Chapter 67

Andrew decided not to talk to Julian about the potential exposure through the Open University. They quietly worked away on a maintenance history feature. It was the most complicated thing that they had ever tried to code. They were working on it mostly as a challenge to themselves to see if they could do it. There was still no sign of anyone showing an interest in the program. It was the middle of the afternoon when Julian looked up.

“Andrew, would you do a photoshoot for June the same way you did with Tanvi? She has not even asked yet but she goes on about it all the time. Somewhere different so that it is special for her.”

Andrew didn’t have to even think about his answer.

“Of course I will. I learned so much with her that day and my photography is much better because of it. It will be my pleasure. You and she can decide where to shoot and we can go there. We got lucky that afternoon at school.”

“Yes we did. What was Tanvi’s reaction to the photos? She must have loved them.”

“I have not shown her yet. I am keeping them as an after exam surprise. I think her last exam is next week and so I will show her next Saturday.”

That evening for their last threesome date Tanvi, Katie and Andrew decided to go to the theatre for real this time. They ended up with nosebleed seats for a comedy at the Lyceum. It was an okay performance but not very memorable. What was memorable was standing at the corner of Katie’s street taking turns kissing them both. The timer idea went out the window, there was just a lot of kissing. Andrew was sitting on the stone wall of one of Katie’s neighbours which equalised the heights. He had to stop after 20 minutes of steamy kisses as he had to get back into town and change buses. His conscious was not still though. If anything developed with Ara then this current arrangement was not going to carry on. It was not fair to anyone.

Andrew was at the pool at 8.20 and started to warm up. At first he kept an eagle eye out for Ara but gradually his mood soured as he realised that she was not coming. He was upset and was morosely swimming away when he caught a glimpse of someone waving in his peripheral vision. She was there looking tired and sleepy. The tension left his body and he finally relaxed. She was not going to swim by the look of it so he did a 1500m final swim and then pushed himself out of the water. She walked down to the edge of the spectator area blatantly ogling him. He blushed and she laughed.

“Get used to it.”

Andrew retreated shaking his head. Seven minutes later he was in the lobby.

“Sorry I stood you up at the beginning but my flatmates decided that we should drink all the booze in the flat before we leave. I am feeling more than a little fragile. Can we go and get some coffee?”

Coffee turned into breakfast and they sat and chatted. Andrew had a piece of paper with his address and phone number on it. He told Ara the weeks he would be away and hoped that they would get the chance to talk like he did with Nikki and Leslie. She in turn gave him her address, some place called Virginia Water Andrew had never heard of.

“So Andrew, did you have a nice Saturday night?” Ara asked, mock innocently.

“Ara, seriously, do you think that I told them about meeting you again on Friday night? I really don’t talk about anyone else. I am not going to tell you anything. For a start there is nothing to tell. I am a pure virgin schoolboy, trying to fight off these scheming older women.”

He had to grab her arms she was whacking him so often.

“Let it be Ara. We can talk about our relationship, if we decide to have one, when you get back for your second year. There are lots of things to talk about and discuss in the autumn. Let’s leave it until October. You will be nearing 18 and I will still only be 16 with two full years of school to go. We have a lot to think about. So unless you want to come and work at the Food Bank warehouse with me this afternoon I should walk you home and go.”

“What do you mean work at a warehouse?”

“Sorry, too many things going on to keep track of what I have told you and what I have not. I volunteer at the warehouse for the Food Bank on a Sunday afternoon.”

“No, you didn’t mention that. I would like to spend the time with you but I do need to get my flat packed. Nothing happened yesterday so if I am going to have to pack today.”

They retraced their steps from two nights earlier. This time though when they got to the flat, Ara pulled Andrew to her and kissed him fully on the mouth. It was a kiss filled with promise and passion. When they parted she smiled shyly.

“Don’t forget me Andrew.”

Andrew’s afternoon at the Food Bank was a blur for some reason. When he got to the Campbells his mood sobered because the talk was all about the Open University fiasco. Andrew was full of praise for Leslie as he could well have walked blindly into a horrendous situation without her decisiveness. Brian was relieved that Drummond was involved with Mhairi.

“Leslie did the right thing Andrew. This is too juicy for the press to ignore if it comes out. Teenagers making hundreds of thousands of pounds. One of whom is almost certainly the youngest person ever to go to the Open University. We will have to wait and see if it can be quietly resolved.”

The government interest in Andrew went on for several more months, all through the summer. It was resolved in the end by two things. The contract Mhairi had drawn up that the Open University administration had signed had been breached and everyone knew it. That was the hammer. She also wrote to the Department of Education and told them that if Andrew was made known to the press he would castigate the government for the cuts to education and would go out of his way to embarrass everyone involved. That was the anvil. It didn’t matter that it was a pack of lies, the threat of it worked. The government decided Andrew McLeod was not the poster child for their education policy after all. The Open University picked up Mhairi’s legal bill and the whole matter was resolved. Andrew had narrowly escaped and learned a lesson. There was an unexpected positive outcome which was still to come.

“Brian, can I ask you a philosophical question?”

“Sure. What is it?”

“What should I do with my money? My ultimate goal is to create something like the Wellcome Trust. Make millions, tens of millions, and fund cancer research. That is the life goal. It is something that I have spoken among the four of us. Mum and Dad have an idea but even then, I have been pretty vague on the details, and nobody else knows anything. Only Julian and I presume his dad, know how much money we have. So far I have made safe investments, and investments that have already made me a lot of money. But they feel discordant in a way I struggle to explain to myself never mind someone else. I am investing my money and growing it but who are we kidding. I have a renovated mews house in Mayfair and a Ferrari for god’s sake. Those are dreams not investments. I don’t know that I would sell them if Creighton suggested it. Then in the last couple of months I have invested in farmland for Harry Strachan, 50 acres of barley fields. And after that I paid off Mum and Dad’s mortgage. Both of those things made me feel better than any of my other investments, and the mortgage thing is not even an investment. I have the rest of my money in the stock market and it is doing well. I think I should be trying to do more with my money. I am struggling to articulate it but helping a French company house an executive in London is easy money and it does not fit in with the idea of helping others. Should I not be trying to do something more?”

Andrew ran out of steam at this point and just looked at Brian.

“As ever Andrew, you do have some interesting thoughts. You know where you want to end up. Make a significant amount of money, create a trust and step back.” Andrew nodded. “You are struggling with how to make that money and what you are investing in with your current funds. With the car and the house, including getting them restored you have spent about £85,000. The Ferrari is insured for £40,000 and you could get way more than that for it if you sold it. You are going to get more than £100,000 for renting out the house in Mayfair over the next five years. It is worth close to £125,000 if you sold it right now. So in five years’ time you will have £100,000 of cash plus investments worth £165,000 plus any gain in the intervening period. You will have more than doubled your money. The nature of those assets means that they will be hard to sell, I know that but they are great investments.”

“I want more than great investments Brian. I have a lot of feelings of guilt about the money at the moment. A million people have become unemployed in the last two years. Should l not be trying to help somehow in making the country better? I understand why the government was so excited about highlighting me. Computing, young, making money. It is at least a partial antidote to the closure of yet another factory. I think I want to do something more with the money than own a house in Mayfair and have a Ferrari. I also don’t want to sell either of them so I am a hypocrite as well.”

Brian smiled and Leslie laughed.

“You raise an interesting point Andrew. I don’t think anyone is investing with that outlook at the moment. The government is setting up training schemes and enterprise zones but I don’t think there a private organisation that is supporting something like this. I mean the banks will lend a company money but I don’t think there are many companies being formed in areas like that, at least not yet.”

Andrew sat there looking a glum.

“How am I going to make a difference then? Just be a ruthless capitalist until I make a fortune and then suddenly turn all noble and give it away. I already worry about that with the house and car and I have seen neither since they were restored! I know I am lucky as hell, I know it. I can stop the companies tomorrow and live an ordinary middle class life. I have a house in central London and I know that I can get a degree and get a job. I could coast for the next 60 or 70 years. How do I do more than that but also not get seduced and sucked into the lifestyle? Three months ago I told friends of my parents that I would invest £25,000 in acreage for them to expand their farm. Didn’t have to think about it, I knew I had the money somewhere. Fuck, it all seems too flash.”

“You are a remarkable young man. In the years to come we will remind you of this conversation and hold you to these standards. You can’t fix everything but you can think about what you are investing in. Honestly, you have made me think about some of the things I am invested in, tobacco for one. So where can you make a difference? I don’t think that these large scale manufacturing plants are coming back. I may be wrong but nobody is opening new steelworks or coal mines, definitely not here in Britain. So invest in the future, people’s futures.

“A lot of universities have set up science parks and there are more being announced all the time. I will look and see if there is a way to invest in some of these. I have no idea. But it is something to investigate. You also have to not overthink it. Look at the business that you, Julian and Leslie have created. It is from your bedrooms. No one can invest in that. What you want to invest in, at least to start has to be passive as well. You are seeing the problems trying to get anyone to notice your latest software. One day you may have an office with an administrator to deal with enquiries. Now you have to invest money and stand back. It is part of the frustration of still being six years away from not being a student.”