‘Look, Trish, you have to go. There’s nothing wrong with you. Why have you started doing this to me? You’ve always liked school, you know you have.’‘Don’t want to go,’ mumbled her daughter, looking down at the floor.‘Forget the “don’t want to go” nonsense. There has to be a reason. Tell me.’‘Just don’t want to, all right?’Virginia stayed silent for a moment to let the spark of anger in her daughter die down. ‘Are you being bullied?’ she asked. ‘Is that it? Just tell me if you are because I’m not having that. I’ll go straight to the head teacher about it. We’ll nip this in the bud.’Trish shook her head silently, still staring studiously down at the floor.‘Then what?’Silence.Virginia looked at the clock again and felt her stomach tighten. She was going to be late for work again and, as a divorced single mother, she needed the job even if it was only as a filing clerk in an estate agent’s office. It was a busy office. ‘Please Trish, tell me.’ She tried to make eye contact by taking Trish’s hands in hers and pulling her to her feet.
