Chapter 2

I could hear the many sighs of relief that floated through the 'not so silent room' anymore. The sound of chairs scraping against the floor could be heard as my classmates got to their feet. I grabbed my backpack from the floor as I stood up; my eyes focused on the door as I put it over my shoulder and tucked my chair underneath my single desk.

"Esme, I'd like to you to stay behind please." Mr. Rogers called out casually. I felt my entire body tense as I slowly made my way to the front of the class where I stood in front of his desk, my head down as I felt the majority of my class stare at me as they came to put their homework in the tray before walking off.

It took less than less than two minutes for everyone to make their way out of the classroom, leaving me and Mr. Rogers by ourselves. I wanted him to hurry up and speak as I nervously pulled down the sleeve of my jumper so that it would cover my bruised wrist. I could see through my lashes that Mr. Rogers had followed the movement, his grey eyes hidden behind his glasses widened slightly as I hid the bruise from his view a second later.

"Is everything okay Esme?" Mr. Rogers asked softly as I stared at him wide eyed. I had never heard Mr. Rogers voice so soft in the entire time that he had been my teacher.

It wasn't the real reason that he had asked me to stay behind and I knew he was momentarily distracted. I knew that he was talking about the bruise on my wrist that I had tried to keep hidden from his sight and I was oddly touched that he cared enough to ask but I couldn't tell him. My father had threatened many times what would happen to me and to my mum if anyone ever found out and I shuddered at the thought.

"Everything's fine Sir." I knew that he could hear the lie in my voice; I could even hear the lie as I silently pleaded with my eyes for him to drop the subject. My eyes darted to the clock on the wall to see that I had been kept behind for a total of eighteen minutes causing my knees to shake as I shifted from one foot to the other.

Mr. Rogers cleared his throat as he sat up in his seat and I knew that he was going to talk about the real reason that he had asked me to stay behind, "your grades are slowly slipping, you used to have an A average but now you are slipping to a B. I know it's not a huge drop but if you keep it up by the end of the term you will be scraping by with a C."

Mr. Rogers had kept his voice soft, it was unusual as I had expected him to be shouting and demanding that I work harder whilst threatening to kick me out of the class. I could see the worry in his eyes, the small frown that had stayed in place since he saw my bruised wrist. He was thinking about it; the bruise, and it wouldn't be long before everything clicked and when it did he was sure to tell someone.

I could feel a lump develop in my throat as I gripped the back strap tighter and my eyes darted to the door. I was already late and the longer I stayed talking the more trouble I would get in. I had to leave, I was going to regret fleeing from Mr. Rogers' class but I had stayed long enough.

"I'll try a lot harder Sir, I promise just give me some more time." I practically begged. Mr. Rogers was old fashioned and it wouldn't be long before he sent a letter, and then phoned my house to tell my parents that I was falling behind and I couldn't have that.

"Esme, I-" He began, his frown deepening on his already wrinkled face.

"I'm sorry, I've got to go." I cut him off.

I didn't waste any more time as I turned on my heels and ran towards the door. I could hear Mr. Rogers calling my name behind me whilst asking me to stop, but I didn't listen as I threw open the classroom door and headed down the hallway. I was surprised to see that a few students still in the corridor looking up from what they were doing to look at me as I ran past them, ignoring their gazes as they heard Mr. Rogers calling my name from behind me.

I was out of the school entrance within a matter of seconds and I raced down the steps and across the student car park, a few cars in still in bays. I passed the coach park to see that all the buses had left and I felt my heart sink that little bit lower as I ran through the middle. It took fifteen minutes in the bus to get from the school to my house and it was going to take me much longer to run the whole way.

I slipped my arm through my back pack's other strap as I pulled it higher onto my back so that it wouldn't fall off as I ran along the pavement and past many people that stared at me as if I was crazy. I squinted as I felt raindrops begin to fall from the sky landing on my face and hair, already soaking my clothes as I pushed myself harder.