Chapter 16: Home Visit

Aside from painkillers for the headaches, Clarissa’s treatment consisted of little more than a few days of bed rest. I had three cracked ribs, which the doctors said weren’t serious enough to warrant staying off school, but would be painful for some time, possibly as long as six months. I was sent home with a large box of strong co-codamol tablets.

It was obvious that the talk at school on Monday morning centred around what had happened to me and Clarissa. It turned out that Lily had seen Stevens rise from his seat, gather his goons, and follow me to the bathroom. She had informed Clarissa, who rushed to find me, while Lily told her father. Everyone was aware of that part of the story.

And everyone also knew that Stevens was on remand in Westmouth and charged with common assault and awaiting trial. His goons, on the other hand, were free. The story went that once they realised they were facing charges too, they caved and told the police it was all Stevens. Perhaps they weren’t all so gormless after all.

But no one knew what had actually happened in the bathroom, so I had people nagging me all day for details. Details I refused to provide. As I was free during periods three and four, I tucked myself away in a quiet corner of the library and tried to avoid everyone. However, early in period four, Clarissa’s friend Emily came looking for me. This wasn’t going to end well. She was bound to blame me for what happened to Clarissa, just like her mum did.

“Paul?”

“Hi, Em.”

“I er ... I went to see Rissa yesterday.”

“How is she?”

“Oh, she’ll be fine. She’ll be fine.” She looked as though she had something else to say but wasn’t sure she wanted to say it. She held her hands in front of her, jiggled her foot, and kept glancing around the room.

“Good. I’m glad she’s okay. Do you know when she’ll be back at school?”

“You can ask her yourself.” She bit her lip. “She wants to see you.”

“See me?”

Emily nodded and sat down in the chair opposite. “She wants you to pop round her house after school tonight. She says there’s something she needs to tell you. She wouldn’t tell me what it was, but...”

“But what?”

“But I think I can sort of guess what it is.”

“So what is—”

“Well, I can’t tell you, can I?” She rolled her eyes. “I mean, I might be wrong. And even if I’m not...” She shrugged. “You know. So, you’ll go see her tonight?”

“I’ll check with Vicky that it’s all right for me to be home late. It shouldn’t be a problem, but if she says no, I’ll let you know.”

Emily nodded. After a pause, she said, “Rissa couldn’t tell me what happened in the bathroom. She says she can’t remember. Something to do with the concussion or whatever.”

“That’s probably why she wants to talk to me, don’t you think?”

“It might be.” The tone of her voice said she thought otherwise. After an awkward pause, she said, “I heard that when the doctors came, you made them take care of Rissa first.”

I shrugged. Then winced. I was going to have to learn quickly to stop doing that.

“Well, I just wanted to say...” She paused, nodded, then said with a smile, “That was pretty cool.”

“Thanks.”

She got up, winked at me and left.

Gavin caught up with me as I was on my way to lunch. “Robbo, wait up.”

“Gav.”

“Rogers called a team meeting yesterday. He’s seriously pissed at you.”

“Figures. It’s my fault his star striker is out of action for who knows how long.”

“Up to six months, I hear.” He was grinning.

“You don’t seem all that upset about it.”

“Yeah, well, you know. What can I say? The guy’s a tosser. Okay, so half the team is pissed ‘cause he’ll be out of action and Rogers is majorly pissed, but the rest of us are sort of glad he’s gone, you know? He’s arrogant and selfish and nothing was ever his fault. Even that penalty he missed the other week. That was because of an uneven surface. Or so he says. Besides, I’ve got more reason to be glad he’s gone than most.”

“Really? Why?”

His grin widened. “Who do you think gets to step up as his replacement?”

“Seriously? That’s great. Good luck, man. You deserve it.”

“Thanks.”

We carried on walking toward the lunch hall. “So,” I said, “you and Kelly, huh? I didn’t see that coming.”

“No, nor me to be honest, mate. But then ... I mean, she’s so ... She’s...”

“A good friend of mine,” I said seriously. “And I’d hate to see her get hurt.”

Gavin held my stare. “No worries, mate. That’s not going to be problem. I like her. I really do.”

I nodded. “Okay. But if—”

He held up a hand. “I won’t hurt her. I swear. But If I do, I’ll just stand there and let you get the first punch in. Just the first punch, though, right? I’ve got a rep to maintain.” He held out his hand. “Deal?”

I shook it and said with a grin, “Deal.”

Vicky had no issue with me visiting Clarissa, so I hopped on the school bus with all the other kids. Clarissa lived on the outskirts of Blackthorpe, probably the most expensive of the villages surrounding Micester.

The school bus stopped in the middle of the village, and I was one of only three people to get off. I suppose most of the kids in this village either attended the private school in Westmouth or, if they did go to Micester High, their parents took them and dropped them off.

The drop-off point was less than a ten-minute walk to Clarissa’s house. And what a house.

The vast front garden, adorned with mature trees and lush greenery, was separated from the road by a neat box hedge about three feet tall. In the centre of the hedge stood a small wooden garden gate, painted white, while to the left was a white metal gate that blocked access to the wide, sweeping gravel driveway, which divided about halfway to the house; the left fork leading to the double garage and the right fork passing the front door before proceeding to two parking spaces.