Hater

but I can't hear Liz. She's usually yelling at one of them. I can't remember the last time I came home and it was this quiet.
    Edward appears in the hallway in front of me. He's grinning from ear to ear.
    'Okay, Ed?'
    He nods his head.
    'Had half a day off today,' he beams, looking pleased with himself.
    'Why, what's the matter with you?'
    'Nothing. School was shut.'
    'Why?' I ask again as I walk further into the flat, looking for Liz. I can't see her in any of the bedrooms.
    'Because of Jack Foster,' Ed explains. I'm confused.
    'Who's Jack Foster?'
    'He's in Year Six. You should have seen him, Dad, it was brilliant!'
    I've reached the kitchen door. I can see Lizzie in there sitting at the table, drinking a cup of coffee and staring into space.
    'You okay?' I ask. She looks up, surprised.
    'Didn't know you were back,' she says quietly, shaking herself out of her trance. She gets up, walks over to me and hugs me. This sudden display of affection is out of character.
    'What's that for?' I whisper, my mouth pressed close to her ear. 'You all right?'
    She nods then pushes herself away and goes to fetch my dinner from the oven.
    'I'm fine,' she sighs. 'Had a bad day, that's all.'
    'Ed was telling me that the school was closed. Something to do with Jack Foster?'
    She puts my food down on the table and sits in a chair opposite to the place she's laid for me. I start to eat and watch as she massages her temples. She looks tired and upset. I'm assuming that whatever happened at school today is what's bothering her.
    'So what happened?' I ask. She doesn't want to answer. 'Talk to me, Liz…'
    She clears her throat and finishes her coffee. When she finally starts to speak her voice is quiet and full of emotion.
    'Do you know Jack Foster?'
    I shake my head. I've heard the name before but I can't place the face.
    'You know Ben Paris? Short lad with black hair?'
    I'm sure I know who Ben is.
    'His dad's the hairdresser?'
    'That's the one. Jack Foster is his best friend. They're always hanging around together. We sat next to Jack's mum Sally at parents evening last term. He's got a sister in Ed's class. He's tall and…'
    '…and he wears glasses?'
    'That's him.'
    I'm pretty sure I know who she's talking about. I say that I do just to keep the conversation moving.
    'So what did he do?'
    Lizzie clears her throat again and composes herself.
    'First thing this morning,' she begins, 'the whole school was in the hall for assembly. The kids were crammed into the middle of the hall and Mrs Shields was parading up and down doing her usual routine at the front.'
    'I can't stand that woman,' I interrupt. Mrs Shields is the headteacher. By all accounts she's strict and old-fashioned and she speaks to the parents in exactly the same way as she speaks to the kids.
    'I know you don't like her,' Liz sighs, 'you tell me every time I mention her name. Anyway, she was just finishing off one of her bloody awful bible stories. I was sat at the back next to Denise Jones and…'
    She stops speaking and I stop eating. I look up from my dinner and put down my knife and fork.
    'And…?'
    'Jack's in Year Six,' she continues. 'The children sit on the floor in age order with the youngest at the front so Jack's class was at the back of the hall near where we were. Mrs Shields had just asked them to bow their heads for the final prayer before lessons…'
    She stops again.
    'So what happened?' I press.
    'I was sat there at the back and Jack stood up right in front of me. Most of the children were in front of him and they all had their heads down so there wasn't much of a reaction at first. Then he just started to run towards Mrs Shields. He was kicking and tripping over the kids and some of them got hurt and started to shout and squeal. By the time everyone had looked up Jack had made it over to the side of the hall. He shoved Eileen Callis off her chair and she ended up flat on her face on the floor. All this happened in seconds. We were all just sat there, too surprised to do anything. Jack grabbed hold of Eileen's empty chair, lifted it up over his head and ran at Mrs Shields. She moved towards him to try and stop him but he was running at her, swinging the chair round over his head and just missing the kids sitting down at the front. He missed her a couple of times but then he hit her right across her face, just under her eye. Jack's almost as tall as Mrs Shields. He kept swinging the chair at her and before anyone knew what was happening she was lying flat