‘She likes you,’ Pete said after Mav had washed up and came back out to meet him.
‘Who, Holly?’
‘Of course!’
Mav pondered on that comment for a moment. ‘You really think so?’
‘No doubt about it.’
Mav snorted. ‘Nah! She’s never shown any real interest in me. Sure we’re friends, but nothing more.’
‘Is that what you think?’
‘Yeah. okay, I said yesterday that I’ve tried to go after her in the past, but I was only saying that. I’ve never had a thing for her. Who knows, one day maybe I will, but not now.’ All though he didn’t think he sounded very convincing. Perhaps he was only kidding himself?
Pete shook his head. ‘You’re mad, you know? How could you not have a thing for Holly Robinson?’
Mav shrugged. ‘I’ve known her too long. Since Kindy. Sure, she’s attractive, but I don’t see her in the way most guys do. Probably because we’ve practically grown up together.’
‘Has she ever asked you on a date before?’
‘No.’
‘Well, she has now.’
Mav chuckled. ‘That’s not a date, that’s friends hanging out.’
‘Look, mate, I’m no expert on girls, but whatever there was in the past something’s changed. Maybe it was you standing up to Tucker?’
Mav pondered on that for a moment. Could something like that really change a girl’s opinion on a guy? Supposedly, it was possible. ‘Look Pete, when it came to girls, I’ve always come up short. I can’t imagine she’d ever be into me. But who knows? Maybe you’re right, I don’t know. Does it matter?’
Pete sighed. ‘I don’t know if I wanna go to this beach party now.’
‘Why not? You were keen a few minutes ago.’
‘Well, Jacqui doesn’t want me there and neither will some of the others. Besides, do you really want me to sit there and watch you and Holly having fun all day?’
‘Of course not. This is a golden opportunity for you, Pete. You could make a play for her. Show her just how studly you are. Show her how a Cook can have a good time.’
‘I guess so.’
Mav rubbed his chin thoughtfully and something came to mind. A plan that might help his pal feel a bit better and perhaps even improve his chances of getting the girl. ‘Hey, I’ve got a plan to get you in Holly’s good books.’
‘Are you telling me you’re not interested in her?’
‘Look, I know how much you like her. If it means that much to you, I’ll try to hold her at bay. Besides, it’s Samantha I’m interested in.’ That was the truth. As pretty as Holly was, she was nothing compared to Sam, at least in his mind.
‘A plan huh?’ Pete’s manner lightened up a bit. ‘So what do you have in mind?’
‘You, my friend are going to become a hero.’
‘And just how is that gonna happen?’
‘You are going to rescue me from drowning…’
They sat down on a bench and Mav outlined his plan. Pete seemed to like the idea Mav had in mind and his mood perked up considerably. Pete still had further questions, but before Mav could answer them, Tucker stepped up causing Mav to shrink back. The last thing he wanted was another run in with Tucker so soon after the last.
However, Tucker had other things on his mind; things that Mav was sure occupied his mind most of the day. ‘Okay hand it over.’
Mav felt a little relieved as he dug into his bag, knowing what Tucker wanted. He had come prepared, but what he had for the big bully was likely to get him into even more trouble. Nevertheless, as much as he wanted to avoid another beating, he couldn’t afford to be giving all his lunches to Tucker everyday.
‘You’d better have some good stuff for me,’ Tucker growled in his usual surly manner, looking at Mav in particular. ‘And you’d better watch it ubbhead, unless you want more of what I gave you earlier.’
When he saw what Pete presented to him, he let out a delighted cry. ‘UBBA! Honey sandwiches! My favourite. Chocolate cake! UBBAAAAA!’
‘So what happened at the office?’ Pete said. ‘You weren’t there for long.’
‘Nope, because Ullman and I never actually had a fight so he had nothing he could do us for. Ha ha ha.’ He turned his glare to Mav. ‘Stupid moron didn’t realise the fight was over and I’d beaten your pathetic butt to the ground. And Ullman definitely didn’t tell him. Now where’s yours, ubbhead? What have you got for me?’
Mav took a deep breath and withdrew a solitary lettuce sandwich wrapped in plastic. The lettuce wasn’t very fresh, in fact it had been about to be chucked out when Mav rescued it from his mother’s kitchen. The bread was stale too. ‘Enjoy.’ He smiled and handed it over.
‘What?’ Tucker gaped at the sandwich. ‘Is that all?’
‘Yep. A good old lettuce sandwich. Ubba.’
A scowl appeared on Tucker’s face. ‘Where’s the rest of it?’
‘That’s it, I’m afraid. My mother’s put me on a diet. Ruddy cow.’
Tucker’s eyes popped out. ‘What did you say? Don’t you dare say that around me!’
‘What? Ruddy cow?’
‘No! The other word.’
‘What other word?’
‘The D word. That’s sacrilege. I won’t have it!’
It dawned on Mav what he was going on about and it took quite a lot of effort not to laugh. ‘Sorry about that Tucks. I won’t mention dieting again.’
Tucker’s face paled and he gave the crucifix sign. He snatched the sandwich off Mav with a renewed glare. ‘Lucky for you, lettuce sandwiches are my favourite.’ With that, he marched away.
Pete stared at Mav and blinked several times. Even Mav couldn’t believe his luck, but he smiled as if it were a plan he had masterminded. He pulled out another bundle of food: A hamburger, fruit, and a carton of juice.
‘You sneaky bugger.’ Pete’s face showed no expression. ‘And Tucker bought it too.’
Mav continued to smile, feeling quite pleased with himself. ‘Maybe you should go on that diet too. Nothing like a good “Say you’re on a diet when you’re not really on a diet” diet. That’s the most popular one when it comes down to it. Either that or the ‘See Food’ diet Tucker’s on. All these other diets, the Sugar Free diet, the Apple diet, the Chocolate diet, etc, etc, are all just a have, aren’t they? Nobody sticks to them.’
Pete’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing more.
‘Yo, guys.’ Wal arrived on the scene and plonked himself down on the bench beside them. He dropped his school bag down on the ground. ‘Didn’t get into trouble, thank God. Didn’t tell Reaper about you and Pyles either so you wouldn’t get into trouble.’
‘Thanks,’ Mav said. ‘Much appreciated.’
‘Too bad I didn’t get a chance to deal with that fat shit. Maybe you need to take some self-defence classes, Maverick. Fancy letting him pin you to the ground like that. Big mistake.’
‘It was kind of unavoidable.’
‘You needed to take him out before he landed his fat ass on you. That’s what I would have done.’
‘I’ll try to do better next time.’
‘You better. Anyway, Pete, I got those mags you wanted.’
Pete’s face lit up. ‘Oh, cool!’
‘What mags?’ Mav asked.
Wal opened his bag and pointed inside. There were a couple of glossy magazines with female models on the front cover. ‘Five bucks a copy, Cook. You still interested?’
‘Hell yeah!’ Pete said. ‘Where did you get those anyway? You’re too young to buy those.’
‘Like I said the other day. My older brother has a collection. I just swipe the odd copy every now and then. He never notices.’ Wal glanced around to make sure there were no teachers about and pulled one out for Pete to look at. Pete held his own school bag up to provide some cover and flicked through a few pages.
A scowl appeared on his face. ‘Hey, there’s pages ripped out.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Wal said. ‘It’
s only a few.’
Mav snickered. ‘So you rip out the best pics and keep them for yourself?’
Wal delivered Mav an evil look. ‘My brother must have ripped them out.’
‘Of course.’ Mav suppressed a further snicker. ‘Those darn big brothers, huh?’
‘You have one, Maverick?’
‘Nah.’
Wal continued to peer at him for a few moments and then turned to Pete. ‘Well? Five bucks a copy? Still worth it.’
‘I’ll take one.’
‘One?’ Wal scowled. ‘I risk bringing in porn in my bag and all you want is one copy?’
‘I had to buy more food for Tucker.’
‘What, you’re giving Pyles food?’
‘Yeah. He’s forcing us to give it to him.’
Wal snorted. ‘You morons need to stand up for yourself. Stop letting scumbags like him push you around. ‘Ok, Cook, which one?’ He pulled the other magazines out and a huge bunch of keys toppled out of his bag.
Mav peered at them. ‘That’s one hell of a bunch. Why do you need so many?’
‘It’s my collection.’ Wal picked them up and juggled them in his hand causing a jingling of metal on metal. ‘Useful when you want to get into doors.’
‘Fancy that. Keys useful for getting into doors.’
‘There’s always one in that bunch that will get a door open.’ He chuckled. ‘Believe it or not, I’ve even got one here I stole from the Reaper’s office.’
Pete snorted. ‘What? An actually key for his office? Not just one that fits?’
Wal threw the bunch of keys extra high this time and caught them adeptly. ‘Yep.’
‘Get outta here! How did you get that?’
‘I was in his office one day in trouble for getting into a scrap. Sneaked it into my pocket when he left for a few minutes. He didn’t even know I’d taken it. Never has asked about it. I’ve had it in my bunch for over a year now. It’s easy to find. It has a pink head and the number 11 on it. The number of Reaper’s office. I could go in there any time I want.’
‘So why haven’t you?’
‘Who says I haven’t?’
Mav gazed at the expression on Wal’s face. He didn’t buy it. ‘Why would you need to go into his office when he’s not there?’
Wal narrowed his eyes at Mav for a few seconds, but then grinned. ‘Nah, I haven’t used it. Never had any need to. Nothing in his office I’d want to nick anyway.’
‘You could go in there and vandalise it,’ Pete said.
‘Are you serious?’ Mav said.
‘Well maybe not vandalise it. Just trash it a bit and maybe graffiti his desk.’
‘Hey, I like that,’ Wal said. ‘Pete, you may have just come up with a good use for that particular key.’
‘Let’s do it,’ Pete said. ‘Teach him a lesson for causing us all that trouble on Monday, Mav. Is he still in his office, Wal?’
‘Nah, he left when we did.’
‘He’ll either be back at the staff room now having his lunch or back patrolling the grounds like he usually does.’
‘Yeah, why not? Will give us something to do.’ He shoved one of his magazines into Pete’s hand. ‘Here, you can have that one. Five bucks please.’
Pete reluctantly handed over the money, took the magazine and put it into his bag.
Wal rose to his feet and slung his bag over his shoulder. ‘Come on, we’ll all go.’
Mav stayed where he was. He had no desire to risk doing something so foolish as to break into a staff member’s office. ‘You guys are kidding right?’
Another scowl appeared on Wal’s face. ‘Hey! You’re in on this too! Otherwise, you’re likely to go and tell on us. Besides you owe me one for not dobbing you in for fighting Pyles… if you can call getting your ass handed to you on a plate, fighting. Come on, Maverick! On your feet, or I’ll smack you one!’
Mav didn’t want to have to owe a guy like Wal one, so reluctantly climbed to his feet and followed the two as they made their way to the locker block. ‘This is stupid. What if we get caught?’
Wal spoke in a wimpy little voice, ‘What if we get caught? Don’t be a wuss, Maverick. There’ll hardly be anyone around the offices right now anyway.’
They made their way to the offices and walked through the corridor as if they were heading to reception. No one else was in the corridor when they reached the office they wanted. Sure enough, the key Wal had on his huge bunch of keys fitted the lock on the door perfectly and seconds later, they were inside. Immediately Wal and Pete got to work making a mess. They shoved papers and other items off the desk. Pete then opened up a filing cabinet and pulled out manila folders full of documents and scattered them around the room too.
‘Come on, Maverick,’ Wal ordered in a soft but angry voice. ‘You’re in on this too, remember?’
Mav sighed and figured he might as well give in and join in the fun. He picked up a pot plant and much to the delight of Wal and Pete emptied its contents out all over the Reaper’s desk.
‘Nice,’ Wal said with a grin. ‘I knew I liked you for some reason, Maverick. Hey, Cook, grab those marker pens. Let’s draw some graffiti on the walls. Write, “The Reaper is a douche.”
‘Right O, Wal,’
‘Yeah.’ Mav smirked. ‘And under that write “Tucker Pyles was here.”
Pete muffled a laugh. ‘I like that!’