Journey to Love

Chapter 7

Sorry about being AWOL for the last month, my cat ended up dying and I've been swamped by uni and all. But I'm back and I hope you enjoy the chapter: 

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"What?" a sharp shrill voice rang through the other end of the phone. Anita instantly knew she would be fighting an uphill battle. 

"Good afternoon, my name is Anita Williams, I'm Layla Atwell's year four teacher at school this year, am I speaking to Danielle Stone by any chance?" Anita's voice flowed through the phone. Maybe, just maybe this could end well. 

"Yeah, that's me, what did Layla do now?" Anita heard Danielle huff out in what seemed like utter conviction. 

"Oh, uh, actually Layla technically hasn't done anything w-" 

"Then why are you calling me?" Danielle interrupted Anita. Anita took in a deep breath, trying to keep herself calm, some parents were harder than others. 

"Well, uh, since Layla has been missing more than half of her school days, I have started noticing that she's falling behind with the curriculum" 

"So what do you want me to do about that?" 

"I was wondering if I sent her some worksheets home with her at the end of the school day, that you and your husband would be able to help her go through them with her, just to help push her along a bit"

Danielle's laugh reached Anita's ears, causing her to sigh silently, "No offense Mrs. Wlliams, but you are the teacher, you are supposed to teach Layla not me. I will not use my time off of work to teach her your job, I have dinner to cook, cleaning, and other things that need to be done" 

"oh, right, that's fine! Would it be okay then, if she stays after school or during lunch to get her all caught up?"

"Absolutely not! She has chores she needs to do at home, so she can't stay after school.  Otherwise whatever you do during the school day is completely up to you, Anita"

"Oh, uh, okay, thank you for that" 

"Yeah, uh-huh" 

Danielle instantly hung up on Anita. Anita removed the mobile away from her ear as she went over the conversation she just had with Layla's foster mother. Anita knew the struggle it was to raise a child and work on top of that. So Anita gave her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she was just having a bad day. 

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The bell rang out around the school grounds indicating hometime. Mrs Williams dismissed the class, allowing them to leave for the day. Layla turned in her chair towards Nikola. She opened up her backpack and pulled out a piece of paper. 

"Happy birthday for yesterday Nikola!" Layla smiled tentatively as Nikola turned her attention to her best friend. While Layla's smile never faltered as she said, "I'm sorry i couldn't give this to you earlier", her hands quivered as she held the piece of paper out towards Nikola. 

"What's this?" Nikola questioned as she took the paper from Layla. Layla's arms wrapped around themselves as she watched nervously as Nikola examined the paper, hoping that her friend liked her birthday card. 

Layla wasn't too sure what would be considered an appropriate gift to give to Nikola. She didn't really know if the bread would be considered something Nikola would want, especially since she came to school with the bread filled with more food inside. Though Layla didn't really have anything else to give to Layla. Did Nikola want new clothes? Layla didn't really have any of those, and the clothes she did have were either too small or had a hole or two in them. Something she was sure Nikola wouldn't want. 

So instead, Layla ended up deciding on making a card and decorating the insides of it. Though, of course, Layla didn't have any coloured pencils, so Layla had been using Mrs Williams's coloured pencils, secretly for the last thirty minutes, colouring in the gift. 

Layla anxiously watched Nikola open up the card, and her heart only eased when a smile graced Nikola's lips. 

"I love it! Oh Layla it's so beautiful", Nikola exclaimed. She jumped out of her seat and took a couple of steps toward Layla engulfing her into a hug. Layla immediately put her arms around Nikola's back, hugging her too. 

"Do you really like it?" Layla asked in slight disbelief. 

"Yeah! it's got a rainbow and balloons and little presents, It's so pretty" Nikola rambled, causing Layla to smile at the comments being made. "Its the best birthday present ever!" 

Layla couldn't help how the compliment made her chest ache. 

"Now come on, do you wanna walk to the school gates with me?" Nikola placed the card carefully into her backpack before zipping it up. 

"Uh, yeah sure, I gotta go straight home though" Layla responded. Nikola nodded her head in response before slinging her backpack over her shoulder. Layla doing the same. 

As both girls began making their way down to the front of the classroom, Mrs Williams called out to them, "Hey Layla, hey Nikola. Just before both of you leave, Layla honey, could I have a moment to speak with you? You're not in trouble, I promise" 

Instantly Layla's heart began beating heavily at her chest, her fingers becoming clammy as she shakinly nodded her head to her teacher. She looked over to Nikola who was standing at her side. 

"I'll wait outside for you" Nikola smiled at her before waving at Mrs Williams and walked out of the door into the hallway. Layla slowly walked over to Mrs Williams desk, waiting to be punished in whatever way her teacher disciplined kids. For she must have done something wrong for her to be called back like this. The thought of being late back at home barely even registered in the back of her mind as she thought of all the possible ways she could have upset the lovely teacher in front of her. 

"Thank you for staying behind Layla. I won't take up too much of your time, don't want to Nikola waiting" Mrs Williams smiled at Layla. "I just wanted to have a talk with you about your work. I know missing so many days is making it hard for you to keep up with the work in class, and I don't want you to fall behind the rest of the class. Do you feel like you are falling behind?" Layla was barely able to manage a nod, scared of what the repercussions could be. "Well I spoke with your foster mother about it, and she said it was fine, so i wanted to ask whether you would like to join me at lunchtime in the classroom to go through some extra work?" 

Layla nodded her head again. She knew how far she was falling behind. Knew that she couldn't even fill out a single worksheet in class. And now she had an offer to help teach her the things again? She was going to take it, even if it would anger her foster parents. 

"That's great Layla,  did you want to start tomorrow at Lunch?" 

"ye-yeah" Layla stuttered out, nodding her head a little more enthusiastically. 

"Okay, well then, I'll let you go, so you can walk with Nikola." Layla nodded her head, whispering out a small "thank you" 

Layla began making her way towards the door when Mrs Williams called out, "Have a good afternoon Layla, I'll see you tomorrow" 

Mrs Williams' did not in fact see her the next day. 

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Thank you so much for continuing to read this book, it brings me so much happiness to see people liking what I make. 

Sorry if it's short and a bit crappy, it's just a filler chapter I made to make the story a little more in-depth. 

Words: 1303

Published: 3rd May 2022