by Tom Nicoll
Toby jumped up from his chair, grabbed his bag, then began strutting down the hall like he owned the place.
At that moment, Emily pulled my bag over the top of the balcony.
“Here you go,” she said, handing it to me before rushing towards the staircase.
“Where are you going?” asked Min.
“I don’t know what’s in that bag we just gave Toby,” she said, “but I do know I want to have a good seat for when he opens it.”
Before we could even thank her, Emily was gone.
I unzipped my bag and Pan sprang on to my shoulder. His eyes were a bit bleary and his face looked a paler shade of green than usual, and yet I had never seen him look so relieved. I knew the feeling.
“Eric!” he shouted. “You did it.”
“No, we did it,” I said, looking at the others.
“No, they did it,” said Jayden, pointing down to Emily and Roger, who had found a couple of seats near the front.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” said Min sternly. “We still have to get back to school.”
Min was right. The Dimbleford Dragons wouldn’t finish their game for a while – we’d have to find another way to travel across town. There were only twenty minutes until lunch was over. And we had to hope that Miss Biggs was still catching up on her much-needed beauty sleep.
Even so, there was no way we could leave just yet. It was about to get interesting.
Toby had already opened his bag onstage and was frantically fumbling around inside. I could see that panic was starting to set in as it dawned on him that he was missing a dragon. His face had turned a bright shade of red, a mix of embarrassment and anger.
“Come on, Bloom!” barked the teacher. “We haven’t got all day. What’s this impressive thing that you’ve been bragging about to everyone?”
Toby’s mouth opened and closed a few times. “Um … yeah … sorry, Mr Farnswick… Uh, yeah, here it is.” He took out a book from his bag and held it up.
Complete silence.
“A book?” shouted a boy. “That’s it?”
“Um … yeah…” said Toby, reading the cover. “Charles Dickens. Great Expectations. It’s really old and stuff.”
“Older than a dinosaur bone?” Percy shouted out.
“Well … no … at least, I don’t think it is…” said Toby. “It’s expensive though…”
“I can download it on my phone for free,” shouted someone in the back.
“Yeah, and your phone doesn’t weigh a ton,” came another voice. “Plus it’s got games. What games do you get with your book?”
“Well … none,” said Toby. “It’s a book.”
By this time an excited Mr Farnswick had bounded on to the stage. “Quiet, everyone. Bloom, is that a first edition?”
Toby nodded. “Yes, sir. My dad got it.”
“May I?” asked Mr Farnswick, his hands shaking in anticipation.
Toby handed him the book.
Mr Farnswick held the book as if it were a newborn baby. His face beaming with joy, he gently opened the cover.
The four of us sighed at the same time. After all that, Toby was somehow still going to come out of this smelling of roses.
But then, moments later, Mr Farnswick’s face dropped.
He slammed the book shut and tossed it carelessly back to Toby. “Your father’s been conned. This is a second edition.”
Toby looked crestfallen. “But … but … it’s still really old,” he said.
Mr Farnswick didn’t seem to care. “Yet another disappointment,” he said curtly. “I’m going for lunch.” With that, he left the hall.
As laughter broke out, the four of us looked at each other. Even though Toby had given out much worse to the other kids, it wasn’t any fun watching him get humiliated. Without speaking a word, we headed towards the staircase. I took one last look at Toby.
And Toby looked back at me. His mouth hanging open, he rubbed his eyes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Next, his eyes drifted to my backpack. He looked down at his own backpack and you could almost see the gears turning in his head as he tried to put together what had happened. Then the penny dropped.
Let’s just say if he had looked angry before, it was nothing compared to now.
Bundling Pan into my bag, I sprinted down the stairs with Min and Jayden. Moments later, Toby’s voice rang out in the corridor.
“There they are, get them!”
I glanced back as three other boys gave chase. Each one was almost twice the size of Toby – well, in height at least.
“I should have known Toby would have henchmen,” shouted Jayden.
“He does seem the type, doesn’t he?” agreed Min. “Uh … where are we going?”
As we ran down an unfamiliar corridor, I realized that we must have taken a wrong turning, but since there were now three huge Toby-Guards storming towards us, turning back wasn’t really an option. We had no choice but to keep going.
We took a left down another long corridor filled with yet more suits of armour and even more miserable old men staring down at us.
“I think we’re lost,” I gasped.
“I know the way,” said Pan, popping his head out of my backpack.
“How?” I asked, looking over my shoulder. “You were in the bag the whole time.”
“Yes, but you’re forgetting that Mini-Dragons are excellent navigators,” he said. “We have almost a sixth sense for finding places. You need it for living in the mountains because all the rocks look the same.”
“So navigate!” cried Jayden.
“All right,” said Pan. “Turn left here.”
“Then right…” he said.
“Another right,” he continued.
“Then right again,” he said. “There. You should be outside now.”
We found ourselves right back where we’d started, Toby-Guards closing in fast.
“That’s weird,” said Pan. “I was sure that was the way. Do you think they could have changed it?”
“In the time we’ve been running?” I asked.
“Yes.”
I closed my eyes. “No, Pan. Do you think … I don’t know, that maybe you’re NOT a good navigator?”
Pan considered this for a second before shaking his head. “That doesn’t sound very likely.”
I let out a groan. According to the Encyclopaedia Dragonica, Mini-Dragons are the most stubborn of all the dragons. They definitely had that right. There was no time to argue with him though, we had to get going before…
…we ran into Toby.
“That’s … far … enough,” gasped an extremely out-of-breath Toby.
We turned to run back the way we had just come, only to find Toby’s goons blocking our path.
“Eric, meet my associates,” said Toby. “Big Ollie, Big Quentin and Big Cuthbert.”
Jayden and Min looked at each other. “I also thought he’d be the type of kid to call his friends associates,” said Jayden.
Min nodded. “They’re probably really thick, too. Henchmen are always really thick.”
Big Ollie laughed and pointed at the other two. “Ha. She just called you guys thick.”
“No,” said Big Cuthbert. “She called you two thick.”
“She called all three of you thick,” snapped an exasperated Toby. “Aargh! You’re so thick. Will you just get the bag already?”
Grumbling, the three of them took a step towards us.
That was as far as they got. A small hook flew through the air, connecting itself to the back of Big Ollie’s blazer. As he turned to see what it was, the line yanked backwards.
Big Quentin moved to help his friend and went flying in the process, tripping over an inconveniently placed remote-controlled teddy bear.
Big Cuthbert found his path blocked entirely by an extremely irate-looking Percival wielding a Tyrannosaurus rex bone.
Roger stepped in front of Toby. “Leave them alone,” he said.
Ignoring him, Toby l
unged towards me, before Roger grabbed him and pulled him back. “But … but … they’re not even from this school!” shouted Toby.
Roger looked at us.
I nodded. “It’s true,” I said.
“Well, that explains your funny outfits,” said Roger.
I could see Jayden frowning, but he didn’t say anything.
“We had to come here because Toby took something that didn’t belong to him,” I said. “But now we need to get back to our own school.”
“Which is all the way across town,” added Min with a groan.
Roger smiled at us. “I might be able to help you with that,” he said.
He reached into his pocket and took out a set of keys.
“You know, they’re not all like Toby after all,” noted Jayden when we got outside. “Though their uniforms are still bonkers.”
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” I asked Jayden, who had insisted on taking the keys.
“Of course,” he replied. “Jaydens are excellent at driving golf carts.”
“Even if we get to school in one piece,” said Min, “has anyone thought about what we do with the golf cart afterwards?”
“One problem at a time,” said Jayden.
It wasn’t like we had any better options, so we climbed back into Roger’s cart. Pan slipped out of my bag on to my lap.
“I’m not missing this,” he said with a grin.
Jayden inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The cart roared like a bear being woken from its slumber.
“Seat belts on, everyone,” said Jayden. “It’s time to see what this baby can do.”
As we buckled up, Jayden grabbed the steering wheel and slammed his foot down on the pedal.
Slowly, we started to move backwards. Unimpressed, Pan, Min and I glared at Jayden.
“Whoops,” he said, blushing. He tried the next pedal. We stopped moving slowly backwards and began moving slowly forwards. “That’s better.”
“It’s not that much better,” said Min.
“Min’s right,” I said. “Roger drove it much faster.”
“OK, OK,” said Jayden, sounding annoyed. “Let me see…” He pressed a button next to the steering wheel and the cart shot forwards. Even so, it wasn’t fast enough – I checked my watch – we had ten minutes to get across town.
“I could take a look at it,” offered Pan.
“NO!” the three of us shouted at once. When Pan had taken it upon himself to tinker with my electric scooter, Toby had ended up stuck in an apple tree.
Pan rolled his eyes. “Not the tree thing again? I still don’t see what the fuss was about. They had him down within a couple of hours. And anyway, I know where I went wrong now, so it definitely wouldn’t happen again.”
“Definitely wouldn’t happen again?” I said.
“Probably definitely,” said Pan.
“You’re not exactly filling us with confidence,” said Min.
“We’ve no choice,” I said. “All right, Pan, go for it.”
Jayden stopped the cart as Pan rubbed his tiny claws together with glee before sliding down into the front beneath the steering wheel. He sliced open a plastic panel beneath it then disappeared into the opening. Jayden, Min and I waited with bated breath as we listened to the muffled sounds coming from within the cart.
Pan reappeared from the gap and sat back on my lap. “OK, try it now,” he said.
Jayden turned the key and then:
The cart rocketed down the path and out on to the street. Min and I clutched our seats for dear life while Jayden did the same to the steering wheel and Pan did the same to my leg. We were firing down the road, flying past cars and pedestrians.
Actually, we were about to run out of road.
“Hold on,” shouted Jayden, as if we weren’t already doing that. He turned the wheel to the left. The cart screeched against the tarmac as it rotated, the sudden change of direction causing the right side of the vehicle to lift off the ground so that we were turning on two wheels. Just when it seemed like we might topple over completely, the cart dropped back down and we shot off again.
“We need to get off this road,” shouted Min.
Jayden grinned. “I know a shortcut.”
I already knew what Jayden was talking about. Bramble Park was right ahead. It could work.
You’d think driving through traffic in a dragon-modified golf cart would be scary enough, and it was, but moments later I saw something genuinely terrifying.
Mum’s car. As I looked into the back window, Posy smiled at me, waving furiously.
Mum hadn’t noticed, she was too busy watching the road in front of her. I could see Posy trying to get her attention. If my sister had been able to talk in a language that wasn’t mostly wailing random words, we would have been done for, but Mum didn’t seem to be taking her seriously. Then Mum’s head started to turn…
Luckily, at that moment Jayden slammed the steering wheel to the left, and turned off towards Bramble Park, leaving the road, and Mum, behind. We hurtled through the park. It only took a few minutes to get to the other end, but in that time we had:
Ruined four picnics.
Accidentally scored a goal in a five-a-side match.
Caught two Frisbees.
Been chased by eight dogs.
Almost knocked over a dozen joggers.
Successfully jumped one small duck pond.
We burst out of the park gates and on to Dimbleford Lane. The school was now within sight. Jayden put his foot down on the brake causing the cart to screech all the way along the road until we came to a stop outside the school gates.
Pan climbed up my arm and slid into my bag as I undid my belt and jumped out.
“Good luck,” shouted Min and Jayden as I sprinted into school. I bolted down the corridor toward our classroom and stopped outside the door.
“Well, here we are,” I said.
Pan popped his head out of the bag. “Thanks for coming to get me,” he said. “Sorry I was so much trouble.”
“This wasn’t your fault, Pan,” I said. “And we couldn’t just leave you with Toby, could we?”
“I guess not,” said Pan. “You know, it’s kind of silly, but for a minute I did wonder what it would be like if Toby showed me to everyone.”
“I don’t think it would have ended well,” I said.
“I know,” said Pan. “I guess I just liked the idea of being involved. I think that’s really why I wanted to come to school with you in the first place.”
I smiled. “Pan… I wasn’t going to tell you this until later…” I said. “But I did have a plan to involve you in our Show and Tell that wouldn’t risk you getting taken away. And if by some miracle I’m still alive this afternoon, then I promise you’ll be a part of it.”
“How?” he asked.
I unzipped the front pocket of my bag enough for Pan to see what was inside. His tiny eyes lit up with excitement.
“But … but … I don’t understand,” he said.
“I’ll explain later,” I said. “But now you need to get out of sight.”
Pan nodded and dropped back into the bag, but not before giving my hand a hug.
Then I opened the door and stepped into the classroom.
Miss Biggs was nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly the door slammed shut behind me. I spun round and there she was, grinning that horrible, cruel grin of hers.
“Welcome back, Crisp.”
“You’re in for it now, sunshine,” said Miss Biggs, walking over to her desk.
I was gutted. It felt like I had just run a marathon only to trip and break my leg in front of the finishing line. It wasn’t so much the fear of what Miss Biggs would do that bothered me, it was the annoyance of coming so close only to fail right at the end.
Actually, no, I take that back, the fear of what Miss Biggs would do to me was definitely worse.
“Please, Miss, I can explain,” I said in a panicked voice. I mean obviously I co
uldn’t explain, but that’s what people say in moments like these, isn’t it? My brain scrambled for a plausible excuse:
That last one just sounded ridiculous.
Luckily Miss Biggs wasn’t interested in hearing excuses.
“I’m not interested in hearing excuses,” she said. “It’s curtains for you, Crisp. And not nice curtains, either. Horrible, thick, burgundy curtains that shut out the light. You’ll be doing detention until you’re fifty for this.”
As I mentioned earlier, when you think a situation involving Miss Biggs can’t get any worse, it does.
Suddenly, the zip on my bag opened and a furious-looking Pan jumped out and landed on Miss Biggs’s desk. I froze, like a Mini-Dragon sensing danger.
“That’s it, Biggs, I’ve had it up to here with you,” shouted Pan, holding a claw about fifteen centimetres above the desk. “All Eric was doing was helping his friend out of trouble. You need to lighten up, lady. You’re supposed to be a teacher, not a prison guard – why don’t you try actually teaching for once, instead of making everyone’s life a misery. Oh yeah, and his name is Eric, not Crisp – you’re as bad as that horrible Toby!”
Miss Biggs stared open-mouthed at Pan for a few seconds, before letting out an ear-piercing shriek and then fainting into her chair.
Pan and I looked at each other.
He coughed. “I probably shouldn’t have done that, huh?”
“Probably not,” I agreed, too stunned to get upset.
Then a crazy idea entered my head.
The sound of the bell ringing woke Miss Biggs up, jolting her to life. I looked up calmly from my desk.
“Everything all right, Miss?” I asked innocently.
She looked nervously around the room. “Wh-wh-where is it?” she asked.
“Oh, it’s right here,” I said, lifting up the report from my desk. The one that Pan had written the night before.