The TV Time Travellers (15 page)

‘And if anyone objects, then they too can join Zac in leaving right now. We have a waiting list with several hundred other names on it, desperate for their chance. Now, has anyone else anything to say?’

I had plenty, but I really didn’t want to be thrown out. So I just lowered my head. So did Leo
.

Then a brief, supercharged silence before Wally said smoothly, ‘Now, Zac, will you go and pack. You are supposed to leave in five minutes, but I will give you an additional ten minutes. All right?’

Zac didn’t reply. He just stood there, staring at the wall opposite. In the end I got up and went over to him. ‘Zac,’ I said very softly. He didn’t react; I don’t think he even heard me. He just went on gazing at the wall, his eyes not even blinking
.

I wondered if Zac was ever going to talk to anyone again. That sounds such a crazy thing to write now, but you didn’t see Zac’s eyes then; they looked as if he’d been hypnotized
.

‘He’s very, very shocked,’ I said. ‘Could you give—’I began
.

‘Zac, leave now,’ ordered Wally, his voice as cold as steel. Zac still didn’t react. Miss Weed and Wally looked at each other
.

‘Poor lad,’ said Farmer Benson from the back of the room. ‘It’s been a huge shock for him.’

Mrs Benson made agreeing noises and then asked, ‘Shall I give him a hand?’

But at that moment Zac got to his feet. Only he looked so weird, like someone in a trance. He said: ‘I shall go upstairs, but I’m afraid I will not be packing. I do apologize for any inconvenience my decision may cause.’

Then he moved towards the stairs like a sleepwalker. His tone had been so polite, yet what he’d said was dynamite. He was going to totally disobey Wally’s instructions. Leo and I might talk big – but here was the true rebel
.

I watched him trail up the stairs with a mixture of shock and admiration
.

‘I think I should help him pack,’ said Miss Weed
.

‘No, it’s all right,’ cried out Harriet unexpectedly, ‘I’ll do that.’

I shot her a look of utter hatred. How could she volunteer to do that? She really was the most loathsome girl I’d ever met. And she didn’t have one atom of loyalty towards her fellow evacuees. Not even for Zac, who always spoke up for her. Well, I didn’t care how much trouble I got into – I was tipping another jug of water over her tonight, for sure
.

‘Actually,’ said Wally, ‘I think it might be best if Harriet does assist Zac.’

‘Yes, yes,’ agreed Miss Weed at once. I don’t think she wanted to force Zac to leave. But, of course, Harriet had no such scruples and she smirked proudly at the teachers before she glided upstairs
.

‘Well, now I shall leave you with Miss Weed,’ said Wally, ‘but I shall be back with some important announcements about tomorrow later. You two,’ he said, nodding at Leo and me, ‘can start laying the table for tea.’

‘Do we set a place for Zac?’ asked Leo
.

‘No, of course you don’t,’ said Wally, flushing angrily
.

He strode off and I turned to Miss Weed. ‘Zac should not have to leave. You can’t do this to him.’

For a moment I thought Miss Weed was going to agree with me. She definitely hesitated. But then she clapped her hands as if Leo and I were disobedient puppies. ‘Come on, you have work to do – no more backchat.’

As Leo and I started bunging out the cutlery and place mats, Leo murmured, ‘On the bright side, Zac hasn’t ever got to see Wally or Miss Weed again.’ But that didn’t make me feel one millimetre better. Somehow I felt we’d really let Zac down, leaving him to the tender mercies of Harriet
.

Then Farmer and Mrs Benson strode into the kitchen and beckoned to Miss Weed. ‘May we have a word with you?’ the farmer asked
.

‘Yes, of course,’ she said, not exactly eagerly. Then she turned to us. ‘Now carry on, you two,’ she said, before joining Farmer and Mrs Benson outside the kitchen door
.

Of course Leo and I immediately started ear-wigging
.

Farmer Benson was speaking very quietly at first, so it was hard to catch a single word, but then we heard him say, ‘We thought this was going to be a social experiment, that’s why we agreed to let our farm to be used. But what you did tonight—’

And his wife interrupted, ‘I feel ashamed to be a part of it. You’re just playing with children’s emotions and now you’ve got a boy upstairs breaking his heart.’

Miss Weed whispered something very faintly and the next sound we heard was the back door being pushed open. And we realized they were carrying on this conversation in the farmyard
.

Good old Bensons standing up for Zac. But they also made me feel even more ashamed. ‘We shouldn’t have left Zac up there with
Harriet.’
I spat out her name
.

‘No, we shouldn’t,’ said Leo. Then he hesitated. We both did
.

‘So,’ I said, ‘are we going to slip up and see him now?’

Leo didn’t answer. He just started going upstairs
.

I sped after him
.

And then I got a shock
.

Harriet wasn’t with Zac at all. No, she was in our room. I marched in, closely followed by Leo
.

And then I got a gigantic shock
.

Harriet was packing
.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Harriet’s Secret

Izzy

‘WHAT ARE YOU
doing?’ I stuttered
.

‘It looks remarkably like she’s packing to me,’ muttered Leo
.

‘Score one hundred points for observation. Yes, I’m leaving instead of Zac,’ said Harriet
.

‘Says who?’ I asked
.

‘Says me,’ she said
.

‘But why would you do that?’ asked Leo
.

‘Before I answer,’ said Harriet, ‘I’d better warn you, this room is bugged.’

‘So’s ours,’ said Leo. ‘I meant to tell you all tonight.’

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ cried Harriet. ‘I’ve known the room was bugged since day one, and anything we say in here can – and probably will – be broadcast.’

I looked at her in total amazement. She seemed completely different suddenly. And her wet, annoying smile had just vanished
.

She saw me staring at her and smiled. ‘You never guessed, did you, Izzy? I was sure you would.’ Before I could reply she was off bustling round the room again. ‘Well, I shan’t be sorry to lose that wretched gas mask. I don’t know how people put up with them for six years, do you?’

I didn’t answer. I was still reeling from what she’d just said. ‘What do you mean I never guessed?’ I said at last. And then as I stared at her again, I added, ‘You seem like a totally different person suddenly.’

‘That’s a relief,’ she said briskly. I don’t know how much longer I could have gone on saying “It’s all good, babe” and doing that awful simpering smile.’

I gaped at her. ‘Have you . . .’ I said
slowly
, ‘just been
pretending
to be annoying?’

‘Of course I have,’ she said
.

Leo, who’d been watching all this intently while squatting on the end of my bed, said, ‘Sorry, but this is really weirding me out, Harriet. Why would you pretend to be annoying?’

‘The truth is,’ said Harriet, ‘I’m an actress – well, a wannabe actress – who’s never had the whisper of a part on TV before. I’ve been going to auditions since I was six. I’m seventeen, by the way.’

‘No way!’ I yelled
.

Leo shook his head in an amazed sort of way too
.

‘And I had to get through three auditions for this part actually.’

‘This part . . .’ Leo repeated
.

‘Oh, yes,’ grinned Harriet with an impish grin I’d never seen before. ‘On the first night they let the viewers know I was really a seventeen-year-old actress, on a secret mission. That was the show’s secret challenge. Would you sniff out that I wasn’t a genuine thirteen-year-old? If none of you guessed my secret identity,
I
got a part for at least six episodes in a TV soap.’

‘You should still get that,’ said Leo
.

‘Because you fooled us completely,’ I added
.

‘Somehow,’ said Harriet, ‘I don’t think they’ll be giving me any pats on the back tonight.’ Then she faced us. ‘Now my other secret challenge, as they put it, was to really irritate you, Izzy. I had to be the person you’d least like to share a room with: your nightmare.’

‘But why?’ I asked
.

‘So you’d lose your temper,’ said Leo
.

‘Exactly,’ said Harriet
.

‘The madder I got you, the better they liked it; makes for great telly and all that. So when you threw that jug of water over me I was thrilled.’ She walked over and faced me. ‘In fact, I was amazed you hadn’t done it a lot sooner.’ She went on, ‘When I first met you, Izzy, I liked you a lot. And I thought, can I really wind up this poor girl day after day? And for a few minutes I wanted out. Remember on the train when I rushed off, saying I was sick?’

Leo and I nodded
.

‘I told them I couldn’t go through with it. But Wally gave me this big lecture, said this was my big chance and I might never get another. So I gave in.’ She looked at me. ‘No hard feelings?’

‘None at all,’ I replied. Then I added, ‘But now you’ve given it all up.’

Harriet turned away. ‘Yeah, well I saw the way they treated poor Zac tonight. And why? To create another sensation, to get viewers talking. No thanks. Not for me. Hadn’t one of you better check he’s all right, by the way?’

‘I’ll go,’ I said
.

Zac was just sitting on his bed, staring into space
.

But before I could say anything, Wally’s voice erupted out of nowhere. ‘I want everyone downstairs. You will all go to the classroom immediately.’ His voice seemed to fill the whole room
.

And suddenly Zac came out of his trance. ‘He sounds very angry,’ he whispered
.

‘Do you think so?’ I said. ‘He just
sounded
his usual miserable self to me. Still, I suppose we’d better go down.’

But I was far more anxious than I sounded. As I hadn’t a clue what was going to happen next
.

Not a clue
.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Who Leaves?

Izzy

THE HEAVY GLOOM
of our classroom was bad enough in the daylight. At night it was even worse. Especially as there was just one dim light flickering away in this shadowy chamber of doom
.

A wave of fear rushed over me
.

‘Hey, this is scary,’ whispered Leo to me. ‘Do you suppose Miss Weed will give me a cuddle to cheer me up?’

‘Ask her if you like,’ I suggested
.

‘No talking,’ snapped Miss Weed. She stood at the front of the classroom, as still as a bookend. I grinned at Harriet. She gave me a triumphant wave, and she
looked
very relaxed. Perhaps it was a relief to be herself at last
.

Would she be evicted now? I didn’t want her to be. (And I never thought I’d want Harriet to stay.) But if she was chucked out, did that mean Zac was now safe? Poor Zac, he just looked totally confused
.

‘Class will rise.’ I hadn’t heard Wally come in and his voice made me jump. He strode to the front of the room, frowning heavily. He brought a sharp coldness with him. In fact, this room was suddenly freezing. His unblinking eyes scanned the room sternly
.

‘There has been some highly unfortunate behaviour tonight,’ he said at last. He looked at Harriet. ‘I believe your cover has been blown.’

‘Not by us though,’ I called out. ‘Harriet totally fooled everyone, including me.’

Wally did his impression of someone sucking a really sour sweet and then said to me, ‘When will you learn you are back in wartime Britain where children only speak when they are spoken to?’ He continued, ‘Your cover has been blown,
Harriet
, so now you must be evicted.’ And at a signal from him the door opened and that woman in the Second World War uniform suddenly appeared again. ‘Security will escort you away. Goodbye, Harriet.’