I leant forward and gave him a little peck on the cheek............ Before he could say anything else I had jumped in the back of the car next to my sister. "Quick Mum, drive off!" I whispered. "Before Alun gets over the shock of the kiss," said my sister, laughing until I gave her a vicious prod in the side. The Price To Pay - Vol. 2.14 - Boyfriend? by Alys

"I'm so sorry Celyn, I didn't know where else to go," said Mrs Prys, flatly, as she stood at the door looking very much the worse for wear.

Her mouth was swollen and bruised, her left eye was almost closed and there was a trickle of blood running from her nose which looked like it could be broken. Despite the heat of the summer morning she was shivering. It was obvious she was in urgent need of some medical attention.

"Mum, this is Mrs Prys," I said, " she used to teach French to me and Taran, is it OK if she comes in?"

"Of course, of course please come Mrs Prys. This way into the kitchen, let's see if we can patch you up a bit," Mum responded as she led the way to a chair at the kitchen table before fetching the first aid kit out of the cupboard.

"Celyn, fetch Mrs Prys a glass of brandy, Taran get a blanket from the airing cupboard," Mum directed before proceeding to gently clean up our teacher's face.

"I'm really sorry to put you out Mrs Morus.....," began Mrs Prys, apologetically, shivering, despite the warmth of the kitchen.

"Don't worry at all, just let me finish here and you'll feel a little better," answered Mum as she continued to patch up Mrs Prys, "and call me Haf by the way."

Our injured teacher accepted the brandy glass from me and sipped it a little.

Taran returned with the woolen blanket and draped it around Mrs Prys's shoulders. She wrapped it around herself tightly and drank the rest of the brandy. She winced when Mum touched her swollen nose.

"Not sure if it's broken or not, but better get you down to the doctors," said Mum as she looked carefully at Mrs Prys's injuries, "Celyn can you fetch me the phone, maybe we can get Mrs Prys an emergency appointment at the surgery, quicker than going to A and E*."

I gave Mum the phone, she dialled the number and then walked to the other side of the kitchen to make the call.

"Mrs Prys, would you like something hot to drink, maybe a coffee or a hot chocolate?" asked my sister.

"Thanks Taran," replied Mrs Prys, "could I have a coffee?"

My sister wandered off to make the drink. I turned to Mrs Prys and whispered, "was it your husband? How did he find out?"

"He found my certificate.....I was just so stupid, it's all my fault," she muttered.

I put my arm around her while responding, "It's not your fault, Mrs Prys."

"Mrs Prys, it's not your fault, whoever did this to you....they're the ones at fault, not you," stated my Mother as she finished her call and caught the end our conversation. She paused and it was obvious she was curious about the identity of Mrs Prys's attacker, but in the end she stopped herself asking and continued, "I've got you an appointment, in twenty minutes, and I've got you some Ibuprofen for the pain."

My sister brought over a cup of coffee and put it on the table.

"Thank you so much," replied Mrs Prys before she took the offered tablets and swallowed them with a few sips of the hot drink.

"Hopefully that'll ease the pain a little and I guess we'd better get down to the surgery now for them to check you out. Now then gir......Taran and Celyn go and get ready while I get the car out." Mum said, before picking up her car keys and making her way to the front door.

"Mum, I can't go looking like this," I interjected.

"Looking like what?" asked Mother, turning round to look at me, "there's nothing wrong with shorts and t-shirt, it's a hot day, they don't have a dress code in the health centre."

"I mean I can't go there looking like a boy, Mum. Alun lives next to the doctor's, I might I bump into him he'll realise who I really am," I explained.

"Oh, that makes things a bit complicated," she responded.

There was a few seconds pause before Mum turned to Mrs Prys, "umm Cerys there is something about Celyn, about my 'son' I need to tell you and you'll have to promise to........."

"I know about your 'daughter' already," interrupted Mrs Prys with an attempt at a smile that only somehow managed to make her battered face look worse.

"How could you possibly know?" asked Mother, sounding a little alarmed.

"It's a long story, Haf, but don't worry I haven't told anyone else," replied our injured teacher.

"You'll have to tell me later then. Celyn can you go and change then, put on your nice white dress with your black stockings and your ankle boots," directed Mum, "we need to hurry to make the appointment."

Some twenty minutes later we were rushing from the car park into the reception area of the town centre health centre.

"Hello, we've got an appointment with Doctor Allen," said Mum, a little out of breath, to the young female receptionist, who smiled then typed something on her computer before indicating the last few empty chairs in the waiting room. I sat down next to my sister in two adjacent chairs while Mum sat next to Mrs Prys a little further along.

"I hope we don't have to wait long," whispered Taran to me as she looked round the crowded room with its usual mixture of young and old ill people.

"Doesn't look too promising," I replied, directing Taran's attention to the patient list on the wall mounted monitor, "there are six others before Mrs Prys."

"Damn, oh well maybe there will be a silver lining, pass me some of those and take a pile yourself. Here's a chance for you to immerse yourself into the world of women's magazines," she whispered, smiling.

An hour and a half later we finally left the stuffy waiting room and were making our way towards the car, to take Mrs Prys to the police station to report the assault after her unbroken nose had been bandaged, when I heard a familiar voice calling, I looked over my shoulder and my heart sank.

"Hey Eifiona!, wait." shouted Alun, running from his front door towards us.

I stopped and turned to face my persistent admirer, while everyone else got into the car.

"Hey Alun," I replied as unenthusiastically as possible.

He stopped, breathing a little heavily after his dash along the tarmac, "You're looking pretty today Eifiona."

"Thanks, I guess," I replied, "sorry I've got to go."

Alun looked disappointed with my reaction. He put a hand gently on my arm, "something wrong, you were pretty sweet yesterday, you remember outside the station."

I forced myself to smile, "Of course I do Alun."

I leant forward and gave him a little peck on the cheek, "I'm really sorry we DO have a major family crisis. Ring me later."

Before he could say anything else I had jumped in the back of the car next to my sister.

"Quick Mum, drive off!" I whispered.

"Before Alun gets over the shock of the kiss," said my sister, laughing until I gave her a vicious prod in the side.

As we sped off I turned to give Alun a little wave and received a bigger one in response while at the same time he held his other hand to the cheek I'd just kissed.

"So what was that all about then?" asked Mum a few minutes later as she negotiated her way around the usual Casnewydd bumper to bumper traffic.

"Nothing," I muttered.

"It wasn't nothing Celyn," she countered, "I saw it all, you gave that Alun a kiss."

"Celyn, or should I say 'Eifiona' has a boyfriend," chortled Taran until she received a harder prod than the one before.

"Ouch that hurt!" my sister protested.

"Well don't be mean," I responded, "you know he's not my boyfriend."

She poked her tongue out at me and gave my hair a little tug. I responded with another prod in her side which elicited a squeal of pain. It was only the intervention of Mum that stopped a full scale tussle developing in the back of the car.

"Come on girls, stop fighting!" she commanded, "remember we're trying to help poor Mrs Prys."

"I'm so sorry for all this trouble," said our teacher, very softly.

I looked at Mrs Prys's battered face as she spoke and immediately felt like the lowest of the low. My irritation with Alun was nothing to the trauma she had experienced. I sat back in my chair as Taran did the same. There was silence in the car for a few minutes.

"It's not a problem, Mrs Prys," said Mum, eventually, after successfully navigating accross the city, "we are happy to help as much as we can, now where's the car park for the damn station?"

Some twenty minutes later we had left the police station after Mrs Prys had been interviewed by a sympathetic policewoman who had promised to visit the scene of the assault within the hour when a male duty officer became available.

"So what now then?" asked Mum as we all got back into the car.

There was a hesitation and then Mrs Prys spoke softly, "I'm sorry to have to ask you for one more favour after all you have done for me."

"What is it?" asked Mum.

"Well I wonder..." began Mrs Prys before stopping, "....if we could pay a short visit to my house to collect some of my documents and a few other valuables before Steve gets round to destroying them as he threatened this morning."

"Won't that be a bit awkward with your husband being there and everything?" I asked, as tactfully as I could and not being sure I had altogether succeeded.

"It's OK Celyn," she replied, "he'll be down the club, he always goes there on Saturday morning to watch the football and get drunk too, usually."

Just over half an hour Mum pulled up outside a neat modern semi in the comfortable Malpas neighbourhood where Mrs Prys had lived since she married two years previously.

We waited for a few minutes but there seemed to no signs of life in the house. We cautiously exited the car and walked slowly towards the front door and were soon inside standing in the hallway.

All around us were signs of violence. The floor was littered with a variety of items including shoes, clothes and kitchen equipment. There were marks on the walls showing the position of impacts. It was a frightening atmosphere. I gently squeezed Taran's arm to try and feel a little reassured.

Mum seemed to feel the same and articulated our anxiety, "I think it's best if we don't stay too long Mrs Prys."

"Don't worry I don't intend to stay any longer than necessary," responded Mrs Prys as she set about quickly to move from cupboard to cupboard, sorting through papers and piles of objects before selecting a few items and putting them in her handbag.

Mum, Taran and I picked up a few of the larger objects and tried to find a more appropriate location for them. I felt marginally less fearful as I busied myself doing something.

"OK, that's it all, I think," said Mrs Prys after what seemed an age but was probably not much more than ten minutes, "shall we go?"

We all turned, in relief, to leave but, before we could move, we heard a key in the lock of the front door.

This was quickly followed by the noise of it opening.

"Hello, is that you Cerys? I told you not to come back!" yelled an angry unfamiliar male voice.

A & E* = Accident and Emergency Department in a hospital = ER