"I'm scared. It's awful here. I love you so much now."
On Friday evening I got the news that my daughter's best friend, who was still in London, had called the school saying that there was a bomb. She then called the police to repeat the same warning. The police traced the call and caught her at a phone box near the school. Helicopters, two police vans, several police cars and sniffer dogs arrived. The whole operation cost over £100,000.
Some of the pupils at this school, the Lycée francais in London, are diplomat's children. In fact the girl's sister is Madonna's daughter's best friend. A threat like that would be taken extremely seriously.
The entire school, almost 4000 children, were evacuated to a nearby park. This was done within 10 minutes. The children were told that there was a bomb warning. Some of the smaller children were cold, they had no time to pick up their coats. But nobody panicked.
My daughter's best friend spent the day in prison and has been expelled. Her parents are mortified. Her father, who is Syrian, no doubt spent a few uncomfortable hours with the police. Their house was searched.
My teen messaged me on Friday from Facebook, so annoyed.
"I've been waiting for years for something like that to happen. Why didn't she do it while I was at school? Why did she do it while I was away?"
I think things must have improved on the exchange visit because I haven't heard from my teen since.
Update: the girl did the fake bomb message to avoid a history test that afternoon. Love it. Teenagers eh?
