Long Shot (6 page)

“What sock?” Jack bent to pick up his mask and the sock dropped onto the floor.

Jimmy got out of bed and rushed at Jack,
who was sent crashing. They wrestled for a few moments and feathers from the pillow flew up into the air.

“Stop it!” yelled Roddy. He and Marek hurried to pull them apart, but a jab from Jimmy's elbow caught Roddy in the face by mistake. “Ow! Just stop it, will you?”

Marek hauled Jack to his feet and stood him against the wall. “Where is Jimmy's sock?” he asked in a menacing voice.

“I don't know,” whined Jack. “I just came in to play a Hallowe'en trick. There's no need to get so aggressive.”

“I've got it,” said Jimmy. He stood up. There were feathers in his hair and he looked pale with fright, but the sock was safely clutched to his chest.

“Ah! Jimmy's in love with a sock!” laughed Jack.

“Just get out,” ordered Marek, fiercely.

“Jimmy's in love with a sock! Jimmy's in love with a sock!” Jack gathered his sheet and headed for the door. He slammed it behind him and Roddy let out a huge sigh of relief.

“Well, that's—” But he stopped mid-sentence as he heard Mr Clutterbuck's voice in the corridor. “Get into bed!” he hissed.

They hurried to put the sheets and pillows back in order. Roddy switched out the light and they all lay silently, ears straining to hear what the housemaster was saying. They couldn't hear the words, but they did hear Jack's voice a couple of times, and then Mr Clutterbuck's again, louder and sounding very angry.

“Half term or no half term, you're not allowed to go wandering into other people's bedrooms in the middle of the night,” he said.

Roddy allowed himself a slight smile. It was never a good idea to argue with a teacher.

There was silence again, and Roddy started to think it was all over, but then the door opened, and he could see the shape of Mr Clutterbuck, outlined against the light in the corridor.

“Any more people looking for a yellow card?” he said. The four boys stayed quiet and after a moment he closed the door again. They waited until his footsteps faded away and then Jimmy spoke.

“Jack's got a yellow card. Good! Serves him right.”

“Thank goodness Clutterbuck didn't catch you fighting, Jimmy,” said Roddy quietly. “Otherwise you'd have got one, too.”

Around mid morning, Roddy's father arrived to take him home. “Bye!” he called to Geno and Keira, who were still waiting for their parents. “Have a good one. See you soon!” He slung his
bag into the back of the car and got in.

“Well? How's it been?” His dad was looking at him anxiously.

Roddy sank back in his seat. “Brilliant!” he said with a broad grin.

The journey home passed quickly, with Roddy telling his dad about everything that had happened since he'd got to Stadium School.

As soon as the car stopped outside their house, Roddy leaped out. His sister opened the door and his mum gave him a big hug.

“It's wonderful to have you back home,” she said. “And I'm sure you've grown.”

“Mum!” Roddy complained, wriggling out of her arms. But she was right. It
was
good to be back.

It wasn't long before he slipped back into his old way of life. He went round his room, reacquainting himself with all his belongings.
He earmarked a couple of computer games to take back to school with him, and three books he'd been given and not read.

The next morning he texted Bryn.
I'm back! R U free? Want 2 go 2 the park?

Yeah. C U at yrs in 10.

Very soon, Bryn was at the front door, beaming all over his face. “How's it going? Have you been spotted yet?” he said.

“No, don't be daft. We only played our first match last week. We won it, though, 2–0! And our house is winning overall in the cup at the moment, but not by much. Are you in the school team?”

“Yeah, it's brilliant. Shame we haven't got you playing for us, but I'm glad you're doing well at Stadium School. Hey, there's a Hallowe'en party at one of my mates' houses tomorrow. Want to come?”

“You bet! Hang on a minute, though.
I've got something for you.”

Bryn waited while Roddy tore up to his room and back down the stairs again. “What is it?”

“Two linesman's flags,” said Roddy, holding them out. “They got new ones this term and these were going to be chucked out. Mr Jenkins said I could have them. They say Stadium School on them,” he added anxiously, not sure now if it had been a good idea to bring them for his friend or not.

But Bryn was delighted. “That's so cool!” he said. “I'll put them up in my room, on either side of my England poster. Thanks, mate.”

Bryn was really interested to hear about the house competition. “We've got something like that, too,” he said, “except ours is for sports and art and music and drama, and all sorts of stuff. What are your teachers like?”

“They're OK,” replied Roddy with a shrug.
“Apart from this one called Mr Mustard. He hates me, and gave me a yellow card for nothing.”

“I reckon every school has one like him,” Bryn told him. “Our history teacher is the same. I've made some good friends, though. How about you?”

Roddy told him about Jimmy, Marek and Geno.

“They sound cool,” Bryn said. “Have you met Geno's famous dad yet?”

“No,” replied Roddy. “Not yet. But maybe I will at the end of term.”

“Shall we go to the park, then?” suggested Bryn, suddenly changing the subject.

Roddy grinned. “Yeah! Let's do that.”

At the park, Roddy showed Bryn some of the tactics he'd learned. Soon there was a whole group of people there. Roddy knew most of them from his old school, and in no
time they were playing a game. It was almost like old times.

What with parties, football and family time, the week sped by. Soon there were only two days to go, and then only one. Roddy's mum cooked a special meal for his last night, and they all had a family evening together.

Just before he went up to bed, Roddy's mum took him to one side. “I'm so pleased everything is going well for you,” she said. “But don't forget, if you need us, we're only at the other end of the phone.”

“Mum!” Roddy gave her a look. “I'm fine! In fact, I'm having the best time
ever
. Thanks so much for finding the money to send me to Stadium School. I know it wasn't easy.”

Roddy's mum gave him a hug and they said goodnight. But Roddy was so excited, he couldn't sleep. His week at home had been
brilliant, but he couldn't wait to get back to Stadium School and find out what the next half term had in store…

It was straight back to work. Roddy had resolved to get on Mr Mustard's right side, and things were slowly improving. At last, the teacher gave him a “much better” comment on his homework, and Roddy hoped that Mr Mustard had begun to see him in a better light.

Sam's senior girls' team were playing Stiles just a few days after they got back, and as they were currently in third place, Sam was really chasing a win to lift them up the table. Roddy and several other members of the Charlton junior squad headed over to the pitch to support their coach, but it was the Stiles fans who were cheering loudest at the end of the game.

Despite Sam's efforts, Charlton lost 2–0, leaving them stuck in third place with only Moore behind them. In the context of the overall House Cup, not much was changed, with Moore losing to Banks the same day, but Sam's disappointment at her own team's fortunes was noticeable at training the next day. Roddy knew that their next result had to be a good one, if only to cheer up Sam.

It was still over six weeks until Christmas, but Marek already knew what he wanted from his parents. “I'm going to ask for the new Poland strip,” he said. “What are you going to ask for?”

“I'm not sure,” said Roddy. With money tight at home he didn't want to be too greedy.

Their next match was against Moore, who had recently seen their lead in the House Cup
evaporate, with losses from their senior teams. Now it was Charlton who were ahead in the contest, so a victory against them would help to open up the gap.

“I watched some of the Moore first-year game against Stiles,” said Sam. “Moore slaughtered them. Don't worry, though – I think you can beat them, but you'll need to work hard to pull it off.”

“You heard,” said Keira to her team. “We've got to go all out for this one. Good luck, everyone. Keep your heads up and we can do it. Charlton for ever!”

“Charlton for ever!”

As Roddy ran onto the pitch, he felt totally fired up, and almost straight away the commentary inside his head took over.

Moore kick off, and they're already forcing Charlton back towards their own goal. This could be a tough day for the Charlton defence,
but Piper gets in there with a magnificent tackle to dispossess the Moore forward and start Charlton on the counterattack. Jones has the ball at his feet now, and sets off on a run. He moves the ball to Sanders, and gets it back seconds later. Perotti is calling for it ahead of him, and Jones sends it straight to his feet. Perotti unleashes the shot, but the keeper makes a comfortable save.

Roddy's team were under a lot of pressure, and relying on quick breaks to get any chances to score. Eboni and Ashanti were spending almost all their time helping out in defence, and Jimmy was working harder than anyone, marshalling the rearguard effort. The team struggled their way to half time, and sat exhausted, while Sam tried to raise their spirits.

“You're playing well,” she said. “Moore are a strong team. To be honest, a draw would be a good result today, but if you can nick a goal
that would be brilliant. Jimmy, you're doing great work organising the defence, but if you can, try passing it out rather than sending long balls down to Marek and Geno all the time. I know it's hard when you're under pressure, but if you can get it to Eboni or Ashanti we might catch them on the break. Good luck!”

The teams are coming back out onto the pitch for the second half, and neither side has made any substitutions. The whistle blows, and Charlton are under heavy pressure again, with most of the action taking place in and around their penalty area. Piper gets in another good challenge, and passes out to his winger on the left. Nagel gets skilfully past her man, and suddenly she has space to run. Nagel sprints down the left wing and sends in a perfect cross to Dvorski. Dvorski powers a header straight towards the top corner, but the Moore keeper pulls off yet another fantastic save to deny the
lanky striker, and tips it over the bar. Corner to Charlton!

Charlton are throwing a lot of players forward. Jones is loitering outside the box, as Sanders goes to take the corner. She plays it short to Nagel, who sends in the cross. It's too deep for Dvorski, and too high for Perotti. The full-back gets to it before anyone else and punts it away down the pitch.