Guilty by Anne Mather

Author:Anne Mather [Mather, Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488743078
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises, Australia Pty Ltd
Published: 2014-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

‘MATTHEW SUTCLIFFE! What kind of shoes are you wearing?’

‘These, miss?’ The boy Laura had addressed lifted his foot and examined it with apparent thoroughness, much to the amusement of the rest of the class. ‘They’re trainers, miss.’

‘I know what kind of shoes they are, Sutcliffe,’ retorted Laura, regarding the chunky-soled sports shoes, with their thick protruding tongues and untied laces, with some disgust.

‘Then what—–?’

‘You know you’re supposed to wear proper shoes for school,’ Laura interrupted him crisply. ‘What’s happened to those black leather ones you were wearing the first few weeks of term?’

The fifteen-year-old adopted a cheeky grin. ‘I’ve lost them, miss.’

Laura sighed. ‘You can’t have lost them,’ she began, and then, realising she was setting herself up for an argument, she amended it to, ‘When did you lose them?’

‘Last week,’ said Sutcliffe at once.

Although she knew she was wasting her time, Laura persisted, ‘Where?’

‘On my way home from school, miss.’

‘On your way home from school?’ Laura gave him a sceptical look. ‘Why don’t I believe you?’

‘I don’t know, miss.’

Sutcliffe gazed at her with a look of wide-eyed innocence, but Laura was not deceived. ‘I suppose you’ll be telling me next that someone took them away from you,’ she remarked tersely, and the youth grinned.

‘How did you know?’

‘Don’t be insolent, Sutcliffe.’

‘I’m not being insolent, miss.’ Incited by the admiration in the faces of the pupils around him, he added cockily, ‘Just because you’re in a bad mood—–’

Laura gasped, and a ripple of anticipation ran round the room. ‘What did you say?’ she exclaimed.

Sutcliffe shrugged, not a whit daunted by her furious expression. ‘I said, just because you’re in a bad mood, miss, you don’t have to take it out on us.’

‘Out here, Sutcliffe!’

Laura pointed to a spot directly in front of her, and the stocky teenager pushed himself resignedly up from his seat, and sauntered forward. ‘Yes, miss?’

He was unrepentant, that much was obvious, but Laura was half sorry she had to send him to the headmaster to be disciplined. This class of fourth-years was one of her favourites, and she was loath to alienate any of them by over-reacting.

The trouble was, he was right. Oh, not about the shoes. She had no doubts on that score. Half the pupils in the school were wearing prohibited footwear, and picking on Matthew Sutcliffe would do no good at all. She was fairly certain the black shoes he had previously worn, as part of the school uniform, were residing in a cupboard back home. But, like the other boys, who had persuaded their parents to buy them a pair of the current craze in canvas boots, he wanted to show off in front of his friends.

No, it was the fact that she wasn’t in the best of humours that now stirred her conscience. For the past two weeks, she had been living on her nerves, and, although she had done her best to carry on as normal, the frayed edges were beginning to show.

It infuriated her that this should be so.

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