Chapter 7

As soon as I got to school Sandra came up to me and put her arm through mine. I grinned at her. “You okay?”

Her answering smile said it all, but she nodded as well. “Yes,” she whispered. She let go of me a few moments later. We didn’t hold hands, but she kept her hand close to mine as we walked in. I think she just didn’t want to advertise that she was with me now, yet still wanted to be close. Well that was okay, I felt exactly the same.

At first break I found Bondy with Talulah, Sandra and Blish at our usual spot. Higgis joined us a few moments later.

“I’ve got to find a couple of female concubines,” Blish was grumbling. “They know I’m gay. Why do I have to have women?”

“The point of the concubines is to have children,” Bondy told him. “You can have a male lover as well, but you should have a woman for children.”

Higgis bumped hands gently with Blish. We all knew, though we hadn’t actually been formally told, that the two were as much a couple as anyone could be when still at school. Both were sponsors so that too was causing them both a lot of grief.

“I’ve still got to choose people as well,” I said, trying to break their depression. “Who do you think I should choose?”

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Sandra stare at me. I turned my head slightly to look at her and saw a fierce expression on her face, her eyes boring into mine. As usual she was heavily made up, looking scary and hard. I raised my eyebrows very slightly, questioningly. She gave an equally tiny nod. I returned with a tiny smile and a matching nod, and her response was a matching tiny smile. That was it. She had just agreed to be my concubine, I think, and it had taken all of two seconds, if that. Better, we had done it in the middle of a group of people and not one had noticed.

Everyone was suggesting names. Most of the suggestions were completely unsuitable and everyone knew they were, but it was a fun five minutes. More importantly though, it gave me a hint on which other girls might have appropriate CAP scores: some of the names put forwards I hadn’t known had a CAP. One name did catch my attention though. Margot Keller. She was one of the girls who played rugby. Attractive, I thought, vaguely sexy, reasonably good looking maybe. And I had an idea she might be interested in me. Whether that was for my CAP or whether for other reasons I didn’t know.

Lunchtime I caught Sandra before she found the others. I think she’d been looking for me as well. “Did you ask what I think you asked?” She asked in a small voice, her eyes wide.

I took her hand and pulled her to a small semi-private alcove. “Will you come with me as my concubine?” I asked softly.

Her answering smile was enough. “Yes,” she whispered, possibly squeaked would be a better word. She flung her arms around my neck and fastened her mouth to mine. I don’t know how long we kissed, but it was a magical time. Eventually though we were brought to Earth with a bump.

“No petting on the school premises!” came a harsh voice.

We leapt apart and turned to see Higgis watching us owlishly. He was a school prefect and he had us bang to rights. We were in deep shit.

“Making you crap yourselves was fun,” he said. “Cos it’s you two I won’t report you.” He looked at Sandra. “I’m guessing he asked you?” he said dryly, more a statement than a question.

“Yes,” Sandra whispered, her face still showing her excitement. I couldn’t help smiling. She was truly beautiful.

“Go to lunch,” Higgis told us, “I’ll meet you shortly. I’ve got to finish my rounds.”

Sandra gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. Really. Don’t mention it.”

“Thanks,” I told him. “And can you keep our secret as well please? For now anyway.”

He nodded and turned away, a pleased little smile on his face: he knew something no one else did. We composed ourselves and walked back into the canteen. Glancing at the clock I realised we’d been ‘away’ for only just over five minutes. I checked my watch and confirmed it. I estimated from that that we may have been kissing for only three or maybe four minutes, but it had certainly felt a lot longer.

We got our lunches and went and sat in our usual spot. Bondy was already there, and only moments later Talulah joined us. Higgis and Blish both joined us a few minutes later.

“You a prefect as well Blishy?” I asked.

He shook his head. “Nah. Just waiting for John.” Ah, I thought. John, not Tom.

“Fairy nuff.”

Half way through lunch, Talulah stopped and stared at Sandra. “What have you done?” she asked with a frown. “There’s something different. Have you changed your hair or something?” We all stared at Sandra, even me, even though I thought I knew what Talulah had seen.

Sandra’s eyes flicked briefly to mine then to Talulah’s. Her hand went to her hair. “Nothing,” she said. “Not been to the hair dresser in weeks. I really need to go again.”

“You should let it grow long,” Talulah said, still eyeing her friend suspiciously.

“I want to, but it’s too fine and breaks too easily if it gets too long. That’s how I know it’s time to go.”

“Okay. I’ll see if I can get an appointment for Saturday.”

Once again Sandra’s eyes flicked briefly to mine, and in that quick glance I could see the disappointment in them. She’d already turned her eyes away from me before I had chance to give her any sort of encouragement or sympathy.

I didn’t know it then, but Talulah had seen her friends glance, seen the expression in her eyes, and had already put two and two together and got the correct result. She caught me just as I came out of the changing rooms and was heading to the rugby pitch for games that afternoon. “You hurt her and you’ll have me to answer to,” she told me calmly. It was said in a soft, friendly, tone, but there was a definite glint in her eye.

I didn’t try to deny it.

“I won’t.” I smiled slightly. “And thank you.”

She raised one eyebrow at me. I really wished I could do that.

“Implicitly you are giving me your blessing to date your friend,” I said. “And for that, thank you.”

“She doesn’t need my blessing.”

“No. But she’s been your friend...”

“SIMPSON!”

The rugby master had seen me talking and had got annoyed I wasn’t already on the field. Talulah gave me a wry, amused, look. “Sorry,” I muttered to her and dashed off.

Mr Miley growled at me. “Stop chatting up the girls Simpson, this is not a pickup joint, this is a place of learning.”

“Hence playing rugby in the cold and the rain,” came a murmured, anonymous voice. Everyone chuckled, though most tried not to. It was a male voice, but I didn’t know whose.

“Who said that?” Demanded Mr Miley furiously.

No one answered, everyone looking at the ground.

“Well?”

Still no one answered.

“Right, the lot of you. Run. Far posts and back again. Go.”

He had us doing an hour and a half of exercises. We didn’t even play five minutes of rugby, instead we did all sorts of training exercises, girls in one half, boys in the other, so that we didn’t come into contact. Mr Miley may have been angry, but he wasn’t stupid. I tried to apologise to everyone but they waved it off, unconcerned. “Not your fault,” one muttered. “Been coming for a while now.”

What did irritate us all however, was that ten minutes before the end of school, he sent the girls back in to get changed, but kept the guys working for an extra fifteen minutes. He knew it had been a male voice, so he was punishing us all. No one said anything. We knew damned well that if we did he’d just extend it for another five or ten minutes.

For all that though, after the shower, I felt pretty good.

Sandra was waiting for me outside the changing rooms when we came out again. Most of the girls in the rugby group were also waiting for all of us. I think it was a sign of support and solidarity. Whether intentionally or not, Mr Miley had finally welded us into a team. We got a small round of applause, which we returned. The girls usually finished just over half way through; today even they had been kept until the end of the day. Once again I spotted Margot Keller looking straight at me. She smiled at me, then blushed and turned her head away.

After the mutual ‘love-in’ Sandra caught my arm. “Did you tell Talulah?”

I shook my head. “No. I assumed you had ‘cos she caught me just as I was going onto the rugby pitch and told me not to hurt you, otherwise I would have to deal with her.”

Sandra gave a soft laugh. “She told me exactly the same thing. Not to hurt you otherwise I would have her to deal with.”

We looked at each other and burst into laughter. “Your friend is an absolute loon,” I said.

“She lovely and she’s amazing,” Sandra said softly, her own laughter drying up. “She has so much hurt in her life yet she can protect and support other people. I don’t know how she does it. She’s so strong, but I don’t think she realises just how strong she is.”

I nodded. “She is amazing. And a bit scary.”

Sandra laughed again, this time softer. “She now includes you as one of her very close friends,” I was told. “As far as she is concerned, you are part of her inner circle. It’s almost impossible to get there, but you’ve done it. I think Bondy has as well. Blish and Higgis haven’t, not by a long way, but they are definitely part of her outer circle of friends.”

“She mustn’t say anything to Blish,” I said. “I have an idea his dad is a copper.”

Sandra nodded. “Both his parents are. Thing is, his mum is in the right er department or whatever to help Tee.”

“Ah. I didn’t know that. Does she know?”

“Tee? She knows they are both cops, but she doesn’t know what they do. I only found out sort of by accident. Blish was telling Higgis last year, and I just happened to over hear them talking. They weren’t part of Tee’s circle back then of course, so I didn’t think anything more of it.”

We had been walking towards the bus stop as we talked, but there were still a lot of students around so we didn’t even hold hands.

“Is that all Tee said to you?” I asked.

Sandra shook her head. “She asked how long, but that’s all. I asked her not to tell anyone just yet.”

I nodded. “She didn’t even say that to me. Just if I hurt you I would have her to answer to.”

As we stood waiting for our buses, I allowed the back of my hand to lightly brush against hers, and for a few minutes we lightly rubbed the back of our hands together even though we were, to anyone casually looking at us, not paying any attention to each other. We were very aware of each other though.

The first thing Mrs Clarke said when she walked through the door Wednesday evening was: “so you’ve asked Sandra Walmsley.”

“Um. Yes. Who told you?”

“Sandra did.” Mrs Clarke smiled slightly. “She was very excited about it. Very happy. Just don’t hurt her.”

“Talulah said that as well,” I said without thinking.

Mrs Clarke stared at me. “You told Talulah?”

I shook my head. “No one did. She worked it out.”

“How?”

I shook my head. “Don’t know.”

“Hm. You or Sandra must have said or done something in front of her. Just don’t rile her up.”

“I don’t think we have.” I told her what Sandra had told me, both what Talulah had said to Sandra, and about the inner circle of friends. I frowned. “Does Sandra know you and I talk? About Talulah I mean?”

“Yes. She was a bit cross with you at first, but since you hadn’t actually told me anything at that point, she’s now relaxed about it. I also talk with Mr Bond. All three of you now know that I talk with all three of you. You also know that I only talk with you in one’s.”

“What about Talulah herself?”

“She doesn’t know that I know. She doesn’t know that you and I and Sandra and Steven all talk about her, are plotting behind her back to rescue her and her sister. At the moment she can’t know.”

“I know,” I said. But that reminded me of something. I told Mrs Clarke about what Blish’s mum did.

“Interesting. I knew she was a police officer. I hadn’t realised she worked in child protection.”

My mind skittered back to Sandra. “Do you mind that I asked Sandra?”

She smiled. “Not in the slightest. Have you thought about Neeka?”

“Ah. I forgot. No. I don’t know who she is. I’ll try and find out. Margot Keller might be interested in me though.”

“Okay,” said Mrs Clarke in a resigned voice. “I’ll look into her.”

“You need to get the duster out occasionally,” she told me half an hour later. “The place is generally neat and tidy, but dust is starting to accumulate.”

I just nodded. Housework was harder work than I had ever expected it to be.

“How are you getting on generally? No problems with money yet?”

I shook my head, telling her about all the money I had found in various pockets wallets and purses after the collection.

“How much have you got left?”

“I think I’ve spent just under two hundred.”

“In what? Three weeks?”

“Yeah,” I said slowly, trying to count back the weeks. “Maybe four.”

“Try and cut it down a little. There’s only you,” she paused for a moment in thought, then continued. “Mmm. Try to aim for thirty. You will break that, possibly even break forty as well, but I think fifty a week for just you is a little on the high side. Tell you what, for the next two weeks, jot down everything you spend, and on what, and we’ll have a look at it then. Okay?”

I nodded. “Sure.”

“Good. Sunday morning then.” She gave me one of her wonderful smiles and left.

I went and checked on both the money and the calendar. It was three weeks and a day, and I had spent about one hundred and forty-four. So close enough to fifty a week. I thought about what I had spent money on, and knew I could save a few quid.

“We’ve got hair appointments Saturday morning in town,” Sandra told me at lunch the following day. “Since Tee knows about us, come and meet us in town.”

I nodded and smiled. “Okay.”

The others began to arrive so we changed the subject and Sandra texted me the where and when later in the day.

Their appointment was for ten am. I knew from experiencing the time Mum or Jo took in the hairdressers that they would be at least an hour. I was rarely in the barbers for more than twenty minutes, and that included waiting for two or three other people who were there before me. We, men that is, never booked appointments, we just turned up and waited our turn. A haircut that took longer than five or six minutes was too long. I turned up just before ten-thirty. Sandra had already texted me to ask where I was, expecting to see me before she went in. I just sighed and went for the bus.

Today it was another pair of Pauline Lipp’s knickers. Okay. Not special. Comfortable but not exciting. I could certainly wear them again, I just didn’t know whether I would.

They hadn’t finished when I got to the hairdressers. I would have just hung around outside. I didn’t feel all that comfortable going in, but Talulah spotted me and beckoned me in. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Sandra couldn’t see me as she had her head forwards while someone washed her hair. I guessed it was a late start or something, as I understood they always washed first. I could be wrong of course. She did know I was there though, and waved her hand approximately in my direction.

I reached over and touched her fingers, she gripped me briefly, then let go. I sat down and watched. Watching the girls have their hair washed was almost sexy in an odd way. I didn’t tell them that though. I didn’t think it would go down too well.

“Would you like a cup of tea or coffee while you’re waiting?”

“What? Oh. Thank you. A cup of tea please.”

The young girl, who Sandra later told me was an apprentice, smiled at me and went off, coming back about three minutes later with a good sized mug of tea and a smile. It was fascinating watching them get their hair done, and yes even sexy. Talulah had long hair, down to below her shoulder blades. I knew she wanted it shorter. In one of her more introspective moments she had told us that it was her long hair that had attracted the attention of her father, and that he had effectively forbidden her from having it cut too short. She had it trimmed by a couple of inches, just to tidy the ends, but unless you really knew, you might not notice it was a little shorter. She also had some red and black highlights added. The effect was gorgeous and I told her so. She just gave me a sad smile. I picked up her free hand and gave the fingers a kiss by way of apology. I guess I had reminded her that her father also liked it.

“That’s okay,” I told her with a laugh. “You look gorgeous either way.”

Sandra’s short hair had a slight wave in it. The spikes she usually had it in were, apparently, just hair cream which I watched them reapply into her favoured spikes.

She had no colour added, nor bleached out, her hair was just too fine for bleaching. It would damage it, she had told me, and the dyes, unless she went really expensive, didn’t seem to last. Probably for the same reason, she thought.