"It was my fault, Father. I started it," Robert said, his hands pressed tightly together behind his back. His head was high, his back straight, his eyes narrow and almost glaring at Dr Ealing who was staring back with so much force it looked as though he was going to burn a whole in the wall. I had never seen them look so tense before and I didn't like being caught in the middle of it.

"And what, may I ask, were you doing in the garden when I specifically told you to stay in the house and study?" Dr Ealing asked, cocking an eyebrow and peering over the top of his glasses. His elbows pressed deeply into the wood on the desk in front of him, the top of his pen tapping lightly against the paper.

After being caught throwing sponges at each other in the garden, Robert and I had been summoned to Dr Ealing's office to explain ourselves. Were he on his own, I'm more than certain he would have given us a short warning that rarely meant anything there and then. However, he was not on his own. Despite the events that occurred on Matilda's birthday, it seemed as though Mr Warrington's actions weren't enough for him to be banished from the house. He was the one who had spotted Robert and I laughing sponges across the grass at the side of the house and thought it worthy of a good telling off. Although it had been his idea, Dr Ealing had made him wait outside.

When we had entered the office, Dr Ealing said that he was to deal with Robert first and me second, something that put me a little on edge. It was never a good sign if you had to stand in a room and listen to someone else being told off, just waiting for your moment. It had happened a lot back at the factory. A group of us would get in trouble for some reason or another and we would all be forced to stand in front of Mr Thompson and the foreman watching as the person before us was punished, just waiting for our turn. The type of punishment, if any, I was likely to receive was never going to compare but I couldn't help but feel like something was going to go wrong. It always did.

"I needed a break, that's all. I offered my services to Rosie and got a little carried away, that's all."

"That's all? I asked you to do something and you failed to do it. Not only that, but you are soaked, and your shirt is going to have to be washed if that mud will even come out. You already know how much Mr Warrington loves to berate me and your mother about you and your siblings are being raised and this certainly hasn't helped. I understand that you were trying to help, and I appreciate the sentiment, but the sponge fight was not a good idea."

"I didn't know Mr Warrington was going to be here if I had I would have hidden in the library."

"None of us knew he was coming. He thought he would surprise us. Alexander is here too, most likely looking for trouble. Go and change your shirt, dry yourself off and then keep him occupied, we cannot have any more trouble, at least not at the moment."

"Yes, Father." Robert looked at me, gave me a reassuring smile and left the room, leaving myself and Dr Ealing alone.

Dr Ealing waited for several seconds, readjusting sheets of paper, screwing the lid on his ink bottle and just doing whatever he could to not speak. I was glad for this, whether or not he was going to use this as a cover, to convince Mr Warrington he had told me off, was a mystery to me, but if that were the case, I liked his way of thinking. After several minutes of nothing but shuffling papers, Dr Ealing removed his glasses and placed them down on the table in front of him. He looked exhausted and I couldn't blame him, it had been a chaotic few days for everyone and this latest incident probably wasn't helping. In a way, I felt guilty.

I know I shouldn't have, that all of them were just unfortunate incidents out of everyone's control, no more so than my own. Yet, everything that had happened over the past few days, had been caused by me. It was as though my arrival had set off a chain of events that were going to continue to spiral until it was bigger than I ever thought it would be. As though someone was telling me that things were only going to get worse until I told the truth. Until I admitted everything. Maybe it would have slowed things down, bought it all to a standstill long enough for the damage to have been repaired. Although I knew I needed to admit everything, there were somethings a person just couldn't admit, and I was not ready to tell the truth. I had tried to tell Robert, but that had failed, and I wasn't going to try again any time soon.

"How is your arm doing?" Dr Ealing asked after several minutes of silence passed.

"Okay, I think. The bruising has gone, as far as I can tell, but I'm no expert with burns," I said, laughing slightly.

"Good, good. Look, Rosie, I know this past week has been rather chaotic, but you have handled it all splendidly and I appreciate that. I know it is hard to come into a new environment and work new jobs with new people but my wife and I both agree that you have handled it better than anyone else we have had. Because of that, I will excuse today's events, predominately because I believe it was Robert who started it and you were just having fun. In the future, try not to get too distracted by my son's actions. An event like today cannot happen again, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir. I understand completely."

"I don't want you to think we won't allow you to have fun, that is far from the case. Both Elizabeth and I agree that we want you to enjoy yourself whilst you are here, this is to be seen as both a job and a home. Mr Warrington and his family will be leaving on a ship in about a weeks' time, they're going to India, so until then we need everything to run as smoothly as possible here. He is adamant that taking you on was a bad idea on my behalf so everything we do will be scrutinised by him. As soon as he's gone, we'll allow events like today to take place. Until then, be mindful of what you are doing around the house, Mr Warrington has a habit of turning up when we least expect it."

"Yes, sir."

"You may continue your duties in the garden for the next few days as I'm sure that is something you will enjoy. It is almost lunchtime, so you may return to the kitchen and then find Samuel for your tasks this afternoon."

"Yes, sir," I said, turning to leave the room.

"Oh, and Rosie?" I turned back. "Don't like Mr Warrington get to you too much."

Dr Ealing gave me a warm smile and the gestured to the door with his glasses before putting them on and glancing down at the sheets of paper on his desk. I smiled slightly and slipped out of the room, closing the door lightly behind me. Mr Warrington had long since left the area, probably in search of Robert to find out all the details he could about Dr Ealing's reaction to our escapade. I took a breath, glad that he wasn't lurking around the corner to ask me questions or insult me about the way I looked or how I had acted before. It was odd that so much of what I could or could not do was being dictated by this man. A man who I had never spoken to and had only interacted with once when he soaked me with a bucket of water. Dr Ealing was certainly worried about it.

Moving slowly, I crossed the hallway and climbed down the stairs towards the kitchen, not wanting to go too fast. Miss Jenkins had watched Robert and I were herded into Dr Ealing's office and she had been less than impressed about it. I was not looking forward to that confrontation. The likelihood of her being as accepting as Dr Ealing were slim, she had already had brief words with me about previous instances and this one was not going to be glossed over. Just by the look on her face when she had seen us earlier, I knew I was in trouble.

My heart started pounding in my chest as I approached the kitchen, the low murmuring of voices travelling up the stairs. The palms of my hands started to sweat, and my throat went dry at the mere thought of walking into that room and dealing with whatever Miss Jenkins had to say on the matter. The meeting with Dr Ealing didn't fill me with as much anxiety as this one did because Robert was there, and Dr Ealing never seemed like the type to get mad at something so simple. Miss Jenkins was different. She wanted this to work just as much as I did and anything that jeopardised that was cause for a telling off. This was going to be no exception and the idea of someone yelling at me filled me with fear.

I wiped my hands on my dress and took a breath to try and steady both my heart rate and my breathing, which was growing more rapid the longer it took to reach the kitchen. Wringing my hands together, I stepped into the kitchen. The conversation between Miss Jenkins and Esther came to a stop almost immediately, with Esther up to her elbows in laundry that had recently been dried whilst Miss Jenkins scrubbed a tray in the sink. Esther turned to look at me and gave me a small smile but said nothing. Miss Jenkins refused to look in my direction. Without saying a word, I crossed the kitchen and grabbed one of the pillowcases off the table and started to fold it, giving my hands something to do whilst I waited for Miss Jenkins so speak. It was a nice distraction, but it didn't last as long as I would have liked.

"What were you and Master Robert doing in Dr Ealing's office?" Miss Jenkins asked, her back still facing me. The force in which she scrubbed the tray increased, as though the mere idea of it were to anger her.

"Robert was helping me clean the windows and Mr Warrington caught us taking a few moments off," I said, dumbing down the truth of it all.

"I want the truth, Rosie."

"We were just having some fun, that's all. Robert started it, he threw a sponge at me and Dr Ealing understood that. Neither of us got in trouble."

"Why would you be called into his office if Master Robert was the one who threw the sponge?"

"I threw it back."

"Rosie! Not only did you stop doing the work you were asked to do, but you threw a sponge at your employers' son! You should know better than that, especially with Mr Warrington on the warpath."

"We didn't know he was there, honest. It was only a little bit of fun."

"You're not here to have fun, you're here to work. Whether you knew Mr Warrington was there or not, you should have been doing your job, not throwing water at Master Robert. Do the work you are asked to do and nothing else."

"Yes, Miss Jenkins," I muttered.

"There is still a little while before lunch. Please take the basket of wet laundry out to the garden and hang it over the line. Esther has already put it through the mangle, so it just needs a short amount of time on the line to dry completely."

"Yes, Miss Jenkins."

Placing the folded pillowcase onto the others, I grabbed the basket of wet laundry from the floor and headed outside. My left arm throbbed from the weight of the basket the burn once again throwing up more issues then it was worth. Outside, I followed a different path across the grounds and towards a small, cornered off section of grass with several poles tied together with strips of rope. I pushed open the small gate, closing it shut behind me. A gust of wind brushed past me, small tendrils of hair hitting in my face and getting stuck to my mouth.

I dropped the basket onto the floor and brushed my hair back, sighing slightly as I glanced back towards the house. I felt bad about how much I had upset Miss Jenkins. Ever since I had arrived, she had been nice to me. She had been reassuring, looked out for me when I felt as though nothing was going my way and I had disappointed her. It hadn't been my intention to upset her. That was the last thing I wanted to do. It felt as though there was nothing I could do to claw myself back from the disappointment I had caused. Everything I seemed to do ended in disaster, and I didn't have the foreman or Matilda to blame for it.

I turned my attention back to the laundry, grabbing a small container of pegs from against the low wall. The wind continued to pick up as I started to peg towels and blankets onto the rope, the line occasionally being pulled away from my grasp. I was fighting a losing battle with a line full of drying laundry and it felt as though it was just one more thing to add to my struggles.

Due to the wind, it took a lot longer to hang the washing up then I thought it would, the battle seemingly ongoing until the last pillowcase was pegged onto the line. I brushed my hair off my forehead and placed a hand on my hip, my eyes being pulled back to the house in hopes I could be summoned for lunch, but that seemed unlikely. Either the day was moving progressively slowly after Dr Ealing had caught Robert and me, or Miss Jenkins just didn't want me in the same room as her after what happened. I wasn't sure which one was worse. I went into a new week optimistic that nothing would go wrong, that I could stay with the family after the week was up, but I was wrong.

It looked as though nothing would go my way.

"Penny for your thoughts, Miss?" Samuel's voice said as his footsteps travelled down the gravel path.

"Hello, Samuel," I said, brushing my loose hair off my face and turning around to face him.

"Do I want to ask what was happening earlier with Dr Ealing and Mr Warrington or is it best I don't?" he asked.

"It was nothing bad, Dr Ealing called us to his office as a pretence, to pretend he was punishing us when he wasn't."

"So, what is on your mind?"

"I upset Miss Jenkins and I didn't mean to."

"I'm sure it's not as bad as you think it is, I expect she's just worried about your future here, regardless of whether or not you were in trouble with Dr Ealing. Just do the work you have to do, at least for the next week. Remember, everything you do is being watched with intensity. You'll be fine as long as you do as asked when asked, especially with Mr Warrington around."

"I understand."

"I'll see you this afternoon for your next task, don't worry, it won't be too bad."

"Goodbye."

I smiled slightly at Samuel and watched as he walked down the path and disappeared around the sound of the house. Sighing, I placed the now empty basket close to the wall with the now empty peg tub tucked inside. There was no doubt in my mind that Miss Jenkins would ask me to return to get it all back in as the wind picked up, but I was glad to have the job done. With the wind picking up, I made my way back to the house, running my hands up and down my arms to try and stem the goosebumps that were making their way up my arms. The weather had shifted dramatically since that morning, as had everything else and it didn't bode well for the rest of the week.

Crossing the garden, I pushed open the small door and entered the kitchen just as Miss Jenkins placed a plate of sandwiches onto the table. She looked at me and gestured to the plate, barely saying a word as she took a seat beside Esther. Neither of paid me any attention as I took a seat, the legs of the chair dragging painfully against the stone flooring. Keeping my head focused on the table. I grabbed a sandwich off the tray, not feeling particularly hungry and slowly started to bite the corner of it, my eyes drawn to a scratch on the table rather than the people sat in front of me.

The bread turned to mush in my mouth, it stuck to the inside of my cheek and I couldn't eat more than a few small bites before stopping. The guilt of upsetting Miss Jenkins earlier and the idea that I had been stupid enough to throw the sponge at Robert made me feel physically sick. My stomach was grumbling but I couldn't eat because of the guilt that was bubbling up inside of me. I wanted to take it all back, but I couldn't. There was nothing I could do to take back what I had done, but there was something I could do to stop it from happening again.

"If you aren't going to eat anything, could you take the freshly folded Laundry up to the linen closet? Once you've done that you can go and meet Samuel for your afternoon task," Miss Jenkins said, noticing that I had barely eaten the sandwich and didn't look as though I was going to eat any more.

"Of course," I said, dropping my half-eaten sandwich onto the tray and dragging my chair back along the stone floor.

"Make sure you grab something to eat before meeting Samuel, we don't want you collapsing whilst working."

"Yes, Miss Jenkins."

She sent me a small smile, something I was sure I didn't deserve and went back to the sandwiches on the tray. I grabbed the dried laundry basket and tucked it under my right arm, slipping out of the kitchen as quietly as possible. As I made my way upstairs, a low hum of conversation travelled from one of the downstairs rooms, the noise sounding more like the buzz of a bee than actual conversation. Crossing the hallway, I followed the stairs up to the landing where I unlocked the linen closet using the key that was kept on the doorframe, out of Charlotte and Zachariah's reach.

Leaving the key in the keyhole, I pushed open the door and placed the basket on the floor, stepping into the darkened room. Humming to myself slightly, I started to put the clean laundry onto the shelves, standing on my tip-toes to reach the highest shelves in the cupboard. I had never seen cupboards big enough to store both linen and have a person. With my back turned to the door, I only heard the squeal of the door hinges and the light disappear behind the shut door.

Then the door locked.

~~~

A/N - SURPRISE UPDATE! Yes, we have TWO UPDATES this week! Why I hear you ask? Well, it's very simple really WE'RE ON THE FEATURED LIST!!!! Yesterday I got the notification that The Factory Girl has been added to the 'Editors' Choice' reading list! 

I cannot tell you how stoked I am about this, it's been my dream since I joined Wattpad and I never thought it would happen. I owe this achievement to all of you so thank you so much for your continuous dedication and reading of the book, it means so much to me!

Anyway, what did you make of the chapter? Was Miss Jenkins right to have a go at Rosie? Is Rosie right to feel guilty? Also, who locked the door? Hmm...

Comment below!

Dedication - This chapter is dedicated to my F1 buddy RocketMason. I can't believe I've never dedicated an update to her before but here we are xD She's awesome so go give her some love!

First Published - January 31st, 2019