Crumbledown School: The Betrayal (Chapter 5)

CHAPTER 5

I don’t know why, but I had expected the bullies to look our age, small and skinny, not dangerous at all. But they weren’t. One was tall, very tall; with greasy blonde hair and mean eyes. The other two were un-identical twins that I’d often seen around school. They wore matching clothes and sunglasses that looked ten times better than Eric’s. I could tell he was jealous. They were shocked to see us all there, and one of the twins said angrily,

“What’s all this?! Hey you, where are our sweets?”

“You’re not getting any,” Eric growled, “Tom told us all about you, and you don’t deserve any of it! Just crawl back to the sewers where you belong.”

I looked at Eric Redmane. He was getting too cocky; he had to remember that they were a lot older than us, and stronger, despite our numbers. But Will Freckles only encouraged him, “Yeah, you tell ’em Eric!”

“Gladly,” Eric smiled, “You three are a bunch of slobbery losers –”

I shushed him, suddenly feeling a little less bold than I had only minutes ago, “Don’t make them angry.”

“We already ARE,” the tall one stepped forward. “Give us the bag or you’ll be sorry.”

“No,” Eric sneered, “Why don’t you make us?”

“Alright!”

Will Freckles edged backwards.

Tom Sandy gulped.

Eric Redmane took up his stance.

Choco Stix sneezed.

I swallowed.

And Billy Snooze fell flat on his face.

That was the first thing that went wrong. The other was that Will decided he really didn’t want to lose any of his teeth and, screaming, ran to the bike shed for cover. The Year 6 boys laughed, and all took a step forward.

“Do we run?” I whispered to Choco.

“Of course we don’t!” Eric hissed. According to Eric, we had to stay. Whether we wanted to or not.

“GET THEM!” the tall boy screeched, and suddenly, we found them plunging towards us.

The four of us, Tom, Eric, Choco and I, leaped forward too, with yells and cries, determined to stop them. I found myself facing one of the twins alongside Choco. I grabbed the boy’s legs and clung on desperately, making him fall backwards. I looked up in time to see Tom being squashed flat by the tall boy, and Eric was struggling to save him, but was held back by the other twin.

We need more, I thought. More help!

Suddenly, we heard a yell, and all looked up to see Billy Snooze, hurling himself at the twin that was grabbing at Eric Redmane. He knocked into him with a crash, and the boy fell to the floor, with Billy on top of him.

“Ge’ off me!” the twin growled.

Eric Redmane joined the pile, and I think he took it too far with the leg biting. Still, it made me laugh when I heard the boy scream like a girl. The twin I was tackling managed to flip me over, and now sat on top of me.

“Choco…” I gasped, my breath being squeezed out, “Help…”

Choco was on the twin’s back in a second, wrapping his arms around his neck like an octopus would do to its prey. But soon someone else had yanked him off the boy. I looked up and saw Choco struggling in the arms of the tall brute. Tom lay breathing hard. Fighting wasn’t his strong point, and, not much of mine either. Eric had good experience with it, and Billy put up a good fight, though he never got into any at school.

We were five against three, but that was still not enough. I soon realised we would never beat them. The twin on top of me grinned horridly, and dug his knees into my chest even harder. I squealed. Very embarrassing, but I couldn’t help it. Then suddenly, WILL FRECKLES came flying out of nowhere, and knocked the boy right off me. When he jumped up, he looked as energetic as a kitten.

“You came back?” I couldn’t quite believe it.

“About time too!” Eric called, while being wrestled to the floor.

Will went off to rescue Choco while I stumbled to my feet, shakily. Then, I noticed Tom Sandy was nowhere to be found. He took off. Realised he could make a getaway and left! I could not believe it. We were doing this all for HIM.

I realised we were stuck in this fight now; the Year 6 boys weren’t fighting for the sweets anymore. They were in the mood to fight for the sake of fighting. I attacked the twin that was pushed down by Will, but he kicked me right off.

Then, suddenly, we heard a yell of fury,

“What’s going on here?!”

We looked up, faces covered in dirt. Mr. Principle stood with his hands on his hips, looking disgusted. There was nothing he hated more than students fighting. Tom Sandy was standing just behind him, looking wide eyed.

“We’re...just rolling around, Sir?” Will Freckles answered in a questioning tone.

“JUST ROLLING AROUND?” Mr. Principle barked, “JUST ROLLING AROUND? You’re absolutely covered in dirt, and you are at each other’s necks!”

“Sir, those big boys are trying to steal my sweets, the ones I won for Best Dressed, remember? My friends were just helping to stop them,”

Mr. Principle looked at him, “They were STEALING were they?” There was nothing he hated more than students stealing.

“Yes,” nodded Tom hurriedly, “yes, and my friends were stopping them.”

“Bravery…” Mr. Principle scratched his head. There was nothing he loved more than students being brave, “But fighting nonetheless…”

“But Sir, please. Don’t give my friends detention,” Tom begged, and I realised Tom Sandy was never one to desert his friends.

“You three!” Mr. Principle snapped, pointing at the 6 graders. They scrambled to their feet. “Go straight to the reception, phone your parents and tell them you are staying back for an hour in detention. I will be calling them myself and telling them what you have been up to.”

The boys slumped off, their cheeks red with embarrassment. When they had gone, Mr. Principle gave us a lecture on fighting for a few minutes, but then praised us for our bravery.

“Though next time, do just tell me straight away about your problems,” he said, and then wandered back into Crumbledown School.

Tom wordlessly opened up his bag, and handed us five big pieces of hard boiled sweets.

“For fighting the bullies,” he smiled. “And for the fact that you’re my friends.”

Surprisingly, battling those brutes made us all lose our appetites; our stomachs were aching all over. We accepted the sweets for later, though, and then all headed off to the bike shed to watch Tom collect his bike. Then we headed out of the school gates, and walked down the pavement, while Tom slowly rode beside us.

“We are all sorry for thinking you were so greedy, Tom Sandy,” I said, speaking for us all.

Tom shrugged, like it was nothing.

“Yeah,” Will Freckles gave Tom a pat on the back, “We’re really sorry. So, can we have su’more sweets?” he added quickly.

But Tom was ready for him, and zoomed ahead of us, gliding down the street, “No way,” he laughed, “They’re all mine.”

We giggled and chased after him, down Penny Lane and through Willow Park, heading for home.

The End