The Legends (24 page)

This time the students recognized their cue and said, “Yes Mr. Freeman,” in clear voices.

“Very good,” Mr. Freeman responded with a smile, “I can see you are very quick learners. Now apart from your tutors we have a program where an older student will be responsible for making sure that each of you gets to the proper classroom at the proper time. Mr. JP Ready is responsible for this program so when an older student comes up to you next week, you will know they are there to help. We wouldn’t want any of you to become lost because we don’t like to call in the sniffer dogs on the first day unless it is an emergency.”

Several students laughed at the thought of a sniffer dog hunting down a lost student so Mr. Freeman decided that either his humor was improving or the children were becoming more comfortable, either of which was a step in the right direction.

“Finally,” he concluded, “While you are meeting with your tutors, I have asked several older students to set up tables in this room with information on all the extra activities that we have. For example some of you might enjoy singing or playing an instrument and so the school band or choir might be something you would be interested in checking out. Anyway, after you have finished with your tutor, you might want to come back here before you go home and talk to older students or faculty moderators about these programs. There is no need for you to sign up today or make any decisions because schoolwork comes first and it is important that you speak with your parents before joining anything. These presentations are just our way of introducing you to what the school has to offer and letting you know about these programs. Does everyone understand?”

Again the response was, “Yes, Mr. Freeman,” but this time it was that bit louder and more in unison.

Mr. Freeman nodded his approval and after repeating his welcome and extending his best wishes for their success at St. Killians he turned the meeting over to the Vice-Principal, Miss Pauline Dwyer. Brian thought that, unlike the vice principal at the national school, Miss Dwyer was very young and pretty for a Vice-Principal, especially compared to Mr. Freeman and she certainly had a friendly smile. Like Mr. Freeman, Miss Dwyer also welcomed the students.

Miss Dwyer’s job was to further explain the whole business about class tutors and class heads. Apparently a teacher called Mr. Sean Flynn was in charge of the entire class of first years and the tutors worked with him as well. Anyway, Miss Dwyer told everyone what they should do if they had any problems with their teachers, classmates or studies in general. She talked about students bullying other students and told everyone how important it was to respect each other. She also talked about fighting and taking drugs and all sorts of other bad behavior and what would happen if you got caught misbehaving. Brian listened carefully, confident that he would stay on the good side of Miss Dwyer.

Finally, she took out a list of tutor classes and explained that as each name was read out, that person should gather with their tutor near the door of the assembly hall and when the group was complete, the tutor would lead them into a classroom so that they could become acquainted.

Brian listened as names were read out and each group of students followed their tutor out of the auditorium. His name was read out for the third group and much to his relief it also included Katie and Libby. The group also included Maeve, the girl Libby had introduced, but not Siobhán. The tutor was a very pretty blonde woman called Miss Pamela Byrne and when everyone had gathered at the door to the auditorium, she led them into a nearby classroom.

After the students had seated themselves, Miss Byrne asked each person to stand and introduce him or herself. Most of the students, like Kate and Maeve, seemed very confident and when they stood up they told everyone their name in a clear voice. When Brian’s turn came, he knew he was blushing bright red. In an attempt to get the ordeal over with quickly, he stood, mumbled “Brian O’Sullivan” and sat down. Miss Byrne, however, had other ideas and she asked him to stand again because she didn’t quite catch what he said. Having no choice in the matter, Brian stood again and this time spoke a bit more clearly but somehow, his voiced cracked a bit on his last name, which caused some of the other boys to snicker. Brian quickly sat down, glad that the ordeal was over. Libby got up and happily announced that she was Libby O’Donnell, without the slightest bit of embarrassment. The same boys snickered at her as well but were rewarded with a stern look from Miss Byrne.

After everyone was introduced, Miss Byrne started, “I noticed that a few of you snickered when some of your classmates introduced themselves. I want you to know that this sort of thing annoys me a great deal and I can assure you that you do not want to annoy me. This group, my tutor class, is a team and each of you is an important member of that team. I don’t care whether you are big or small, smart or not so smart, quiet or loud you are all equal in my eyes and you had better be equal in each other’s eyes. That means you do not make fun of each other, you are not rude to each other and you help each other in every way you can. Do I make myself clear?”

A few of the students muttered, “Yes, Miss.”

“I don’t think I heard everyone,” Miss Byrne responded.

“Yes Miss,” everyone said loudly.

“That’s better,” she replied. “Now that we have that straightened out, let me explain how things work around here.” With that Miss Byrne explained all about the rules and regulations of the school and handed out papers that everyone was supposed to take home to their parents. She also told them all about the school journal, which was a notebook each student was to keep, because it was a record of everything they learned.

After that Miss Byrne added, “Now there is one rule that I am a bit of a stickler about and that is the rule against chewing gum in the school. The reason we have this rule is because not only is gum chewing a distraction but it seems that used gum ends up in the strangest places, like under desks or worse yet, on my shoes. And what happens when I get gum on my shoes? I get….”

“Annoyed,” the class said in unison in response to her prompt.

“So no gum,” she concluded.

One of the boys who snickered during the introductions had obviously been chewing gum but the minute Miss Byrne mentioned it, he stopped chewing hoping that she had not noticed. Unfortunately, he was not so lucky and even though she was looking away from him she spun suddenly and said, “Mr. Kinsella!” Turning Miss Byrne slowly pointed her index finger at him and then directed it to the wastebasket. The boy got up and sheepishly deposited his gum in the basket while several other students smiled at his getting caught.

Just as he had in National School, Brian was determined to pay close attention to whatever the teachers had to say so he listened carefully to Miss Byrne. When she asked whether anyone had any questions, he thought about it and might have raised his hand but he was too embarrassed to do so because maybe everyone else would know the answer and think he was dumb or something. Fortunately some of the other students, like Kate O’Donnell, did ask pretty much the same questions as he was going to ask which made him think that maybe he wasn’t so stupid after all.

After spending about forty minutes with Miss Byrne, she told them that they would now be returning to the assembly hall where they could talk to teachers and other students about activities they might be interested in. Miss Byrne repeated what Mr. Freeman told them explaining more about the school’s extra programs, adding things like the drama society and the various sports clubs. She also repeated that the tables were there so that the students could gather information and then they could think about what program they might be interested in but they should be sure to speak with their parents before they made any decisions. After they were finished in the assembly hall, they were free to go home and the next time she would see them would be the following Monday morning in the same classroom they were in.

With that, Miss Byrne led them all back into the auditorium where her students joined with the first year students from other tutor classes and mingled a bit, looking around at all the tables. Eventually most of them headed off in one direction or the other as they saw something that interested them. Brian followed Kate and Libby until he noticed that the girls were headed for the Drama Society, which wasn’t something that interested him in the slightest. He stood for a moment, looking around pretending that he was thinking about where he might go, when what he was really thinking was, “I hope this bit ends quickly so I can get out of here.”

He was just about to wander over to any old table, just to pretend he was interested, when one of the teachers approached him and said, “Brian is it?”

Brian looked up in surprise, “Yes, sir,” he answered respectfully.

“I am Mr. Harry McElhatton,” he said extending his hand, “a pleasure to meet you.”

Brian looked curiously at the man, extending his own hand. His father had explained the importance of a firm handshake so, as he had been instructed, Brian looked the teacher in the eye and firmly shook his hand. “Thank you,” he said.

“That’s quite a grip you have young man,” Mr. McElhatton said with a pleasant smile.

“Yes, sir,” Brian mumbled.

Mr. McElhatton said “I noticed you looking around at the various activities here and I thought I might be able to help you. I am the head coach of the school soccer team and I have it on good authority that you have played a bit of soccer.”

Brian responded with a look of surprise, “Actually, sir, I have never played a match,” he replied honestly.

“I see,” Mr. McElhatton said with a smile. “You know your friend Nigel Blessington is a friend of mine and he told me that you are quite a good soccer player.”

“Well, sir,” Brian responded, “Mr. Blessington has taught me a lot about the game but I have never actually played. I know a lot about hurling as well, but I have never actually played that either. So, I don’t know whether I am any good or not, although I do enjoy both sports and it was nice of Mr. Blessington to say that I play well.”

“Would you like to find out then? …I mean whether you are good or not?” Mr. McElhatton asked. “We have two teams, one for students under 16 years and one for older students but to start with, we all work out together. I would really like you to come and work out with the team.”

Brian looked at Mr. McElhatton suspiciously before answering with his own question, “And if I am good enough, will I be allowed to play?”

Mr. McElhatton seemed surprised at Brian’s response. “But of course,” the teacher replied, “why wouldn’t you be allowed to play?”

Brian said nothing but shrugged his shoulders looking down at the floor.

“I’ll tell you what,” Mr. McElhatton, concluded. “You take this paper home with you tonight. If you decide you would like to give it a try, you have your mother or father sign the paper and tomorrow, you bring your soccer spikes and come out to the school fields at 4:00 in the afternoon. I promise that if you are good enough you will play. Is that fair enough?”

Brian reluctantly took the paper and glanced at it before replying, “Yes sir.”

Brian watched as Mr. McElhatton returned to the table that had been set up so that anyone who was interested in soccer could find out about the program. He saw the two older students who bumped into him before the assembly standing behind the table and figured that they were soccer players who had come in early to help out and answer questions from new players. If he did decide to play soccer, those boys would undoubtedly be on the team as well, but giving him a push was not exactly the best way to encourage him to sign up.

“Don’t be such a baby,” he admonished himself. “Big kids always push little ones around and since I am the little kid in this school, I might as well get used to it. Besides, things might level themselves out on the soccer pitch if I am really as good as Mr. Blessington seems to think.”

There were three or four other boys standing in front of the table, apparently having a great chat with the two older boys. Brian thought about walking over to join them but he would probably just stand there like some kind of loser and make a fool of himself. He couldn’t think of anything he might say even if he did go over. Anyway, the coach told him everything he needed to know so there really wasn’t much point.

One of the new students was a tallish fellow with long blonde hair. Brian knew that he had seen the boy around because his hair was hard to miss but it took him a moment to remember where. Brian finally remembered that he had seen the boy running around with Katie’s gang the last few summers. Libby explained that the boy was a friend of Katie or maybe his sister was a friend of Katie, he wasn’t sure which, partly because sometimes Libby’s explanations were a little confusing.

Libby also explained that the blonde boy and his sister lived in China and only came over to visit family in the summer, so if that was true him going to St. Killians didn’t make any sense. Then Brian remembered that he heard his mother talking about a family from Hong Kong moving into the old Mansfield Manor House and at the time he half expected to see Chinese people. Brian concluded that the boy must be part of that family, moving home to Ireland. He thought about going over and saying something to the blonde haired boy but then he was still talking and laughing with the older boys so Brian decided to wait. Maybe when the boy was alone Brian would introduce himself.

It suddenly occurred to Brian that he had been standing there alone, lost in his own thoughts for a considerable period of time and if anyone noticed they would really think he was strange. Quickly glancing around it appeared that no one was paying him any attention because the few that remained in the auditorium were intent on discussions with the older students and teachers at the various activity tables. When he saw that Katie and Libby were no longer at the drama club table Brian decided to leave and hopefully catch up with them on the way home. After taking one last look around the assembly hall, Brian headed for the door.