Chapter 12 (Revised)   Simon Jones is Eve Jones. But she didn't know.

 
 
Previously:

Eve Jones survived her breakdown, and another visit to Dr Fox. She had been re-united with Claire and received some retail therapy.

Now the story continues.
 
 
Eve Chapter 12
 
 
Friday morning came quickly and Mr Wogan was in his usual Irish humourous mode on the radio. I then remembered that it was two weeks since I'd left hospital, and so much had changed since then.

After breakfast it was a delight to go through my new, albeit limited, wardrobe and choose something fresh for the day. Of course I hadn't had time yesterday to organise it properly so would do that later, there were some older clothes to dispose of first. Mum could now have complete custody of her own clothes, until us girls need to borrow of course.

I had several appointments today, it was almost at the point that I wouldn't have time to go to work, if I really had a job. Although hadn't I best finish school first?

First stop was Dr Kumar's surgery. We went into the treatment room first where another armful of blood was taken. Was there a Dracula in the building? My blood pressure and weight were taken, I was used to this physical abuse by now.

We had been back in the waiting room for ten minutes when we were called to Dr Kumar's room.

"Good morning Eve, Mrs Jones. Eve, could I first take a look at your wound?"

I took my wig off and he removed the dressing. Satisfied he went back to his desk and I replaced the wig, assuming correctly that he wouldn't redress it, at least he didn't say we needed to. I pulled a hairbrush and compact out of my bag and brushed it back into shape. Dr Kumar waited for me to finish.

"Eve, I've been looking over the last few blood tests to see what has been changing. You have good indicators overall but there are a few anomolies. Your testosterone has now dropped to the minimum that is safe. On the other hand your estrogen has stabilised and is now appropriate for a girl your age going through puberty. Normally I would suspect drug misuse but your blood has been monitored closely over the past month and was changing even while you were unconscious."

"Is there a cause?" asked mum.

"We believe so. There is a strong suspicion that your pituatary gland was affected by the tumour. I believe Mr Bishop mentioned this last week. I would normally refer you to a specialist, with the usual NHS delay, but Mr Bishop has agreed to keep you on his list, although another one of his team will normally see you, this is conditional on there being a possible link to the surgery. If this is not proven we may need to refer to a different specialist after all."

"Right."

"Eve, have you noticed any physical changes recently?"

"Yes, some changes to my breasts and I haven't needed to shave for over a month."

The doctor pushed a buzzer and asked for a nurse to come in. "Eve, please can you strip off your top and bra."

Dr Kumar put on a pair of gloves and felt around my breasts. I jumped a little.

"There is definitely some growth there. We'll monitor it fortnightly for now. Thankyou."

We took that as a cue that our ten minutes was up.

We headed into the pedestrian precinct in the middle of town and sat at a pavement cafe, I didn't recall stopping here before. The owner, an Italian barista, came and took our orders for two skinny lattes. Mum was still trying to keep me from gaining weight.

We watched the world go by for half an hour before settling our bill and bidding the barista farewell.

Next stop was the offices of Dixon Hill, our solicitors.

We were welcomed by Mr Dixon who was sat behind a huge oak and leather desk. Have you ever heard of a poor solicitor?

"Good morning, please take a seat."

There was a bundle of papers on his desk, bound by a red ribbon.

"I've been investigating the phone call and the emails. British Telecom are insisting on a court order before releasing the phone records, so we'll leave that for now. Google were surprisingly a little more helpful, whilst they couldn't be exact they did say that the email originated from an IP address within the county's schools network. I have asked the IT department at County Hall for some information to pinpoint the computer but I'm not expecting any help. Again it might take a court order."

"And if the abuse doesn't stop?"

"Then we will go to court, when we can identify the protagonist."

"What about the hospital connection?"

"I've asked the Hospital Trust to investigate a potential breach of patient confidentiality. We should receive a reply in the next week."

That all seemed very much as if something was happening. Mum and I both nodded acknowledgement.

"Right, the Chair of Governors at your school tells me there will be a meeting on Thursday when the future of the head teacher will be discussed. he can say nothing more until then. He has, however, at my request, provided me with a complete staff list for your school. I have also made a request to the LEA for your file but have hit the same problem as your tutor, whose statement I now have."

We nodded again, as ever we were waiting for things to happen.

"Onto the next matter. Eve, I understand you still want to change your name."

"Yes, but I want to remove Simon from my name and keep Eve Lynn."

"Is your mother aware of this change?"

"Not as such."

"Mrs Jones, how do you feel about this?"

"If this is what my daughter wants, I'm happy for her. But hadn't you said she couldn't?"

"Whilst I have advised against a name change, I hadn't expected this particular change so I foresee no problems."

He took out a flountain pen and wrote on a sheet in flowery handwriting, before turning it to me for signature. It was headed Statutory Declaration. Mum had to countersign. He then turned it back and took out a wax seal which he put on the document and signed it himself. Once the seal was dry, an assistant made several copies, which he authenticated.

"I'll keep the original for now, please take these copies. I think you'll need them."

We left there with six copies in a strong envelope, then headed home.

We had a simple tuna salad. The tuna was from sustainable stocks, of course.

At two my tutor arrived, this was her first visit for over a week and only the fourth visit since I came out of hospital. When this was added to the week I missed while I was in hospital, I was now well behind. She echoed my thoughts.

"We need to catch up."

By the time she left at five I was exhausted. I'd also been left with a pile of work for the weekend which would be checked on Monday. The phone rang.

"Eve, it's Annie. Get over here quickly."

I dashed across to their house, Annie was waiting at the door. Claire rushed to me as soon as I was inside, crying and shaking.

I coaxed Claire to the couch but she clung to me, crying on my shoulder. It was ten minutes before I could calm Claire down. I waited for her to tell me what was wrong.

"Annie?"

She asked her sister to tell the story while she sobbed quietly.

"When we got to school this morning the caretaker was finishing cleaning Claire's locker but wouldn't say what had happened. In the common room after lunch there was alot of whispering but nothing was said. Then, as we left school David Stevens was waiting for us."

I knew David Stevens, he'd been a problem to me and anyone else he considered as weak, throughout school. He'd been warned several times but strangely nothing had been done about him.

"He called Claire a slag and a dyke and kept shouting it. Then he said he knew all about Eve. He also if she'd liked the welcome message this morning."

I made the links straight away.

I muttered "The bastard, oh sorry."

I'd noticed the girls' mum, Sharon, stood in the kitchen doorway. My mum was there as well.

"Joey Brown was there and was joining in with the name calling. I could see the caretaker around the corner on the phone, then the sixth form head arrived. He suspended them on the spot, sent them home and said he'd speak to their parents."

"Oh, I wonder?"

"Eve, Claire and I wondered the same. I called mum and asked to collect us, we had to give a statement to the head of sixth form. Claire was in a terrible state and needed you."

I thought out loud, "how could he know about Claire and me?"

"We'll find out, but right now we can't do anything," said Sharon. She was right, it was Friday evening and nothing could happen before Monday morning.

I sat hugging Claire before we kissed. It was a deeply emotional kiss. No-one interrupted us. When I came up for air I told her, again, that I loved her.

"I know. I love you too. No-one can change that."

Nothing more had to be said, so we resumed our hugging session. Sometime after six Sharon announced that that dinner was ready. I assumed that I should leave.

"No Eve, you and your mum are staying for dinner."

Claire and I spent some more time after dinner locked in our embrace but eventually were forced apart, both very tired. We promised to see each other in the morning.

I slept, after my pills, wondering how this fitted together.