Page 38 of Don't Tell Teacher

There’s a dried piece of rice stuck to his school jumper and a light smudge of chocolate icing – I assume from school dinner. Tom’s shirt cuffs are grey and grubby, so I’ll have to do a wash tonight – both colours and whites.

‘Okay, Tommo,’ I say, walking into his bedroom. ‘Let’s have our story.’

But Tom doesn’t reply.

He’s sitting on the bed, staring into space.

There is something in his hands: a white towelling dressing gown, the one Mum got him for Christmas.

It’s stained with something, a huge browny-red circle.

‘Oh my God!’

Blood. Lots of blood.

‘Tom!’ I run to him. ‘Whathappened? Did you fall?’

He shakes his head, eyes panicked. ‘I don’t know how it got there,’ he says, voice high-pitched and fearful.

‘Okay.’ I step back, taking a deep breath. ‘Okay. Maybe you had a nosebleed. Could it have been a nosebleed?’

Tom nods. ‘Yes. I think so.’

‘But there’s no blood around your nose.’

‘I don’t know, Mum.’

‘We need to go to the hospital. Just in case. Did something happen at school today?’ I check him over, looking for signs of blood elsewhere. There are none.

‘You and the little girl today … was it a fight? Something that could have caused a nosebleed later on?’

‘No.’ Tom accepts the top I hand him. ‘We don’t need the hospital. It’s only a nosebleed. I had one before.’

‘A tiny one. Once. Neverthisbad. And you had a seizure …’

‘Can I have a hot water bottle for bed? I’m cold.’

Olly used to do that. Distract. Change the subject. Pretend I hadn’t said anything. My mother did too.

‘Tom, we need to see a doctor,’ I say. ‘This iscoveredin blood.’ I take his face in my hands, tipping his head to the light, looking around his nose and eyes.

‘I don’t want the hospital,’ says Tom. ‘I don’twantthe hospital.’

‘Listen. Perhaps Accident and Emergency is a bit drastic. But we need a trip to the walk-in clinic, at least.’

‘No!’

He’s never shouted at me like that before. Protested, yes. But never shouted.

‘Tom, we’re going.’ I open the wardrobe and throw some clothes at him. ‘Right now.’

Kate

10.03 p.m.

Ishould have gone home hours ago, but I’m still at Accident and Emergency with a distraught Pauly Neilson.

He has a head wound and a broken finger, both caused by his older brother, Lloyd, during a fight in the school playground. The teacher says they were fighting over a medicine bottle, which is a cause for concern, but no one can find the bottle.

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