‘Good God, no,’ said Beth. ‘I just enjoy the little darlings at work instead.’
‘Are you a teacher?’ asked Lorna.
‘Bursar. At Kingsgate School.’
You could practically see Lorna blossom. ‘Oh wow. Bursar.’ She quickly checked herself. ‘What a coincidence! We’ve applied to Kingsgate. My son, Phoenix, is a sporting fiend. We’re hoping he’s lucky enough to get a scholarship?’ She did a small, self-effacing laugh. ‘Don’t know if you remember our application?’
Beth thought, a concentrated frown on her face. ‘Phoenix...Hmm, no, don’t think I do.’
Lorna’s face fell. She was about to say something elsebut the doors of the school had opened and Lara, newly released by the teacher, ran across the playground.
‘Auntie Beth!’ she cried, throwing her arms around her. ‘You came!’
‘Of course I did,’ said Beth, twirling Lara around. ‘And you’ve grown again. I know children do but it always seems to take me by surprise.’
‘How was your first day?’ asked Nancy, leaning in for a hug.
‘I met loads of new friends. This morning I sat next to Rosie and she invited me to her birthday party.’
‘Oh wow,’ said Nancy, pleased her daughter was already being included. ‘What else?’
‘This afternoon we had a vote,’ said Lara.
‘Ah, yes, Head of School,’ said Nancy. ‘Was Rosie the winner?’
Lara smiled shyly and pulled her cardigan aside to reveal a blue badge pinned to her polo shirt. ‘No. It was me.’
Nancy’s jaw dropped. Then she became aware of numerous gazes turned their way. She looked up to see Erin, Imogen and several of the other mothers staring at them with a mixture of disbelief and thinly veiled hostility.
Beth threw her arms up in delight. ‘Congratulations!’ she said. ‘They picked the best candidate.’
‘But,’ said Nancy, ‘you hadn’t even written a speech.’
‘Miss Young, she’s really nice by the way, Mum, she’s got pink hair and a pierced nose!’
Nancy looked over at Miss Young, who was making sure the rest of the children were being reunited with theirparents. She immediately liked her, felt herself warm to her non-conformist attitude.
‘Anyway,’ continued Lara, ‘Miss Young said I could write something in class. Then we all had to stand at the front and tell the other kids what we stood for.’
‘And what do you stand for?’
‘Being kind and supportive and encouraging everyone not to drop litter but mostly campaigning for the teacher to give kids sweets if they get three smiley faces on their work in a row.’
Nancy was still a little stunned. ‘Smiley faces?’
‘Yeah, you get one for good effort. And when I read my speech out, one of the other kids, Jakob, he asked Miss Young if she would actually do it, give out the sweets, and she said yes and I got voted in.’
Beth laughed. ‘Nice work, kid.’
‘You need to speak to Rosie’s mum about the party,’ Lara said to Nancy.
Nancy looked up at Imogen and saw her resting her arm around Rosie’s shoulders, quietly talking in her ear, no doubt commiserating with her about her failure to be voted Head of School.
‘Sure. No rush though.’
‘No, there is. It’s tomorrow,’ said Lara.
‘Oh right.’
