"NOOOOOOOO!" screamed Brandon, running through the big front door into Elm Tree House clutching a small piece of paper in his hand, wearing his red school uniform. Still screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!", he ran up the stairs. I could hear a door being slammed. Finally, the shouting ended.
"Has he been like that the whole time since school finished?" I asked Skye, who was walking through the door dressed in an identical uniform, with a grey skirt instead of Brandon's black trousers.
"Pretty much," she admitted, sighing. It was 3:45pm on a Wednesday. Whatever had happened that had made Brandon mad, it had happened at school.
"So why's he screaming then?" I asked.
Skye's reply was... unexpected. "He's done really, really bad on a test. He's going to have to re-sit the whole of Year 2 at school."
Mike, Tracy, Mark (who's got flu at the moment so nobody's going near him), Elektra (who got money for a new quiet room door taken out of her allowance), Toby, Brandon (who's stupid apparently), Skye, Joel, Tyler, Carmen, me (Demon), Johnny, Saskia, Gabriella and Faith in...
THE DUMPING GROUND DIARIES
Episode 7: Stupid Brandon
"He said I was pretty. He actually said I was pretty!" cried Carmen, pacing up and down in her bedroom. "Does that mean he likes me or not?" she asked Saskia, who was sitting on her bed.
"Um... I don't know," replied Saskia. "I know that's not exactly helpful," she added. "But have you heard the big news?" she asked.
"Oh, thanks for changing the subject," said Carmen sarcastically.
"Yeah... whatever, but the big news is Brandon, right. It turns out he's done really badly on this important test at school, and he got like 20% or something and he's going to have to do Year 2 at school all over again!"
"Oh my GOD," said Carmen. "I didn't know Brandon was stupid!"
"Well, I didn't either," said Saskia, "but it looks like he is stupid. Unless... I don't know, they marked the test wrong or messed something up. Hey, I'm going to go and find out exactly what's happening. I'm asking Brandon!" She ran out of the room.
"This isn't gonna go anywhere, Saskia!" called Carmen. "He's just gonna be angry! He's not gonna say anything!" Sighing, she stood up and followed Saskia into Toby and Brandon's room. Big and messy, toys and games cluttered the floor. The boys had painted pictures onto the murky brown walls. It was very different to how it had been with Elektra in there. Brandon was sitting on his bed, looking very sad and grumpy. Toby wasn't in the room.
"Hi Brandon," said Saskia in a friendly tone, sitting on the end of Brandon's bed. "Are you okay?" Brandon shook his head angrily. "Well, don't worry. It's not like it really matters. So you have to do the whole of Year 2 again. It's no big deal, because after you've done this year again, you'll be even more clever than you were before! And then you might be able to go straight into Year 4, because you're so clever! It's gonna be alright!" Brandon looked up at Saskia. His eyes were red with tears.
"Yes, maybe it's gonna be alright..." he said calmly, peacefully, sniffing loudly. Suddenly, the door banged open and in stormed Gabriella angrily.
"No, it's not all right!" she cried. "He should have the right to carry on with school like everybody else! People can't frown down on him just because of his intelligence! He needs to do a re-test. We can sort it out, we can actually plead to his school, and we'll sort out another test."
"But Gabriella," sniffed Brandon, "I'm not clever."
"Look, this is why we need to get a re-test! This result has... destroyed his confidence!"
"Yes, but I am stupid, Gabriella," huffed Brandon. He showed her the sheet of paper. Gabriella read it:
YEAR 2 GENERAL TEST – ALLGREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL
Results for: Brandon Gold, Class: 2E
English: 28%
Mathematics: 22%
Science: 17%
Average score: 22.33%
This is an unsatisfactory score and so Brandon will have to partially re-sit Year 2.
"But that's not all!" cried Brandon. "I'm genuinely not clever. If I had a re-test I'd just fail even more."
"Poor Brandon..." said Saskia. "No, hang on!" she cried. "I've got an idea! I don't know if it'll work or not, and it'll be risky, not to mention expensive..."
"What is it then?" asked Carmen.
"Well..."
"This is perfect!" said Skye as she hopped out of the minibus. It was, really rather conveniently, Brandon's parents evening. The perfect time to get the test answers. It would be suspicious if the older kids like Saskia and Gabriella were at the school, because they didn't even go to primary school, but it was also parents evening for Toby, Joel and Skye. Mike wandered down a corridor to Brandon's classroom and waited outside with Toby, Brandon, Joel and Skye for a while. Then Brandon's teacher opened the classroom door and said that Mike could come in. Mike had a ten minute slot with Brandon's teacher. Ten minutes of espionage... and stuff.
"So... the sheets will be in the office, right?" asked Joel.
"Right," said Skye. "Let's go get 'em."
The four youngsters crept along the corridors until they reached the office. Peering in, they noticed that nobody was in the office. Perfect. Skye pushed against the door. It didn't open. She noticed the code lock on it.
"Stupid me," she said, entering the code she had seen so many times when she was looking over the shoulders of members of staff. 1234. Obvious.
Conveniently, the papers were on the desk in front of the door. Brandon noticed them and picked up the sheet on the top. It was the answer sheet. Greatadidoodah. He folded it up and put it in his pocket. Then all of the young kids ran out of the room and walked back to the corridor. Mike came out of the classroom. The kids smiled innocently. Mike shrugged.
"Hello?" called Gina as she walked into Elm Tree House, carrying her week-and-a-half-old baby Isabelle in her arms. She made her way to the living room. Johnny was sulking by the pool table: Carmen had just dumped him. Tyler, Faith and Gabriella were watching TV. All of them stopped what they were doing and flocked to Gina as soon as she entered the room. Or rather, they flocked to Isabelle.
"Aww..."
"He's so cute..."
Gina sighed. It was going to be like this for a while.
"So, you're ready?" asked Skye. They had pleaded to the school for a re-test, saying that Mike had agreed that it was fine. And finally, the school had agreed. The only bad thing was, it was on a Saturday morning.
The kids had bought an earpiece communication thing, so they could talk to Brandon. It was cheap, but they'd been assured by ebay that it was going to be effective and work perfectly. They were going to feed Brandon the answers.
"I'm ready," said Brandon.
"Good luck," said Mike, and Brandon walked into the classroom. Mike and Skye left the school, speeding away to reach Elm Tree House.
"Okay, here's the first answer," said Carmen at Elm Tree House. She was speaking into her end of the earpiece communication device thing, ready to feed Brandon the first answer.
"OKAY, HERE'S THE FIRST ANSWER!" came Carmen's voice, really loudly, through the earpiece. The teacher looked up from her desk.
"Brandon, what's that noise?" she asked.
"Umm..." faltered Brandon.
The teacher walked over to Brandon. "An earpiece?" she asked. "You're cheating?" She yanked the device away from him.
Brandon returned to Elm Tree House at lunchtime sadly. He told the kids how their plan hadn't worked, and he'd had to do the test by himself. He was really disappointed. There was nothing he could do.
Tracy walked excitedly over to the breakfast table the next morning, handing Brandon a white envelope with his school crest printed on. "Came for you this morning!" she said, excited. Brandon tore it open eagerly. His eyes widened.
"Oh, I'm sorry Brandon, but at least you tried..." said Gabriella.
"YES!" whooped Brandon.
"Oh," responded Gabriella, realising she was wrong. Brandon shoved the piece of paper in her face.
YEAR 2 GENERAL TEST – ALLGREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL
Results for: Brandon Gold, Class: 2E
English: 91%
Mathematics: 85%
Science: 84%
Average score: 86.66%
"I thought we weren't feeding you answers any more," said Saskia.
"I'm clever!" cheered Brandon. "I did it by myself, it must have been you and Gabriella saying that I was clever enough, and that made me believe I was clever enough! I'm clever!"
"Yipadidoodah, clever Brandon," murmured Elektra.
Brandon's Diary
Saturday June 8 2013
Today I did the reetest and I wosunt allowd the ansers but I think I did okay.
Sunday June 9 2013
Yaay! I did it! I'm clever! I did it! And more importently, Skye only got 80% when she did the test so I can laff in her face all week!
Next time on The Dumping Ground Diaries...
An accident causes Elm Tree House to become completely flooded, and the Dumping Ground kids try to work out which one of it actually started the flood. Everybody is a suspect... The house is deemed just about safe temporarily, but as the kids return, it transpires that Johnny might have to share with Demon and Joel, who both end up protesting... Mike has to consider moving the children to new care homes, anarchy breaks out as rooms have to be shared, and the future of Elm Tree is in question.
Episode 8 is called "Whodunnit?"
