Читать книгу Burning Secrets - Clare Chambers - Страница 11

Chapter 6

OVER THE NEXT few days when he was out walking Chet, Daniel often found himself drawn in the direction of Stape High. He would stand at the edge of the field looking at the rows of silhouetted figures at their desks. It gave him a buzz to be outside and free, while others were stuck inside working. Since Lissmore he couldn’t stand being shut in.

If it was break or lunchtime and there were students out on the field then he would walk straight past without slowing down. He didn’t like being stared at either.

Sometimes he would see shuttlecocks or basketballs flying to and fro through the high windows of the gym. That wasn’t such a good feeling. Sport was one of the things he missed. Louie was no good as an opponent; she could hardly catch a ball without falling over, and never cared whether she won or lost. Swimming was OK, because you were competing against yourself, but only team games gave you that sense of belonging. Already, the novelty of ‘home education’ was wearing off, and he was bored with his own company.

Another reason for choosing this route was the possibility of seeing the girl from the café. He hadn’t gone to the party on the beach and regretted it almost immediately. Now people would think he was stuck-up or unfriendly or just a recluse, and there would be no more invitations. He kept on looking out for her, although he wasn’t sure he would recognise her in a crowd. Her face had become confused in his memory with a girl back in London who used to catch his bus. She was much older and never even glanced at him, but he’d fancied her like crazy. Once, when there were no other spaces upstairs, she’d sat in the empty seat beside him, and immediately turned her back so she could talk to her mates. When she leant forward her T-shirt rode up and he could see the top of her thong showing above the waistband of her jeans. It amazed him that he could find this tiny T-shaped bit of elastic so exciting. Now her face was a blur too, all mixed up with blonde plaits and green teeth.

It was Chet who indirectly brought Daniel into much closer contact with Stape High and its occupants. On one of their walks Daniel had let the dog off the lead as soon as they came down off the moors into the village and Chet had been trotting happily along at his side.

As they passed the boundary of the school grounds Chet’s ears pricked up. He had noticed something interesting in the distance – a cat or a squirrel – and before Daniel could grab his collar he took off across the field, straight through the middle of a five-a-side football match, barking joyfully.

“Chet! Come here!” Daniel bellowed, as he chased after the runaway dog, skirting the pitch to avoid the players, who’d abandoned the game and were staring after him. In the classrooms overlooking the field heads turned at the commotion.

Chet vanished around the side of the building, and as Daniel caught up, he was horrified to see the dog bounding in through the automatic sliding doors of the front entrance.

Sweating with embarrassment, Daniel followed, smiling apologetically at the flustered receptionist who had emerged from behind her desk.

“Sorry,” said Daniel. “Can I go and get him?” He pointed down the long carpeted corridor leading out of the lobby, from which distant barking was clearly audible.

“Please do,” said the receptionist faintly.

“Has somebody lost a dog?” a voice said, and a woman appeared from one of the corridor’s many doorways. Although she was smartly dressed in a suit and had her hair twisted up and fastened in a clip, it was unmistakably the same woman he had met on the cliff path. She had one hand hooked under Chet’s collar; with the other she was tickling him behind the ears. She didn’t seem remotely annoyed. “I thought I recognised those muddy paws,” she said, smiling at Daniel. “Hello again.”

“Hello,” mumbled Daniel, hastily clipping Chet’s lead back on. “Sorry. He was chasing something.”

“No harm done. It was probably the caretaker’s cat. He loves a scrap.” She looked at Daniel with interest. “How are you getting on?”

“Er, OK, thanks.”

“I’ve been meaning to call round.”

“Oh…” said Daniel without enthusiasm. The last thing they needed was someone pressurising them to come to school.

“I didn’t mean an official visit. I was just going to say hello. See how you were getting on.”

“We’re OK. My mum’s teaching us at home, so…” It was difficult to find a way to tell someone to back off that didn’t sound rude.

“In that case I won’t disturb you,” Mrs Ivory said, smoothly. “I only wanted to say that you and your sister are very welcome to come in and use our facilities any time. We’ve got computers and a swimming pool and a gym and a lovely grand piano that doesn’t get nearly enough use.” She smiled encouragingly, and Daniel wondered how she knew that he had a sister. Information travelled like smoke on a breeze here.

“You mean walk in any time?”

“Well, yes. Although after school hours would probably make more sense. The computers and music room are in use during the day. But we’re open until seven on week nights and all day Saturday. We’ve got the best facilities on Wragge, so the students are often here outside of school hours. Don’t feel you can’t use the place just because you’re not a pupil yet.”

Free computers sounded good, Daniel thought. Though the rest of the island must offer zero entertainment if people willingly spent their free time back at school. “So I just turn up. I don’t have to let anyone know?”

“You just turn up.”

“How do you stop things getting nicked, if people just wander in and out?” At school in London they’d had security gates and keypads on all the doors – even the teachers had swipe cards to get in – and everything still got nicked, anyway.

She laughed at his pessimism. “Theft isn’t really a problem on an island this size. Everyone knows everyone. There’s nothing much to steal, and nowhere to dispose of anything stolen. Nobody here bothers to lock their doors.”

They were interrupted by hesitant throat-clearing noises from the receptionist. “Emma, there’s a Mr Chancellor on the line? Do you want to take it?”

Mrs Ivory said goodbye to Daniel, gave Chet’s back a last ruffle, and returned to her office to take the call.

“Do you know who that is?” the receptionist whispered to Daniel. “That’s the headteacher – Mrs Ivory.” And she gave him a significant look, as though he’d had an audience with the Pope or something, Daniel thought later.