‘How about if we have some lunch now?’ asked Auntie.
‘Oh, you’re doing all the cooking, are you?’ I said. ‘Great.’
‘I’ve drawn up a rota,’ Auntie said forbiddingly. ‘May I borrow my handbag, Tinky-Winky?’ She took her handbag from Mr Hernandez, whisked out a piece of paper and laid it on the coffee table.
‘But I can’t cook,’ Baby complained.
‘Now is the perfect time to learn, then,’ Auntie retorted, ‘as we’ve got so much time on our hands.’
Baby flounced out of the common room in a sulk. And then shot straight back in again as she remembered that she might lose points. I grinned. She was such an airhead, she’d forgotten all about the cameras.
‘Can you believe Baby prancing around in that see-through skirt?’ Jazz muttered. ‘I suppose she’s going to try and grab votes by putting herself about like Romy Turner did. I bet she’s brought her bikini too—’
‘Ssh!’ Geena hissed, giving Jazz a violent poke. ‘We don’t want everyone getting interested in Baby!’ And she nodded at the nearest camera.
‘Ow, that hurt,’ Jazz grumbled. She tried to slap Geena’s arm but Geena parried her swiftly. So, with a neat counter-attack, Jazz trod down heavily on her toe.
‘Yikes!’ Geena shrieked with pain and began hopping around the common room. ‘Jazz, you’ll regret this.’
‘Girls!’ Dad said warningly.
I smiled to myself. Maybe I was going to be the only person who never forgot about the cameras, just like Molly Mahal on the TV. If I kept my wits about me, I could win this thing. I was sure of it. I mean, how hard could it be?
Auntie and Geena were down to make lunch, so we all sat around waiting to eat. There wasn’t anything to do apart from talk to each other. Uncle Jai tried to initiate a game of I-Spy but that collapsed into chaos with Jazz’s choice of ‘B’ for Bimbo, as a result of which Baby got the raging sulks.
After lunch it was still only 1.30 and time seemed to be crawling by. I wouldn’t have believed that I could get so bored in just a few hours, but I was desperate. I’d have given my right arm – or, in fact, any one of my limbs – for a book, my iPod, a TV, anything. Kim and I went on a lightning raid around the classrooms where we were sleeping but everything had been removed. I imagined Gareth Parker chuckling with glee like a psychotic James Bond villain as he carried boxes of books away.
I have to say, I think all this boredom was already affecting my sanity.
‘This is so dull,’ Baby complained every five minutes, on the dot. ‘I’m so bored.’
‘I’ll cheer you up,’ Rocky announced at 3.10. He’d been sitting on his own in a corner since lunch, staring into space. ‘I’ve composed a special rap for you, babe.’
‘Sadly, I’m so bored, I’m actually looking forward to hearing this,’ Geena murmured.
‘I know,’ I replied. ‘Frightening, isn’t it?’
Rocky cleared his throat and began to strut up and down the common room, pointing his fingers downwards in the classic rapper style.
‘Come on honey,
Give me back my money.
You’ve borrowed so much,
It just ain’t funny.’
‘WHAT!’ Baby screeched in a terrifying tone.
‘It’s taken him two hours to come up with that?’ Jazz whispered.
Baby had leaped to her feet. Hands on hips, she bore down furiously on Rocky. ‘You can take that back, you loser!’ she yelled. ‘I don’t owe you that much!’
‘Baby, remember the cameras—’ Auntie began, but Baby was too far gone to care. This was great. I hadn’t expected a Big Row on the first day.
‘Oh now, let me see . . .’ Rocky said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. ‘One hundred and twelve pounds twenty-seven pence, I think.’
‘Well, if you can’t afford the luxury goods, stay out of the designer store!’ Baby retorted, eyes flashing. ‘And you can forget about meeting up tonight when everyone’s asleep, you moron!’
‘Oh, you can forget about that every night,’ Dad said sternly. ‘Your auntie and I both have keys to our classrooms, and the doors will be locked when we go to bed.’
‘Baby, you do have a very generous allowance,’ Auntie said. ‘You ought to think about paying Rocky back.’ She was right. Baby’s monthly allowance from her parents was legendary – at least two hundred and fifty pounds.
‘Oh, but any guy should be glad to pay for his girlfriend,’ I said quickly. ‘Baby just wants to be treated like a lady. Right, Baby?’
‘Exactly!’ Baby snapped. ‘You’re not as stupid as you look, Amber.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
Kim was staring disapprovingly at me and Auntie also gave me a penetrating stare.
‘Ever heard the phrase adding fuel to the fire, Amber?’ she asked.
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,’ I said. Well, there was no harm in trying to make things a bit more interesting for the viewers, was there? I did wonder why Baby kept borrowing the money in the first place, though. I mean, she was loaded. Or at least her parents were.
‘I’ve made up a rap too.’ Baby narrowed her eyes at Rocky.
‘You think you’re so flash
But you’re stingy with your cash.
Don’t make me cry
Or I’ll go find another guy!’
Then she stomped off to the far corner of the common room.
‘I think I’m going to need a long holiday to get over this week,’ Geena remarked as Baby and Rocky glowered at each other from opposite sides of the room.
‘Well, Auntie and Uncle Jai are off on their honeymoon in the Christmas holidays,’ I said idly. ‘Maybe they’ll take us with them.’
‘What honeymoon?’ asked Uncle Jai, looking and sounding bewildered.
There was a tense silence. For once, and this almost never happens, Auntie looked completely caught out.
‘Our honeymoon to Australia,’ she said quickly.
Uncle Jai blushed red. ‘Oh, yes, I’d forgotten,’ he said in a stifled voice.
‘Forgotten?’ I repeated in an incredulous voice. As I’d suspected before, there was definitely some mystery here. But what, WHAT, WHAT???
‘I didn’t know you were thinking of going to Australia,’ Dad said curiously.
‘We haven’t worked out any of the details yet,’ Auntie said, too obviously longing to drop the subject, which made me even more suspicious. ‘Let’s all have a nice cup of tea.’
I was thoughtful as Auntie bustled around a bit too much, putting the kettle on. Maybe I wasn’t going to be as bored as I’d feared. My family seemed to have enough secrets to keep me busy for the next five weeks, never mind five days.
Now, at last, I had some time to find out exactly what was going on.
I woke up in the middle of the night, thinking that someone was poking me in the back with a stick. But it turned out that the camp bed I was lying on was just supremely uncomfortable.
Oh, how time had dragged all day. We’d actually gone to bed at 9.30 because we were so bored. Then, for the next two hours, we’d been kept awake by Baby moaning that she couldn’t sleep. Now, though, there wasn’t a sound in the classroom.
I tried to get back to sleep, but I started wondering what was happening outside in the real world. Had anyone turned up to watch the screening of today’s filming after school was over? Everyone had been so excited this morning, surely loads of them must have come along? How many of them had voted, and how much money had we raised so far? And which one of us had got the most votes today? I just hoped the teachers and pupils who were editing the footage had cut out all the boring bits, because there were plenty of those . . .
The moon was gleaming in through the windows, throwing strange shadows around the room. I peered at my watch. It was three in the morning. Mr Grimwade and Gareth Parker wouldn’t be expecting any of us to try and escape on the first night, would they? So I ought to give it a go. I wasn’t going to hang around on the off-chance th
at George Botley might help me. However, I had a problem . . .
I crept across the room to Auntie’s bed.
‘Auntie?’ I whispered, tapping her shoulder. ‘Wake up!’
‘Eh?’ Auntie surfaced from a deep sleep and sat bolt upright. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘I want to try and break out so that I can win Mr Gill’s thousand quid,’ I explained. ‘But you’ve got the key to the classroom.’
Yawning, Auntie pulled the key out from under her pillow and climbed out of bed.
‘You’re coming too?’ I said, amazed.
‘You don’t think I’m letting you go alone, Amber, do you?’ Auntie retorted. ‘Come along.’
Silently we left the classroom and Auntie relocked the door behind her. Then we hurried down the corridor. As long as we kept out of the common room, no one would see us on camera. Anyway, I very much doubted whether any of the sixth-formers or teachers would be on duty all night, whatever they said. I tried every other door along the way, but they were locked, as Gareth had said.
‘Do you really believe that Mr Grimwade’s got someone on guard outside day and night?’ I whispered, gazing down the corridor at the main doors. Knowing those doors were unlocked and that we could open them and walk out if we wanted to was extremely tempting.
Auntie shrugged. ‘Who knows?’ she replied. ‘But I wouldn’t be surprised.’
‘Well, surely the windows must be unlocked too,’ I said. ‘What if there was a fire and we couldn’t get to the doors?’
Auntie stopped underneath one of the windows at the end of the corridor. ‘Only one way to find out,’ she said.
The window ledge was a little too high for me to climb up to, so Auntie had to give me a leg-up. I lifted myself onto the ledge, panting a little, and tried the catch.
‘It’s not locked!’ I whispered triumphantly.
I was just pushing the window open when I happened to glance down. I gave a little shriek. Gareth Parker was standing outside, looking up at me.
‘Good evening, Amber,’ he said sarcastically. ‘Or should that be good morning?’
‘Wh-what are you doing here?’ I gulped.
‘Don’t you remember?’ Gareth replied. ‘We have a rota for security day and night. There’s always a group of teachers and sixth-formers on patrol.’
‘But how did you know . . . ?’
‘That you’d left your sleeping quarters?’ Gareth gave me a superior smile. ‘There are security cameras in all the corridors. They were installed when the sixth-form block was built. Didn’t you notice them when you moved in?’
‘No,’ I snapped.
‘Oh dear, maybe we should have pointed them out.’ Gareth shrugged. ‘I suggest you go back to your room right away. You’ll already lose votes for this.’ Smirking slightly, he took out a walkie-talkie and spoke into it. ‘Gareth to base. I’ve apprehended the escapees, Ms Woods. Over and out.’
Sulkily I slammed the window shut and jumped down off the ledge.
‘I take it we got caught,’ said Auntie.
‘Yes, and now we’ve lost votes,’ I grumbled. I hadn’t realized everyone was going to take the security issue so seriously. I would have to rely on the cunning and intelligence of George Botley to get me out now. What a truly horrific thought. I might as well say goodbye to Mr Gill’s money right here, right now.
‘Well, we’d better go and get some sleep,’ Auntie replied. ‘We’re going to need all our strength tomorrow for another day of sitting around and listening to Rocky and Baby arguing.’
‘Mm, there’s something funny going on there, don’t you think?’ I speculated. ‘Why on earth is Baby borrowing so much money from him?’
We stopped outside our classroom door and Auntie turned to stare hard at me.
‘Amber, just remember that whatever’s going on with Baby and Rocky, or anyone else, we do not want to discuss family business in front of the cameras. Is that clear?’
‘As crystal,’ I replied quickly. I was only going to do a bit of digging around. I had to be careful myself too.
After all, I still had that BIG secret of my own that I absolutely did not want anyone else to know about.
Mostly because I’d look like a great big loser if it didn’t come off . . .
Chapter Ten
THE NEXT DAY, Tuesday, started off rather badly. It took me a long time to get to sleep because I was tossing and turning for ages, planning revenge on Gareth Parker. Then, when I finally fell asleep, I had the most awful nightmare. I dreamed that it was really early in the morning and Mr Grimwade was yelling at me in his loudest voice to GET UP.
Groggily I opened my eyes. This was no dream.
‘Wakey, wakey, contestants!’ Mr Grimwade roared over the loudspeaker. He sounded as fresh as a daisy. ‘Rise and shine! It’s time for your next challenge!’
‘How can this be?’ Jazz moaned, rolling off the camp bed and onto the floor with a bump. ‘It’s only seven o’clock.’
‘This is mental and physical torture.’ Geena gave a great yawn. ‘Haven’t we even got time for a shower?’
‘I want to see you in the common room in five minutes!’ Mr Grimwade ordered.
Half-heartedly we began scrabbling around for our clothes. I glanced at Baby, who was apparently still asleep.
‘What about her?’
‘Baby!’ Auntie shook her by the shoulder. ‘We have to get up now.’
Baby said a rather rude word and stayed where she was, eyes firmly closed.
‘Oh, leave her be,’ I said. ‘She won’t have a hope of winning with all these points she’s losing.’
Baby sat up. ‘I’m coming,’ she muttered, ‘but there’s no way I’m going in front of the cameras without my make-up.’
‘Time’s running out, contestants!’ Mr Grimwade informed us gleefully.
Five minutes later we went to the common room to join Dad, Mr Hernandez, Uncle Jai and Rocky, who were slumped on the sofas, half asleep. Our next challenge turned out to be what Mr Grimwade called the Coppergate Olympics. We each had to come up with a sporting event, using stuff found around the common room and classrooms. Then we’d all have a go at the different sports everyone had invented. We’d get points for winning the events, and people could vote for their favourites too.
I was quite pleased with mine, which was a skittles game. All right, so I’ve never seen skittles in the real Olympics yet, but hey, there’s a first time for everything. I made the skittles out of cardboard and the bowling balls out of scrunched-up newspaper sellotaped together. Mr Hernandez cheated a bit and held a ‘How long can you stand on your head?’ event. As he was into yoga, he did brilliantly at that while the rest of us failed miserably. Still, it was amusing. Or it would have been if it hadn’t been quite so early in the morning.
I did pretty well in most of the other events. I came first in the ‘Juggling with plastic cups’ event (that was Kim’s), third in Dad’s Long Jump and second in the Toss the Cushion competition. That was Baby’s idea and basically involved us standing at one end of the common room and seeing how many times we could hit the notice board on the opposite wall by chucking a cushion at it.
Anyway, by the end of it all, I was convinced I’d pick up plenty of votes when the next set of film footage was shown after school today, which might make up for the fact that I’d had some deducted some last night.
It was only after Mr Grimwade had signed off and Dad and I were making breakfast that I finally glanced at the clock. Setting up all the different events, then doing them, had taken quite some time. But it was still only ten past ten. Eek! How was I going to get through the rest of the day?
We had breakfast at 10.30. Eating breakfast took fifteen minutes. It was now 10.45. I began trying to calculate how many minutes were left before we could go to bed. Then I could count them down in my head. Oh dear, I was becoming almost as geeky as Gareth Parker.
‘Dad, what do you think is happening outside?’ I mused as the two of us loaded the breakfast
plates into the dishwasher. ‘I keep wondering if anyone’s watching us. And how many people have voted.’
‘And whether you’re winning?’ Dad asked with a teasing smile.
‘No,’ I began. Then grinned. ‘Well, yes. What about you?’
‘Get real, Amber.’ Dad looked highly amused. ‘No one’s interested in me. I’ll be lucky to get a single vote.’
‘Thanks for coming anyway,’ I said, scraping leftover cornflakes into the bin. ‘It was nice of your boss to let you have time off work.’
Dad was squinting at the dishwasher controls. ‘That big engineering project was postponed a few months ago, so we’re not actually that busy at the moment,’ he remarked absently.
What?! Something did not add up here. I stared at Dad in bewilderment.
‘But you’ve been working late for ages, Dad, right up until the contest, and you kept saying it was because of that project . . .’ My voice tailed away. Dad had been telling us fibs. Why?
Dad froze, looking like he wanted to climb into the dishwasher and hide himself away. ‘Oh, er – well, we’re always busy, Amber. You know that.’ Dad attempted a casual tone but failed horribly. And then he suddenly seemed extremely interested in rummaging through the box of dishwasher tablets.
I left him to it and rushed over to Geena and Jazz, my mind reeling with all sorts of possibilities. Many of them unpleasant.
They were sitting on one of the sofas with Kim, passing the time by plaiting Kim’s long blonde hair into lots of tiny dreadlocks.
‘What’s the matter with you, Amber?’ asked Geena. ‘You look worried.’
‘She knows I’m going to win the contest, that’s why,’ Jazz said.
‘I have to talk to you – in private.’ I glanced around the room, checking up on the others. Baby and Rocky were giggling in a corner together, having seemingly made up after yesterday. Auntie and Uncle Jai were also huddled in the opposite corner, as far away from the cameras as possible, having what looked like an intriguingly serious chat. Mr Hernandez was cross-legged on the other sofa, eyes closed and chanting under his breath.
‘OK,’ I said. ‘No one’s listening.’ I glanced at the nearby camera but I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be heard if we kept our voices low.
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