life behind a lens

chapter three

We can hear yelling. I glance at Becky's face. She looks as though she is about to blow up. We both have our hands held tightly over our mouths, to stop any noise related to laughter escaping. Pausing for a minute, I hear a feeble excuse issue out of the door. The headmaster cuts the small voice off. "I'll have no excuses from you, Smith."

Finally Becky and I can't take it any longer. We rush out the side door of the offices and out towards the flower patches where we howl with laughter so much, when at last we can't breathe. Then we duck out of sight under a bush because people are beginning to stare. We sit there giggling until we calm down.

"Oh my gosh that was so funny!" Gasps Becky.

"Could have been worse, though." I reply. "Fred could have thrown another pie in Mr Meep's face like he did at primary school."

***

This sends us into fits of laughter again as we remember six years ago when George Smith managed to set off the fire alarm and his twin Fred had thrown a custard pie at the deputy's face when he had screamed at his brother for making everyone evacuate the building into the snow for no reason.

Then, being the incredibly stupid twin that there is at every school, he went and threw a huge snowball at the deputy when his back was turned. I remember watching with a group of other 9-year-olds as the cold wet snow trickled down his collar and neck. It was the best year of primary school ever.

***

We stay there making silent sounds of laughter for ages, that we don't even notice that the bell has gone. Then, when we finally fall silent, we realise that the grounds are dead silent. We must have missed nearly one hour of the lesson. Each one is two and a half hours long, since there is so much to learn. Becky and I agree that we shouldn't turn up this late to a lesson, considering the mood the headmaster is in today, so we sit there wondering what to do.
Then I think of a sudden stupid idea (I always get those) and almost jump out of our hiding place.

"What are you doing?!" Hisses Becky. "You're going to get us in heaps of trouble!"

"I've had an idea!" I whisper in her ear.

"Oh no! Not one of those stupid ones you have usually."

"Listen! We can catch a bus into town, and say we are on a photography trip, then take the land train down to the beach. We would have to walk a short way, but we need an adventure." I reply excitedly.

Yes I know I said the Photography Academy is in London, but long journeys are always fun. I can see Becky looking guilty, and I can tell she totally agrees with my idea. So I pull her underneath a rose bush (what a clever idea) and we start to creep down the lawn like spies (we should get a career in that).

As we pass five broken flower pots and a couple of crushed hedges, I think to myself guiltily that if we were to be caught, we would be far better off than the Smith twins would ever be. I smile mischievously at our plan, and wonder what life would be like without such adventures.