Wildflower Park Series. Bella Osborne

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       Chapter Nine

      Sophie found herself sitting outside Arlo’s classroom with mounting dread creeping up her spine. She’d had a phone call shortly after lunch asking if she could come in to discuss Arlo’s behaviour. They didn’t give her any other details and now she had gone over about eighty different scenarios in her head, each one more serious than the last. Arlo was sitting at her side swinging his legs and despite a thorough grilling, it appeared he genuinely didn’t have a clue as to why they were there either.

      The door opened and Mrs Armitage beckoned her inside. ‘Arlo, please wait quietly whilst I speak to your mummy. We won’t be long.’

      Sophie gave Arlo the look and followed the teacher inside.

      ‘Thanks for coming in at short notice but we felt we needed to nip this in the bud quite quickly.’

      Sophie took the stupidly small child-sized seat that Mrs Armitage offered her and wondered if teachers did that on purpose to put you at a disadvantage. ‘Okay. What’s the problem?’ Sophie was already feeling defensive. Arlo was cheeky but it was part of his character, his interminable spirit. He wasn’t a bad kid.

      ‘It’s Arlo’s language. He’s been shouting swear words.’

      Bollarding Dave, thought Sophie. She was careful to moderate her language around the children but Dave wasn’t as good. ‘Okay, I’m sorry. What’s he been saying exactly?’

      As if on cue Arlo began running up and down outside the office shouting what sounded a lot like ‘Waaaaa-an-ker!’

      And the teacher gave a curt nod at the door. ‘This is what he’s been shouting at the top of his voice for most of the day.’

      Sophie had never felt this smug in all her life. ‘He’s into pirates so we went to London to see the Cutty Sark. One of the volunteers was quite theatrical and they told him what they used to shout and one of those things was weigh anchor.’ Sophie emphasised the last two words.

      Arlo bellowed from the corridor. ‘Waaaa-an-ker!’

      ‘I think that’s fairly clear. Don’t you?’ Sophie raised one eyebrow and waited for Mrs Armitage to respond. She turned the colour any tomato would be proud of whilst Sophie revelled in her discomfort.

      ‘Oh, I see,’ said Mrs Armitage at last. ‘I’m sure you can see our confusion and …’

      ‘No,’ said Sophie, forcing herself to keep a straight face. ‘What else could a five-year-old possibly be saying?’

      Mrs Armitage narrowed her eyes and Sophie wondered for a moment if perhaps she shouldn’t have backed her into this particular corner. ‘Arlo is a boisterous child who needs firm boundaries and …’

      ‘You shouldn’t jump to assumptions about him. Whilst he can be boisterous, on this occasion I think I’m right in saying he’s done nothing wrong.’

      ‘Indeed, Mrs Butterworth.’ Mrs Armitage dropped her head in defeat.

      ‘And if he starts saying something that sounds like Big Hairy Sex …’ she paused and Mrs Armitage tried to control a facial tick ‘… he’s talking about the film Big Hero Six. It’s his favourite at the moment.’

      ‘Of course,’ said Mrs Armitage, letting out a long breath. ‘Sorry to have wasted your time.’

      Sophie was happy with the apology. ‘That’s fine. We’ll speak to him about being boisterous.’

      ‘Thank you.’ They both stood up and Sophie was thrilled that the little chair wasn’t stuck to her bottom as she’d feared it might be. She failed to hide her smug grin as she exited the room. Arlo was hurtling towards her and came to an abrupt halt.

      ‘Calm down now, Arlo, time to go home.’

      ‘Mummy, today I learned a new word and that word was … fuck.’ Sophie rushed him away from the classroom without a backward glance.

      It wasn’t just raining, it was a torrential downpour of biblical proportions – a somewhat СКАЧАТЬ