The Unlikely Daddy

• 10 •

At almost lunch time Alfie's mum dropped him off at school.

"I'm going to be working late again tonight, sweetheart. Maybe you could invite Logan round again to keep you company" she suggested.

Alfie shrugged, still feeling particularly overwhelmed by what had been said at the doctors office.

He then ambled into school. He looked at his phone and realised he only had 10 minutes left before lunch, so decided against going to his history class.

Alfie sat himself down on the floor in a quiet corner of the school. He pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms tightly around himself.

"Alfie?" Mr Bentley spoke quietly as he walked down the corridor.

Alfie looked up, shocked that anybody had seen him in such a discreet place.

"What're you doing down there?" Mr Bentley asked, coming closer.

Immediately Alfie let go of his legs and stood up.

"Shouldn't you be in class?" Mr Bentley continued to question.

"I had an appointment" Alfie explained.

"Well you can't be hanging around on your own in the hallway, can you?" Mr Bentley knew where Alfie must have been and ceased the interrogation.

"Come to my office" Mr Bentley instructed with a comforting smile.

Alfie followed the guidance councillor closely until they reached his office.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Mr Bentley asked.

"It's complicated" Alfie replied, not wanting to tell Mr Bentley that because of his new medication everything was about to get worse.

"So I'm assuming it wasn't good news" Mr Bentley sighed.

Alfie weakly shook his head.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Mr Bentley asked genuinely.

"I'll be okay" Alfie lied.

"You know you don't have to go through this all by yourself, right?" Mr Bentley said.

"I know, I just don't like talking about it" Alfie replied sadly.

"I know, buddy, but I'll always be here for when you're ready, okay?" Mr Bentley said as the lunch bell rang.

"Now go and find your friends and try to have a good day" Mr Bentley instructed.

Alfie then left Mr Bentley's office in search of Logan. He wasn't sure where Mr Bentley had got the idea that he had lots of friends to choose from.

"Alfie!" Logan shouted as he saw the lost looking ball coming down the hall.

Immediately Alfie felt happier and much more at ease.

"Logan" Alfie smiled, speeding up so he could get to him quicker.

"How was your appointment?" Logan asked.

Alfie's smiled slowly faded as he thought about everything again.

"Are you okay?" Logan questioned as he saw his friend lose his smile.

"They gave me new medication" Alfie said.

"Surely that's good? To help you feel better, right?" Logan spoke positively.

"They said it'll make it worse for a while" Alfie shared.

"Oh" Logan said, knowing Alfie would be feeling disappointed with that news.