Pieces Of My Life (Waterloo Road)

Chapter 13

After Rose had left yesterday everyone went straight to their dorms without saying a word. We were all overwhelmed with the way Rose had acted the day before. She had acted so well for someone who had lost their child. Denzil could never be replaced and I was now thinking of him more than ever. Yesterday had felt like I had a bit of Denzil with me. I admired the way in which Rose had interacted with everyone. She never once made a nasty remark or held a grudge against anyone who had ever said anything bad about Denzil.

I was now sat on my bed whilst on Facebook. I was currently talking to Lewis about Rose's visit. Even though Lewis wasn't in the same country as me, he really was my rock through all of this. I can't wait to see him again. I talked to him for another ten minutes until he said he had to go. He was meeting up with Donte to discuss some work that Donte had lined up for him. Lewis really was making a good new start for himself. After he logged off, I did the same. There had been a strange atmosphere at breakfast as though something had happened or was about to happen so everyone had gone about and done their own business for an hour. Suddenly the school bell rang. I headed downstairs to see what was going on as there was no reason for it to ring at this time of day. As I reached the bottom of the stairs, it appeared everyone had thought the same thought.

"What's going on?" Rhiannon asked on behalf of us all.

"Yeah. Why did the bell ring?" Harley said. I felt sorry for him because he hardly had anyone to talk to. Although Josh was the same so it made sense that they had become closer recently.

"We rang it because of this morning." Mrs Diamond said. "We know how difficult yesterday was for some of you and this morning showed this as none of you knew what to say to each other. Especially at breakfast."

Mr Byrne appeared. "Come into the common room and take a seat. There is also another reason behind why we have rung the bell." We all made our way slowly into the common room where we found all the teachers sat there with unrecognisable expressions on their faces.

"Have a seat." Mr Byrne said. We all sat on the floor as the sofas were occupied by the staff.

"I just want to say well done to you all for yesterday. Your behaviour towards Rose was incredible and I'm so proud of you all."

"Yeah. We thought you really showed her how respectable you all are and this does reflect upon the school." Mr Clarkson said.

"Does anyone have anything they would like to say about her visit?" Mr Byrne asked.

There was a moment of silence and I watched the teachers share worried glances with each other. But then Harley spoke up. "It was nice to meet her. She was nice."

"She was lovely actually." Rhiannon said.

"I'm glad you're all okay then. However this is not the only reason why you have all been brought here today."

"Why? Like what's going on?" All this secrecy was doing my head in.

"We had a call from the hospital this morning just before breakfast."

All heads turned towards Mr Budgen.

"Is Tariq okay?" A worried Josh asked.

"He's better than okay." Mr Budgen looked around at everyone before revealing the big secret. "He's coming home."

"That's amazing news!" Rhiannon was so happy for Tariq.

"It is! When is he coming home?" I asked overjoyed at this news.

"This afternoon. Everything is okay for Tariq here at the moment but I would be grateful if you could all take a bit of your own time up to clean and make the house look presentable."