The Boyfriend Bet Read online

  I looked at the front of the hall again and at Luke London who was sitting next to Jay, a couple of rows back. He was looking round at me triumphantly. “We thought the best thing to do was to ignore it but unfortunately it’s now become a little too personal with references to Mr Huntley’s wife and family members which could also be perceived as threats.” Mr Harrison carried on without actually making any real eye contact in the room. There was a lot of whispering at this point and I could see William Sheldon- Harvey sitting there with his hand raised in the air. What the hell was he doing? Was he responsible? Hahaha, I nearly burst out laughing at my thoughts again and made a mental note to stop that as I will start to look insane if I keep giggling to myself.

  “Yes William, do you have something useful to say?” Mr Harrison sighed.

  “Well, yes Sir. I couldn’t help noticing that you are addressing just Years Thirteen, Twelve and Eleven instead of the entire school. Do you mean to say it’s someone from these year groups and if so, do you have proof or are you merely assuming that a Year Ten pupil or lower is incapable of such an act?”

  Mr Harrison stared at William in disbelief. I mean, who actually speaks like that? I caught sight of Jay looking round at me and he was trying his best to stop himself laughing. I couldn’t help letting out a little laugh when I saw Jay because I knew what he was thinking, hahaha, William Sheldon-Harvey! Now that was stupid. Why did I even take any notice of Jay? He probably wasn’t being nice anyway.

  “Yeah, William’s right. It could be some horny little Year Nine kid!” This boy, Troy, from our Year (who I don’t know very well) shouted out. Well, that set everyone off. Mr Harrison sighed...I could tell that this was the reaction he had obviously been dreading but expecting.

  “Yeah and it might not necessarily be a girl. It could be a gay stalker - some horny little Year Nine gay stalker!” Molly Andrews shouted out. I rolled my eyes. She’s so pathetic. She’d heard the laughing from Troy’s comment and wanted to get in on the act. She’s always trying to be so popular and it’s so desperate, it’s pathetic!

  “Right, that’s it, I told you this isn’t a laughing matter. Go to Mrs Davenport’s office now. We could do without immature idiots like you!” Mr Harrison bellowed at Molly. She didn’t argue, just stood up to leave. “And you, Troy.” Mr Harrison signalled to the door. That, I suppose, was our warning that the teachers were all being deadly serious.

  “At first it was letters at school, which Mr Huntley thought could be ignored and hopefully the person would get bored and it would stop. Unfortunately we were wrong...Yes we think we have narrowed it down to these three year groups because some of the letters indicate that the student responsible is in Mr Huntley’s class on certain days. Mr Huntley doesn’t teach the other year groups on the days mentioned so I hope that answers your question William?” Mr Harrison looked at a nodding William Sheldon-Harvey. “We don’t make any assumptions about anyone.” Mr Harrison carried on, making his point.

  “Anyway, the reason I’ve gathered you here today is that suddenly the letters have been joined by text messages as well. Goodness knows how the person responsible accessed Mr Huntley’s mobile number, but the fact is that they have.” Mr Harrison now glugged some water from the glass he’d been holding throughout the whole ‘speech’. This led to a lot of whispering and speculating.

  I scanned the room to see if anyone was particularly nervous or fidgeting but there was no one. I could see Riley and Amelia whispering and laughing quietly, Ella was leaning over Amelia and trying to get in on the joke, staring intensely at Riley as she giggled.

  “After the recent text messages...” Mr Harrison said as though ‘text messages’ were dirty words “....Mr Huntley is seriously considering contacting the police and I can assure you, with a mobile number it won’t take five minutes to find out who the culprit is!”

  Oooooh this was getting interesting now, but still nobody looked overly concerned. Everyone was just looking around like I was. “Who in their right mind would want to stalk him?” Bex was hissing in my ear and Sarah was quietly giggling in my other ear.

  “We will give whoever is responsible to the end of the day to own up if they wish to keep the police out of it, but the game is up.” Mr Harrison boomed. “Or if anyone wants to shed any light on the incident, my door is open all day.”

  And that was that. We all just sat there, shrugging our shoulders and looking at everybody else until Mr Harrison dismissed us, while reminding us all he was waiting to hear.

  Of course, this was all anyone talked about all morning. Even the poor teachers stopped trying to get everyone to be quiet and seemed to be listening to the crap everyone was gossiping about. I was glad when lunchtime came because quite honestly, I’d had enough of all the wild theories. You had to feel slightly sorry for the people that were coming up in conversation. Girls who were in Mr Huntley’s class who had merely been seen talking to him were discussed in great detail.

  “Oi, look who I’ve just spotted,” Sarah nudged me. We were being cheeky and cutting through the school office as even though we’re not allowed, it’s the quickest way to the Dining Room. We were just coming around the corner towards Mr Harrison and Mrs Davenport’s office when we saw Ella coming out of Mr Harrison’s office. She was dramatically dabbing her eyes with a tissue and sniffing.

  I grabbed Sarah and Bex and pushed them back a step, hovering around the corner, just out of sight. “Oh my God! Is she the stalker?” Sarah whispered and then stared at us with her mouth hanging wide open.

  “Sssshhh!” I hissed furiously at her. “Listen!”

  “I’m so sorry Mr Harrison...” Ella sniffed. Sarah stared at me, I don’t think her eyes could possibly get any wider. I put my finger to my mouth to remind her to be quiet. “I just didn’t know what to do...” Ella carried on sniffing.

  “Well, you’re quite right, it was wrong of you but you’ve come to your senses now and you’ve done the right thing.” Mr Harrison said gently. I really was confused now. What the hell was Ella playing at? Bex and Sarah kept staring at me as though I could provide them with all the answers but I was as clueless as them.

  “I thought it was some silly crush. I had no idea how out of hand it’d become,” Ella let out a huge sob and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t sure what was going on here but I could hear that Ella (for whatever reason) was really putting it on. She was being so dramatic.

  “Well you mustn’t feel guilty. We’ll sort it out. I give you my word that nobody will hear that you came to see me about it today.” Mr Harrison almost whispered. “I wish there were more students as caring and responsible as yourself.”

  I had to hold my breath because I nearly gasped out loud at Mr Harrison’s last comment. I looked at Sarah and Bex, my hand over my mouth, none of us dared to move.

  “I would have said sooner but I didn’t want to look like I was telling tales or ...or...or that you wouldn’t have believed me.” Ella sniffled some more. My god, she never spoke like that at home. It was all bitchiness and insulting people, calling them names because she didn’t think they were beautiful people. This here was the side of Ella that the grown-ups knew and loved.

  “My door is always open Ella and I’m always here to listen. Right, I’m going to go and sort this out. Please don’t worry anymore.”

  I couldn’t hear Ella’s reply. Their voices were filtering away and I knew it must be safe to peep around the corner. They were gone.

  “Come on,” I signalled that it was safe to cut through. I had such a bad feeling that I knew exactly where Mr Harrison had gone and who he had gone to get.

  There are some stairs in the corridor right next to the offices and I sat on the bottom step. I don’t know why but I needed to think. I needed time to work this out.

  “What the hell is going on?” Sarah hissed at me.

  “Maybe we should follow Harrison.” Bex smiled.

  “Just wait.” I put my head in my hands. What had Ella just done? She wasn’t that cold and ca
lculating, was she? I think I had underestimated her big time and that was a scary thought. “I think Ella has just got someone in trouble, serious trouble.” I whispered.

  “Well, yeah!” Sarah stared at my obvious dumbness, “The stalker. How did she find out who it was? And then she just had to be the one to tell Mr Harrison didn’t she? Oh, she’s such a creep but I think she went over the top with the tears. It was a bit much this time!” Sarah gabbled on. “He falls for it every time.”

  “It’s the cutesy wootsey, hair twisting, tear dabbing, sniffing and sobbing, girly charm!” Bex shrieked in an imitation of Ella’s voice. Sarah and Bex were roaring with laughter. I was shaking my head because that wasn’t what I’d meant about getting someone in to trouble. I couldn’t get a word in though - the girls were far too busy laughing hysterically about my sister.

  I just sat there staring at them laughing louder and louder and wondering what the hell was going to happen. Just what had Ella done and surely she had gone too far this time? All my life everyone has always said really hurtful and useless comments like, “Why can’t you be a little more like your sister?” and I’ve always just carried on and ignored the fact that I’d just been bloody insulted and that seemed to be fine by everyone. But you know what, I do not wish I was anything like her, thank you very much!

  The doors from the Dining Room burst open and slammed loudly against the wall of the corridor. This immediately stopped Sarah and Bex from imitating my sister and we all looked to see what the commotion was.

  “I told you Sir, I lost my phone three days ago! Why won’t you listen to me?” Amelia Hargreaves was wailing hysterically. “Please believe me!” She was sobbing and the confused and desperate look on her face sent a shudder down my spine.

  “Don’t be silly Amelia. Come on, we want to help you but we can’t do that until you stop being silly and talk about this phone issue.” Mr Harrison patronised poor Amelia.

  “I haven’t done anything!” Amelia was shouting and a crowd was forming from the Dining Room, crowding around the door to get a better look. I sat rooted to the step I was sitting on. This girl had lost control. “Why won’t you listen to me?” She let out a huge sob.

  “Come on now,” Mr Harrison put his hand on her arm. He was trying to guide her to his office. His eyes shifted around the corridor - he was aware of the scene that she was making and for some reason he looked embarrassed at all the spectators watching, the odd one making a quiet comment to their friends.

  “Get your hands off me!” Amelia bawled. Pushing a shocked looking Mr Harrison. Her bag fell off her arm and crashed to the floor, contents splaying everywhere. There were a good few people gathered round at this point and it was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. They all seemed to be watching the last of her things roll across the floor - one of those moments that seem to last an eternity but in reality must only last seconds. A lipstick rolled all the way to the bottom stair where I was sitting and stopped just as it reached my foot. And there in the middle of the floor lay all of her things; books, make-up, hairbrush, a packet of crisps, her bottle of water, various pens and markers that had escaped her shiny tin pencil case, and there lit up like a beacon in the centre of her belongings was her phone, vibrating loudly against the hard corridor floor.

  “Now that’s bad timing,” I heard Bex whisper as she (like everyone else) just stared at the phone.

  “Is this the lost phone in question?” Mr Harrison bent down to retrieve the phone and Amelia let out the loudest wail I have ever heard. Miss Smith (our old P.E teacher) had pushed through the crowd with Ms Marney (the drama teacher). Ms Marney put her arms around a sobbing but defeated looking Amelia as Miss Smith scooped up her belongings and put them back into her bag. Amelia had admitted defeat, she fought no more as Ms Marney guided her through to the offices and Miss Smith, carrying Amelia’s bag, followed behind them. All that was left was for a very red looking Mr Harrison to bellow at us that there was “nothing to see” and to “move on!”

  Everyone started to dwindle away, gossiping madly about what they had just witnessed. I stood up slowly from my seated position on the step, standing on the lipstick. It had been missed in the super speedy clean up. I felt really sad as I bent down to pick it up, as well as a strange twinge of guilt. When I stood up I was surprised to see Ella, still standing in the same position where she had witnessed Amelia’s meltdown. Everybody else had cleared off but not her. She stood there, her phone in one hand. I looked at her phone as I realised who had made the (probably anonymous) and very aptly timed phone call to Amelia’s phone.

  She was staring at me, a slow grin spreading across her smug face. She let out a short laugh and then spun around on her heels and marched off in the direction of Riley Jackson.

  Time to get real...

  “Where have you been?” Mum asked. She was in a right huffy mood. She was standing at the bottom of the stairs, with too many bags for a weekend away and way too much make-up on.

  “Erm, I have dancing every Friday night, Mum.” I muttered. Now she was seeing the ‘ever so dishy Simon’ (I actually heard her use those words the other day) her brain seemed to have melted away into oblivion.

  “You’ve been ages,” Mum said with gritted teeth, while fluffing her hair in the hall mirror. What did she expect? I had just had to go through another dress rehearsal with all kids who were performing tomorrow and there was a costume change in the middle. Of course they still did not know where they were supposed to be standing or what they should be doing. I think the rehearsals are more for my benefit because I have now mastered getting twenty or so five/six year olds dressed while the nine/ten year olds are doing their dance. I mean, that is quite an achievement on my part - one song to help that many kids get changed and stand in the right place!

  I knew Mum just wanted to get off on her weekend away but she didn’t even ask how I was or how was school. It was all “Do I look ok?” and “You promise to be good?” After I had said yes repeatedly in a very uninterested tone to the same questions that Mum had just worded differently, she finally gave up.

  “I’m fine, thanks for asking.” I muttered as Mum was trying to push past me towards the front door. Ella was standing on the stairs, I think she’d just come to make sure that Mum was actually going to leave us.

  “Oh that’s good, honey.” Mum said, totally oblivious to my sarcasm. “Ella told me about that crazy girl at school, stalking a teacher and making threats to his family.” Mum shook her head.

  I wish I’d never said anything to Mum now. Ella was smirking at me and I didn’t want to be reminded of what had happened at school today. It was obviously all anyone had talked about all day and the more times I heard the story, the more outrageous it became. By the end of the day it was going round that Amelia had actually punched Mr Harrison in the face, floored him and then kicked him while he was down. The gossip at that school has become excruciating to listen to. I’m not opposed to a bit of gossip but since the assembly incident where everyone had seen my boyfriend making out with my sister, I know how hurtful and ridiculous the gossips are.

  “Maybe it wasn’t her though. I mean she said she’d lost her phone and someone else could have sent those messages on her phone.” I answered Mum but looked at Ella.

  “You never know anyone really, do you? Ella was telling me it was one of her friends.” Mum carried on, ignoring my comment and Ella looked totally unfazed and nodded at Mum. “Maybe I shouldn’t leave you girls. I’m starting to feel all panicky and worried.”

  “Mum! Don’t be ridiculous,” Ella walked down the stairs towards Mum. “She was just a girl, a bit sick in the head, but she’ll get help now Mum. It’s just one silly girl. What are the chances that there’s going to be anyone else who’s crazy around here?”

  I could not believe the last comment and unfortunately for me I’d just taken a swig from my water bottle and had spat the mouthful out in disbelief. Mum and Ella stared at me in disgust.

  “It’s no wonde
r I’m not comfortable with leaving you,” Mum sighed, pointedly looking at me. It’s typical. It’s always the one they least suspect who turns out to be the total nutter. There’s Mum worrying about me when it’s that psycho bitch Ella we should all be worrying about.

  I know Ella totally set Amelia up, but Ella had planned this one well. Even Sarah and Bex were beginning to think that maybe it really was Amelia and perhaps she did have a secret crush on Mr Huntley and maybe, just maybe that goody-goody girl, Amelia Hargreaves could really be capable of it all.

  “For the last time, it was Ella!” I snapped, my temper was beginning to rise. Sarah and Bex had come over almost the minute my mum had left the house with a very smitten look on her face as Simon had carried her bags. We watched as he loaded up the car, Mum looked so deliriously happy and besotted with Simon that I had to stifle a giggle. She looked totally pathetic. God knows what Simon sees in her when she acts like that, but on the other hand Simon is a bit of a geek himself.

  “I’m just saying, do you really think Ella would actually take things that far? I mean, it is pretty serious.” Sarah sort of said the same thing she had been saying all night but in different words. We were all lounging around, Sarah and me on the sofa and Bex on the floor, crossed legged reading her magazine. She was half reading and half joining in our discussion when she felt like it.

  “Yes!” I spat, “Of course she would.” I was getting so worked up; why wouldn’t anyone listen to me?

  “But, Amelia IS always speaking to Mr Huntley.” Bex looked up from her mag.

  “Yes, because she takes Geography,” I said, getting more than irritable.

  “And she said she lost her phone and then it fell out of her bag for everyone to see!” Sarah nodded at Bex.

  “Yes, and even you said you saw Ella put something into her bag yesterday morning. It must have been her phone,” I huffed. Why did I have to spell it out to them? Just how dumb were they?