The Mob from TAC
(Book 1 in the Mob from TAC series)
Copyright 2016 Richard Pinkerton
CHAPTER 1:
Cutting Class
‘I hope nobody saw us.’
Fifteen year-old Chelsea Brown never considered cutting class a good idea, especially not on the first day of school. Yet here she was, a model student, doing just that, all so that her two female classmates would think she was cool.
‘Sweet! I think we’re safe,’ said Holly Robinson, her newest friend, a refugee from the old high school at Akato.
‘Nobody saw me,’ Jacqui said. ‘So if anyone followed us here, it was one of you two who gave the game way, not me.’
It was the Reaper, Chelsea worried about. The Reaper as they called him, was in charge of discipline at Te Arawa College and was not someone you wanted to mess with. He even looked like the Angel of Death with his dark crooked eyebrows and unsmiling thin lips. He was a real pain who often seemed to know when the students were up to no good and had a knack for being able to extract information out of people, causing them to incriminate themselves no matter how hard they tried not to.
The three of them met up with Rog Shepherd at the end of the playing fields and they climbed the back fence into the fields beyond. Chelsea was thankful for the wooden stile, because she didn’t have to hike her uniform skirt up too high to get over.
There was plenty of cover in the form of trees and bush and the school cross-country track followed a river, their main destination.
‘Anyone see you guys?’ Rog asked.
‘Nah, it’s cool, Sheep,’ Holly said, using Rog’s popular nickname. ‘No teachers on patrol.’
‘Told ya it would be all right.’ They reached the river bank and stopped. ‘You ok, Chelsea?’
She pushed aside some of her long straight hair that hung down both sides of her face. ‘Oh… I’m cool.’ She delivered him a big smile and fumbled with her thick-rimmed glasses. Her mother had bought contacts for her, but the thought of putting things into her eyes made her cringe. ‘You know this is the first time I’ve ever skip…’
Sheep immediately turned his back to her and faced Holly. ‘So, Holly, I hear you’ve known Jacqui since you were little kids?’
‘Yes, we did. Our parents go way back, so we see each other all the time. It’s cool that now we’re in the same school together.’
Chelsea’s heart sank. For a moment there, she thought Sheep was going to engage her in conversation, but now he seemed more interested in the Akato refugee. It wasn’t surprising; after all, Chelsea could hardly compete with a beauty like her; the big brown eyes, the rounded chin...
Don’t put yourself down. You have beautiful blue eyes, dear. You have wonderful bone structure, but you won’t let anyone see it!
Her mother had said those words to her many times, but who listened to their mother about things like that? They were biased anyway.
‘…isn’t that right Chelsea?’ Sheep turned around to face her.
Chelsea came to her senses and realised she was standing there like a dumb blonde. She did have blonde hair, but definitely didn’t want to endorse the stereotype. ‘That’s right,’ she said, not having a clue what they were talking about. Sheep continued to look at her as if expecting her to say more. All Chelsea could do was smile again.
She wanted to kick herself, wishing she’d paid attention. Now he would think she was a flake if he didn’t think that already. So much for skipping class to look cool. She was digging herself a pit she’d never get out of.
‘What are you lot up to!’ a voice boomed from the nearby trees.
Chelsea nearly jumped out of her skin. Her friends leapt in fright too and for a brief second, they thought they had been sprung and that the Reaper had come for their souls, but when they saw who it was, they all groaned in unison; relief for Chelsea, but what sounded more like irritation for her friends.
‘What the hell do you want, Cook?’ Sheep growled as a short smiley faced teen stepped out. Chelsea had known Pete Cook for years. He was a bit of a prankster, but a likeable enough guy. With him was a taller individual who she had never seen before. Another Akato refugee? With Akato College closing down due to a low roll, it was very difficult to figure out who was from there or who was simply new to the area.
The expression on Jacqui’s face had Chelsea wondering if she’d just stepped into a pool of vomit. ‘Have you been following us?’
‘We were just hanging out.’ A gleam appeared in Pete’s eye. ‘Did I make your heart skip a beat?’
‘Piss off, you geek!’ Jacqui snorted.
‘Didn’t expect to see you guys here. What you up to?’
Jacqui rolled her eyes. ‘What does it look like? We wanted to get away for a bit.’
‘Yeah, and be free of morons like you.’ Sheep snickered.
‘That’s for sure.’
‘Why don’t you sod off, Cook? We don’t want you polluting our atmosphere. You’ll just cramp our style.’
The taller boy grinned. ‘Well, you don’t have to worry about style clashes with us around. Style is something totally foreign to us.’
Neither Jacqui nor Sheep smiled. Chelsea wanted to laugh, but kept a straight face. If Jacqui didn’t find it funny, then neither would she. As for Holly, it was hard to tell whether she was amused or not.
Nevertheless, it seemed Holly knew this boy. ‘Mav, since when did you skip classes?’
The tall boy smiled. ‘Well, I considered just walking out of class was a little lame, but skipping seemed more… I don’t know… getting with the rhythm of Te Arawa College?’
Jacqui screwed up her face. ‘Are you for real?’
‘Nah, I’m simply a cheap imitation.’ Mav winked. ‘Of what, I have no idea, but an imitation nonetheless.’
Chelsea noticed that Holly smiled now. They exchanged grins and Holly rolled her eyes in a humorous manner.
Jacqui delivered them both a dirty look. She was born and bred in Te Arawa like Chelsea. She had always been so nice in primary school, but over the last few years, she had changed, becoming more picky and choosing only to hang out with the other pretty girls and handsome guys. That was the crowd Chelsea wanted to belong to.
Sheep spoke up, ‘Come on, girls. Let’s go down to the river bank.’ He turned away from the two boys and made his way down. Chelsea and her female companions followed. She glanced back to see Pete and Mav tagging along. It seemed they were stuck with them as well.
The river flowed swift and wide and the sparrows twittered in the trees as the wind rustled through the leaves. That combined with the rushing of water made for a tranquil scene. A rickety old, narrow, wooden swing bridge stretched across, with a danger sign nailed to the entranceway. It was widely known by students that it was unsafe to cross, but Chelsea had heard that boys would use it as a short cut into town. Barriers were nailed up on both sides to deter people from crossing, but they never lasted long, as often one or two wooden boards were pried off by potential adventurers.
‘Let’s go across.’ Sheep gave the girls a twisted smile.
‘Get lost, Sheep,’ scoffed Jacqui. ‘You’re just crazy. Half those planks on the bridge are rotten.’
‘Yah! No worries. There’s plenty of solid support. I’ve been across before. What’s the worst that could happen? We’d end up in the drink. We can all swim, can’t we?’
‘You may want to get soaked, but we don’t.’ Jacqui curled her nose up. ‘And this may be a boring old school uniform I’m wearing, but it’s new and I don’t want to get it ruined with river muck.’
‘Suit yourselves.’ Sheep shrugged. ‘I’ll go across myself. I’ll bring us back some drinks from the shop.’
‘Bring me back a Coke.’
br /> ‘Me too,’ Holly added. ‘A proper Coke, you know? Not that other crap.’
‘One for me too, Sheep,’ piped up Pete Cook.
Sheep scowled. ‘Get your own, spaz!’
As much as Chelsea adored Sheep, she had to admit he had a negative side to his personality too. He was popular, like Jacqui, but he had very little time for people he didn’t like. Anyone he took an instant disliking to usually had a black mark next to their name and it would take a lot for Sheep to ever consider rubbing out that mark. Pete Cook had that black mark next to his name as long as Chelsea could remember.
She didn’t like the idea of Sheep trying to cross the swing bridge and didn’t want to be the voice of reason, because that was uncool, but she couldn’t help herself. ‘Why go to town? Why not go to the dairy down the road?’
‘And go back through the school grounds? Too risky.’
‘Too risky?’ Holly giggled. ‘And you’re crossing that river?’
‘I’d rather take my chances with the river, than run into the Reaper.’
Jacqui commented, ‘Yeah, well Mr Reaper isn’t the type of guy you want to mess with, so I don’t blame you.’
‘You shouldn’t go,’ Chelsea said yet again. ‘It’s too dangerous.’
Sheep just grinned, but didn’t reply.
Jacqui frowned at her. ‘Lighten up, Chelsea. He’ll be all right. Just as long as it’s not me who has to go. No way do I want to fall into that sewer.’
Chelsea sighed as Sheep strode towards the bridge. Getting wet was the least of their worries. That current looked very strong and she doubted that even Sheep would be able to swim against it.
The group followed him to the bridge where he climbed over the wooden barrier using footholds cut by a pocketknife or something similar. On the other side of the barrier, Sheep moved cautiously along, testing each plank and holding both ropes as he went. The bridge swayed a little as he redistributed his weight to firmer positions.
Chelsea straightened. ‘Careful, Sheep!’
‘No worries,’ returned Sheep from the middle of the bridge.
‘This is crazy,’ Chelsea muttered.
‘Shut up, Chelsea.’ Jacqui scowled. ‘Just chill out, will you? Experience a bit of excitement for once.’
Excitement was one thing to Chelsea, but danger another. Nevertheless, to say that to Jacqui would be an unwise move.
The old swing bridge creaked underneath his weight. Sheep reached the halfway mark and Chelsea’s heart stopped when a piece of rotting plank gave way beneath his foot. Fortunately, he managed to hold himself up using the ropes and looked back across at them with a smile on his face. He continued onward and safely reached the other side, jumped off the edge of the swing bridge down to dry ground, delivered a brief wave and jogged off across the field towards some more bush.
‘Phew,’ Holly breathed, ‘that was close.’
‘Idiot.’ Pete shook his head.
Jacqui delivered him a dirty look. ‘Rack off, Cook!’
‘Why should I?’
‘Because I said so!’
Pete sat down on the bank. ‘I’ll give it some thought, shall I?’
Mav sat with him.
‘Moron,’ Jacqui said, then turned her head back to Chelsea and Holly. ‘Sheep will be gone for about ten minutes. We might as well just stay here and wait.’ However, she didn’t sit down near Pete; she walked a bit further down the river. Chelsea and Holly joined her and they sat on the bank for a few minutes - watching the river meander by.
Chelsea attempted to make conversation. ‘It’s weird having so many new faces this year.’
‘Well, what do you expect?’ Jacqui said. ‘We have about a hundred of them from Akato College.’
‘It’s a pity they had to close that high school down.’
‘Not enough of us there,’ said Holly. ‘For ages my father has been saying it was going to merge with Te Arawa. He said it was inevitable. He was right. Man, I hate having to say my Dad was right. That’s just wrong.’
The three of them laughed.
‘At least there’s a heap of cute new guys.’ Chelsea glanced at Jacqui expecting to get an agreement.
Jacqui raised an eyebrow at her. ‘You are kidding, aren’t you? I’ve seen more talent at the zoo. I think Te Arawa College has got a real raw deal out of this.’
‘Gee, thanks, Jacqs.’ Holly smirked. ‘Nice to know what you really think of us guys from Akato.’
‘Hey, I wasn’t including you in that statement. Just losers like that friend of yours over there.’
‘Mav? He’s ok.’
‘Not if he hangs out with Pete Cook.’
Holly snickered. ‘Well if he’s a big a geek as you say he is, then no doubt Mav will soon figure that out and decide he can’t be bothered with him.’
‘Huh! Seems to me they’re two of a kind. I’m betting they’ll become great mates.’
Holly shrugged and said nothing more.
Several minutes passed before Sheep arrived at the other side of the river. In his hand, he held a plastic bag containing the drinks. He squeezed through a gap in the barrier and looped his arm through the handle of the plastic bag.
The girls rose to their feet in anticipation of another nail biting crossing. It was a little more difficult for him to get across with extra weight on one arm. For one thing, his balance wasn’t so good and it caused the bridge to swing a lot more than before.
The girls watched wide-eyed. Even Jacqui didn’t look so cocky and flinched several times when Sheep struggled to remain upright on the bridge. He reached the halfway mark and strained to keep steady. The planks groaned with the pressure as he tried to keep himself straight.
‘Come on Sheep, you can do it!’ Holly called out. Just as her words came out, his whole body lurched to the side. The plank below his feet gave way. The girls shrieked and Sheep cried out in horror as he toppled over the edge and into the water with an almighty splash.
‘Oh my gosh!’ Chelsea shrieked.
Within seconds, he surfaced, but no longer held the plastic bag. It had sunken below the surface. It wasn’t until that moment that the girls noticed just how far Sheep had drifted. The current had quickly taken him several metres down stream.
Jacqui moved off along the bank after him. Chelsea and Holly quickly followed, with Mav and Pete just behind. Sheep struggled to swim to shore, but no sooner had he neared the bank, when an eddy grabbed him and pulled him back out again.
‘Come on Sheep, swim!’ Jacqui shouted as she ran along the bank. ‘You can make it!’
With renewed vigour, Sheep put all he could into the strokes, but the current was too strong. Sheep grabbed hold of an overhanging willow branch, part of a larger tree that hung low over the river. For a moment, it looked as though he was going to hang on, but much to Chelsea’s horror the smaller branch broke away and he disappeared underneath.
‘Sheep!’ Chelsea and the girls rushed towards the willow looking frantically for any sign of him.
Mav joined them at the riverbank. ‘Perhaps he’ll come out the other side.’
‘Sheep!’ Jacqui cried out.
All they could hear was rushing water.
Chelsea dreaded that he had been dragged under by the current because she couldn’t see him anywhere.
‘Maybe he’s been caught by a root or something?’ said Pete.
Chelsea’s blood ran cold and by the terrified look on her girlfriends’ faces, she could see they were equally as worried. Then came a sharp cry of pain from within the willow’s leaves and branches. Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief as Sheep’s head finally appeared. ‘Bloody blackberry!’ He hauled himself out covered in scratches.
‘Sheep!’ the girls chimed in and moved towards him.
Pete attempted to give Sheep a hand to climb up onto the bank, but Sheep pushed his hands aside with a grunt and climbed up himself. He had a sour look on his face and held up his hands with a sigh of frustration, ‘I’ve lost our drinks.’
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Chelsea was just relieved he was fine and joined the other girls in their giggles at the expression on his face, not to mention the state he was in.
‘We’re just glad you’re ok,’ Holly said.
As they trudged back in the direction of the school grounds, Sheep grumbled, ‘Well I can’t go back to school looking like this. I might have to hang out back here, until school finishes.’
‘At least you’re okay, Sheep,’ Chelsea commented. ‘You could have drowned back there.’
Sheep smiled at her and his eyes met hers for a few moments before speaking again. ‘Nothing like a refreshing dip though. It’s flaming hot, I was about to jump in anyway.’
A man’s voice echoed through the trees, causing them all to jump sky-high. ‘It looks as though you already have!’
The Reaper stepped out from the trees and he looked ready to strike them down with an imagery sickle.
CHAPTER 2:
Facing the Music