Wellstead - 6. WSD Chapter 6

“Now, Mr Wellstead, you have only been in this school for two days and already you are in trouble,” the headmaster began. Before he could say anything more there was a knock on the door, which opened before the headmaster could respond, and in walked the school nurse.

“Headmaster, as soon as I heard this young man being called to your office I knew it would be about this morning’s incident,” the nurse began, not letting the headmaster say anything as she continued. “Mr Jemison had inflicted a wound on himself as a result of difficult family issues at home. His stress levels were increased with a public verbal assault from his mother outside the school gates before the start of school this morning.

Before homeroom Mr Wellstead noticed that Mr Jemison was not in a very fit state, and after homeroom he found Jemison in the bathroom with a self-inflicted wound to his arm. Wellstead remained calm, managed to get Jemison to unlock the cubical, and get him to sit down while applying pressure to the wound to stop the bleeding, which is exactly the right thing to do. Had he released his grip and taken pressure off the wound, when instructed to by a very arrogant and foolish teacher, then there would have been a lot more damage to the wound.

When I arrived, I told Wellstead to continue doing what he was doing as it was the correct thing to do, and the teacher stormed out of the bathroom immediately after. There is no reason whatsoever why this boy should be punished for doing the right thing to save the boy from bleeding more, which could have resulted in more serious issues. Any actions that the teacher took should be investigated more because of his behaviour towards the two boys,” the nurse said.

There was silence in the office for some time, as the headmaster was not expecting such a verbal dressing down by the school nurse. The information she divulged was, it seemed, a lot different to what the teacher had given, but was a lot more believable.

“Wellstead, you may go to your next class. There will be no more action taken regarding this matter,” the headmaster said to me. I nodded my head and turned to leave, giving the nurse a quick smile as I passed her.

My next class was Biology, and as I entered the classroom just a minute after the second bell, I groaned as I saw who the teacher was. It was the very same teacher who tried to get me to leave Jemison, and who also had me sent to the headmaster’s office.

“Wellstead, why are you late? You will be on detention for being late in class. See me after for details,” the teacher said. I was not happy at all, and instead of heading to a vacant chair in the class room, I elected to do something unexpected. “Excuse me, Sir, I am leaving the class,” I said as I turned and left the room, with the teacher bellowing at me to return to the class room right that minute or else.

Returning to the administration office, I asked to see the headmaster again. I was lead into the office right away. The nurse was no longer there. I sat down in the same chair I had vacated less than ten minutes ago.

“Sir, as you requested I went to my next class, entering just a minute after the second bell. The problem is that this class is taught by the same teacher I had a run-in with in the bathroom over Jemison’s wound. As soon as I entered he demanded in a very loud voice, to know why I was late for class. He didn’t even wait for an explanation but informed me that I was now on detention for being late and to see him after class for details.

My exact words next were: ‘Excuse me, sir, I am leaving the class’ and I turned and left the room. In the hall I could hear him demanding for me to return to class or else, and I came directly here to report this to you, Sir,” I said to the headmaster.

“I can see it is not you that is the issue today, and I apologise for the way you have been treated today. I congratulate you on the way you managed to stay calm and not talk back to the teacher, and come directly here to let me know. Now follow me and we will resolve this issue straight away,” the headmaster said as he stood up and made his way to the door.

Five minutes later I entered the classroom that I had exited a short time earlier. The teacher stopped what he was saying when he saw me enter. What I didn’t expect was for the headmaster to not follow me in. Instead he stayed just out of sight in the hallway, to see what the teacher would do.

“So, Wellstead, you have come back to attend my class. For walking out as you did and for being late in class, you will remain after school to do a 1000-word assignment. Now find a place and sit down.” I didn’t say anything. I just nodded and made my way to a vacant chair in the centre of the class.

The teacher was unaware that the door was still slightly open, kept open by a foot that belonged to the headmaster. “Now before we were rudely interrupted by an arrogant and insolent student…,” the teacher began but his words were cut off by the headmaster who opened the door and stepped in.

“No, he is not that at all. With immediate effect you are no longer a teacher in this school. You have twenty minutes to gather your belongings and get off the school grounds. I will not have a rude and arrogant teacher like yourself treating students in this way. Now get out,” the headmaster said loudly.

The teacher dropped the book he was holding and it landed heavily on the floor. His mouth was wide open in surprise at the sudden arrival of the headmaster, and after a few seconds he stormed out of the classroom, with his shoulder deliberately hitting the headmaster hard as he passed by him, knocking the headmaster off balance. The headmaster managed to remain upright, and a moment later he followed the teacher outside, closing the door behind him, but we could still hear him clearly.

“Don’t bother getting your belongings. They will be sent to you. Expect a visit from the police regarding assault of a school official, and verbal abuse of students,” the headmaster said as he opened his phone to call the school security, who happened to just appear at the right time. The headmaster instructed them to escort the former teacher off the school property, and to make sure he stayed off, and if he came back to arrest him for trespassing.

A few moments later the headmaster returned to the classroom and taught our lesson for the remainder of the period. Before returning to his office he slipped a note onto my desk. It said: ‘You are to ignore any punishments handed out by the former biology teacher. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that drama.’ I smiled at the headmaster who just nodded as he walked out of the class. We gathered our books and headed for our third class for the day.

By the time lunch period arrived the gossip was all over the school about what had happened in the bathroom and the biology class, and everyone was saying I was very brave to stand up to the mongrel teacher like I did. I just smiled and continued to eat my lunch, with my two friends assisting to get everyone to leave me to eat in peace. When I arrived home, Gran informed me that I had a telephone message. The note was handed to me, and I made my way to my room, before I opened it to see what it said.

‘Grant, with everything that I did to you, I was surprised that you helped me the way you did. I am very grateful. Can you please come and see me in hospital? I wish to apologise to you in person, and thank you for what you did for me.

Hopefully, your friend, Rory aka Gremlin.’

I was a bit surprised at receiving a message from Jemison, and even more surprised that he was sorry for the way he treated me, plus the way he said hopefully my friend, made me smile a little more.

I went back into the kitchen and asked Gran if she could take me into town, so I could visit a school friend in hospital. Gran informed me that she had some shopping she needed to do so if we left right away we could be back in time to prepare dinner together. When I arrived at the hospital and asked if I could visit Rory Jemison, I was given the floor level, ward name and room number. As I entered the lift to go up, I started to feel a little queasy in the stomach, and I had no idea why.

I stuck my head around the corner to peer into the room. The nurse saw me and smiled. “Rory, it looks like you have a shy visitor, so I will go and let you chat to him,” she said as she walked out of the room. There were three beds in the room but two of them were unoccupied.

“Hi,” I said to him nervously as I slowly walked towards his bed which was closest to the window. “How are you feeling?” I added when Rory’s face lit up with a big smile at seeing me.

“Hey, Grant. Thanks for coming. I was hoping you would come today as I think I’m going back home tomorrow,” Rory said with a glum look on his face. I could imagine what he would have to deal with when he got home and faced his mother.

I nodded my head and sat in a chair not far away from the bed. Rory cleared his throat and then he patted the bed, indicating he wanted me to sit closer to him, so I stood up and took the few steps closer to his bed. I sat on the side of the bed just below his knees. Rory looked a bit disappointed and I was guessing that he wanted me to sit closer, but I was feeling a little uncomfortable as it was.

“Look, Grant, I am really sorry for the way I behaved towards you this week, with you being brand new to this country and to this school. It is not what you wanted, and I know that now. I behaved like that because I didn’t know what to do every time I saw you, and it was hard because I had my friends with me. I don’t want them to know something about me, which is why I was behaving out of character towards you.

When you helped me in the bathroom this morning, I was shocked and surprised that you would go out of your way to help me after what I had done. I was scared, depressed and confused after what I went through with my mother this morning in the car park in front of everyone. Mum and Dad are having huge verbal fights nearly every night now and it is getting too much for me to handle. I guess that’s why I did what I did this morning,” Rory explained.

I was really feeling very sorry for the guy, especially when I saw the way his mum had shouted at him that morning. After some thought, I realised that he was being very cryptic with some parts of what he was saying.

“Look mate, I will forgive you for what you have done to me, as I see now that you are going through some hard times at home with the family, but you got to explain to me two things about what you said before,” I said to Rory still wondering what he had meant by some of it.

“I was hoping that you wouldn’t pick up on that, but come here and I will whisper it to you, as I don’t want anyone else to know,” Rory said nervously.

I shuffled closer towards him and leaned in to listen. I was caught totally by surprise when Rory wrapped his arms around my waist and gave me a kiss on my lips. I didn’t pull away immediately because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings and also because it was enjoyable.

When he leaned back I saw he was blushing. He had his head down and in a whisper, he apologised for kissing me like that. Suddenly it all came to me why this was all happening. Rory was behaving this way because he had a crush on me. I smiled and placed my hand on his chin and lifted his head.

I leaned in and returned the kiss, this time a lot longer than the first time. When I leaned back I saw the nurse watching. She smiled at me before disappearing out of sight.

“I think we had better have a chat some time very soon about all of this, but for now you get better and I will see you in school, and no more silly business with razor blades, ok?” I said to Rory seriously as I stood up. He blushed and nodded.

“Thanks for coming, Grant, and thank you for caring,” Rory said as I made my way to the door and waved goodbye. For the next few weeks things started happening quickly. Rory and I began to secretly date as boyfriends. Everything was going great till a week later when I met Rory at the front gate of the school one morning. I saw that he had been crying.

When I looked closer, I could see that his face was slightly swollen, as if he has been punched or slapped. When I tried to get him to talk he just stayed silent. No matter how much I tried to show to him that I loved and cared for him he remained unresponsive.

When I was in my language class just before lunch, Mr Jemison announced that this would be his last day at the school as he was leaving the following day for personal reasons. When I heard this I was shocked, afraid and angry all at once. I stormed out of the class room to go and find Rory, even though there was still ten minutes of class left. It took me that time to find where Rory’s class was, and I arrived just as the bell sounded.

When Rory saw me standing in the hallway waiting for him, he put his head down and made his way outside. I followed close behind, thinking what I was going to say to Rory about what I just discovered. When we were alone seated under a big tree, with tears in his eyes he turned to me.

“Grant, I am sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. It’s just… it hurts so much. I love you so much but I have to go with my dad. We are moving to another city. Mum went mental at me when I arrived home from the hospital, and last night it got really bad.

Dad tried to calm her down, but she just kept slapping and hitting him, then she turned on me and hit me really hard on the cheek. I fell and hit the side of my head on a table, and spent most of the night in hospital having scans and X-Rays. Mum is in lockup, and dad refused to help her, telling her that she needs help, and until she gets it and gets better, we are moving”.

Rory suddenly went silent and his face when white. He was staring towards the street where a car was racing very fast down the street. We stood up and started to back away towards the school admin building. Suddenly the car crashed through the boundary fence and was heading straight for us. Grabbing Rory’s hand I pulled him behind me as we ran towards the building.

At the same time I called the school on my phone. When the receptionist answered I yelled into the phone, “This is Grant Wellstead. School is under threat. A car just crashed through the fence and is heading straight at us. We are out the front.”

Moments later the school alarm when off, just as we reached the top of the steps of the building. The car was now less than fifty metres away. We opened the door and raced in just as the security shutters were closing down. We continued to race down the hallway as the car hit the now closed security shutters, causing a huge bang as it hit the shutters and bounced back.

Rory and I collapsed on the floor, exhausted from the running and the shock of being chased by a car. The school nurse suddenly appeared and started helping us up and guiding us towards the infirmary, while the senior staff and the school security were dealing with the car. The driver, we learnt later, had jumped out the vehicle just before it careered up the stairs and crashed into the security shutters.

Not long after arriving in the infirmary, Rory’s father appeared. He looked like he was in shock too, as he talked to the school nurse to check that both of us were ok. The three of us remained there with the nurse, until the headmaster arrived. He asked to speak to Mr Jemison alone, and they left the room for a short chat before Mr Jemison returned to announce that it was his wife who had done this.

We were told that she was granted bail with conditions to stay away from the house and the school. She had stolen a car and come to the school to try and run over Rory. We were told she had been screaming, “If I can’t have my son, then no one can” as she jumped out of the car and ran off.

We were told that a number of students and a teacher gave statements to police stating that they heard her say that and identified her as the driver of the car. Mr Jemison said that his wife had been caught and was being sent to a psychiatric centre to be assessed, before going before a magistrate again.

Rory spent two days staying at our place. Both of us were given the two days off school, because of the trauma that we went through. After that Rory and his dad left town and my life forever. When I tried to call his mobile, it was disconnected and when I sent email, it just bounced back. Even his Skype account had been closed down.

For the next few weeks I was upset that I was not able to speak to or write to Rory. It was like he had disappeared completely. I spent most of that time locked in my bedroom, which Gran and Gramps didn’t like at all. I didn’t want to talk about what had happened. I just came to the dining room to eat, clean the kitchen and put the rubbish out, before returning to my room.

Eventually I decided that relationships were too hard, and that I would wait till I was a lot older before I would ever consider having another one, and that friendships would be limited too. That is the way I continued through the remaining years of high school and the years of university.

For six years I had been living in Scotland and now the time had come to return home, as Gramps had passed away four years after returning to Scotland, where he and Gran had been able to relax and enjoy their retirement together.

I had attended a nearby grammar school. Gran was placed in a retirement home soon after Gramps passed, so she was with people of her generation, and I visited her every day up until her recent passing when she was laid to rest beside her husband at the local cemetery.

I had graduated from high school with distinctions in business studies, mathematics, economics and languages, having managed to learn Gaelic, plus two foreign languages, those being Italian and Spanish. For the past year I had been attending university, studying Business Law, living in a small apartment near the university and spending weekends in the cottage that I bought for my grandparents to retire in.

The retirement home was not that far from the apartment, so it was easy to walk there to visit Gran each day. Now I was packing and preparing to head home to Australia.