breathe// 5SOS

8

Ashton

"Ashton, you have an urgent call," chief said, "from the school,"

I got up, following her to the office where she handed me the phone.

"Hello?"

"Is this Ashton? It's Mrs Lockheart,"

"Yeah, it is."

"There's been a serious incident, Ava isn't hurt, but she is very upset. I want to have a meeting before the school day ends to decide what to do,"

"What happened?"

"It seems there is a lot, but Ava has heard someone in class talking about her, and it wasn't a very nice manner,"

I looked up at chief and she nodded her head towards the door.

"I'll be on my way,"

I didn't tell Calum, I just left. My stomach started to wobble, and twist- what could have been said?

I parked in the car park and conveniently it was class change over, so I had to make my way through the swarm of kids.

When I got to the office, Ava wasn't there.

"Ashton,"

"Where's Ava?"

"She's with Sam and Charlie, come in,"

I sat at the desk and folded my arms, anxiously bouncing my knee.

"I can't tell you a story that makes exact sense I suppose, because Ava has just spilled information here and there. In class today, she overheard two girls talking about her. One was very determined to stop the other, who was saying some nasty things like that her teeth were messed up, and her face was horrible, and that she was weird for seeing a therapist,"

I sat forward and covered my hands- they'd hit literally the exact spots we'd worked on for months. The amount of reassurance everyone had given, down the drain.

"The other girl was telling her to stop, saying her brother saw a therapist, and that she's had some troubles so that's why she perhaps wasn't like everyone else,"

"Okay,"

"And...," she sighed, "she's told everyone about Ava's sexuality, before Ava got chance to tell her friends herself, then proceeded to talk badly about it,"

"Can we get her parents in? Or get her out of the school?"

"I know you are angry, but we need to think about this,"

"I want to speak to her parents,"

"Okay, I'll call them. Ava is in the room at the end of the corridor,"

I got up and left, opening the door to Ava curled up in a young boy's arms.

"Dad," she cried, "dad,"

I sat against the wall as she stumbled over, falling into my lap.

"Dad,"

"Slow down," I whispered, "it's okay. Things will work out,"

"How?"

"I'm seeing her parents, and we will talk to the girls tonight,"

"Dad," she sobbed.

"I know," I comforted, "is there anything that could help right now?"

"My back hurts,"

I chuckled lightly, starting to rub her back as she continued to cry. The boy- who I assumed was Sam- took her hand, gently rubbing circles on it.