Chapter 27

This chaotic week continued on Thursday. This time Mrs. Hall asked Andrew to stay as the rest of the class went to assembly.

“Are you okay? There have been some ugly rumours and I wanted to check you were okay.”

She sounded concerned.

“Mrs. Hall that is kind but bloody hell, it was a four hour date on Saturday night, in public the whole time. She got dropped off by her parents for god’s sake. Why is everyone so worked up about two 14 year olds going to the movies? This makes no sense.”

Andrew’s exasperation came through.

“We don’t know. The best the staff can come up with is that you are all at the absolute apex of puberty and this has caused this ridiculous overreaction.”

“Just so you know, the girls are starting to get mad about it. Hannah absolutely destroyed Robbie Derry yesterday. It is making them all gun shy about going out with anyone if this is going to be the reaction. Suzanne and I are taking one for the team. It is not helped by the fact it is me, the nerd in 3A who spends all his time in the library. The guys in 3C have been having a field day. I see her after school three days a week and I make sure she is okay. The girls will look out for her at hockey. Hopefully by next week it is passed.”

Mrs. Hall looked at him.

“If you see her after school is that not encouraging further comments?”

“We study together in the library. Her, Paula Rae and I. Most of the time we have the place to ourselves. I think Mrs. Graves likes the company.”

He checked his watch.

“Looks like we have missed assembly. Can I just head over to my period 1 class?”

Thursday passed with ever lessening comments, more banter now. One topic that was a recurring theme was what was Andrew doing on Saturday night. Pete asked him at the end of English if he was going on another date on Saturday. Andrew’s reaction was instant and intentionally loud.

“Why the hell would any girl in our year go out with me or anyone else? Think about all the shit poor Suzanne had to put up with. Even if I wanted to ask her out again I wouldn’t. Nobody deserves the crap flying around here all week. And don’t think the other girls haven’t figured it out. They are going to tell you all to go to hell and go out with older guys who will treat them well and beat the shit out of any stupid third year who gets lippy. Long lonely year guys.”

Andrew was not much of tub thumper but he was wound up. He walked off seething to himself. A hand touched his arm and he spun round aggressively in case someone wanted to challenge him on his speech. Hannah flinched at the reaction and Andrew stopped.

“I’m sorry. Wasn’t sure who that was and what they wanted to do. I didn’t mean to startle you Hannah.”

He was trying to get himself back under control.

“I just wanted to say thank you Andrew.”

She walked on leaving Andrew watching her. Later in the library Suzanne confirmed that her form teacher had pulled her aside as well. On the way out to the gate at 5.00 Andrew asked her how she was doing. She smiled wryly.

“It is dying down. They will be distracted by something else soon.”

He had a sudden thought.

“I meant to ask you on Monday but I got so sidetracked I forgot, how were your folks when you got home? Was your dad mad? What happened?”

“Oh they were fine. Mum had calmed Dad down by the time I got home. Dad even laughed about the kiss. I purposefully forgot to mention the other one but what he does know about won’t hurt him.”

They all laughed at that. They paused at the gates before going their separate ways. It was Paula that surprised him.

“When the fuss has died down I would like to go ten pin bowling with my friends one Saturday night. Maybe in a couple of weeks?”

Both she and Suzanne were looking at him, so this was planned.

“I have never bowled so as long as you don’t expect competence then I would love to. Who were you thinking of inviting for the third person.”

Andrew had already ducked knowing that after the howl of outrage from Suzanne there would be retribution. He held his hands up and gave them a big smile.

“I would like that very much. Let’s figure which weekend next week, okay?”

They returned his smile and they parted. He would see them on Saturday at hockey. That night when Leslie called Andrew told her about Nikki and the ridiculousness of her family. He was sure that Leslie would be okay with Nikki joining them for dinner when they were not at her house, but he still wanted to ask as opposed to assuming. She was fine with that and they agreed to go to a cheap restaurant on Sunday rather than either of the family houses. Leslie said that it would be useful to get Nikki’s opinion on the Open University and that they would carry on the conversation on the drive home.

The one group who were supportive in a slightly twisted way, about Andrew and Suzanne were the guys in the Combined Cadet Force. They were oddly proud of him and although he got some brutal ribbing, for the most part it was more mature than anything else that week. The platoon was multiyear so the older guys set the tone.

When Andrew got to Goldenacre on Saturday to watch the girls he could see the conversation from the previous week being carried on between the one player and the coach. The fact that most of the team came over to say hi, including the couple of 4^th years, rather made him stick out. The weather was cold but unusually calm. Normally Edinburgh is windy, even in the summer, so a calm day was rare. The game was tight and ended up a 2-2 draw. Andrew had told Suzanne he would be heading off after the game as he had to catch a bus up over to Julian’s. As he waved goodbye as the team headed off to change he could see the coach watching him. She did not seem pleased.

Computing was plateauing slightly. They were still coding and trying new things but seemed to be coming to the limit of what they could teach themselves. The two of them were feeling down, having read about pioneers of the industry who were entirely self-taught. The two of them had hit the wall at a seemingly early stage. Andrew had quickly stuck up some posters at the University when he was coming back from his bass lesson on Thursday lunchtime. They were sitting in Julian’s room in the afternoon when Andrew thought about getting his perspective on the Open University idea.

“Julian can I ask you something without sounding too much like a cocky twat?”

No way was he going to resist that opening line.

“You always sound like a cocky twat; how will this be different?”

Thanks pal.

“I have found a computing course.”

Julian sat up at this.

“The Open University has a Computing and IT course which is micro based not mainframe based. I could do it in my free time. Look, the cocky part is that I am cruising through school. Not stressed, no pressure. Sure I study hard but I spend more time tutoring than I do on my own work. And I know how that sounds. That’s why I can’t really talk to anyone about it. I am seriously considering seeing if I can apply to the Open University while still at school. I need someone to tell me to get real. Am I full of it?”

Julian’s face was a picture. By the time Andrew had finished Julian understood he was serious.

“Andrew, are you insane?”

Oh well, at least there was no doubt about Julian’s opinion.

“A university level computing course. I know you are clever but do you seriously think that you can do this?”

“My friend Leslie got the course outline for me. I have it with me. Can we go through it? There is only one course where you need prior knowledge and that is the maths module. Look.”

Andrew went over to his bag and grab the prospectus with the Computing and IT outline. They spent the next 10 minutes going through each of the courses.

“Andrew, other than the maths this is all new stuff. Some guys might have more experience and be better at certain bits but everyone is on a pretty level playing field. Even the maths isn’t that hard. Sure, you haven’t done matrices yet, I am doing that now in 5^th year but you’ve started calculus and you are the biggest maths geek I know, and I mean that in a positive way.”

Julian had gone from skeptical to enthusiastic.

“That is the amazing thing Julian. I have already heard all about doing well in school classes so that you can get into university. You need this course and that course, a good grade in this. All that stuff. You know that, you have been going through all the UCCA stuff.”

Julian just nodded. UCCA was the central university admissions system. Everybody applied through it to get into university.

“This course has none of that. The Open University also is trying to expand access to education so they have less formal entry requirements. So I think I have a chance to get in. I can pay for it. But I have four or five things that are worrying me.

“One is getting my parents to approve. I don’t think they will stop me as long as my grades stay good at school. This is just a hobby. It’s not but you know what I mean. Second and probably my biggest worry is the study time. I can probably do 10 to 15 hours a week. Do you think that is enough? Third issue is related to that. The study time is going to be all my programming time during the week. I am going to turn up here on a Saturday without any new stuff. Now hopefully I will be learning new things but things will change. Last two are the personal ones. Can I do it? I am not short of confidence but even for me this is ballsy. I worry that I am going to wash out badly. The last one is balance in my life. I am already too much of a nerd. This just reinforces that.

“Oh and there is a 6^th issue. They have to agree. It wasn’t set up for brainy private school kids to do extra courses. It was an access to education initiative from the Labour Government. I am hardly their ideal candidate. If the course has too many applicants then I reckon I will be the first one knocked back.”

Julian started laughing.

“Given it no thought Andrew, eh? Alright here are my initial three thoughts. One you can do it. You’ll breeze the maths. And the rest is all new to everyone. Two, read the brochure again Andrew. It is designed for people that have jobs. It is not a full time university course. So the study time will ebb and flow as needed? Knowing you, you will cram in some courses over the summer and catch up or get ahead. The last one is a question. Are you starting university early? Say you are half way through by the end of school. Are you just going to finish this and not go anywhere else or are you planning on going to a traditional university after school and get two degrees? That might be the thing that trips you up. Oh and why are you doing this? To get the degree or to learn some computing stuff and then dump the course or put it on the back burner when other stuff happens.