Future Queens of England (44 page)

Another of Jason’s team mates made a beeline for Uwe and went in to shoulder barge him.  With absolute control Uwe came to a halt just inches from his opponent, who overshot, and could not stop himself toppling to the ground.  Uwe looked up and saw Tony heading towards the goal mouth, he smacked the ball and with the utmost precision it made it into Tony’s path.  Tony took the ball and hit it through the defender’s legs and collected it on the other side.  He saw his opportunity and took it, the ball flicked past the goalie and hit the top corner of the net.

The supporters’ of Team Queens let out a roar.  Even a few of the home team gave a few begrudging claps and nods of approval as Tony, Uwe and their team-mates celebrated their first honest goal of the game.

Both teams made their way back into their positions and waited for the whistle to blow.  Tony and Jason faced each other as they took their positions at the centre of the field.

Tony looked Jason in the eyes and grinned.  “Okay, no more mucking about now.  This is game on!”  He bent forward and gripped his hockey stick and maintained permanent eye contact with his opponent.  Jason tried his best to return the steely glare, but he felt like Tony’s gaze was piercing his very soul.  He let out a sigh of relief when the whistle
eventually
blew and finally broke the tension.  Jason hit the ball across the pitch towards one of his team-mates, but
a
determin
ed
Tony darted forward and intercepted the ball.  He glided effortlessly towards the goal outmanoeuvring several of the home team’s defenders on the way. 

Uwe ran up the left hand side of the field keeping parallel to him.  As Tony neared the goal mouth he cockily knocked the ball forward enough for it to stop equidistant between the goalie and Uwe.  Uwe and the goalie took the briefest of moments sizing each other up before they both charged forward to take ownership of the ball.  The goalie stepped forward to kick it away, but was a split second too late as Uwe’s stick made contact with the ball and sent it spinning through the goalie’s legs and into the goal mouth.

Tony ran over to Uwe, gripped him around his waist and picked him up in the air in celebration.  Bruce, Paul and the others also ran in and joined the celebratory scrum.  Jason and his team-mates could do nothing but look on in silent admiration of their opponent’s prowess.

The final whistle blew and a victorious cheer rang out from Team Queen’s supporters.  The two captains approached each other and shook hands.

“You benders have got some fight in you,” Jason said begrudgingly and he gripped Tony’s hand firmly.  “You deserved to win.”

“Don’t be so gracious, you’re making me feel bad,” Tony replied earnestly.  He tightened his grip on Jason’s hand until he heard a slight crack.

Jason laughed, pulled his hand away and massaged it.  “Erm, can I ask you something?”  He didn’t wait for Tony to reply.  “Are you actually a queer, I mean homosexual?” he said, quickly correcting himself.

Tony laughed
too
, “I’m as straight as they come, but this lot are as gay as you like.”  He pointed over his shoulder at the rest of his team.

Jason nodded affably, “Well, I won’t ask how you came to join the team.”

Tony raised one eyebrow, “No, best not to anyway, it’s a long story.”

“They play pretty well for a bunch of benders, don’t they?” Jason said, jovially.

Tony frowned, “You shouldn’t call them that.”

“Oh, sorry,” Jason said apologetically, “I didn’t mean to cause offense.”

“No problem, Jason, I’m still getting used to it myself.  Anyway, good game mate and I’m sorry about all that business with the bumming you in the arse and all that.”

Jason waved this away with his hand, “No need to apologise.  It was a great tactic; I think we’ll try that out ourselves next season.”

Tony grinned, “Hey, you’re alright by me, Jason.  See you around.”   

“Why don’t you come back to our club house for a few drinks?”

“Can I bring the rest of the team?” Tony said, pointing at his team–mates, as they danc
ed
about in celebration.

Jason paused and considered this, “Yeah, they can come, but they need to get changed out of the pink kit and hot pants.  We ain’t having that in there!” he said firmly.

Tony nodded, “Alright.  Deal!” and they shook hands again, but this time without the machismo.  Tony ran over to join his team-mates in their celebration.  Amid the jubilation, Louise came over to Tony and tapped him on the shoulder.  He turned around and his face lit up, he put his arms around her and span her round.

“We’re off to the finals!  Can you believe it?”  He planted a kiss firmly on her lips, but she didn’t return it.  Tony put her down gently, “Is something wrong?” 

She nodded, “The Head knows about us Tony and he isn’t happy.  We need to go and see him today at four o’clock in his office.”

Tony tried to laugh it off, “Hey, don’t worry about it.  He probably just wants to give us his blessing or maybe he wants to congratulate me personally for getting to the finals.”

Louise smiled sadly, “Yes, maybe.”  She looked at the crowd celebrating the day’s victory, “Anyway, let’s not worry about this now.  Right now, we need to celebrate, you’re off to the finals.  This is an amazing achievement.”  She tried her hardest to smile.

As the words left her lips Keenan and Bruce lifted Tony up and onto their shoulders as the supporters cheered on.

At ten to four, after spending the best part of the day celebrating, Tony and Louise walked together silently through the foyer towards the Head’s office. 

“Good win, Tony!” a fellow student cried from the main staircase.

Tony nodded in acknowledgement, but did not slow his pace as he walked on. 

“Hey, Tony,” another called from the entrance, “great game!”  Several other students began to cheer and applaud him.  He smiled half-heartedly back but didn’t stop to speak.

“It seems you have a fan club,” Louise teased as they approached the Head’s office. 

When they reached the door they both hesitated momentarily before Tony knocked.

Immediately the response came, “Come in.”  Tony pushed the door open and allowed Louise to enter first. 

“Take a seat,” the Head said, gesturing at the chairs in front of his desk.  He sat back, settled into his imposing black leather chair and rolled the castors forward, so his knees were under the desk.  He looked them both in the eye and began to speak, “I’ll cut to the chase.  I can’t allow this relationship between you two to continue,” the Head said sternly.  “We do not allow staff to have relationships with students, it is completely unethical.”

Tony and Louise looked at each other silently deciding who should speak first.  Tony gave Louise the smallest of nods to get her agreement that he should speak first.

“It seems to me like you’re making a mountain out of a molehill,” Tony said dismissively.  He looked around the room at all the shelves heaving with books.  “You’ve got a lot of books, have you read them all?”

The Head tutted, “We are not here to discuss my reading habits.  We’re all here to talk about this breach of ethics.”

“You’re as bad as the rest of them here,” Tony said with a grin.  “You’re all a bunch of drama queens.”  He laughed to himself and then a thought popped into his head, “You should change the name of this school to ‘Future Drama Queens of England’.”  He roared with laughter and looked at Louise and the Head to join in the joke, but he was met with stony faces.  “Oh, I’m wasted here,” he groaned.

“Have you been drinking?”

“Does the Pope shit in the woods?”

Louise pulled a face for Tony to stop talking.  “We’re two consenting adults and I think these are special circumstances,” she said in a calm voice.

The Head raised his eye brows at her, “You’ve signed a contract Louise.  Rules are rules!”

“I know you have your rules,” Tony said becoming irritable, “but the rules have already been bent in making me come here, so surely the rules can be bent on this occasion.  I mean everything else is bent in this place, so why not this particular rule?”

“I cannot set a precedence.  What sort of message does that send?”

“I
understand
all that, but we are so close to the end of the school year now, so can you not just turn a blind eye?”

“No, I cannot.  It would undermine my authority at this school and open up the floodgates,” he countered.

Tony thought hard for a minute.  He leant forward then spoke resolutely, “Okay then, I quit!”

The Head sat forward in his chair, “Mr Horwood you can’t quit.  You’re not here through choice, you’re only here as an alternative to prison.”

“If I’d have gone to prison I’d have been out at least two months ago, I’d have been a free man.”

“You are a free man, we do not restrict your movements.  You do not have a curfew.  You could not have any more freedom.”

“At least in prison I’d be free to date whoever I wanted.”

“That is absolute nonsense and you know it,” the Head spluttered. 

Tony cracked his knuckles, “Why is it nonsense?”

The Head’s che
e
ks coloured, “You would not be allowed to date whoever you wanted in prison.  And you would certainly not be allowed to have a relationship with one of the guards.  This is the same thing, Louise is a member of staff,” he said banging his fist on the table.

Tony stood up angrily, “If you won’t let me quit, then I’ll find another way.”

“Now, don’t do anything rash,” Louise said frowning at Tony.

The Head sat back in his chair, “You should listen to her, you’ve done so well and you’re final exams are coming up soon.  Don’t throw it all away.  I should also take this opportunity to remind you of the rules, if you don’t finish the year then you will go to prison.  This was the agreement, you understand that don’t you?”

Tony stared defiantly at the Head, “I understand it fully.  But some things are worth it.”  He looked at Louise for reassurance, but her face fell.  “Louise?” he said in disbelief.

“Tony,” she said in her most calming voice.  “This isn’t worth it.  I mean we’ve only had one date together and we’re quite different people.”  She looked at her hands and fidgeted.

The colour drained from Tony’s face, “But, what about last night?  Didn’t that mean anything to you?”

She looked him in the eye and paused for a moment whilst she found the right words, “It was, what it was.  We had a perfect evening together, but this relationship can never go anywhere.  We’re two very different people.”

Tony sank deflated into his chair. 

Louise looked at the Head, “You don’t need to worry about this anymore.  It’s over.”  And with that she stood and walked to the door, she stopped and looked at Tony again, then left the room.

Tony looked at the Head, “What the frith ...” he stopped himself mid-sentence before starting again, “what the fuck just happened?  How could she just throw everything away like that?”

“Women!” the Head replied simply with a shrug.

Chapter Twenty
Three

Keenan kicked open the door and wandered into the Larry Grayson Boudoir.  Gareth was hard at work shining his black leather shoes.  He looked up from his work and nodded at Keenan.

“Hi, Gareth.”  Keenan looked over at Tony and shook his head.  “Is he still moping about?  Jesus, Tony, you need to pull yourself together, man,” Keenan said impatiently.  “How long’s it been now?”

“Three weeks and three days,” Tony said, sombrely without looking up from his book.

Keenan shook his head in despair, “Couldn’t you be more precise, Tony?  I am surprised you don’t know how many hours and minutes it’s been too.”

Gareth stopped polishing his shoes and barked at Keenan.  “Hey, leave him alone.  He’s had his heart broken.”

Keenan took off his jumper and threw it on his bed, “Aye, and don’t I fucking know it?  I’m sick of this shit.  I can’t do another day treading on bleeding egg shells and putting up with that miserable bastard’s face.”  He pointed over at Tony, “Just look at him.  He’s sucking all the joy out of the place.  We’ve grieved more for Tony’s loss than we did when Marc died.”