‘Well, well, if it isn’t the dozy duo. Is the bogey man after you, guys?’
It was our arch enemies, Wedge and Crunch, two toughs always up to no good.
‘What scared you nerds?’ sneered Wedge.
‘Scared? Nah,’ I said, trying to sound tough and confident – but the words sounded like a sick mouse coughing up a bit of hard cheese.
Crunch grabbed my jacket and pulled me so close to his ugly face that I could see right up his nose. Not a pretty picture, I tell you.
‘Hello, boys.’
We all turned. I was never so glad to see a teacher, especially when it was our own class teacher, Miss Lee, her shiny red, high-heeled shoes clip-clopping as she came towards us.
‘Having a nice chat, are we?’ she went on, her eyes boring holes into Wedge and Crunch.
‘Just chatting to the lads here, Miss,’ said Wedge, all smarmy.
‘Yeah, chattin’,’ added Crunch, letting go of my jacket and pretending he was just brushing it down. ‘About school,’ he sniggered.
‘Ah, that’s great,’ said Miss Lee. ‘I love chatting about school. Can I join your discussion, boys? What do you like best about school? Do tell.’
Wedge’s head shrank between his shoulders. He looked at his wrist where a watch might have been but wasn’t.
‘Erm … we have to be somewhere in a minute, me and Crunch,’ he muttered.
‘Go where, Wedge …?’ Crunch began, before Wedge gave him a dig on the shoulder.
‘Oh, do you really have to go, lads?’ asked Miss Lee. ‘Shame. Catch you some other time for that chat then.’
They scarpered down the road. Wedge stopped for a second to look back with a warning glare at me and Shane. We moved closer to Miss Lee. To protect her, you understand.
‘Well, you two,’ she said. ‘Did you enjoy your tour?’
‘What do you mean, Miss?’ asked Shane, all wide-eyed innocence.
‘I mean that I was inside the castle and saw you two trespassers skulking about. Luckily, I was chatting with one of the people working on the restoration, and told him you were harmless. If I knew you were interested, I could have shown you around. My ancestors—’
‘Harmless!’ I interrupted. I’d have preferred to be called a hooligan or something a bit more macho.
Shane’s belly wobbled as he thumped his chest. ‘Oh, Miss,’ he said. ‘We’re tough me and Milo. If you hadn’t come along, we’d have knocked those two into pulp and left them on the ground for stray dogs to eat …’
‘Of course you would, Shane,’ chuckled Miss Lee. ‘Now, get along home both of you. Next time I might not be here to save you from bullies and raging workmen.’
‘Whew,’ I said to Shane as we ran home. ‘That was a close shave.’
‘No way,’ he panted. ‘We really would have flattened those two poo-bags.’
‘Shane,’ I laughed. ‘We’d be dragging our way home carrying our heads in our hands if Miss Lee hadn’t come along.’
‘Yeah,’ he said sheepishly as we came to our road. ‘Maybe.’
As he threw his kitbag over the gate to his house, my heart did a double somersault.
‘Oh, shoot!’ I cried out.
‘What’s up?’ Shane asked, climbing over the gate like he always does, because he’s too lazy to use the bolt that’s gone stiff.
‘My football kit!’ I yelped. ‘I’ve left it in the castle courtyard! Mum will explode!’
‘You’d better get moving, then,’ said Shane, looking at his watch. ‘The castle will be locked in five minutes.’
I was stunned. My best mate turning his back on me and walking away!
‘Shane!’ I yelled. ‘Come on. You can’t leave me in this mess.’
He turned around and grinned. ‘I’m getting my bike,’ he said. ‘You go and get yours. We’ll never make it in time on foot.’
‘I can’t,’ I said. ‘Mum would see me and ask questions.’
‘That’s OK, Milo,’ said Shane. ‘You can ride passenger on mine.’
‘Your new bike?’ I exclaimed. ‘Cool.’
Now that’s real friendship. Big Ella had bought Shane a super bike for his birthday. But just as my heart began to switch to a normal beat, the front door opened and Big Ella pranced out, eyes blazing.
‘Shane!’ she boomed. ‘What time do you call this? You should have been home an hour ago.’
Shane’s face wobbled. ‘Milo and me, we were just—’ he began.
‘I don’t care where you two were just. You get in here now before your dinner shrivels to soot. And Milo,’ she added, turning her eyes on me, ‘you’d best get home too, boy. Your mum’s been looking for you.’
We exchanged defeated glances. You don’t argue with Big Ella when she rants.
‘You can tell your mum that I have your football kit,’ Shane muttered. ‘We’ll get it tomorrow. Don’t worry.’
‘If it’s still there,’ I groaned.
Mum wasn’t home when I let myself in. She had left a note to say that she’d gone to pick up Dad because the Garda car had a puncture. My heart sank when I saw the basket of dirty clothes beside the washing machine. I knew she’d ask me for my football kit to put in with them. I took a deep breath and resigned myself to what I had to do. Maybe if I cycled to the castle, I might be just in time to slip through that gate. The word ‘maybe’ is not very comforting when you’re in a serious fix.