Zoe smiled and leaned on the back of the bench that several students, including Aneisha, Roly, Byron and Lady J were gathered around, where a familiar blonde was watching something on a tablet.
"What's that?" Zoe asked, looking down at the video.
Dan twisted his head to look up at her, his eyes dancing. "Yesterday, a wanted jewel thief was captured by a group of masked vigilantes, thought to be the Guardian Runners."
Zoe smiled down at him as he turned back to the video and Roly said, "No way. They caught one on video."
Zoe watched as a boy, dressed in tracksuit pants, a yellow jumper and an orange bandana, flipped forward and Lady J said, "Whoa, those dudes have got skills!"
Zoe smiled as Aneisha asked, "Sorry, what are Guardian Runners?"
"They're like crime fighters, only they use parkour." Dan said. At Roly and Lady J's confused expressions, he dipped his head back and added, "Free running."
Zoe laughed at the childlike enthusiasm twinkling in his blue eyes, her lips curving into a smile. "Oh, Dan."
Dan dipped his head back again so that his head rested against her hand, curled around the back of the bench, and his soft blonde hair tickled her skin. "Problem?"
"Nothing." Zoe said as he grinned up at her and pulled his head back up just as Roly clapped his hand down on Dan's shoulder. "Dan's like the master. Go on, show us a move."
Dan looked up and shook his head, although Zoe caught a quick glance of the sudden excitement in his eyes – she could see that he wanted to. All around Zoe, a groan of disappointment passed through the crowd around her and suddenly everyone around her was chanting; "Do it! Do it!"
Dan sighed in decisively and dipped his head back to look at Zoe, who grinned and joined in. He shook his head and said, "All right! All right!" over the chorus of shouting, but no one could hear him, so he passed the tablet to Aneisha and got up, walking over to the garden. Grinning, he jumped up onto the brick edge of the garden. Soon, the chanting started again, this time saying, "Backflip! Backflip!" and practically the whole playground was chanting it. Zoe laughed as Dan raised his arms so that the chanting rose in volume. When he was satisfied with the volume of the chanting, he hunched his body over, feeling the muscles in his legs move as he prepared to flip his body backwards. Just as he was about to, a loud voice to his right yelled, "Daniel Morgan!" and he jumped off, almost rolling his ankle in the process.
Wide-eyed, he turned to face Mrs King as she approached him, brown eyes cold. "Have you any idea how dangerous that is?"
Dan smiled nervously and nodded, shoving his hands deep into the pockets of his jeans, but he stayed silent as she continued, "I've read all about this park-hour."
Behind Dan, Zoe, Aneisha and Byron exchanged amused and puzzled looks and Zoe had to clap her hand over her mouth to stop her giggles from escaping. She shouldn't have found it funny, but somehow, she did; Dan was in trouble for doing something that he did every day, something he'd been trained to do. It was somewhat hilarious.
". . . people who do it have professional training." Mrs King was saying. "Well, maybe you could do some research in detention."
Dan made a soft groaning noise and sat on the edge of the garden as Mr Flatley approached, looking ridiculously happy, as always. "Good morning, Mrs King. Morning, everyone. Now, I hope you're all in a splendid mood."
He watched expectantly as Zoe put thirty centimetres of space between herself and Dan as she sat beside him and Aneisha sat down on the edge of the bench, still clutching the tablet to her chest.
"Excellent, because today we have a brand new supply teacher."
Immediately, groans sounded throughout the playground as a woman with dark hair, dressed in a patterned dress with a light orange jacket over the top. Everyone stared, but Dan, Zoe, Aneisha and Toms' eyes seemed to bug out of their heads. It was Stella.
"Everyone, I'd like you to meet Miss Freeman." Mr Flatley said.
There was a clang behind the students and Zoe turned to look at Frank, who'd dropped his bag of tools. "Stella?"
Everyone tossed him puzzled looks as he stuttered, "I mean . . . uh, stellar news you found a supply teacher, Mr F." With that, he picked up his bag and walked off.
"Now, I know what you're all thinking." Stella said. "Supply teacher – bad breath, out of touch, but I'm here to learn just as much from you as you am from me."
"Watch this!" Roly cried, holding out two orange balls. "I can teach you how to juggle."
He started to juggle them, but his hands stumbled and they rolled away.
"Give us a go," Stella said, walking towards him with one hand out. Roly bent down and retrieved the balls, passing them to Stella, who, balls in hand, took a few steps back and said, "Stand back – this could get very messy," before she proceeded to juggle the balls, much to the amazement of the students and teachers around her.
Aneisha felt something buzzing in her pocket and looked down to see her pencil communicator flashing. She looked across at Dan and Zoe. Zoe looked up and nodded at her, but Dan was still watching Stella, paying no attention to the two girls as the redhead got up and started to walk off. When she noticed that Dan wasn't following, she hissed through her teeth and wove her way through the crowd, stamping on his foot to get his attention. Dan through her an annoyed look, but his eyes widened when he noticed the flashing light in her breast pocket. He got up and followed her, grabbing Tom by the collar of his blazer and dragging him with them.
