Tetra Pact

Chapter 3

"Let us have someone present their answer on the board. Eden?" The teacher glanced sharply at the girl at the back of the classroom, who didn't lift her head from the desk despite being called upon.

Her classmate turned behind and slapped her arm. "Oi, Eden," he hissed, sneakily sliding a crushed piece of paper under her arm. "Did you do it?"

Eden jerked her head up hastily, her mouth agape. "Do what?"

"The question on the board." He tapped on the paper in front of her. He looked at her blank face and sighed. "Forget it; you did. Go write it."

"Ah, shite." She knocked on her temple with her fist in annoyance, and dragged her chair across the floor as she stood up. "Thanks."

She rubbed her eyes forcefully and copied his working onto the board blindly. She had no idea what was going on in class at this point - which she knew wasn't good - but she would catch up later, when she found the time to. When Evan started getting more comfortable in his new school and improved his communication with others. And maybe if her father employed an actual helper to bring Erin to physiotherapy. Or maybe - the biggest, most hopeful maybe she had - if he let her stop helping out at the barber shop. She handed the chalk back to the teacher and trudged back to her seat, muttering another thanks to Vincent.

"Yeah, whatever." He squinted at the dark circles under her eyes. "Jesus, what time did you sleep, bruv?"

Eden slumped back onto the desk. "No idea."

The teacher went through the answer in more detail, but Eden had zoned out again, weakly fighting the urge to fall asleep once more. Just as the bell for break rang, the teacher wrapped up the lesson and said, "You're dismissed. But Eden, could you stay behind for a bit?"

"Good luck, mate." Vincent patted her shoulder sympathetically as he left the classroom.

Eden held her hands together in front of her as she waited for the teacher to say his piece. She knew it was going to be related to her lack of attention in class. Every subject teacher had talked to her about it at least once. The teacher shut his laptop, facing Eden with a small smile.

"You know this is a very important year, don't you?" he asked, taking care not to sound accusatory.

Eden ground her teeth lightly. "Yeah."

This teacher, who Eden had admittedly forgotten the name of, had probed into her family situation before, when he'd sent Eden to the office for disciplinary issues; her uncontrollable sleepiness deemed as disrespectful. The headmaster had called her father to the school, and he'd merely informed them that she had to work at the barber shop. The teacher looked for hints in Eden's stoic expression.

"Is there anything we can do to help? We don't want your performance in school to be affected by external factors."

Of course they didn't. Brathwaite produced the highest scores in town every year in the GCSEs and A Level exams. They couldn't risk losing their reputation to a handful of potential major failures.

"You could tell my father to stop having me help out his barber business," she said, decisively.

"Um," the teacher swallowed, hesitant after hearing her unexpected reply. "I don't think it's possible for us to interfere too directly in students' family affairs."

She stared at him unflinchingly.

"But we can try," he supplied quickly. "Thanks for letting me know."

"Can I go now?"

"Ah yes, definitely."

She bowed to him slightly and exited the classroom.