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‘It’s just I’ve noticed you’re not quite yourself lately,’ Miss Hanlon says, gently twisting my ankle. ‘Does this hurt?’
I shake my head.
‘Good. Good,’ she says, moving her attention from my ankle to my knee as she begins to bend my leg. ‘Is everything okay? Is anyone being mean to you?’
‘Ouch. Ouch,’ I say. ‘That hurts.’
‘Sorry.’ Miss Hanlon lets go.
I reach for my runner without talking. I’m weirded out by Miss Hanlon’s strange questions and my knee is killing me again after moving it. Suddenly Irish class doesn’t seem so bad.
‘Kayla you would talk to someone if something was bothering you, wouldn’t you? A friend? Your mam. Me maybe?’ Miss Hanlon says, standing up and giving me a little space to put my runner back on.
‘There’s nothing wrong, Miss, I swear,’ I say.
‘Okay. Okay,’ Miss Hanlon says, helping me up and shuffling towards one of the side benches with me. ‘You’re just not yourself at the moment, that’s all.’
Miss Hanlon and I sit on the bench next to each other in awkward silence. I wish she’d say something. She obviously has more questions and it’s not as if I can get up and walk away. God, I never thought I’d see the day where I was wishing I was in Irish class, but nothing could be as bad as this weirdness.
‘Kayla have you been eating properly?’ Miss Hanlon asks, turning towards me making the bench squeak like a loud fart under us.
I totally want to laugh but Miss Hanlon’s face is scarily serious and I wonder how she could hear that and not even smile a little. It’s not like her, she’s usually our fun teacher.
‘It’s just, you’ve lost a lot of weight recently. You’re pretty pale too, if I’m honest. And you clearly fainted before you fell. I would be lying if I said alarm bells aren’t ringing, Kayla. I’m really quite worried about you.’
‘Miss, there’s nothing wrong. I swear. I love takeaways and popcorn and chocolate. Seriously. Chocolate! I could never give that up.’
‘Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut,’ Miss Hanlon says.
‘What? No. Chocolate and fruit is just wrong. And gross.’ I pull a face. ‘Dairy Milk, though. Now you’re talkin’.’
‘Ah, Dairy Milk. Keep it plain and simple. That’s the spirit.’
I smile.
‘Well, it just so happens I have a bar of Diary Milk in my handbag. It’s in the staff room. Let’s call your mother and let her know what’s happened and then I’ll get you some tea and chocolate. How does that sound?’
I shake my head. ‘My mam’s in work meetings all day today. I’m supposed to be going to Aiden’s after school.’
‘Oh,’ Miss Hanlon says, sounding disappointed, and I bet she wants to talk to my mam about more than just my knee. ‘Well, I’m sure I’ll catch her on her mobile and we can figure it out from there.’
It’s hard not to start crying. I’ve no idea why, I just feel weird. Aiden is such a laugh and his mam is so nice, but, suddenly, I don’t want to go to his house after school. I just want to go home. I really, really want to go home.
‘Try not to look so worried, Kayla. I’d say it’s just a sprain. Nothing too serious, but best to get an X-ray anyway. Let’s see what your mam thinks.’
‘Okay.’ I nod.
Miss Hanlon smiles. ‘And if you change your mind and ever want to talk about anything you know where I am, okay?’
‘Yeah,’ I say, knowing she’s never going to drop this now. ‘Thanks.’
NINE
KAYLA
‘Does it still hurt?’ Aiden asks as I sit on the couch in his parents’ sitting room with a bag of frozen peas wrapped in a tea towel on my knee.
‘Nah. Not really,’ I say as Aiden flicks through channels on the TV.
