Читать книгу Children of the Moon - Evadeen Brickwood - Страница 9

It had all begun like any other school year after the winter holidays and the experiment in Carter Valley was still a pie in the sky.

As so often, Walt, the janitor, had fetched Katherine and other students from the Etheridgeville airport.

Time travel was pretty much the last thing on Katherine’s mind as she sat comfortably in the back of the old-fashioned, black Volvo. She gazed dreamily at the passing landscape while trying not to pay attention to Privesh and Hendrik, who were having a boring discussion about sport.

Looks almost like England, she thought. If one ignored the long bearded moss swaying from the branches of Eucalyptus tree. She had never seen that in England. And the sky was never such a bright blue.

A tiny cloud between the trees shifted to the left as the road swerved through the broad school gate. Ah, there was another cloud not far from the first. That’s more like it.

Katherine sighed and settled back into the snug leather seat. As always, the holidays had been way too short. She missed her gentle French mother and Dad and their comfortable home in Oxfordshire. And Aunt Trudie, Mom’s sister. She was always so nice and funny.

She didn’t really miss her two younger brothers, Graham and Frederick. They were really naughty and bothered her endlessly.

Dad was often away on business. The lingering smell of leather and cigars always reminded Katherine of him. When her Dad was home, she loved to sit on his lap and listen to his deep, sonorous voice. He’d tell her fascinating stories, like the one about a wedding in Pakistan he had been invited to.

‘The bride wore a red and gold sari dress and the groom’s eyes were hidden behind a veil of golden lametta,’ he had reported. ‘Women were dancing around balancing metal water jugs on their heads.’

They made Dad ride on a painted elephant! Katherine could see the scene right in front of her as she smelled the leather of the car seat. This time, Dad had been home for only three brief days before flying back to Hong Kong.

Would things be better, if her parents weren’t wealthy? Sometimes, all Katherine wanted was the luxury of growing up without being shipped off to boarding school. It seemed so unfair. Why couldn’t she just grow up like everybody else? Well, almost everybody else. There were many kids with rich parents at Pemberton.

The rambling school building painted in rust and white, with its impossible spires and towers, appeared behind the sweeping green lawns at the end of the driveway. Katherine asked herself for the umpteenth time, who had thought that up.

Loads of shrubs and trees dotted the Pemberton school grounds. All that exuberant vegetation kept two gardeners quite busy throughout the year. Murmuring water features sparkled between masses of flowers as the car purred past a nine-hole golf course.

The sports facilities at Pemberton weren’t to be scoffed at, either. Too bad that Katherine wasn’t interested in sports.

They left the tennis courts behind as the car began to wind its way up the alley between high bluegum trees.

Walt steered the black Volvo deftly up the broad driveway.

A familiar bump in the road jolted Katherine from her dreamy mood. A red squirrel with feathery tail darted up and down the trunk of a large tree as they reached the graveled parking lot. Directly in front of the entrance with its sweeping stairs.

Children walked around everywhere between the parked cars, while adults in smart clothes stood chatting next to piles of luggage. A familiar sight.

The school magazine proudly declared that Pemberton-students came from all over the States, Europe and from far-flung countries like Korea, South Africa and New Zealand. The academy enjoyed an excellent reputation all over the world.

A sobbing boy of perhaps eight years was obviously new to the school and clung to his increasingly impatient mother. “Mom, I don’t want to stay here. Mom, please...”

She scolded him under her breath and pulled his clawing hands from her expensive pink designer suit.

"Lester..., stop it this minute. No, don’t do that... please... stop it!”

At the same time, she tried to make a good impression on Woody Kranich’s mother, who was a fashion editor from California. Defeated, Lester sat down on his designer suitcase with a sad expression.

For Katherine, there had been a few tears in the privacy of her first class seat on the Boeing that had carried her from London to New York. By the time her connecting flight had reached Etheridgeville, Katherine’s tears had dried up. After all, her parents tried to give her the best education they could afford. Nothing one could do about it, anyway.

The Volvo came to a solid halt. On top of the broad steps, the great doors were flung invitingly open.

‘Pemberton Academy for Advanced Learning’, announced a polished brass sign next to the dark wooden entrance.

“Right, here we are,” Walt said. His voice was raspy like a vegetable grater. “Out with you guys. I’ll get your things from the trunk in a jiffy and take them up to the entrance hall.”

Walt was an amicable fellow with grey, wiry hair. He had been the janitor, chauffeur and supervisor of staff forever – even longer than the fat cook Mrs. Hadley - and proud to be an employee of importance.

He admired Dr. Broadbent and was fond of the students. Well, most of them. He appreciated it, if they didn’t trample on his flowers or played fountain with the water hoses. Water was expensive these days.

Too clever for their own good some of those kids are, Walt thought to himself and opened the trunk of the car. Just too clever.

Katherine and the two boys jumped onto the crunching gravel. She felt hot in her woolen skirt and twin set. They were more suitable for the cool British weather than the much warmer Georgia. Then it didn’t matter anymore. Katherine had detected Chryséis and Trevor.

Trevor stood in a group of boys, close by. They were telling stories about their holidays. Chryséis held the hand of her colourfully dressed Mom. Most of the kids wouldn’t be seen dead, holding their Mom’s hand, but Chryséis couldn’t be bothered with other people’s opinions. Prof. Cromwell was a bit eccentric, but other than that, really nice. Not like many of the other rather square parents.

The three friends shared an interest in quantum physics and global warming and were in the top ten of their grade. This year, they would be in the seventh grade. Seventh grade sounded so grown-up!

*

Trevor was glad to be back at school after a never-ending holiday. He had spent the first two weeks cooped up in his Dad’s small flat in Chicago, ’The Windy City’, with his new computer. His Dad never spoke much and it had been too cold to go outside. The few friends he still had there were on vacation.

Trevor knew that his Dad meant well, but they were just light years apart. His parents had been divorced by the time Trevor was three and he began to spend much time with his beloved grandmother.

Granny had nursed him when he had broken his arm as a little boy, they went for walks in the park and she had made up the most amazing stories.

But then Granny had died two years ago of pneumonia in the cold of winter and Trevor felt so lonely as if he had lost his entire family right then.

Dad’s new girlfriend Peggy-Sue had also been there in Chicago. She always wore this puzzled look on her heavily made-up face. She was a waitress at the diner around the corner. Dad had obviously not looked very far to find a girlfriend. Trevor couldn’t talk at all to the giggling Peggy-Sue and avoided her most of the time.

By the end of his stay in Chicago, Trevor was sick of greasy burgers and peach cobbler. He was sure that his Dad and Peggy-Sue were just as relieved to see him leave on the bus bound for Iowa.

Trevor listened to music on his headphones for most of the trip and braced himself for his stay in Iowa. His mother was now Mrs. Hadwen and seemed happier in the country than she had ever been in the city.

Trevor found it difficult to call her ‘Mom’ or even kiss her cheek. He didn’t know her very well. All she did was talk to him about stuff like eating a nourishing meal and wearing a clean shirt and had given him three boring shirts for Christmas.

Her new husband was a big, homey fellow of a farmer, who talked just as little as his Dad. Trevor’s half-brother, Gerry Junior, was a real pain in the neck. Gerry was just two and a half and threw temper tantrums at least a dozen times a day.

It became Trevor’s favorite pastime to walk along the fallow cornfields or in the hills. At least he could get away from the house. He had discovered a gurgling spring between two vertical rock faces last summer. There he liked to sit on a flat rock and played with the pebbles in the water or he just read a book. But in winter it was just too cold for that.

Trevor much preferred the mild southern climate. The fragrant rose garden at Pemberton was his favorite spot. Here he would sit on a bench under the softly swaying birch trees and study. Even in winter.

When he became friends with the confident Chryséis Cromwell and Katherine MacDougal last year, they often sat together under the birch trees. The two girls never ragged him like some of the other girls. They were different. Sometimes, they just chatted while watching the colourful birds, flowers and dragonflies.

Oh yes, Trevor was glad to be back at Pemberton. He had arrived by bus in the morning and his short brown hair was still neatly combed.

Trevor had already spotted the two of them, but it would have been uncool to run and greet them now in front of all the boys.

“Yeah, sure, I also can’t wait for the baseball season to start again,” he said instead. John LeGrange was going on about last season’s highlights and he just couldn’t shut up about baseball.

“I’d rather play cricket,” said Ben.

Ben Harper from Rockingham, Australia was one of the wealthiest kids at the school. He carried on telling them every boring detail about some sailing trip, while Trevor watched the girls from the corner of his eye.

They waved wildly to each other. Katherine looked like a lady. Chryséis, on the other hand, had blonde pigtails and wore simple jeans and a pink T-shirt and. Pink was her favorite colour.

The Cromwells had named their first child after an obscure character from one of the Greek legends. The ‘Tale of Troy’. The historical Chryséis had been a lucky maiden. Captured by the Greeks during the Trojan War and then given back her freedom.

This was unusual in Greek mythology, to say the least. The parents of the modern Chryséis had studied Greek and had been inspired by the story. Her younger siblings were named Jason and Cassiopeia, or Cassie for short. Also classical names.

Katherine and Trevor spent many a weekend in the townhouse of the Cromwell family. It was half hidden by an overgrown garden, in an area of town, where manicured lawns and straight flower beds were the order of the day.

Trevor had loved it there from the start. The family was so uncomplicated, and he loved Mrs. Cromwell’s cornbread and gumbo.

They seemed to have so much time for each other and always talked during dinner. Inside, the house was bright and cheerful with loads of wooden furniture smelling of beeswax polish. There were framed pictures on the walls and all sorts of fascinating stuff was scattered around.

*

“Hi there, Katie!” Chryséis called and let go of her mother’s hand.

Katherine started to run across the parking lot. But not without pinching the unsuspecting Trevor in passing.

That was unusually bold for Katherine and Trevor tried to playfully slap her arm. She was too fast for him, despite her stiff skirt and woolen twinset.

The white gravel crunched under their soles as Trevor chased her to the other side of the lawn. The two of them came to a halt in front of Chryséis, breathless and laughing.

“Hi there guys, good to see you’ll again,” Chryséis greeted them in her southern drawl.

“Hi there, girlfriend,” Katherine laughed, still out of breath. “Hello, Mrs. Cromwell!”

Chryséis’s Mom greeted them and continued chatting to other parents.

“Hey Chris, did you get my last e-mail? I sent it off in Oxford yesterday before I left.”

“Which e-mail, the one about Fred’s tummy bug?”

Katherine nodded. “Yes, got it. Bummer.”

Chryséis thought Katherine’s two brothers were spoilt brats. Her younger brother Jason, on the other hand, was easy-going and played outside with his friends all day long.

“We couldn’t do anything when we were in Marseilles. It was sooo boring.” Katherine sighed at the mere memory. “Fred’s such a nuisance. He always catches something when we travel.”

Sure, his Mom’s attention, Chryséis thought to herself.

Katherine still spoke in a pronounced British accent. According to some of the American kids, it sounded as if she had just arrived with the pilgrim ships in the New World.

“Read any interesting books during the holidays?” Chryséis turned to Trevor.

“What?” He was distracted.

Holly Benson, the class bully, stood nearby. Trevor hoped that she wouldn’t notice him. He didn’t like her much and it was unlikely that she had changed for the better during the holidays.

She had a pretty face under a mop of curly brown locks. It could have fooled somebody who didn’t know her well.

For some mysterious reason, Holly Benson didn’t like kids on a scholarship. She kept throwing back her dark curls and tried to appear disinterested as she inspected the newcomers in the parking lot.

Holly would have liked to be friends with Chryséis. Mr. Cromwell came from an old family in the area and chaired the Etheridgeville’s Chamber of Commerce. Good family, Holly’s Dad said.

The class bully stood just behind Mrs. Cromwell, who was now talking to her parents. She had discovered the three friends laughing and sharing their holiday stories.

Why did Chryséis have to be friends with this Trevor Huxley character from Chicago? He was so common. How he had made the cut at Pemberton, she couldn’t fathom!

Mr. Benson’s company donated a proud sum of money to the school funds every year and he certainly expected his daughter to be right up there with the best. And as for Katherine - well what was so special about her that Chryséis chose this English girl as her best friend?

“I asked, if you’ve read any interesting book.”

“Oh okay, actually I surfed more on the Internet,” Trevor confessed.

“As always.”

“This new website on astronomy is amazing. They have a screensaver with pictures of planets and galaxies and some info about black matter.”

He was right at home, exploring the virtual world of the internet. Not to mention computer games.

“And what else?” Katherine asked.

Before he could answer, Chryséis said excitedly, “You’ve just got to read ‘Distant Resonance’. It’s a new book by Prof. Herbert Shelton. It’s all about something that happens on one side of the planet and then somebody has the exact same idea on the other side and…”

Holly Benson had moved quietly next to her father, Harold J. Benson III. She now faced the three friends directly.

“Herbert Shelton? Read it ages ago. Good book!” she cut in with an air of self-importance. “Probably too expensive for you, Trevor.” Trevor rolled his eyes and Katherine jumped.

“Whoa, where did you come from?”

Chryséis was annoyed. “Oh whatever, Holly. Nobody asked you anyway!” Holly never seemed to get it when she wasn’t welcome. Prof. Cromwell noticed the icy atmosphere and came to the rescue.

“Hi Holly, nice to see you, darling. We’d better go now. Good day, Mr. Benson. Mrs. Benson.”

She knew her daughter’s quick temper and ushered the kids towards the stairs and the entrance hall, before Mr. Benson had a chance to lecture her about more pros and cons of holidaying in the Caribbean.

“Look, they prepared everything inside,” she said.

Chryséis lugged a small, blue suitcase up the stairs with Trevor’s help.

“Read Herbert Shelton ages ago… blahblah. Who did she try to impress?” she mumbled to herself. Chryséis had already had enough of Holly, and school had only just started.

Dr. Broadbent held his usual speech. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon parents and other adults present...” Dr. Broadbent always addressed the students as ‘ladies and gentlemen’.

He was a quick-tongued man in his fifties. With a receding hairline and a kind pink face, he was the picture of a school principal. Dr. Broadbent loved to spike his assembly speeches with little wordplays to keep his young audience on their toes.

Today his speech was comparatively lame. Eighth-grader Bradley Benson, a distant cousin of Holly’s, pushed one of the smaller boys out of the way and Dr. Broadbent paused until order had been restored. At the beginning of the school year, he was still in a good mood. The entrance hall filled with more and more people.

“... and we find ourselves back in the hallowed halls of learning. An extended welcome to our teachers, who are no doubt in hiding somewhere in the building and - of course to our parents and the new students. May your stay at Pemberton be as fruitful—” Dr. Broadbent spoke for another ten endless minutes.

Afterward, there were finger foods, mostly handfuls of sausage rolls before the parents left.

Then Pemberton was back to business as usual. The relatively small private school had only two classes per grade. Katherine, Trevor and Chryséis were in the same class this year. So were Holly and her best friend, Natasha Manning.

“Oh joy,” Chryséis moaned.

“Yeah well, nothing we can do,” Trevor whispered.

“We’ll see about that.”

At least, Dr. Wilkins was their homeroom teacher. A dedicated if slightly boring teacher, he had a kind heart. Unfortunately, he was easily thrown off balance. The grade-eights still giggled about a prank they had played on Dr. Wilkins last October. Apparently it had something to do with a whoopee cushion.

After a rushed dinner, rooms were assigned in the dormitories. Garments, books and personal items were sorted noisily from bulging suitcases into yawning closets.

The boys were in the east wing, the girls in the west wing. Soon the common rooms were buzzing with excited chatter.

“Did you see Vanessa? That new haircut!”

“I heard that Bobby’s parents are getting a divorce…”

“No!”

“I’m taking Japanese this year...”

Chryséis shared a corner room on the second floor with Katherine and Sally Holfield, a new girl from Missouri. Being no early bird, Chryséis didn’t like bright morning light and was pleased that their windows faced west. Thank goodness, Holly’s room was on the floor below.

Trevor had put his things away earlier and sat reading on a bench outside. Leaning over the windowsill, Chryséis called out to him. “Hi there, Trevor!”

It wasn’t very cool to call out to girls in their dorms. He waved back quickly and carried on with his book. ‘The Dragonfly’ by H.A. Humphries was a novel about a Chinese boy, who lived during the Ming dynasty. Only 74 pages left. He wanted to finish the book today.

Katherine gave Sally advice while putting away her socks in the bottom drawer. Sally Holfield was nervous about going to such a famous school. She thought that she wouldn’t keep up with the other talented students.

“New kids are sometimes targeted by the snobs here. So expect some hazing.” She knew what she was talking about.

“Sounds scary.”

“Only if you let them get to you. And we’ll also be around.”

“Trevor gave Holly Benson the cold shoulder last year until she gave up on him. He was hopeless as a victim.” Chryséis grinned.

“Who’s Holly Benson?”

“She’s one of the popular girls in our grade. Stinking rich.”

“Trust me, you don’t want anything to do with her,” Katherine said.

They wore their pajamas, because it was lights out at nine. It was 8:37 p.m. according to the LCD clock on Katherine’s bedside table. ‘Lights out’ was at nine sharp. They still had some time left.

Sally brushed her teeth and then sat in front of the dressing table the girls shared, to brush out her hair. “Why did Holly do that? I mean, why is she so nasty?” She asked the mirror. Sally wanted to be everybody’s friend and who was this Trevor?

She combed her light brown hair into a ponytail only to brush bangs back in her face to achieve a sultry starlet look.

Katherine hung up a poster of her favorite girlie band ‘Bliss Five’ over her bed.

“Sally, do you mind handing me the sticky tape over there…?” She pointed to the table while holding the poster up against the wall.

“Holly’s a spoilt brat, that’s what!” Chryséis stated bluntly.

She usually just said whatever popped into her head and wasn’t always diplomatic.

Sally gave Katherine the tape in silence and sat down in front of the mirror to put away her brush and hair clips. Chryséis moved into another yoga position on the carpet, putting her legs straight up into the air.

When Katherine had started at Pemberton, Chryséis had saved her from Holly Benson. That’s how they had become best friends.

If Holly respected anybody, it was Chryséis. Somehow she found it hard to stand up to her and avoided fights with the quick-witted Chryséis.

Soon normality returned to the ‘Pemberton Academy for Advanced Learning’ and everything went its usual way.

Or almost everything..