Alternate Beginnings

Part Three: Food Run

Before she could say any more, however, the library door opened.

We all turned to look; I was more than a little surprised, because my bugs still had Gladly showering in the locker room.

And then we all understood, as the janitor pushed his trolley in through the door.

To my surprise, Jason raised his hand in greeting. "Hey, Carl," he called out.

"Hey, Jase," the janitor replied. "How's your dad?"

To my recollection, this was the first time I had ever heard the man speak. To my shame, I hadn't even known his name until now, despite the fact that it was embroidered on to his shirt.

Aisha looked at Jason with a mixture of confusion and respect, and asked, "You know the janitor?"

Jason shrugged. "Hey, it's a thing."

Carl looked us over, and grinned a knowing grin. "You kids might not know me, but I know you. I know more about you than you might think I do. And I bet that not one in ten of you even knows my name." He jingled keys at his waist. "I go everywhere. I see everything. I hear your conversations. I know who's talking about whom behind their backs." He paused for effect. "Everything."

"Damn," Aisha commented. "That's some cool shit, right there."

Carl gave her a mock bow. "Why, thank you kindly, little lady."

"Carl," I spoke up, surprising myself, "do you happen to know what's going on with Mr Gladly?"

Carl's grin turned wolfish. "Yeah. Seems that some little tearaways sabotaged his chair, and he wore his lunch. Let me tell you, he's so pissed about that, he's likely to invent whole new forms of punishment for anyone he finds screwing around today."

"You, uh, spoke to him?" asked Jason.

Carl chuckled. "He spoke, I listened. 'Carl,' he told me, 'you go keep an eye on those little shitheads. Don't tell 'em I told you to.'"

Aisha tilted her head to one side. "And yet you just told us."

The janitor shrugged. "Since when does someone like Gladly give me orders?"

Aisha's grin spread across her face. "So, if we asked real polite, would you help us out? Do us a solid?"

Carl looked innocently at the ceiling. "Mayybe," he conceded.

"Well, it's like this," Aisha went on. "None of us really brought a proper lunch."

"I brought -" began Jason; I elbowed him in the ribs. He shut up.

Aisha ignored the interruption. "So we were wondering if you could maybe help us get into the cafeteria, so we could stock up on food to last us the rest of the day." She put on the most mournful set of puppy-dog eyes I'd ever seen. "After all, you don't want us starving in here, do you?"

Carl looked at each of us in turn, then burst out laughing. "You kids," he told us. "You know what you remind me of?"

There was silence for a moment. "Uh, no," I ventured. "What?"

"Me," he declared. "At your age."

Aisha looked hopeful. "So does that mean -?"

"I'll help you get there," he stated. "But you don't damage anything, and you don't make a mess. And you're on your own, getting back. You get caught, I don't know nothin'. I never saw you."

"Deal," declared Aisha, and they shook hands on it.

And that was how we found ourselves following Carl along the deserted hallways of Winslow High School. No-one was talking much; everyone was more or less expecting Mr Gladly to spring out from behind the nearest corner, I suspect.

I knew he wouldn't; he had taken his time with the shower, and now he was drying himself off. Him telling Carl to keep an eye on us indicated that maybe he meant to take his time, to get his cool back before confronting us once more.

I wondered what his reaction had been when he saw the piece of lettuce stuck to his forehead. It must have been priceless.

He fumed as he scrubbed himself down in the shower. A total lack of respect, that's what that was. I put myself out for those kids, every hour of every day, and what do I get? That sort of treatment. I talk to them, try to relate on their level, listen to their problems, and they turn around and stab me right in the back.

Turning off the shower, he reached for the towel and began to dry himself. Well, that's it. No more Mr Nice Guy. I try to be popular, and that's what I get. Well, from here on in, they get Mr Gladly, not Mr G.

And if they can't handle that, then tough.

Carl unlocked the door to the cafeteria and stood aside. "Pull it shut, and it'll lock," he advised us. "Don't leave anything of yours inside, 'cause once you shut that door, you ain't gettin' back in."

Jason nodded. "Cool, thanks, Carl."

"Not a problem, Jase," the janitor replied. "Say hi to your dad for me. Maybe get him to give me a discount or something."

"I can't promise anything," Jason told him, "but I can try."

Carl nodded to him. "Most I can ask for, I guess." He paused, and pulled me aside.

"Look, kid," he told me in an undertone, "I'm sorry for what happened to you in January."

I shuddered; the memory of that event would be with me till I died. "Did ... did you know?"

He shook his head. "I was in the basement, working on the furnace. Came as soon as I heard. I've tried to talk to the principal about it, but she doesn't want to know."

I nodded. "Yeah, story of my life." I looked at him. "Thanks."

"Sure, kid." A pause. "You sure did a number on the other girl." His eyes flicked to Madison for a split second. "You know she was one of them."

My eyebrows raised slightly; I had suspected, but not known for sure. "Thanks."

"No problem." He raised his voice, addressing all of us. "See you around."

"Not that you saw us at all," Aisha grinned.

"Saw who?" Carl responded. "Must be hearing voices. There's no-one around here." Turning, he strolled off down the hallway, whistling off-key.

"What was that about?" Jason asked me curiously.

"Tell you later," I advised him. "Let's get something to eat."

We slipped into the cafeteria; large, almost cavernous, it was only dimly lit. Letting the door click shut – it was only locked from the outside – Aisha found the bank of light switches, and hit them all.

One after the other, the lights came on, illuminating the rows and rows of tables, the serving counters … and the fridges.

I wasn't particularly hungry; nor was anyone else, I suspected. But it was the prospect of thumbing our noses at Mr Gladly one more time, plus the opportunity for free food, that propelled us toward the serving counters. Eddie vaulted the counter, located the bolt holding the little door open, and let us all into the back area.

"Right," Aisha told us. "Grab what you need. Don't take too long. Gladly's not going to piss about forever."

We located a container of sturdy plastic bags, and started stuffing them with food. I grabbed a loaf of bread, a tub of butter, several plastic knives, and sandwich toppings of all sorts. Aisha lifted a small leg of ham and a complete cooked chicken; I saw Eddie and Madison conferring over what they would take, even as Jason took some sliced meat and another loaf of bread.

My bugs told me that Gladly had finished his shower, and dressed, and was finally starting to saunter back toward the library.

"Uh, guys," I ventured. "We might want to make a move along. Gladly's bound to be finished by now."

Aisha nodded to me. "Okay, guys," she told everyone. "Finish it up. We gotta go."

We trooped back through the server door. Jason had found a container of boiled eggs, and was eating one; when I glanced his way, he tossed me one. I caught it and ate it; it was delicious.

Eddie re-locked the server door, and vaulted the counter once more. We trotted toward the door outside, and Aisha swiped the lights off before we headed outside.

"No-one's left anything inside?" she asked.

No-one had.

"Good." She pulled the door shut. The tongue clicked into place; we weren't getting back inside. "Right, let's go."

I kept tabs on Gladly as we trotted along the corridors. I figured we could just about make it back in time, unless he started running.

But then Madison started falling behind. "Hurry up!" I hissed at her.

"I can't go any faster," she hissed back. "I'm not as athletic as you guys!"

Just up ahead was a shortcut; if we could duck across the main corridor before Gladly turned into it, we could be back at the library in moments, and home free. But Madison was slowing us down.

I stopped Aisha with a gesture, and peered carefully around the corner. I didn't really need to look, and indeed, I pulled back before Gladly turned the corner, but only just.

"Gladly," I explained in a whisper. "He's coming this way."

"Back!" Aisha told everyone. "Back!"

We backtracked down the corridor, Madison labouring to keep up.

"Okay," I whispered, once we were out of sight. "If we duck around this way, get behind him, go up to the second floor, and back down through the northern stairwell to the library."

Eddie shook his head in negation. "No, Madison'll never make it. Look, if we cut through the gym, we'll make it easy."

"No," I protested. "My way's safer -"

"You just want Madison to get caught," he snapped.

I shook my head. "No, I don't!"

But even Jason was eyeing me in speculation.

"Guys," I began again. "Yeah, I don't like Madison all that much. But I wouldn't do that to her."

"Screw it," Eddie stated. "We'll go my way." He started off, with Madison alongside him. Aisha and Jason looked torn, but inclined to go with Eddie. I didn't want to split us up, and let some of us get caught.

"Okay, fine," I muttered. "Let's go."

We nearly ran into Gladly twice more before we reached the gym. On the second occasion, I was sure he'd heard something. He turned and began to move toward our position.

"We need to hurry!" I hissed.

We quickened our pace; Madison did her best to keep up. Eddie took her bag of food, which helped, but not all that much.

And then we reached the gymnasium doors.

Which were locked.

He'd been on his way back to the library when he heard a scuffing, as of sandshoes on vinyl flooring, and had seen what he thought might have been a head popping back out of view.

Those little shits, he thought. They're out of the fucking library.

His first instinct was to go straight to the library, and catch them when they returned, but then his sense of the dramatic overrode that idea. They might be vandalising stuff, or even stealing, he told himself. It's my duty to catch them in the act. And so he started trying to find them.

It was harder than he'd first thought; he knew every corridor in the school, but then, so did they. And they seemed to be able to stay out of his line of sight by the veriest of margins; no matter how quickly he hurried, they were always that little bit ahead of him.

But he was catching up now; he knew it. Just a little bit farther.

"Nice going, jag-off!" Jason snapped at Eddie.

"Hey, didn't see you arguing!" Eddie snapped back.

"We should've listened to you, Taylor," Aisha told me. "Sorry."

I shrugged. "It's okay. Except that I think Gladly heard us. He's nearly here."

"Oh shit," Jason muttered. "We're dead."

Aisha shook her head. "No," she told us. "Just me. I'm already detentioned up to the eyeballs. One more won't hurt." She began to hand her bag of food to me.

Madison stepped over to her. "No," she said softly. "This is my fault. I'll take it."

We stared at her.

"What the fuck?" blurted Aisha. "You?"

Madison nodded. "Yeah. Me." She nodded at Eddie. "Don't let him eat my food, okay?"

And then, before anyone could stop her, she was walking briskly back up the corridor, toward where my bugs were tracking the teacher.

"Mr Gladly?" she called out. "Mr Gladly?"

And then, to his utter astonishment, he heard his name being called. He even recognised the voice.

"Madison?" he asked. "Madison Clements?"

It was indeed Madison; just as he said her name, she turned the corner ahead of him, looking thoroughly woebegone. "Oh, Mr Gladly!" she greeted him with relief. "I'm so happy to see you!"

"Madison!" he told her sternly. "What are you doing out of the library?"

"I'm so sorry, Mr Gladly," she apologised. "I wanted to go to the bathroom, and you weren't in your office, so I started looking for you, and then I thought someone was following me, and I got so scared, and I'm so glad that it's just you ..."

To his surprise, and not a little discomfort, she spontaneously hugged him.

"Well, it's just me, but you really should have waited," he told her, taking her by the shoulders and moving her away from him. If anyone saw a teacher and student embracing, no matter how innocently, there would be hell to pay.

"I know, I know, but I really, really need to go," she whimpered. "Can you take me up there now?"

He took a deep breath. "Okay, fine," he agreed. "But you are going to have to do an extra detention for being out of the library without permission."

She nodded soberly. "I know, but I really, really need to go," she reminded him.

"Okay, come on."

They turned and headed off down the corridor. Behind them, unseen by Mr Gladly, the other four students crept out of the side corridor and headed back toward the library.

We were all back in the library when Mr Gladly arrived back with Madison. The bags of food were stashed in the audio/visual room, and so when he ran a suspicious eye over the group of us, we were all able to successfully project the appearance of innocence.

"Miss Clements," he announced, "chose to leave the library without permission. She will be kept back next Saturday as well, as an example of what not to do." He glared at the rest of us. "If any of you think that you can get away with doing it as well, think again. The next transgression will net the offender five detentions."

"Five detentions, sir?" asked Aisha. "Isn't that a bit steep? I mean, what if I want to stretch my legs?"

Gladly leaned over her desk. "For you, Ms Laborn, it will be ten detentions. Just one foot outside that door, and that's you done for two and a half months." Pausing for effect, he looked at the rest of us. "Mess with the bull, you get the horns."

"So does that mean you're horny and full of bullshit, sir?" I asked, before I could stop myself.

There was a moment of utter, total silence. Gladly's face went red, and he stomped out of the library without another word.

The laughter broke out almost before the door finished closing; Aisha slapped me on the back so hard, she nearly knocked the wind out of me. Jason and Eddie both high-fived me, and even Madison gave me a nod of acknowledgement.

"Oh god, oh god," gasped Aisha, crawling back on to her seat from where she'd fallen on the floor. "Horny and full of bullshit. I am so going to have to tell Brian that one."

"So Madison," Jason asked, still chuckling, "how did you get away with just one detention, after all the threats he made?"

Madison looked smug. "The power of cute," she informed us. "All I had to do was bat my eyes and look sad, and he was putty in my hands."

"Well, you saved our asses," Aisha told her. "We would have been in detention for the fuckin' year if he'd caught us." She gave the petite girl a high-five.

"Screw that," Madison retorted, returning it. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."

End of Part Three