The Original Taylor Daughter

Not You

July 1984

Alice didn't realise her mistake, in fact, the night Roger found her in the kitchen was the start of the slippery slope and four months plus with a teenage nightmare.

The smoking continued though she did stop drinking, she changed up her clothing style to a grunge/punk rock look and darker make-up now accompanies the hair and clothes.

On top of that, she's now acting up in school and getting into trouble all the time. Rami, Hazel, Joe, Lucy and even Adam are very concerned for Alice and Molly but keep away from them for the time being to keep out of trouble.

Molly was originally the ring leader in their rebellious acts but now they're just as bad as each other and they gladly go along with each other's schemes.

Just after Dominique left to pick up Felix from nursery, Roger was in the middle of talking to Brian and John, who came over at his request to vent to them about possible ways of getting Alice back to normal, when he got a call from Alice's school.

Roger slams the phone down after finishing the call, "What's happened?" Brian sighs, already anticipating the answer to his question.

"Alice has been sent to the headteacher's office," Roger grabs his car keys. "Don't go anywhere, I'm going to need your backup when we get home."

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Roger enters the headteacher's office, Alice is sat in front of the desk, her headteacher on the other side, "Mr Taylor. I'm the school's headteacher, Mr Richards, thank you for coming in."

"What's happened?"

"Alice, do you want to tell him or shall I?" Mr Richards gives her a chance to speak but she stays silent, cross-armed and slouched in her chair, staring out the window.

The headteacher sighs, "Mr Taylor, your daughter was caught smoking on the school grounds and was given detention but following that Alice processed to punch one of her fellow students in the face after getting in a fight, breaking the lad's nose. I'm sure you are aware that we have zero tolerance towards violence at this school, we also have a three-strike rule in place. Mr Taylor, this was Alice's third strike."

"So she's expelled?" Roger can't believe this is happening, how did his good little girl turn into a teenager nightmare so quickly?

"Alice, why don't you wait outside," Mr Richards orders, when the door is closed, he speaks, "No. Since it is the last day of the school year anyway, there would be no point. Before all this, your daughter was doing well in this school, her grades were good, she had a good group of friends and was a delight to have in class. Because of this, we want to give her a chance."

Roger will take any chances offered, he's not letting Alice screw up her education like this, "I'm listening."

"Student timetables for Alice year are worked out two weeks before the school reopens. With that in mind on the 15th of August, we shall have a meeting to see if Alice's behaviour has improved. If it has then we will allow her to choose her options for her GCSEs and she can come back in September, if not then she'll need to find another school."

"So 5 weeks to get her back on track," Roger thinks it over, "I can work with that."

"I should mention that Molly Davis is also under this arrangement, the two lead each other on so it might be an idea to keep them away from each other during the next 5 weeks."

"I'll make sure of it. Thank you for giving her a chance," Leaving the office, he orders Alice to the car.

Neither of them said a word to each other for the journey because Roger knew if he lost his cool in the car they'd probably crash. Once the door closed on the family home Roger starts to let the lid off his anger, "Alice, stay where you are. Felix, can you go upstairs please buddy?"