Bright colours and free classes

The beep on my mobile phone sound sends the fear of god into me, as 9 times out of 10, its the kid. I'm sooooooo sick, I have a migraine, I have bird flu, I've got the black death and so on and so forth. Yesterday she txted us. She had 4 free classes and wondering if she could go home. I wasn't in the mood of arguing so I told her she could. The TY's are away in Barcelona so there are a lot of teachers out. As it turns out she didn't have her journal so she couldn't write a note. She wanted Mammy2 to ring the school. I told her Mammy2 was driving at the time and couldn't ring. She would just have to wait until school ended and then come home. No word from her for over an hour. I get a phone call from Mammy2. The principal was ringing to confirm with her that the kid was allowed leave for a doctors appointment. The little weasel. Of course, lots more texts then in relation to, you're not mad at me are you, I had a really bad migraine, I couldn't stay there etc etc. I told her we'd talk about it when we got home. I think I scared her as she didn't reply back.

I had to ring her and arrange what time she was supposed to meet the reporter lady at. A mate is being interviewed for the Sindo magazine and the reporter wanted to speak to other LGBT teenagers. Of course the kid jumped at the chance, Mammy2 was a bit wary as it was for the Indo. I told the reporter that I would be sitting in on the interview and so there would be no questions that the kid felt uncomfortable with. I think she just wants to do it in case she gets her pic taken. She loves her new red hair. When I rang, the kid was all, in a croaky voice, "Okay, yeah, that's fine" etc.

When we got home we had the talk and rules were laid down in relation to getting Mammy2 to lie to the principal just cause she wanted to skive off the last few classes. I think she learned her lesson and the next time results in grounding and/or removal of her mobile phone. The wide-eyed look was the response. Taking away the phone is the equilvalent of removing life support for her. The rest of the evening was spent with me on the computer trying to get php and mysql running on XP Pro. A headache in itself. She was doing up fancy diagrams for biology. In the midst of me cursing config files, she casually throws out the phrase
"I had a chat with Mam last night!" Without spinning around in my chair and over-reacting too much, I casually stopped typing and asked how she was doing.
"Smoking would you believe"
"In heaven, still, she's allowed? Fair play"
"She said she's proud of us"
I didn't really have an answer to that, so I replied with my favourite generic phrase
"And sure why wouldn't she be"
This was the first time that she's mentioned Mam directly to me and I feel its a good sign. She's been thinking about Mam a lot recently. A girl in TY year in school lost her mother to stomach cancer over the weekend. She's the eldest of a family of four and the dad's not around. The kid was weirded out by the whole thing. Mainly because the girl in question usually gives her hassle and is mean to her. I suppose it puts things in perspective for the kid now. And it also brings back memories of all that happened with Mam.
She seems to be dealing with it okay.

Before I headed to bed she was txting the best mate, and casually she throws in the following statement.
"So, can I knock off school early tomorrow seeing as I have free classes" She was unbelieveable. I mean. I slowly turned around in the chair and looked at her
"You have to be kidding me?"
"It was worth a try"
"Not even worth a try and the answer is not on your life!"
"But why?" I glared at her. She stopped asking. She's some chancer.
About 10 minutes ago, she txted. The principal has insisted that all brightly coloured hair has to be changed. Her hair is blood red. Apparently, she's not feckin changing it. I forsee fun conversations ahead about repression of her individuality and they can't make her etc. I'll keep you posted.