‘This can’t carry on. These aren’t one-off incidents, they are turning into a pattern of behaviour.’
Eve glared at Mrs Russell. Clearly there was a problem: but this horrible woman was making it sound as if it was all her fault.
‘If Daniel can’t control his temper and treat his fellow pupils with respect, then we will have to consider our options. Both myself and the head have spoken to him on several occasions, but he is always unwilling to explain his behaviour.’
‘But he hasn’t got a temper!’ said Eve. ‘I’m not trying to be difficult, Mrs Russell, and I’m sorry there have been problems. But I don’t know what to say to you, because the boy you’re describing here isn’t the boy I see at home. He’s very easy-going and loving. He can be high-spirited, but he isn’t a bully, and he isn’t deliberately naughty.’
Mrs Russell pursed her lips and tapped her pen on her notepad. ‘I’m sure you believe that to be the case, Mrs Mackay, but that isn’t what we’re seeing here at school.’
‘It’s Glover,’ snapped Eve. ‘My surname is Glover.’
Mrs Russell carried on as if she hadn’t heard. ‘Most of his anger seems to be directed at one boy in particular, Liam Boxall. I have also spoken to Liam’s parents but, to be honest, he isn’t the one initiating the fighting. The Boxalls are upset that their son is being targeted, which is understandable because, from what I have seen, it is all coming from Daniel.’
The wall behind the teacher’s head was covered in large cut-out snowflakes, a child’s name written across the centre of each one. Some of the shapes were much neater than others, and Eve couldn’t help glancing up at them, searching for Daniel’s name. There were a couple of neat, more sophisticated snowflakes at the far end of the wall, towards the door: Eve screwed up her eyes, trying to read the names, hoping that Daniel’s would be one of the more impressive ones.
Mrs Russell sat back in her chair and slotted the lid onto the end of her pen. She was clearly waiting for Eve to say something.
‘Listen, I’m sorry that he’s been involved in these incidents, as you call them, and I’ll definitely talk to him about it. But I’m just very confused by what you’re telling me.’ Eve tried to control the anger in her voice, the impatience. She wanted to storm out, slamming the classroom door behind her. This was all so unfair: there was no way Daniel was the nasty little bully his teacher was describing.
She was also furious that she was here alone, taking the flak. Yet again. Ben should be sitting beside her in the classroom, listening to these accusations and complaints, offering some support. When she got the call from the school, earlier this afternoon, Eve had texted to ask if he’d go with her: This is something we need to deal with together, Ben. But she hadn’t been surprised when his reply pinged in: he had meetings all day with an important client, no one could cover for him, and wasn’t it rather short notice? The inference was that he was far too busy and important to have to deal with something like this, which was infuriating considering Eve had already told him there were problems at school, so this was clearly serious. Daniel should be his priority as well as hers. Yes, he worked full time, but she wasn’t exactly sitting around on her backside baking cupcakes and crocheting blankets for kittens.
‘I wonder if it might be beneficial to send Daniel to see someone?’ Mrs Russell was saying.
‘What sort of someone?’
‘A child psychologist, perhaps. With experience in dealing with children with these sorts of behavioural issues.’
‘What?’ Eve couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
‘The school has access to psychologists who work with the local authority, and who might be able to…’
Eve stood up, the child-sized chair scraping across the floor before falling over behind her. ‘I don’t think that’s necessary,’ she said. ‘I will speak to Daniel, and to his father, but I can’t see that we need to go down that route.’
A psychologist! Incensed, Eve swung open the door and marched out of the classroom and back down the hallway. Her son didn’t need to see a shrink. The bloody cheek of the woman.
Daniel was waiting for her in the reception area by the school office. His head was bent over her phone, and he was playing a game, the tinny pings echoing around the confined space. When Eve came through the door, the school secretary glanced up from behind the sliding glass window, then looked pointedly across at Daniel.
‘We don’t allow phones or iPads on the school premises,’ she said.
‘I know, sorry,’ said Eve. ‘But he’s only been here five minutes.’
‘Rules are there for the general well-being of everyone and they can’t be ignored,’ said the woman, shuffling some papers into a neat pile in front of her. ‘If parents allow their children to flout them, it sets a bad example to the other pupils.’
‘Well, school has finished for the day,’ said Eve as she grabbed Daniel by the hand and led him towards the door. ‘So, there aren’t any other pupils around to be led astray, are there?’
The secretary glared at her as she buzzed them out through the door, and Eve glared back. He’s not exactly corrupting anybody, she wanted to say. He’s just sitting, waiting patiently, while his mother gets a dressing down from his teacher and is made to feel like the worst parent in the world.
They walked through the empty playground and she pulled her boy towards her, leaning down to kiss his tousled hair, which smelt of school dinners and stuffy cloakrooms. God, the small-mindedness of officialdom; it made her want to scream.
‘Listen sweetheart,’ she said, as they drove home, ‘Mrs Russell says you’re still not very happy at school.’
Daniel’s face was turned away from her, as he stared out of the side window; he shrugged.
‘Is it just that you don’t like some of the other children? Or is it the work?’
Silence.
‘We need to talk about this, because I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s wrong?’
The boy didn’t respond and she couldn’t see the expression on his face.
‘Daniel, are you listening to me? It isn’t good when I get called into school to talk to your teacher like this, and Mrs Russell isn’t happy about your behaviour. I need to understand what’s going on, so we can work out what to do about it?’
He crossed his arms in front of his chest and jutted out his chin, still staring out at the houses and crowded pavements as the car crawled past them.
Eve tried again. ‘Whatever’s going on, we can do something about it. You, me and Daddy. But you have to talk to us, so we can decide how we deal with it.’
Still nothing.
Eve sighed and they drove the rest of the way without speaking.
Maybe this conversation would be better coming from Ben? Daniel might feel he could tell his father what was worrying him, or explain the incidents with Liam Boxall. But the trouble was, if Ben couldn’t spare the time to go to the school, he would end up talking to Daniel at home. His home; with Lou listening in. Maybe Lou would be sitting there beside him, reaching out to take Daniel’s hand as they brought the subject up. Maybe she would even be the one to mention it? Daddy says you’re not happy at school, Daniel. Do you want to talk about it?
The possibility of Lou getting answers from her son that Eve couldn’t squeeze out of him herself, was almost too much to bear. As they pulled up outside the house, she tried again. ‘You know you can tell me if something’s bothering you? It’s not always easy being with other people and fitting in. But if something’s making you really unhappy while you’re at school, please tell me what it is and maybe I can help?’
Daniel shook his head vigorously from side to side.
‘Is it to do with this other boy, Liam? You haven’t mentioned him before. Have the two of you had a fight about something?’
Daniel turned and glared at her. ‘Shut up!’ he yelled as he tugged on the handle of the door and pushed it open. ‘Just go away and leave me alone. I hate you!’
As he tumbled out of the car and ran up the path, pushing through the side gate into the garden, Eve stared after him, open-mouthed. He had never spoken to her like that before; her heart was racing and she tried not to cry. She sat, wondering what to do. This was so unlike Daniel; what on earth was going on inside that little head?
After a few seconds, she got out of the car and followed him through the gate. He was sitting with his back to her on the edge of the patio outside the kitchen window and didn’t hear her approaching. He’d taken his teddy out of his bag and had it balanced on his knee, holding it tightly by the arms. Eve stood beside the corner of the house.
‘It will happen very soon,’ she heard him say to the teddy. ‘Daddy says maybe after Christmas. And when we live with Daddy and Lou, everything will be better. We won’t have to go to that school anymore. We’ll go to another one and Daddy says I’ll have new friends and they’ll like me and they’ll all want to play with me.’