‘Are you the boss then, miss?’
‘I wouldn't say that. We work together.’
‘She’s the boss then,’ Rafe said knowingly as Rosy arched her eyebrows and considered flipping him to the ground. Her professionalism was stronger than her desire to beat up small children but she couldn’t resist teasing him as she pretended she was about to do so.
‘Whoa, miss!’ Rafe bellowed as he thought he was going to fly through the air, only to giggle as she pulled him back to straight up again on the mat. ‘Whoa, you scared me for a minute there.’ He grinned at her. ‘Got it, you work together.’
‘Yep, that’s the one, Rafe.’ She joined in with the class for a bit, glad to see that Sylvie didn’t seem particularly fazed by her presence. As the hall clock started to edge towards three o’clock Sylvie got the children to tidy away the mats and benches and change from the PE kits they were wearing. It was accompanied with a lot of groaning and, ‘Oh, miss. Do we have to?’ and, ‘Can we do this again next week?’
Rosy lugged the last mat back against the wall, helping Ollie who had been hauling it across by himself.
‘Miss Williams, that was so much fun. If you’ve got a minute – and I know you’ve got to get Sam – could we have a word in my office after?’
Chapter Twelve
Sylvie ran from the hall towards Class One, her feet tripping across the quad at super-speed. She had never been late for Sam before, she hoped he wasn’t one of the first out. Rounding the corner, she saw him standing next to his teacher, Mrs Rowe, but paying her very little attention as Ellie stood by his side chattering away about something at such a speed that Sylvie couldn’t begin to make head nor tail of it.
Alex stood listening, seemingly intently, to Mrs Rowe until he saw Sylvie approach, at which point his face lit up. She couldn’t help it as the corners of her mouth turned up and formed themselves into a huge grin. She had been trying to exercise a bit more self-control of late; she found she couldn’t help grinning like something possessed whenever she saw him, and even more so since the night they had cooked pizza and had a picnic. Her initial appreciation of him was fast becoming an enormous crush that would hurtle out of control if she didn’t get a hold of herself and soon. However, her mind didn’t seem to be communicating this fact effectively to her body.
Him beaming at her like that was not helping.
She tried to force her features into a slightly stricter look, and attempted to issue her thanks in a gruff and serious I’m-not-smiling-like-a-lunatic-because-I-have-a huge-crush-on-you-I’m-just-naturally-grinny voice.
‘Hey, thanks for keeping an eye on Sam. I got caught up with Mrs Adams’s class.’ She wasn’t convinced that had sounded as gruff as intended.
‘No worries, what are you doing now? Wanna come play?’
‘Isn’t that what the kids are meant to say?’
‘Are you suggesting I’m past it, not down with the youth?’
‘Well, I was suggesting that perhaps you weren’t eight, but if I’m wrong I apologize.’
‘I think I should keep a log of the apologies you need to offer me.’
‘A log, a log of apologies owed? Are you joking me? I have been nothing but a perfect friend to you since your child swore on the beach.’ Sylvie caught Mrs Rowe’s smirk. ‘Oh goodness, Mrs Rowe, she didn’t swear, not really. I was just teasing Alex.’
‘Mmm, yes, I can see. And don’t worry, I wasn’t listening. Have a lovely weekend the both of you.’ Lynne smiled at them, ruffled Sam’s hair and turned to go back in the classroom now all the children, bar Ellie and Sam, were gone. Sylvie felt that the smile Mrs Rowe gave them suggested she had very much been listening, and drawing all sorts of incorrect conclusions indeed.
‘And now you’ve got us in trouble with the teacher, really. That also needs to be logged.’ Alex nodded seriously, as if this was a crime beyond words.
‘Twit.’
‘Oh my goodness, I’m going to need a whole forest’s worth of books at this rate. Anyway, if you could hold fire on the insults for a bit the invite still stands. Wanna come over for a cuppa and let the kids play for a bit? I could do with a pal, truth be told.’
‘Um, I would, but I’ve got to go and see Miss Winter, she asked me to come to her office after I got Sam.’
‘Did she? See, you are in trouble with the teachers, that’s why you were trying to drag my poor darling Ellie…’
‘Yep.’ Ellie looked around at her name.
‘Nothing, just chatting. Are you and Sam coming? School’s finished for the week, you know.’
‘Come on then.’ Ellie skipped down from the granite school step upon which she had been standing and motioned Sam to follow. Which obviously, he did.
Sylvie was so pleased that Sam had grown in confidence since his friendship with Ellie, but she really hoped he developed a way of not just slavishly following the little girl everywhere. She just needed to find a way to word it that was appropriate for a four-year-old.
‘…as I was saying, you were obviously using my daughter to divert attention from your own misdeeds.’ Alex finished his sentence, pulling Sylvie’s attention back to him.
