go.
CHAPTER 15
15:27pm
Martin Lawrence’s sweet shop stood in a row of four shops on Low Grange around the corner from the secondary school they all attended. They used to sneak out of school at dinner time and go around to Low Grange because there was a chip shop too. The Excellent Eight were not the only children who did this but one time they were all spotted by Mr Morgan who happened to be driving past. In hindsight Peter thought it was silly of them to run because Mr Morgan had seen them all anyway. Sure enough they were called one by one from their classes that same afternoon, down to the head teacher’s office to be scolded for going off school grounds during school hours. This had stopped the Excellent Eight from going to the shops for at least a week, which was considered about the right amount of time to stay off Mr Morgan’s radar. The task of tolerating proper school dinners for a whole week was punishment enough.
Cheryl Stimson had not always been as thin and attractive as men found her now. When the Excellent Eight were children Cheryl used to eat her fair share of junk food and was an extremely chubby young lady. At Martin Lawrence’s sweet shop she would often spend more money than the other seven combined. Most might get a bag of chips for 50p and then a 10p mixed bag of sweets from Martin Lawrence’s shop. Cheryl would forego the chip shop and spend all her money in Martin Lawrence’s on the numerous sweets and cakes on offer. She would hardly ever have the same thing twice and used to relish the variety that was the cake slice of the day.
Cheryl had not always been as arrogant and stuck-up as she was now. In those days Cheryl was a quiet girl who was generally considered a goody two-shoes. If anything, she was the quietest and shyest member of the Excellent Eight, and the group could probably have been blamed for leading her astray on many occasions ; coercing her to do things she wouldn’t normally have done. The perils of peer pressure, Peter thought. He reflected on how much she had changed since those childhood days and decided that he had preferred her back then. She used to have a certain warmth to her and he had especially liked the way that she could be depended on to laugh at all his jokes, no matter how lame they were. He had only seen her briefly and swapped small talk pleasantries before Gavin’s funeral. Afterwards he had specifically sought her out to catch up and observed that she was a little standoffish and dismissive, batting away his attempts to strike up a conversation. He felt that her warmth had been replaced by a sense of bitterness and resentment, which he felt must have matured over the years as she had lost weight and become more attractive to the opposite sex.
On the day they were all spotted by Mr Morgan, everybody had run off and escaped except Cheryl, who - balancing a crammed and messy éclair - had stood rooted to the spot outside the shop. She was collared by Mr Morgan and dragged back into the school. The whole episode upset her deeply, especially as Mr Morgan told her that her parents would be contacted regarding the incident. Ultimately the head teacher had decided to just warn the children, a decision which was taken badly by Mr Morgan who, Peter believed, relished getting children into as much trouble as possible.
Peter recalled being summoned to the head teacher’s office with Cas who was in the same class as him at the time. They had laughed and joked all the way there, it was nothing new for them. Cheryl was in the foyer where she’d been standing for at least two hours. She kept her head down the whole time they were there, as if truly ashamed at what she had done, her face hiding behind her mopped hair. It was clear that she’d been crying. Peter was aware that Cheryl’s parents considered her to be their golden girl and put a lot of pressure and high expectations on her to be the best. However, it hadn’t
CHAPTER 15
15:27pm
Martin Lawrence’s sweet shop stood in a row of four shops on Low Grange around the corner from the secondary school they all attended. They used to sneak out of school at dinner time and go around to Low Grange because there was a chip shop too. The Excellent Eight were not the only children who did this but one time they were all spotted by Mr Morgan who happened to be driving past. In hindsight Peter thought it was silly of them to run because Mr Morgan had seen them all anyway. Sure enough they were called one by one from their classes that same afternoon, down to the head teacher’s office to be scolded for going off school grounds during school hours. This had stopped the Excellent Eight from going to the shops for at least a week, which was considered about the right amount of time to stay off Mr Morgan’s radar. The task of tolerating proper school dinners for a whole week was punishment enough.
Cheryl Stimson had not always been as thin and attractive as men found her now. When the Excellent Eight were children Cheryl used to eat her fair share of junk food and was an extremely chubby young lady. At Martin Lawrence’s sweet shop she would often spend more money than the other seven combined. Most might get a bag of chips for 50p and then a 10p mixed bag of sweets from Martin Lawrence’s shop. Cheryl would forego the chip shop and spend all her money in Martin Lawrence’s on the numerous sweets and cakes on offer. She would hardly ever have the same thing twice and used to relish the variety that was the cake slice of the day.
Cheryl had not always been as arrogant and stuck-up as she was now. In those days Cheryl was a quiet girl who was generally considered a goody two-shoes. If anything, she was the quietest and shyest member of the Excellent Eight, and the group could probably have been blamed for leading her astray on many occasions ; coercing her to do things she wouldn’t normally have done. The perils of peer pressure, Peter thought. He reflected on how much she had changed since those childhood days and decided that he had preferred her back then. She used to have a certain warmth to her and he had especially liked the way that she could be depended on to laugh at all his jokes, no matter how lame they were. He had only seen her briefly and swapped small talk pleasantries before Gavin’s funeral. Afterwards he had specifically sought her out to catch up and observed that she was a little standoffish and dismissive, batting away his attempts to strike up a conversation. He felt that her warmth had been replaced by a sense of bitterness and resentment, which he felt must have matured over the years as she had lost weight and become more attractive to the opposite sex.
On the day they were all spotted by Mr Morgan, everybody had run off and escaped except Cheryl, who - balancing a crammed and messy éclair - had stood rooted to the spot outside the shop. She was collared by Mr Morgan and dragged back into the school. The whole episode upset her deeply, especially as Mr Morgan told her that her parents would be contacted regarding the incident. Ultimately the head teacher had decided to just warn the children, a decision which was taken badly by Mr Morgan who, Peter believed, relished getting children into as much trouble as possible.
Peter recalled being summoned to the head teacher’s office with Cas who was in the same class as him at the time. They had laughed and joked all the way there, it was nothing new for them. Cheryl was in the foyer where she’d been standing for at least two hours. She kept her head down the whole time they were there, as if truly ashamed at what she had done, her face hiding behind her mopped hair. It was clear that she’d been crying. Peter was aware that Cheryl’s parents considered her to be their golden girl and put a lot of pressure and high expectations on her to be the best. However, it hadn’t
Similar Books
