What was she going to follow that up with? Her mind was offering her the answer but voicing that wasn’t going to help anyone.
‘And the last person you depended on ran away when the going got tough and announced his virility with someone else in an obnoxious Instagram post.’ It seemed that Kat had filled in the blanks herself.
‘It’s not all about Michael.’ That was true to some extent. It was much more about her not liking her control being taken away, particularly when it was her own fault it was happening.
‘I know,’ Kat said. ‘But it’s because of him you are second-guessing the solution to this issue. You know asking Gunnar is a great option. He can speak the Icelandic and you can… pretend you’re ill and can’t speak at all. It’s the most straightforward way and will absolutely get you out of this predicament without Michelle ever knowing that you don’t know Icelandic or until you feel ready to admit to her that you don’t.’ She looked directly at Chloe then. ‘Tell me I’m wrong.’
Kat wasn’t wrong. But it was that sense of having to rely on someone to get her out of a fix. She was Little Miss Self-Sufficient these days. Needed to be.
She sighed. ‘You’re not wrong.’
‘Correct. So, all you need to do is call Gunnar and ask for his help. What’s the worst that could happen?’
‘So many things.’
‘But not death,’ Kat said, matter-of-factly.
‘No,’ Chloe said, sighing. ‘Not death.’
‘Then, you know what to do.’
33
MAGNÚS’S SCHOOL, REYKJAVIK
‘Thank you for coming in today, Mr Eriksson.’
Gunnar looked around the principal’s office as Magnús soberly followed him inside and Mr Almr greeted them. It took Gunnar right back to when he was a student at this very school. The office was virtually unchanged, apart from a smarter computer and fewer filing cabinets. And it had a certain scent to it. Books, dust and the essence of fear…
‘HallóMagnús,’ Mr Almr said.
‘Halló,’ Magnús answered, a little sheepish.
‘OK,’ Gunnar said, pulling up a chair, sitting down and urging Magnús to do the same. ‘So, let us get to the point of our being here and the misunderstandings that have taken place.’
‘Misunderstandings?’ Mr Almr asked.
‘Yes,’ Gunnar continued. ‘Because you have only communicated to me that you believe Magnús has hit Brigitta Lundgren and not the fact that Brigitta Lundgren and her friends have been bullying Magnús for quite some time.’
‘I do not believe I gave you the girl’s name,’ Mr Almr said, looking uncomfortable and shifting about in his rotating leather chair.
‘And I do not believe that you have adequately looked into the cause of this incident. The root cause. The bullying of Magnús.’
‘We take physical bullying very seriously, Mr Eriksson.’
‘And what of mental bullying?’ Gunnar questioned. ‘Telling someone that they are nothing because of where they have come from and how they have been brought up and the fact their parents are dead.’
Gunnar hadn’t meant to say the words quite like gunfire, had thought, after sleeping on things, that his anger would have depleted, but there was something about being back in this room that was reminding him of all the times he was told similar by someone who was supposed to be caring for him. Just because some children find study harder than others it should not mean their needs are overlooked, their difficulties thought of as bad behaviour. He had been the boy who had lost his father, lost his way for a while and gone through challenging times feeling different from everyone else.
‘This is what has been happening to you, Magnús?’ Mr Almr asked, looking at the boy.
Magnús sat stock still, eyes on the floor.
‘Magnús,’ Gunnar urged. ‘There is no shame in admitting that these students hurt you with words. Words can be so much sharper than hitting with fists.’
Finally, Magnús looked up. ‘I did not hit her,’ he said firmly. ‘I pushed her. And Brigitta and her friends have been calling me names and saying horrible things all year. They cut my hair. They used the shit of dogs on my locker.’
Gunnar folded his arms across his chest. ‘As I said. For months, Mr Almr. And you call me only to tell me that you think Magnús has done something very wrong when really the school has failed to protect him.’
