Forbidden Lessons (21 page)

"Pure Shakespeare," Susie said. "True love never did run smooth."

* * *

Mrs Ayers had been more irritated than intrigued to received Mr Peters’ unexpected note. Its presumptive and commanding tone, providing no reason for his summons, irked her. She didn’t care for Mr Peters at the best of times, she thought he was an old fool. They had clashed on more than one occasion.

The note was also inconvenient as Mrs Ayers was busy that afternoon. She had had a very difficult morning with annoying things happening to her again in the classroom. She was certain they were pranks, but there was a subtlety about them that left room for doubt. While she suspected Susie Clarke she still had no proof.

So she strode off to Mr Peters’ flat in a particularly foul mood.

Already fired up and ready to give him a piece of her mind if he had led her on a wild goose chase, she knocked on his door.

"Come in!" he called.

Mrs Ayers opened the door and stood inside Mr Peters’ sitting room, her face set in its typically grim line.

Nothing could prepare her for what awaited.

There - at the bedroom door - clad in a black silk dressing gown with a glass of champagne in each hand, appeared the Head of English.
 
The gown revealed an expanse of greying chest hair and his lips held a lecherous leer.

The smile died on his face when he saw Mrs Ayers. He paled as she shrieked and went crimson with outrage.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Forgetting himself in his shock, Mr Peters swore. "Where’s Susanna?"

"I beg your pardon!" No one had ever managed to imbue these words with such fury and disgust as Mrs Ayers did at that moment. "I am here because of your note."

"I never sent you any bloody note. Oh Christ!" The realisation was dawning. How on earth had this monstrous woman intercepted his message to Susie Clarke? "What the hell have you done with her? I suppose you gave her another detention you vicious old boot."

Mrs Ayers started screeching at him for this and Mr Peters gave back as good as he got. He was enraged with disappointment that the hag had wrecked his romantic rendezvous.

At some point during the row his silk robe slipped open. He wore nothing beneath it.

Below his paunch the remnants of his ardour for the anticipated encounter with Susie were only too clear.

Mrs Ayers got it into her head that he was about to sexually assault her, started screaming even more loudly and fled as Mr Peters fumbled to close his gown again while trying not to spill champagne everywhere.

* * *

Outside the four girls couldn’t make out what was being said but they could hear the volume of the row. Susie was doubled over nearly weeping with laughter.

The next thing they saw was Mrs Ayers come clattering out of the doorway, striding off in the direction of the staff room practically at a trot.

"And the bad fairy flees the feast," said Susie.

She explained to the others what had happened with the note. "If only we could have actually been there to see his face. And hers."

"Imagine if he opened the door to her naked," Charlotte said. "Perhaps that’s why she was screaming."

It was not a pleasant image.

"I wonder what will happen," Laura said. "I suppose he couldn’t really tell her the note was meant for you. But what will he say to you next time he sees you? Will he know you deliberately sent it to her?"

"I really don’t know. If he asks, I’ll say she confiscated it from me. Or that somebody took it from me and gave it to her." Susie wasn’t worried about what would happen next. Instead she was enjoying the chaos as for once, in terms of school rules at least, she was totally innocent.

* * *

"It’s him or me, I won’t put up with it any longer." Mrs Ayers was screeching at the Headmistress after her traumatic encounter with Mr Peters. Her face was crimson and her eyes wild.

Mrs Grayson did her best to calm the Geography teacher down but she appeared to be having some kind of breakdown.

It had been difficult to establish exactly what had happened, other than Mr Peters allegedly having made an untoward approach to Mrs Ayers.
 
In reality the Headmistress found it very hard to believe he would attempt such a thing.

But every time she tried to get the facts calmly from Mrs Ayers, the latter started shrieking about "disgusting perverts" and losing her temper even more.
 

"I will not stay in this school for as long as that... that deviant remains among us."
 

It was clear that the Headmistress would need to speak with Mr Peters to try and sort the matter out.

* * *

The Head of English was still at a loss to know how his invitation to Susie had found its way into Mrs Ayers’ possession. He had by now had time to recover from his own shock and rehearse his own convincing version of events.

The problem was the note. He didn’t know where it was or if Mrs Ayers still had it. Were it found, he would have to come up with an explanation of whom it had really been written to. Claiming it was a forged practical joke would be difficult, given that it was composed on his personal notepaper.

Clearly he couldn’t admit it to it have been intended for Susie or any other pupil. His thoughts went to Miss Wingrove. Much as he detested her, she might be useful to his purposes now. And there was no need for her to be any the wiser.

"A dreadful and embarrassing misunderstanding," he told Mrs Grayson. "I had of course intended the invitation for quite a different member of staff. I'm sure I needn't put her in a compromising position by naming names. How it came to be in dear Mrs Ayers’ possession I really can’t say."

"Mrs Ayers claims you were in a state of undress and began verbally abusing her," the Headmistress told him.

"Not at all. If I perhaps spoke strongly it was due to my own embarrassment, and I no doubt raised my own voice to try and calm her."

Mrs Grayson knew both characters well enough to be quite certain there had been a blazing and vicious row on both sides. She wondered whom the note had really been intended for. She hoped it wasn’t written to one of the Sixth Form girls but given Mr Peters’ proclivities this remained possible.

She wished she could sack the pair of them. If only they didn’t get such exceptional Oxbridge results.

* * *

Susie was on a high all night. She couldn’t know what exactly had happened - or what was still happening - but she felt in her bones it was something good.

"Mr Peters might be mad if he finds out you gave his note to her," Charlotte said.

"I’ll just say I never got it. Or that I left my English books in the Geography room by accident. He’ll so desperately want to believe it was all a big misunderstanding that he’ll lap up whatever I tell him." Susie was confident in her influence where the Head of English was concerned.

"What about next term though?" Laura asked. "Won’t it be a bit of a bore having him constantly making his approaches?"

"He’ll give up sooner or later. Besides, won’t there be another school play next term? He’ll be busy with the Sixth Form girls for that."

They were supposed to be getting an early night in preparation for the House hockey tournament tomorrow but no one felt like sleep. Excitement always grew as the end of term approached, and Susie had increased the fever beyond measure.

It was freezing showing up to the hockey pitch in the regulation games skirt and sweater. How Charlotte did it in blithe spirit every Saturday was inexplicable. They were allowed to wear tracksuits for regular practice but on match days the official kit was required.

"I can’t understand how they endlessly punish us for hemlines a millimetre above the knee then expect us to wear these micro skirts for hockey," Laura said.

The games skirts, in the school colour of maroon, were teamed with matching gym knickers. "Granny-pants" that nearly reached the navel and were reviled by everyone.

"If Mr Rydell could only see you now!" Susie said to Laura as they got ready in the changing room. Susie had also agreed to play. Like Laura she was a competent player when she applied herself, which was rarely.

Laura was already nervous about the prospect of Mr Rydell watching. She wanted him to be there, but no one looked their best splattered with mud, out of breath and with the winter wind reddening their nose.

The news had spread rapidly around the school that Mr Peters and Mrs Ayers had declared open warfare. Speculation was rife as to what had occurred, but Susie managed to circulate a rumour that Mrs Ayers had made advances to Mr Peters and been rejected. It did not take long for this to become the dominant theory, even reaching staffroom ears.

This gossip overtook the usual excitement over the House hockey tournament. Last year Michaelmas had narrowly won against Whitsun. This time Charlotte planned to smash them. But instead of speculation over this year’s winner the main topic of conversation was the shenanigans in the staff room.

Everyone was dying to see if both teachers would appear at the match so they could witness the frosty air and hopefully a further row. But they were to be disappointed, as Mr Peters stayed away.

Mr Rydell was among the staff members who did turn out to watch. Laura had to walk right past him. She briefly caught his eye and he looked her up and down. His gaze was both amused and appreciative. She flushed and could feel his eyes burning into her back as she went onto the pitch.

"Someone obviously approves of your hemline," Susie whispered to her.

It irked Laura that she had to pretend in public as though she and Mr Rydell were essentially strangers. Before it had been a thrill, a secret joke between them. Now she was getting tired of the endless discretion. 

She looked at him talking with Miss Wingrove and smiling at something the English teacher said, and for a moment Laura hated her.
 
How was she allowed to so freely chat and laugh with him, when she didn't know him a fraction as intimately as Laura did?

The whistle blew and she threw herself into the game. It was against Lammas and they easily won. To no one's surprise, Michaelmas and Whitsun both ended up in the final again. Whitsun had also won their early matches with ease.

It was a bitterly fought game. Even with Charlotte leading the side it was no quick victory. In the first half Whitsun scored twice with Michaelmas only managing a single goal, all early on.
 

At half time while they sucked orange segments Susie caught sight of Mrs Ayers glowering from the sidelines. Susie determined not to give her any satisfaction that day. She needed to keep the momentum going. It wasn't enough to win: Michaelmas needed to vanquish Whitsun.

Finally putting some effort into her game, she surprised everyone with a rare streak of brilliance. Charlotte, always a generous player, saw Susie putting on a spurt and set her up for several goals. Susie's scoring spree in the second half brought them to 2:6 in favour of Michaelmas.
 
It was an extraordinary turnaround.

Susie's triumph was more than salt in the wounded pride of Mrs Ayers. It was boiling acid.

* * *

The humiliation of her House on the pitch, in no small part due to Susie Clarke, did nothing to distract Mrs Ayers from her rage over Mr Peters. Instead the two became conflated in her mind. She also remembered, though without realising the significance, his reference to Susie earlier in their row. He had dared to criticise her discipline of the girl!

Clearly the brat had wound Mr Peters around her finger along with the other staff who had had words with Mrs Ayers over the past weeks. The Headmistress had not been the only person who questioned the endless detentions she had given Susie. A couple of other staff members had also raised eyebrows.

Mrs Ayers felt besieged. She felt that the entire school was persecuting her. And it was all the Clarke girl’s fault. She wanted only two things: Susie gone and Mr Peters gone. She knew the former would be more difficult to achieve since the girl was so sly and manipulative. But it had become an all-consuming obsession.

* * *

"What a day. What a glorious, glorious day."

The four of them sat in the courtyard that evening basking in their victory. It was worth the exhaustion.
 

"I honestly think I feel better about today than the first time I played for the school eleven," Charlotte said.

Their contentment was short-lived as the shadow of Mrs Ayers fell upon them. "Susie Clarke and Charlotte Bevan, your socks are down.
 
A demerit point each!"

"Oh for god’s sake, it’s Saturday night," Susie said.
 

"A detention for answering back and swearing!" Mrs Ayers shrieked.

Susie looked at her. She assessed the situation. Now, she felt, was the time to strike.

"No thanks."

Mrs Ayers was momentarily confounded. "You’ll take a detention," she repeated.

"No, I won’t this time, thanks all the same," said Susie. Her tone was pointedly flippant. The others sat there, hardly daring to breathe.

No one had ever actually refused a detention before. Mrs Ayers had experienced acquiescence, sullenness, apathy, pleading, profuse apologising but never this.

"It’s not up to you to accept or not. You’ll be in detention this week and the week after for insolence."

"I’m afraid I won’t. I’ve had quite enough detentions from you." Susie’s polite smile and the contempt she put into her words incensed the Geography teacher beyond measure. Already unbalanced through her hatred of the schoolgirl and her recent traumatic ordeal with Mr Peters, she started screeching at Susie. A slew of insults flew from her lips. Other people around them were turning to watch.

Susie merely sat there, smiling while refusing to respond, goading Mrs Ayers even further. Eventually she lunged at the girl, grabbing her by her shoulders and starting to shake her while she shouted and ranted at her.

Laura and Charlotte, on either side of Susie, tried to intervene and get Susie away. But Mrs Ayers was deranged by her fury. As Susie struggled in Mrs Ayers’ grasp, Miss Partridge and Miss Vine appeared and rushed over to find out what was going on.