Alex Gray - Glasgow Kiss

But then again, Julie had finished with Kyle right after her return from the Scripture Union camp. .

Kyle slithered to a halt, his trainers squealing on the vinyl floor of the dining hall. A chicken and veggie wrap, that’s what he’d have — any thoughts about Mr Chalmers and Julie Donaldson disappearing as he concentrated on a fifteen-year-old boy’s all-important task of filling his belly.

‘Oh, that’s better,’ Sandie declared, slumping into the staffroom armchair, legs stretched out in front of her. ‘First night at badminton. Why do I do it? Everything hurts!’ she complained.

‘Och, you’ll be used to it in no time,’ Maggie assured her. ‘You’re always worse at the beginning of term.’

‘True,’ Sandie admitted, wincing a little as she rolled her shoulders. ‘What a morning I’ve had, though. See that Fourth Year? Hopeless! Haven’t a clue about basic accounts.’ The Business Studies teacher picked up a crumpled brown paper bag from the low table. ‘Food! At last!’ she sighed.

‘Still, they’re all computer literate, that must help,’ Maggie offered.

‘Sometimes. Though they’d rather be playing daft games than setting up spreadsheets.’ Sandie dipped a wedge of cucumber into the pot of hummus she’d brought for lunch. ‘And Miss Julie Donaldson’s absence wasn’t helping any. Even when the stupid wee cow isn’t here she’s causing trouble. Could hardly get them to shut up about it.’

‘D’you think she’s dogging it?’

Sandie snorted. ‘Course she is. Manson told me that the stepmother was telephoned at her work. Says Julie left the house to go to school this morning. That wee madam’s going to get hell from him whenever she decides to show her face!’

Maggie nodded silently. It certainly didn’t look good for the Fourth Year pupil. All the talk throughout school was about Eric’s suspension and Julie’s sudden failure to attend school. The period before lunch Maggie Lorimer had been holding forth on Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird . Put yourself in his shoes, she’d told her class. That’s what Atticus Finch had told his daughter. Now Maggie wondered about the truant schoolgirl. Could she put herself into Julie’s shoes, walk around in her skin and try to understand what was going on in that adolescent head? Maybe they were all too bound up in their loyalty to Eric, too horrified to contemplate that there might just be some grain of truth to the girl’s accusation. And was it fear of the staff’s condemnation that had made Julie cut classes today?

Maggie Lorimer let her mug of tea go cold as she stared into space, hardly listening to the chattering voices around her. It was etched in her mind, that moment when she’d heard Julie’s anguished cry and seen the look upon Eric’s face. And now, what was she supposed to do about it? a little voice asked.

‘What?’ Kyle looked at Finnegan in disbelief. ‘No PE? Why the f-?’ The boy swallowed the oath, a warning look from the teacher’s face stopping him in time.

‘Can’t be helped, son.’ Finnegan shrugged. ‘Two of the staff called in sick this morning and we’ve already got periods docked to cover Mr Chalmers’ classes.’

‘But sitting inside on a day like this. .’ Kyle felt tears of angry frustration prick his eyelids. ‘Can I no just go up to the workout area myself?’

Finnegan shook his head, watching the boy closely over the rim of his coffee mug. Kyle lived and breathed sports. He was a bright lad and had a good future before him if his grades were anything to go by, but at a time like this any enforced classroom activity would be purgatory for him. Those PE periods provided a precious escape valve for the youngsters, especially this lad. Kyle’s family background was pretty dodgy with his brutish alcoholic father and an older sibling who was a known drug dealer. The boys from Drumchapel had been attending the school in Partick simply because their grandmother lived here and she was the one secure element in their lives. Granny McGarrity had battled for years with various well-intended folk from the Social Work department and had done a pretty good job in times past of protecting the three lads from the worst excesses of her son-in-law. All three had stayed with her during Kerrigan Senior’s latest spell of detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Nowadays, although there was always a room in Chancellor Street for her favourite grandson, Kyle still made his way back each day to the flat in Drumchapel, some notion of family loyalty binding him to the place. The teachers in Muirpark had been careful with this boy, nurturing his undoubted talent. Finnegan was not the only member of staff to see that Kyle could break free from the spiral of crime that had threatened to overwhelm the boy and several others like him.

Kyle closed his mouth and a mulish look came over his face that Finnegan recognised. Trouble ahead, the PE teacher told himself.

‘Can I come up after school, though? Have a workout?’

Finnegan’s sorry shake of the head made the boy jump to his feet, his metal chair falling backwards with a bang.

‘’S not fair!’ he cried then turned and barged out of the PE base, leaving the upturned chair behind him, a visible mark of protest.

The teacher watched Kyle run across the playground, his rounded shoulders an eloquent statement of the lad’s disappointment. Finnegan sighed. The start of this term had brought nothing but problems: all the publicity about Kerrigan’s early release from prison, Eric Chalmers’ suspension and now this. Kyle Kerrigan’s day being spoiled might be small beer compared to what other people had to put up with, but teenagers didn’t rationalise such things, especially ones whose home lives were hellish to begin with.

Kyle looked at his watch. Nearly three hours sitting in a stuffy classroom. No way! He glanced beyond the deserted playing fields to the road where a fast-food van was doling out greasy lunches to a string of kids. The bus stop was just around the corner. If he sidled around the van and just kept walking. . The idea took flight and Kyle found himself shouldering his knapsack, already fingering the school tie that would be whipped off the minute the school building was out of sight. So what if he was missed this afternoon? Mr Finnegan might even cover for him if he was lucky. Kyle thought about the chair lying on the floor of the PE base and a spasm of guilt churned inside his stomach. Wasn’t Dave Savage always telling him to keep his temper in check? A good boxer always had self-control. Kyle gritted his teeth. He’d let himself down. But there was no way he was going back to school today, he decided, dodging round the burger van, his nose twitching from the smell of overcooked fat.

It was as if fate had taken a hand in his decision. Just as he approached the bus stop, a number twenty drew up and Kyle hopped on and paid his fare.

‘Not at school this afternoon, son?’ the driver enquired.

Kyle reddened. Damn! He’d forgotten to take off his school tie. ‘Dentist appointment,’ he improvised swiftly.

The driver’s raised eyebrows told Kyle exactly what he thought about that mumbled reply. Shuffling to the back of the bus, the boy slumped into a seat, his bag on his knee. He’d go all the way into town, he thought. Once there he’d decide what he wanted to do. For now escape was enough.

‘She’s where?’ Tim Wetherby looked askance at his little sister.

‘In town,’ Sam admitted.

‘Everyone says she’s bottled it,’ Tim said. ‘Can’t say I’m surprised. I mean, giving out all that pure crap about Chalmers. I mean, Sam, come on!’

Samantha hung her head, hair masking the doubt on her expression. ‘I dunno. She was awful upset the day before yesterday. .’