‘Mr Rooney—’

‘Pick it up.’ Scott took a menacing step towards his son. Aaron immediately scooped his bag off the floor and hurled it through the doorway, just missing Chloe.

‘Little fucker,’ Scott growled. ‘Do that again and I’ll throw you out the door, mate!’

But Aaron had already disappeared. I wondered if he was heading for the road.

At least Prue’s on duty out there, I thought.

‘Okay, listen.’ Scott suddenly rounded on me, his face like a clenched fist. ‘I’ve had enough of you. Lay off Aaron, lay off me, and lay off my mum. Okay?’

He was on the very edge of violence. I could feel it on my skin like static electricity. Luckily, there were witnesses all around us: children, parents, Deb next door.

‘Moderate your tone, Mr Rooney.’ I was trying to ignore my racing heart and dry mouth.

‘Rick Waring’s a mate of mine,’ Scott continued. ‘Did you really think I wouldn’t find out?’ He leaned towards me until I could smell him. He smelled of stale sweat. ‘I don’t know what the fuck your problem is. Mum thinks you’re wet for Krystal. I think you’re crazy. But if you don’t calm down, we’ll take you to court. For harassment.’

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The sheer gall of it! I was about to tell him what he could do with himself when a piercing scream sent me bounding outside.

Aaron was in the playground, stamping on someone’s Barbie doll.

The rest of the day was like an extension of the first half-hour. Aaron wasn’t sent home—largely because the Barbie doll shouldn’t have been at school in the first place. But he kept acting out, even after his father left. He sulked. He hid. He threw things. He made stupid noises and wiped his nose on Kayla’s skirt. I was run ragged just trying to control him; teaching him was out of the question. Even the other kids grew impatient.

‘Everyone’s sick of you,’ Phoebe told him. ‘Why don’t you be quiet?’

He tried to tear up her busy book after that.

Dixie had some success with him, and I thought he seemed better after his appointment with Aima Singh; we had an outdoor lesson before lunch, and that calmed him down a bit. But by the time Krystal came to pick him up that afternoon, I was at my wits’ end.

‘He’s not had a good day,’ I said. The rest of the class hadn’t had a good day either, but she didn’t need to know that.

‘Oh.’ She looked even more distracted than usual.

‘We’re still waiting on his assessment. Once we have it, we’ll be able to move forward.’ I tucked a stray lock of hair behind my ear and tried not to look as exhausted as I felt. ‘I’ve got your report, incidentally.’