3
‘So, I’m presuming that you want to get an A?’ Mr Peirce looked at me over the desk between us. I played with the hole in my tights and watched subconsciously as it widened.
‘Well. Yeah.’ I said. I found it hard trying to think of Mr Pierce as a teacher. He looked far too young. Like a teenager dressed up.
‘How do you think you did in the exam?’
We’d sat all final exams a couple of months ago and results come in four months exactly. So now all the teachers were calling us aside one by one to interrogate us.
‘I suppose it was okay, yeah.’ I said after a while. I could feel him watching me so I looked up to meet eyes. He looked back down at his bits of paper.
‘Nothing particularly difficult or easy? Did you manage to answer the extended answer question fully?’
‘No it was all okay I suppose. And yeah although I forgot to mention something about genetic engineering. It completely went out of my head.’
‘That should be fine. That’s only a tiny mistake. Well I know I’ve only been teaching you for a week but from the looks of your records and the report that Mrs Paton left behind, you are on track for an A in Higher Physics.’ He looked at me kind of expectantly so I smiled.
‘Okay then. You can go back to your seat. Can you send Eva over? Oh and can you come back and see me at the end of the day.’
I nodded and stood up. Felt the hole in tights give out a ladder and when I sat back down at the bench it shot a little further down my thigh.
Eva went over to speak to Mr Pierce. I sat with my elbow on the table and stared into space a bit. Everyone was being noisy and chatting. Because exams were over, school was a bit pointless for the moment and we had about three months of it left. Teachers kept giving us worksheets and textbooks to work from but nobody touched them and teachers gathered them in at the end looking bored and vacant not really caring that nobody had bothered.
I doodled on the corner of physics folder.
I’d had an argument with mum this morning. About nothing in particular. And that had set Daisy off on one of her tantrums. Spoilt bitch. Her cheeks went all red and tears slid down her face and mum shouted at me as if it was all my fault. Fucking hell.
Nine days till im eighteen though. And one month until my entire year leave school. And then after that, I can move out. And do something different.
Art was the only highlight of my day. Ms Grant let us use the red room again. So we got our camera’s out and developed photos on big shiny bits of paper. I have this big chunky outdated Canon. Still does the job. I’ve collected quite a few lenses during the past four years.
Walked home with Eva.
‘
You coming in?’ She said, jerking her head back towards her house.
‘Nah, mum would probs have a fit.’
‘Okay.’
She kissed me goodbye and skipped up her drive.
I continued walking.
Mum was in the back garden sunning herself.
Daisy was either upstairs in her room or she wasn’t in. Didn’t know which.
Mum opened an eye and twisted her head uncomfortably to see who had come through the back door.
‘Hello.’ she said. She seemed cheerful enough so she must have forgotton about this morning. She was home all the time right now because she had taken her holidays from the office a little bit earlier.
