Doctor Who_ Warchild - Andrew Cartmel [74]
The food at Scopes High was pretty good and Ricky felt his appetite growing as he stared at the bright colours behind the heated glass and breathed in the cooking smells. His stomach growled quietly with approval as he watched the white-clad kitchen staff spoon the neat portions on to his plate. Ricky chose a delicately spiced coconut curry; great-looking plump mushrooms deep-fried in batter; and some kind of freshly baked bread delicately marbled with red and green, revealing the herbs and tomatoes in it. And, just for the hell of it, onion rings and fries.
All he needed now to make this feast complete was a nice, cold drink.
He set his tray down at the cutlery station and headed over to the soft-drinks machine.
In some ways this was a dangerous thing to do, because the machine was against the wall right behind Wolf Leemark’s table. Ricky hadn’t forgotten his encounter with the school bully the other day. Leemark had been pissed off because someone was intruding on his turf. Admittedly, he didn’t know the identity of that someone, but it was only a matter of time until he found out.
Leemark was holding court at his table with a group of thuggish jocks, including the plump red-haired clown called Wally Saddler, and a skinny sexy-looking girl with long suntanned arms and legs.
Ricky felt a surge of jealousy about the girl’s presence on Wolf Leemark’s table. What were the odds against such a girl ever sitting beside Ricky in the lunchroom? She wasn’t exactly beautiful, but she had a cute kind of turned-up nose, a nice smile, and that great tan. There was just something about her that was exciting, that took your breath away in a sexy kind of way.
Then sexual interest began to give way to alarm. Some faint alarm bell was going off in Ricky’s mind; he’d begun to feel anxious as he crossed the room. He knew he’d already made some bad mistake.
He realized too late that he was paying too much attention to Wolf Leemark’s table.
The suntanned girl had become aware of him looking at her. Now she was looking back. And as a result Wally Saddler had noticed him, too.
Ricky could see a look of dumb hostility forming on the redhead’s chubby face. That was bad. And if Wolf Leemark noticed him, it would be even worse.
But then one of the other thugs at the table said something, a joke, and everyone laughed and Wally Saddler was distracted. He forgot all about Ricky as he turned to his friends and said something else, another joke. Eager to get in on the act, eager to top everybody else.
When Ricky reached the far wall of the lunchroom he felt a wave of relief. He’d got away with it. His back was tingling with the awareness of Wolf Leemark’s table right behind him. It was like having an unexploded bomb behind him. Ricky gave the drinks machine his order, paid for it and collected the cool can as it rolled out of the machine’s refrigerated interior.
Drink in hand, he turned back to collect his tray. Moving slowly across the lunchroom he did his best to become unnoticeable, just one more anonymous kid in the crowd; and this time none of the boys at wolf’s table even looked up as he crept past them.
The girl was still watching him, though. Out of the corner of her eye, trying not to be obvious about it. Dropping a paper napkin on the floor, and sneaking a glance at Ricky as she reached under the table to pick it up. He could feel her eyes on him as he set the soft-drink can on his tray and carried it back to join Tommy and Phil at their table.
Tommy and Phil were OK. They were outsiders but they welcomed Ricky’s presence and he knew they’d soon be friends. Phil made some insulting remarks about Ricky’s choice of lunch and Tommy made gruesome speculations about the origins of the protein in the curry, but it was only good-natured ribbing. Ricky felt relaxed and buoyant. Life wasn’t going to be so bad at Scopes High. Maybe the trouble wouldn’t start for a long time.
Maybe it wouldn’t start at all.
Ricky set about eating with considerable gusto. He was thoroughly enjoying his curry, mopping up the golden sauce