Civvy Street (15 page)

Everyone in the car was silent as Susie drove away from the school for the last time. Ella and Katie sniffed loudly as they bumped over the cattle grid at the end of the drive and out onto the main road.

The silence continued for some miles then Ella spoke from the back seat. ‘Katie and I won’t go to the comp, you know that, don’t you?’

Susie glanced across at Katie, the front seat passenger, and then at her sibling in the rear-view mirror. ‘You’ve got to go to school somewhere and I’m afraid that’s the law.’

‘We’ll play truant. Run away,’ said Katie.

‘Don’t be silly,’ said Susie. ‘Anyway, you haven’t seen it yet, you might like it.’

There was a loud snort from Ella. ‘Yes, we have.’

‘Don’t be silly,’ said Susie again, trying to concentrate on her driving, and really not wanting to have this conversation right at this moment or even
ever
.

‘God, Mum, of course we’ve seen it. What do you think Google Earth is for? And it’s rank.’

‘A shit-hole,’ said Katie.

‘Don’t use that language,’ said Susie, trying to keep her cool.

‘Why not? It’s the only word that suits it.’

Susie sighed. ‘It’s not as smart as Browndown, I grant you that. It’s just modern, that’s all.’

‘It’s a dump,’ retorted Ella. ‘You send us there, and you and Dad’ll regret it.’

They were upset, thought Susie. And now was not the time to pick a battle with the twins. When they’d calmed down, when they’d seen the school in reality and not just trawled past it courtesy of Google Earth, they’d feel differently, she was sure.

A few days later, Susie pulled the car up in yet another school car park but this one was a million miles away, metaphorically speaking, from the previous one. This was the car park for Winterspring Comprehensive School, with potholed asphalt, and litter piled by the wind into the corner of the tatty, battered, sagging chainlink fencing that surrounded it. It was a far cry from the raked and perfect gravel of Browndown.

‘Told you it was a dump,’ said Ella with a sneer in her voice.

Susie took a deep breath before she said, ‘I am sure it’s a perfectly nice school. They just don’t have obscene amounts of money to spend on extras – like landscaping.’ She turned to her daughters who were both sitting in the back seat. ‘First impressions count and I am sure you have no wish to start off on the wrong foot so I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself when you meet Mr Rogers.’

‘And who’s he?’ asked Katie.

‘Your head of year.’

‘What’s that? Like a housemaster?’

‘Something like that.’ Susie hadn’t yet told her daughters just how big this school was compared to Browndown and the exclusivity it offered. Now they were going to be in a school of well over a thousand children and where the sixth form formed a tiny proportion of the whole. At Winterspring, taking A levels was the exception not the norm, and older, high-achieving role models were as rare as rocking horse goolies. Most kids left at sixteen to take their chances in the job market so even if Ella and Katie stayed on to do A levels they were hardly likely to become clones of the poised and self-confident sixth-formers at Browndown. Maybe she and Mike could guide them towards the right path. Maybe... ‘Come on,’ she said with forced cheerfulness. ‘We don’t want to be late, now, do we?’

In the mirror she saw the twins exchange a look. Susie sensed that this morning might be tricky.

They made their way out of the car park, following the signs to the main entrance, Susie walking briskly, the twins straggling behind her, shoulders hunched, feet scuffing, their body language oozing negativity.

‘For heaven’s sake,’ said Susie, her exasperation boiling over as they reached the main path to the front door, ‘just try and make an effort to look pleasant.’

‘Why?’ said Ella. ‘We don’t want to be here so why should we pretend we do?’

Susie stopped dead in her tracks. ‘Now listen to me, you two. You’ve had every chance so far in your lives, you’ve had opportunities and privileges that kids at this school would give their back teeth for. And now things have hit the buffers. Daddy and I didn’t plan it that way and we certainly wish things might have turned out differently. But they haven’t so that’s that. But when it comes to the bigger picture you’re still incredibly lucky compared to half the kids on this planet. I am sorry you can’t stay at Browndown and I’m sorry you don’t think Winterspring is good enough for you but there is no choice. The law says you must be educated and that’s an end to it.’ She glared at them. ‘Understand?’ she snapped.

‘Yeah, we understand,’ said Katie. But she still sounded sulky.

‘Good. Now walk tall and try and be pleasant.’ Susie led the way through the front door and then to the reception desk in the big foyer. Just as they reached it earsplitting bells rang out through the school and a few seconds later kids poured down the stairs and along the corridors like a mass migration of wild beasts. The noise of shoes clattering and kids talking or shouting was deafening. As the pupils surged past them the three visitors pressed themselves against the reception desk. Susie was reminded of the line she’d read in
The
Good Schools Guide
which had been her bible when she’d been choosing a boarding school for the twins:
You can tell the quality of a school by whether the teachers press themselves against the walls when the children go by or whether it is the reverse.
That said it all really.

‘Can I help you?’

Susie spun round and smiled at the receptionist, hoping she didn’t look quite as shocked at what she’d witnessed as she felt. ‘Yes, thank you. Here are Ella and Katie Collins to meet Mr Rogers.’

The receptionist tapped at a computer keyboard and then looked up again. ‘Yes, that’s fine. He’ll be in the staffroom in the Welwyn Block.’ She picked up a map of the school and drew a couple of circles on it. ‘We’re here and this is the Welwyn Block. It’s not difficult to find.’ She handed over the map.

Susie studied it and got her bearings. ‘Come along, girls,’ she said and led the way back out of the building. They’d arrived at the start of breaktime, it seemed, as outside the reception area the place swirled with kids; girls walking arm in arm, lads kicking footballs around, some pupils swigging from pop bottles or scoffing crisps, others just hanging out, chatting or sharing images on phones. The noise in this courtyard area was mad – shrieks and screams and yells and cries. No one seemed to be speaking at a normal volume and the walls on three sides just made every sound reverberate and echo. It was completely unlike the atmosphere at Browndown and quite intimidating. No one took any notice of the newcomers as they made their way to their destination. Ella and Katie stared in boggle-eyed amazement at the crowds, the noise, the boys, keeping close behind their mother as they made their way along various paths between modern concrete and glass blocks.

‘Here we are,’ said Susie as she found the right building. She held the door open to allow her daughters to precede her. Ahead was a door marked ‘Staff’ and a bell on the wall with a sign telling them to ring for assistance. Susie pressed it firmly. The door opened and a young woman, who Susie thought looked barely old enough to be out of the sixth form, looked out.

‘Yes?’

‘The Collins family to see Mr Rogers.’

‘OK.’

The door slammed shut. Hardly gracious. Prospective pupils and parents at Browndown weren’t treated like this. But then prospective parents at Winterspring wouldn’t be handing over upwards of twenty-five thousand pounds a year. They hung around in the corridor getting a few curious glances from pupils drifting in and out of the building. Finally Mr Rogers appeared.

‘Hello, hello,’ he said. He smelt of instant coffee and stale cigarette smoke and had biscuit crumbs on his sports jacket. He held out his hand to Susie. ‘Pleased to meet you, Mrs Collins. And this must be Ellen and Kath.’

‘Ella and Katie,’ corrected Susie.

‘Yes, yes.’ He didn’t sound as if he cared what they were called. ‘And they’ll be joining us in September?’

Susie thought she heard Ella whisper ‘in your dreams,’ but decided to ignore it. ‘Yes, she said.

‘Jolly good. Now, we can’t put them in the same tutor group – it isn’t school policy.’

‘No!’ shouted Ella.

Mr Rogers looked at her in surprise. ‘I’m sorry, young lady, but we won’t make exceptions. We always split up twins – we find they integrate much better when they can’t rely on each other.’

The twins looked at each other in horror and then at their mother.

‘Can’t you make an exception, this once? It isn’t as if they are joining the school with everyone else at eleven,’ said Susie.

‘Absolutely not,’ said Mr Rogers. ‘They’ll be fine after a couple of days, trust me.’

The girls’ expressions seemed to indicate they didn’t agree.

‘Now then, let’s go to my office and have a chat,’ said Rogers.

The three Collinses trooped after him, down the stark, soulless corridors, so unlike the wood-floored and panelled ones of Browndown, to an even starker and more soulless office.

Mr Rogers settled himself behind his desk and indicated the two chairs in front of it for his visitors. There was a third chair by the wall which Katie pulled over to sit by her sibling and her mother.

Mr Rogers opened a file on his desk. ‘I see you’ve been studying Latin,’ he said. ‘I’m afraid we can’t offer that here and we do combined science not chemistry, biology and physics as separate subjects. But other than that we can pretty much offer everything else you’ve studied up till now.’

‘Lacrosse?’ said Ella.

‘Err, no. But hockey.’

‘Fencing?’ said Katie. ‘Riding?’

Mr Rogers closed the file shut. ‘There is plenty of sport on offer,’ he snapped.

Susie shot the girls a warning look and Ella and Katie slumped back in their seats, arms crossed, sulky expressions on their faces.

‘Of course, their marks seem to show your twins ought to be in the more academic sets. We’ll test them ourselves, naturally, to make sure we haven’t under-or overestimated their capabilities. We don’t want them struggling, now do we?’

‘Struggling? In a dump like this?’ Katie might have meant to have kept her voice to a whisper but Susie and Mr Rogers heard her comment too.

Susie sighed and Mr Rogers stared at Katie in disbelief.

‘You may not rate this school, young lady, but I do. Just because you’ve come from a private school doesn’t mean you’re better than anyone – just more privileged. And if that’s going to be your attitude you’re going to find that you could be making life much harder for yourself than necessary.’ Mr Rogers leaned across his desk. ‘Do you get my drift?’ he ended, his eyes narrow and his voice low.

Katie rolled her eyes but Susie could tell he’d rattled her daughter. Not a good start – making an enemy of her head of year before she’d even started. Things didn’t bode well for September. Mr Rogers mightn’t have been able to recall their names this morning but Susie reckoned he wouldn’t forget them again when they actually started at the school.

As soon as they got back to the patch Susie let the girls into the house and then crossed the road to Maddy’s quarter. The visit to the new school might have gone less well than she hoped but there was still something else she had to get sorted and now was as good a time as any.

She rang Maddy’s doorbell and after a few seconds the door opened.

‘Hiya, Susie. Lovely to see you. Come in.’

‘I won’t thanks, Maddy. I just wondered if you’ve thought any more about having the twins after school, in September.’

‘Ah.’

Susie didn’t think this sounded hopeful. ‘It’s only for a couple of hours. They won’t be any trouble.’

‘I know they won’t, but it’s a heck of a commitment. What if Seb and I want to go away for a long weekend or something?’

‘Then I’d sort something out. Mike or I would take leave – or I’d twist someone else’s arm.’

‘I don’t know, Susie. Nate is due to start playgroup in the autumn. I was kind of looking forward to having a bit more time with Rose.’ Maddy gave a hollow laugh. ‘That is, if bloody Camilla doesn’t twig I might have a bit more freedom and muscle in on it first.’ She saw the pleading look in Susie’s eyes. ‘Look, I’ll tell you what, I’ll take them if you absolutely can’t find anyone else and you are desperate, but only if you promise to keep looking. I really don’t think I’m the right person to do this. I’m sure there’s rules and regulations and all sorts of red tape... but, as I said, I can act as a safety net in the short term. You ought to talk to Caro, when she gets here – she knows all that stuff.’

Susie hugged Maddy. ‘Yes, of course, but in the meantime I know I’ve got you... just in case. Thank you. You’re a total life-saver. And the twins’ll love the idea of coming to yours, so they’ll be happy.’ She sighed. ‘Which will make a change.’

Maddy looked at her questioningly. ‘Have they got to that age?’

‘Early-onset stroppy teendom? Well, quite possibly, but I think their general vileness is more to do with going to a state school. We went to visit it today and, let’s just say, now they know about where they will be going in September hasn’t made things better. Worse if anything,’ she added gloomily.

‘Oh, Susie. They’ll come round when they’re actually there.’

‘You think? I wish I did. And I promise I’ll look out for someone else but just knowing I’ve got you on standby, just in case, is a huge weight off. What with Mike and me both in gainful employment, the kids’ school sorted and now this... suddenly things seem to be coming together. Maybe we’re over the worst.’

A couple of weeks later, after Mike had formally handed over B Company to Seb, had been dined out of the officers’ mess and given his ID card in, he and Susie packed up and left the patch for good. Their removal van had barely driven away when Caro and Will’s rolled in, followed by the Edwards family in their car.

Maddy, making lunch for the children while both Nate and Rose had their mid-morning naps, saw her best friend’s car draw up and dropped everything to race out of the house. She hadn’t seen them for almost two years and was instantly struck by how much the two boys had grown and how like their blond, blue-eyed parents they were. Not for the first time Maddy thought that eighty years previously they could have been a poster family for the Third Reich with their good looks, tanned skin and air of robust health.