‘Come in,’ said the principal with palpable relief. Danni’s anger was taking over the room. ‘Ms Appleby, please take a seat,’ he said in a neutral tone, fingers steeped under his chin yet again. It must be his power move, Danni thought. Wouldn’t help him here though.
‘Ms Appleby, I’d like you to meet Danni Brooks, Mia Brooks’ mother. I believe she is one of your students?’
‘Yes, she is.’
Danni was not surprised by her breathy Marilyn Monroe voice. She was dressed in a dove grey pencil skirt, a tight white singlet, low-cut, and red lipstick. Danni wondered how appropriate her outfit was for a teacher but didn’t say anything. She was here to fight for Mia and her right to walk around school and not be scared by some creep with a fixation on her.
‘And Oliver Marks? Is he a student of yours too?’ Principal Peterson asked.
Ms Appleby dropped her golden head, eyes lowered, then looked back up at him demurely. ‘I know what this is about, and I have to say that in my professional opinion, this has been blown way out of proportion.’ She smiled gently at Danni, as if Danni was a parent who’d be taken in by her excuses. Or her looks. Obviously she’d never come up against a mama bear like Danni before.
‘And what exactly is your understanding of this situation?’ Danni asked calmly. She waited for the guidance counsellor to speak.
Ms Appleby turned to face the principal. ‘It’s not what you think,’ she began, leaning her hands on the desk, giving him an eyeful of her ample cleavage.
‘Hey!’ said Danni, folding her arms. ‘How about you talk to me?’
‘Oliver Marks is not the problem here.’
Danni was struck speechless for a moment before exploding, ‘Are you trying to blame the victim of stalking and harassment here, Ms Appleby? Because that would be great as a headline on the news: local high school protects bully.’
‘Now, now, Mrs Brooks, I don’t think we need to go that far. I’m sure Ms Appleby didn’t mean to imply that Mia had any part in this behaviour or encouraged it in any way. Did you, Ms Appleby?’
There was a pregnant pause and Danni swore she saw the principal’s face fall.
‘I want answers. Now,’ Danni said, staring down at the woman who sat there, hands now folded neatly in her lap.
‘All right, if you insist. Oliver Marks recently moved here, a couple of months ago, with his parents. He confided in me that his father is an alcoholic and there’s abuse in his house. Mia showed him around the school when he first arrived. She was nice to him. Unfortunately, due to his lack of stable relationships, he… fixated on Mia and has been trying to have some sort of relationship with her ever since. She has rebuffed his advances.’ The way she said it implied that Mia was a cold-hearted bitch for not accepting him into her life. There would be none of that.
‘So, you’re telling me that because he’s had a shitty childhood, that he is allowed to take photos of my daughter without her permission, and follow her inside and outside school and frighten her to the point of not wanting to come to school? Did you know he followed her, caught her bus home and now knows where she lives? He’s stalking her and you seem to think it’s a harmless crush that hasn’t been returned. Why is that?’
Ms Appleby stared at her for a moment. ‘Well, if Mia would simply give him a chance.’
‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ Danni yelled, drawing the attention of the assistant on the other side of the glass. She glared at the principal. ‘You endorse this kind of behaviour, from your students and your staff? Have Mia give him a chance? Are you fucking kidding me?’ she repeated. Danni’s blood was rushing around her body like a tsunami. Her face was flushed with rage and she didn’t know how much longer she could share the room with the snotty Ms Appleby and her fucked up ideas. Principal Peterson now looked very uncomfortable.
‘Now, now Mrs Brooks. Why don’t I speak with Ms Appleby by myself, we’ll work out what’s going on and I’ll call you?’
‘He really does want to be friends. He told me so and I believe him,’ the guidance counsellor said, making the situation that much worse.
Danni looked at her in disgust then glared at the principal. ‘Fix this. Now.’ Danni stalked out of the office, slamming the door behind her so hard that she was sure she’d put a crack in the glass. If he didn’t call her with news that Oliver Marks had been punished in some way and her daughter protected, she would be royally pissed off.
Danni slammed the car door, her anger still not abated. She had more rage than she knew what to do with. She drove home, seemingly on wings, because she made it back to the farm in record time. Actually, she didn’t really remember the drive home, so deep was her concentration on the problem. Her ability to lose time worried her sometimes, but she couldn’t be self-absorbed right now, she had Mia to think about.
She needed to tell Joe what had been happening at the school. She unlocked the front door, putting her keys on the small table by the front door, handbag on the floor in front of the table.
The house was silent, no kids, no husband. She headed towards the back door. She saw Joe was on the phone, shoulders hunched while he spoke, his free hand was wildly gesticulating.
‘Joe?’
He whirled around, an indecipherable look on his face. It took her a second to place it. Guilt. Like he had been caught doing something that he shouldn’t. But what?
‘You almost done? I’ve just got back from…’ she said quickly, trying not to dwell on it. One problem at a time.
She was interrupted by Joe sliding an arm around her waist loosely, something he hadn’t done in a very long time. It made Danni feel even more intensely that he was hiding something from her.
‘What was that call about?’ she asked, after she had decided that she wasn’t going to ask. Yet the words came tumbling out of their own accord. She licked her slightly cracked lips and pulled her shirt around her, ruffling it up at her stomach even though it was still taut due to the work she did on the farm. Joe had changed over the years, too. His stomach rounder than it had ever been, yet she still found him attractive. She wasn’t sure he could say the same.
‘Nothing. Just a work deal that isn’t going to go through. I guess I was just pissed off and letting them have it. Should have kept my cool, I think, alienating clients isn’t a good idea.’ Joe was the foreman where he worked, he ran the job site and she knew that this one had been particularly hard with the owner arriving almost every day to check on the progress and offer suggestions that were neither needed nor wanted.
Danni wasn’t convinced, but she had other things to discuss and only a limited amount of time before the kids arrived home.
‘We have to talk about Mia.’
‘About the thing that you told me yesterday? The boy?’
She frowned. Had he cast it so easily from his mind already? ‘Oliver Marks. Yes. I went into the school this morning, saw the principal.’
‘God, Danni. How bad did it get?’ he sighed. He was used to her passionate nature. Passionate or fiery, depending on the day, but she’d do anything for her kids.
Danni huffed out a breath. ‘Are you saying that I have made things worse?’ He looked away, but she grabbed his arm. ‘Is that what you’re saying?’
‘No, of course not, I’m just saying that sometimes you can get overzealous about… important things.’
‘The guidance counsellor said our daughter was asking for it and that she should just be friends with him, to give him a chance. Have a relationship with him.’
‘What?’
‘Still think I’m overreacting?’
‘A teacher said that? What were they thinking?’ Joe asked in disbelief. ‘How can they say that? Do they protect bullies, too?’
‘That’s what I asked. Seemed like the guidance counsellor was on his side. I mean, who says that? Be friends with your stalker? Yeah, that’ll fix the problem right up. Poor Mia, going through this all alone. No wonder she’s been changing.’ Joe’s glance slid from her eyes to a point over
her shoulder. He looked guilty again. What the hell was his problem?
This was the most in-depth conversation they’d had in months that didn’t revolve around inane everyday things such as who used the last of the milk and put the empty bottle back in the fridge. Some days she felt like she was losing him, like a house losing its foundation, brick by broken brick.
‘We’ll talk to Mia tonight Danni, okay?’ he said, dismissing her. He dropped an unexpected kiss on her forehead before heading back outside to resume his conversation. Danni listened at the back door to the much more subdued conversation. He was so quiet that she couldn’t catch a word of what he was saying and he had moved further away. Probably for the best for now, she had too much on her mind to think about him and their marriage. Mia had to come first. The children always came first.
15
Since she had decided to embrace what they thought of her, she decided if she was going to do it, then by God, she was going to do it well.
The party was in full swing by the time she arrived, the bass crashing through the ribs in her chest, making her heart thump in time to the beat. She tugged on her low-cut top, showing much more cleavage than was necessary. It was held together by two pieces of black cord that crisscrossed her breasts tightly. Her jeans, so tight they looked sprayed on, worn down low on her hips, her pierced belly on show. She swung her hips seductively as she walked into the party. Everyone stared at her. The crowd parted for her. It always did. She saw people talking about her, not even bothering to hide behind their hands, no doubt wondering how she had the guts to show her face again after the last party. She did a loop of the room, grabbing a shot of vodka as she went, sipping slowly. She would get down to serious drinking after she’d found her mark. She stood in the corner, admiring and jealous glances being cast in her direction. She was used to it now, and it didn’t bother her any more what people thought of her.
Taking a small sip of her drink, she saw a boy who was staring at her intently. He was in the same year as her but, for obvious reasons, they didn’t travel in the same circles. There was lust written across his face, desire in his eyes. Eyes that slid from her glossy hair, down to her breasts, and over the swell of her hips and back up again to meet her eyes. She dropped him a wink and his eyes slid to the girl sitting beside him. His girlfriend, no doubt. Hmm, maybe he wouldn’t be the one tonight.
She walked to her left out of the side door and into the yard, throwing him a backward glance. It was just as crowded outside as inside. They were talking about her out there too. She could feel their stares. It seemed that all the guys at the party were paired up. She slept with taken boys, whoever took her fancy. That would teach the girls to call her a whore. She was a product of their making. They were reaping what they sowed.
He followed her outside, just like she knew he would. They always did. They were so predictable, so easy to trap and manipulate, these boys. She walked to the edge of the garden, just out of reach of the blazing back garden lights. Some saw her go over there, shaking their heads, probably wondering if it was their boyfriend she was going to steal for half an hour of fucking. She waited and he came.
He walked in under the bush that overhung the archway. As far as spots went, it was secluded enough for what she was going to do.
‘What’s your name, handsome?’ she asked, knowing full well what it was. Might as well give him the full experience.
His voice cracked a little as he said his name. ‘Matt,’ he croaked out.
‘So… Matt,’ she said running her fingers down his lightly stubbled cheek, ‘Are you up for it? Do you want me?’ She leaned forward and nibbled his ear, whispering, drawing out her words.
‘Yeah,’ was all he could manage to get out and even that was said in a broken voice. He cleared his throat.
‘Okay then.’ She kissed him deeply on the lips, her small teeth catching his bottom lip, pulling gently. He moaned into her mouth, his breathing shallow. He grabbed her hips and pushed her against the tree, fumbling with his pants.
‘Don’t tell anyone about this,’ he whispered, like she was some dirty little secret, but he had yet to realise that people had seen him go into the secret garden with her. It was no secret now. The girl he was with would eventually come looking for him and find out that he was getting his knob polished by her. She’d be called a whore and he’d get away with being a stud for fucking her. Such was life.
She helped him unzip his pants, pulling down his boxers as she went. He stood before her, half-naked. He grabbed her hair and pushed her face towards his cock. On her knees, she began to suck, he groaned loudly, leaning forward, putting his hand on the tree, steadying himself as her head bobbed up and down, hand gripping the base of his cock, the other playing with his balls.
She could tell that he’d never had a blow job like this before. She couldn’t imagine his prissy girlfriend on her knees in the dirt, cock stuffed all the way into her mouth. She may have been on her knees, but she had all the power. His balls tightened in her hand and she knew he was close. She pulled back.
‘Where you going, sweetheart?’ he whispered hoarsely, cock still standing proudly at full mast. She turned around and stuck out her ass, pulling down her tight jeans and her G-string, giving him the best view.
‘Oh yeah!’ he whispered, moulding his body to hers, hands cupping her breasts, his fingers pulling at her nipples through her lace-up top. He undid the laces, her breasts spilling out into his hands. ‘Oh God,’ he whispered into her neck. ‘I shouldn’t,’ he said. But he did anyway. They always did.
She reached for his cock, guiding it to her tight centre, inserting the head of his cock into her wet pussy. He groaned as she backed up onto him. He moaned and seemed powerless to stop her. When he was balls deep in her, he started to thrust inside her. In and out. She had never felt so powerful. She could stop this at any time, but she didn’t. She was enjoying herself too much. She forgot about the audience outside, waiting. She moaned loudly and he clapped a hand across her mouth, cutting off her noises of pleasure. She met each one of his thrusts with her own, knowing he was getting close again. She could see the feet of the people outside, no doubt ready to vilify her and do what they always did, call her a whore.
She didn’t care, it felt good to have his hand in her hair, arching her back towards him. Suddenly, he pulled her hair tighter, pulled out, shuddered and came. She smiled. Her end goal was complete. His girlfriend had tried to shame her, now she had her revenge, and boy wasn’t it sweet?
He wiped his cock on her ass. Classy.
‘Don’t tell anyone about this, okay?’
‘No problem,’ she said, knowing that there was a crowd of people outside who would have heard everything. She pulled up her jeans, retied her top and went out first, to a quiet audience.
‘Whore,’ someone mumbled in the crowd. Who the fuck cared anyway? She owned it, their words could no longer hurt her, no matter what they said.
‘What’s going on?’ the girlfriend demanded, pushing through the crowd. She looked around.
‘Where’s Matt?’ she asked, glaring at her, already knowing the answer.
‘Zipping up his trousers, I suspect,’ she said, smiling. ‘He’s good, yeah?’ She smiled and walked through the crowd that parted for her again as she deliberately adjusted her top. She left the party; she’d done what she had set out to do. She had now humiliated them both.
16
‘Don’t look now, but your stalker is on the bus with us again today. Oh wait, he has his camera out. Taking candid shots of the object of his affection. Again. How romantic,’ teased Jane. She turned back to Mia. ‘What a loser.’
Mia turned to stare Oliver directly in the eyes. He didn’t look away, so she did. There was no way she could confront him again. She would just have to put up with the creepiness.
‘Why don’t you just tell your parents? They can deal with it.’
‘They know,’ she said, looking out the window.
‘They know? Your mum
must have pitched a fit,’ Jane said.
‘She did.’
‘Anyway, this is like the third time this week he’s followed you home. He loves you,’ she teased again. ‘Just let it go for today and come over later.’
‘Fine, but when they find my mutilated corpse dressed up in a wedding dress, I’m gonna say I told you so,’ Mia half joked.
‘You’ll be dead, stupid.’ Jane winked at her.
‘Then I’ll come back and haunt you. I’ll make sure you never have a love life!’
‘Okay, okay, I’ll stop giving you a hard time.’
‘Yeah, yeah. This is me,’ Mia said, walked down the centre aisle, trying to ignore the click and whir she heard coming from the back of the bus. She was looking forward to going home where she could forget about Oliver Marks and just be herself, not be on guard all the time. His constant watchful gaze freaked her out. Some said that she should ‘be flattered he is taking an interest in you’, but she hated it. Hated him. He didn’t approach her that much these days, just followed her and took pictures from afar and sometimes left letters or photos in her locker. Jane said he probably used the photos for his spank bank. Mia shuddered at the thought.
She got off the bus, saying goodbye to Jane who had one more stop to go, and turned to stare directly at Oliver. She wanted him to know she wasn’t afraid of him. As she stared, he raised his camera to his eye, and took a series of photos. She gave him the finger, hoping he’d catch that, then she jumped off the bottom step and began walking down their long dirt driveway towards her sanctuary.
Why did this have to happen to her? What had she done to encourage this little freak?
Mia used her key to get in the front door. Her mum was kind of weird about security and doors being locked. They had bars on the ground floor windows, for goodness sake. You’d think they lived in a bad neighbourhood where people would rob you for your shoes, not the edge of a sleepy town. Sighing, she put her key back into her bag and began to unpack the myriad of shit that had accumulated in there, numerous and heavy textbooks, a squashed sandwich, pens without their lids and a random piece of paper that she didn’t remember putting in there. She put down her bag with a thump and turned the paper over.
The Silent Daughter Page 9
