‘I hate that Mr Fuller is ignoring me,’ Alex mumbled, adjusting her backpack as they sauntered towards the front gates in a flood of navy and beige. ‘Science freaked me out today – he wouldn’t even look at me.’
‘None of the other teachers ignore us when we do something to upset them,’ Maddi said. ‘He needs to get over himself.’
Alex turned to Maddi, her eyes sharp as daggers. ‘That’s because none of the other teachers care as much as he does.’
Maddi was so over this conversation, which seemed to be happening now on a daily basis. She grabbed Alex’s arm. ‘Fullavit doesn’t care for you, Alex. He’s exploiting you, trying to get into your pants. Laura had told you the same. You just don’t get it, do you?’
‘No, Maddi, you don’t get it,’ Alex shot back. She looked around and lowered her voice. ‘I want him to get into my pants because I really like him. And he likes me.’
‘Ew,’ Maddi said, not completely surprised, but shocked nevertheless that she said this with such pride and conviction. ‘That is so gross. He’s an old man. And he’s a teacher. Plus it’s illegal, for Chrissakes.’
By the time they were away from the school, Alex had worked herself into a state of despair, her eyes streaming with tears.
Maddi stopped and rummaged in her backpack for a clean tissue and handed it to Alex as a Year 8 wandered past, staring. ‘I’m sorry if I upset you. But it’s not right that Fullavit is flirting with you and I’ll never tell you otherwise.’
Alex took a deep breath. Blew her nose into the tissue. ‘It’s more than just flirting, Maddi,’ she rasped, balling the tissue in her fist and refusing to meet Maddi’s gaze.
Birdsong and the noise of traffic did not dilute the uncomfortable silence shrouding them as they continued to saunter along the pavement. Every now and then Maddi would glance towards Alex, wondering whether she’d already done something stupid with old Fullavit. And hoping that if she had, she would keep it to herself.
‘Laura Nesci said I should change my shifts because Isaac is going psycho,’ Alex said.
‘Were they Laura’s exact words?’ Maddi said, stopping and digging into her backpack for an apple.
‘Not exactly. But she agreed that if I don’t feel comfortable around Isaac I should ask Mr Martin if I could change shifts.’
‘Is Mr Martin the one you don’t like?’ Maddi said.
Alex nodded. ‘He’s a drop kick. Like, he’s rude and bossy. But he’s the boss and he only comes into the store on Mondays. So I have to ask him tonight.’
Maddi bit into her apple and chewed. ‘You should get your mum to go with you.’
‘She said she can’t because she’s on an early shift. And I wouldn’t ask Greg. He’d lose his temper and stuff everything up,’ Alex said.
‘I can come with you.’ Maddi said shoving the half-eaten apple core into a cedar hedge as they passed.
‘Really? That’d be great.’
‘It won’t take long, will it? Like, I’ll still be home before dark, won’t I?’ Maddi said.
Alex looked up at the sky. ‘Yeah. It gets dark later now. Anyway, it won’t take long.’
Maddi and Alex stepped through the sliding doors of the store as a sulky teen chewing on her cuticle glanced up from a magazine spread open on the counter.
‘Hi, Phoenix,’ Alex said. ‘Is Mr Martin in the office?’
Phoenix nodded towards the back door. ‘He’s outside having a fag,’ she said, curtains of oily hair falling forward as, still gnawing on her cuticle, she returned to the magazine.
Alex grabbed Maddi’s hand. ‘Come with me,’ she whispered, pulling her past shelves of bread and biscuits and out through the back door.
‘Hi, Mr Martin. Can I speak to you for a minute, please?’ Alex said from the top of the landing.
A man peered up at them, the look of him reminding Maddi of a boxer on TV.
‘Yeah. But only if you come down here,’ he said, his forehead crinkling like leather, his dark hair slicked back with lashings of oil.
‘This is Maddi, my friend,’ Alex said, as they walked down the few steps to where he leaned against the red brick wall of the store.
He flicked the end of his cigarette, sending it skipping across the asphalt. ‘What do you want, Alex?’ he said, lighting another cigarette.
‘Um . . . you heard I got attacked, didn’t you?’ Alex said.
‘Yeah, yeah, I heard.’
‘Well, a police officer, Laura Nesci, has told me I should talk to you about swapping shifts,’ Alex said.
Maddi could tell by her voice that Alex’s nervousness was mounting, but Mr Martin seemed to enjoy her discomfort, his face and his tone growing even harsher.
‘And that would be because . . . ?’ he said lifting his chunky head and blowing a stream of smoke into the air.
‘Because I feel uncomfortable around Isaac.’
‘And you feel uncomfortable because . . . ?’ Mr Martin said, glaring at Alex.
‘It’s a long story, but Isaac accidentally told the police his flatmate was home with him the night I was attacked,’ Alex said, unable to meet Mr Martin’s avid gaze. ‘Then his flatmate told the police she’d lied about it. Isaac is angry with me for putting him in that position. Like he had to lie because the medical board would kick him out of his studies if they found out the police were questioning him about a crime.’
‘Come on,’ Mr Martin said, his frown vicious. ‘What the hell is Isaac on about?’
‘I don’t know, but that’s what he told me. Anyway, since then Isaac hasn’t been speaking to me. And the other day when were in the storeroom, he pushed me out of the way and I almost fell over.’
‘What else has he done?’ Mr Martin said, his attention suddenly drawn towards the car park, entranced by an unwary blond woman in tight jeans bending into the back seat of her car.
‘He makes me feel frightened. That’s all,’ Alex said.
Maddi watched Alex’s hands trembling despite them being so tightly clasped in front of her body that they were turning white.
Mr Martin reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the blonde and to Alex. ‘It’s a pissy reason for reorganising the shift roster, Alex. What have the cops got to do with it anyway?’
‘Sergeant Nesci is my victim support officer. She said I should ask you about swapping shifts if Isaac is making me uncomfortable.’
‘Did she now,’ he said, waggling his head and pulling a face. ‘Did she say they have any leads about who did it, or is she just feeding you bullshit like they always do?’
Alex shrugged.
‘I’ll need to think about it. Changing shifts might suit you but it means stuffing other people around big time,’ Mr Martin said, turning his back and wandering across the car park towards the toilets.
Alex and Maddi exchanged puzzled looks and assumed the conversation was over. They walked back to Davis Avenue along the narrow driveway at the side of the store, neither of them willing to talk until they were clear of the car park.
‘How did Mr Martin get to be a manager?’ Maddi said once they had crossed the road. ‘He’s totally gross.’
‘Who knows?’ Alex stopped to reposition her backpack before they continued along the footpath towards the corner where they would go their separate ways. ‘When Isaac used to talk to me he told me Mr Martin is like a volunteer security guy at one of those drug rehabilitation places, like if anyone gets psychotic or whatever, he’s the one who controls them because he’s so big.’
‘That’s a joke. He’d make everyone feel worse not better.’
They stopped and peered silently at gifts and cosmetics in the front window of the pharmacy before moving on again. ‘The worst part about changing shifts is that I’ll have to work with him,’ Alex murmured.
‘Maddi’s mouth dropped as she turned to Alex. ‘Are you for real? You have to work with that sloth? Seriously, Alex, I don’t get how it can be better working with him than with Isaac. Isaac must have turned really bad.’
‘Hopefully he’ll be back to normal soon,’ Alex said, as they approached the corner. ‘But for now he’s getting worse, so I don’t really have a choice, unless I quit my job.’
‘You don’t want to do that,’ Maddi said.
‘No, I don’t. It’s close to home and it’s the only money I get to myself,’ Alex said. ‘Anyway, I’ll just stay away from him. Did you notice how much he stinks? Like a rotting arsehole.’
Maddi laughed. ‘Fartin’ Martin.’
‘How come you didn’t tell Fartin’ Martin about the police finding the balaclava?’ Maddi said at the corner.
Alex shrugged. ‘I didn’t think of it. Besides, it’s none of his business.’