Johnny was annoyed. He didn't know what was going on, but he'd been put down for the science club in town. Mike had said it was a good opportunity.
"You said you wanted to spend time away from everyone, so I signed you up for the only juvenile club I could find that wasn't that expensive. You'll enjoy it."
But Johnny was miserable. Sitting at one of the thick, wooden tables, he was next to a boy that was flicking through a small handbook.
Johnny saw everyone's names had been set out at their chairs. As if they were in Reception class.
Andy Barkley and Bennie Watkins were in the front row, on the other side of the room. In front of Johnny sat Christopher Cartwright and Denny Baxter, two Canadian boys. Edward Durbin and Frederick Parsons were sat at the table behind Johnny, both bored and flicking rubber bands. Georgie Carlisle and Howie Jacobs were almost asleep at their desks, heads lying on top.
Johnny looked at the strange, nerdy boy sat by him. His nameplate read Ike Benson. Johnny remembered that the teacher had called him quite a few names and that he wasn't really sure if Ike was short for Isaac or Icarus. Though Johnny wouldn't have been surprised that he'd chosen a nickname.
There were three girls sitting together in the second row. Two seemed about his age, one looked about Harry's age. Their names were Julia Hughes, Kate McCormick and Lara Fisher. They seemed to have the same, bland expression as most of the boys here.
The teacher, Mr Potter, was a tall, mean-looking man with a long, pointed nose and small, black shiny eyes. He towered over the boys, none of whom were small for their age. He also had slicked-back brown hair and wore a brown jacket, buttoned right up to the top, with grey flannel trousers and shoes as shiny as his eyes.
"Good morning," he said to himself rather than to the class, "today we will be learning about how to make an egg glow in the dark. Johnny, we are not part of the national curriculum, so we will be doing different types of experiments."
Johnny did not enjoy the sound of this. Lots of strange words and complicated diagrams, the sort of thing Gus was into. Maybe he could ask him for help.
But Johnny soon found he wasn't the only one who didn't enjoy himself.
The girls talked to themselves. Christopher and Denny were almost asleep. Andy and Bennie were being very sloppy.
Mr Potter sighed and leaned back against his desk. "Come on, guys," he sighed, in an almost friendly tone, "don't any of you want to do this?"
Ike was busy scribbling down things, but aside from this, everyone had the same, nonchalant expression. Mr Potter sighed and looked down at the floor.
"Well," he said, "I'm sure you'll enjoy the next lesson because I'm going to bring something special in for you."
Johnny just wanted to go back to Elmtree. He'd rather have Gus reciting his listsof different cheeses than stay here a second longer.
But when he tried talking to Mike, all he got was, "Just give it a chance, Johnny. Who knows, you might enjoy yourself."
"It's boring," Johnny complained, but Mike just folded his arms and lay back against the filing cabinet.
"Johnny, just try. Expand your horizons. Mr Potter is a respectable person and he's giving up his weekends to educate children. At least try to pretend you're interested."
But Johnny didn't really want to.
Mike was in the office later when the phone rang. Holding some files, he looked at it and groaned.
"Gina!" he called, "Gina!" But then he dropped the files onto a desk and answered the phone.
"Oh hey, Mr Milligan," Mr Potter cheerfully spoke on the other end.
Mike sighed. "Is it about Johnny?" he asked.
Mr Potter reassured him, "Oh, no, no. I just wanted to say that a lot of the children seemed disinterested, so I decided to bring in a special machine I made next week. It's not too complicated, I just wanted to inform everyone in advance."
"Oh," Mike was a little taken aback, "OK. Well, err, thank you."
He put the phone down. Just as he did that, he looked up with slight annoyance as Gina entered.
Mr Potter lay back on his chair and looked at his pictures on the wall. All of the treasures he wanted. Then back at his machine. His wonderful machine and the scheme that took ten years in the making.
Now, he was finally going to get his riches.