“Thank you.” his mother chirped as he dropped the items into her hands. She exited and he scooped up his little pleated skirt, sat and continued his homework.
A while later, just as Peter is packing up his homework, his laptop chimes to notify him of a message; ‘Carol Scott has sent you a contact request’. He clicks ‘accept’ and a chat box opens. “Hi Peter… it’s me again.”
“Hiya.” he types.
“Whatcha up to?”
“Just packing up my homework.”
“Not even started mine yet. Sorry ’bout before.”
“What about before?”
“Invading your chat with Noel.”
“Thats OK. I trust you not to say owt.”
“Yeah… think we might have a problem though. 🙁 ” she wrote, before typing a concise version of events.
“Oh FFS!” Peter replied. “I don’t mind you and Noel knowing but Mark!”
“Noel’s spoken to him and explained why it’s best to keep it quiet.”
“Yeah good luck with that.” Peter replied, knowing what Mark can be like. “Not just Mark to worry about, it’s his mum, his dad, your mum…”
“I’m sorry.” Carol typed.
“Not your fault.” he replied. “Just a tick.” he typed before grabbing his school bag, unplugging his laptop and carting the lot up to his room. He drops his bag, straightens his duvet, sits on his bed and puts his laptop on his lap. “Back now.” he types. Meanwhile, Carol had sent a message asking what he’s doing. “Just relocating to my room.” he tells her.
“Wanna video chat?” she asks.
“Er… nah.”
“Why not?”
“Still got my uniform on and about to get changed.”
“Still?!” she replied glancing at the time. It’s 17.38pm. “Mine comes off the moment I get home.”
“Mine stays on ’til my homework’s done 🙁 .” he types, followed by “School rules.”
“Blimey… sounds a bit harsh!”
“Yeah… kinda used to it now… still hate it though.”
“The school or just the uniform?”
“The uniform. The school’s mostly really good apart from that.” he replied. “The days are long though.” he added.
“?” Carol typed.
“8.00am ’til 3.45” he replied. “By the time I’ve done my homework it’s a ten hour day.”
“Blimey! It sounds really strict.” she said. “Are all the teachers like Mr Walker or Windybum?” she asked.
The teachers mentioned are by far the strictest teachers in Peter’s old high school. Windybum is the nickname for Miss Winterbottom, and heaven forbid she hears anyone use it! “Nah, the teachers are pretty cool actually.”
“What lessons have you had today?”
“Er… science, double drama, double geography, english, double D&T, maths.” he replied.
“Sounds normal enough.” Carol typed.
“Yeah, it is really, apart from the uniform.” he typed. He’d deliberately not mentioned his needlework class in which he’s learned to stitch & sew and is currently learning knitting and is slowly making a scarf.
“Made any friends?”
“Yeah a few.”
“Any girlfriends?”
“Nah.”
A broad grin swept Carol’s face as she typed, “Good.”