Chapter 20

Cal didn’t come to school on Tuesday either, or Wednesday. It was on Wednesday that I got a call from the TV production company. I listened to what they were looking for, and the twenty five thousand pounds a week fee they were offering, and asked them to ring my Dad, since the final decision lay with my parents. As soon as I arrived home, I asked dad if they’d rung. They had, and they were couriering a script over for me to read. I was due in Manchester, at their offices on Saturday at eleven thirty for an audition.

“This may sound like a strange question Dad,” I said after he told me this, “but why did you say yes. You know it will mean missing ten weeks of school?”

“Yes, son, I do. Your Mum and I discussed it, and we decided that it would take you out of the present atmosphere for a time, and they assured us that there would be professional tutors on hand to make sure your school work doesn’t fall behind. And if it comes to it, you can afford to pay tutors to come in at home to fill any gaps.”

“All right then, would I need to commute?”

“We’ll find that out on Saturday son,” he said.

When Cal didn’t come to school on Thursday either I got worried and called her mobile, there was no answer so I called the house phone, that just rung as well, so I tried her mother’s mobile. She answered on the third ring.

“Hello David,” she said as she answered, “what’s wrong that you’re ringing me?”

“Is Cal all right?” I replied, without any preamble.

“Yes, of course, she’s still upset, but within that she’s all right. She’s on the waiting list to see a psychologist, but yes. Why don’t you ask her yourself, she’s in most of the same classes as you.”

“She’s not here,” I answered, “I assumed she must be sick.”

“David, she’s set off for school every morning this week.”

“Well she hasn’t arrived at all.”

“Oh, God, no,” she sighed, “David, I’ll have to ring off, I need to call the school.”

“All right, let me know what happens will you?”

“Yes,” she answered, “and David.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you,” she said softly.

“What for?”

“For caring enough to be worried.”

“It’s what I do,” I replied, as we hung up.

Twenty minutes later I was called out of class to Mr. James’ office.

There was another man with him.

“David,” our deputy head said, “this is Peter Anderson from the education department. Apparently Calista Warner is missing from school, and you may be able to help us find her.”

“I have no idea where she is sir,” I replied, “I noticed she hadn’t been in school for the past few days and ended up ringing her Mum to see if she was ill. That’s what I’d assumed.”

“She’s your girlfriend isn’t she?” the man from the education department.

“Ex,” I replied, “we broke up a couple of weeks ago.”

“Well, if you have any idea of where she might go, tell us and we’ll send an EWO out to pick her up and bring her back,” Anderson said.

“No,” I said simply.

“What?” Anderson demanded.

“No I won’t help you find her and bring her back to school,” I said, emphatically, “but I will go out and find her myself, and try and persuade her to come back. If not I’ll take her home and leave her there, or I might stay with her until her mother gets home from work.”

“Young man, you will do no such thing,” Anderson insisted, “you will give me, now, a list of all the places she might be, or you will be in serious trouble.”

“No,” I said, softly, “is that all sir?”

I directed the last comment to Mr.James.

“No David, just hang on here a minute will you?” he replied, “Peter, you seem to have forgotten the first principle of education, to turn out decent human beings. This young man is the most decent human being I’ve ever had the pleasure to teach. He is intensely loyal to his friends, and to be honest, we tend to cut him, and Calista, a little slack. Calista spent this summer at a summer school for talented musicians in Munich, but David, he spent it in Hollywood, making his first film. I think we’ll get Cal back a lot quicker, if we just let him handle it.”

He finished and handled me a slip of paper.

“Here you go David, a permission slip to be off school premises during school hours.”

He gave me another one.

“And one for Cal, too.”

As I left the room I heard Anderson start to argue, then had to chuckle when I heard Mr. James’ response.

“Peter, fuck off.”

I actually had a very good idea where I might find her. The town of Castleford grew up where the River Calder flows into the River Aire. At the confluence there is a heavily wooded spit of land, and within that, a hollow in the ground that you could walk right past and never see. It’s where we used to go when we were little and wanted to be alone. Particularly if, for some reason we didn’t want to be found. I headed there. When I arrived twenty five minutes later I noticed three things, scuff marks at the entrance, which suggested someone had used it recently, the fact that if I scrambled in there, my trousers would get filthy, and lastly, there was no way both Cal and I would fit in there together any more. I stood at the entrance and rattled the bushes gently.

“It’s all right Cal, you can come out, here’s only me here.”

“Go away David,” a voice came from inside the bushes.

“No,” I replied, “not until you come out.”

“Not until you go away.”

“Then there wouldn’t be any point you coming out,” I explained.

“Well I’m not anyway.”

“Fair enough, I’ll just ring your Mum and get her to come and get you.”

“No,” she almost screamed.

“She already knows you’re not in school. I got called into Bernie’s office there was a guy from the Education Office there, who got all officious with me when I refused to give him a list of where you might be. They wanted to come and drag you back to school.”

“You refused to tell him?”

“Of course, I wasn’t going to give up a good hiding place like this. He threatened me with all kinds of punishment if I didn’t tell him.”

“So why are you here then?”

“To find you. Bernie gave me a permission slip to be out. I’ve got one for you too.”

“Bernie did?”

“It seems he has a soft spot for me and you,” I said, “as I left his office the education guy started arguing, and the last words I heard Bernie say as the door closed were ‘Peter, fuck Off’.”

I heard her laugh at that.

“Now are you coming out or are we going to waste a whole free day off school standing here arguing?”

I saw the bushes start to move, she was coming out.

When she emerged I couldn’t help laughing.

“What’s so funny?” she asked sharply.

“You’re absolutely filthy,” I replied, “first thing we need to do is get you home and get you clean and changed. Actually no, the first thing we need to do is let your Mum know I’ve found you.”

“No, she mustn’t know I wasn’t at school,” she said horrified.

“Too late for that,” I answered, “when you didn’t answer either your mobile or home phone, I rang her to check if you were all right. Do you want to ring her or should I?”

“I’ll do it,” she said, sighing, before pulling her mobile our and ringing her Mum.

“Hi Mum,” she said, “I’m sorry.”

I didn’t hear Mary’s end of the conversation, but I did hear Cal’s last line.

“No Mum, it’s all right. I’m safe, I’m with David.”

As we set off, side by side, down the path towards home she turned to me.

“David,” she said, reaching into the inside pocket of her school blazer, “thank you.”

“For what?” I asked.

“This,” she handed me an envelope, with just a number on it.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Take out the paper inside.”

It was the results of her STI test, all the different tests marked NEG, except one, Gonorrhoea, was marked POS.

“For coming to Munich and stopping me giving that to you,” she said, “I am so, so sorry.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” I said, “have they fixed it?”

“Yes, I had an injection at the doctor’s and I have to take antibiotic tablets for ten days.”

Once we reached home, I waited in their living room while Cal went upstairs to shower and change.

She came down after nearly half an hour, clean and dressed in her spare school uniform, carrying the dirty ones under her arm. She quickly put her dirties in the washing machine and set it running then we set off for school.

We separated at school, Cal going off to French and me to German. Once again I was called out to Mr.James’ office.

“You found her?” he said.

“Yes, sir, I think I know why she wasn’t coming in, I think it’s solved.”

“Something to do with you and her?”

“Yes, sir, but I’d rather not discuss it, will there be any repercussions from the Education department?”

“I don’t think so,” he replied, “sit down a minute.”

I sat.

“Now david, about your behaviour,” he said sternly.

“Sir?” I queried.

“You were very rude to the gentleman from the Education department this morning, and unfortunately, regardless of my personal opinions, I can’t let that go unpunished.”

“Sir, I won’t apologise for my principles. I don’t snitch and I don’t tell.”

“Then I think a suitable punishment would be extra homework. I want you to write me an essay on the subject of principles and loyalty, shall we say to be handed in before the end of term.”

“Thank you, sir, I’ll do that.”

“All right then, you can go now.”

“Thank you, sir,” I said as I stood up.

“Close the door on your way out please David.”

I did.

The rest of the school day went by without any crises, in fact it was just another boring Thursday afternoon at school. I was half way home when my mobile rang. I looked at the Caller ID, it was Kathy.