Amelia stood nervously waiting for Tina in the school kitchen. She kept checking the clock on the wall as she fiddled with the ends of her hair. Rita was watching her.

‘How you feeling this morning? Not feeling sick anymore?’

Amelia shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine now. It must have been something I ate.’

Rita was alarmed. ‘I hope you’re not blaming my cooking, I do everything by the book in this place. It’s bang on.’

Rita was beating eggs; she could see the girl trying not to gag and moved in closer. ‘Get a smell of them eggs, they’ll be ready soon if you fancy. Scrambled.’

Amelia covered her mouth as the colour drained from her cheeks; she looked like someone had poured a bag of flour over her head. Rita looked at her knowingly and walked away, calling behind her, ‘Yep, just as I thought.’ She carried on with her chores without another word.

Tina rushed in looking mithered and raised her eyes at Amelia. ‘Are you ready to go?’

She nodded and reached over for her coat.

Rita turned to face Tina. ‘So where are you off to?’

‘Oh, just an appointment. We should be back by lunchtime so put a meal out for Amelia please.’

Rita studied them both. ‘Are you sure she can stomach it, you know, with her problem?’ She flicked her eyes at Amelia’s stomach.

Tina tried to ignore her and started heading for the door, urging Amelia along with her. ‘See you later, Rita.’

The minute they got outside, Tina turned to her student. ‘What the hell have you told her?’

Amelia shrugged her shoulders. ‘Nothing, I’ve never said a word. What are you even on about?’

Tina got into the car and waited for Amelia to fasten her seatbelt. She carried on talking as she started the engine. ‘I’ve told you. If this is going to work you need to make sure that you don’t say a word to anyone. If one single person finds out about this, then you’re up shit creek. Right now I’m happy to help you and I will take the baby, but this will only work if it’s kept between us and no one else. Do you hear me, our secret?’

‘I never said a word, miss. She was just acting weird around me that’s all. She’s a mad one, Rita, everyone knows that, you’re overreacting.’

Tina drove along the main road, keeping her eyes fixed on the traffic ahead. ‘I don’t even know how this is going to work, but when we sit down in a minute, we can go over a few things.’

‘Like what?’

Tina swallowed hard – she knew what she was about to say would freak Amelia out. ‘I’m going to rent a flat for you out of the area. You’ll have to go missing.’