The Viking and the Vendetta Read online

  "I thought the rivalry between you two was quite good for the team," Ned observed.

  "Sort of," admitted Luke. "We get good results when we're trying to beat each other, but…" He stopped himself. He had been going to complain about Wharton's general behaviour, as though Ned was just his neighbour or relative, but it had suddenly occurred to him that doing so would be like telling tales, with Wharton having no means of presenting his side of the story to their headmaster. It wouldn't be fair, however tempting it was. This was one of those awkward moments when the join between their two worlds interfered with what would otherwise be perfectly natural behaviour.

  Ned did not seem to have noticed the early termination of Luke's sentence. "Perhaps you two should take the new school year as a chance to wipe your old grievances off the slate, too," he suggested.

  "That would be good," said Luke, "but I can't see it happening."

  "Then just be sure to keep the rivalry inside your orienteering competitions," warned Ned, suddenly sounding much more like Mr Kelly the headmaster than Ned the neighbour.

  "Are you saying that in your official capacity?" Luke teased him, but Ned did not laugh.

  "I'm just trying to give you some friendly advice," he replied, "but I'm perfectly prepared to repeat the warning in a more forceful manner to both of you in my office if necessary."

  There was that abrasive overlap again.

  "I think I saw enough of your office last year," said Luke, remembering the various times in year nine when he had ended up there; several of them connected with the feud between him and Wharton.

  "I can agree with you on that point," said Ned. "I don't think those occasions were particularly enjoyable for either of us."

  Luke hadn't really thought about how Ned had been feeling during those interviews, but now he considered the matter he realised the discomfort went both ways. "And we didn't even know we were related, then," he remarked.

  "Do you think that would have made any difference?" asked Ned.

  Luke pondered this for a while. "No, I don't think so," he said.

  "Nor do I," agreed Ned.

  They fell silent but Luke's mind became uneasy again as he remembered the way in which the previous school year had ended. When he had ended up in hospital, his fellow Romans had led the other students in the school to believe he had been caught smoking and had progressed from this to dabbling in the consumption of mind-altering mushrooms. Pagan's involvement in Luke's hospitalisation was only known to the school's staff, and as Luke had rather enjoyed the notoriety caused by the general misunderstanding, he had not been in any great hurry to explain that he hadn't smoked a single cigarette and that the mushrooms that he'd eaten had been quite innocently picked and cooked for him by a runaway teenage girl.

  Whatever Ned's beliefs about clean slates, Luke had a troubling suspicion that the memories of his fellow students might be less easily wiped clear. He touched his hand to his cheek, which was healing up well. The scar that would be left behind by the mugger's knife was unlikely to help matters; it was bound to add spice to the stories that were already in circulation about him. Ned had warned him the previous year about trouble attracting more trouble and Luke was worried that his new reputation might not be easy to dislodge. He did not, however, think it was wise to share these concerns with Ned.

  The next day, Luke and his dad went into town to sort out a new phone for Luke. While his father talked about call plans with the shop assistant, Luke browsed the various handsets.

  "Found one you like?"

  Luke pointed at a pale pink phone. "I'll take that one please."

  There was a brief silence as the two men contemplated the phone that Luke had chosen and then looked back at Luke.

  "Are you sure?" asked his dad. "It's a bit…pink."

  "Yeah," said Luke. "I reckon no-one's going to want to steal a phone that colour."

  Andrew slapped him on the shoulder. "I think you've got a point there. OK, pink it is."

  The expression on the shop assistant's face was dubious, until he saw the opportunity of making a further sale. "You could always buy a cover for it," he suggested. "Then it wouldn't be quite so obviously pink." Luke succumbed to this idea and with its black protective cover it was only possible to see the pinkness of the phone when you were very close up to it.

  "You're not worried that people are going to make fun of you for that phone, then?" asked his dad as they walked back to the car.

  Luke pointed to the scar on his face. "Would you pick a fight with me now I look like this?"

  *

  "But Mum, it's tiny!" It did not take Pagan long to explore their new home. The front door opened straight from the street into the living room. Stairs went up to the left and a kitchen and bathroom occupied the back of the house. Upstairs, there were two bedrooms. The kitchen door opened out into a small, paved back yard, with barely room for the small wooden table and four chairs which were placed there

  "Why do think we left most of our stuff in Manchester?" asked Julia. "I know it's small, but it's big enough for the two of us for now." She was already carrying in the cat's basket and some of the other belongings they had brought with them. "Hurry up and help me empty the car so that I can move it out of the way for the removal van."

  By the time Ned arrived at their house later in the day, the removal van had been and gone and the Randalls were busy unpacking their possessions. Julia opened the door to Ned's knock and welcomed him inside. Ned looked around the small living room.

  "It looks like a home already! I'm impressed."

  Pagan thought this was rather dishonest of Ned: to her the room seemed cramped and untidy, with boxes and packing paper still piled in one corner. However, her mother was looking delighted at this praise. "I'm just making some tea, the kettle's on," she said. "Take a pew!"

  Ned sat down in the armchair by the window: the only seat that was not cluttered with books or boxes. He smiled at Pagan. "How are things going with you?" he asked.

  "Fine," said Pagan. "I start at the High School on Tuesday."

  "Are you nervous?"

  "Yeah, a bit," admitted Pagan. "But I expect it won't take too long to settle in. And at least I'll get to see Luke at the weekends."

  "Oh, I suspect you'll see him more often than that."

  "Really? I thought he wasn't allowed to come to the village on weekdays."

  "That's true for year nines, but the year ten students get a bit more freedom," explained Ned. "As long as he signs back into school by ten o'clock and keeps up to date with his work, then he's free to come to the village whenever he wants."

  Pagan brightened up considerably at this news. "That's great!"

  "And I'm sure both of you will be sensible about balancing your school work with your social lives," Ned said. Pagan made a face at him in response to this blatant bit of headmasterliness. Ned smiled and raised his hands in apology.

  A thump on the chair behind Ned's head announced the arrival of a tabby (and tubby) cat. Ned turned and met its solemn brown gaze. "Hello. Who's this?"

  The cat mewed and then landed heavily on Ned's legs.

  "That's Minnie," Pagan told him. Ned rubbed the cat's chin and she settled herself down in his lap, apparently pleased to find someone who was a) stationary and b) willing to provide her with attention.

  "What on earth do the boys find to do in the village in the evening?" Pagan asked. Her explorations of the place in June had not given her the impression that it was a seething hub of nightlife.

  "Sometime they go into town on the bus," replied Ned. "Otherwise, I think the usual activity is to hang around the park in the centre of the village and try to chat up the local girls." The corner of Ned's mouth twisted in amusement at the look of indignation on Pagan's face. "However, I believe they soon discover that there are just as many local boys as there are girls, and the local boys tend to have their own opinions about who should be hanging round the girls. And as our boys have to be in school uniform, it cramps th
eir style somewhat. It's also quite a long walk from Hawley Lodge to the village. The novelty of being allowed out in the evening soon wears off, in my experience."

  Julia came back in, bearing a tea tray. Ned smiled at her. "You've found the tea-pot already then?"

  "Are you kidding? With removal men around it's the one item you can't ever pack away!" Julia set the tray down. "And I see the cat has found you. Just push her off if she's a nuisance."

  "I like cats," Ned told her, "and I think I ought to get to know all my new tenants, don't you?"

  Julia poured the tea and handed a cup each to Ned and Pagan.

  "I was just warning Pagan that you're likely to be seeing quite a lot of Luke this year," Ned told Julia.

  "That's fine by me, he's always welcome," said Julia. "And so are you, Ned, if you fancy some home cooking for a change from school dinners. Or don't you socialise with Luke now you're back at school?"

  "We certainly managed to lead almost separate lives last year," said Ned, "but thanks to Pagan and her mushrooms, things have changed quite a bit since then." He raised his teacup in a toast to Pagan, who gave him and her mother a conspiratorial smile.

  "Which reminds me," continued Ned, "I should probably mention to you both that Luke hasn't told anyone at the school that I'm his father, so I have to ask you to keep that information between ourselves."

  "But why hasn't he?" asked Pagan.

  "I believe he thinks it might damage his reputation," replied Ned. "He didn't even tell anyone there that I was his next-door-neighbour and I imagine that being his father must be ten times worse."

  "Isn't keeping this quiet going to become a bit awkward?" asked Julia.

  "Perhaps," conceded Ned. "But he thinks he will be treated differently if the staff and students know. I can understand his reluctance to tell people, can't you?"

  "Ye-es," said Julia, doubtfully. "I just feel that it's generally better to be open and honest about things." Her eyes rested on Pagan. "Keeping secrets always leads to problems in the end."

  Chapter Five

  It was the first full day of school and the sign-up sheets for the school's various clubs and societies were once more covering the notice board in the entrance hall. Luke headed straight to the one for the orienteering club and wrote down his name, noting, with a brief surge of irritation, that Wharton's name was already on the list. While Jay was signing up for the photography club, Luke scanned the other lists. The one headed 'Gardening Club' caught his attention. This piece of paper had been decorated with coloured illustrations of fruit and vegetables and it stood out from the other sheets which were all plain white. The leader of the club was named as Mrs Randall.

  No-one had yet signed up. Luke wrote his own name down on it and then turned to see Jay giving him a disbelieving look.

  "Gardening?" he asked, in a tone of disgust.

  Luke shrugged. "Yeah, well, I do some for Ne- for one of our neighbours in the holidays. No-one's signed up for it yet and I like Mrs Randall."

  Jay snorted. "You mean you like her daughter."

  "That's got absolutely nothing to do with it," Luke grinned. He had told Jay all about Pagan within ten minutes of being back in his company.

  "If having a girlfriend means having to shovel piles of horse crap around then you can keep her," said Jay. "You've just waved goodbye to your credibility, mate."

  Maybe that's no bad thing, thought Luke. "Does it bother you?"

  "Yeah, it does," said Jay, feigning annoyance. "Think I might start hanging around with Wharton this year, instead of you."

  There was a moment of stillness, then Luke responded to this threat of treachery by giving Jay a hard sideways shove. Jay pushed him back, laughing, and it was at this point that they both caught sight of Mr Wilmot, their housemaster, approaching from the front door and looking characteristically irritable. Before he could get close enough to comment on their boisterous behaviour, the pair made a sedate but speedy exit upstairs to the sanctuary of the Forum, the common room for the members of the Romans house.

  That evening, Luke and Jay returned to the entrance hall to sign out. They weren't the only ones; around half of the other year ten students had already seized this first opportunity to escape from school during the evening hours. The Romans wrote their names in the signing-out book and sauntered through the front door of the school, liberated by their new freedom.

  Luke had arranged with Pagan to call in and collect her on their way into the village. He was a little nervous about how she and Jay were going to get on, but also hopeful that Pagan might have already made friends with some of the village girls and that one of them might make a suitable girlfriend for Jay. He didn't want to have to choose between being with Pagan and being with his best friend.

  Pagan answered the door to them and Luke made the introductions.

  "I remember you from that time by the country club," Pagan smiled at Jay. "When you lot persuaded me to go and pick up those cigarette butts."

  Jay grinned back at her. "Yeah, that plan wasn't one of our best. Poor Luke really copped it."

  "While the rest of you got away scot free, I suppose," teased Pagan, coming out of the house and closing the door behind her. "I'm surprised he's still talking to you. Who were the other two that were with you?"

  "Taj and Fred," replied Jay. "They came out earlier – we might see them as we walk around the village."

  The three wandered past the village's duck pond, with its ancient wooden stocks. Luke and Jay indulged themselves in a fantasy which involved Benjamin Wharton being imprisoned in the stocks while they pelted him with over-ripe tomatoes.

  "I can't wait to meet him," commented Pagan. "You make him sound so appealing."

  Pagan's wish soon came true. The teenagers arrived at the park in the centre of the village a few minutes later, where a number of the year ten Hawley Lodge students were already loitering, looking conspicuous in their school uniforms. A small group of more comfortably-dressed local kids had established their claim to the swings and were meticulously ignoring the Hawley Lodge contingent.

  The arrival of Luke and Jay in company with a girl created a ripple of attention in both groups. Pagan raised a hand in greeting to one of the girls on the swings. "Come and meet some of my friends," she said to the others.

  "Hiya," Pagan said, as they reached the village teenagers. She waved her hand around the group. "I go to the High School with these guys. This is Barney: I'm working with him on a geography project. "

  Luke appraised the boy that Pagan was standing next to. He was tall and dark-haired, with a pleasant, open face. Luke took an instant and completely unreasonable dislike to him.

  "And this is Christina," added Pagan.

  With a jolt of surprise, Luke recognised the brown-haired girl on the swing as the orienteer who had sprained her ankle in one of the competitions earlier in the year. He missed the rest of Pagan's introductions as he and Christina locked glances and smiled, remembering their first meeting.

  Pagan was now introducing Luke to her friends. "This is Luke, the boy I was telling you about who I met in the summer when I was hiding out in the woods. And this is his friend, Jay."

  Luke wondered what exactly Pagan had told them about him. Christina spoke up. "I never got a chance to thank you for helping me last term," she said. "Thanks."

  Pagan stiffened and looked from Luke to Christina, obviously confused (and, Luke was pleased to note, perhaps a tiny bit jealous).

  "I sprained my ankle in an orienteering competition and your boyfriend came to my rescue," explained Christina. She turned back to Luke. "What happened with that other boy?" she asked. "The one who didn't stop?"

  Luke experienced a warm glow of happiness at hearing Christina use the word 'boyfriend'. "He was kicked off the team," he reported, with some satisfaction, "but he'll probably get back on it again this year."

  "Too bad," said Christina. "Oh look, speak of the Devil."

  Luke turned to see Wharton approaching, flanked by the
other year ten Vikings.

  "Oh, it's him," said Pagan, who had had a brief but unpleasant encounter with Wharton just before she'd met the Romans back in June.

  Wharton cast a haughty look around at the group of village teenagers. When he recognised Christina his expression became even uglier.

  "You got me thrown out of our orienteering team last year," he said, approaching her in a menacing manner.

  Christina folded her arms and stared back at him, completely untroubled by the implied threat. "I think you'll find that it was you who got yourself thrown out. If you're going to play, little boy, you should learn how to play by the rules."

  Outnumbered as he was, Wharton backed down from the confrontation with Christina and took out his annoyance on Luke. "Enjoy associating with riff-raff do you, Brownlow?"

  Barney made to grab Wharton, but Pagan stepped between them. "He's not worth the energy, Barney."

  Wharton stared sneeringly round at the High School students before stalking back towards the other Hawley Lodge boys.

  "I don't think much of your friend, Luke," said Christina.

  "He's no friend of mine," Luke assured her. He saw Taj and Fred approaching from the other side of the park. "But these two are." He beckoned the other Romans over and introduced them. Now that everyone had met Wharton and had formed their own low opinion of him, Pagan started telling her friends the story of the day she had first met Wharton and Luke. The Romans told their side of the cigarette-end story and Christina followed it up with a description of Wharton's reaction to her sprained ankle. By the time the Romans had to leave, they had established the beginnings of a friendly relationship with Pagan's school friends and Wharton's character had been comprehensively ripped to shreds.

  "What d'you think of them?" Pagan was keen to know, as they arrived back at her front door.

  "Anyone who hates Wharton is a friend of mine," replied Fred. "Come on Taj, Jay, let's go back. I don't want to have to watch these two saying goodnight. Goodbye, Pagan – don't keep him out too late!"

  The other Romans departed and Pagan raised her eyebrows at Luke. "Have you got time to come in?"

  Luke looked at his watch. He had to be back at school by ten o'clock and it was only 9.30. "I've got a few minutes," he said, with a shy smile. Pagan opened the door of the cottage and grabbed Luke's hand, pulling him inside. A wolf-whistle issued from another group of returning Hawley Lodge students as he shut the door behind them.