Author's Note:
Well, dear friends, here is the penultimate chapter of this story for you all to enjoy. So sit back and get settled in because there is a lot going on in this chapter! We finally find out the truth about Clive, which rocks Lindi's world to its foundations, and Peter makes an unusual discovery that changes his life forever. And as for our friends' relationship with each other, well, read on and find out!
Enjoy!
Two Thousand and Ten
Chapter Five - September and October
Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 7:45am
Lindi sat in the staff room, a mug of instant coffee set before her on the low coffee table. The weather outside, though still warm, was drab and grey with the threat of rain later on. It was the first day of the new term after the summer holidays, and there was a lot for the teaching staff of Westborough-on-sea Secondary School to get through before lessons began later that morning.
It was nice to catch up with her colleagues once again, swapping holiday stories and catching up on all the latest gossip, but Lindi couldn't help but feel just a little gloomy, as the prospect of the new school year stretched out ahead of her. She loved her job, was passionate about teaching in fact, but it was only human to yearn to be back on the beach in summertime, rather than relish the prospect of going back to the grindstone.
"Good morning, everyone! Hope you're all refreshed after the summer break but alas, it is now time to welcome the little darlings back to school for another year." Alice Kingston, the headteacher, announced as she entered the room with a mug of coffee in her hand and a stack of papers and foolscap folders clutched against her chest, "Now as I'm sure you're all well aware by now, we have a lot to get through before morning registration, so without further ado let's get straight into it. Now, the new timetables - there are still one or two things that need to be ironed out..."
It was going to be a long meeting, but the new timetables, new pupils and all the new lesson plans that she and her colleagues were having to deal with, weren't exactly at the forefront of her mind. She was somewhat preoccupied by the fact that, since they had returned from America, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Clive. True, it had only been a couple of days, but ever since they had first started going out together he had either called, texted or emailed her at least once every day. This was most unusual for him. She had of course tried calling him, but every time she rang his number, both his mobile and his home number, all her calls went unanswered. She swore that if she heard the automated voice at the other end of the line prompt her yet again to leave a message after the tone she would throw her phone out of the window.
Where had he got to? Why hadn't he contacted her since their return to England? What was going on with him?
She wondered maybe if he was planning something. When they returned home, Peter had teased her that maybe Clive was planning on asking her to marry him, and she felt her heart skip several beats when she contemplated the thought that maybe Peter's teasing was in actual fact not a million miles from the truth. What if he
was
planning on popping the question to her? But that still didn't explain why he hadn't at least had the decency to call her, if only just so that she could hear his voice again.
Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 2:02pm
It wasn't very often that Peter did any CAD work these days. Back when he had first started out as a young graduate engineer he'd spent many an hour sat before a PC creating technical drawings from the sketches provided by the senior engineering staff. Now, more than fifteen years later, it was Peter that was the one providing the design sketches for his junior team members to draw up via the firm's state of the art CAD system. He may not be as regular a user as he had been during his earlier career as a mechanical engineer, but he still liked to keep up his CAD skills whenever there was an opportunity to do so. Today, one of his CAD operators was off sick with flu, and so his design team was at that point short-staffed and faced with a last minute rush to put together a full set of drawings and fully rendered 3D models, complete with stress analysis modelling, for an important Japanese client by the end of the week. It was definitely a case of 'all hands to the pumps'.
But rather than being stressed out by the urgency of it all, Peter was absolutely loving it, thriving on the pressure as he normally did. Especially since this particular client was a supplier of machinery to one of Japan's best known roller coaster manufacturers, something that was of course very close to his heart. This particular project however, had nothing to do with roller coasters, alas. Instead, he and his team were designing a machine that would be used to test the latest prosthetic limbs for amputees. The work of a mechanical engineer can be pretty varied; over the years, Peter had worked on machines for all manner of weird and obscure manufacturing processes. He had even once helped design a machine that had the sole purpose of counting lettuce leaves into bags for a company that made pre-packed salads. No manufacturing challenge was too odd or too impossible for Peter and his team.
He allowed his mind to wander momentarily, back to that amazing night in Georgia with Sandy, the travelling, troubleshooting plotter engineer that helped keep drawing offices across the southeastern United States running smoothly. He recalled her fabulous naked body, the softness of her skin, her wonderfully luscious breasts and the warmth of her...
But before he could get carried away with his recollection of the southern belle's body, there was a knock at his office door.
"Yes, Tom, what is it?" Peter said sharply to one of his juniors.
"Erm... sorry to bother you, Peter, but there is a woman down at reception? She says she wants to see you?" Tom said apologetically.
Peter sighed.
"A woman, you say." he replied, "Did she say what she wanted to see me for?"
"No, she just asked to see you? I was wondering if she was family or something?" Tom answered, with his usual upward inflection that made him sound like everything he said was a question, it was a vocal trait that Peter always found a little irritating.
Lindi? Peter thought to himself, why on earth would she come here to his office? Unless... unless something terrible had happened.
"Whatever." Peter sighed as he stood up.
He headed downstairs from the design office towards the reception area, where his suspicions were confirmed. The woman was indeed Lindi. It had been raining for the past hour and she was soaked through and shivering. And it was also immediately apparent to him that she had been crying.
"Ohhh, Peter..." She sobbed as soon as she saw him, "I'm in such a horrible mess..."
"Shhh... It's alright, Lin. I'm here." Peter said as he took his friend into his arms and held her comfortingly to his chest, "I'm here. What's happened?"
Wednesday, September 1st 2010 - 11:13am
Earlier that morning...
One of the prefects had passed a message to Lindi during one of her classes - as soon as she had finished her lesson she was to report to the headteacher's office. She wondered what on earth Mrs. Kingston wanted her for - maybe it was just for a brief catch-up after the long summer break. But then, she had already pretty much done that with the rest of the staff earlier that morning, before morning registration. Dutifully, once she had finished her lesson on the Roman occupation of Britain, she headed towards the headteacher's office as had been requested of her.
"You wanted to see me, Alice?" Lindi said as she knocked on the headteacher's door.
"Ah, yes, Ms, Vernham - Lindi, thanks for coming at such short notice."
"That's okay - I have a free period before lunch anyway." Lindi replied.
"Please, take a seat."
Lindi sat before the headteacher's desk.
"Now, I'm um... well, let's just say that a somewhat...
delicate
situation has arisen." Mrs. Kingston began.
"What, with one of my pupils?" Lindi supposed.
"No - I er... I'm afraid this concerns you."
"Me?"
"I take it you've heard of FriendNet?"
