Misunderstood

Grace came bursting into my classroom at lunchtime today, in floods of tears. I'd already had a lot of lunchtimes interruptions, mainly Year 10's wanting to dump their bags and mobile phones with me to look after whilst they went to one of their GCSE Science module exams. Oh yes, and to borrow pens/pencils/rulers etc.

A thousand times I said, 'So you knew you had an exam today and it didn't occur to you to bring a pen/pencil/ruler into school with you?'
And a thousand times I was met with a blank stare, a shrug and a 'So have you got a biro I could borrow, or what?'

And 'borrow' is a word that is used in the loosest possible sense of the word, because of all the writing implements I've lent out, not one has been returned. WH Smiths is making a fortune out of me.

Hey ho, back to Grace.

'Grab a chair, and come and tell me what's happened,' I said.
'NO ONE BELIEVES ME,' wailed Grace. She clutched her bag to her chest and slumped into the chair.
'Tell me what happened,' I said.

'WELLIWASINPEANDWEWASDOINGATIMEDRELAYTHINGANDIWASWITHMYFRIENDSADIEWELL SHESNOTMYFRIENDNOW...'

'Hang on,' I said. 'Slow up and take the volume down a notch.'

Grace took a deep breath and wiped her nose up her sleeve.

'We were in PE and we were doing a timed relay thing,' she said. I nodded, because I know exactly what a timed relay thing is, don't I?
'And I was timing my friend Sadie, only she's not my friend any more. And I said 'GO!' and then I noticed that my stopwatch wasn't working, so I shouted 'STOP!STOP! but she didn't stop, she kept running, so I shouted after her, 'Are you f**king deaf or something, and now she's slagging me off to everyone saying I was horrid to her.'

I took a deep breath. I know Sadie. She is in my form.
'Grace,' I began, 'you know that Sadie does have a hearing problem, don't you? And that she's waiting for an operation on her ear.'
'Yeah, course I do. She's my friend,' said Grace. 'And I was right, wasn't I? She is f**king deaf.'

What could I do? What could I say? There were merits to both sides of this story, and besides, I know full well that Year 8 girls who fall out with each other one day, are best buddies the next.

'Okay,' I said, deciding on damage limitation. 'Tell me something good that's happened this week.'

Grace, tears still trickling down her face, thought for a moment and then said, 'I took a dog for a walk.'

Not exactly the response I was expecting.

'That's nice,' I said. 'Is it your dog or someone else's?'
'It's a neighbours. I'm walking it for her because she's on holiday,' said Grace.
'For extra pocket money?' I said, because I am becoming increasingly aware that many young people will only do something for someone else if there is something in it for them i.e cold hard cash.
'No,' said Grace, 'I'm doing it because I want to. I don't want the money.'

With my heart feeling slightly warmer, I said, 'So what kind of dog is it?'
'One of those labradors,' said Grace. 'You know, the black and white spotty ones.'
'I think you'll find that's a dalmation,' I said.
'Yes,' said Grace.

So I gave Grace two stars on her star chart, for being a kind person, and she left my classroom feeling a lot happier than when she entered.

A gang of Year 10 girls appeared. 'Can we leave our bags in your room whilst we do our exam?' they said. Feeling the warm glow of benevolence I said they could.
As the last girl left, and I wished her luck, she paused at the doorway.

'Have you got a pen I could borrow?' she said.