Doctor Who_ Warchild - Andrew Cartmel [104]
At the front of the room the monk grinned good-naturedly at the noise and the laughter that followed it. He set his book aside and shook one of his voluminous sleeves aside so he could glance at his incongruously modern wrist-watch. ‘I agree that it all sounds a little esoteric,’ he said, climbing down from the desk. The girls in the front row bent low over their desks, taking one last look as he stood up. ‘And next week we’ll suggest some alternative paradigms to explain dominance in groups, as well as looking in further detail at the underlying mechanism. I want you all to read up on behavioural display in Skene and Lipsett, and write me a three-page essay on whether you think this is the key to alpha male dominance.’
At the mention of the three-page essay a disgusted groan arose from the kids, who were now standing up, gathering their books and noisily scraping chairs back under desks.
‘OK, OK,’ said the monk as the bell rang, signalling the change of periods. ‘That’s three pages on my desk next Tuesday.’
At the back of the room Wolf grinned and said, ‘OK, let’s go.’ He slipped out swiftly from behind his desk, taking Wally Saddler by surprise. Wally scrabbled to pick up his ratty old gym shorts and the one battered school-book he carried around, and followed.
‘What’s up?’ he said, catching up to Wolf.
‘We’re going to nail him.’
‘Nail who?’
‘Who do you think, numb-nuts? Ricky McIlveen.’
‘What, right now?’ said Wally with a sinking feeling in his stomach.
‘Sure. A little accident in the hallway between classes.’
Wally shook his head, worried. Fights took place after school, they always had. That was normal; it was the way things worked. Wally was more shocked than he cared to admit by this break with tradition.
A pale, tense-looking Ricky McIlveen was standing at the front of the class now, talking to the Buddhist monk as the other kids filed out.
‘He looks worried,’ said Wally.
‘He’s got plenty of reason to be,’ said Wolf. ‘Come on.
Let’s wait outside and then we’ll nail the little bastard.’
Wally followed Wolf out of the classroom into the mêlée of kids sweeping along the hallway. They stood waiting, their backs to a long bank of lockers, waiting for Ricky to come out.
But when he finally appeared he was still deep in conversation with the Young Master. The tall monk strolled along beside the boy like some exotic bodyguard as they walked past Wally and Wolf, heading down the hallway together.
‘Damn,’ said Wally, hiding his sudden rush of relief.
‘Doesn’t look like we’ll get a shot at him.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ said Wolf, pushing lazily away from the lockers and starting down the hall after the boy and the teacher.
‘But Wolf, we can’t do anything while the shine-head is with the kid.’
‘You can’t always have everything on a plate, Wally.
Sometimes you’ve got to meet luck halfway. Let’s just follow them a while and see what happens.’
Wally reluctantly set off down the hallway with Wolf, just close enough to Ricky and the Young Master to keep an eye on them in the crowd.
The mass of kids in the hallway was beginning to thin out as they disappeared into their appointed classrooms. As the crowd thinned Wally felt increasingly nervous. He and Wolf were nearing the location of their next class, which was Phys Ed, and Ricky and the monk were still deep in conversation. ‘I don’t think this is going to work out, Wolf,’ he said.
‘Don’t be like that Wally. Think positive.’ And Wolf smiled, because just then Ricky and the monk stopped walking.
‘This is it,’ said Wolf.
Sure enough, they had reached the point where the hallway forked in two different directions. Ricky nodded at the Young Master and then turned away to walk down the corridor towards the gym. The bald young man continued on his way towards the staffroom, his saffron robes flopping loosely around him.
‘Right on,’ said Wolf in a low, prayerful voice. ‘OK, Wally.
We grab him before he gets into the gym.’ Wolf Leemark turned to Wally Saddler and grinned. ‘Then we rush him down to the boiler-room,