Trouble

I'm going to try and be better

Keira and Lucy walked upstairs, bracing themselves for the rage they were going to be met with.

"Mais? Can we come in?" Keira asked, knocking on the door.

There was no reply so she pushed it open, getting herself ready for the objects/ abuse that were going to be thrown her way.

Surprisingly, it didn't come and Maisie was lying flat on her bed.

Keira and Lucy didn't know what to do. They hadn't been expecting this.

Tentatively they sat either side, not sure where to start as they didn't know what they were working with.

"I understand why you don't want me here anymore," Maisie said after a couple of moments. Her voice was flat and she sounded completely defeated.

"Oh Mais we do want you here," Keira said.

"It was your mum and dad's suggestion for you to move back in with them, it wasn't us. We love you living here," Lucy followed.

"You love me living here?"

"Of course we do. You're a silly sod and an absolute pain in the arse but we love you for that," Keira told her.

"So I don't have to move back in with mum and dad? And move schools and all of that?" Maisie said, sitting up.

"Not if you don't want to," Lucy told her.

She smiled.

"I don't want to."

"But Maisie we do need to have a change. We'll do anything for you but you have to work with us. We can't keep having situations like this," Keira said.

"Yeah sorry. I just can't help it when I get angry. It takes over me and I can't stop feeling like it."

"We'll find solutions to that, okay?"

"Okay."

With the tension diffused, they went back downstairs.

"I'm sorry for telling you to fuck off," Maisie said, going and giving her parents both a hug, "I was just angry that Keira and Lucy wanted to get rid of me but they explained. I don't want to move back with you. I like living here."

"That's okay darling. Today's been tough but you are going to have to work to sort your behaviour out. It's not fair on Keira and Lucy," Tracy said, returning her daughter's hug.

"I know. I'm going to try and be better, I promise."

***

The next day, Keira and Maisie headed in for a meeting at school. It wasn't looking good and they knew that whatever punishment she was about to receive would be big.

She was trying to remain as calm as possible and whenever the anger rose up, she'd squeeze her hands into tight balls to try and squash it away.

The previous evening, they'd all discussed ways in which they could improve Maisie's behaviour. It was good to have that conversation and they came up with some ideas that they were going to start. Lucy had suggested boxing and everyone agreed that it would be a good idea. It was a disciplined sport and apparently brilliant for people with ADHD.

She was feeling a bit nervous as when she was 7, she'd done taekwondo to help with her behaviour but she'd been asked to leave after 2 sessions for being silly. She was pushing that out of her mind though as even though she still couldn't help being silly, she was much better than she had been.

They arrived at the meeting room and sat down. It was very serious and Maisie felt very nervous.

There was a large group sat around the table: Miss Bisham, Mrs Reilly, Mr Hardy, Mr Kolo (the headteacher) and Maisie and Keira.