Old Porters

Chapter Seventeen

Seventeen

                       

At first thing Monday morning, it was always difficult to get the Royal Park Upper students to pay attention. Even the teachers looked miserable at the prospect of spending another week in the building.

"Guys!" Mister Loxston, the kind of substitute teacher who desperately wanted to be liked by the horde of unruly students he had been lumped with, said from the front of the classroom. He waited until the students stopped talking. It took almost a minute but eventually they all finished their conversations. "Cool, thanks. You lucky people have a new comrade today." He looked at the open doorway parallel to him and nodded to someone just out of the student's view. "Meet Megan Jones."

     Megan entered the room and everyone agreed, shown by their stunned silence, that she looked perfect. She wore the same ugly green uniform as the other students, but on her, it looked right, it looked sultry. He clung to her in the right places, it hung loosely in the others. Her hair was scarlet, her eyes green, and her lips full and red.

"Hello," she said waving one of her hands whilst the other gripped nervously at her over the shoulder bag. Nobody could avoid looking at her, and it seemed that she was very on edge because of it.

"I don't like her," Charlotte said quietly. For once Kate agreed with her arch nemesis.

     "Are you a Meg or a Megan?" Mr Loxston asked.

     "Megan," she replied.

     "Well Megan if you'll find a seat," the teacher scanned the room, not looking for an empty seat, because he knew the class was already over filled, but for a space on a table. He found one, right at the front. "If you want to sit here," he said pointing to the table, "We'll get you a lab stool for now."

Megan took the stool and sat just a little too high at the table. The three students already sitting at the table looked at the girl with wide eyes.

"Guys you have to introduce yourselves now otherwise things will be awkward," Loxston said heading back to the whiteboard.

"I'm Steve," the tall and pimply teenager said, looking at the beautiful girl sitting opposite him. "That's Roger, and that's Abe."

Two days and twelve hours later, posed in front of his bedroom mirror, not daring to use the larger mirror in the bathroom, Roger studied his new coat. Black leather (or possibly leather effect fabric), minimal buttons minimal collar, slightly baggy cuffs. He did not understand why he looked more amazing Technicolor dream coat than that Enforcer guy did. He spun, letting the trench coat whip around him.

Rachel Watson gently opened her son's bedroom door, and paused as she watched her son spinning around in his coat.

"Roger?" she asked timidly as he paused, mid-spin and turned to her with more then a hint of embarrassment on his face.