BBC Ghosts: Teatime Club

Maestro

Pat grimaced as he studied the letter Mr Cooper had given him not so long ago. At the top of the page in bold text read the words PARENTS EVENING.

Great.

Parents evening was the one time Pat's parents could justifiably reprimand him in public, and they always did just that. They'd bitch about him to the teachers regarding his lack of skills and weaknesses in general, and just made him feel incredibly worthless all around.

"What's up, Pat?" Robin greeted, patting his friend's shoulder as he slid onto the chair next to him. He peeked at the letter. "Ah, parents evening. Not a fan?"

"Who is, really?" Pat smiled it off, folding his letter and sliding it into his bag. "How was your lesson?"

"Boring." Robin huffed, pulling out his lunch. "At least I got to speak to Mary."

"You really like Mary, don't you, Robin?" Pat smiled.

Robin turned bright red. "We're just good friends."

"Okay, Robin."

"Yeah." Robin sipped from his juice carton.

Pat started eating his lunch. As his eyes wandered across the cafeteria, he spotted Thomas walking into the room. The poet was clearly lost in his thoughts so didn't see the leg suddenly stick out in front of him. Thomas tripped over it and ended up sprawled on the floor as a group of boys Pat was rather too familiar with started laughing at him. After the laughter had settled, Thomas stood up angrily and marched over to Pat's table in a huff. He lowered himself onto a seat and remained with his arms and legs crossed.

Thomas frowned. "I suppose you saw that, didn't you? Go ahead, laugh it up."

Pat shook his head. "It wasn't funny, Thomas. Are you okay?"

Thomas' shoulders sagged momentarily. "Oh I'm just dandy."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Thomas stared at him pointedly, "No, not really."

"Not to worry. If you ever feel like sharing anything, you can always talk to me. If you want to. N-No pressure or anything." Pat wringed his hands and cleared his throat. "Okay?"

"Understood." Thomas sniffed haughtily.

Turning his eyes away from Thomas, Robin yawned. "Where is everyone today?"

"In detention, probably."

"Why?"

"I think Julian started a class riot." Pat recalled.

"He did WHAT?"

"Oh you know how he is. I think a class debate sort of got a bit out of hand, then he started a mutiny, or something."

"How do you know this?" Thomas asked.

"It's all everyone's been talking about. I don't mean to eavesdrop, but when you're surrounded by people talking about it then it sort of sticks in your memory." Pat explained.

"Oh."

"I think Cap went to talk to Will. I don't know where Humphrey is."

"Fair enough."

The three boys sat in silence while they ate their lunch. They were soon joined by an irate Fanny, with Julian on her tail, laughing his head off.

"It's not funny you cretin! Stop laughing about it!"

"But it was hilarious!" Julian chortled. "Did you see the way Hill swang for Thompson? It was priceless!"

Fanny dumped herself next to Thomas. "He almost knocked him out!"