Free Descending Surfacing by Catherine Chisnall Page A

learning support a ssistants there too: Sharon and Tracy.
    ‘ That fight was nasty yesterday wasn’t it?’ said Tracy.
    I pricked up my ears.
    ‘ Poor Luke didn’t stand a chance. Bloody Jamie!’ she continued.
    I was dying to ask for more information but didn’t dare.
    ‘ He’s a funny one, Jamie, isn’t he?’ said Sharon.
    ‘ Funny!’ snorted Tracy. ‘More like violent. I pity his girlfriend if he’s got a nasty temper like that.’
    ‘ Does he have a girlfriend?’
    ‘ Yes. I think that’s what they were fighting about.’
    I hoped my face didn’t give me away. Fighting? Over me? Or was this some other girlfriend? I wasn’t under any illusions that I was Jamie’s one and only. He didn’t want me to know, that’s for sure, because he hadn’t said a thing. Poor Luke, how awful.
    ‘ Jamie’s very intense, isn’t he?’ commented Sharon.
    ‘ Like so many of them,’ interjected Di. ‘They have so much pent up anger, it's bound to come out sometimes.’
    ‘ Hm,’ said Tracy. ‘They need a kick up the arse if you ask me.’
    Di and I exchanged glances. We both believed in treating the students kindly, not going for the jugular at the first incident. But Tracy was a one person judge and jury.
    I couldn’t face going back to Health and Safety, so I hung around in the library ‘til the lesson was over. I knew Aaron and co. wouldn’t go in there.
    The rest of the day passed in a dream. What would I do when I got home? Would Jamie be there? Would he attack me too? What the hell was going on? I was sure there was more to it than a straightforward fight over a girl, because Jamie said Luke was more or less family. But if it was a girl, who was she? I felt a bit jealous, but was she even real?
    I tried to think about it objectively. What would a competent learning support assistant do to help Jamie? She would keep calm, not shout or accuse him like a girlfriend or mother would. I used to be good at my job, now it was time to get those instincts back.
    When I got home, fortunately Jamie had not found some way to get into my flat. I was in a dilemma. Should I text him to see where he was? It was cold and I was hungry, maybe he was too. Maybe he was still in a state about the fight. When he came back, I wouldn’t ask him about it ‘til after he’d eaten, I decided. If he came back at all.
    I cooked a big chicken and mushroom pie that I’d been saving for a special occasion. I didn’t want to seem as if I was rewarding him for beating up Luke, but I had to find out the full story. I started eating, realising I hadn’t eaten much since breakfast.
    The entry phone rang and it was him. Perhaps he’d smelled the food.
    I had to keep calm, or who knows what he’d do? It felt like survival.
    He shambled in wearing the same expression of yesterday: faraway, closed, inhuman. I felt on a knife edge. But before he could speak, he saw the pie.
    ‘ That your tea?’
    ‘ It's for both of us.’
    He sat down at the table, eyeing me suspiciously. At least he was used to me cooking dinner for us now.
    I didn’t say a word ‘til he’d devoured every mouthful.
    ‘ Jamie, I know you’ve been excluded.’ I said after a few minutes. ‘And I know why.’
    ‘ No, you don’t.’ Luckily he was too satisfied to start arguing.
    ‘ Please tell me. I’m on your side.’ I was amazed at how calm I was being but it was a survival instinct. He was actually dangerous, which I’d forgotten about in the last week.
    ‘ Luke grassed me up,’ he muttered, swigging the water I’d provided. ‘Where’s my beer?’
    ‘ You drank it all. What do you mean?’
    ‘ Grassed up means-‘
    ‘ I know what grassed up means.’ With an effort I kept my voice calm. ‘What about? Do you mean about us?’
    ‘ Yeah. He told Aaron. That’s why Aaron got you in the locker room.’
    ‘ But why didn’t you beat Aaron up?’
    ‘ I can’t do that ! He’s my mate. Luke shouldn’t have told him.’
    ‘ But don’t you think Aaron