I’m reducing my hours at work so I can be home more.”
He rolls his eyes and gets out of the car. “Go, before my teacher—” It’s too late, his head teacher rushes out the door waving like a crazy witch. “Great,” Ollie mutters.
“If this is about today, he had an appointment, I just forgot to tell you,” I say as she leans into the car through the door Ollie exited.
“Actually, it’s about Ollie’s behaviour. I have tried to call you several times, and you haven’t got back to me.” I wince, remembering the voice messages. I had every intention of getting back to her . . . eventually.
“Right, sorry, I’ve had a lot on at work.” I turn off the engine and get out the car. She closes the passenger door. “Ollie, go to class. We’ll talk tonight,” I add.
Once he’s gone, I smile at Mrs. Ball. She’s an odd-looking lady who dresses like she’s in her eighties, but I have a sneaky suspicion she’s a lot younger. “His behaviour?” I prompt.
“He’s had several detentions, missed more lunchtimes than I care to remember, and he’s not handing in any of his homework.”
I nod. “I’ll talk to him.”
“And then he walked out of his lesson today without an explanation. Quite frankly, I’m sick of hearing his name from his teachers. He shows no respect for the staff or his classmates, and he’s always in some kind of scrape with other boys his age. We’re very concerned.”
“Why don’t you tell me what you’d like me to do?” I ask.
“I think we should work together to understand why he’s behaving this way.”
I sigh. “He’s a typical boy, Mrs. Ball. It’s a stage they go through.”
She smiles awkwardly. “You don’t need to tell me, I’ve been teaching them for almost twenty years.”
“Look, let me speak to him tonight. I’ll call you tomorrow, and we can discuss it.”
She nods stiffly. “Okay, but I should warn you, this is his last chance. So, we’ll need to work together quickly if Ollie wants to remain at this school.”
Mav sits across the main room watching me. I try to ignore him, but eventually, he comes over to where I’m sitting on the couch. “Okay, spill.”
“Huh?” I ask.
“You’re not skipping around, and you haven’t annoyed Dice once since you got back. He even walked past you extra slow to give you a chance. Something’s wrong.”
I contemplate not telling him. He hasn’t exactly taken an active interest in Ollie, even though they’re half-brothers. “Stuff with Ollie,” I mutter.
He takes a seat. “Is he okay?”
