Chapter 25
ALEX
It felt like we’d been waiting for the head for hours, even though it had only been a few minutes.
Mum was chewing what had to be an entire pack of gum, the snapping and clicking right in my ear as she scrolled through Facebook on her phone. She needed it, though; mint was a better smell than whiskey right about now.
I hated the way I was looking at her. Full of resentment. Full of something uglier than that. I couldn’t believe she thought any of what just happened was alright - talking to my friends like that.
Well… talking to anyone under eighteen like that.
It was just embarrassing. And after everything that happened with Kai earlier, this felt like the final straw.
It had to be.
First, I acted like a complete weirdo when he called me cute as just a passing comment, and now my drunken mum was coming onto him and inviting him round to a drug party.
That had to do it.
If we were still friends after the whole cute situation, we definitely wouldn’t be now.
God, I wanted to shake her.
But I had to remind myself this was just how she was. She didn’t mean to embarrass me. She didn’t mean to annoy me. She was just being friendly. Friendly in her own dysfunctional way.
“Alex.” Mrs Carter’s voice disturbed me from my thoughts. “Miss Taylor.” She smiled at Mum, gesturing for us to follow her. “I hope you haven’t been waiting long. I had some paperwork I needed to finish off.”
“It’s no trouble,” Mum said with a smile. She led us into the meeting room and sat down. Coach Lorenzo was already in there, perched in an armchair on the left in his blue Belrose sports jacket, paired with smart trousers.
“Nice to meet you.” He said, holding his hand out for Mum to shake. She shook, not giving him quite the same smile she gave to the head.
“Right, we’ll cut to the chase, shall we?” Mrs Carter said, gesturing for me and Mum to take the chairs opposite them. “We called you in about the incident that happened between Alex and Coach Lorenzo yesterday.”
“He’s very sorry about that,” Mum said, still chewing on her gum. “Aren’t you?” She nudged me.
“Yeah, I’m really sorry, Coach Lorenzo. I don’t know what came over me.” I said quickly. “I-It won’t happen again.”
“Thank you for apologising,” Coach said, giving me a small, approving smile as he folded his arms.
“Here’s the thing.” Mrs Carter turned her attention to Mum, her expression softening but her posture still firm.
“Alex is a good student; last year he did exceptionally well in his classes.” She tapped the folder in front of her.
“Turned his grades around significantly, and that must have taken a lot of drive. Drive, we are honoured to have at our sixth form.”
Mum nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line.
“But no matter how determined he is,” Mrs Carter continued, “we have a strict policy against violence and this behaviour will not go without consequences.”
Mum nodded again, quicker this time, like she wanted to get through this part as fast as possible.
“I have to ask,” Mrs Carter said gently, her eyes flicking between the two of us, “because it’s very out of character for him. I have to ask if there’s anything going on at home that may have triggered Alex to act this way.”
The room went still.
Mum’s head snapped toward me, her eyes narrowing just slightly before, she looked back at the head, her jaw tightening.
“Are you saying I’m a bad parent?” She snapped, eyes narrowed on Mrs Carter.
Exactly what I’d been worried about.
“No, no, no, no - no one’s saying that, Miss Taylor,” Mrs Carter said quickly, hands raised in a calming gesture. But it didn’t matter; Mum’s cheeks were already heating, and the walls were already closing in around me.
“Really? Because it sounds like you’re saying that.” Mum crossed her arms. “Like I can’t look after my own son.”
“Mum, that’s not what they’re saying,” I muttered, hating the look both Mrs Carter and Coach Lorenzo gave me - that mix of pity and concern I never wanted to see again.
“It is , Alex.” She side-glared me.
“It’s not,” I repeated, trying to calm her down with my eyes alone, but she wasn’t listening.
“I’ll have you know I’ve raised my son just fine for all sixteen years of his life - by myself, might I add.” She raised a finger. “And not once has he gone hungry, not once has he not had clothes on his back.”
“And we don’t doubt that, Miss Taylor. If we could just-” Coach began, but she was already off, listing every reason she thought she was a good parent.
“Mum,” I cut in, placing a hand on her shoulder. She froze just enough to look at me. I gave her the look - the one that meant please, I’m begging you, sort yourself out . “Just let them finish.”
Thankfully, she seemed to deflate a little. Her shoulders dropped, her jaw unclenched.
“Thank you, Alex,” Mrs Carter said gently. “And sorry for any miscommunication, Erin. It’s just policy. Now - assuming everything is okay at home, and everything else is in order - we can put this down as a one-off. Do you think that’s fair, Alex?” Her eyes wandered to mine.
I nodded. “Yes, Mrs Carter.”
“Then we’ll do this,” she continued, folding her hands on the desk as she looked between the three of us. “Because it’s the beginning of the school year, we really want to nip this in the bud quickly…”
Mum shifted in her chair, nodding stiffly, her fingers still drumming against the table.
“…Alex can remain in school as usual,” Mrs Carter went on, “but he’ll be given a series of detentions.” She paused, letting the words settle. “We can’t have students thinking violence is acceptable, especially towards a teacher.”
Coach cleared his throat, arms crossing loosely as he leaned back in his chair.
“Now,” Mrs Carter said, turning slightly toward him, “as you know, Belrose is big on its football. And Mr Lorenzo could do with an extra hand.” She offered me a small, encouraging smile. “So you’ll be helping out with training for the rest of the term.”
“Just little things,” Coach added. “On training days, you’ll be in charge of getting the balls out of the shed, handing out bibs, etc. You’ll be fine at it.” He gave a reassuring smile.
My stomach dropped. That meant spending more time with Kai.
I wanted to bury my head in the sand.
How had I gone from barely seeing him to being forced into situations where I couldn’t avoid him even if I tried?
“And if you keep your head down and your grades up - like I know you can - we’ll revisit the arrangement,” Mrs Carter said. “Does that sound good?”
I nodded quickly, a shower of relief washing over me. “Yes. I won’t mess it up. I promise.”
I wasn’t about to fuck this up.
This was my future.
This was my ticket out.
“Good lad,” Coach said. “Just come by my office on Mondays and Wednesdays after school, and we’ll get you sorted from there.”
I gave him another fast nod and forced a smile. Only then, looking at mum who still seemed to be working off her adrenaline.
“Okay, we won’t keep you any longer than needed,” Mrs Carter said, standing and gesturing toward the door. “You have a lovely weekend, Alex - and you too, Miss Taylor.” Her eyes scanned us. Mum didn’t look impressed. I nudged her arm, and she forced a smile.
“Thank you.” I smiled gingerly.
“See you Monday,” Coach added with a nod.
We left the room.
It felt like I was holding my breath the entire walk to the car park and only when I sat down in Mum’s car did my lungs finally work again.
“What was that!?” I said, putting my seatbelt on. “You said you weren’t going to overdo it.”
“Oh, don’t start,” she muttered, turning the key in the ignition.
“I’m serious,” I said, staring at her.
“So am I.” She huffed, lighting a cigarette. “Or you can get out and walk.”
I let out a quiet exhale. It wasn’t worth it. At least I hadn’t been expelled. Though for some reason, it felt like more eyes were going to be on me now.
We drove in silence. I rolled the window down and lit a cigarette of my own, the radio was turned up high, and Mum was singing along to her favourite 90s station like nothing had happened, her hair taken by the breeze.
When she finally pulled up outside our house, she just looked at me, engine still running.
“You not coming in?” I asked, hand on the door handle.
She shook her head. “No, honey. I need a drink.”
Of course you do.
“Shouldn’t you be packing?” I asked, eyebrows raised.
“Shouldn’t you be minding your business?” she snapped, fingers tapping on the wheel.
Yeah. I knew that guy was going to bail on her. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little relieved.
“Okay.” I forced a smile. “Have fun.”
As soon as I closed the door, she practically sped off, and my stomach lurched as I turned toward the house. No doubt Connor was in. And no doubt he’d want to hear how the meeting went.
I opened the door.
Stale smoke curled through the tight, dingy hallway as I stepped inside.
“That you, Alex?” Connor called from the living room, and my heart was already racing.
The meeting had gone as well as it possibly could have - considering Mum showed up drunk and stinking of cigarettes - and it was a miracle I’d only been given detentions and football-training duty.
But my shoulders were still tight because I didn’t know what Connor was going to say.
If he’d been drinking. What mood he was in.
Whether he’d want to finish what he started last night.
My ribs were only just starting to feel like they belonged inside my body again.
I let out a shaky breath before rounding the corner.
“Yeah, I’m home,” I said, nudging the door open.
His eyes were fixed on the TV. Spike was on the recliner opposite him, weighing out little florets of weed and dropping them into plastic baggies.
“Yo, little A,” Spike greeted, and some of the tension in my chest loosened. Spike being here meant Connor wouldn’t lay into me - not in front of him, anyway. But he could still send me upstairs. That was always an option.
“How’d the meeting go?” Connor asked, shifting just enough to look at me.
“It went okay,” I said quickly. “Just landed a few detentions.” I tried to sound casual, but my breath still wobbled.
“And Mum?” He looked up, though I think he already knew the answer.
“She was okay. She’s gone to the pub.” I shrugged, gripping my backpack straps so tightly my knuckles ached.
He paused, staring at me like he was waiting for me to slip up, to say something stupid, to give him a reason. I kept my gaze somewhere near the carpet.
“Okay,” he finally said. “You wanna smoke?” He patted the seat next to him as Spike held out a joint.
“I have homework,” I muttered, hoping he’d let me go.
He clicked his teeth and shared a look with Spike. They both laughed.
“Homework,” he mocked. “What a fucking faggot.”
Their laughter was enough of a distraction for me to slip toward the doorway, ignoring the sting of the word. I’d learned to.
“See you in the morning, yeah? Bright and early. Remember.” His tone sharpened, the look he gave me making the message clear: You’d better be there.
I nodded. “Oh - I managed to get us a sale. I’m meeting them at lunch.”
“Oh yeah?” Connor said, taking a long hit on his joint.
I nodded again, shifting only slightly in my stance.
“Who is it?” His gaze narrowed on mine too intensely.
“Just some guy in my year.” I shrugged it off. No way was I telling him I was actually going for ice cream with Rachel. “And he paid upfront.” I pulled the money from my blazer and handed it over.
Connor counted it, then took a swig of his beer.
“So you’re not as hopeless as you look,” he said, giving me a quick glance before tossing the money onto the side table.
That was probably the closest thing to a compliment I’d ever get from him.
“Nice going, little A,” Spike said lazily, taking a hit and leaning back.
I nodded and slipped out of the room.
Well… that went as well as it could.