by Sarah Asuquo
“Cool but look really closely this time and tell me if you see me go.”
Breeze clicked her heels and in a blink of an eye, she had returned holding a block of butter.
“Oh — my — days!” yelled Bella.
“Oh my days!” Breeze repeated.
“OH MY DAYS!” they both shrieked.
“You didn’t see a thing, Bell?”
“Not a thing. I saw you take a step to go, and then before I knew it, you were back here holding butter like some doughnut! Of all the things, Breeze. Butter, you know. Not even a little juice or something.”
“Focus, Bella. Forget about the butter! Bell, are you sure?”
“I promise, I didn’t see ya. I just felt a…”
“Felt a what? … Bella?”
“A … breeze.”
The gravity of this revelation pulled Breeze down onto her bed and she began to think. As the last few months replayed in her mind, she felt overwhelmed. “Why me? I don’t want this responsibility. It’s too much pressure. What if I flop? I’ll let the whole school down.”
“You’re asking the wrong question, Breezy. Not what if you flop, what if you succeed? You’ll save our training grounds. This is what you were saying earlier about using your trainers to help people. This is the perfect opportunity to do just that.”
Breeze nodded in agreement. “You’re right, Bell. You’re right… Call your mum and ask if you can sleep over today.”
“Why?”
Rapidly, Breeze’s facial expression evolved from one of fear to one of purpose. “Because we’ve got some clues to solve.”
– 12 –
The Legends of Aspire
“Right,” said Breeze. “Munchies: check. Juice: check. Ice cream: check. Let’s do this!”
“We need to eat more fruit, Breezy,” said Bella as she shook her head in disgrace and placed another Malteser in her mouth.
“Well, Skittles are fruit flavoured; that should count for something. Come on, let’s get started!”
“Ok. The first card says:
Medal One:
Belonged to Benjamin Bailey
AAP Class of 1920
Olympic Silver Medallist for Swimming, 200m freestyle (1924)
Clue no.1:
Located in a centre after his name’s sake,
A martyr, an angel or call him a ______
Clue no.2:
If your items go missing it would be a shocker,
That’s why we must keep all our things in a ______
Clue no.3:
Once a year, Ben went away,
To celebrate his own _________.”
“Ok, so I’m guessing AAP stands for Aspire Academy Poplar,” said Breeze.
“Yeah, I thought that too. I think the medal is in a place that’s named after someone important.”
“That makes sense, hence the ‘martyr’ and ‘angel’. So, we need to find another word for martyr or angel that rhymes with sake.”
“Hmm… sake, cake, make, bake, take, la–”
“Bell,” Breeze interrupted, “are you just going to list all the words that rhyme with sake? That will take ages! Think of a word that rhymes with sake and has a similar meaning to angel. You know, like… Saint.”
“That sounds about right, you know! Saint. So, a centre that’s named after a saint.”
Bella thought intently. “How about St George’s Leisure Centre?”
“Hmm… that would make sense actually because they have nice swimming pools and Benji was a swimmer.”
“She said ‘Benji’, you know.”
“St George’s… I swear that’s near Shadwell?”
“Yeah, it is. Wait, let me check something.” Bella typed Benjamin Bailey into her phone web browser. “Look, it says he was born in America but moved to England aged five and lived in Wapping. So, St George’s would have been his local leisure centre.”
“It must be there, Bell. Nice, clue two, I think that’s locker.”
“Yeah, defo. I was going to say that. You put your things in a locker. That one was easy. For clue three, it says here on Ben’s Wikipedia page that he travelled to a different country each year for his birthday… that’s funny.”
“What?”
“Look at his birthday… 22.02.1904.”
“Hmm, our favourite number, two… So, his birthday must be the number of the locker, right?”
“I don’t think so, Breeze. It’s too long. But… It could be the locker combination. Normally, combinations are three numbers on lockers.”
“So, 22-2-04?”
“Yeah. That should do it.”
“Ok. First card solved, Bell. Let’s write that down so we don’t forget.”
Bella spoke to herself as she wrote the answers down, “St George’s, in a locker, combination 22-2-04.”
“That was easier than I thought it would be, Bell.”
“Yeah, not bad. But let’s not speak too soon.”
“Ok,” Breezed sighed. “Card number two says:
Medal Two:
Belonged to Bianca Baker
AAP Class of 1925
Olympic Gold Medallist for the 400 metre hurdles (1932)
Clue no.1:
A royal member of the south would live in this location,
But not diamonds, another gem would mark the grand occasion.
Clue no.2:
To honour idols, we tend to handout trophies, plaques, and all,
And here, they honour great success with this historic ________.
Clue no.3
Second in and second up, that’s what you need to pick,
To find the medal that you need, just look behind this _____.”
“Right — so — ok… Yeah, I have no idea, Breezy.”
“This one is harder that the first. But I’m thinking that it must be in somewhere like a castle because it says a royal person would live there.”
“Yeah. Or… a palace. Buckingham Palace!” Bella yelled.
“Why are you shouting?”
“I don’t know.”
“It can’t be Buckingham Palace, Bell. There’s no way we could get in and why would athletes’ medals be kept there?”
“True. And it does say ‘of the south’ so it’s probably in South London somewhere. Is there a castle or palace in South London, though?”
“Hmm… I don’t know, Bell. What about the diamond part? The location must be linked to a jewel in some way. Maybe it could have the name of a jewel in it… one that’s similar to a diamond.”
“Like an emerald?”
“That’s not like a diamond, it’s green.”
“Oh, so you think it would be something that looks like a diamond… like a cubic zirconia.”
“Yeah, kind of, but that’s not special enough. It should be a bit more regal.” Breeze’s trail of thought was diverted by a swift ray of sunlight that glistened on Bella’s birthday earrings. “Swarovski crystals,” she whispered.
“Crystals!” they exclaimed.
‘That’s way more like a diamond, Breeze.”
“Exactly. Bell, type in castle in South London with crystals.”
“That’s a long shot but I’ll try it… No, this is all irrelevant. Nothing to do with sport. Let me try palace with crystals, South London.” Bella looked at her phone irritably. “Come on… That’s it! Crystal Palace Sports Centre. It’s in South London.”
“Yes, Bell! What do you think for clue 2?”
“Where would you keep items that honour historic athletes? That rhymes with all? … it must be a wall.”
“That makes sense. Does it say anything about a wall in the stadium.”
“Yep! ‘Visit our historical wall, honouring outstanding British athletes.’ So, the medal should be on the wall?”
“Or in the wall? If it was on the wall, then it wouldn’t have been so hard to find for all these years.”
“That’s true, Breeze. Ok. Well, walls are built with bricks… brick rhymes
with pick, right? … kind of. So that must be the answer to the third clue.”
“Yeah. So, second brick in and second up from the bottom of the wall.”
“Left or right, though?”
“What do you mean, Bella?”
“In from the left of the wall or the right of the wall?”
“Good question. The clues don’t give that away. I’m going to have to figure that out when I get there.’
“Breeze, we’re sick at this! We should be detectives.”
“Calm down, Sherlock.”
“If I’m Sherlock, that makes you Watson. Yeah, sounds about right.”
“You wish, mate!” Breeze laid down on her bed. “All this problem-solving is making me sleepy.”
“Come on, Breezy, we’re halfway there. Here’s card three:
Medal Three:
Belonged to Brian Bennett
AAP Class of 1954
Bronze Medallist for wheelchair tennis in the first ever Paralympics (1960)
Clue no.1:
Locating this medal will take a short while,
This stadium took not an inch but a ________.
Clue no.2:
Back and forth, their rackets in hand,
The crowd would cheer as they watched from the ______.
Clue no. 3:
When he did not play, he watched others compete,
His year of birth marks the _____.”
“I’ve got clue number one, Bell. We need to find a word that rhymes with while and begins with a consonant because the clue used the article ‘a’ rather than ‘an’ so the answer wouldn’t start with a vowel. Ms Browne went over that today in our English lesson. So that leaves any word beginning with either b, c, d, f–”
“Breeze!” Bella interjected. “Are you joking?”
“What?”
“It’s mile… as in ‘give them an inch and they’ll take a mile’. Ain’t you heard that saying before?”
“Oh yeah, I knew that. Obviously. Was just testing ya. Nice one, Bella,” said Breeze in embarrassment.
“I think the mile is for Mile End stadium.”
“That makes sense because the clue says that the location is close to us and Mile End’s down the road. For the second clue, I was thinking stands.”
“Yeah, I think you’re right. Clue number 3 should be seat, that rhymes with compete… kind of.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. So, the medal should be on a seat in the stands. Or under one. Search Bryan Bennett’s birthday, Bell.”
“This is getting ridiculous now.”
“What’s wrong.”
“Guess when he was born, Breeze.”
“When? 22.02?”
“Yeah! 1938. It says here he was twenty-two years old when he won the bronze medal. Wait a sec, let me check something… I thought so. Bianca Baker has the same birthday too!”
“And their names all start with a B – just like us. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“This is getting more and more bookie, but I guess it will all make sense very soon.”
“I hope so, Bell. Anyway, so the medal should be on, or under, seat number 1938.”
“Yeah, the clue says the year of his birth, so it has to be. I’m assuming it will be in the tennis court stands, right?”
“Yeah, that would make sense.”
“Ok, so,” said Bella as she picked up her notepad and began to write. “Medal two: Crystal Palace Athletics Stadium, historical wall, second brick in and up from the ground. Medal three: Mile End Stadium, in the tennis court stands, seat number 1938.”
“Actually, 1938? Nah, that’s too long of a number. Unless… wait let me check the layout of the stadium. Yeah, I thought so. It should be in block 19, seat number 38.”
“You sure, Breeze? How d’you know it’s not block 38, seat 19?”
“Hmm. No look, it can’t be, there’s only 20 blocks.”
“Ok. Let me write that down.”
“One more card left, Bell!”
“I know! Ok, Medal Four:
Belonged to Beverley Banjo
AAP Class of 1993
Olympic Silver Medallist for triple jump (1996)
Clue no.1:
An injury in ‘99 would end her Olympic features,
She left the world of sport for students and became a ________.
Clue no.2:
Here she found another job in which she could inspire,
And now she leads her former school, the children of ________.
Clue no.3
To save your school, you should by now know right where you should go,
Take all this information and head straight to Mrs _______.”
“BANJO!” screamed Bella and Breeze in disbelief.
“Beverley? That’s her name? She doesn’t look like a Beverley. Hmm, Bevs and that,” questioned Bella.
“You said ‘Bevs’, you know. Anyway, forget that, Bell. She was an athlete! An Olympic Silver Medallist! That’s so sick!”
“I know! I knew Mrs B had some sauce in her! So why was she speaking like that in assembly the other day? Why is she letting them take our arena away from us?”
“I don’t know, man. It doesn’t make sense. She went to Aspire when she was a kid, she should know how much it means to the school.”
“Maybe after her injury she didn’t care about sport anymore.”
“Nah. That don’t sound like Mrs B. She’s made sport such a big part of our school for years, she wouldn’t just give up so easily. Check her birthday.”
“Surprise, surprise, 22.02.1977. So, they all have the same birthdays and ‘B-B’ names.”
“Wow, she was born in the 70s. That’s mad… Did they even have colour TVs back then?”
Breeze’s mother knocked on the door and walked into her bedroom before B Squared could invite her in. “Dinner’s ready, girls. Rice and stew, fresh off the pot!”
“Ok, Mum, we’ll be down in a minute.” As her mother closed the door, Breeze began to grumble, “Yesterday we had pasta and stew, today we’re having rice and stew, tomorrow, I bet we’ll have spaghetti and stew. Not every day stew, man!”
“Stop moaning,” Bella giggled. “Your mum’s stew bangs. Plus, you should appreciate her cooking for you, Breezy.”
“I do, I do. Just the same thing almost every day, you know? Anyway, on Monday, straight after school, we need to see Mrs Banjo and tell her what we know.”
“That’s so far away, Breeze. It’s bad enough that we have to wait for the whole of Saturday and Sunday. Can we just go into school a bit earlier on Monday and see Mrs B first thing in the morning? I couldn’t last the whole school day.”
“Good point, I don’t think I could bear that either. Ok, cool.”
“Breezy.”
“Yeah.”
“We’re a pretty sick team, you know.”
“Come on, Bella! Dream team, mate. We bodied it today!”
Breeze and Bella did their handshake and went downstairs for dinner.
– 13 –
Mission Impossible
“You took your time,” said Bella impatiently as Breeze approached the school gates at 8:03, three minutes later than they had agreed.
“Sorry, Bell. Mum was having a moan cause I left a plate in my bedroom. I don’t even remember doing that, you know. It was under my bed. That’s not like me, but why was she looking under my bed in the first place?” Breeze sighed.
Bella thought back to Friday when she stayed over at Breeze’s house and remembered hiding her plate to decrease her washing up duty. “Ah — don’t worry about that. Anyhoo, we still have twenty-five minutes till period one, let’s go.”
As Bella walked towards the automatic doors, they didn’t open, and she collided with them. “Ouch!”
“Are you ok?” Breeze giggled.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Girls, no entry to students before 8.15,” said the caretaker.
“Oh. Please let us in, Bossman. We have an important meeti
ng with the headteacher. It’s really serious.” While Bella pleaded, Breeze tried to read the name on his cap, but it was washed out. She managed to decipher that it began with an ‘l’ and ended with an ‘e’.
“Fine, I’ll let you in. Only because I trust that you’re both responsible and honest girls.”
“We are. Thank you, Boss!”
“Thank you!” said Breeze.
They hurried through the doors, but Breeze became uneasy as they got closer to Mrs Banjo’s office. “Wait!”
“What now, Breeze?”
“We can’t just walk into her office like this, we haven’t planned what we’re going to say.”
“We don’t need a plan, Breeze. We’ll just tell her about the letter and the trainers and your power and the clues and– “
“Bella! We can’t say all of that, she’ll think we’re crazy. She won’t take us seriously.”
“Hmm, true… Ok, we can leave out your trainers for now and just start off by asking about the coat of arms.”
“That’s better, then we can tell her that we can find the medals. Cool.”
“You ready now?”
“Yeah, I’m ready.”
“Thank God for that! Only nineteen minutes remaining,” said Bella as she knocked on the office door.
“Stop counting down, Bella. You’re making me nervous,” said Breeze, nudging Bella. Bella nudged back.
“Morning ladies,” said Mrs Banjo. “Come in. To what do I owe this pleasure?”
Breeze and Bella smiled anxiously as they entered her office, still elbowing each other.
“Morning, Mrs Banjo,” said Breeze.
“Morning, Miss,” said Bella.
“Take a seat. What can I do for you?”
Breeze looked at Bella. Bella looked at Breeze. Breeze tilted her head to the side and widened her eyes, prompting Bella to speak. Bella mirrored Breeze.
“Is anyone going to speak? Or did you plan on just performing a mime?”