Campion's Choice

Jack texted ahead and found Tia, and her squeaking gang, waiting by the railings. She shushed the little crowd and broke free to meet with him in private.

‘All the teachers are looking for you. You have to go and see the Principal …’ she began.

‘I went to see Ursula,’ Jack interrupted.

‘You went to Cancellarius?’

‘Yes. I have lots to tell you.’

‘And I have lots to tell you, and maybe I will and maybe I won’t. But I don’t want to talk to someone who gives me orders,’ Tia snapped.

Jack rolled his eyes and sighed and wracked his brains for something really sarcastic to say but it was too late. Tia gabbled on.

‘Gid is going to do something BIG. I don’t know what it is, but it’s tonight, in the Grand Arcade. The school said he could do the fashion show with the Drama Group because everyone’s rehearsed it ..’

Jack held up a hand.

‘I hate Gid. I hope he breaks a leg. I am going to see the Principal.’

He waved goodbye to Tia’s little army of friends who tittered and mimicked his action until Tia silenced them with a kind but queenly frown.

The Principal’s study was at the end of a twisting muddle of passageways. Once you were there you sat outside the door and waited patiently.

‘Come in,’ a woman shouted.

The Principal sat behind a desk and Clamp stood behind her. He towered over the tiny woman, blocking out the window. It was the first time Jack had seen him since the attack and it was hard not to stare. The teacher looked okay.

‘Sit down, Jack. Glad to see you back in school again,’ the Principal said. She was a small, blonde haired woman in a brown suit.

‘Where have you been?’ Clamp growled. Jack glanced sideways. He couldn’t look straight at him without seeing a man with a knife sticking out of his chest.

‘I was worried about Grampus, my granddad, he’s in hospital and I got very tearful …’ Jack lied but the Head interrupted him.

‘Yes, yes. I’m sure you had a good reason and, just for once, we’ll let that go but there was a serious incident before you left, and it seems you were involved.’

‘An incident?’

‘A fire extinguisher incident.’

‘Oh, that.’

‘A boy has accused you of damaging valuable property in his locker. He claims you started the trouble.’

‘Damaging!’ Clamp shouted.

Jack jumped. The Principal rocked unsteadily in her chair and glanced nervously at the hulk by her side.

‘Thank you, Mister Clamp. I have everything under control.’

Clamp had a faraway look in his eye.

‘Let me show you this,’ the petite woman said as she spun her laptop round to show Jack the screen. Peering at grainy CCTV footage he saw himself, by the lockers, as the bell started to ring.

‘You were the last person to be seen, by the lockers, before the damage was done. Did you touch the property of the other boys?’ the Principal demanded.

‘No.’

‘Morningstar!’ shouted Clamp.

Jack stepped back and the Principal swivelled nervously.

‘Mister Clamp? Please! Stop interrupting,’ she murmured softly.

‘What?’ Clamp protested and looked hurt.

‘This is not about Gidean and that weapon. Stop interrupting!’

‘I never said a word!’

‘You did. You said Morningstar!’

‘I did not!’

‘You may be a history teacher, and feel the need to point out that you know the names of different types of medieval weaponry but, Mister Clamp, I can assure you, I don’t need teaching!’

Jack ignored the two adults. Whilst they argued, he looked at the laptop screen. Was he responsible for the mayhem? Did the ban liang pick up his feelings and decide to punish Gidean and Co? He dragged his attention away from the computer when he heard his name being mentioned.

‘….. Jack … a very serious matter. I have had to suspend two boys and they may be expelled. If, at a later date, I find you were involved I will have no option but to extend sanctions to you.’

With a sharp nod the Principal dismissed him.

‘Elephant!’ Clamp shouted. Jack flinched in the doorway and hurried to close the door. Outside in the corridor he heard the two teachers start up again.

‘What elephant?’

‘What?’

‘You shouted elephant!’

‘I did not!’

The last thing he heard was the Principal’s raised voice.

‘Mister Clamp, perhaps you should see a doctor.’

At the end of the day Tia crept up and surprised him outside the boys’ toilets.

‘Go away. I’m not in the mood …’ he began but she was too excited to listen.

‘Gid says, he’s not coming back to this school, because it’s only six or seven weeks to the end of the term, and he’s going to Kester next year.’

Closing his eyes Jack counted to ten. He hoped the ban liang wasn’t picking up on his feelings of irritation right now. If it were, Tia would be in big trouble.

‘Good riddance to him. And stop calling him Gid!’

‘Gid, Gid, Gid, Gid, Gid.’

‘Great. Forget it then. I went to see Ursula. What she told me was amazing. But, if you’re not interested, I wont tell you …’

’Good. I don’t care anyway. I have to go. I’m helping with music and stuff in the Grand Arcade tonight.

‘Don’t let me keep you.’

‘And don’t call me afterwards. My mum’s in the middle of piano exams so I’ve got to babysit.’

‘I wouldn’t phone you if…’ he protested but Tia took a couple of steps and then jabbed a finger into his chest.

‘Is Ursula’s amazing revelation more important than knowing that Gid is planning something big in town tonight? I heard some of his crew saying it will be spectacular, and on the news, and everything. Can the old lady beat that?’

‘Yes!’

Jack grabbed her hand and pulled her close so that he could keep his voice down, ‘the only other person you can tell this to is Liam ….’

Holding her arm, with their cheeks almost touching his mind went blank. Tia whispered.

‘I spoke to Liam yesterday. He isn’t bothered about being expelled from Redemere. He’s transferring.’

‘Transferring?’

‘He’s going to school in Hanston. It was Ursula’s idea. Oh, didn’t she tell you that when you had your little meeting?’

Jack let go of her wrist.

‘Look, will you just forget about Liam and Gidean? I need to tell you something really important!’ he said angrily.

She grabbed his face between her hands.

‘You’re not going there are you? To Hanston? Is that what you’re trying to tell me?’

‘No!’

‘Don’t leave me, Jack,’ she said, pretending to be heartbroken and looking like a kid whose kitten has been diagnosed with a deadly disease.

‘I’m not going anywhere. Will you please, shut up and listen for one second? I went to talk to Ursula about a book I read. A teapot smashed and she fixed it.’

‘So? My mum is always fixing things and she’s blind. Mind you she’s always breaking things ..’

‘Shut up! You really do like the sound of your own voice, don’t you? Look, the truth is Ursula, and the other people in Hanston are ..’

‘Tia! We have to go. I need to buy sparkles.’

The raised voice of a chubby girl cut straight across Jack’s words. Amelia Jayne was standing outside the girls’ toilets, with a hand on her hip, looking displeased.

Tia bent close to Jack to quietly say before leaving, ’I do not like being told to ‘shut up’.’

With a wave she ran off and left him, hurrying away to finish planning all the cues for Gidean’s big show in town.

When he was alone Jack put out a hand and grabbed the top of a radiator. He felt the rage in his fingers as he squeezed the metal. When he stepped back it gave him the greatest satisfaction to see that, just like in the hospital, the radiator was flattened beyond repair.

For some reason that cheered him up and he thought, as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder, perhaps Criel is the one who needs to be worried.