by Jacky Gray
In a swift move, Luke was back on top of him, with a roar. “Tell me.”
Terry tensed himself to receive another blow as Luke curled up his fist. Finally, he blurted out, “I ain’t no stool pigeon.”
Amazingly, Luke began to laugh. “No, you sure ain’t that, Busgy. You’re all right.” As he spoke, he picked Terry up and dusted him down.
“But if I find out who did this to you,” again he glared round menacingly at the crowd, stopping as he reached Tom Clarkson, “I’ll be dishing out some more of the same.”
~*~
Luke would’ve put money on Liv reacting first.
Sure enough, she pushed her way past the crowd to give him a piece of her mind. “Just a minute, Luke Harper. You can’t possibly think you’re getting away with that. You apologise to poor Terry.”
“Uh, yeah.” He held out a hand to the cringing lad, admiring his fantastic acting skills. “You’re right. I got it completely wrong about you. I guess that’s the problem with rumours. Shake on it?”
Terry offered his hand timidly and Luke grabbed it, pumping up and down. He turned to Liv. “Satisfied?”
“No I’m not. Exactly who do you think you are? You dirty-great bully, picking on someone smaller and weaker than you are.” She paused to catch her breath. “Look at him! It’s like he’s gone six rounds with Mike Tyson.”
“Rubbish, a little nose bleed is all. You won’t notice it tomorrow.”
“Stop trying to wriggle out of this, you big ape.” Liv was really getting into her stride now and Luke had to struggle not to make a facetious comment about how magnificent she looked when she was angry as they did in all the old Westerns his dad loved so much.
Accusation heated her tone. “You gave this boy a pasting for something which wasn’t even his fault.”
Waiting until she took another breath, he jumped in, trying to be as contrite as possible. “Ok, point taken. I’m truly sorry, Terry.” He turned to face the wrath of Liv. “What more can I do?”
“You can try not resorting to violence in the first place.” Liv deliberately turned her back on him and fussed over Terry, wiping his face with a tissue.
Luke held out his hands to Kat, palms up. “How was I supposed to know?”
Her stare could freeze at twenty paces. “You should get your facts straight before you start talking with your fists. I thought you’d changed, but it’s obvious you haven’t. You’re still nothing but a thug.”
Tears sparkled in the corner of her eyes and he was overwhelmed by her acting ability. With some effort, he suppressed his instinctive reaction to her distress: it felt real and he badly wanted to hug it away.
Her voice was hoarse. “Stay away from me, Luke Harper, until you can learn to be civilised and treat people decently.” With a backward glare, she followed Liv and Terry toward the school as a teacher arrived for break duty and noticed the crowd. The woman scanned the scene and glanced at the door she’d just exited, obviously trying to decide whether to fetch back-up.
Luke shrugged his shoulders as if to say “No loss” and saw the shock and indecision on Jude and Ray’s faces. He didn’t want them to have to make a public choice, so he turned away to see Diana staring at him with unadulterated hero-worship.
He tightened his lips, somewhere between a smile and a grimace, and turned to face the rest of the onlookers who were breaking up and moving away, some of them shaking their heads at him. His voice came out hollow and empty. “What are you staring at? Show’s over. Get back to your classes.”
The student teacher looked relieved at the mob’s dispersal and hurried past without comment. Luke didn’t recognise her and felt a pang of remorse at the fear in her eyes. He figured she’d made a wise decision as she probably wouldn’t know any of the year elevens, being so new to the school.
Stalking over to where Kat had dumped his bag, Luke sensed someone hovering behind as he bent to pick it up. He gave a grim half-smile. She’s swallowed the bait, just got to play it cool. He pretended to search for something in his bag as though he didn’t know she was there.
Finally she spoke. “Take no notice of Miss Self-Righteous, we think you had every right to be annoyed.”
Luke straightened and turned round; curious to see who the “we” included. He fixed them with a hard stare and saw Cecily move back behind Diana as though seeking protection. What a pitiful little thing she was. Well, he wasn’t going to swap allegiance so easily.
He leaned toward them and they both cringed back a little. “Kat was totally right, I should have got my facts straight. I bet you were spreading gossip with the best of them.”
Diana’s assurance faltered slightly, but she came back smoothly. “I never believed the stuff about you, Luke. It’s perfectly obvious you’re much too macho to be gay.”
“Much good it’s done me. If you’ll excuse me, ladies, I’m going to IT.” With a curt nod he strode past them, catching Diana’s barely-breathed, “He’s just so-oo male, he turns my knees to jelly.”
12 Luke’s Personal Hell
When he walked into the IT room, Luke felt all eyes on him, but he brazened it out and sat at the back, ignoring the shaking heads and sharp stares from some of the girls. He snuck a quick peek at Terry. Liv had done wonders cleaning him up; she even sat next to him. Good, it would lend some credibility when they went out together.
Diana came in and he watched her searching until she spotted him. Damn, the desk next to him was free – not any more, it wasn’t. The next two hours were going to be the longest in his life. Unfortunately, it was a practical session which meant they had to share a pc and Diana kept finding excuses to touch his hands as he controlled the mouse or typed something on the keyboard. In the end, he politely suggested she should take over and drive the thing while he told her what needed to be input.
“But you’re so much better at it than I am,” she gushed.
“Then you obviously need the practice,” he replied, trying hard to be civil, even managing a tight little smile. He felt a prickling sensation in the side of his head and glanced over to find Jude staring at him with a mixture of disgust and something else – could it be despair? – on her face.
He was about to wink at her, then realised she didn’t know yet. Damn. On the other hand, maybe it was just as well. One or two others had noticed her staring, including Tom and Cecily. He gave Jude a hard stare, then turned to Diana with a much warmer smile than he felt.
She’d evidently spotted the exchange as she patted his arm. “Don’t worry about her; they say a bit of trouble shows who your real friends are.”
That started him thinking. Should he have expected Liv and Jude – even Ray – would stick by him, even though he was in the wrong? Behave yourself, Harper. Try to see it from their point of view.
They didn’t know the worst he’d done to Terry was muss up his hair, roll him around in the dirt and rough up his clothes. That the fake blood came from his brother’s army camouflage pack. That all the punches were pulled. They only saw their friend going berserk and laying into another friend. A much weaker and more defenceless one.
The next few weeks were going to be tough with only Kat and Terry knowing the truth. Like it wasn’t bad enough having to be pleasant to the poisonous piece of work sitting next to him? He’d have to put up with the rest of them thinking the worst as well. It wouldn’t be so bad if he knew they were just pretending, like Kat and Terry. But what if one of them forgot and slipped up? No, it was definitely better the fewer people knew. Except how were they going to react when they found out they’d been left out? It was all too much for his poor head.
He dreaded the rehearsal, and the start was every bit as bad as he imagined. While they were waiting for Miss Maines to come in, the others huddled into a group from which Luke was excluded, but he heard every word.
Terry surprised the others with his suggestion. “Look, guys. This is stupid. We have to work with Luke so you can’t keep treating him like a leper.”
“How can you say that after what he did to you?” Liv bristled with indignation.
“Ok, he was a tad rougher than he needed to be, but he did me a favour.”
“What?” Liv’s tone was scathing. “By not killing you out there?”
“At least one or two people might not be quite so sure I’m a bender now.”
“I can’t believe anyone’s in any doubt after what went on.” Kat’s voice vibrated with a low note which made Luke realise how deeply this charade affected her.
“That’s all down to Luke.” Terry nodded at him. “Whatever you feel about how he did it, I’m grateful for what he’s done. And we ought to be professional about this acting thing. While we’re in here, he’s not Luke Harper, thug with handy fists, he’s Fat Sam, gang boss with handy fists.”
“Like, will someone tell me the difference?”
“The difference, Liv, is you’re a gangster’s moll while you’re in here, and Fat Sam is your boyfriend.” Terry shrugged. “So, you have to start treating him like Tallulah would.”
She gave the ghost of a grin. “She treats him mean to keep him keen.”
“Perfect. Take your cue from her.”
Miss Maines came in, clapping her hands to get everybody’s attention. “Ok, everybody. Can I have the soloists by the piano please? We’ll see how hard you all worked last night.” If she noticed the awkward atmosphere, she didn’t let on. “We’ll begin with ‘The Best Of.’ I want everyone to join in.”
By a lucky chance, Mr Green collared Luke outside the staff room at the end of lunch, saying he’d been selected to represent the school at a sports meeting in Birmingham. Lucky because it made him arrive late for economics so he didn’t have to suffer another hour of close proximity to Diana. She’d saved him a space next to her at the back where he normally sat. A quick scan revealed two other free spaces, one next to a despondent-looking Cecily. He thought about it for a second, and then decided against rubbing Diana’s nose in it, sitting instead on the front row next to Nelson. No contest really. He could put up with an hour of constant twitching and intermittent sniffs; although by the time the lesson ended, he was about ready to deck the guy.
As the economics teacher droned on, Luke considered his options. Was it really worth this miserable existence as an outcast for the sake of someone who apparently hated his guts right now? He’d always found Liv scary at the best of times. She was such a strong character; so smart and quick witted, he always felt clumsy and gauche around her. He really couldn’t cope with the sexy vamp she turned into as Tallulah; it made him revert back to a lumbering idiot, like when he tried to play the Duke in English. His inner critic suggested his performance was more wooden than the broomstick David Oughton used as a prop. He couldn’t possibly tell whether the eyebrow raised in disapproval came from Tallulah to Fat Sam or from Liv to Luke.
There was a damn sight more than disapproval in the venomous glare Jude shot at him as they collided on the way into food tech. How much more screwed up could the whole thing get? If he were honest with himself, a big part of him had taken on this undercover role to try and impress her. Maybe, if she saw he could play the hero, she might stop drooling over Ray and pay him some attention.
It was so unfair, he’d been more than a little crazy about her ever since year seven. She’d accidentally run him out one lunchtime when they were playing rounders with the regular crowd. He’d been pretty nasty to her but she held her own. At the end of the game, she apologised to him – as if she needed too. How many times had he replayed the scene in his head? Instead of gruffly saying sorry, he would grab her arm and fine her one kiss, which of course would lead to another one ...
He shook away the images, trying to concentrate on the importance of kneading the dough to trap air which would expand with the heat to make the bread rise. Like they were gonna be making bread next week? Yeah, sure.
His mind insisted on counting all the missed opportunities with Jude. How she seemed to like him when they first met, then suddenly went out of her way to avoid him. About the same time she’d gotten pally with Kat. Back then, he’d put it down to her busy sporting lifestyle and commitment to various activities; she didn’t seem interested in going out with anyone. Now he thought about it, she could have believed he and Kat had a thing.
Throughout lower school, their paths crossed a lot due to their mutual love of sports, and Jude had always been friendly enough. Until that awful half term when the world tilted off its axis and his whole life fell apart. She’d said some pretty rotten things about the way he behaved. All true of course but, at the time, he’d been so wasted he couldn’t appreciate her point of view.
Then, just lately, she seemed to be giving off different signals. Maybe she was only trying to be nice to him for Kat’s sake, but there had definitely been a hint of something at Fernley and she seemed to value his help with geography. He smiled wryly. And unless he was totally mistaken, she quite enjoyed flirting with him over the hunk business. He’d never seen her blush before; it was dead cute. He grinned.
“I don’t see there’s anything remotely amusing about the use of fresh yeast, Luke Harper. Would you care to share the joke? No, I thought not. I can’t imagine for one moment you’d have any idea where to get some from.”
“Er, a bakery?”
“Goodness. It seems you have got an active brain cell or two under that rough exterior.” With a sniff, she refused to acknowledge his victory. “Now then, class. I recommend you all make some effort; or rather, persuade your mothers, to find some fresh yeast. The results will be far superior – even if you haven’t got Luke’s muscles to give it the kneading it deserves.”
Luke dropped his gaze. Damn the woman. How the hell did she manage to get away with making remarks like that with all the politically correct liberal bullshit which went on in education these days? Not that he normally minded; the old trout was quite entertaining, so long as you weren’t on the receiving end. He would now be at the butt of all her remarks ’til the class ended; thank God there were only five minutes left. He caught Diana’s expression – positively simpering – if that’s what gazing with a goofy expression meant.
Jude’s cold, hard stare pierced the side of his face; she must have noticed Diana, too. What had he let himself in for? How could he stand the next couple of weeks of black looks from Jude and the rest of them? More importantly, how would Jude react when she found out the truth? The way he and Kat had planned it, she’d be the last to know. They needed to tell Liv so she could get cracking on the Diana plan and, if it involved Cecily, they’d probably need Ray to head her off. He could think of no reason why Jude should be left out.
He should have a word with Kat, but he’d promised Chris he’d go straight round to the workshop tonight because they had a big job on and wanted help with the stock-taking.
The gang were all going skating tomorrow but he and Kat agreed he’d miss it to reinforce the idea of him being an outcast from the group.
13 Nothing But a Thug
So what on earth was he doing stood in the queue waiting to get his boots at 2 o’clock on Saturday afternoon? All morning Luke had dithered over whether to go or not, but the next thing he knew, he was paying for a ticket. It probably wasn’t a good idea, but he couldn’t stand the thought of several weeks of isolation. Nor the possibility Jude might hate him forever for being left out. If he could just have a word with Kat or Terry, they could maybe sort something out ...
“You have a nerve, Luke Harper, coming skating when you knew we’d be here.” Liv spotted him first and laid into him.
“It’s a free country; you haven’t got exclusive rights on the place.”
“Make sure you stay away from us.”
“Sure, Liv. Whatever you say. You’re not the only people here, you know.”
He watched her stomp off in annoyance and spotted some kids from school who all turned away rather than catch his eye. That would have helped the cause, but would she have been so convincing if she knew
the truth? Kat seemed to be doing it fine and Liv was every bit as skilful when it came to acting, as was Ray, but Jude? They’d have to hope so. He trawled lazily round the ice and spotted them all.
Jude and Kat were working on a piece of choreography. Liv and Terry were stuck together like glue, but he couldn’t see any sign of Ray. He observed them for the next twenty minutes, waiting for a chance to get Kat or Terry alone, but they seemed content to work as a pack. Finally, he caught a break; Liv went off to the ladies and Terry headed off toward the gents.
Cutting across the middle of the ice, Luke joined the one-way traffic which would bring him out at the nearest exit. He nearly made it when someone took his legs out from under him and he ended up in a heap on the ice.
“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?” He turned angrily to find himself staring at a terrific pair of legs in custom-made white boots.
“Because I was watching you spying on Terry. You were going to have another go at him, weren’t you? In the loos where no one could see you. You really are despicable, Luke Harper. I didn’t want to believe you could be so vindictive, but you’ve been dogging him, waiting for your chance.”
Stunned by the vehemence of her attack, it took Luke a while to realise he’d landed in a wet patch which rapidly soaked his jeans. He was somewhat distracted by the thought she looked truly stunning in her skating dress. With her hands on her hips, and her arms bent out like wings, she epitomised an avenging angel.
To hide the grin which forced its way onto his face at the thought, he made an effort of getting up and tried to reason with her. “You’ve got it all wrong Jude, it’s not what you think, I only wanted ...”
“Kat was right about you, you’re nothing but a thug. Why don’t you leave us all alone and go and play with your new friend, Diana? I’m sure the two of you are made for each other.”