This Still Happens

Chapter Seventeen - Retribution: Etta

I can feel the silence. I can see it on everyone's lips, in everyone's wide, staring eyes. Lena's gone. Gordon and Scott are gone. Sophie's gone. And Tim has Chris in some kind of... well,not sure it's a half-Nelson, because I'm not entirely sure what half-Nelsons are. Something Char likes to threaten when Gordon gets a little bit cheeky and bastardy. But obviously she's been going easier on him recently.

But Char is shaking, and her fists, resting on the desk in front of her, are so tightly screwed that they look like rocks. Whatever just happened... she heard it.

And it's not good.

I tap her shoulder, and she turns around, eyes wet. "What happened?" I sign, frowning.

She shakes her head. "I can't say," she signs, "Let me write it down for you."

As she pulls her notebook out of her bag, I lean over her shoulder to watch her write, but then something flickers in the top corner of my vision, and I look up, instead.

Mr Mayes stands in the doorway, staring around the classroom, eyes huge and horrified. He signs as he speaks. "What on Earth is going on?" he demands, "The classroom is an absolute tip! Tables knocked over willy-nilly, chairs all over the place! Clear this up, right now! And Timothy, you will let go of Christopher this instant, and the two of you will go back to your desks immediately." He crosses to his desk, presses his photocopies down hard in the middle, and then stands up, frowning. He takes a moment to count us, and then counts again. "Where are the others?" he says, squinting as he works out who's missing. "Lena, Scott, Gordon, Sophie. Where are they?"

Char's still scribbling away. She's filled half a page, but I can't look any closer than a glance without Mr Mayes noticing. And I can't read Char's writing at a glance. It's gorgeous, but all the letters look almost identical.

I look up again, and see Ffion explaining something to Mr Mayes. I lean forward on my elbows, and strain to read her lips, but she's too far away, and the light's been awful in here since the rain started.

And then Char touches my hand, and slips the folded note into it.

Taking a moment to check that Mr Mayes is looking at Ffion, and not at me, I take the note and open it under my desk, unfolding it over my lap to read it privately.

What she's written... it can't be. It can't be. My stomach burns, and my throat fills with a terrible lump. I feel like I've half-swallowed a stone, and tried to wash it down with a mug full of petrol.

I stare at Char. "Is this true?" I sign, eyebrows raised, bottom lip wobbling.

She nods as gravely as a doctor announcing someone their spouse didn't make it.

I squeeze my eyes shut, screw up the note, and stuff it into my blazer pocket. Sighing, I lean on Char's shoulder until she puts her arm around me and hugs me close. And I catch Tim's eye across the room, see him ask if I'm OK, and shake my head.

Mr Mayes switches the lights on and off, and goes to sit in the chair behind his desk. Just before he sits down, he says, "I want you all to write down what happened, in your own words. And if anyone knows where Lena and the others are--especially Lena and Gordon--please come to the front and tell me."

One by one, my classmates go to Mr Mayes' desk and take sheets of lined paper from the tray there.

He picks up the phone and jabs in a number, then starts speaking too quickly for me to read his lips. Looking up, he waves Ffion over, and talks to her as well, passing her the handset for a minute, until she hands it back. A few more words. Maybe a sentence or two. And then he nods, and puts the phone down. "Thank you, Ffion," he says, "You can sit down again now."