THE PRICE OF SUCCESS – PART TWO

THE PRICE OF SUCCESS – PART TWO

By Bob French

Monday morning, Jimmy was in high spirits.  He had decided that, as the coming Friday was the thirteenth, he felt it an appropriate day to bring down Mandy Thriftwood and her bullies, much like the fate of the Templar Knights of days gone by.  

That afternoon, he asked Alex to spread the news that Dalton’s, the fashion shop in town was having a huge ‘end of season’ sale on Friday and Saturday of this week.  He knew two things; that Miriam Smith, a fashion nut, would get to hear of it, and secondly, so that she would be first in the queue, she’d pull a sicky by informing the school secretary that she had a doctor’s appointment on Friday morning.

Jimmy made a point of getting detention on Monday evening so that he would be one of the last, other than the cleaners, to leave the school building.  As he made his way out, he swung past the school secretary’s office and helped himself to a sheet of school headed paper and an envelope.  That night he used his father’s computer to write a letter to Rashi Mohammad’s parents inviting them into school to discuss their daughter’s chances of being accepted onto a fast-track course for high flying students earmarked for university.  The letter asked them to turn up at 2pm on Friday the 13^th.  On the way to school on Tuesday, he posted it.

Josh and some of his cronies had been watching the McGregor’s home every day since  the meeting with Jimmy and had ascertained that Wednesday afternoon, McGregor’s Dad was away at work and Mrs. McGregor was attending her Zumba Classes down at the local gym.  It took him fifteen minutes to gain access to their home, hide a quantity of heroin in Philippa’s bedroom and her father’s study. 

Once the McGregor’s house had been ‘fixed’, one of Josh’s mates joined the people who were mingling around the canteen area prior to attending the adult education courses that ran on Wednesday evening at the school.  As the bell warned students to report to their respective classrooms, Josh’s mate slipped away and dropped the plain envelope containing the stolen credit cards into Jimmy’s locker then went across to Philippa McGregor’s locker; opened it, lifted the photo of Ed Sheeran, pasted four small bags of the good stuff against the door of her locker then resealed the picture.  He left the school having given the briefest of thoughts of staying on for a little further education.

By the time Jimmy reached the school gates on Thursday morning, he had come to terms with the fact that he had to sit with Alex at lunchtime to ensure this particular part of the plan would work.  Alex had been very chatty whilst Jimmy grunted and nodded at the appropriate times.  As they exchanged parts of their lunch, Jimmy slipped across the plain envelope to her with specific instructions that she was to give it to her sister that evening.  Alex nodded and continued to talk about a film she would like him to take her to see over the weekend.

The sound of the bell brought a mad rush as students hurried to their classes. Jenifer moved up behind Jimmy and quietly informed him ‘that it was all fixed.’  Alex spun around, but Jenifer had melted into the crowd before she could be noticed. When Alex looked back at Jimmy, he just smiled at her and said, “what?”   

Jenifer felt very pleased with herself as she sat down in the classroom.  Her part of the plan required a little ingenuity on her part to ensure that she could never be implicated in the plot but was pleased that the end result would be catastrophic for the Thriftwood’s.

There was something in the air on Friday the thirteenth; a buzz of excitement, a feeling of change? For some strange reason, no one could put their finger on it.  Then all hell broke loose.  Three police cars with sirens blaring, came screaming into the school grounds; screeched to a halt at the front door of the school. A policewoman, a police sergeant and two policemen came charging into the school.  Everyone on the south side of the school saw them arrive and within ten minutes, the whole school knew that something was amiss.  Then within minutes, the Headteacher burst into the Geography class and yelled at the top of his voice.

“McGregor! Follow me!”  Philippa slowly stood, showing her defiance at her treatment.  The policewoman was having none of it and roughly spun her around, grabbed her arms behind her back and clamped a pair of handcuffs on her.  As she left, everyone in the class started cheering. 

She was frog-marched in front of the students, who were now chattering with excitement, down to the student locker area and ordered to open her locker.  The second she opened it she was pushed aside by the police sergeant who began to search it.  He quickly found the drugs hidden behind the photograph and spun around and holding up the four little bags, asked her to explain what they were.  By this time most of the students had emptied from their classrooms and were watching the proceedings.  The cheering was starting to spread around the congregated masses.  The police sergeant had to raise his voice.

“I am cautioning you, Miss McGregor, for being in possession of what might turn out to be drugs.  Anything you say may…. The rest was drowned out by the cheers from the rest of the students who were now enjoying the downfall of Philippa McGregor.

By lunchtime, the food hall was still buzzing with excitement at the morning’s events.  Padma took a deep breath, then slowly moved towards the table where Thriftwood and Mohammad were sitting. As she put her tray down, Thriftwood stared at her, then glanced at Mohammad in amazement.

“Get lost and go find another stone to hide under you little git.”  But Padma ignored Mohammad’s threats and carried on with settling down to eat her lunch.  The two girls ignored her, then with her mouth full, Mohammad asked where Miriam was?

“Doctors appoint she told me.”  At which point Padma looked up and smiled.

“What’s so bloody funny runt face?”

Padma ignored the barrage of abuse, bad language and threats aimed at her by Mohammad and continued to eat her lunch.  When she finished, she stood, turned her back on them and left.  Mohammad, by this time, was fuming and cursing under her breath.  “How dare that little insignificant brat of a girl ignore me like that.”

Padma made her way through the crowded tables, then frowned as young Mark gave her the thumbs up.  She paused and wondered why he should be doing that to her, then she caught sight of a young man sitting next to him who was wearing a school blazer that was clearly too small for him.  She smiled, then made her way out of the dining area.

Without looking back, Padma made her way down the passage to the gymnasium and storeroom corridor. Just as she reached the mark on the corridor floor where Franky had told her she had to stand, she slowed. As predicted, Mohammad came racing up behind her and grabbed her hair and started to pull it, screaming abuse at her, criticizing her religion and her race.  Padma took the first slap across the face but then she felt the kick to her leg and went down.  As she sat with her back to the wall, she slipped out the replica knife Franky had given her and pushed it across the floor.  Mohammad laughed, stooped down and picked it up, then dragged Padma up by her hair and pushed her up against the gym wall, threatening her with the knife and continuing to verbally abuse her.  She only stopped when she heard heavy footsteps approaching, then quickly left.

Copyright Bob French