TAC Boot Camp

CHAPTER 5:

  Worshiping the Goddess

  ‘She is so beautiful...’ new junior, Trent Nord sat with a group of fellow juniors out the front of C Block, as he gazed at a photograph of Vanessa during interval the next day. ‘Where did you get this anyway?’

  ‘From Ms Cann’s English classroom,’ said Gavin Collins. ‘It was on a dossier up on the wall. I was lucky to get it… a whole lot of other guys were after it.’

  Martin White released a haughty laugh. ‘You guys are so wasting your time. You know she doesn’t even know you guys exist. Besides, I hear she’s a lezzie.’

  ‘She is not!’ Gavin snarled. His dark thick eyebrows furrowed and along with his rather large nose, at that moment he kind of reminded Trent of Bert from Sesame Street. Fortunately for Gavin he didn’t have the unibrow, otherwise he might have got that comparison regularly.

  ‘It’s true!’ Martin replied. ‘She makes no secret of it. Geeze Trent, if you had asked her yesterday at lunch time like I told you too, you would have found out.’

  ‘I didn’t get a chance,’ whined Trent, scratching his short curly brown hair. ‘She didn’t hang around long enough.’

  ‘That’s because you were stammering like a complete moron. There you had her talking to you and you blew it. She’s just gonna see you now as that dorky little big-eared year-nine kid who couldn’t talk properly.’

  Trent gave Martin a dirty look. He’d been friends with Gavin at Primary School when he’d last lived in Te Arawa. They’d always been good friends and had stayed in touch after he’d left. Martin though was a different story. He was from a rich family and sometimes thought a little too much of himself, which often irritated Trent. His uniform was always neatly pressed, his fair hair combed neatly and his shoes always well-polished… at least in the colder months when they wore shoes. Trent couldn’t help but feel envious of him as he seemed to have so much going for him. He was quite a good-looking guy, with not a single pimple on his face, unlike Trent and Gavin, so tended to get noticed more by the girls. He was the one who people remembered the name of.

  It was then that Trent thought of something and he couldn’t help but point it out. ‘She knows my name.’

  ‘I bet she’s forgotten it already.’

  ‘I bet she hasn’t.’

  ‘Whatever you say, Nord, you pillock. Anyway, you were damn lucky yesterday that you didn’t get your brains pounded to a pulp.’

  Trent frowned and peered at him. ‘Why?’

  ‘You know she’s Rex’s girl, right?’

  ‘Rex Cassidy? That big guy?’

  ‘Yeah!’

  ‘She’s his girl? But I thought you said she was a les...’

  ‘Yeah, but she’s into him. You obviously don’t realise just how dangerous it is to even talk to her, do you?’

  ‘But you told me to talk to her!’ Trent glared. ‘You pretty much forced me to.’

  Martin snickered. ‘Yeah and I was disappointed that Rex didn’t come over and pound the stuffing out of you.’

  ‘He wouldn’t,’ Gavin said.

  ‘He would too. Geez, Gavin where have you been the last few months? He’s really really over-protective of her. He beat the crap out of a guy last week just because he was talking to her. You should see what he does if someone says anything bad to her.’

  ‘No way!’ Gavin said. ‘Just for talking to her?’

  ‘Yes! Geeze Martin, you know about that guy Luke Shirley?

  ‘The guy who got expelled? He got arrested, right?’

  ‘Yeah, that’s him. Rex nearly killed that guy just because he touched Vanessa’s arm.’

  ‘Just for touching her arm?’ Trent shuddered. He began to realise just how close he could have come to disaster the previous day. ‘And you told me to talk to her?’

  Martin laughed. ‘You’re lucky Rex didn’t see you trying to chat her up. He would have gone ballistic.’

  ‘Really?’ Trent squirmed. ‘Holy heck.’

  Gavin frowned. ‘Are you telling the truth, Martin? Rex always comes across as being a really nice guy. Everybody likes him.’

  ‘Yeah, he is a nice guy until you mess with Vanessa. When that happens, he turns into the Incredible Hulk. If he even finds out you tried talking to her, you’ll be dead meat.’

  ‘But Vanessa is always talking to guys.’

  ‘Yeah, usually her and Rex’s friends. Besides her talking to you is fine. It’s when you start trying to chat her up, that’s when Rex gets riled up. And I tell you, you don’t want that. My advice is to not even look at Vanessa funny, because if he thinks you’re even eyeing her up, he’ll go mental.’

  ‘But we were checking her out yesterday at lunch time and he was there.’

  ‘Yeah, but he didn’t even notice us. Just watch out if he does though.’

  Gavin took the photograph of Vanessa from Trent and put it in his bag. ‘You got me freaked now Martin. Better not let Rex see we’ve got her photograph.’

  ‘No, you better not.’

  They got up and rounded the corner to the main entrance of C Block. It was the only two-storied building in the school, but it had the largest locker area. There was seating around all sides of the block including the main entrance at the side. Trent was surprised to see Vanessa there alongside a couple of her female friends, examining some jewellery. They came to a halt for a moment unable to resist admiring her, but even as he did Trent thought about the things Martin had said and an uncomfortable feeling came upon him. He was about to walk by when Vanessa called out.

  ‘Hello, Trent. Have you overcome that speech impediment of yours yet?’

  Trent froze, unable to believe that she had remembered his name. He scanned the area just to be sure Rex Cassidy wasn’t around, as the last thing he wanted to do was risk his wrath. ‘I...I...’

  ‘Oh dear, he still has it.’ Vanessa tittered, causing her friends to laugh. ‘Never mind, Trent. You keep practising and one day you might be able to talk to me without being so nervous.’ She smiled.

  All Trent could do was stand there dumb, not knowing what to say. Suddenly he felt a firm hand push against his back and shove him towards Vanessa. His hands flailed as he lurched forward on top of her and he clutched at anything he could to prevent his fall. His left hand clasped something soft, but firm as he fell forward onto her lap.

  Vanessa shrieked, but at the same time grabbed him to stop him from falling completely on her. She pushed him back up and it was only then that Trent realised just where his hand had landed. In horror, he withdrew his hand quickly and pulled himself to his feet. ‘I’m sorry!’ he gasped. ‘I’m sorry!’

  ‘Relax!’ Vanessa stood up and straightened her top. ‘It’s not your fault.’ Her eyes narrowed at Martin who stood there with a smirk on his face. When he noticed her dirty look, he quickly hurried away.

  Trent panted and his heart thumped wildly. He stared at Vanessa feeling horror well up inside him. He hadn’t meant to grab her at all. It had just been a reflex action to clutch at anything that could prevent his fall. He felt embarrassment well up inside him and he wished he could turn invisible.

  Vanessa laughed. ‘Don’t get so worked up, Trent. Looks like you need to take a few chill pill. Go find your mate and give him a kick for me, will you?’

  ‘Um.... ok.’

  Vanessa shook her head with a wry smile and sat back down. Trent, still felt as though his heartbeat was way too fast as he continued into C Block. Once there, they hung up their bags on their hooks. No sooner had they done that when Martin came in from the rear entrance, laughing hysterically.

  ‘What’s the big idea?’ Trent glared at Martin ‘Why did you push me into her?’

  ‘To give you a bit of a thrill. You should be thankful. You got a free grope out of it.’

  ‘It was an accident!’

  Martin slung his bag onto the hook. ‘Got it all on film too.’ He pulled out a cell phone from his pocket. He showed them an image on it. Trent stared at it. It showed him over Vanessa wi
th his hand grasping her breast.

  ‘What? You took a photograph?’ Trent stared in disbelief.

  ‘Yeah, thought you might like a copy to remember your first romantic encounter by.’

  Trent stared at Martin incredulously. ‘You deliberately pushed me just to get a photograph, didn’t you?’

  ‘Hey, it was just a laugh. What’s the big deal?’

  ‘Delete it.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because I don’t want people seeing it.’

  ‘Yeah, I’ll delete it, but I’ll email you a copy of it first, how about that. You can keep it on your computer at home.’

  Trent paused for a few seconds, not sure how to respond. It embarrassed him just looking at it. ‘That was a dirty trick.’

  ‘It was nothing. No harm done, right?’ Martin returned the cell phone to his pocket.

  Trent shrugged.

  They were about to head out when Mr Harris entered the locker block. He wore his army uniform, as he had the day before, and he immediately honed in on one boy who looked rather slovenly with his shirt hanging out. ‘Johnson! What are you doing, tuck it in, boy, tuck it in!’

  The boy quickly obeyed.

  ‘Now give me 10. Come on Johnson, ten!’

  Johnson quickly got down on the floor and did ten push-ups in quick succession. Satisfied that Johnson had paid his penance, Mr Harris moved on.

  ‘Wow,’ said Trent. ‘He really is into this army stuff, isn’t he?’

  A gleam appeared in Martin’s eyes. ‘Yeah. He is. But it’s all a big put on really. I mean it’s all just a bit of fun.’

  ‘What?’ Gavin scoffed.

  ‘You heard!’ Martin scowled at Gavin. ‘No need to get Trent all worked up about nothing, right? Mr Harris is a great guy and he just loves playing at being the army guy.’

  ‘But he seems serious,’ Trent said.

  ‘Yeah, but you gotta realise it’s all a bit of a game to him. You just wait till we have PE today. You’ll see. He loves us all to play along. Sure, he’s no doubt serious about the changes and all that, but it’s still all a bit of fun.’

  Trent didn’t argue.

  ‘Hey Gav, let’s take a look at that picture of Vanessa again before we go,’ Martin said.

  ‘OK.’ Gavin unzipped his bag and pulled it out again. All three of them gazed at her face for a few more moments. Suddenly a tubby hand reached out and snatched the photograph from Gavin.

  ‘What do we have here, ubbheads?’ Tucker Pyles examined the photograph. Well, well, well, I do declare that this is stolen property. The goddess would not be pleased.’

  Trent stared at the huge senior and couldn’t help but feel intimidated by the guy’s size. He was very obese, but at the same time he looked as though he could knock anyone down with one swing of his arms.

  ‘That’s ours!’ Gavin appealed, but his voice sounded shaky.

  ‘You guys swiped this from Ms Cann’s English classroom, didn’t you?’ Tucker scowled. ‘I wondered where it had got to. I wanted it for my collec... I mean I wanted to look at it. Got to the wall and found no photograph there at all. I wasn’t happy!’ He eyed each boy with an evil glare, one that sent a shiver down Trent’s spine. His eyes rested on him. ‘Who the hell are you? I haven’t seen you around.’

  ‘I’m new.’

  Tucker’s eyes narrowed. ‘Well you haven’t got off to a good start then, have you? Disrespecting the goddess by stealing her holy image from her place of worship. That blasphemous act cannot go unpunished.’

  The three juniors stared at Tucker. Trent could feel his body tense up and his legs started to go weak.

  ‘I shall confiscate this.’ He slid the photograph into his baggy shorts pocket. ‘And you sinners must pay penance for what you’ve done!’

  ‘Why should we?’ Martin growled.

  Tucker’s glare turned evil again. ‘Do you dare question me, the Goddess’s emissary? Do you wish to feel my wrath?’ He grabbed Martin roughly by the shirt.

  Martin flinched. ‘No!’

  ‘Good! The daughter of Aphrodite will not tolerate insubordination.’

  ‘The daughter of Aphrodite? What are you talking about?’

  ‘Vanessa! The Goddess! Do you wish to worship the Goddess or do you wish to suffer my wrath?’

  ‘Worship the Goddess!’ Martin said without hesitation.

  ‘What about you two?’ Tucker turned his eyes from Trent to Gavin. ‘Do you too wish to live in sin and suffer the wrath of the emissary, or do you too wish to declare your undying devotion to the Goddess?’

  ‘The Goddess it cool with me,’ Gavin said. ‘She’s one hell of a hot goddess and is worthy of our worship.’

  ‘Yeah!’ Trent agreed. Anything to keep this senior from pounding him to a pulp. Besides, there was no arguing that Vanessa was what he said she was.

  ‘Good. Then you shall be converted into Nessanism. You must pledge your undying love to the daughter of Aphrodite. You must agree to worship no other goddess but her. You must agree to do all that you can to spread the good message and to bring others to her. For the Goddess is worthy. Repeat after me. The Goddess is worthy.’

  ‘The Goddess is worthy,’ all three boys replied.

  ‘Now listen up. Now that you’re all Nessanists, you must make certain sacrifices...’

 

  CHAPTER 6:

  Mail for Wal