Ninja School Mum

by Lizzie Chantree

  Ninja School Mum

  Lizzie Chantree

  Copyright © 2018 by Lizzie Chantree

  Cover Image: Adobe Stock © fd244

  Design: soqoqo

  Editor: Alice Cullerne-Bown

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission of the author or Crooked Cat Books except for brief quotations used for promotion or in reviews. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are used fictitiously.

  First Green Line Edition, Crooked Cat Books. 2018

  Discover us online:

  www.crookedcatbooks.com

  Join us on facebook:

  www.facebook.com/crookedcat

  Tweet a photo of yourself holding

  this book to @crookedcatbooks

  and something nice will happen.

  With love to my witty, talented,

  supportive and vivacious

  school mum friends:

  Mitch, Jackie, Liz, Holly,

  Helen, Emma and Lou.

  You can bring sunshine

  from the rain.

  Acknowledgements

  Thank you to Crooked Cat Books, for being supportive and having confidence in me. Thanks to Alice Cullerne-Brown for being a completely brilliant editor and for all of your hard work. You are not only a talented editor, but also one of the kindest people I’ve met.

  A big hug is sent to my amazing family and friends, especially, Martin, Mia and Ella. You’ve kept me writing and smiling and believed in me, which means everything.

  Finally, a really big thank you to my readers. You inspire me every day and without you I wouldn’t be on this incredible journey. You are stars that shine brightly and I appreciate all that you do.

  About the Author

  Award-winning inventor and author, Lizzie Chantree, started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now runs networking hours on social media, where creative businesses, writers, photographers and designers can offer advice and support to each other. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex. Visit her website at www.lizziechantree.com or follow her on Twitter www.twitter.com/Lizzie_Chantree

  Ninja School Mum

  Chapter One

  Skye tapped her feet impatiently as she looked at the ominous grey clouds hovering above the playground and tried to rein in the anger she could feel blazing in her chest. She had learned the skill of outwardly controlling her emotions and appearing like she hadn’t a care in the world long ago, but if her son came out of school crying because a more boisterous kid had poured water on his head, or scribbled all over his carefully written work again, then she would struggle not to pick the culprit up by his leg and throw him into the neatly manicured flowerbeds that surrounded the glossy green windowsills of the school building.

  She noticed the quiet red-haired woman who was sitting on a nearby bench, glancing longingly at the same group of school mums again. They were all huddled together like a rugby scrum, chatting busily about their day. Skye wondered why the redhead didn’t get up and join them if she wanted to be part of the group so badly, but she could tell from the woman’s body language that it was never going to happen. She obviously lacked the confidence or courage to break into such a tight-knit group of friends.

  A movement to Skye’s left caught her eye and she noticed the woman with the mop of curly hair and inquisitive eyes watching her again. She was frowning in concentration before realising that she had been spotted and seamlessly blended back into the throng of people waiting for their children to appear.

  The sound of the school bell jolted Skye out of her reverie and she joined the other parents and carers craning their necks to catch a glimpse of their children. Skye’s son had only recently joined this school, as they were new to the area, and it was taking Leo a while to settle in. A particularly annoying boy in his class had quickly realised that he was an easy target because of his quietly spoken ways and polite manner. Leo had only been at the school for a couple of weeks and most of the other children were a friendly bunch, but Skye’s patience with this particular child was rapidly diminishing.

  Suddenly the reception classroom doors flew open and a sea of children surged forth, all with rucksacks slung over their shoulders and water bottles grasped in their hands. Skye scanned the crowd and immediately spotted Leo, angrily brushing tears from his eyes as the annoying brat, Miles, followed closely behind, pulling her son’s backpack and attempting to push him over. As they drew near to where she was standing, thunder grumbled overhead and Skye pulled Leo to her side, angling the tip of the long umbrella she was holding towards the ground slightly. Seconds later, Miles’ foot connected with it and he started to fall. His hands flailed around and he let go of Leo’s bag as he fell forward.

  As if in slow motion, Skye reached out and caught Miles’ own backpack, which was securely strapped to his back. Just before his nose touched the ground, she quickly braced her legs, swung him away from the floor and turned to put him back on his feet. Supporting his weight, she crouched down in front of him and brushed his coat to make sure he hadn’t collected any dust from being near the floor. She made soothing noises at his near miss and he gave a shaky smile to his saviour. He was totally unhurt and it was all over so quickly that he didn’t seem sure what had happened. She bet he was thinking that the weedy Leo boy was lucky he had managed to escape this time though. He’d soon learn not to mess with her son.

  Looking directly into Miles’ eyes, Skye gave him her warmest smile. ‘Are you okay, Miles?’ she asked sweetly, making him start in surprise that she knew his name. Miles’ mouth hung open as his gaze roamed back and forth between Leo, who was by now standing quietly looking at his feet as if they were the most interesting feet in the world, and the lady with the piercing eyes who was staring him straight in the eye. Leo dared to peek up, then moved behind his mum’s waist as Miles’ mum rushed over and grabbed her son’s hand, while squawking at him for being clumsy and making her late, totally ignoring Skye and Leo. As she dragged him away, Miles looked over his shoulder at Skye with a frown of confusion, and she happily waved at him as he left.

  ‘Mum!’ hissed Leo frantically. ‘You shouldn’t do that here.’

  Skye bent to retrieve the school bag that had been pulled from her son’s back. She noted in disgust, that the bag was now torn. Standing up, Skye noticed that she had attracted the interest of the same woman who had been watching her earlier.

  ‘Who is that?’ she asked, inclining her head towards the woman who had just turned to greet a young girl with her hair in jaunty pigtails.

  Leo looked over his shoulder to see who his mum was talking about and shrugged. ‘Oh, that’s Allie and her aunt. Allie’s in my class. She told me that Miles tried to steal her backpack yesterday.’

  Thoughtfully, Skye watched the retreating backs of the woman and child as they walked through the school gates, the woman pushing a shiny new black pram. Something was troubling her about the woman, but Skye couldn’t quite decide what it was. Accepting defeat for the minute, and remembering that she didn’t have to view every other human being as a threat any more, Skye held out her hand for Leo to take and they followed the steady stream of people out of the school gates and along the main road towards home.

  Chapter Two

  The following day, Thea peered out of the changing room of the little boutique she’d found down a side road. It was away from the main shopping streets but near her favourite coffee shop, in the small town where she lived. What had she been thinking, trying on a size 14 dress? She�
��d ballooned when she was pregnant and her misery had been compounded when she found she had developed a severe addiction to marshmallows during her first trimester. Thea peered morosely at her reflection in the badly lit, incredibly small mirror, and wondered how the hell she was going to be able to get the dress off again.

  In desperation, she grabbed hold of the green curtain that was supposed to shield the interior of the cubicle from the outside world but, in reality, only marginally managed it if you put your bag on one corner of the floor and then used one hand to hold the other edge to the wall. The thought of letting anyone see her looking like a writhing mess in a too-tight party dress made her want to wail and sob in dismay.

  She had felt like crying literally from the moment she had discovered she was pregnant to the first glimpse she had of her beautiful daughter. If it hadn’t been for her sister telling her about the little estate cottages that had just come up for rent at the big manor house down the road from her, Thea might actually have gone completely mad. The prospect of being near her family again, after so many years apart, had gone a long way to healing a tiny part of her broken heart and offering a smidgen of comfort for the otherwise pretty solitary life she found herself living. She desperately tried again to unzip the back of the dress, but it seemed to have her in some sort of death grip. She stamped her foot in frustration and hot tears threatened to cascade down her rosy cheeks. A whimper from outside the cubicle made her gasp and she quickly took a furtive glance outside, from behind the edge of the curtain, keeping the bottom of it firmly wedged closed with her backside. Her gorgeous baby girl, saviour of her sanity, was still slumbering peacefully and was probably dreaming about her next feed. Almost falling backwards as the dress seemed to get tighter, Thea fought to take a proper breath in before she noticed the woman who had tripped up that horrendous boy, Miles, at the school. She was sucking her thumb and cursing, after stabbing herself with a particularly vicious, faux diamond cluster brooch she had been admiring, while the snotty-nosed assistant watched her over the rim of her tortoiseshell glasses.

  ‘Pssst…’ hissed Thea, almost hysterical at this point, thinking she might pass out from lack of oxygen as the dress was cutting off her circulation.

  Skye jumped in surprise and Thea sighed, relieved, as the woman noticed the shiny new pram she had seen at the school the day before. Thea had left it in front of one of the two changing rooms at the rear of the shop, but the lighting was so bad that the woman couldn’t really see who it was that was hissing at her.

  The cubicle was rocking slightly from side to side as Thea frantically tried to release herself from the monstrous garment. It felt like it was literally sucking the life out of her and she slipped to the floor in a heap of limbs, just as the curtain flew back.

  The woman seemed to assess the situation quickly, then stepped into the cubicle, which wasn’t easy as Thea was rolling around on the floor, and closed the curtain behind her. Thea looked up helplessly as Skye gently reached behind her and released the zip at the back of the offending dress.

  ‘Thank you!’ Thea panted, when she could breathe properly again. Skye offered her a hand and helped Thea to her feet, as she was bright red and sweating profusely.

  ‘I’m Skye,’ she said politely, introducing herself, when Thea would rather she disappeared and forgot this ever happened. Her face flamed in embarrassment and she grasped the front of the dress to her ample bosom before it slithered to the floor into a seemingly innocent looking pool of silk and evilness. She couldn’t quite pluck up the courage to meet Skye’s eye, but she knew the inquisitive woman would be taking in every detail of her abundant curves and sweaty countenance. Thea wished she could crawl into the pram with her slumbering child and hide until the woman did the decent thing and left her alone in her humiliation.

  Skye coughed gently and stepped out of the cubicle, pulling the curtain firmly closed behind her. Thea could have kissed her when she raised her arm and nonchalantly leant onto the side of the changing room to stop the nosey shop assistant, who was busily hurrying in their direction, from pushing her way in and discovering the poor woman inside.

  Thea dared to peek out of the curtains, but she held her breath. ‘Can I be of assistance?’ asked the shop assistant, who seemed to have a very short nose, but still managed to be looking down it at Skye. Skye gave her a most disarming smile and the woman faltered a little in confusion.

  ‘My friend is trying on a dress,’ said Skye conspiratorially, ‘which means I will need to look knockout too. Could you be a gem and grab me the red dress from the rail by the window?’ The assistant heard muffled noises from the cubicle as Thea tried to smother a giggle, and looked suspiciously at the booth where Thea had been trying on the dress for an age now. Thea had been to this boutique before though and heard the assistant being reprimanded. She must have decided that her manager would tear a strip off her if she had yet another argument with a customer, as she paused for a moment, then turned and grumpily stomped back in the direction of the door, where the party dresses were displayed. ‘I know there’s only one size 10 left in that particular style and colour, and I thought I saw you pick it up and admire it when you first stepped into the shop,’ she called over her shoulder to Skye, which made Thea gasp, as she was basically calling Skye a thief.

  As soon as the girl’s back was turned, Skye grabbed the red dress she had, indeed, picked up before Thea called her over. Thea realised that she had dumped it behind the dark blue velvet chair next to the changing rooms, as soon as she had seen poor Thea’s plight. Skye hastily brushed the dress down and hung it up on a garment rail with a line of rejected dresses that were ready to go back to the shop floor and gladly sank into the chair to catch her breath, just as Thea shamefacedly pulled back the curtain and hung the tight dress next to the red one.

  The shop assistant came rushing back, about to accuse Skye of stealing, when she spotted the offending dress hanging neatly on the rail. ‘This might be the right size,’ she said, picking it up and looking at the label sewn into the back, squinting her eyes suspiciously at Skye who was sitting innocently in the chair and cooing at the sleepy baby in the pram. She seemed sure something was wrong here, but couldn’t quite work out what it was.

  ‘Oh. I’ve just noticed what time it is!’ exclaimed Skye, jumping gracefully up and moving the pram in front of Thea. ‘My friend and I have to go and feed her baby before she wakes up and screams the place down. Isn’t that right?’ she asked a surprised and confused Thea as everyone turned their eyes to the peacefully slumbering child. Evidently the thought of the brat waking up and disturbing the peace with her squawking made the shop assistant turn puce in horror and she ushered them out to the front of the shop, holding the door wide open so that they could exit the building. ‘I already have a headache,’ she spluttered, ‘the last thing I need is more noise!’

  Skye and Thea reached the pavement outside, walked a few paces past the shop and then doubled over in laughter. ‘Did you see her face?’ gasped Thea. ‘She looked like she was sucking lemons when she looked at us.’ She held out her hand to Skye. ‘I’m Thea, by the way.’

  Skye held her ribs as if she was trying to stem her laughter and just managed to thrust a hand into Thea’s before she was taken over by uncontrollable giggles again.

  It felt so good to laugh. It had been such a long time since she had enjoyed herself so much, thought Thea. ‘Coffee?’ she asked, admiring how the other woman was so selflessly having fun. ‘At least one good thing has come out of my predicament in that blasted cubicle. Shall we find cake?’

  ‘You bet!’ laughed Skye.

  Chapter Three

  The town had many bustling side roads off the main shopping area, but Thea chose a pretty little coffee shop a few doors down that had delicately decorated cupcakes and huge slabs of coffee and walnut cake in the window, as these were her favourites. Skye helped Thea lift the pram over the slightly raised threshold of the shop and they stepped inside the bustling seating area.
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  ‘I love this place,’ whispered Thea reverently, as if she shouldn’t really be there. She lifted her face up and breathed in the heavenly smell of cupcakes and coffee. ‘Can you tell?’ she asked holding a handful of her waistline in exasperation at her own weakness for light and fluffy frosted icing.

  ‘You’ve just had a baby!’ exclaimed Skye, quickly finding them a table that the pram, containing the still slumbering baby, could fit next to. ‘Give yourself a break. The first months are exhausting and the least you can do is treat yourself to the odd slice of cake.’

  Thea smiled at Skye’s kindness, but knew she needed to curb her sugar craving and stop using it as a crutch for the misery she found herself in. She would go for brisk walks with her daughter and she would get fit!

  ‘Were you much smaller before you got pregnant, then?’ asked Skye candidly.

  ‘No!’ laughed Thea. ‘I’ve always been curvy, but I now use the fact I’ve had a baby as an excuse for my fat bum.’

  Skye giggled at her new friend’s self-deprecating humour. ‘People who get too thin can look years older,’ she said conversationally. Thea eyed Skye’s striking face and size 10 frame suspiciously and raised an eyebrow in question.

  Skye held her hands up in defeat, but before she went to the counter to order two huge slabs of coffee cake with enormous frothy coffees on the side, she lent forward and whispered in Thea’s ear, ‘If you really want to lose weight, then I’ll help you, but not until you’ve finished breastfeeding that gorgeous baby of yours.’

  Returning with the fragrant coffees and cakes on a little black tray, Thea’s eyes lit up, before she noticed Skye had spotted her reaction. She blushed to the roots of her hair.