Chapter 11 - Nightmares
It had been a month since the events of Cescas big secret were spilled out, Cesca and Jonah were there for each other more than ever, they truly trusted each other and couldn’t bear to go through anything like that ever again. It was hard for the pair of them let alone little Mia. It broke both their hearts to see little Mia so helpless, Cesca was now in contact more regularly with her family, especially her mum, they knew everything about everything, even the boring stuff, such a what they had eaten that day. Cesca felt so bad for leaking the secret out, but she couldn’t keep it inside much longer, it made her feel better knowing her mum was reaping the benefits of a safer and calmer life with her 3 girls. They were all up early ready to face the day, Mia was clearly finding it hard as she yawned whilst Jonah carefully dressed her in a pretty yet practical outfit, after all she was going to the Crèche today. She was now almost 3 months old and was really starting to develop her own personality, she had Jonah’s cheeky grin and Cescas beautiful eyes, and she was a picture. Jonah placed her in her bouncer whilst he finished getting ready; Cesca was for once ready before him. It was her first day back, she was anxious yet excited it was the first time she had left Mia with a complete stranger, but she reassured herself knowing that she was at least in the same building. Cesca was looking as glam as ever in a pencil skirt and rather flashy blouse complete with her legendary show stopping heels, she was rarely seen out of them, it felt weird wearing something so smart, she hadn’t warn anything like it in months. Cesca was now ready, she was even up to date with all the course work despite having a little terror way to watch and look after. She went towards the lounge where she unbuckled Mia and placed her in her buggy; leaving the house took a while these days so Cesca thought it be best to start early. Mia was nice and snug in her buggy but wasn’t yet happy, Cesca went over and collected Flopsy who instantly changed Mia’s content face in to a giggly laugh. “There you go sweetie”, she giggled back. She sat down checking that she had everything coursework, folders, bottles and nappies for the crèche. She couldn’t help but check and check again. Jonah was taking his time, so she decided to go and load up the car, “Jonah, Mia is in the buggy, I’m going to go load my car up”, “Okay, Ces”, he called back down, part way through brushing his teeth. Mia was content sitting in her buggy happily sucking Flopsy’s ear, this was becoming a rather cute habit of Mia’s. Cesca returned as Jonah came downstairs, “morning lovely” , she called out to him, they hadn’t had the chance to talk properly that morning with all the running around they had been doing, they were still early which meant they would both have the chance to drop Mia off at the crèche. Jonah grabbed his bag and opened the door for Cesca who was pushing a gurgling Mia out the door, she reached the car unlocking it with the car key, She got Mia out of her buggy and placed her in the car seat complete with Flopsy of course whilst Jonah collapsed the buggy placing it in the boot, they both got in simultaneously, “here’s to the start of term”, Cesca said before turning the ignition on and driving to work.
They reached the school Jonah gave his wife a loving kiss before they both got out, Jonah unloading the buggy whilst Cesca got Mia and Flopsy out the car seat, she placed her in the buggy and kissed her daughter on the head, “there you go”, she smiled. She took her bag from Jonah and began the slightly dreaded walk with Jonah up to the main entrance. “Welcome back Cesca, Mia is getting big now, aw I love babies at this age”, “yeah, she is starting to have her own little personality, its adorable”, Jonah helped Cesca lift the buggy up the front steps, “we’d better go Karen, I’ll catch up with you later”, they both headed off. It’s hard to believe this was all happening it was only 3 months ago that Cesca was having Mia and she was back at work and it felt right, she was returning a new person, a person with responsibilities, which wasn’t a bad thing. They headed down the corridor towards the crèche; it was an unfamiliar route, even for a teacher who worked her away around the building frequently. They knocked at the door, calm and patient young lady signalled for them to come in, Cesca and Jonah smiled at each other. “Welcome, you must be Cesca and Jonah”, “yes and this little madam is Mia”, she lifted her out of her buggy and gave her to the lady whose name was Beth, she seemed lovely, very keen on children by the looks of things as she handled Mia with no trouble, Jonah and Cesca were happy to see little Mia content and happy in her arms. “Looks like you’re going to be a busy girl Mia”, Jonah said looking around at all the little faces of different varying ages. “We best get off, lessons to go to people to teach”, Cesca finally said. The couple gave their daughter a kiss, before leaving hand in hand down the corridor. “She seemed lovely”, Cesca added, quite impressed with the whole thing. “Yeah, she did. Mia seemed to love her”, they were both happy that Mia was happy. They reached the main entrance again and since they were both headed for separate directions they thought it was best to say goodbye, “I’ll see you 3rd period” Cesca said before kissing her husband. “Actually Ces, I was wandering whether I could get on with some Spanish coursework in the library?” Cesca gave him a cheeky grin, she felt a bit put on the spot. “Jonah, come to my classroom to be registered and I will open up the option to the whole class”, “Thanks Ces, I love you” and with that they both left for their first lessons. Both turning back once they had walked half way, giving out a cheeky grin after realising they had turned around at exactly the same time.
Cesca had year 9 girls Spanish first period and felt that would break her in gently, they were a lovely group and she always referred to them as hard working and a pleasure to teach when talking about them to members of staff, especially Karen. Jonah on the other hand had Science with Mr. Mead. He met up with Vicki and Ronan who were waiting outside for their lesson to begin they still had five minutes to go which gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up with Jonah. “Jonah, how are you? Heard that Miss Montoya is back today”, Ronan asked his friend “Yeah she is, we dropped Mia off at the crèche this morning and she is back at work, plus it’s Mrs Kirby to you” he gave him a wink, Vicki gave a giggle, “anyway Jonah, I’m having a party tonight, ease in to the new term and all that, you want to come?, Ronan waited patiently for his friend to reply, Jonah wasn’t so sure. “Ronan, he has just had a baby, he’s not going to want to be living it large as you keep putting it”, Jonah burst out laughing, “I’ll have to speak to Cesca see what she thinks, I’d love to but it’s not fair on her if I go and have fun, putting Mia to sleep is the hardest part of the day, I’ll get back to you about it later”, Jonah was happy with his answer and so were his friends, they understood his position but didn’t want to not include him in the normal teen events they got up to just cause he was now a dad, they weren’t going to discriminate him like that. It was lesson three and finally break, Jonah headed for Cescas classroom, he wanted to see how she was coping and to drop the idea of the party by her. Cesca could see him through the window as she was ready to walk out towards the staffroom, “hello stranger”, she called out, “hey, how have the first three lessons been?” he asked his beloved wife, “they have been good, it’s been nice to get back in to teaching, though I don’t half miss Mia and her giggly moments and constantly having to pick up Flopsy because she’s dropped him”, “I know what you mean Ces” he said as he cuddled her tightly. “Ces, I was wandering, Ronan’s asked me to this party he’s got on tonight, I wondered what you thought about me going, I understand if you don’t want me to, I know that putting Mia to bed is really hard and stressful”, Cesca smiled “Jonah you go, we’ll be fine, you need to have some fun, but promise me you won’t be out all night and you won’t come back too drunk”, she stared into his eyes with sincerity, “Ces, you can count on me, I won’t let you down, I love you Ces” , he kissed her forehead and walked back down the corridor to meet his friends for break. Cesca wasn’t entirely made up about the idea of him being out but she did want him to spend more time with his friends and if that meant a party then that’s what he was going to do, Cesca couldn’t help but remember the last party, Jonah was completely wasted, and he almost ended up in hospital. She tried to let go a little to stop worrying herself but it was still at the back of her mind as she went on into lesson 4, which happened to be year 12 boys Spanish, Jonah’s class. She took the register and then offered, just like she had promised Jonah the opportunity to get on with some course work in the library, despite this almost being a get of jail free card only 3 boys put their hands up, Jonah, Ronan and Harry. “Okay then, off you go, come back if you need any help, the rest of you should be getting on with the work in your text books that you need to have completed. Cesca sat down and began to go through the small manageable pile of course work that had appeared since 1st period, however she couldn’t focus on it properly she was too distracted with the idea of Jonah going to this party, she wanted him to have fun and didn’t want to sound like his mother but she couldn’t help but worry about the consequences of her saying yes, she trusted him and he made a promise, however he was still a teenage boy and boys quite often get carried away, even the mature ones.
“Miss Can you help me?” A boisterous Fin shouted out, “yes, one second, I’m just trying to finish marking this piece of coursework”, Cesca replied cheerfully despite how rudely Fin had asked her. “Miss I asked you to help me!”, Fin was starting to get really agitated, Mrs Kirby was already one of his least favoured teachers and he wasn’t going to try and make her first day back any easier, by no means. “Fin, you can wait. Use the translations I have provided to help you understand the text, I will be over shortly”, Cesca continued to keep her patience as Fin once again broke out stronger and angrier than ever, “Your job is to help us! So help me”, As fin rudely shouted this at poor Cesca Chris barged through the door, “Fin, what are you playing at?”, Chris wasn’t impressed with his behaviour, he didn’t know the full story but Cesca never harmed anyone or anything so quite easily took her side on this. “Mr Mead, it’s fine, nothing I can’t handle”, Cesca let out a content and confident smile, and this was reciprocated by a slightly worried Chris who calmly left the room staring at Fin as if to say that’s a warning. Cesca continued to finish marking the last paragraph of the essay when Fin began his interrogation. “You think we’ve all forgotten about you sleeping with a student”, Cesca dropped her pen, he had hit a raw nerve, but Cesca was by no means going to shout back. “Do you know what you are, your filth”, some of the boys began to egg Fin on, which only made his insults more insulting and more offensive. “Sorry miss I don’t here you denying that”, Fin smugly responded not giving Cesca a chance to reply, that’s if she was going to which she wasn’t, she tried to hold it together as she began to address the rest of the class, majority of them were still very engrossed in their work and clearly felt uncomfortable with a student addressing Cesca the way Fin had. “If we could all turn to page 18, there is a test section which should give you a clear idea as to what you need to work on”, she cleared her throat which was slowly drying out as she became more and more uncomfortable being in the position she was in. “They should have let you rot”, Cesca instantly got up beginning to cry, she headed for the door, whilst walking she addressed the class once more, “Right, could you all be getting on with the task I have set, I’m getting Mr Mead”, she began to open the door then felt a strong arm pull her back in, the door slammed as Fin held her up to the door. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, Fin’s grip was becoming much tighter around Cesca's neck, she was silent but the tears that were rolling down her eyes were another story. “Fin, what you doing, let her go!” said one of the pupils who disagreed with the whole situation; he was quickly quietened by another member of Fins pose. Cesca was scared; she never in a million years expected this to happen. Cesca tried to release Fins grip, but all it did was cause him to spit at her. “You deserve everything you got”, Fin was slowly making Cesca feel small. How had this situation spiralled out of control? Fin clearly had it in for her from the word go.
Suddenly Chris appeared behind the door, Fin immediately released his grip from Cesca, and she was hysterical. “Sir, she just came on to me, all I did was ask her to help me”, Fin was lying through his teeth, Cesca was becoming more and more hysterical, “Ces, is this true”, “Of course it’s not Chris” She stormed out the room, completely shaken up and crying uncontrollably, how dare Chris even begin to think that, she was crying her eyes out and nearly the entire class were in shock, how did that spell out what Chris was accusing her of. Cesca may have kissed Jonah last term, but she truly loved him that was different, Fin had just physically assaulted her in her own classroom in front of another 20 pupils. Cesca was hurriedly walking down the corridors, hoping to bump into someone, her neck had the finger prints of Fin surrounding her neck, her makeup had run and she was clearly in trouble. She turned the corner and thankfully bumped into an extremely shocked Adana. “Ces, what’s happened”, Cesca couldn’t speak, she was sore and shaken up, maybe now hadn’t been the right time to come back, maybe she should have never come back. Adana was even more worried when Cesca hadn’t responded, she was grabbing her neck, it was so sore. “Ces, we need to take you to Karen”, Cesca knew that Adana was right and happily followed Adana into Karen’s office still hysterically crying. There was no knock at the door for Karen just a sudden slam as the door was swung open by a seriously worried Adana. Karen almost shouted before looking up and seeing a hysterical Cesca who was in pieces, “What’s happened?” Karen questioned, “I don’t know I just found her in the corridor”, Cesca’s nose had begun to bleed with the stress of the whole situation, until she suddenly passed out on the floor. Karen and Adana instantly ran over to her, comforting and supporting her as they tried to recover poor Cesca. “Something isn’t right, why was she roaming the corridor and to start with why is she in this state?” Adana sincerely questioned, Karen was distracted, she had suddenly noticed the clearly distinguishable marks that were wrapped around Cescas jugular. “Adana, we have a serious problem on our hands”. Karen and Adana had successfully brought Cesca round and slowly sat her up. “Cesca breathe, what’s happened?” Karen calmly spoke trying to reassure Cesca and get some answers. “He grabbed me”, Cesca finally spoke. “Who did?”, Adana was quickly to jump in, “Fin”, Cesca struggled to get the words out, “Fin Sharky”, Her eyes were beginning to tear up again, she used her hand to wipe her nose, only to discover the blood that was pouring out. “It’s alright Ces, he’s not getting away with it”, “Too right he’s not”, Karen added, “were going to get to the bottom of this, you stay with Cesca while I go find Fin”. Cesca was grateful for the presence of Adana, though all she really wanted was Jonah; she needed him, though she definitely didn’t want him to see her like this. “Come on Ces, let’s go to my office and see if we can clean you up”, Cesca was still crying and apprehensively followed her through to her office. Adana wrapped her arm around her for support; Cesca rested her head on her shoulder as they entered Adana’s office.
Meanwhile Karen had reached Cescas classroom to find a very calm Chris, “Chris what’s going on, I have just had a very distressed Cesca in my office, she’s shaken, bruised, bleeding and marked. Chris felt bad for not taking her side like he had before. Karen had spotted the guilty culprit and was now about to take him away, “Fin, your coming with me”, “miss I haven’t done anything”, “Don’t act so innocent with me young man”, She signalled for Fin to wait while she finished talking to Chris, “and I have just had a very serious accusation given to me, Fin is adamant that Cesca came on to him”, “and you saw this did you?”, “Well no, not exactly, I got here and they were up against the door”, “ Chris he was beating her up!, You stupid man!, you have messed up big time!”, Chris bowed his head in shame and did his best to control the class and settle them down whilst the issue was dealt with. “Where’s Jonah?” Chris asked one of the students, “He’s in the library with Harry and Ronan doing some coursework, Mrs Kirby did open the option up to everyone”, “okay, thanks”, Chris encouraged them to start packing away it was almost the end of the lesson and he was sure that Jonah would be back soon.
Sure enough right on cue came in the three boys, chuffed with themselves for completing their class work, as they walked in they could see something wasn’t right, the whole class were distressed, their faces were down and bright red, they all just glared at Jonah. It took a while for Jonah to understand what was going on, in fact he didn’t understand, especially when he realised that Cesca wasn’t there but Mr Mead was, “Sir, where’s Cesca?” he was confused and scared as Mr mead answered his question with “Jonah we need to talk outside”, Jonah grabbed his stuff and walked out the door followed by Mr Mead. The whole classes head moved in sync as the pair left, the whole class felt guilty they had just watched a member of their class beat up their teacher and none of them despite one had made any attempt as to stopping it. They watched in awe as Mr Mead told Jonah what had happened, they saw Jonah’s worried face turn to panic, fear, anger and sadness all in one, their heads all began to stir as Jonah belted it down the corridor. Mr Mead had screwed up big time, he couldn’t forgive himself, he should have sorted this out earlier when he had come in the first time, and Cesca may have insisted that she could deal with it, but it’s his duty as the deputy head to look out, support and most of all protect his pupils and staff! Seconds had passed since Jonah had found out about Cescas attack, he couldn’t believe it! He was bubbling up with anger, who did Fin think he was, she’s a young woman, you never hit woman, ever. Especially if their teacher, there only there to help you get a good education. The best possible start in life. Jonah ran to Karen’s office as that had been where he had been told to go. He knocked on the door confidently despite beginning to turn into a wreck, “Where is she”, he shouted as he burst through the door, “Jonah, calm down, she is with miss Luall, she is in safe hands”, Jonah was listening despite being all a flutter, as he was about to leave he noticed Fin, his eyes wanted to burn holes through him, “She didn’t deserve this”, he shouted at him, “She deserved everything she got, your wife’s a nut case, sick in the head”, Jonah was fuming he loved Cesca, she had experienced enough of this grief from her father a few weeks back, she didn’t need it from people at school to. Fin went to go and hit Jonah, just as Mrs Fisher but in with “Leave it Fin, you’ve just proven to all of us what your capable of, Jonah you go find Cesca, she needs you right now”, She gave Jonah a comforting and warm hearted smile before beginning to call through to Chris who also had a lot of explaining to do, she let Cesca calm down before going to find her to hear her part of the story. In the mean time, Jonah headed for Adana’s office, he needed to be there for his Ces. He walked hurriedly avoiding the people he passed, it hadn’t quite got round the school what had happened yet, he reached the door and sensitively knocked, he didn’t want to startle poor Cesca. He opened the door, Cesca instantly got up and hugged him tightly, Jonah held her back, he wasn’t going to let go, he couldn’t forgive himself for not being there. “Oh Jonah”, She grizzled, “It’s alright Ces, I’m here, thank you Adana”, he gave her a smile, “I’ll leave you two alone, I’ll be just down the corridor if you need me”, Jonah loosened his grip so that he could look at Cesca properly, he noticed the hand prints around her neck instantly, they were swollen and showed every wrinkle and indentation of Fins skin. “Ces, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come back”, he leant his head back into Cesca which was stopped by her immediately reacting with “No, it was the right thing to do, this hasn’t put me off, I admit I’m hurt and would tremble at the sight of ... Fin”, she struggled to say his name “but I wouldn’t stop doing what I love because of it”, This was reassuring to Jonah’s ears, he loved her passion and determination, he held her tightly before suggesting that she should go and see Karen now that she was all cleaned up, “Jonah, I really didn’t want you to see me like this, I’m a wreck”, “Ces, I love you for you, I just can’t believe I wasn’t there to stop it”, “Jonah he was to strong, people tried but he had it in for me”, she stroked his beloved face as they began to leave for her office, it was slowly hitting 4 o’clock so they both agreed that Jonah would take her to Karen’s office and then go and pick up little Mia.
He headed down the corridor, Cesca was strong he knew that she could get through anything and she was going to get through this to. He reached the crèche where little Mia was sitting in young Beth’s lap, “Look Mia it’s daddy”, Jonah smiled just hearing daddy put a smile on his face and it was increased as he saw Mia’s cute little face, “We’ve been painting today” Beth said with a smile on her face, “painting” Jonah questioned, “only feet and handprints, they love it, in fact it should all be ready for you to take home”, she gave Mia to Jonah as she went and got the painting. He placed Mia who smelt lovely as always, another quality she shared with her mummy, back into her buggy and gave her Flopsy to keep her occupied. “here we go”, she past Jonah a beautiful framed picture, containing Mia's hand and foot prints, the date carefully written above both and a title that sold the picture, “Mia’s tiny toes and little fingers”, it was also complete with” Mia at 3 months”, Jonah was so grateful, it was lovely, he was very impressed with the crèche he couldn’t wait to show Cesca, he was sure this would put her in a much better mood. He set off thanking the staff at the crèche, it was a challenge holding the picture and pushing the buggy. He bumped into Ronan and Vicki as he headed towards Karen’s office. “What you got there Jonah”, Ronan asked as Vicki took a peek, “Aw that’s lovely”, she said as she began to pull funny faces at Mia, which was rather amusing her. “Yeah, it is, so you on for tonight still”, “Well actually Ronan, I’m not too sure, Cesca was attacked last lesson, she’s quite shaken up... I don’t think it’s fair or right to leave her just after all of this, it’s been a long day”, Ronan and Vicki were shocked “Poor Mrs Kirby, give her my love”, Vicki so lovingly said “And if you change your mind”, Ronan added, “I’ll call you”, Jonah let out a smile, he was happy to have the support of his friends. He carried on up to Karen’s office and calmly waited for Cesca to come out. It wasn’t long before she did, “We shall see you tomorrow as long as your sure you’re up for it”, “yes you will, I just need a good night’s sleep and a chance to just recover” “okay, you don’t have to worry Jonah she is a strong woman, she’ll pull through and Fin has been excluded and is now on his final strike”, “Thanks for every Mrs Fisher”, he smiled as he gave his wife a hug who was now a lot calmer and happier than before, “ Oh please Jonah just call me Karen”, he smiled he finally felt fully accepted. “She must like you, asking you to call her by her first name”, Cesca smiled moving in closer to Jonah until she hit something hard.
“what’s this then?”, Cesca was cheekily smiling, despite her face being completely tear stained, “why don’t you take a look, it’s present from Mia”, Cesca liked the sound of that and took it as Jonah passed it to her, she began to cry again this time happy tears. It was gorgeous,” their her little toes”, “and tiny feet”, Jonah quoted, “yep we can’t forget those”, Cesca loved it cherishing it in her other hand, the other holding Jonahs warm and firm hand they walked down the corridor slowly coming to terms with the day’s events. They reached the car, one of them putting Mia in the car, the other dismantling the buggy, a usual routine for the pair, Cesca insisted on driving back and Jonah didn’t fancy arguing so let her get on with it. “Let's go home” Jonah said as they slowly drove away, “You wanting me to cook you something before you go out?” Cesca asked whilst focusing on the road and occasionally checking on Mia who was giggling away to herself. “ actually Ces, I wasn’t going to go anymore, too much has happened today”, Cesca instantly replied, “Jonah I’m fine, I just need to rest and calm down properly, I’m sure Mia's exhausted anyway, I’ll call Adana round and we’ll have a drink”, “Ces, I’m not going”. “Jonah please go, you haven’t been out in months, you need a brake every once in a while”, she had won him over, “But remember don’t be out all night and please don’t come home really drunk”, they had reached home by this time and Jonah leant over for a kiss , “I won’t, promise”, they got out the car unpacking its contents, Jonah got Mia out and let them in whilst Cesca collected her bag leaving the buggy in the car, finding it was easier to leave it in there these days. They were finally home but it was getting late so Jonah went and got ready to go out grabbing his legendary leather jacket before he left. Cesca had just bathed Mia and was changing her ready for bed before giving her, her nightly feed. Jonah entered the room saying goodbye to his beautiful girls,”I'll see you later then”, giving them both a kiss before he went downstairs and headed for the door. “Right then missy, shall we put you and Flopsy to bed” Cesca carefully placed Mia into her cot turned the light off and prepared for hopefully what would be a quiet night in with her two favourite girls, that’s if she ever got round to calling Adana. It was settled Adana was to come round and keep Cesca company they had a lot to catch up on, they hadn’t properly been able to do it with the boys around and Cesca hadn’t properly seen Adana since the accident earlier in the day, while she waited for Adana to arrive she had some time to catch up on the latest storyline on Eastenders, so she sat down with her warm cup of cocoa topped with whipped cream, not forgetting the mini marshmallows. Cesca thought to herself whilst she picked the first of many marshmallows off the top of the cream, “so this is what being a yummy mummy really means”, she laughed to herself and slowly got stuck into the first of the nights soap dramas.
They reached the school Jonah gave his wife a loving kiss before they both got out, Jonah unloading the buggy whilst Cesca got Mia and Flopsy out the car seat, she placed her in the buggy and kissed her daughter on the head, “there you go”, she smiled. She took her bag from Jonah and began the slightly dreaded walk with Jonah up to the main entrance. “Welcome back Cesca, Mia is getting big now, aw I love babies at this age”, “yeah, she is starting to have her own little personality, its adorable”, Jonah helped Cesca lift the buggy up the front steps, “we’d better go Karen, I’ll catch up with you later”, they both headed off. It’s hard to believe this was all happening it was only 3 months ago that Cesca was having Mia and she was back at work and it felt right, she was returning a new person, a person with responsibilities, which wasn’t a bad thing. They headed down the corridor towards the crèche; it was an unfamiliar route, even for a teacher who worked her away around the building frequently. They knocked at the door, calm and patient young lady signalled for them to come in, Cesca and Jonah smiled at each other. “Welcome, you must be Cesca and Jonah”, “yes and this little madam is Mia”, she lifted her out of her buggy and gave her to the lady whose name was Beth, she seemed lovely, very keen on children by the looks of things as she handled Mia with no trouble, Jonah and Cesca were happy to see little Mia content and happy in her arms. “Looks like you’re going to be a busy girl Mia”, Jonah said looking around at all the little faces of different varying ages. “We best get off, lessons to go to people to teach”, Cesca finally said. The couple gave their daughter a kiss, before leaving hand in hand down the corridor. “She seemed lovely”, Cesca added, quite impressed with the whole thing. “Yeah, she did. Mia seemed to love her”, they were both happy that Mia was happy. They reached the main entrance again and since they were both headed for separate directions they thought it was best to say goodbye, “I’ll see you 3rd period” Cesca said before kissing her husband. “Actually Ces, I was wandering whether I could get on with some Spanish coursework in the library?” Cesca gave him a cheeky grin, she felt a bit put on the spot. “Jonah, come to my classroom to be registered and I will open up the option to the whole class”, “Thanks Ces, I love you” and with that they both left for their first lessons. Both turning back once they had walked half way, giving out a cheeky grin after realising they had turned around at exactly the same time.
Cesca had year 9 girls Spanish first period and felt that would break her in gently, they were a lovely group and she always referred to them as hard working and a pleasure to teach when talking about them to members of staff, especially Karen. Jonah on the other hand had Science with Mr. Mead. He met up with Vicki and Ronan who were waiting outside for their lesson to begin they still had five minutes to go which gave me the perfect opportunity to catch up with Jonah. “Jonah, how are you? Heard that Miss Montoya is back today”, Ronan asked his friend “Yeah she is, we dropped Mia off at the crèche this morning and she is back at work, plus it’s Mrs Kirby to you” he gave him a wink, Vicki gave a giggle, “anyway Jonah, I’m having a party tonight, ease in to the new term and all that, you want to come?, Ronan waited patiently for his friend to reply, Jonah wasn’t so sure. “Ronan, he has just had a baby, he’s not going to want to be living it large as you keep putting it”, Jonah burst out laughing, “I’ll have to speak to Cesca see what she thinks, I’d love to but it’s not fair on her if I go and have fun, putting Mia to sleep is the hardest part of the day, I’ll get back to you about it later”, Jonah was happy with his answer and so were his friends, they understood his position but didn’t want to not include him in the normal teen events they got up to just cause he was now a dad, they weren’t going to discriminate him like that. It was lesson three and finally break, Jonah headed for Cescas classroom, he wanted to see how she was coping and to drop the idea of the party by her. Cesca could see him through the window as she was ready to walk out towards the staffroom, “hello stranger”, she called out, “hey, how have the first three lessons been?” he asked his beloved wife, “they have been good, it’s been nice to get back in to teaching, though I don’t half miss Mia and her giggly moments and constantly having to pick up Flopsy because she’s dropped him”, “I know what you mean Ces” he said as he cuddled her tightly. “Ces, I was wandering, Ronan’s asked me to this party he’s got on tonight, I wondered what you thought about me going, I understand if you don’t want me to, I know that putting Mia to bed is really hard and stressful”, Cesca smiled “Jonah you go, we’ll be fine, you need to have some fun, but promise me you won’t be out all night and you won’t come back too drunk”, she stared into his eyes with sincerity, “Ces, you can count on me, I won’t let you down, I love you Ces” , he kissed her forehead and walked back down the corridor to meet his friends for break. Cesca wasn’t entirely made up about the idea of him being out but she did want him to spend more time with his friends and if that meant a party then that’s what he was going to do, Cesca couldn’t help but remember the last party, Jonah was completely wasted, and he almost ended up in hospital. She tried to let go a little to stop worrying herself but it was still at the back of her mind as she went on into lesson 4, which happened to be year 12 boys Spanish, Jonah’s class. She took the register and then offered, just like she had promised Jonah the opportunity to get on with some course work in the library, despite this almost being a get of jail free card only 3 boys put their hands up, Jonah, Ronan and Harry. “Okay then, off you go, come back if you need any help, the rest of you should be getting on with the work in your text books that you need to have completed. Cesca sat down and began to go through the small manageable pile of course work that had appeared since 1st period, however she couldn’t focus on it properly she was too distracted with the idea of Jonah going to this party, she wanted him to have fun and didn’t want to sound like his mother but she couldn’t help but worry about the consequences of her saying yes, she trusted him and he made a promise, however he was still a teenage boy and boys quite often get carried away, even the mature ones.
“Miss Can you help me?” A boisterous Fin shouted out, “yes, one second, I’m just trying to finish marking this piece of coursework”, Cesca replied cheerfully despite how rudely Fin had asked her. “Miss I asked you to help me!”, Fin was starting to get really agitated, Mrs Kirby was already one of his least favoured teachers and he wasn’t going to try and make her first day back any easier, by no means. “Fin, you can wait. Use the translations I have provided to help you understand the text, I will be over shortly”, Cesca continued to keep her patience as Fin once again broke out stronger and angrier than ever, “Your job is to help us! So help me”, As fin rudely shouted this at poor Cesca Chris barged through the door, “Fin, what are you playing at?”, Chris wasn’t impressed with his behaviour, he didn’t know the full story but Cesca never harmed anyone or anything so quite easily took her side on this. “Mr Mead, it’s fine, nothing I can’t handle”, Cesca let out a content and confident smile, and this was reciprocated by a slightly worried Chris who calmly left the room staring at Fin as if to say that’s a warning. Cesca continued to finish marking the last paragraph of the essay when Fin began his interrogation. “You think we’ve all forgotten about you sleeping with a student”, Cesca dropped her pen, he had hit a raw nerve, but Cesca was by no means going to shout back. “Do you know what you are, your filth”, some of the boys began to egg Fin on, which only made his insults more insulting and more offensive. “Sorry miss I don’t here you denying that”, Fin smugly responded not giving Cesca a chance to reply, that’s if she was going to which she wasn’t, she tried to hold it together as she began to address the rest of the class, majority of them were still very engrossed in their work and clearly felt uncomfortable with a student addressing Cesca the way Fin had. “If we could all turn to page 18, there is a test section which should give you a clear idea as to what you need to work on”, she cleared her throat which was slowly drying out as she became more and more uncomfortable being in the position she was in. “They should have let you rot”, Cesca instantly got up beginning to cry, she headed for the door, whilst walking she addressed the class once more, “Right, could you all be getting on with the task I have set, I’m getting Mr Mead”, she began to open the door then felt a strong arm pull her back in, the door slammed as Fin held her up to the door. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you”, Fin’s grip was becoming much tighter around Cesca's neck, she was silent but the tears that were rolling down her eyes were another story. “Fin, what you doing, let her go!” said one of the pupils who disagreed with the whole situation; he was quickly quietened by another member of Fins pose. Cesca was scared; she never in a million years expected this to happen. Cesca tried to release Fins grip, but all it did was cause him to spit at her. “You deserve everything you got”, Fin was slowly making Cesca feel small. How had this situation spiralled out of control? Fin clearly had it in for her from the word go.
Suddenly Chris appeared behind the door, Fin immediately released his grip from Cesca, and she was hysterical. “Sir, she just came on to me, all I did was ask her to help me”, Fin was lying through his teeth, Cesca was becoming more and more hysterical, “Ces, is this true”, “Of course it’s not Chris” She stormed out the room, completely shaken up and crying uncontrollably, how dare Chris even begin to think that, she was crying her eyes out and nearly the entire class were in shock, how did that spell out what Chris was accusing her of. Cesca may have kissed Jonah last term, but she truly loved him that was different, Fin had just physically assaulted her in her own classroom in front of another 20 pupils. Cesca was hurriedly walking down the corridors, hoping to bump into someone, her neck had the finger prints of Fin surrounding her neck, her makeup had run and she was clearly in trouble. She turned the corner and thankfully bumped into an extremely shocked Adana. “Ces, what’s happened”, Cesca couldn’t speak, she was sore and shaken up, maybe now hadn’t been the right time to come back, maybe she should have never come back. Adana was even more worried when Cesca hadn’t responded, she was grabbing her neck, it was so sore. “Ces, we need to take you to Karen”, Cesca knew that Adana was right and happily followed Adana into Karen’s office still hysterically crying. There was no knock at the door for Karen just a sudden slam as the door was swung open by a seriously worried Adana. Karen almost shouted before looking up and seeing a hysterical Cesca who was in pieces, “What’s happened?” Karen questioned, “I don’t know I just found her in the corridor”, Cesca’s nose had begun to bleed with the stress of the whole situation, until she suddenly passed out on the floor. Karen and Adana instantly ran over to her, comforting and supporting her as they tried to recover poor Cesca. “Something isn’t right, why was she roaming the corridor and to start with why is she in this state?” Adana sincerely questioned, Karen was distracted, she had suddenly noticed the clearly distinguishable marks that were wrapped around Cescas jugular. “Adana, we have a serious problem on our hands”. Karen and Adana had successfully brought Cesca round and slowly sat her up. “Cesca breathe, what’s happened?” Karen calmly spoke trying to reassure Cesca and get some answers. “He grabbed me”, Cesca finally spoke. “Who did?”, Adana was quickly to jump in, “Fin”, Cesca struggled to get the words out, “Fin Sharky”, Her eyes were beginning to tear up again, she used her hand to wipe her nose, only to discover the blood that was pouring out. “It’s alright Ces, he’s not getting away with it”, “Too right he’s not”, Karen added, “were going to get to the bottom of this, you stay with Cesca while I go find Fin”. Cesca was grateful for the presence of Adana, though all she really wanted was Jonah; she needed him, though she definitely didn’t want him to see her like this. “Come on Ces, let’s go to my office and see if we can clean you up”, Cesca was still crying and apprehensively followed her through to her office. Adana wrapped her arm around her for support; Cesca rested her head on her shoulder as they entered Adana’s office.
Meanwhile Karen had reached Cescas classroom to find a very calm Chris, “Chris what’s going on, I have just had a very distressed Cesca in my office, she’s shaken, bruised, bleeding and marked. Chris felt bad for not taking her side like he had before. Karen had spotted the guilty culprit and was now about to take him away, “Fin, your coming with me”, “miss I haven’t done anything”, “Don’t act so innocent with me young man”, She signalled for Fin to wait while she finished talking to Chris, “and I have just had a very serious accusation given to me, Fin is adamant that Cesca came on to him”, “and you saw this did you?”, “Well no, not exactly, I got here and they were up against the door”, “ Chris he was beating her up!, You stupid man!, you have messed up big time!”, Chris bowed his head in shame and did his best to control the class and settle them down whilst the issue was dealt with. “Where’s Jonah?” Chris asked one of the students, “He’s in the library with Harry and Ronan doing some coursework, Mrs Kirby did open the option up to everyone”, “okay, thanks”, Chris encouraged them to start packing away it was almost the end of the lesson and he was sure that Jonah would be back soon.
Sure enough right on cue came in the three boys, chuffed with themselves for completing their class work, as they walked in they could see something wasn’t right, the whole class were distressed, their faces were down and bright red, they all just glared at Jonah. It took a while for Jonah to understand what was going on, in fact he didn’t understand, especially when he realised that Cesca wasn’t there but Mr Mead was, “Sir, where’s Cesca?” he was confused and scared as Mr mead answered his question with “Jonah we need to talk outside”, Jonah grabbed his stuff and walked out the door followed by Mr Mead. The whole classes head moved in sync as the pair left, the whole class felt guilty they had just watched a member of their class beat up their teacher and none of them despite one had made any attempt as to stopping it. They watched in awe as Mr Mead told Jonah what had happened, they saw Jonah’s worried face turn to panic, fear, anger and sadness all in one, their heads all began to stir as Jonah belted it down the corridor. Mr Mead had screwed up big time, he couldn’t forgive himself, he should have sorted this out earlier when he had come in the first time, and Cesca may have insisted that she could deal with it, but it’s his duty as the deputy head to look out, support and most of all protect his pupils and staff! Seconds had passed since Jonah had found out about Cescas attack, he couldn’t believe it! He was bubbling up with anger, who did Fin think he was, she’s a young woman, you never hit woman, ever. Especially if their teacher, there only there to help you get a good education. The best possible start in life. Jonah ran to Karen’s office as that had been where he had been told to go. He knocked on the door confidently despite beginning to turn into a wreck, “Where is she”, he shouted as he burst through the door, “Jonah, calm down, she is with miss Luall, she is in safe hands”, Jonah was listening despite being all a flutter, as he was about to leave he noticed Fin, his eyes wanted to burn holes through him, “She didn’t deserve this”, he shouted at him, “She deserved everything she got, your wife’s a nut case, sick in the head”, Jonah was fuming he loved Cesca, she had experienced enough of this grief from her father a few weeks back, she didn’t need it from people at school to. Fin went to go and hit Jonah, just as Mrs Fisher but in with “Leave it Fin, you’ve just proven to all of us what your capable of, Jonah you go find Cesca, she needs you right now”, She gave Jonah a comforting and warm hearted smile before beginning to call through to Chris who also had a lot of explaining to do, she let Cesca calm down before going to find her to hear her part of the story. In the mean time, Jonah headed for Adana’s office, he needed to be there for his Ces. He walked hurriedly avoiding the people he passed, it hadn’t quite got round the school what had happened yet, he reached the door and sensitively knocked, he didn’t want to startle poor Cesca. He opened the door, Cesca instantly got up and hugged him tightly, Jonah held her back, he wasn’t going to let go, he couldn’t forgive himself for not being there. “Oh Jonah”, She grizzled, “It’s alright Ces, I’m here, thank you Adana”, he gave her a smile, “I’ll leave you two alone, I’ll be just down the corridor if you need me”, Jonah loosened his grip so that he could look at Cesca properly, he noticed the hand prints around her neck instantly, they were swollen and showed every wrinkle and indentation of Fins skin. “Ces, maybe it wasn’t a good idea to come back”, he leant his head back into Cesca which was stopped by her immediately reacting with “No, it was the right thing to do, this hasn’t put me off, I admit I’m hurt and would tremble at the sight of ... Fin”, she struggled to say his name “but I wouldn’t stop doing what I love because of it”, This was reassuring to Jonah’s ears, he loved her passion and determination, he held her tightly before suggesting that she should go and see Karen now that she was all cleaned up, “Jonah, I really didn’t want you to see me like this, I’m a wreck”, “Ces, I love you for you, I just can’t believe I wasn’t there to stop it”, “Jonah he was to strong, people tried but he had it in for me”, she stroked his beloved face as they began to leave for her office, it was slowly hitting 4 o’clock so they both agreed that Jonah would take her to Karen’s office and then go and pick up little Mia.
He headed down the corridor, Cesca was strong he knew that she could get through anything and she was going to get through this to. He reached the crèche where little Mia was sitting in young Beth’s lap, “Look Mia it’s daddy”, Jonah smiled just hearing daddy put a smile on his face and it was increased as he saw Mia’s cute little face, “We’ve been painting today” Beth said with a smile on her face, “painting” Jonah questioned, “only feet and handprints, they love it, in fact it should all be ready for you to take home”, she gave Mia to Jonah as she went and got the painting. He placed Mia who smelt lovely as always, another quality she shared with her mummy, back into her buggy and gave her Flopsy to keep her occupied. “here we go”, she past Jonah a beautiful framed picture, containing Mia's hand and foot prints, the date carefully written above both and a title that sold the picture, “Mia’s tiny toes and little fingers”, it was also complete with” Mia at 3 months”, Jonah was so grateful, it was lovely, he was very impressed with the crèche he couldn’t wait to show Cesca, he was sure this would put her in a much better mood. He set off thanking the staff at the crèche, it was a challenge holding the picture and pushing the buggy. He bumped into Ronan and Vicki as he headed towards Karen’s office. “What you got there Jonah”, Ronan asked as Vicki took a peek, “Aw that’s lovely”, she said as she began to pull funny faces at Mia, which was rather amusing her. “Yeah, it is, so you on for tonight still”, “Well actually Ronan, I’m not too sure, Cesca was attacked last lesson, she’s quite shaken up... I don’t think it’s fair or right to leave her just after all of this, it’s been a long day”, Ronan and Vicki were shocked “Poor Mrs Kirby, give her my love”, Vicki so lovingly said “And if you change your mind”, Ronan added, “I’ll call you”, Jonah let out a smile, he was happy to have the support of his friends. He carried on up to Karen’s office and calmly waited for Cesca to come out. It wasn’t long before she did, “We shall see you tomorrow as long as your sure you’re up for it”, “yes you will, I just need a good night’s sleep and a chance to just recover” “okay, you don’t have to worry Jonah she is a strong woman, she’ll pull through and Fin has been excluded and is now on his final strike”, “Thanks for every Mrs Fisher”, he smiled as he gave his wife a hug who was now a lot calmer and happier than before, “ Oh please Jonah just call me Karen”, he smiled he finally felt fully accepted. “She must like you, asking you to call her by her first name”, Cesca smiled moving in closer to Jonah until she hit something hard.
“what’s this then?”, Cesca was cheekily smiling, despite her face being completely tear stained, “why don’t you take a look, it’s present from Mia”, Cesca liked the sound of that and took it as Jonah passed it to her, she began to cry again this time happy tears. It was gorgeous,” their her little toes”, “and tiny feet”, Jonah quoted, “yep we can’t forget those”, Cesca loved it cherishing it in her other hand, the other holding Jonahs warm and firm hand they walked down the corridor slowly coming to terms with the day’s events. They reached the car, one of them putting Mia in the car, the other dismantling the buggy, a usual routine for the pair, Cesca insisted on driving back and Jonah didn’t fancy arguing so let her get on with it. “Let's go home” Jonah said as they slowly drove away, “You wanting me to cook you something before you go out?” Cesca asked whilst focusing on the road and occasionally checking on Mia who was giggling away to herself. “ actually Ces, I wasn’t going to go anymore, too much has happened today”, Cesca instantly replied, “Jonah I’m fine, I just need to rest and calm down properly, I’m sure Mia's exhausted anyway, I’ll call Adana round and we’ll have a drink”, “Ces, I’m not going”. “Jonah please go, you haven’t been out in months, you need a brake every once in a while”, she had won him over, “But remember don’t be out all night and please don’t come home really drunk”, they had reached home by this time and Jonah leant over for a kiss , “I won’t, promise”, they got out the car unpacking its contents, Jonah got Mia out and let them in whilst Cesca collected her bag leaving the buggy in the car, finding it was easier to leave it in there these days. They were finally home but it was getting late so Jonah went and got ready to go out grabbing his legendary leather jacket before he left. Cesca had just bathed Mia and was changing her ready for bed before giving her, her nightly feed. Jonah entered the room saying goodbye to his beautiful girls,”I'll see you later then”, giving them both a kiss before he went downstairs and headed for the door. “Right then missy, shall we put you and Flopsy to bed” Cesca carefully placed Mia into her cot turned the light off and prepared for hopefully what would be a quiet night in with her two favourite girls, that’s if she ever got round to calling Adana. It was settled Adana was to come round and keep Cesca company they had a lot to catch up on, they hadn’t properly been able to do it with the boys around and Cesca hadn’t properly seen Adana since the accident earlier in the day, while she waited for Adana to arrive she had some time to catch up on the latest storyline on Eastenders, so she sat down with her warm cup of cocoa topped with whipped cream, not forgetting the mini marshmallows. Cesca thought to herself whilst she picked the first of many marshmallows off the top of the cream, “so this is what being a yummy mummy really means”, she laughed to herself and slowly got stuck into the first of the nights soap dramas.
