The Lost Pack (Paige) novel Chapter 1

Chapter 1

** Paige’s POV **

The day I buried my parents, with my newborn son in my arms and my teenage sister clinging to my side, I made myself a promise: survive, no matter what it takes.

“I’m sorry, Paige, but there’s nothing I can do. Jaxon has caused another child to require hospital treatment. Following school policy, we have no other choice than to exclude him permanently,” Mrs Bailey, my son’s head teacher, says.

“It was clearly an accident. He would never purposely hurt someone, especially not his best friend,” I defend, unable to believe they can exclude such a young child.

“I’m sure he didn’t intend to hurt him so severely, but the fact remains that he did. I have to consider the welfare of our other students. Which means we can’t accommodate him in this school any longer. I am going to write a recommendation for him to be considered for a place in a school more suited to deal with his behaviour,” Mrs Bailey explains with a sympathetic smile.

“So you are just giving up on him?” I ask, a pit of dread and anger growing in my stomach.

“Not at all, we just think…”

“Forget it, and you can shove your recommendation. We don’t need anything from you,” I snap as I stand and storm out of the head teacher’s office.

My son waits outside for me, his little face lighting up when he sees me.

“Come on, Jax, let’s go home.” I smile at him, not letting him see how furious I am right now, as I hold out my hand to him.

Jaxon slips his small hand into mine, turning to wave goodbye innocently at his headteacher as we head out to my car.

“I’m sorry, Mummy,” Jaxon says, as I rest my head against the steering wheel of my car, whilst I take some breaths and try to hold back my tears.

Jax is only six; he shouldn’t have to see me cry. He’s a sweet boy, very loving and so clever, but recently he has this excessive strength in him he can’t seem to control. It’s breaking my heart that he is struggling this way.

“It’s okay, baby, everything is going to be okay,” I reassure, schooling my features into a smile as I look back at him in the rearview mirror.

“I will say sorry to Robbie tomorrow. I promise,” he looks back at me with his big blue eyes that look so harmless.

How can I tell him the school permanently excluded him, and that he can’t return to his friends, or that we’ll be lucky if Robbie’s parents don’t call the police?

“I think some time away will be best for now, but maybe you could draw Robbie a nice picture, and we can take it around to his house at the weekend. How does that sound?” I ask as I start the engine and pull away from the school.

“Okay, I will draw him a super big robot with laser eyes. Robbie loves robots!” Jax shouts excitedly before proceeding to act like a robot for the rest of the drive home.

I pull up outside our house and see Greg’s car in the driveway. He must have finished work early. The thought of telling him that Jaxon has been excluded fills me with dread.

We have been married for two years now, and he is a good stepfather to Jax most of the time, but he can be very harsh with him, which I hate. I have tried talking to him about it, but he says he’s just trying to make sure Jaxon doesn’t turn out like his father. I think he just has a growing resentment towards my son.

“Can we have pizza for dinner, Mummy? It’s Greg’s favourite,” Jax says as we make our way into the house.

I stop in the entryway and listen for Greg. I can hear the shower upstairs. “Pizza sounds good,” I nod. “How about you go up to your room and draw that picture for Robbie? I’ll call you when dinner is ready.”

Jaxon runs upstairs excitedly, and I head into the kitchen and pull a pizza from the freezer to put in the oven. My phone dings with a text message just as I set the timer on the oven.

The message is from Jaxon’s scout group leader, informing me he can no longer attend the group because of the incident in school today and concerns from other parents. News certainly travels fast in this town.

How can the whole town turn on a six-year-old little boy so easily? Yes, he was wrong for pushing his friend when he tried to take a toy from him, but he couldn’t have known Robbie would bang his head and require stitches. Kids his age push and shove each other all the time. Jax is just very strong for his age. It doesn’t mean he’s a bad kid.

“I’m going out,” Greg says as he passes the kitchen without coming to greet me with a kiss the way he usually does. I can sense that he is slowly withdrawing from me.

Leanne: Have you told her yet?

Leanne: Thanks for today. I love you so much.

I drop the phone, unable to read any more.

My husband is having an affair.

A sob escapes me as I feel my entire world crashing down around me. I know things haven’t been perfect lately, but how could he do this? Why am I not enough for him? Why do the people I love always leave me?

I wrap a towel around myself and rush into the bedroom to call the only person I can rely on. My sister, Poppy. She recently moved away to attend university. She is studying to become a vet, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.

Poppy answers on the first ring, and she listens while I pour my heart out to her. I tell her what happened with Jaxon’s school and the message from his scout leader, and I tell her what Greg has done.

“Paige, you need to get out of that town. There’s a small house for rent not too far from my university. I went to view it today, but the bus route is not good, and it was just too far for a daily commute to uni without a car. It’s a sweet little place with two bedrooms, and it’s fully furnished. The town felt homely and welcoming. Pack up your stuff and have a fresh start at this end of the country with me. There’s nothing left for you there,” Poppy says.

“But what if…”

“He’s not worth it, Paige, don’t give him a second chance,” Poppy cuts me off.

My eyes fill with tears. She is right. There is nothing left for me here. Poppy has moved away, my parents are dead, Jaxon has no school, Greg is leaving me for another woman and I have already accepted that Ryder’s isn’t coming back for me, so why stay in a place that holds more bad memories than good ones?

Moving to a new area wouldn’t be too difficult. My job as an editor means I can work from any location, and with Jaxon no longer having a school here, there really is no reason to stay. Poppy is right. A fresh start in a new place is exactly what we need.

“Okay, Pops. Send me the details of the house.”