We headed up the path towards the guys, our heels drumming an ancient arrival call. As we hit the spot five metres away, all eyes lifted from various hacky-sack games and skateboard tricks. The boys looked at us; we looked at them. There was this moment of intense silence during which we mutually evaluated each other. The Glide-By was running smoothly so far.
Just when it looked like we would attempt an approach, Cass, Jelena and I smiled simultaneously, turned abruptly and headed for the history and arts block. We could feel the gazes following us. The Glide-By was a success.
You should never speak too soon.
‘Hey, Princess!’ Hayden’s voice boomed out across the schoolyard, instantly destroying any intriguing after-effects of the Glide-By. ‘When am I going to get my jacket back?’
‘In medieval England, beer was often served with breakfast,’ Mr Bannerman, our history teacher, announced.
The thing I love about Mr Bannerman is that he knows how to make history come alive. His brain is always teeming with weird facts and curious characters that he’s dying to tell us about.
His announcement was met with loud cheers from the male students. Several guys punched their fists in the air.
‘Man, these historical dudes had it good!’
Jeffrey Clark waved his hand madly in the air.
‘Yes, Jeffrey?’ Mr Bannerman said.
‘Sir, I think I speak on behalf of the class in thinking it would be educationally beneficial if we held a medieval breakfast of our own. You know, someone brings pancakes —’
‘And you bring the Tooheys?’ Mr Bannerman finished.
‘It’s got to be authentic!’
Jeffrey Clark can be relied upon to disturb every class with his outbursts. However, he also supplies comic relief at times of extreme stress: i.e. on exam days or during slide presentations.
Mr Bannerman laughed and perched himself on the front of his desk. ‘How about you keep that one for your own time seeing as no-one in this class is legal yet? To get back to what one of you said before, these medieval dudes did not have it good. If you didn’t succumb to the plague, you’d probably perish fighting in one of the many religious conflicts that dominated the period. There was a great deal of bloodshed during the Middle Ages. Medieval Europe is our main unit of study this semester and we’re going to get down to all the nitty-gritty details.’
I love history. It has all the good stuff — intrigue, corruption, love affairs, characters full of good, characters full of evil. If I’d lived back then, I would have been the one watching everything and jotting it all down on parchment with a quill pen.
‘Now, I’m sorry to tell you, Aurora,’ Mr Bannerman said, as if he had read my thoughts, ‘with your statuesque height, you might have had trouble finding a husband, as the average man was only about five foot six.’
Okay, there would have definitely been some downsides to life back then.
‘She would have had to bend down to kiss him!’ Jeffrey yelled.
Now the whole class was laughing. Hayden Paris turned around in his seat and gave me a wink.
Hayden has sat directly in front of me for ten years now. I don’t know who came up with the idea of alphabetical seating, but if I had a time machine, I’d go back, ascertain their identity and then sue them for inflicting mental and emotional anguish. Maybe I could sue for physical pain as well, since I’m sure I’ve strained my arm as a result of all the years of hitting Hayden with a ruler when he’s too impossible to deal with. Which, if you know Hayden Paris, is just about always. I’m too mature and poised to use the ruler any more, so I have to rely on my wit.
Thankfully my embarrassment was brought to an end by the arrival of the new, blue-eyed boy we’d seen earlier this morning. He leant on the doorframe, sliding a lock of sun-streaked hair back behind his ear.
‘Is this the Year 11C history class?’ he asked.
‘None other,’ replied Mr Bannerman. ‘Hope you’re ready for bloodshed, Mr … let’s see … Scott Ryder.’
Blue-eyed boy smiled a confused but still delicious smile. Cassie, who sat on my left, could barely conceal a squeal of delight.
‘Scott Ryder!’ she whispered to me.
My guess was we’d soon be seeing that name scrawled on Cassie’s books.
While Mr Bannerman verified Scott’s details, Hayden turned around and leant his elbows on the front of my desk.
‘So, pretty soon I’ll be trumping you in history tests.’
‘Hayden, I beat you every week last semester —’
‘Not every week. We tied in that one about Charlemagne, remember?’
How could I forget? It had been so embarrassing seeing our names up on the board together, like an engagement announcement or something.
‘Whatever,’ I said breezily. ‘Why would I stop that amazing run now?’ I smiled in what I hoped to be a superior way.
Hayden just smiled back and stayed silent.
‘Well, WHY then?’ I demanded.
He shrugged. ‘Well, with all the dating you’ve been doing, you’re bound to get distracted. Drift off into Mills & Boon fantasies. Potent stuff. Naturally, your studies will suffer. As I’m not participating in the dating game, I think it’s safe to say that it’ll be top of the class for me all this year.’ He raised his chin in a smug gesture.
‘Paris, if I haven’t let your incessant ramblings distract me all these years, a date or two isn’t going to have a chance against my iron-willed focus. And,’ I added as a last retort, ‘you know nothing about my fantasies.’
‘No, I don’t,’ he agreed. ‘But knowing you, they’d be something highly original.’
I looked at him suspiciously. Was he saying I was a creative thinker or warped in the head?
Before I had a chance to reply, Mr Bannerman pointed Scott to the seat next to Cassie. All the girls in the class looked at her with envy. At least alphabetical seating was having a positive effect on someone’s life.
Mr Bannerman paced up and down between our desks. ‘Some interesting trivia to tickle your fancy before we get into dates and names —’
‘Dates?’ Jeffrey piped up. ‘Don’t get me started. I went to the movies last week with this brunette chick and when I tried to move into a bit of a pash she —’
‘Historical dates, Jeffrey,’ Mr Bannerman said firmly. ‘I don’t suppose you could tell me some? A little pop quiz maybe? Some interesting historical trivia to amaze your friends and relatives with? Maybe make that date a bit more intellectually stimulating, hmm, Jeffrey? Up your chances of a kiss?’
Jeffrey Clark wouldn’t be speaking up for the rest of the lesson.
‘The nursery rhyme “Jack jumped over the candlestick” was derived from a tradition in medieval England,’ Mr Bannerman went on, ‘that involved jumping over a lighted candle as a means of predicting the future.’
‘Sounds like one of Bradley Scott’s ancestors, huh?’ Hayden whispered to me.
‘You know, I’d assumed that an intelligent person like yourself —’
‘I knew you appreciated my intellect,’ Hayden said triumphantly.
‘— would choose to concentrate on higher matters than criticising my dates,’ I continued. ‘But I guess I was mistaken.’