I moved closer to him, as we stood in a corridor that was temporarily deserted. "Do you think it deserves a celebratory kiss," I whispered. "Why not, I don't see any referees around to book us," he whispered back. The Price to Pay - Vol. 4.14 - Education by Alys

"I'm telling you again, you're not kicking my Luke out of your school!" shouted Mr James at Mrs Williams the headteacher.

I was sitting outside her office waiting to see her after she had asked me to stay behind after morning assembly, unfortunately the father of one the thugs had stormed into the school and insisted on seeing her immediately. The meeting had been going on for almost ten minutes and had been getting louder and louder so that by now every word was clear through the office door."

"I have already explained to you, Mr James," responded Mrs Williams politely but forcefully, " that you may chose to exercise your right, under the education act of 2003, to appeal against the school's actions to the local education authority. However I must warn you that you are highly unlikely to be successful, due to the nature of the injuries sustained by his victim"

"And I'm telling you again, 'e wasn't there, 'e was 'ome with me, all night," responded the thug's Dad.

"Fortunately for us and equally unfortunately for Luke," stated Mrs Williams," the victim identified your son and his accomplice, Barry, before he became unconscious"

"It's just 'is word against my Luke's and anyway who would take a fairy like 'im seriously," said Mr James aggressively," so in that case you'd better let 'im back"

Mrs Williams tried to stay calm, I was getting worried that the thug's Dad might even assault her.

"Miss Thomas, maybe it's a good idea to get the Head of Games down with some others, in case he gets nasty," I suggested to Nyree Thomas, the headteacher's secretary.

She picked up the phone and spoke softly into it.

I turned my attention back to the heated meeting in Mrs Williams's office.

"...........and all of those children saw Luke and Barry running away from the scene about the time of the attack," she stated firmly.

"They are all a bunch of liars, must be friends of the pansy," the thug's Dad responded offensively.

"Mr James, I must say I take great offence at the pejorative way you constantly refer to poor Seren, I would ask you to consider that this is a child of only 11 and who knows what his sexuality and gender identity will be when he is an adult," said Mrs Williams, sounding angrier by the second," but to return to the matter in hand, even if it was only a question of the word of some children against others your son would be suspended while investigations were made. However there is one other factor"

"What!?" asked Mr James.

"The other factor is that there is clear, incontestable evidence of your son's involvement in the assault," explained Mrs Williams, with a steely tone in her voice," the CCTV cameras in that part of the school recorded the whole incident"

There was silence for a few seconds and then the door to the headteacher's room opened and Mrs Williams walked out and stood in the main office.

"I think it would be sensible if you went home now Mr James and talk with your son about this and ensure that he has legal representation. I feel that there is nothing further for us to discuss at the moment." she said, gesturing for the odious parent to leave her office.

Mr James, a big, fleshy man in his late forties, slowly walked into the main office and, a little menacingly, moved close to where Mrs Williams stood, towering over her.

"If you think you have heard the last of this, you weirdo lover, you are mistaken," he said slowly and deliberately, staring directly into the headteacher's eyes.

Mrs Williams wiped away a little of the parent's spittle, that had landed on her cheek. A flicker of fear showed itself in her eyes as the realisation of her potential physical danger crossed her mind.

"Is there a problem here, Mrs Williams?" asked the booming voice of Mr Jones, the head of games, who had walked into the office at a very opportune moment.

"Everything is fine, Mr Jones," replied Mrs Williams, calmly," Mr James is just leaving, perhaps you would be so kind as to show him the way out"

She quickly moved away from the unpleasant father while Mr Jones stepped in front of her.

"This way Mr James," said the head of games, gesturing to the way out.

The aggressive visitor took one look at the six foot four inch frame of the ex-rugby international player standing next to him and then, with a last unpleasant look at Mrs Williams, walked out of the building.

Mrs Williams sat down in a chair in the main office, looking drained by the whole experience. Every one of her fifty two years suddenly seeming etched deeply in her face.

"Is everything alright Mrs Williams," I asked.

She regained her composure, smiled at me and stood up.

"It's fine now, thank you Jonathan for being here, it was a fortunate coincidence that you happened to walk in, he was getting very threatening" she said to Mr Jones.

"Always glad to help, Serena, but it wasn't a coincidence, Nyree phoned me and asked me to pop in, just in case"

Mrs Williams turned to her secretary and smiled.

"Thanks are in order to you also Nyree, your quick action averted what might have been a difficult situation," she said.

"Thank you, Mrs Williams," Nyree replied," but you should really thank Celyn too, it was her idea that I phone Mr Jones"

"In that case, Celyn, I am very grateful to you for your concern and your quick thinking," she said smiling," if you'd like to come into my office now we can have the discussion that was unfortunately delayed, oh and Nyree I wonder if you could rustle up some tea and maybe a few of that special pack of biscuits"

"Of course," replied the secretary.

"Celyn," interjected Mr Jones," can you call into to see me for a few minutes after you have seen Mrs Williams"

I nodded my assent and then followed Mrs Williams into her office. It was becoming rather a familiar place. She began by asking me about the assault and about Seren. I explained to her what I had seen and how much pain he had been in before the paramedic arrived. I told her about him trying to stop the thugs from vandalising Siá´n's car. We were interrupted by the arrival of Nyree with the tea and biscuits.

"He is a very brave child," Mrs Williams commented, after she had taken a sip of her tea.

"Yes, he is," I responded.

"But all this bigotry and antagonism, it frightens me, Celyn, I wish I knew of some way of stopping it, of making people aware of every person's uniqueness and value" she said.

There was a quiet between us as we drank our tea and ate out biscuits.

"Mrs Williams, I might have an idea," I said.

"Yes, Celyn, please tell me," Mrs Williams said.

"I have a friend in London and well she...." I hesitated.

"Yes," prompted Mrs Williams,

"Well, the thing is, she's a lesbian," I blurted out.

"Yes, well that is interesting, Celyn, but how does that help us here?" asked Mrs Williams.

"She told me, she sent me an email, a couple of weeks ago, they had an LGBT day in her school," I replied," and it really changed the atmosphere there, she even came out to her parents after and they're Indian but....."

"LGBT, what is that?" asked the headteacher.

"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Mrs Williams, the idea is to have a day of awareness," I replied.

"That sounds interesting, Celyn, tell me more" she said, smiling.

I explained the idea as Amarjit had described it in her school, including speeches from LGBT people in public life, workshops on prejudice and bigotry, the history of LGBT. Mrs Williams seemed very keen on the concept and after thinking of who might be appropriate to come to address the school, she promised to make some enquiries. She asked me to get a list of the sixth form who would be prepared to help and then it was time for me to leave and see Mr Jones.

"Sit down, Celyn," said the head of games as he invited me into his small office in the sports hall.

"I'm not sure if you noticed me talking to a man in a suit on Friday?" he asked.

"Um, yes I think I did," I replied.

"Well his name is Mr Jenkins and he is a scout for one of the major football teams in the premiership," he explained.

"Man United," I said.

"That's right, how did you know?" he asked.

"I met him once, a couple of years ago," I replied.

"Oh, I see," Mr Jones said. He hesitated as if he was about to ask me more and then obviously decided that his news was more important.

"Celyn, Mr Jenkins has made a very generous offer to the school, he has offered to give us a substantial donation in return for us organising a rematch with Ysgol Casnewydd ,"

"Will they play us again, sir?" I asked

"They will when I tell them what venue Mr Jenkins has arranged, the Millennium Stadium, as a warm up before the Welsh FA Cup Final!" he replied, excitedly.

"Would I be in the team, sir?" I asked, thinking about the regulations that still prevented me playing in regular games.

"Of course," Mr Jones replied, "it's only a friendly match and it might even help your case if some of the bigwigs in the Welsh FA saw you playing"

"It's sounds great, sir," I said, joining in the feeling of excitement.

"Now, you better get off to your lessons, can you tell anyone in the squad that you see about a special meeting after school tonight to organise extra training," he said before opening the door for me to leave.

I was oblivious to the hustle and bustle of the school as I walked along the main corridor as the bell went for the change of lessons. I turned the corridor to see Siá´n coming out of the Maths classroom. I ran up to him and threw my arms around him.

"Oh Siá´n, I've got amazing news" I said to my lover.

"What is it sweetie?" he asked as we walked hand in hand to our next lesson.

"We're both going to be playing at the Millennium Stadium," I explained.

"Wow, how come?" he asked.

I repeated what Mr Jones had said to me. Siá´n, stopped and looked at me.

"That is fantastic news," he said looking excited at the prospect.

I moved closer to him, as we stood in a corridor that was temporarily deserted.

"Do you think it deserves a celebratory kiss," I whispered.

"Why not, I don't see any referees around to book us," he whispered back.

We embraced and our lips met, I lost all awareness of the surroundings as our bodies met and we expressed our passion for each other.

"Do you think we'll do that in the sixth form?" asked a familiar voice.

"Yuck, it's gross," replied another voice that I recognised.

There was a little ripple of laughter.

I looked over Siá´n's shoulder to see Dionne and Ffion, Seren's friends, and the rest of their class of year sevens, enjoying the entertainment.