"Wait Seren, I think it would be a good idea if you told Mrs Williams and Mr Jones, what happened to you and WHY it happened" I said to him. Seren hesitated and looked at Mrs Williams for direction. "Please Mrs Williams," I continued," the assault on Seren was due to the same prejudice and intolerance shown by Mr Franklin towards me. Can he explain what happened to him?" The Price To Pay - Vol. 4.09 - Support by Alys

"Someone loves you, you've got a text!" came the familiar voice from my mobile.

The loud message pierced my state of semi slumber and I opened my eyes to investigate. The darkness of the room was a surprise. My eyes flicked over to my bedside table to confirm the early nature of the interruption. I made out the numbers five, three and five on the faint red LED display.

"Five - thirty-five," I mumbled to myself, "who the heck is texting me so early"

I reached over for my mobile and flicked it open to read the short message.

"can't face school, sry"

It was Seren. I had spoken to him the previous evening when he had phoned me to tell me that he had recovered, physically, from the assault, but that he was going to stay off school for a while. It had taken me half an hour to persuade him that he had to face his attackers and I had promised to do everything I could to help him. I sat up in bed and typed a quick reply.

"yes u can, i b there 2 support u, don't wry, u'll be ok, pls come"

I sent the message and then lay back and listened to the gentle songs of Meinir Gwilym on my MP3 player, while I waited for Seren's reply. The sixth track of the album had started, about twenty minutes later, when I felt my phone vibrate on my bed and heard Siá´n's silly pre-recorded message. I flicked open the phone.

"can u come on bus with me?"

I considered his request for a few moments and then replied.

"Of course, what time does your bus go?"

The response was almost instantaneous.

"About 8, thnx"

I didn't feel that I had much of a choice, even though it meant that I either had to walk for over half an hour to Seren's bus stop or cycle up and leave my bike lying around all day in not the most salubrious area of town. I calculated the time involved and realised that I needed to get up, get dressed and have breakfast that moment, in order to have enough time to meet Seren.

Twenty minutes later I was stacking my plate and cup in the dishwasher when my Mother, still in her nightdress opened the door to the kitchen. She wiped the sleep from her eyes and stopped in surprise at seeing me.

"Celyn, what are you doing up so early?" she asked.

"I've decided to evolve," I replied cryptically

"Evolve?" my Mother said, confused.

"I'm going to be the first of a new generation of super teens, that can survive without lie-ins in the morning. You will soon be envious of our energy and great conversational abilities at the beginning of the day..." I rambled on.

"Humph!, you are one of the worst teenage grunters I know.," she interrupted," come on I know you too well to forgo an extra half and hour in bed, what's going on?"

I explained about catching the bus with Seren.

"OK, you'd better get going soon, or you'll miss it. Don't forget your coat I think it's started to rain," she responded.

"Damn, I hate getting to school with wet clothes on." I said in disgust.

"Now, if you had not said anything about being some sort of super teen," my Mother said slyly," I might have considered giving you a lift to the bus stop, but I imagine you would consider that beneath you now"

I walked over and hugged her.

"Please Mum, can you drop me there, I promise that I'll..........." I hesitated considering what I could promise and not live to regret. I remembered some rash promises that I had made for favours in the past. A month's hoovering the house had been one of my most ill considered.

"Gone on, make it worth my while," said my Mother.

"...I'll, I'll...um...grunt less in the morning?" I suggested.

My Mother laughed and then hurried to get ready to take me to meet Seren. While I was waiting I phoned Siá´n to explain about the change in plans, he usually picked me up on his way to school. To my surprise he offered to come with me.

A quarter of an hour later, we jumped out of my Mother's car and made a dash for the shelter. The rain was coming down heavily and I was glad that I hadn't walked though town.

"Hi Seren!," I yelled as I ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

A group of three boys in the year above Seren, who were standing a few metres away, stopped talking and stared at the scene, their mouths open in surprise at a member of the sixth from having anything to do with someone they clearly despised.

"Hello Seren," said Siá´n, as he made it into the refuge from the rain.

The mouths of the boys in the lower school, opened wider and they made goldfish noises in astonishment at the unexpected developments.

"Um, excuse me, Celyn," said one of the boys, a child of medium height, "how do you know him?"

"Seren's a good friend of mine," I replied, with my arm around Seren's narrow shoulders.

"He's a good friend of both of us," added Siá´n.

"Oh, " said the boy who had asked the question and then returned to his friends and after a short while they resumed their conversation about Xbox 360 games.

"Thanks for coming Celyn," said Seren quietly, "you too Siá´n"

"It's the least I could do, Seren," I said, giving him another hug.

The bus turned up, more or less on time, and we boarded. We chatted about the day ahead and about the weekend just past. They both laughed when I told them about Rachel's method of getting her boyfriend to join the Biology boycott. Seren explained that his Dad had told him that he had to learn to fight back when he was bullied.

An hour later we sat in the reception area as we waited to meet Mrs Williams, the headteacher. She had announced in morning assembly for me to come and see her straightaway. I had grabbed Seren and told him to come with me. He had been reluctant but I had insisted that he explained the circumstances of the assault to Mrs Williams.

"Ah there you are," came a familiar voice.

I looked up to see Jonesy (Mr Jones), the head of the Biology department.

"Hello Mr Jones," I said.

"It's time to put a stop to this stupid lesson boycott," he said gruffly.

Before I could say anything in reply Mrs Williams opened the door of her office and ushered us in.

"Thank you for coming Mr Jones and you too Celyn. Who is this boy, Celyn?" she asked.

I explained about the assault on Seren.

"Oh yes that is very regrettable, I hope you are feeling better now Seren, if you could wait outside I'll talk to you after I've finished having a discussion with Mr Jones and Celyn"

Seren turned to leave the room. I put my hand on his arm.

"Wait Seren, I think it would be a good idea if you told Mrs Williams and Mr Jones, what happened to you and WHY it happened" I said to him.

Seren hesitated and looked at Mrs Williams for direction.

"Please Mrs Williams," I continued," the assault on Seren was due to the same prejudice and intolerance shown by Mr Franklin towards me. Can he explain what happened to him?"

Mr Jones looked angrily at me after my last remark.

Mrs Williams paused before replying gently.

"Sit down please Seren and explain the events of Friday"

Seren slowly and hesitantly described the incident of the previous Friday. Mrs Williams took some notes and after Seren had finished speaking she picked up her phone.

"Nyree," she spoke to her secretary, "can you get Rhiannon to come and look after Seren and can you arrange for the boys on the list I'm sending out with him to be withdrawn from lessons and booked in to see me after lunchtime. Oh yes and can you get hold of their parents and tell them that they are facing a ‘fixed term exclusion’"

The Headteacher stood up and walked around to where Seren was slumped in his chair, emotionally exhausted after reliving last Friday. She knelt down so that she had eye contact. She put her hand gently on his.

"Thank you Seren for telling me what happened to you. You are a very brave person for sticking up for Celyn. Mrs Jenkins, your year head, will look after you for the rest of the day and don't worry these boys won't hurt you again."

She then helped him out the room and gave him a note for her secretary.

There was a silence in the room for a little while. Both Mrs Williams and Mr Jones looked shaken by the story that Seren had told them. Finally Mrs Williams looked at me.

"Celyn, thank you so much for helping Seren, you are such a caring person," she said smiling at me. She turned to Mr Jones.

"I will not have intolerance and prejudice in my school Mr Jones, clearly I was wrong in my interpretation of the incident in the lower sixth Biology lesson. The actions of the rest of the class and Celyn's support for poor little Seren has shown me that." she said with determination in her voice, "you will instruct Mr Franklin to apologise to Celyn and the rest of the class as soon as possible"

"But Mrs Williams..." blustered Mr Jones.

"There are no buts, Mr Jones, I have made my decision and it is final. I assume that is acceptable to you Celyn?" she asked.

"Yes, Mrs Williams, I am happy with your decision," I replied.

"If you would leave us now, Celyn, I have some issues of staff training to discuss with Mr Jones," she concluded.

I left the room with a complete feeling of elation. I had anticipated being hauled over the coals by the headteacher instead she had seen my point of view. I hurried to the sixth form common room hoping to catch some of my friends to tell them the news.

I felt the sly kick on my ankles and the next thing I knew the floor was rushing towards me at an alarming rate. My hands hit the ground painfully, as I tried to break my fall, and I felt pain shooting up from my knees at the same time, as I fell awkwardly.

"Freak!," someone shouted.

I turned to see two boys disappear around the corner of the main school corridor.