Pep Squad (15 page)

‘The exit!' said Matt, heading straight for it.

‘Wait!' said Jess, noticing a hotspot on her detector just to the left of the entrance.

But it was too late. Just as Matt reached the exit, Krivan stepped forward and shot him.

‘Now you,' he said, pointing the laser gun at Jess.

She heard the whir of it recharging and looked on her detector for an escape route. A hotspot was rapidly moving down the corridor Krivan had come from, then it collided with him and knocked him to the ground.

‘Go, Jess!
Oof
,' cried Emily, as Krivan grabbed her ankle, making her trip.

Jess started towards Emily, who yelled, ‘Forget about me – hit the button!'

Jess turned around and ran towards the exit, hearing the familiar rumble that immediately preceded a reconfiguration. She rolled under the descending wall that threatened to seal off the south entrance and pressed the red button.

Immediately all the walls shot upwards, suspended from the ceiling by wires. A class of very dazed cadets was scattered about the room, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the sudden brightness. Emily and Krivan were still wrestling for the gun.

‘Good work, Jess,' said Herr Klug. ‘As for you two,' he continued, glaring at Emily and Krivan, ‘the exercise is over. Although feel free to continue for your own amusement.'

Krivan got up immediately and glared at Emily, who had a cheeky grin on her face.

‘At least I got to land a few punches,' she whispered to Jess.

Emily, Ben, Matt and Jess swapped their vests and phones for guns with the next group of four. It was a lot less nerve-wracking being the pursuer in the maze.

When the class was over Herr Klug said, ‘Ben, could you come here, please?'

‘Sure,' said Ben.

Matt, Jess and Emily went to leave, but Herr Klug called them back.

‘This is very important news. Your friends should share it with you.'

The others looked at each other with their eyebrows raised and stayed to listen.

‘I showed your ROACH report to the scientists at P.E.P. Squad research laboratories,' said Herr Klug, ‘and may I say they were very impressed with your analysis, particularly your suggestion, fully accompanied by schematics, on how to record the output and pipe it to foreign devices, such as USB flash drives, mobile phones and laptops.'

‘Fantastic,' said Ben.

‘In fact, they were so impressed that they want you to trial the new version with your suggestions incorporated, the ROACH 2001,' said Herr Klug, pointing to a large box sitting by the door.

‘It's a bit bigger than the last one,' said Ben.

‘
Doch
, in fact it's smaller. The reason the box is so heavy is because they have also sent you the complete instruction manual with everything you need to know should you want to make your own improvements to the ROACH.'

Ben opened the box and lifted out the twelve-hundred-page instruction manual. Matt, Emily and Jess had to stifle a laugh at the look on his face.

‘In there you will find circuit diagrams as well as how to use the advanced features of the ROACH. I thought it might make a nice little research project for you over the holidays.'

‘Thank you, Herr Klug. That's very … generous of you,' said Ben as Herr Klug bustled off.

‘Just as well you've been doing all those extra workouts,' said Emily.

‘You can keep in shape over the holidays by bench pressing the manual,' laughed Matt.

‘You know, for one of the world's most innovative research labs, you'd think they might do an online manual rather than pulp a whole forest to describe how something the size of my thumb works,' said Ben. ‘Besides, by the time next term starts this whole thing'll be obsolete because I will have made so many improvements to the ROACH–'

‘Enough with the ROACH!' said Emily, glancing at her watch. ‘We've got final band rehearsal for Presentation Day in five minutes. Let's go.'

There was a huge buzz in the refectory on Saturday morning. The cadets' families had been invited to lunch before the Presentation Day concert, and the transition years especially were excited to have their families coming to the abbey for a look around.

All the cadets, dressed in their formal Theruse Abbey uniforms, pitched in to get the school ready. Jess and her friends helped drag tables and chairs onto the front lawn for the welcome luncheon.

By eleven o'clock the first cars had started rolling up the driveway. Jess spotted her parents' car at once. She passed the plate of sandwiches she'd been carrying to Emily and ran over.

‘Jess, I've missed you so much,' said Mrs Leclair, giving her a giant hug.

‘Aiysha, remember you promised not to make a scene,' said Dr Leclair quietly.

‘I only promised you and that doesn't count,' said Mrs Leclair over her shoulder as she held Jess at arm's length to look at her. ‘How are you, darling? You're still feeling very sinewy.'

‘That'd be all the exercise,' said Jess.

‘You're actually looking quite lovely,' said Dr Leclair, giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

‘Are you going to introduce us to your friends?' asked Mrs Leclair.

‘Sure,' said Jess, taking her parents over to where Emily and the twins had been re-enacting Jess and her parents' reunion behind their backs.

‘This is Ben, this is Matt and this is my roommate Emily.'

‘Are any of you monkeys in the musical as well?' Mrs Leclair asked.

‘No, that's Jess's special thing,' said Matt.

‘Actually the best roles are usually reserved for the sophister students, so Jess did really well to get lead monkey,' said Emily with a straight face.

‘Look, Matt, Mum and Dad are here,' said Ben.

The boys headed off towards the car park.

‘Jess said you hurt your knee, Emily. Are you all recovered now?' Mrs Leclair asked.

‘Pretty much,' said Emily. ‘But it'll still be a while before I play basketball again.'

‘I thought you said she hurt it playing tennis,' said Mrs Leclair, turning to Jess.

‘I
did
hurt it playing tennis,' said Emily quickly, ‘but basketball's my favourite sport. I'm surprised Jess didn't tell you that. I've told my parents all about that weird free-running thing she does. Speak of the devil …'

Emily ran off towards the car park. Jess wasn't sure whether she really had seen her parents or just wanted to get away from saying something else contradictory. They really should have worked better on their cover stories. It was a rookie mistake.

‘Are we allowed to eat any of this food?' asked Dr Leclair, eyeing the tables.

‘Pierre,' said Mrs Leclair, giving Dr Leclair a playful slap on the wrist.

‘It was a long drive,' complained Dr Leclair.

‘Feel free to start,' said Signora Enigmistica, coming up behind them. ‘Marianna Enigmistica,' she continued, extending her hand to Jess's parents. ‘I take Jess for Phys Ed and Drama. She's doing remarkably well. You should be very proud.'

‘Oh, we are,' said Dr Leclair. ‘Look, there's Alexi Krivlyakaev.'

Dr Leclair headed over towards Mr Krivlyakaev and Krivan. Mr Krivlyakaev looked more like a teacher than one of the other parents, as he had the same athletic build and chiselled facial features as the staff.

‘Good to see you again, Alexi,' said Dr Leclair, shaking Mr Krivlyakaev's hand.

‘Dr Leclair,' he said. ‘I trust you are happy with my recommendation?'

‘Oh, yes. It's a wonderful school,' said Mrs Leclair. ‘Aiysha Leclair.'

‘And you must be Jessica,' said Mr Krivlyakaev.

‘Hi,' said Jess, wondering why, of all the parents she had to meet, Krivan's father was the first. Her one consolation was that Krivan looked less than happy about it too.

‘Is your wife here?' Mrs Leclair asked Mr Krivlyakaev.

‘Er, no. Sadly she passed away just under a year ago.'

‘Oh, I'm so sorry,' said Mrs Leclair.

‘If you'll excuse us,' said Mr Krivlyakaev.

‘I hope I didn't upset the poor man,' said Mrs Leclair as the Krivlyakaevs walked away.

‘Dr and Mrs Leclair, lovely to see you again,' a suave voice said behind them.

Jess and her parents turned around to find Principal Metsen standing there.

‘Principal Metsen,' said Dr Leclair, shaking the principal's hand.

‘As I said the last time we met, please call me Vladimir,' he said, neither greeting nor even looking at Jess. ‘I won't take up too much of your time, as I know how keen you must be to meet Jess's friends and their parents, but I just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate you again on your daughter's results. She's continued to top most of her classes, and I'm expecting great things of her in the coming years.'

He finally flicked his eyes at Jess, momentarily making her feel like a wounded zebra being circled by a hungry lion.

‘Nothing like a bit of pressure to make you work harder,' whispered Dr Leclair as the principal disappeared into the crowd.

They spent the rest of the morning mingling with cadets and parents from Jess's year. At one point everyone started moving in towards the auditorium. The freshmen had set up the artwork and science projects for display in the foyer.

‘Jess, what a lovely painting of you,' said Mrs Leclair.

Jess was taken by surprise. Someone had indeed painted a portrait of her, but she certainly didn't remember posing for it. She was sitting by one of the cliffs, staring at the sea.

‘Who's Aidan Lyons?' asked Dr Leclair, reading the card at the bottom of the painting.

At that moment Aidan walked up with his parents.

‘Er, this is Aidan,' said Jess, introducing him to her parents.

‘You've got an amazing talent there,' said Mrs Leclair. ‘That's a great likeness of Jess.'

‘You should have it,' said Aidan. ‘Although I'm not sure if you'll be able to take it home today.'

‘Thank you. What a lovely gesture,' said Mrs Leclair. ‘But only if you're sure.'

‘Now where's this alien mask I've heard so much about?' asked Mr Lyons, looking at the other displays.

‘Attention everybody,' yelled Herr Klug in a loud voice. ‘If you vould please take your seats in ze auditorium, ze performance vill begin in fifteen minutes. Vould all students please take your places backstage.'

‘What is he doing?' Jess hissed to Aidan.

‘Putting on a German accent to impress the parents,' whispered Evan, who was standing behind them and had seen Herr Klug do this other years as well.

Jess said goodbye to her parents and went backstage.

‘Transition years,' called Ms Pimsleur, who was backstage manager, ‘please gather your instruments and go on-stage. Remember, absolute silence.'

Jess picked up her violin and sat in her seat on-stage. Aidan, who was lead violin, sat next to her, accidentally kicking the music stand as he sat down.

‘When did you do that painting?' whispered Jess.

‘I wasn't spying on you or anything,' he murmured, paying great attention to righting the music stand and avoiding Jess's stare. ‘I like to sit out on the cliff on weekends when the weather's fine, to get away from my roommate practising his trumpet. Sometimes I take my paints, and you just happened to pop into my head that day. Miss Kwan saw it and insisted on putting it on display today.'

‘It's a great painting,' said Jess. ‘Missing a few tentacles but otherwise very lifelike.'

Miss Ball stood in front of the orchestra, giving Aidan and Jess a stern look.

A firm set of footsteps tapped across the stage on the audience side of the curtain.

‘Good afternoon, parents and friends of Theruse Abbey,' boomed Principal Metsen's voice. ‘It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the formal part of the afternoon's proceedings. Both staff and students have had a tremendous year at the college so far, attaining top academic results, as you will see shortly. They are also a very artistically skilled group of students, something which we take great pride in here at Theruse. So without further ado, let the afternoon's entertainment begin.'

The footsteps tapped away.

Miss Ball held her baton high, nodded towards the wings and the curtain went up.

Jess focused on the music, keeping her bow in time with Aidan's.

When they'd finished the three pieces the curtain went down. Jess juggled her violin, music stand and chair and followed the rest of the orchestra off stage. She put her violin away and started to head for the changing area to get into her monkey costume, but Ms Pimsleur stopped her.

‘You'll have to stay in uniform a little longer,' said Ms Pimsleur. ‘Ben, Matt and Ivan, come over here with Jess. The rest of you can go and join your parents in the audience when the freshman dance number is over. Make sure you come back as soon as intermission begins to help with costuming and props.'

Emily waved goodbye as she followed the rest of the class to front of house.

‘I wonder what this is all about,' said Jess.

‘I think I can guess,' said Krivan.

‘Of course you can,' muttered Ben under his breath, as Ms Pimsleur put a finger to her lips and stared fiercely in their direction.

The freshmen came backstage after their dance routine, and Ms Pimsleur pulled four of them aside. They looked confused at first then ran off excitedly to change into their school uniforms.

‘They seem pretty happy about something,' said Matt.

‘There's four of them and four of us – maybe this is a good thing,' said Ben.

Krivan just grunted.

Orla, Evan and two other sophisters Jess didn't recognise from rehearsals also joined the group.

‘It's going to be a quick costume change for you two, so I hope you have everything organised,' said Ms Pimsleur to Evan and Orla.

‘Our pit crews are ready,' said Evan.

‘Alright. Most of you know the drill. File up on stage left, wait until your name is called, then walk across stage to Principal Metsen. Transition years first.'

Jess, Krivan, Ben and Matt walked around to the left of stage. Lieutenant Parry was standing behind the curtain, where he couldn't be seen from the audience.

‘What's–?' began Jess, but Lieutenant Parry put a finger to his lips and shook his head.

Principal Metsen was addressing the audience. A table was laid out with twelve books on it.

‘I trust you've enjoyed the performances so far,' Principal Metsen was saying, ‘and we have
The Wizard of Oz
to come, which will be the first musical directed by our new Head of Arts, Miss Lucinda Ball. I know she's done a terrific job.

‘But now to the academic part of the day. It's no secret that we work our students hard, and they consistently achieve the highest results in the national rankings. So I can confidently say that the best students at Theruse Abbey are the best in the country. We like to reward our students for their academic achievement and for the effort they put in. Although final exams aren't until next term, the prizes awarded today are for the students with the highest and most consistent performance throughout the academic year.

‘For our transition-year class, the award for Most Improved goes to Matthew Sykes.'

‘Go, Matt!' said Ben, clapping Matt so hard on the back that he pushed him halfway across the stage. Matt shook hands with Principal Metsen, who handed him a book from the table.

‘Third place for overall performance throughout the year goes to Benjamin Sykes,' said Metsen.

Jess gave Ben a tiny shove for good measure as he went on stage.

‘Second place goes to Ivan Krivlyakaev.'

Jess also gave Krivan a shove so he wouldn't feel left out.

‘Which means …' whispered Lieutenant Parry.

‘And our highest achieving student, based on an aggregate across all disciplines for transition year, is Jessica Leclair.'

‘Told you I know a good candidate when I see one,' said Lieutenant Parry, giving Jess a shove onto the stage.

Jess half jogged the rest of the way across.

Principal Metsen shook her hand.

‘Congratulations, Jess,' he said. ‘From what I hear you're as good or better than some of our freshmen.'

‘Oh, I don't think so,' said Jess, looking at the book Principal Metsen handed her. It was a signed first edition of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
.

Jess exited stage right and made her way out of the auditorium. Krivan and the twins were already tucking into the refreshment table, earning a dirty look from Señor Carreras, who was pouring champagne for the parents.

‘Well done, Jess. You're smarter than all of us,' said Ben.

‘They obviously didn't take Chinese into account,' said Jess.

‘Yeah, that would have brought your average down big time. What book did you get?'

‘Harry Potter. Signed first edition. You?'

‘
A Brief History of Time
, signed first edition too,' said Ben.

‘They're two extremes of reading,' said Jess.

‘So different, yet so similar,' replied Ben.

The freshman and sophister prizewinners arrived, then the doors opened and people poured out of the auditorium.

‘Oh, Jess, I'm so proud of you,' said Mrs Leclair.

‘How long have you been keeping this a secret?' asked Dr Leclair.

‘I only found out literally a second before you did. We had no idea what was going on when they walked us up on stage.'

‘Lead monkey, your presence is required in the dressing rooms,' said Emily, grabbing Jess by the hand and pulling her a little more roughly than necessary through the crowd to backstage.

‘Hey,' cried Jess, snatching her hand back. ‘What's your problem?'