Peter wanted to run to the stairs, but Helen’s hands gently landed on his shoulders and directed him toward the kitchen door.
Berlanin chuckled. “You didn’t really think you would make it, did you?” he said as Peter’s hands touched the kitchen door.
“He would never try to escape,” said Helen. “He knows he wouldn’t get far, don’t you?” She tightened her grip and set him in the first chair they came to.
“Well, what the heck’s going on?” said Helen as she and Berlanin sat opposite him.
Peter explained all that had happened to him after he entered the school, right up to when he put his hand through the numbered buttons.
“So, what you’re saying is that you put your fist through a locker,” said Berlanin, “then you put your hand through the number panel. So we need a new code panel?”
“No, I didn’t damage the code panel. My hand turned a little transparent,” said Peter.
“A little transparent?”
“Yeah, just a little,” said Peter, frustrated, for he felt as if he were being grilled. “I mean, it still had colour, but I could just about see through it.”
“I don’t care about that stupid number panel or that bloody locker. What I want to know is what the heck does that principal think he’s doing? He can’t punish you for the damaged locker without proof that you did it,” fumed Helen. “It’s that Weavger again! How does he get away with it? This time he won’t!”
“You’re right. I’ll go see if the principal will reverse his suspension or at least stop him from getting expelled,” said Berlanin.
“No, I’m going, and I’m going to end this once and for all,” said Helen angrily.
“And what does that mean?” asked the Wizard.
“What do you think it means? I’m going to tell that smarmy git, that if he ever touches my son again, I’ll kill him. Then I’ll go to the principal and ask why he’s accusing my son of doing something without any proof.”
“But Helen, he did do it. He admitted it to us. So we’d do better drawing as little attention as possible to the locker incident.”
Helen’s temper finally broke.
“SO WHAT THE HECK DO YOU WANT ME TO DO, BEN, JUST LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT?”
“NO, I’M JUST SAYING THAT IT WOULD BE BETTER TO USE DISCRETION! IT’S NOT AS IF ANY OF THIS IS GOING TO MATTER IN THE LONG RUN. AFTER ALL, WE’LL BE OUT OF HERE SOON, ANYWAY!” shouted Berlanin, also losing his temper. For he, like Helen, would never stand for anybody trying to push him around. Though in his bout of anger he slipped up and Peter had noticed.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” said Peter. “Where are we going?”
“Ah … We were planning on telling you later,” said Helen.
Berlanin threw a worried look her way, as though he was trying to say ‘no, not yet.’
“You see, as part of your birthday present, we’re taking you on holiday,” she lied.
“Where are we going?”
“That’ll spoil the surprise,” said Berlanin quickly.
It seemed that they both momentarily forgot about Peter’s trouble in trying clean-up the slip up. And this was proven when Helen put her thumbs up behind Peter as he was distracted by Berlanin’s quick recovery.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Berlanin saw this, and a slight smirk appeared on his face.
Peter, thinking that Helen was doing something funny behind his back, whipped round, though by that time she had already stopped with the thumbs.
“Well, a holiday sounds good. So we’ll forget about the school for now and start packing,” said Peter, excited by this great news and by the thought of no more school for a while.
Helen’s eyes lit up as the thought of Weavger angered her once more.
“Come on,” she said as she grabbed Peter’s arm and headed for the door.
“Can I grab my wand before we go?” Peter asked, as he pulled in the direction of the door. “If things don’t go our way, I can try the new transformation spell Delsani taught me and turn Weavger into a real toad.”
“Nice idea,” Helen remarked, “but no time.”
“Good luck,” said Berlanin. The Wizard knew there was no point in arguing with her any longer and just decided to let her get on with it. Not that he would be able to stop her without using magic, which was not an option with Peter there.
As Helen opened the front door, she saw and heard Saren and Henkot walking across the gravel driveway.
“Hey,” said Saren as Helen looked up and caught sight of them, “we’ve come to help with pa… party-decorations,” said Saren. She said the last two words of the sentence so quickly it sounded like one. It was because she was surprised to see Peter, who was still fighting to free his wrist.
“What is Peter doing home so early?” asked Henkot curiously.
“It seems there’s a little something I have to do at his school before I can help,” said Helen.
“Trouble?” said the Wicca.
“You could say that,” said Helen. She quickly ran over everything that Peter had said. And as she was explaining, she let go of Peter, who was not wasting any time and had already started up the steps to the front door.
“In the car,” said Helen, as if she had eyes on the back of her head.
“I’m just going to er… get a board off the wall in case -”
“You won’t need it.”
“But I always bring a board whenever we go out -”
“In the car,” she repeated as she pinched her left jeans pocket to press the button to unlock the car doors. She got it. The indicators flashed, and the doors clicked open as Peter walked as though to his execution.
Helen asked Saren and Henkot to go on in and Berlanin would explain the rest of the story.
Helen asked Saren and Henkot to go on in and Berlanin would explain the rest of the story.
It was not long before she joined Peter in the car and they were on their way.
As Helen drove to the school, Peter thought that it might be a good idea to try and calm her down or even try to make it sound as though it was not as bad as he had originally made it out to be.
“You know, mum, you don’t have to do this. The principal also said that if I apologized to Weavger, it would just be suspension. I know I wouldn’t like having to apologize to him, but if it keeps me in school,” he said thinking more about his reputation more than school. For what would it look like if people saw his mum fighting his battles for him? Peter usually didn’t care what people thought, but this was different. This battle between Mr. Weavger and him had been going on for years, and if it looked as though Peter needed Helen to help him, well, it wouldn’t look good for him.
“Why didn’t you tell me that before?” said Helen her temper getting hotter as she thought of it. “HOW DARE HE ASK YOU TO APOLOGIZE TO THAT GIT!” she shouted frantically.
They turned the last corner and could see the grey school, its blue doors, white frame and matching window frames straight head.
Helen pulled into the closest parking space she could find, just in case they needed to get out in a hurry.
“Come on. The sooner we get in, the sooner this’ll all be sorted out,” said Helen. The anger could still be heard clearly in her voice as she stood waiting. “Come on, Peter.”
“Can’t I just stay in the car?”
“No,” she said firmly. “Either you get out of the car now, or I’ll grab you by the neck and knickers and drag you up to the principal’s office. It’s completely your choice.”
“The principal’s office? So you’ve changed your mind about seeing Weavger?” said Peter hopefully as he stepped out of the car.
“No, I’m still going to see him about the way he treats you, but you’re going to wait outside the principal’s office.”
Peter’s hopes were suddenly shattered by her words.
They went in right away, and just as she said, Helen left Peter outside the principal’s office and made her way to Mr. Weavger’s English Class. She opened the door gently and without knocking.
Weavger looked up when the door opened.
“Helen,” he said as though they were old friends who had not seen each other in years.
“I want to talk to. Now,” said Helen firmly.
“Fine, we’ll go into the empty classroom across the hall,” said Weavger kindly, as though he had not the faintest idea why she was there. “Right, boys and girls, keep copying the writing on the board into your books, and I’ll be back soon. Do not, under any circumstances, move from your seats unless absolutely necessary. Have you got that?”
“Yes, Mr. Weavger,” said the class all at once.
Helen moved aside for Weavger to get past and followed him to the empty classroom.
As soon as the door of the empty room shut, the whole class got up, ran to the class door, and strained their ears to listen. But they soon found that they did not need to, for the shouting started shortly afterward.