It was mid-morning and Tom had just walked out the hall when he saw JJ walking towards the corridor.
"Where are you going?" Tom asked once he caught up with the teen.
"Cooler" Was all JJ said before she continued up the stairs. She walked into the cooler and sat down on one of the table at the back.
"JJ? What happened? Why are you in here?" Tom said following her in and excusing the teacher that was on duty in there. She left leaving just Tom and JJ. JJ remained quiet.
"JJ?" Tom asked again. Yet again, JJ remained quiet.
"Do I have to get Mr Byrne?" Tom asked, making JJ look up slightly, but she still stayed quiet.
"Right, stay here" Tom sighed, before walking out of the cooler, presumably going to find Mr Byrne. JJ thought for a few seconds before standing up and grabbing her bag. She really didn't need any of this today. After pulling out her headphones, JJ then walked out of the cooler and down the stairs. Carefully making her way outside, avoiding teachers, JJ started to walk out of school. As she got to the gates she looked back and saw Tom and Mr Byrne walking in the corridor near the cooler, so she knew they'd find out she walked out soon enough. JJ put in her headphones, blasted some music and continued to walk away from school. She couldn't be there, not today anyway. She knew that if she went to her mum's grave that it wouldn't be long before someone found her, so she decided against it and carried on walking until she found a nice little spot near the river.

By now at school it was break time, so JJ knew it was only a matter of time before one of her friends called her. She ignored the first few calls she received from Tom and Nick before she finally gave in a decided to answer the 7th call that was from Josh.
"Hello?" JJ asked as she picked up the phone.
"Where are you?" He asked straight down to the point.
"That doesn't matter" JJ said simply.
"JJ..." Josh sighed.
"I'm okay Josh...I just couldn't be there today – and you can tell your dad that to because I know you're stood by him and most likely Mr Byrne too" JJ said before hanging up the phone. She chucked her phone into her bag and just sat and watched the flow of the water.
Meanwhile back at the school Tom and Mr Byrne were talking.
"She wont get into trouble for this...we know what day it is...I wasn't even sure that she'd be in" Mr Byrne commented.
"Yeah...I didn't either really" Tom admitted.
"Right, I best get back to marking" Tom said enthusiastically – not.

After a short while passed, JJ sighed and stood up and grabbed her school bag. She dusted herself off before walking away. 20 minutes later JJ was stood at the school gates. She wasn't sure if she could actually go back in, so she stood there thinking. After a minute or two, Mr Byrne had obviously spotted her from his office and was walking up to her.
"You coming in?" He asked, knowing he wasn't going to push her.
"I'm thinking..." JJ said. He nodded in understanding. A few more minutes passed.
"I'm going to come back in...but I don't want to be in class"
"Okay, we can sort something out. Why don't you go sit in the pastoral care office whilst I sort something out?" My Byrne asked JJ as they slowly walked into the school grounds.
"Okay" JJ said. My Byrne walked JJ to the pastoral care office before he went to sort something out in terms of JJ sitting out of her lessons. Within a few minutes, someone was walking into the office.
"Come on then trouble" It was Tom.
"Stuck with you then I see?" JJ asks, grabbing her bag.
"Yeah...it was either that or you sit in the cooler" Tom said, holding open the door for her.
"Fare enough" JJ said, walking with Tom to his classroom which was next to the cooler. JJ sat down in the front and dug out some homework. She started on that as Tom started some marking as he had a free period now.
"You know...you can always come to me instead of walking out" Tom said after a little while.
"I know...I just needed some space. Especially today" JJ explained quietly.
"I know" Tom said sympathetically as he knew it would have been JJ's mother's birthday. Due to everything JJ had been through in the past few months, the school was very understanding on situations like todays. JJ sat quietly as she did her work. It was days like today that she was thankful for the network of close friends she had.