Overtime (5 page)

“Do you know where Kennedy West High is?” he said. Julia shook her head.

“Well, that’s where I’m going. Pudge is at Flemington with you. Scott is at Chelsea. Zachary is going to Beaverton — not sure where that is either. Matt’s at Central.” He looked at her in dismay. “We’re all split up.”

He thought of something. He looked back at the list, and quickly found Jake Wilkenson’s name — and his head began to swim. Jake was going to Kennedy West too.

He turned and headed to the front doors.

“We need to petition Holmes, or at least talk to someone,” Julia said. “I bet lots of kids are willing to switch to be with their friends.”

“I hope everyone else likes chocolate as much as us,”
was all he could say.

The sudden high-pitched crackling from the loudspeakers made Charlie practically jump out of his chair. He heard some grade twelves sitting behind him snicker.

“Sorry, students,” Principal Holmes said, as he fiddled with the microphone. The feedback got worse. Hilton came out on stage and checked the cord. After a moment he nodded and left. Principal Holmes cleared his throat and leaned forward.

“Check, check, check. One, two, three. Check.” He held up his thumb. “That’s better. Sorry for the delay.”

The talking continued.

Principal Holmes cleared his throat again. “I want to welcome all of you to this update assembly.” He paused. “Students, please may I have your attention. Please. We need some quiet, please. Students! We have some important news to share with you about the school closure.”

That got people’s attention, and the cafeteria quieted down.

Charlie elbowed Pudge. “I bet he’s figured out a way to keep the school open.”

“There has been some water leakage reported in Mr.
Yevgeny’s and Ms Charlton’s classrooms,” Principal Holmes continued.

“That doesn’t sound encouraging,” Pudge said. Charlie felt his hopes fade.

“As you know the rain has been very heavy this fall — quite remarkable, really — but then Mother Nature is a fickle lady.” Principal Holmes chuckled. The students remained silent. “The engineers are very concerned about this new development, and this may force us to close the school earlier than anticipated …”

A murmur arose as the students reacted to this latest development.

Principal Holmes went on. “We are going to monitor the leakage situation very closely. The engineers resealed the edges of the roof, but I was told if the rain keeps up there is a strong chance that the repairs will not hold. The budget is already strained, and the engineers and I are in agreement that it does not make sense to carry out any further minor repairs if we’re closing the school anyway.”

“On Monday, posted on the main bulletin board, you will find a schedule for visiting your designated school. You will meet with a transition representative, and a student from that school, and you can have a tour. At the same time, students will have the chance to review their courses with a guidance counsellor. Some of you may have to change a few courses depending on availability. Please do not worry about this. We have things well organized. I understand this is a difficult and disruptive event, but by working together, we will get through it.”

The absolute quiet unsettled Charlie even more than
the possibility of the school closing early. Things were getting downright weird. Now students were actually listening to Principal Holmes during an assembly!

“I will now turn the mic over to the president of the Fundraising Committee, who wanted to have a few words. Melissa?”

Melissa lowered the mic. She looked shell-shocked. “The committee wants to give you an update,” she said in a soft, shaky voice. Charlie could not hear her. She went on like that until Hilton came over and whispered in her ear. She pulled the mic down lower and spoke louder. “I said, the committee has come up with some fundraising options, although maybe … as we just heard … there’s no point.”

Her voice cracked, and she stopped and stepped back a bit. She rubbed her eyes with her fingers. “We have organized a bake sale, a silent auction and a pancake breakfast for next week. We have also been in touch with a vendor about selling boxes of chocolate. As well, the parent committee will work with us to approach community businesses for donations. Our best hope comes from the parents, though. We will be sending out a donation package next week, asking for parents to provide donations in the amount of fifty, one hundred, or two hundred fifty dollars. We’ll take more, of course.” A few kids laughed.

Melissa took a deep breath. “That’s all for now. We hope to have another assembly soon to let you know what else is planned.” She looked to the side. “And now a junior member of the committee will make a few announcements.”

Dalton came on to the stage. In a loud, clear voice he
said, “Thanks, Melissa. The Fundraising Committee has been working hard on your behalf. I am as alarmed as you about the recent news, but I am confident you share my belief that we cannot get discouraged, especially not so early in the campaign. If it turns out we cannot save the school, then wouldn’t you be happier if you knew you did all you could?”

His words seemed to energize the students, and a few of them sat up straight, or began whispering to friends. The room was coming alive; Charlie felt it too. Dalton was right. The school was not closed yet, and until it was, they had to do everything they could to keep it open.

“The junior grades had a few ideas,” Dalton said. “Charlie Joyce and Julia Chow are organizing a movie night at school — a double feature — and also a skate-a-thon at a local rink. That should be fun. Contact me or those two directly if you want to get involved, or sign up on the sheets that will be posted on the main bulletin board.”

Scott leaned across and tugged on Charlie’s sleeve. “Can I please, please, please get involved?”

“You can’t,” Nick said. “You’ll scare the other kids away.”

“I’ll try to get you in,” Charlie said, giving Scott a nudge with his elbow.

“Huge mistake,” Nick said.

“I will be organizing a ball hockey tournament, so get your teams of five ready and let me know,” Dalton continued. “The tournament will cost fifty dollars a team, and it will start next week.”

There was a collective cheer.

“The teams must be co-ed,” he said. “Two girls must be playing at all times.”

Charlie and Pudge looked at each other. “This could get complicated,” Charlie said. “How do we pick only two girls?”

Pudge did not have a chance to answer. “This is awful,” Scott said. “All the girls are going to fight over me. It’s unfair. I’m going to have to clone myself — but I’m willing to do it for TFH.”

“You do realize the universe will explode if there is more than one of you,” Nick said. “There will be too much hot air.”

“We’re going to have to divide everyone up,” Zachary said. “I wonder which girls will play.”

“There is one more thing,” Dalton said. The boys turned their attention back to the stage. “Ms Cummings, our phys. ed. teacher, received notice of a co-ed hockey tournament sponsored by Bee-Bees Boutique.” A huge cheer went up from the girls.

“Who are they?” Charlie said to Pudge.

“I’ve seen their stores around. They sell yoga clothes, I think.”

“Bee-Bees sponsors a co-ed tournament in a different area every year — to promote gender equality in sport as well as health and fitness among high school students. This year the tournament is in Carling, which is not too far from here, maybe an hour. I know a lot of kids were extremely disappointed when the Champions Cup was cancelled. The Bee-Bees tournament is a couple of weeks before, and there are junior and senior divisions. There is no entry fee, and the winner in each division gets a twenty-five thousand dollar donation to
the school for athletic programs.”

Dalton looked out at the crowd. “Sign-up sheets will be posted for the hockey teams and the skate-a-thon. We’ll be announcing the date and time for the movie night soon too.” He nodded. “That’s it, I guess.”

Principal Holmes took the mic. “As always, please depart in an orderly fashion. Can I have the first ten rows rise and return quietly to your classes.”

All the students got up and began milling around in the aisles. Principal Holmes leaned forward as if to say something, then shook his head and left the stage.

Charlie’s friends crowded around.

“It occurred to me that you guys will all want me on your ball hockey team,” Scott moaned. “It won’t just be the girls fighting over me, but you too.”

“And what about this co-ed team?” Zachary said. “Are we going to bother?”

“We can win a lot of money for the school,” Charlie said.

“We’re doing enough already,” Nick said. “And we have to focus on the Rebels. I don’t need to play co-ed hockey.”

“There are plenty of other guys to play,” Zachary said. “Nick’s right.”

Pudge grimaced. “I could give it a pass,” he said.

“What about this leaking roof, then?” Charlie said. “There won’t be any ball hockey or co-ed hockey if this rain keeps up.”

Matt came over. “I’ve been thinking, boys,” he said.

“What’s thinking?” Scott said.

“Don’t try it. You’ll get hurt,” Nick said.

“Remember last year when I worked for that roofing
company?” he said.

Charlie sure did. Matt almost had to quit playing hockey because his father lost his job. He began working to help at home. Luckily, his dad had started his own carpentry business, which went well, and Matt had joined the Rebels.

“We did a few temporary repair jobs,” Matt said. “Sometimes you can’t get to a roof for a few days and you lay down plastic sheets in case of rain. It’s usually not supposed to be for too long, but there’s no reason it wouldn’t work here. The roof is flat, so it would be easy.”

“Why doesn’t the school do that?” Charlie said.

“You heard Holmes,” Matt said. “It’s a lot of money — not in materials but in labour. He doesn’t want to spend that kind of money just to keep the school open a few extra weeks, or a month.”

Charlie understood him. They could do what the school would not. “Can the plastic hold up that long?”

Matt nodded. “We’d have to keep checking for holes, and fix things if it gets too windy. Sometimes the sheets get messed.”

“Holmes isn’t going to pay for it,” Zachary said, “and there’s no way he’s gonna let us do it. How does this help?”

“We don’t ask for permission,” Charlie said bluntly. “Desperate times call for desperate measures.”

“Are you sure desperate times don’t call for submarine sandwiches?” Scott said.

“That’s only part of it,” Charlie laughed. “The most important part is taking a risk. How much would this plastic sheeting cost?”

Matt shook his head. “I’m not too sure. But the guys
I worked with always said it was dirt cheap. The expensive part was the labour. It takes time and manpower to lay the sheets down right, and then secure them with sandbags. But with a big group of us, it wouldn’t take long — about an hour at the most.”

Pudge looked incredulous. “You’re not really thinking of …”

“Why not?” Charlie said intensely. “Matt knows what to do. Holmes doesn’t believe we can raise the money, so he’s focused on the transition to other schools. Two or three weeks is all we need to get the fundraising going, and it could make all the difference. We should try is all I’m saying.”

They all looked at Charlie.

“So what do we need to do?” Pudge said.

Charlie looked at Matt. “Tell us.”

“There’s not much to it. Basically, we just buy the plastic sheets, the bags and the sand. I know where to get that stuff, and I can get one of the guys I worked with to order the supplies and have them delivered to the school. We need the money up front, though.”

Charlie suppressed a groan. His long board fund was quickly disappearing again. Desperate times, he thought.

“We could do it Saturday morning,” Charlie said. “No one will be here, and we all heard Holmes say they won’t be doing any more repairs, so no one will be checking on the roof any time soon, or at least until school closes. What do you guys say?”

Charlie held his hand out. Pudge put his on top, and then one by one, Matt, Zachary and Nick did the same.

Scott hesitated. “Are you going to make me the foreman, and force me to be in charge?”

“We promise to treat you badly, and make fun of you behind your back,” Nick said.

“Then I’m in,” he said, slapping his hand on top.

“The Rebels are taking charge,” Charlie said, and they threw their hands in the air.

“Are you guys practising the school cheer?” Alexandra said from the aisle. Julia and Rebecca were next to her, as usual.

“It doesn’t sound like you’ll need it,” Julia said.

Charlie looked at the girls thoughtfully for a moment. Matt had said the plastic sheeting took a lot of manpower — maybe some womanpower would help!

“If you ladies can keep a secret,” he said in a whisper, “Matt will explain his plan to stop the leaking.”

Julia’s face brightened and the three girls came closer.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to speak to Dalton for a sec,” Charlie said.

“How come?” Pudge said.

He pointed to a door. “We need someone to let us in, so we can carry the supplies to the roof, and I bet a member of the Fundraising Committee can get a key.”

He ran off to intercept Dalton at the back of the cafeteria.

Charlie let his hockey bag plop to the floor as he squeezed in beside Pudge.

The usually loud dressing room was quiet. Scott and Nick dressed intently in the corner, barely talking. Charlie had to force himself to unzip his bag. It was like someone had drained the energy from his body. All day they had been talking about the other schools, and Julia had followed through by organizing a petition to protest. But he hadn’t heard anything yet. Pudge always had the inside story on things. Maybe he knew how it went.

“Did you find out about the petition?” he asked Pudge.