CHAPTER 5:
Pest Control
Maggie couldn’t concentrate on her biology work. It was hard enough at the best of times because she found it all so confusing. All she could think about right now was Vanessa and what they had shared the previous afternoon. It confused her that her feelings for her should be so strong. She watched as Vanessa whispered messages to Holly Robinson at the desk behind her.
Reverend Flanders sent evil glares their way every now and then, but said nothing. Perhaps he wanted to avoid another run in with Rex, which he’d no doubt get if he hassled Vanessa. Maggie couldn’t help but marvel at how adeptly Rex had handled their teacher and left him bamboozled with questions he couldn’t answer. Perhaps it would teach him a lesson and he would stick to teaching biology in the future, rather than trying to preach. She wished she could give the same sort of arguments to her parents, who were extremely religious, but she just wasn’t that smart or knowledgeable.
Her feelings twisted up inside of her. She fancied Rex big time, in fact she’d had a crush on him from the moment she met him. They’d even shared some private time together, but although she knew Rex really liked her, she was realistic enough to know that Rex’s priorities lay elsewhere. Besides she deeply loved her boyfriend Shawn. That was where the stable relationship was. That was the one with the future.
Her eyes returned to Holly and Vanessa. Maggie envied Holly. She had the gorgeous big brown eyes, unblemished skin, wavy shoulder length brown hair and killer body. The only thing she didn’t have going for her was height. She’d never be a model, but she still had many of the guys in the school going gaga over her. It was too bad that she and her boyfriend, Rick Maverick had split. They had had one of those relationships that seemed like a dream, but perhaps had been doomed to failure right from the beginning. They still both hung out in the same social circle, but there was still tension between them. They tried to hide it but those around them could see that the hurt was still there. It would be a while before they could be friends again.
It bothered Maggie the way Vanessa looked at Holly. She hardly ever broke her gaze the entire time they whispered. That was the other thing that Maggie envied. The way they were so close, the way they shared everything with each other. Maggie was certain she and Vanessa did not have that, even though they shared things in other ways.
When class ended and interval began, Holly and Vanessa left the classroom, leaving Maggie a few feet behind them. They didn’t even glance at her. She decided to catch up with them, but one of her male classmates pulled up alongside of her. It was a boy Maggie didn’t particularly care for.
‘Hey, babe,’ Dwayne Davidson said.
‘My name’s Maggie.’
‘Yeah, Maggs, I know. You and Vanessa seem to have become good friends.’
Maggie tried to remain civil. ‘Yeah, we are. She’s into the same things I am.’
‘Hey, I didn’t know you were gay.’
‘I’m not!’
‘That’s cool. You had me worried there for a minutes.’
‘I have a boyfriend.’
‘What? I’ve never seen you going around with anyone.’
‘He lives in New Plymouth.’
‘You probably hardly ever see him then.’
‘I see him heaps. He was over last night.’
‘Oh.’
‘I’ve gotta catch up to Vanessa. Bye.’
She quickened her pace and glanced back with relief when she saw Dwayne had not followed. She caught up with Vanessa and Holly under the trees outside E block where their friends usually congregated. A few others were there and they were talking about the upcoming school camp.
‘I hear Mr Harris has been put in charge of organising the activities,’ said Holly.
‘Oh no, you can just imagine what it’s going to be like then,’ grumbled Pete Cook. ‘It’s gonna be Boot Camp revisited. I don’t think I want to go.’
Maggie thought back to the previous term, when Mr Harris was acting principal and turned the entire school into a kind of military academy. She was glad that Mr Luxton was back again and had returned everything to normal.
The burly Will Ullman, alias Wal replied, ‘Yeah nah, come on, they can’t have him in charge. He’s still in trouble over that whole fiasco. They’re surely not going to let him control this.’
Maggie stepped up beside Vanessa. ‘Hey, Ness. You wanna come over tonight?’
‘Ah, I’m sorry, Maggs. I’m going to Holly’s to show her how to use FaceLink.’
Maggie couldn’t help but feel a twinge of jealousy. ‘Can I come?’
‘Sure, why not?’
That made her feel a little better. It also allowed her to allay some fears that maybe Holly and Vanessa were going to do a lot more than just create a FaceLink profile.
Vanessa turned back and started talking to Holly again, leaving Maggie standing there alone.
‘Get out of the way, Cook, you’re taking up space!’
Maggie flinched when Dwayne Davidson stepped up and shoved Pete out of the way, sending him landing on one of the benches near the trees.
‘Geeze, Cook, watch what you’re doing. You’re an idiot.’
That was exactly one of the reasons why Maggie disliked Dwayne. As far as she was concerned he was a complete jerk and there was no way she’d ever want to be friends with him.
Dwayne smiled at her and was about to speak when someone else arrived on the scene.
‘Get out of the way, Davidson, you’re taking up space!’ Rex stepped up and shoved Dwayne violently sending him crashing into the tree trunk face first. Dwayne cried out and crashed to the ground with a thump.
‘Geeze, Davidson, watch what you’re doing. You’re an eejit.’
Those watching on laughed as Dwayne, with his face screwed up from pain, pulled himself to his feet.
Rex turned his back to him and faced the girls. ‘Hey, I just wanted to warn you. There were a couple of Wild Dogs in town last night...’
Maggie noticed Dwayne standing behind him, his face dark with a scowl on it, but in the end he turned and left the scene.
Rex continued, ‘Might pay just to take care when going around the place. I doubt anyone has anything to worry about, but they may still be a little sore at some of the things that have gone down over the last few months. Just keep your eyes open, ok?’
‘We should call the cops,’ Maggie said, thinking back to the scary night at Rex’s party when the Dogs gate crashed. She shuddered. ‘They should be arrested.’
‘Well, the cops are keeping their eyes out for them. They’ll move them on if they see any in town.’
Vanessa stepped over to Rex, a look of concern on her face. ‘Do you think they may be after you?’
‘I don’t know. The last thing we should do is get all worried about it, but we should take extra care.’
Maggie didn’t feel very reassured. In fact she felt a horrible sensation in her gut and it made her anxious about even venturing out onto the streets. It was a good thing she was going to be leaving with Vanessa and Holly.
Maggie’s next class of the day was Home Economics and she got to do some cooking.
‘UBBAAAAA!’
Maggie turned from her bench to see Tucker stick his fingers in his chocolate cake mixture.
‘Tucker, stop that!’ scolded Miss Mortimer. ‘How many times do I have to tell you? It’s unhygienic and there won’t be enough mixture for your cake.’
Her pleadings fell on deaf ears and by the end all Tucker had was enough for a cupcake. He couldn’t keep it in the oven long enough either, the temptation to eat it was just too great. Maggie couldn’t help but laugh to see him wolf down the half cooked cupcake.
As more cakes came out of the oven, Tucker started to do the rounds, begging people to give him a slice. The girls told him to get lost. The boys in the class were more intimidated and if it wasn’t for Miss Mortimer intervening, Tucker would have eaten most of their cakes himself.
The dreaded moment arrived
and Tucker finally made his way around to her bench. It happened to be just at the moment she had taken it out of the oven. His mere presence made her skin crawl.
‘Hi Baby!’ he smiled, masticating on a piece of chocolate cake he had managed to score from one of the other boys. He opened his mouth as he chewed, causing her to flinch.
‘You’re not having any,’ Maggie said in a gruff voice.
‘Hey, Babe, how about a slice of that cake, gorgeous?’
‘I said you’re not having any!’
‘You’re a great cook. That cake looks really ubbery.’
‘Well you can rack off.’ She didn’t like sounding so rude, but when it came to Tucker it seemed like the only effective method.
‘Fresh off the rack, just the way I like them. You know, if you were my girl friend, you could have all the chocolate cake you wanted.’
‘I’ll pass. Can you leave?’
‘You know, I can cook a mean chocolate cake...’
‘I saw your cake and it was totally pathetic.’
‘I come up with some of the most sensational edibles you’ve ever seen. Wanna come to my place for a snack after school?’
‘I’ll be washing my hair.’
‘After dinner then?’
‘I’ll be washing my hair then too.’
‘What about a midnight snack? I can sneak in through your bedroom window.’
Just the thought of it made her want to puke. ‘No way!’
‘Why not?’
‘I’ll be washing my hair then too. You know I have to keep my ginger colour looking ginger.’
‘How long does it take you to wash your hair?’
‘All night!’
‘Tomorrow then?’
‘I wash my hair every day!’
‘Oh...’ Tucker lowered his head. Suddenly he jerked it up again. ‘Hey, are you and Andrew Jones, brother and sister?’
Maggie peered at him in disbelief. ‘Of course not!’
‘He’s got ginger hair too.’
‘So what? Plenty of people have ginger hair. My surname is different to his and he’s been in this town all his life, I only just moved into this town.’
‘Oh, yeah, true. Hey, you’re on FaceLink aren’t you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘I’m on there now... I mean I know this girl who’s on there and she’s looking for friends. She’s really hot.’
‘So?’
‘Can I tell her she can look you up and add you as a friend?’
‘But she doesn’t even know me.’
‘But she just wants online friends and contacts.’
Maggie shuddered to think what a female friend of Tucker’s might be like. ‘I think I’ll pass. I only add people I know AND like.’
‘Oh... ok...’ He scratched his head. ‘So ah... Want to hang out with me at lunch time?’
‘No! I’m not interested in you, ok? You’re a fat creep and I don’t like you, all right?’
‘Oh...’ He hung his head once again and turned to go, but at the last moment pointed to the cake. ‘Can I have a slice of cake then?’
‘No!’
‘UBBAAaaaaaa, Well... I’ll meet you after school then for that snack.’ He trundled away.
She kind of felt guilty about being so harsh, but then figured there was nothing else she could have done and if he dared try harassing her again after school to join him for food, she’d damn well slap him one.
Another class member stepped up to her bench. She flinched when she saw who it was. Dwayne Davidson again. She pretended he wasn’t there and moved her cake to the side, covering it with a tea towel.
‘Hey Ginger, how’s the hottest babe in school.’
Maggie hated being called Ginger, or any name that related to her hair colour. ‘Leave me alone, Dwayne.’
‘Hey, Babe, what sort of thing is that to say to your man?’
She stared at him in horror. ‘You are not my man! I already have a man.’
‘Yah, why waste your time with some guy who lives so far away. You can be my girl. I’ll be your guy. Davidson vs Matthews. That has an appealing ring to it, don’t you thing, Babe?’
Te Arawa College had a little tradition. Every second Friday afternoon there would be school sports. Each house would play another house in a particular game. The lists of which house played which house was always posted at the beginning of the week. It would read something like:
Green vs Blue Non stop cricket
Red vs Orange Soft Ball
Yellow vs Black Rounders
Etc etc...
As a result of this, students had started their own tradition. Whenever a couple of students decided that they were ‘going round together’, their names were always paired together like those of two opposing houses. It was common to find graffiti on toilet walls and desks with names paired in that manner. Quite often the pairings were false; either malicious or wishful thinking. She had seen her own name paired with various boys. Her friends were also targets for that type of graffiti. One thing was for sure and that was if “Davidson vs Matthews” was ever written anywhere, it had not been by her hand and would never ever become reality.
‘I’ll pass, Dwayne. You and I are never going to become a couple.’
‘Never say never, Babe. You need a decent guy. Not like that loser boyfriend of yours from NP.’
‘He’s not a loser!’ She felt anger building up inside her.
‘And then there’s Rex. You seem to be into him too. Don’t know why you bother with him. He’s not interested in you. He treats you like dirt.’
She felt something snap within her and she delivered Dwayne her most volatile glare. ‘How dare you say that? You don’t know him! He’s the nicest guy I know. He cares and he likes to make people happy. Is there anything wrong with that? You could never measure up to Rex in a million years. You’re nothing compared to him!’
Dwayne glared at her, fury in his eyes. She almost thought that he was going to slap her one. If they had not been in class, perhaps he might have.
All eyes peered in their direction now and Miss Mortimer called out to them. ‘Is everything alright over there?’
Dwayne moved away. Finally, maybe now she could have a break from unwanted pests. She couldn’t help but feel though, that the pests had not been eradicated just yet.
CHAPTER 6:
Something Familiar…