Chapter Twenty-five
Summer had fought a good fight but the sea had turned from blue to grey, and the leaves were now rich orangey browns and were providing the most delicious scrunch underfoot as Sylvie walked Sam into school, his little ears and neck encased in wool and wrapped up warm.
She was loving this new stage of their lives.
Her job was so much fun, it wasn’t like work at all; the kids were adorable and although each teacher had their quirks she had a sneaking fondness for them all.
She woke every morning feeling so damned lucky to have been welcomed into the bosom of this school so quickly, and as she returned through the great granite doorway after half-term she was itching to get back to it.
A couple of weeks ago the governors had approved her use of the hall on Saturdays so half-term had been largely spent with Alex and Ells, and on the very first weekend littering so many flyers for her new classes around the village that her mobile had been on fire all week.
In a slightly less tangible fashion, having a best friend again was pretty special.
Even though that best friend was the most gorgeous and most off-limits man she had ever met.
For the sake of her sanity and all the support he provided in her, and Sam’s, life she needed to firmly keep him in the friendzone.
Indulging only in daydreams and never in real life, increasingly hard the more time they spent together and not helped by the fact he was now the first thing she thought about in the morning and the last thing at night.
The way he laughed when they were together and the way she occasionally caught him looking at her and…
‘Hello, miss! Are we getting the bars out today?’
‘Oh, hello, Alfie, Harry. Not today, I’m not with your class until tomorrow morning, but I will get them out then. You can see if you can get all the way to the top using those circles – you were so close last week, weren’t you?’
‘Oh, it’s going to be easy, miss. I know I can do it this week. See you later then. Sam, are you coming?’
‘Yeah, bye, Mum. See you later!’ and Sam sped off with his classmates, all three of them clattering as they went, bags, so big for their little frames, wobbling on their backs as they ran.
She headed up to the staffroom to make herself a coffee before she started work.
On Mondays she had Amanda’s class after morning assembly, and Sarah’s after breaktime.
Both were going to have a first go at hockey today and she couldn’t help but smile at the irony of her teaching it, her least favourite sport when she was at school.
She would definitely be keeping a very firm hand on anyone who got a bit too happy with their sticks; she could remember the battered ankles as if it were yesterday.
‘Oh, hello.’ Marion burst into the staffroom, and seeing that it was empty apart from Sylvie, she knew there was no chance she was addressing anyone else.
Marion had been even more stand-offish since the evening at Alex’s, brushing past her haughtily as she made her way through school, her minions trailing behind and never feeling the need to say hello up until this point.
She had notably not taken up Sylvie’s offer of help with the PTA.
‘Hello,’ Sylvie answered, wondering what was in store.
‘How are things going?’
‘Well, thank you. Um, would you like a coffee?’
‘Oh no, don’t worry about that. Sarah will be in in a minute – she can be a little tardy, but she’ll sort all that out.’
‘It’s no problem, I’m happy to.’
‘Honestly, don’t worry. Now tell me all about you.
I understand you’re running ballet lessons here.
I knew you were a dancer in London but I…
’ she tinkled a very scary sounding laugh, ‘…I think I must have misunderstood, I thought you were more on the exotic side of things. But actually you were a ballet dancer for quite a reputable company?’
‘Yes, I was. I loved it. We got to travel the world.’ Sylvie didn’t know why she felt she needed to add that bit, but she had.
‘Quite, very glamorous. So, tell me, dear, why did you leave, and come back home? I understand your mother, dear woman, recently passed away, but you seem to have settled here. Put down roots?’
‘Um… yes. Did you know my mum?’
Scary tinkle. ‘No. But I knew of her, of course. Everyone said she was a lovely lady, lovely.’
‘She was.’
‘So, future plans? Reason for leaving?’
Wow! Sylvie was beginning to get antsy and could feel her red hair starting to kick in but somehow she was still answering this woman’s questions.
‘Recurring injury. The ballet world does seem terribly glamorous, and it can be. It can also be cruel and I knew that I wasn’t going to progress much further with recurring shin splints.
Each time I was having to take more and more time off to recover, so when I found I was pregnant I wanted to come home, and soon afterwards Mum had her diagnosis and that’s it really.
I love Penmenna and can’t ever see me leaving, or certainly not whilst Sam is still a child. ’
‘Good, good.’ The woman was virtually rubbing her hands together. What had brought on this turn of events?
‘And you’re running classes here in the school.
My husband is chair of the governors and I take on his role in his absence – I was so pleased to approve your request on his behalf.
It was my idea to waive the hire cost – after all, having a prima ballerina offering lessons in the school does rather increase our cachet.
I’ve been meaning to hunt you down for a chat but life, well, you know, and then half-term.
I’ve just got a new puppy which is taking far more of my time than I imagined possible.
A Weimaraner, very now. My Richard knows I like to stay on trend…
’ tinkle tinkle, ‘…but I’m getting side-tracked.
I wanted to say how very lucky we are to have you, dear. I was thinking of enrolling my boys.’
Sylvie prayed her gulp wasn’t visible. She decided not to correct Marion’s misuse of the terminology regarding her position in the company.
And as to Marion’s boys, she liked them all.
They were sparky, quirky and smart – individually.
Together, despite all of Sylvie’s skills, they had the potential to turn the entire class feral.
‘Oh, that would be wonderful, but you wouldn’t believe how quickly places have filled up.
I’d be more than happy to pop them on the waiting list and let you know as soon as there are vacancies.
’ Luckily this was entirely true, she had already filled every class for the Saturday.
‘Ah, I see. That’s a shame.’ Marion smiled and cocked her head to one side, and Sylvie’s spider senses tingled. She guessed what was coming and decided to head it off.
‘Obviously, Mrs Marksharp, I would love to be able to bump you up the list, but I know how seriously you take fairness and I would hate to cause any ripples. Caesar’s wife and all.’
‘Absolutely, dear, I couldn’t possibly ask for any special favours, that would set tongues wagging in the playground.
’ She managed to mask the vinegary look that had flitted across her face and replace it with concerned interest again.
‘Especially as I know we’re going to become such dear friends, with you being… ahem… so close to Alex McKenzie.’
Aha, Marion was up to mischief and it wasn’t so her boys could perfect an arabesque.
Presumably the revelation that Sylvie was a ballet dancer and not a stripper suddenly catapulted her into Marion’s ‘acceptable’ category, and hence Sylvie was now part of her plan to keep Alex local.
Sylvie was not sure she liked the turn that might take.
She had not been working extremely hard to keep her crush at bay, in the name of not rocking the boat and maintaining the friendship, to have Marion come in and explode it now.
For goodness’ sake! This woman should come with a health warning.
She’d have to get in first and reassure Alex that she really wasn’t after anything other than friendship before Marion scared him off completely!
She realized she hadn’t answered and Marion was still standing waiting for a response as Sarah hurtled into the staffroom and breathlessly apologized.
‘Marion, I’m so sorry. Dear Jonny has come down with mumps and the childminder was being most unreasonable.
I’ve left him with a neighbour but I will have to get back…
if that’s OK… after assembly. The neighbour is a little absent-minded.
I’ll have your coffee ready in an instant and then I’ll go and set up for assembly. ’
‘Of course, dear, no hurry. I’ll see you in the hall shortly.’ Marion addressed her friend with more than a hint of steel before beaming again at Sylvie. ‘See you later, dear, so glad we’re chums.’ And swished out of the staffroom towards the hall.