Chapter Thirty-five
Sylvie was having a fabulous morning going through dance moves to The Nutcracker with Class One, although her hangover from too much celebration last night was distracting her a little from the Sugar Plum Fairies dance. She wondered if Sheila might have a stash of paracetamol.
However, first she needed to concentrate on the part where the Mouse King comes to do battle – the children always got a little bit too into that. She had learnt the hard way the week before not to give them all ribbon wands, put the music on and then shout, ‘Fight!’
She was making sure they did it properly this time when Marion – who appeared to have complete free run of the entire school – wandered into the hall and stood watching her and the children for a bit.
‘Marvellous stuff, marvellous.’ Somehow Marion’s voice managed to overpower even Tchaikovsky.
‘Hiya.’ Ellie waved at Marion. ‘Hiya, fireworks lady. Come and join us.’
Sylvie forced a smile to her face. It was probably harder taking Sam and Ellie’s class than any of the others simply because it was so difficult striking a fair balance.
She was so desperate not to play favourites that she worried that both children might often get the harsher side of her tongue.
However it didn’t seem to bother Ellie in the slightest who still struggled to call her Miss Williams, which was remarkable seeing that Sam managed it, and tried to give her kisses when she saw her around the school.
‘Oho, no, I won’t, but lovely to see you doing something so highbrow, no reason small children shouldn’t be cultured. This is marvellous. If you all hold still I’ll just take a photo for Instagram.’
‘Something so what? We just like the Mouse King and the Fairy.’ Ellie put on a gruff voice and then a high-pitched one to suit the characters as Sylvie bowled through the children, forcing herself in front of Marion’s lens.
‘Um, no, sorry, Marion. No! You know school policy on taking photos.’
‘Of course I do, dear. I helped make sure everyone knew. We can’t just have anybody taking photos of our children. Not in today’s world.’
‘Right, so could you put your phone away.’
‘But it’s only me, dear. We all know I can be trusted.’
Sylvie could feel her eyes roll. Why were there so many people in the world who thought the rules were only for others?
‘I’m afraid Miss Winter was quite clear when she took me through the safeguarding policy. I’m sure if you nip and see her then she can tell me that it’s OK and all will be good but I just can’t let you, I’m afraid.’
‘Oh well, I certainly don’t want to upset our prima ballerina. I shall put it away just this once but it’s best you have another chat with Rosy, dear.’
‘I wasn’t a…’
‘Yes, yes, I know. So modest. Anyway, pleased to have caught you, dear, you’re doing a wonderful job. Now I must dash. Should that child be climbing the wall bars in just her knickers?’
Sylvie turned speedily. Marion was right. The wall bars weren’t supposed to be out today and Ashleigh was busy scaling them whilst they were attached to the wall, naked apart from her knickers whilst Mouse Kings and Sugar Plum Fairies watched, unusually silent and mouths agape.
‘Ashleigh, come down at once and get dressed. You know the rules in school. The rest of you, it is almost lunchtime, so let’s get ourselves changed instead of watching Ashleigh and then we can have a quick chat about what we’ve learnt today.’
As she helped the small, practically naked, girl get down she glimpsed across the hall to see Sam and Ellie deep in conversation with Marion.
She dreaded to think what that was about, but as she caught Sam shooting her a quick, guilty look and saw Marion actually rubbing her hands as Ellie bounced up and down on the spot, she decided that one headache was more than enough to deal with today.