‘Try not to worry too much. You’ve not been arrested, that’s a long way down the road and will probably never happen in any case. As likely as not, Mr Delaney will turn up at his house sooner or later, a little bit calmer and hopefully a bit wiser too. And all of this will go away.’

It was a comforting thought. A good speech to wrap up our first meeting. But it wasn’t long before I found out how very badly wrong he was.

Tuesday

TUESDAY

Chapter 36

36

No matter how many times they were told, and how many detentions they got, there were always boys who insisted on keeping their shirts untucked as they walked into school. Who felt like today was the day to push boundaries on the dress code. The only problem was, the boundaries at Haddon Park Academy had no flexibility. Every day, according to the assistant head teacher’s unyielding view of discipline, I was required to stop dress code offenders and tell them to report to the sports hall at the end of the day so they could spend an hour in general detention.

The assistant head was like that. There was no compromise in his world. The rules are all that stand between us and special measures, was one of his favourite clichés. So every morning, on my walk from my car to the staffroom, there would be detention-bait crossing my path. And so it was today. Three pupils, in Year Nine and therefore old enough to know better, strolled towards me as I got out of my car. All three with untucked shirts flapping in the wind. I duly told them to report to general detention at 2.45 p.m. Most days they would simply accept defeat and report as instructed to take their punishment, but today, instead of shuffling away in the direction of the their form rooms, they stayed where they were, right in front of me. I looked at the tallest boy, who was six feet plus with a shock of blond hair standing up off his head. There was a smirk on his face, something in his eyes that said he knew something I didn’t.

‘You all right, sir?’

‘Yes, fine. Thanks for your concern. Now you’d better get moving if you don’t want to be late for registration.’

He stayed standing in front of me, with the annoying teenage grin still plastered to his face.

‘Just asking how you’re doing, sir.’

‘Never better. Now tuck your shirts in, you know the rules.’

You little smart-arse, I added in my head.

All three of them sniggered as if my answer was hilarious. Some other boys drifted past and the three of them joined onto the larger group, tucking their shirts in as they went.