Chapter 23

We were shown straight into the Headmistress’s office, I’d not met her before, as the last time I was here, to sign Poppy up for the school, we’d met with one of the admission’s team.

“Good morning Mr Harrison, I’m Emma McCarthy, the Head.”

“Please, call me Alex, and this is Helen, my sister, and Belle.”

“Ahh, so you’re Poppy’s friend, I’m pleased to meet you. I have to say Poppy has made a great start to her life here, all her teachers have told me she’s working very hard.”

“I’m glad to hear that. She is very diligent about doing her homework in the evenings, and now Katie is living with us, she’s helping Poppy with the things she’s missed.”

“Ahh yes, your partner explained the situation with Katie’s family, I’m very grateful for you stepping in to help her, it would have been such a shame for her to change schools in her GCSE year. So, how can I help you today?”

“Well, Belle...”

“You see,” Belle broke in, “I’ve been on the streets for over a year, a lot of that time I lived with Poppy, she’s my best friend, she saved my life more than once. What I really want to do now that I’m almost part of her family, is come back to school.”

“I see, so where did you go before?”

“It was in York, where I’m from, but there’s a slight problem,” Belle replied.

“You see, Ms McCarthy...” Helen started.

“Please, call me Emma.”

“Ok, Emma, Belle ran away from home due to a custody battle after the deaths of both her parents, and her grandmother, the courts awarded custody to an uncle, who Belle was afraid of due to past predatory behaviour.”

“I see, I’m afraid social services can often be blind to the obvious.”

“At the moment Jenny is working towards applying for custody, but until then Belle’s status with Alex is less than official.”

“Ok, so if I was to search for Belle in the national student database, you’re afraid he will somehow be alerted.”

“Yes, I’m terrified he’ll find me,” Belle replied.

“Ok, now to put your mind at rest, I can search for you without anyone being alerted, I can also enrol you at school temporarily without informing anyone.”

“Really, I can start school next week?”

“You can start tomorrow if you like.”

“Oh, errr, maybe next week, I was going to help Alex with some DIY, and I’ve got to see Helen’s doctor about, errr, things, and there’s Poppy’s mum’s funeral.”

“I see, you have got a busy week.”

“I really do, which is strange after doing nothing practically for over a year.”

“Not a problem, next week is fine, so, can I have your name and date of birth please, so I can see your school record, no-one will find out about this search.”

“Ok, I guess it’s ok. My full name is Amelia Saffron Dean...”

“That’s a lovely name, but where did Belle come from?”

“Sometimes, on the streets, you don’t want people to know your name, so your friends make one up for you. Poppy gave me the name when she found me.”

“That’s wonderful, she chose well. So, your date of birth please.”

“Sorry, yeah, 22nd October 2006.”

“And you said you’re from York?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Emma started typing into a search form, then she turned her screen so we could see the results.

“So, here you go, you’re currently at Year 9 age, so assuming you want to come here, I’ll put you straight into year 9, you’ll have a lot less work to catch up on than Poppy’s having to do, and you’ll be fine to pick your GCSE options after Christmas with all the other girls. We study both French and Spanish here, I see you only studied French before, so we can use the time when you’d normally be in Spanish to catch up on your Maths and English.”

“Err, I wasn’t very good at French, any chance I could drop that too?”

“Ok, that will give you more time to catch up on the core subjects.”

“Thank you.”

“So, let’s get the paperwork started, what do you want to be called?”

“Err, don’t you have to put my real name down?”

“I do, but I’m assuming like Poppy you’re going to change your legal name.”

Belle looked at Helen, “I can do that?”

“Oh yes, Poppy’s legal name is Poppy now.”

“Oh wow, but I really do like my real name, you can call me Belle or Amelia, I’ll answer to both ... but I guess I’m not the same girl I was before, Amelia was shy, she was mostly in the closet, I’m not shy any more, and I’m very out, so I’m now Belle, can I have three first names?”

“Of course, Poppy had three first names originally,” I replied.

“Amazing, so can I be Belle Amelia Saffron, ahh do I have to take your name, not that it’s a problem or anything.”

“You can keep your surname,” I replied.

“Cool, Belle Amelia Saffron Dean it is then.”

Emma turned her screen back and she started filling in the admissions forms, “can I assume that one way or another you and Jenny will be Belle’s guardians.”

“That’s the plan,” I replied, “we have people meeting with her legal guardian today, I have a good feeling that we’ll have everything sorted shortly.”

“That’s great, saves me some typing, I can just click here and link Belle to Poppy, oh, and you link to Katie, one big happy family.”

“That’s true, I’ve not been as happy as I am now for a long time.”

Emma printed out the forms and passed them to me to sign, while I checked them she spoke to Belle, “so, did you mean what I think you did when you said you’re out?”

“That I’m gay? Yes, but I don’t mean to make an issue of it, it’s just what I am.”

“And I’m happy to hear it, we have an LGBTQ society in school, and I’ve kind of been expecting Katie to join, especially as she’s no longer got her homophobic mother to worry about. Can you give her this leaflet, I’m sure Poppy will want to join as well.”

“How did you know?”

“I’ve seen the badge on Poppy’s bag, and I’ve seen them kissing right outside my office, they think because they can’t see through my windows I can’t see out.”

Helen took the leaflet, “this will be very useful, because Poppy is definitely out, but Katie is worried about what other people will think, if there’s a school society who will be behind her, it’ll give her much more confidence.”

Emma called her PA in and introduced Belle, “can you get Belle some uniform, Jules, and a backpack, and can you get Max to add her into 9G, dropping languages, replacing them with additional Maths and English.”

“Would you like trousers or a skirt?” Jules asked.

“Oh, I used to love wearing dresses, Evie was going to show us all how to make our own dresses, but then the squat was demolished and we all scattered.”

Jules looked shocked, “Belle lived on the streets with Poppy, now she’s living with Alex,” Emma told her, “can you make sure she’s in the Textiles class for CDT, so she can learn how to make her own dresses in future, and why don’t we have both trousers and skirt so she can choose each morning.”

“This is great,” Belle exclaimed once Jules left to collect her uniform, “my old school was fun, but we didn’t have a course called textiles, and we had to wear trousers to stop the boys looking up our skirts.”

“This is one of the benefits of not having boys in the school,” Emma replied with a smile, “the textiles course is carried on to GCSE level if you enjoy it, you can learn about fabrics, design, manufacture, it’s very popular.”

“That does sound like it would be useful. I wanted to study Health and Social Care, I really want to do something in that area, work in a care home.”

“Of course you can, those subjects are usually in different blocks on the timetable, although we don’t do Health and Social Care until Year 10, so you won’t start it until September.”

My phone rang just then, I apologised and took the call, “ahh, that’s the piano being delivered,” I said as I cut the call.

“We’re getting a piano!” Belle cried, “oh wow.”

“We bought it for Katie originally, to help her feel at home. Poppy told us about the time you played the grand piano in the warehouse.”

“Oh yes, that was so much fun.”

“Well, we bought this digital piano from the same place, they had no idea anyone had ever broken into their warehouse.”

“And I’m ignoring what you’re saying,” Emma said with a smile.

“Oh yeah, we didn’t make a habit of doing stuff like that, but I really wanted to play a proper piano, and they wouldn’t let us into the shop. There’s loads of old pianos in train stations and shopping precincts, but they’re always really badly out of tune, so we broke into a piano warehouse and I spent the night playing this really nice concert grand piano. We were very tidy though, and didn’t leave any mess or break anything getting in or out.”

“I’m glad to hear it,” Emma said, “we have a nice grand piano in the school hall, and you don’t even have to climb through a window to get to it.”

“Anyway,” I said, “I need to get over the road to let the guys in, are you ok finishing up here?”

“We’ll be fine,” Helen replied.

“We’re nearly done here anyway, just got to wait for Belle’s uniform and timetable.”

“Oh yes, I need to pay for the uniform,” I said from the door.

“It’s OK, we’ll send you a bill.”

“Thanks, I really need to get home, I don’t want them to get impatient and toss the piano over the gate.”

I dashed out of the school and across the park, the van was still parked outside the house, I started to apologise to the delivery guys as they climbed down from the cab.

“No worries mate,” the driver said, waving away my apology, “it’s the boss’s fault because he was supposed to phone you first thing to check you were ok to take delivery.”

I tapped the button on my gate app and they started to open as the delivery guys rolled the back of the van up and one of them pushed a huge box out onto the tail lift.

“Wow, that’s a big box,” I said.

“We’ve got a bigger one back there,” the driver laughed, “luckily that one’s on wheels.”

I opened the front door and the guys carried the box between them. I led them into the lounge, where, between us we moved a few items of furniture around.

The driver pulled out a knife and cut the straps holding the box together and I found out why the box was so big, the piano was fully built on the stand, and packed complete with the stool.

We lifted the piano and stool off the box base and placed it against the wall. Whilst the driver’s mate carried the packing materials to the van the driver showed me how to turn the piano on, and the basic functions.

“It’s for my daughter really,” I said, almost in apology for not having a clue what anything he said meant.

“Ahh well, I’m sure she’ll know what to do with everything, all the modes are explained in the manual.”

“The lad we spoke to mentioned an iPad app...”

“Oh yes, if she’s got an iPad she’ll get so much more use out of the piano, she can download more sound samples, record what she plays, even mess around with layering multiple tracks, almost like a full recording studio.”

Just then we heard rapid footsteps in the hall, soon followed by Belle running into the lounge.

“Ahh, my daughter, Belle” I said by way of introduction.

“Can I have a go? I know you bought it for Katie really, but can I have a go, please!”

“I only bought it for Katie because you weren’t around at the time. Long story,” I said to the driver, as if that explained everything, “go ahead.”

Belle sat on the stool and used the wheels on either side to boost the height a little so she was comfortable, then she cast her eyes over the buttons and switches, “I looked at this one through your window, I always wondered whether it sounds as good as the advert said.”

With that she ran her hands across the keys to get a feel before she turned it on, set a couple of switches, pressed a couple of buttons then ran through the first few bars of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik before she turned to the driver.

“The advert said this piano includes the Bösendorfer Concert Grand samples; how do I turn them on?”

The driver leaned across the piano, “this display here shows you the sound preset you’re using, at the moment you’re set to a generic upright piano,” he flicked a couple of switches, pressed a button to cycle through a menu the tapped another button, “now it shows 230VC, that’s the 230 Vienna Concert.”

Belle smiled, “ahh, I’ve played one of those.”

“Really, where was that? There’s not many around, it’s a pretty new model,” the driver replied.

“It was in your warehouse, very late one night a few months ago.”

“You broke in?”

“Yes, but we didn’t make any mess, nobody knew we’d been in.”

“Back in June?”

“Probably, me and Poppy were living on the streets, and days and weeks didn’t really register.”

“So it was you,” he laughed.

“What do you mean?” Belle replied, panicking a little.

“Don’t worry love, nobody is looking for you. I only wondered because I’d put some boxes out to load up one night, and they’d all moved the next morning and I was really puzzled.”

“Ahh shit, those will be the boxes the girls sat on, I hope we didn’t damage them.”

“There was no damage, and I also wondered who’d swept up, that’s usually my lad’s first job of a morning.”

“Hahaha, did we leave the place cleaner than we found it?”

“It seems so, how did you get in and out?”

“The toilet window, it’s quite high, we used the big bin outside, even then Poppy had to lift me up to the window.”

“Well, nobody is going to hear of your escapade from me.”

“Thanks, err, I don’t even know your name.”

“I’m Jim, and the lad outside is my son, Jason.”

“Thanks Jim, now let’s see if this sounds a bit like the piano I played.”

She turned back to the keyboard and started again, this time treating us to the full piece.

“Mmm, that’s really close to the real thing, I’m impressed. Can we run this through the big speakers?” she asked.

“Oh yes, there’s several output options, including headphones for when you’re playing late at night,” he replied.

Belle turned round on the stool to face us, “Katie will love this, I’ll turn it off and close the lid so she doesn’t know I’ve played it.”

As I walked Jim back to the van Jason was moving stuff around in the back, presumably getting ready for the next drop.

“Is your other daughter better than Belle?” he asked.

“Mmm. I’ve no idea, I only recently took over custody of them, Katie had a piano at her last home, and was taking lessons, so I got this to help her settle. I think she said she’s a grade 6.”

“What I just heard is a long way ahead of a grade 6, that lass could be on stage, she’s that good. Make sure she gets plenty of practice.”

“Err, ok, I’ll make sure she does.”

“Buy her some good quality headphones so she can play at all hours.”

“I will, thanks.”

Helen and Belle were in the kitchen making a snack, there were three mugs of coffee on the table, I sat down and grabbed the nearest mug.

“Where did you learn to play the piano,” I asked Belle.

“My mum could play really well, she gave me lessons, then I played at school for a bit.”

“The driver was really impressed, and I mean really impressed, he reckons you could play professionally.”

“Oh no, no, I couldn’t do that. It was bad enough playing for my friends from the squat, I can’t have anyone watching me.”

“That’s ok, just so you know, I think you played amazingly, and I’d like to hear you play more.”

“Thank you. Anyway, do you want to see me in my new uniform?”

“I’d love to...” I replied, whereupon Belle stopped what she was doing, dashed into the hallway to grab her bag and dashed straight back.

Was it too much to hope she’d go upstairs to get changed? At least she kept her underwear on, a very pretty powder blue bra and panties set.

“I actually like this uniform,” Belle said as she fastened her skirt, “my last school we had this awful brown blazer, and in summer we wore a check blouse that looked like a frigging tablecloth, the uniform was clearly designed by someone who hates girls.”

She shrugged into the blazer, which was still a little large, “this green is a great colour though, and I like the tie, although someone is going to have to show me how to fasten it, as I’ve not worn one before.”

“Why did you choose the tie?” Helen asked, “Poppy and Katie both wear open necked blouses.”

“I don’t know, I guess I just wanted to be different, and seeing as I’m wearing a shirt instead of a blouse, Poppy can’t steal my shirts and stretch them with her big boobs.”

“Poppy is 6 inches taller than you, and bigger everywhere, she’d probably rip anything of yours she tried on,” Helen replied.

“Yes, but now she can’t even be tempted,” Belle replied, conversation over.

“You’ll be needing school shoes,” Helen said, “do you want some like Poppy’s, or something more feminine like Katie’s.”

Belle thought for a moment, “do I look like I’d suit something ladylike? I’m emo, I want Docs, and the beauty is, I’m size 3, and only 5’2” so all my clothes are kids sizes and you don’t have to pay VAT, the head told me this when we were looking at the uniform order form, the prices are dearer for Poppy and Katie’s uniforms. Also, be thankful I’ve got tiny boobs, over a B cup and you’re into adult sizes and you pay 20% extra, that’s victimising girls like Poppy who already had big boobs in Year 7.”

“Me too,” Helen sighed, “I was already a D cup in Year 7.”

“Anyway, we’ve established you’re going to be cheaper to clothe than Poppy and Katie, shall we get you some shoes this afternoon?” I asked.

“Can Helen come, to help me pick?”

“Of course I’ll come,” Helen replied.

“Amazing, oh, we’ve got to go to the supermarket, so I can get some food for tonight, and I need a black top for tomorrow!”

“We’ll get all that, and you’ll need a laptop for school,” I added.

Belle frowned, “that will be expensive won’t it?”

“Yes, but you need one. I bought Poppy one, and a phone.”

“But I’ve got a phone already.”

“Yes, but it’s a pretty rubbish one.”

“It makes calls, and I can text you.”

“Does it have maps, or Instagram, or Spotify?”

“Well, no, but do I really need those things?”

“You don’t need them, but they’re nice to have,” Helen said, “All the other girls will have the latest phones, you don’t really want to be the only person to have a phone with actual buttons.”

“But Poppy gave me this,” she said, holding it to her chest, “and it was a real lifeline.”

“Ok, so you keep that phone, but we’ll get you an iPad as well as a laptop, for any Apps you need, and you can get an app to go with the piano, how’s that?”

Helen served up a tray of bread and cheese, we made plans for the afternoon while we ate. Unlike Poppy, Belle had absolutely no fear of visiting the places where they used to shoplift.

After lunch we took the train into London and headed straight for John Lewis, where Belle selected exactly the same MacBook as Poppy, but chose a cover for the lid, pink emblazoned with daisies, she did the same with an iPad, adding a similar pink cover. Helen took her to choose shoes while I settled the bill.

When I found Helen and Belle she already had two pairs of shoes in a bag, “I’ve paid for them,” Helen said by way of explanation as Belle wandered off to find a black top for the funeral, “she wanted to pay for them herself, as you’d bought the laptop, I told her she didn’t have enough money to pay for two pairs of Doc Martens, so we compromised, I’ve paid for them, and before you say anything, I do not want you to pay me back.”

“But I can’t have you paying for Belle’s shoes.”

“I insist, I’m having too much fun with the girls, and no, not just that way. They’ve made our previously mundane lives so much more interesting.”

“I can’t disagree there, what did she get?”

“Exactly the same as Poppy, but several sizes smaller, and she insisted on pink laces, I’m noticing a theme. I told her that she absolutely can’t have pink laces in her shoes for the funeral, but afterwards she’s ok.”

We found her a floor down in the ladieswear department.

“Ahh there you are,” she said, a note of impatience in her voice, “we’re leaving, I’m not spending this much on something I hope to only wear once.”

“I thought you’d like black,” Helen said, “you told us you were emo.”

“Yeah, I like black as long as there’s some nice print to break it up, I don’t want a straight black blouse or sweater. Let’s get my calculator and stuff then we’ll go to some charity shops.”

So, after we’d bought Belle’s school stationary, mostly pink and featuring cats and fairies, and calculator, also pink, we left John Lewis.

“There’s a great Bernardo’s shop over past Manchester Square,” Belle told us, “the quickest way is down the side of John Lewis and onto Wellbeck Street.”

So we started walking, on the way Belle pulled a bag from her coat pocket, “I got you a present Alex.”

“Oh thanks,” I replied, tipping the contents out onto my hand.

“I noticed the belt you wear on your jeans was a little tatty, so I bought you a new one.”

“Thank you, that’s so thoughtful,” I said as I looked at the thick leather belt.

“Some of them were really expensive, and you know what I’m like, this one looked to be both nice, and decent value. If you want one of the designer ones I can steal you one, but Jenny will be annoyed.”

“This is absolutely fine Belle, really. It was very thoughtful of you.”

Belle pulled something from her other pocket and offered it to Helen, “we’ve been using one of your really expensive perfumes, I couldn’t afford a full bottle to replace it, so I pocketed the tester.”

Helen took the bottle and laughed so hard she had to sit down on a bench, “thank you so much Belle,” wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, “but really, you don’t have to replace those perfumes, I stole most of them myself.”

“Really, from shops?”

“Oh no, I was never that brave. I took them from fashion shoots, a lot of the clothes Poppy and Katie have been wearing are ones I ‘forgot’ to give back after photo sessions.”

“Ahh, I like that, shame none of them fit me, although most of them aren’t my kind of thing, I really like a few of the dresses.”

“Well maybe, when you start learning about dressmaking in school, you could alter some of the dresses, use the fabric to make something new.”

“Really, you’d let me do that, destroy some of your nice clothes?”

“They’re not mine anymore love, I gave them to Poppy, and I’m sure she’d be fine with you recycling some of them.”

“That’s amazing, thank you.”

We walked on and Belle led us to a large charity shop behind Manchester Square.

“The church over the road used to feed us a couple of nights a week, and if the weather was really bad, they’d put a few beds up in the basement, they were quite strict about who they let in though, one of the priests didn’t like Poppy, so if he was on duty we weren’t allowed to stay, they’d still give us a cup of soup and a sandwich though, he didn’t dislike her that much.”

“Why didn’t he like Poppy?” Helen asked, “she’s just so loveable, I can’t imagine anyone, especially a man, not liking her.”

“I’m not sure, maybe he was unhappy about Poppy’s reputation, although some of the other girls with us were nearly as active as she was. Who knows.”