Page 89 of The Christmas Fayre on Holly Field

‘Exclusion is punishment enough,’ the woman said, her stern expression softening.

‘That’s where you’re wrong, Mrs Cooke. You see, my daughter hasn’t wanted to come to school for a number of weeks now, for some reason that I’ve yet to get to the bottom of, so being excluded for three days is probably music to her ears.’

And with that, she whisked Sara’s bag up off the floor, grabbed hold of her daughter’s hand and marched her out of the office.

Harriet waited until they were in the car before she said, ‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’

‘I’m sorry, Mam, I didn’t mean to slap her, but she was being so horrid.’ Sara hiccupped.

‘In what way was she being horrid?’

‘She’s been picking on me ever since I started at this stupid school.’

Harriet’s heart broke. Her daughter’s pain was palpable. ‘Is that why you don’t want to go to school?’

Sara nodded.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ God, she must be the worst mother in the world if her child didn’t think she could tell her about something as awful as this.

Sara shrugged.

‘Have you told anyone? A teacher?’

‘Catrin knows but she’s scared of Darlene, too. Everyone is.’ Sara turned her stricken gaze to her mother. ‘She’s awful, Mammy. We all hate her, but…’ Her chin wobbled.

‘You’re scared she’ll make your life miserable if you say anything or stand up to her?’ Harriet could feel tears trickling down her own face, but she made no move to wipe them away.

‘I suppose. Mammy, is it true that I don’t have to go to school tomorrow?’ Her little face was so hopeful that Harriet’s heart twisted in pain.

‘No, cariad, you don’t have to go to school until Friday.’

Sara’s face fell. ‘I don’t want to go at all.’

‘You can’t stay home. You have to go to school. I’m so sorry, but you do.’

‘I’ll run away,’ she threatened. ‘I’ll ask Owen if he’ll take me with him when he leaves.’

‘He’s not leaving. Well, heis, but only to spend Christmas with his mam and dad. He’ll be back afterwards.’

‘Oh.’ Sara’s face crumpled.

Harriet was at a loss to know what to do for the best. She’d have a chat with her parents, see if they had any ideas, and she’d talk it over with Owen. He mightn’t have any children of his own, but he had a sensible head on his shoulders and maybe he could bring a more detached viewpoint to the table. She had better inform Declan, too – and that wasn’t something she was looking forward to, so she may as well do it as soon as she was home and get it over with.

Before the three-day exclusion period was up, she also intended to make an appointment to see the headteacher again. Although Sara was to blame for lashing out and should never have resorted to violence, Mrs Cooke needed to be made aware that there was a bullying issue in her school. Physical violence was unacceptable, and Sara would be punished for it, but so was emotional abuse and that shouldn’t be tolerated either.

If Sara needed to apologise, so did Darlene.

After settling Sara on the sofa with a glass of milk and a snack, Harriet hurried upstairs to her bedroom and closed the door. She didn’t want Sara to overhear the conversation, just in case Declan went off on one. There had been enough upset for one day.

Harriet listened to the long beeping noise on her phone and frowned. The sound she was hearing wasn’t the familiar dialling tone and it took her a moment to realise why – it was the sound of an international call.

When he answered, he didn’t sound pleased to hear from her. ‘Harriet? What do you want?’

Harriet tensed. ‘Hi, Declan, I thought I’d better let you know that Sara has been excluded from school, for assaulting another pupil.’ She kept her tone neutral.

He didn’t say anything for a second or two, but she could hear laughter, music and splashing noises in the background.

‘You rang me just for that?’ he said eventually, and she could tell he was annoyed.

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