Chapter Twenty Two – Back to School

It had seemed impossibly far away for so long, but now it was time to start walking. A cold feeling seeped through Matt’s chest. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the sliding door.

“All set, Matt?” Jane asked quietly.

Matt nodded and stood up. “Can’t wait,” he said with a gently sarcastic tone.

Jane reached out and wrapped her arms around him. “I was never super enthusiastic about school either, Matt. It’s just something we have to do.”

Matt nodded. “Better go. I’m meeting some friends.” He bent down, giving Lola one last scratch as he picked up his bag. Lola followed Matt to the gate and tried to push her way through, but Matt held her back with his leg.

“Don’t worry about Lola, I’m taking her for a walk,” called Jane.

Matt walked slowly with his hands in his pockets. He was aware he had not felt like this since finishing school the previous year. His phone buzzed, it was Kiana, “Hurry up, fatso.” Matt picked up the pace and rounded the corner. There was Kiana in the distance. When she saw him she tapped an imagined watch on her arm and with eyes wide open jiggled her head. Matt smiled, Kiana had the googly eye look totally mastered. Kiana was much more positive about starting college than Matt was. She informed Matt that Nikau was going to be late on the first day back and that when it came to school, boys were just stupid. Kiana gave Matt a very satisfied look when they met Jed, who without prompting, explained that the primary reason for going to school was to eat lunch. None of them wanted to walk through the school gates alone on their first day. Though, once they were through the gates Kiana abandoned them.

“Nothing personal, guys, just need to look after my image.”

Matt and Jed wandered cautiously around looking for friends, but without luck. The time came for the first-year students to meet in the main hall. A few teachers spoke and explained the timetable and some basic rules. Matt was very curious about one rule regarding accountability. If a teacher did not play their part they could be put on detention too, including being on litter duty.

The first class was maths. To Matt’s great joy, Jed and Kiana were in the same class. Matt sat next to Jed and right behind Kiana. The teacher faced them with a big smile and her hands on her hips.

“Well, you must all be SO pleased to have got into maths class!” she exclaimed. “Did you know the biggest problem with maths is getting anyone to leave? Honestly, if we didn’t chase the students out they would stay the night.” There was some muted, nervous laughter. The teacher went on to explain how the assignments and tests could be done on the students’ phones instead of paper. “Let’s start right now. For practice let’s do a quick test. Phones out, please. Anyone need a paper copy?”

Matt looked at Jed and pulled a surprised face. “We get to use phones in class?” he thought.

“Make sure you are connected to the school WiFi, open this link and sign in.” The teacher walked around the classroom handing out paper versions for those who needed one.

“If you have a paper copy please don’t turn it over until I say so and remember to put your name at the top. You will have plenty of time. If you finish early please don’t chat, draw a picture instead. We will look at the pictures at the end. Ready, set GO.”

The teacher punched both hands in the air and smiled at anyone still looking up. “You can use paper as much as you want, even if you are doing the test with a device.”

Matt glanced at Jed, but Jed did not notice as he had his elbows on the table and his face in his hands while he stared at his phone.

At the end of the allotted time, the teacher walked around collecting the paper copies.

“Now,” she said, “you can chat, or draw, while I mark and enter these.”

Matt noticed that Kiana was furiously drawing, he turned to look at Jed. Jed gave a thumbs up, Matt nodded in reply. Jed looked down and started drawing on his pad. Matt glanced around the room, most students were drawing, a few were chatting quietly.

“Okay, team,” the teacher called loudly. “WELL done. I am very happy with the results. It will help me choose what to focus on. One person even got one hundred per cent, woohoo! But don’t stress if this wasn’t you. We are here to learn maths, after all, not to know everything at the start. Now let’s look at those pictures.” The teacher walked around the class and asked the students to stand up, say their name and hold up their picture. When Kiana held up her picture the class burst out laughing. It was a picture of a dog on the back of a bicycle. The dog had an oversized head with a massive tongue and very big eyes, the rider was drawn in exactly the same way. Kiana looked down at Matt and smiled. Matt smiled back before putting his hand on his face in mock shame.

“Okay, class How about we put this one on the wall?” There was a loud cheer of support. Matt shook his head at Kiana with his eyebrows raised. Kiana gave him the googly eye look.

“What’s the go here, guys?” asked the teacher as she looked back and forth between Kiana and Matt.

“It’s him,” someone yelled from the back of the class, “I’ve seen him riding around town.” The class laughed loudly.

 

The teacher smiled at Matt. “You take your dog for a ride on your bike?”

Matt nodded.

“What’s the dog’s name?”

“Lola.”

“Lola, what a lovely name. What’s your name?”

“Matt.”

“Okay.” Then turning to Kiana. “Please put Matt and Lola on the top and your name on the bottom.” The teacher waited for Kiana to finish then walked over to the sidewall and pinned up her picture.

“Who’s next?”

Jed put up his hand and stood up. “This is Dexter and this is Bess, she is biting me on the ass.” Again the class roared with laughter.

“I think your dog needs more training,” said the teacher.

“It’s not my dog and that IS its training,” replied Jed. “It’s meant to bite you on the ass.” It took some time for the class to settle down before the teacher could speak again.

“Well, that’s another picture for the wall. Please put Dexter and Bess at the top and your name on the bottom.” The teacher spent the rest of the class walking around looking at pictures and talking to the students. When the bell rang the teacher put her hands on her hips and shook her head. “I am so sorry guys, but you really do need to go now.”

Matt caught Kiana’s eye as they walked out. He gave her a half-smile and shook his head again. As expected she gave him her googly eye look. “How did you do on the test?” asked Matt.

Kiana rolled her eyes, pulled out her phone and after a few clicks held it in front of Matt’s face, ‘100%.’

Jed, who was looking over Matt’s shoulder exclaimed loudly, “Whoa!”

Kiana put her phone back in her bag and pointed at her foot that was now in front of Matt. “You may kiss my foot, mere peasant.” Matt laughed awkwardly, as he came to realise he had misjudged Kiana, both in how smart she was and how sassy she was.

Jed pushed Matt forward slightly. “Go on, man, do it.”

Kiana tilted her head to the side and stared at Jed. “You though, you can kiss my…” she said, pointing to her partly turned butt, “but not now, later. I will let you know when I need to fart.” With a final open-eyed stare, Kiana turned and walked away. Matt looked at Jed. They were both thinking the same thing, girls would be a long way off.

During interval, Matt and Jed decided to do a walk around their new school. They steered clear of groups of older boys, occasionally they passed others that they knew and waved. What they hoped to find was somewhere safe to eat their lunch and make their own. Matt tapped Jed’s arm and stopped walking, they had walked straight into Rooster and a group of his friends. Matt turned to Jed and whispered, “Let’s just walk away.”

But there would be no walking away. Rooster walked briskly toward them followed by several of his closest allies. “How’s the first day of school, ladies?”

Rooster walked right up to Matt, but Matt stood still. He was not backing down this time. Rooster pushed his chest into Matt’s forcing him to step back. When Matt stepped back he fell over one of Rooster’s allies who had crouched behind him. But making things much worse was that the ally had stood up as Matt began to fall, lifting Matt’s legs into the air. Matt managed to turn slightly to avoid hitting his head but still fell heavily onto his shoulder. Matt completed a back roll and stood up. One of the boys was holding Jed by the collar. Matt walked straight up to Rooster and pushed his chest into Rooster’s, driving him backwards. Matt stared into Rooster’s eyes. He could feel that he was bigger than Rooster now, stronger than Rooster now. As he looked at Rooster he could see Rooster felt this too.

There was the sound of pounding footsteps as other boys arrived, but Matt ignored them. He could tell that Rooster felt overpowered and he wanted him to keep feeling that. He kept pushing. A scuffle broke out behind Matt, followed by the sound of a loud slap. The boy who had tripped Matt came running past, but he only made a few steps before being tripped by another bigger boy.

“One on one,” called a deeper older voice, “come on, one on one.”

Matt raised his eyebrows to Rooster. “I’m good.”

They were interrupted by the unmistakable voice of a male teacher. “Break it up, back away.” Matt took a step back but kept his eyes firmly on Rooster. He smiled, Rooster had backed down, he was defeated. The teacher stepped between them and pushed them further apart.

“Settle down, it’s all over.” Matt looked around at the crowd that had gathered so quickly. He recognised some of the boys he had met with Nikau and raised his head to them. They raised their heads in return. It was them, Matt realised, who had come to his aid. Soon more teachers arrived and Matt, Jed, Rooster, his allies and some witnesses were taken away. Luckily for Matt, Jed’s enthusiastic and colourful account was to some degree backed up by other witnesses and after convincing a teacher that he had not hit his head was allowed to leave. Though by the time Matt and Jed were free it was lunch break and they had missed a class.

Matt and Jed followed the instructions in Ricky’s message to meet them on the sports field. “Hey, guys, all good?” asked Ricky. “You’ve missed some action. Apparently, there’s been a fight already.” Jed looked at Matt to see if he was going to say anything, then having got Ricky’s attention pointed at Matt and nodded.

“What? No way. Matt, have YOU been in a scrap?” asked Ricky.

Matt held up his hands and dropped them by his side. “Not really, it wasn’t my fault.”

“It was ridiculous Rooster,” blurted Jed, “and his hideous henchmen.”

“Are you okay, Matt?” asked Ricky with clear concern.

“Yep. I’m fine,” replied Matt, “I think it’s over with Rooster now.”

Ricky nodded. “Okay, but for goodness sake let me know if it isn’t.”

Matt nodded. “Let’s train.”

Ricky explained lunchtime training. They would use the dead ball area of the rugby field to do a series of sprints. Starting from the side of the field they would sprint to the first post and back, the second post and back, the full width and back, the second and first post again. They would do three complete sets to start with then four, five and so on as they got fitter. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Rain, hail or shine.

“Once you two are nailing this we will add in some squat jumps.”

“Can’t wait,” said Jed with mock enthusiasm.

After school, Matt and Jed waited just inside the school gate for Kiana as they agreed to. Kiana appeared with some of the other girls from their classes.

“Hi guys. Thanks for waiting,” she said as she walked straight past with her friends. The other girls giggled.

Jed shrugged his shoulders to Matt. “Oh well, let’s go,” he said with a ‘why were we waiting’ tone.

“Girls are weird,” said Matt as they set off.

“Are you going to take Lola for a walk?” asked Jed.

“Yep.”

“Can I come?” asked Jed excitedly.

“Sure, we could walk to your place.”

The boys walked briskly, motivated by their desire to see Lola and also a bit excited about the events of the day. Matt was sure the Rooster issue was sorted. He had agreed to let Rooster and his accomplice apologise. But this would be later in the week when things had calmed down. It seemed that Rooster and his accomplice would not be at school for a few days.

Both Matt and Jed were startled when Nikau ran from behind, yelling as he jumped between them. Nikau was hyper-excited about the ‘bros’ intervening to help Matt.

“You’re sweet now, man. Those other fellas won’t come near you, like ever.”

Matt smiled and nodded. He was very aware of the impact the day’s events would have once news of them had spread around the school.

“Where are you guys going?” asked Nikau.

“Walking Lola,” replied Jed.

“Cool, I’ll come too.”

Lola jumped and pulled when she saw Nikau and Jed waiting at the end of the driveway. Matt theatrically stumbled forward, as if he was about to be dragged along the ground.

The three boys chatted happily on their way to Jed’s house. Nikau filled Matt and Jed in on his colourful view of school, the various teachers and activities. Of particular interest were the physical assessments each term, with the first one being only two weeks away.

Jed’s mum gave Nikau, Matt and Jed two biscuits each with instructions to eat outside. They were homemade biscuits. Fat, crumbly and delicious. Matt loved Jed’s mum. She was hardly any bigger than they were, yet very much the boss. What stood out though, was her seemingly endless good humour. It did not seem whatever Jed did, broke, lost or forgot. His mum would always just roll her eyes, maybe playfully pull on his ear and ask him what he was going to do about it. It had never occurred to Matt to ask about the absence of Jed’s father. There just wasn’t one and that was that.

Once the biscuits were consumed and Jed’s very small, cluttered bedroom inspected, Matt and Nikau said their goodbyes and set off. Matt decided to take Lola the long way home via the river.

As Matt approached the river Lola started pulling on the leash. She knew this would mean a swim and being free to run. Matt looked up and down the river. There was a lady with her dog some distance away, but otherwise, the coast was clear. Matt squatted down next to Lola. “Stay,” instructed Matt. Lola sat down, brushing her tail on the grass. Matt unclipped the leash and ran toward the water, Lola tore past him and jumped in. The water was shallow and Lola ran back and forth, splashing a little more than was necessary, but just enough to have a lot of fun. Lola heard the other dog barking in the distance and immediately turned her attention to it. She started walking toward the dog.

“Get here. Lola, get here,” called Matt urgently. But it was too late. Lola was now running flat out to the other dog. Matt ran after her, calling her back. When Lola got close she slowed down. As soon as the other dog saw her it started confidently trotting toward Lola. Lola stopped, turned and started running back to Matt with her tail between her legs. Weirdly though, Lola ran in a funny, slow way, not flat out like before. The other dog soon caught up and Lola rolled on to her back. Lola lay very still while she was thoroughly sniffed and inspected. By this time the lady had also arrived.

“Good girl, Latte, good girl.” Latte wagged her tail and walked toward the lady who was now squatting down. Seeing this Lola rolled to her feet and ran to the lady wagging her whole body. When Latte approached Lola she again rolled over and tucked her tail between her legs.

“Sorry,” said Matt as he arrived.

“That’s okay,” said the lady. “What’s your puppy’s name?”

“Lola,” Matt replied.

“What a gorgeous pup. This is Latte. She’s very friendly, let’s give them a few minutes to sort things out.”

Latte approached Matt wagging her tail. She was a white and tan dog, about the same size as Lola but very clearly an adult. Latte had a thick tan mark above her right eye which made it look like she was raising an eyebrow. Matt bent over and gave Latte a scratch on the side of her neck. Immediately Lola ran over and tried to push between Matt and Latte. Matt stood up to give the dogs space. Latte jumped back from Lola and waited with her front paws stretched out in front of her and her belly on the ground. She gave a little bark as if to hurry Lola along. Lola stood up and barked back, she didn’t seem quite sure what to do. Latte lunged at Lola only to pull back and start running. Lola took the bait and started chasing. Back and forth they went along the river bank, occasionally running through the water. Lola barked endlessly. Now and then Latte would stop, face Lola and they would both jump into the air snapping at one another before the chase resumed. Matt and the lady laughed and laughed each time one of the dogs fell over or they ran into each other.

“This is great,” the lady said, “normally I have to run up and down the river!”

“Me too,” Matt replied.

Latte and Lola came trotting back side by side with Lola biting Latte on the neck. Both dogs were panting hard. Matt crouched down and clapped his hands.

“Lola. Get here, Lola,” he called. Lola walked slowly over and sat down while Matt clipped her leash on.

“Bye,” he said as he stood up and started to walk away.

“Maybe see you two again,” said the lady, “we come here every day around this time.”

“Yep,” said Matt while smiling.

“Bye, Lola. You’re very cute.”