By the time they picked up the last clue and got back to the hall they were exhausted, and to their dismay they found that the other team had already cracked the code.
“There were two words, not one,” Mr Jenkins explained. “But never mind. You were the second-fastest team to finish. Well done!”
Geno looked at the letters again. “Of course,” he said after a few moments. “The letters make blue and green!”
The winning team members got a football each. Roddy eyed them enviously. He would have loved a new football.
After the orienteering almost everyone wanted to swim, so the pool was packed. It was an opportunity to relax, and for the first time that day Roddy felt as if he didn’t have anything to prove. Afterwards, the mood stayed with them. People chatted more openly with each other, as if they weren’t rivals any more.
Roddy was starting to feel very at home at Stadium School, and it looked as if he wasn’t the only one. A group of boys loitering by the serving hatch started singing football songs and another group took an orange from the servery, and started an impromptu game of football.
“That boy, Jack, by the door, is a brilliant midfielder,” said someone behind Roddy. “He’s sure to get a place. There’s no one to beat him. And his dad knows the headmaster.”
“He may be good, but he’s a thug,” said another. “I had enough trouble with bullies at my last school. I don’t want to be bullied if I come here.”
Roddy looked towards the door and saw a solidly built, brown-haired boy. He turned to Geno. “I wish my dad knew the head. Or owned a football club, or had been a professional footballer like yours.”
“But I bet there’ll be no pressure from your parents if you don’t get in,” Geno said. “I expect your parents will be proud of you whatever happens.”
Something in his voice made Roddy look at him again. “Will your dad be angry then, if you don’t pass the trial?” he asked.
“He won’t be angry,” Geno told Roddy. “But I know how disappointed he’ll be, and that’s almost worse. I’ll feel dreadful if I let him down. Since I got this trial, he’s been going on about how I’ll play for Italy like he did. But I’m nowhere near as good as he was.”
Roddy hadn’t thought it would be possible to feel sorry for Geno, but now he did. “Come on,” he said cheerfully. “The trial’s over now. We can’t change anything.”
“OK,” agreed Geno. “You’re right. Let’s have our tea. Then I’ll challenge you to a game of table football, if you like.”
“You’re on!” said Roddy. “Food first, then football!”
7. Evening
After Roddy and Geno had eaten until they were totally stuffed, they left the dining room and made their way back to the boarding house. To their disappointment, they found that they weren’t sharing a room. Geno would be sleeping at the far end of Roddy’s corridor. But it wasn’t time for bed yet.
Downstairs, there was a queue of boys waiting to play table football. Mr Clutterbuck the housemaster intervened to avoid any argument. “First to three goals wins,” he said. “Winner stays on. While you’re waiting, why not play table tennis, or go on the computers?”
The action was fast and furious, with the ball rattling into the goal time and time again. It wasn’t long before it got to Roddy’s turn. He was up against a blond boy that he’d noticed earlier in the day.
“Come on, Simon!” yelled someone nearby.
Simon glanced at Roddy and grinned. “Prepare to eat dirt,” he said. “Ready?”
“Ready.”
Neither of them was going to give away an easy goal. Roddy had played a few times before, and it looked like his opponent had, too. For a few minutes they battled away, before Simon sent the ball crashing into Roddy’s goal.
“Hard luck,” said Geno. But there was no time to reply. As soon as the ball was back in play, Simon was on the offensive, and Roddy had to work hard to keep the ball out of his half. He tried distracting Simon with a few dummies, then passed quickly and fired it into the goal. Geno cheered, and Simon shook his head.
“All right, I’ll start playing properly now,” he said.
They were both giving it everything they’d got, and everyone else was getting a bit fed up of waiting when Simon scored a lucky goal, shooting the whole length of the pitch with his goalie. The third goal soon followed, but Simon offered Roddy his hand as a gesture of respect for a worthy opponent.
Roddy left the table reluctantly and rejoined Geno.
“You were really good!” said Geno.
Roddy smiled. “Thanks. Shall we have a go at table tennis now?” he said.
Geno was much better than Roddy at that. “Fair enough,” said Roddy after Geno had thrashed him twice. “But I bet I can beat you on the computer.”
It was late when Mr Clutterbuck came to tell everyone it was bedtime. No one wanted to go, but as they made their way back to the dormitories, Roddy realised how tired he was. It had been a very full day, and it felt as if he’d arrived weeks ago, not just this morning.
“Whatever happens, it’s been great,” said Geno.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for anything,” agreed Roddy.
“Come on now,” said Mr Clutterbuck. “Into bed before you fall asleep in the corridor. I don’t want to come along in the morning and find you in a pile on the floor.”
“Mr Clutterbuck’s OK, isn’t he?” said Roddy.
“I wouldn’t mind him for a housemaster,” agreed Geno.
At the top of the stairs, Roddy and Geno saw Simon.
“We’re going to have a pillow fight later. Do you want to join us?” he asked. “We’re in room three.”
“Sure,” agreed Roddy. He’d never had a pillow fight before and it sounded fun.
“What about you?” Simon turned to Geno. “Are you up for it?”
“No, thanks,” said Geno quickly.
“Afterwards we’re going to have a midnight feast,” said Simon. “I have a few chocolate bars, and some people smuggled up food from the dining hall. It’ll be a laugh, but we’ll need to take turns to keep a watch for Clutterbuck.”
“Sounds good,” said Roddy. “See you later.”
Geno watched Simon disappear into his room and turned to Roddy. “Don’t get into trouble,” he warned. “You don’t want to do anything to risk your place here.”
Roddy hadn’t thought of that. He considered it for a moment and then patted Geno on the shoulder. “You worry too much. This is a boarding school. Aren’t pillow fights and midnight feasts what it’s all about? They’re not going to miss out on the best footballers for the sake of a midnight feast! Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
“Well…” Geno was obviously torn.
“I’ll swing by your room before I join Simon, shall I?” offered Roddy. “Then if you change your mind, we can go together.”
“OK,” agreed Geno at last. “It does sound fun. I’ll see you later.”
Roddy was just about to get into bed when his phone beeped and he got a text. Hope U had a gd day, it said. It was from Bryn.
Roddy texted back. Yeah tks. This place is awesome! C U 2mrw. He was looking forward to telling Bryn all about it.
Then he received another text from his parents. Mr Clutterbuck was at the door by the time he’d replied. “Straight to sleep now,” he said. “Don’t forget, there’s a lot happening tomorrow before you go home. We’re all going to be up bright and early.” Then he switched off the light and closed the door.
The boys lay quietly, getting used to the darkness in the room. Slowly, Roddy began to see the outlines of the furniture. A bit of light was coming under the door so it wasn’t totally black. It was very different from his room at home, where the streetlight shone through his curtains and traffic noises carried on all night long.
Here, in the middle of Stadium School’s parkland, they were some way from the road. Roddy thought he’d never be able to sleep in such silence. The only sound was the wind in the nearby trees.
Hearing it reminded him of the tree tunnel and the preserved stadium seats they’d been shown earlier in the day. The whole thing had been rather creepy, especially the charred seat that no one ever sat in. He found himself wondering if something awful had happened there that they hadn’t been told about.
Roddy lay quietly for a little while longer, wondering when the pillow fight was supposed to start. He’d forgotten to ask Simon, and he didn’t know if any of the other boys in his room had been invited. Perhaps he’d get up in a few minutes and go along to room three to find out. If Mr Clutterbuck was still around, he could always say he was going to the bathroom, and had forgotten the way.
He stretched out in the comfortable bed and relaxed under the duvet. He told himself he’d wait another five minutes. He could look at the time on his phone, but it was on his bedside locker, and he couldn’t be bothered to reach out and get it. In fact he was getting so comfortable, he’d have to do something to make sure he didn’t nod off. But, as Roddy was trying to think of a way to keeping awake, he slipped further away from consciousness. And soon he fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.
8. Home Again
The boys woke up to strong sunshine pouring into the room. Mr Clutterbuck was opening the curtains. Roddy groaned.
“Time to get up,” said Mr Clutterbuck. “Don’t go back to sleep now, will you?” Then he turned and left the room.
Suddenly, Roddy remembered the pillow fight and midnight feast. He’d missed them! He felt really annoyed with himself for falling asleep so quickly. He’d cheated himself out of some good boarding-school fun, and Simon would think he’d wimped out.
It was tempting to drift back to sleep, but Roddy knew he had to get up, so he threw off his duvet and sat up. The other three boys looked bleary eyed, too. Roddy tumbled out of bed, and made his way to the bathroom. Simon was there, coming out of the shower.
“Sorry about missing last night,” said Roddy, feeling rather sheepish. “It was stupid, but I fell asleep. Was it fun?”
Simon laughed. “Nothing happened,” he said. “I think we all fell asleep. At any rate, I wasn’t aware of any pillow fight going on…”
“You’re joking!” said Roddy feeling much less stupid now.
After his shower, Roddy saw Geno in the corridor.
“So much for your plans,” Geno laughed. “I got tired of waiting, so I came along to your room to see what the hold up was.”
“Did you?” said Roddy, amazed. “I didn’t hear a thing.”
“You were all snoring away,” said Geno. “So I went back to bed.”
“Well, we didn’t miss anything,’ Roddy told him. “Apparently Simon’s room fell asleep, as well.”
Before they went for breakfast, Mr Clutterbuck gathered everyone together. “I’m glad you had a good time in the boarding house last night,” he said. “But your parents are coming to collect you around midday, so there won’t be time for any more table football.”
“What a shame,” said Roddy, “I really enjoyed it.”
“Don’t forget to strip your beds and leave the bedding on the corridor floor.” A collective groan went up and he smiled. “This isn’t a hotel. If you’re lucky enough to get a place here, you’ll soon become used to changing your own sheets.”
By the time they’d done their jobs and packed, Roddy was getting hungry. He hoisted his rucksack onto his shoulder, and in no time he was downstairs. After a couple of minutes, Geno arrived, and they went over to the main building together. As soon as they’d dumped their bags in the entrance, they went into the dining hall.
Roddy was surprised that there was a full fry-up on offer. He’d imagined it would just be healthy cereal and fruit, but they were going to need a lot of energy if they were playing football every day.
After breakfast, there were some ball-control exercises, which Roddy did really well at. He and Keira were two of the best at dribbling, although she had the edge when it came to scooping up loose balls.
Then Mr Jenkins had a treat for them. “I’m going to show you how helpful technology can be in improving your game,” he said, leading them to a building they hadn’t visited before. In the media centre, full-time students had the opportunity to watch video footage of their own games and pick up on areas in need of improvement.
“As well as watching the game, like you would on TV at home, we can turn each piece of action into a computer simulation,” explained Mr Jenkins. “This allows us to view it from any angle, or to follow a specific player. It can be very helpful, and you can break down each person’s playing statistics as well, to see how effectively they use the ball.”
“Wow,” said Ali.
Everyone was very impressed with the cutting-edge technology being used, and longed to see themselves on the screen. Though of course that wasn’t going to happen unless they got a place at the school. Instead, they watched some footage of the Stadium School first team from the year before, playing against Manchester United under-18s. Mr Jenkins showed them edited highlights to demonstrate how the system worked, and drew virtual circles and arrows to help his explanation. Roddy and Geno agreed that it was one of the coolest bits of technology they’d ever seen.
All too soon, it was time to think about heading home. Roddy and Geno wandered back to the main building together. Roddy felt a bit subdued. It wasn’t only that this had been two of the best days of his life, and he was sad to leave the school. It was also hard to leave the new friends he’d made, especially Geno. Would he ever see him again, or Simon, or Keira?
Roddy went over to the pile of bags and picked up his rucksack.
“There are loads of cars here already,” said Geno, looking out of the open door.
He was right, and more were arriving every minute. Roddy felt his mood lift. He couldn’t wait to see his dad. He had so much to tell him.
“Roddy?”
“What?”
It was Geno, with his phone in his hand. “Can I have your number?” he asked. “Maybe we could meet up some time.”
“OK!” Roddy felt very pleased. He hadn’t wanted to ask, in case Geno had thought Roddy only wanted to hook up with him because of his famous dad.
“I know you live in Wales and I live in London, but you never know,” said Geno, keying in Roddy’s number. “You might come to London some time.”
“And you might come to Wales,” said Roddy grinning, but that didn’t seem likely.
“There’s my car!” Geno picked up his bag and started for the door. Then he stopped and looked back at Roddy. “Good luck,” he said seriously. “I hope you get in. You deserve to – you’re really good.”
“Thanks,” said Roddy. “You, too. Let me know how you get on, OK?”
“OK.”
“Bye then.”
“Bye.”
Geno went down the steps and onto the gravel drive. Roddy stood in the doorway and watched. He looked at the smart, black Mercedes Geno was heading for. Roddy had hoped to catch a glimpse of Geno’s famous father, but there was just a woman in the car. She leaned over and opened the passenger door. Geno went round to the boot and put his bag in before climbing into the front seat. He looked back at the school and waved. Roddy waved back. Then the car pulled away, and in a few moments it had gone.
Roddy took his rucksack and sat on the steps to wait for his dad. After a few minutes, the car arrived.
“Hey! Roddy!”
He turned round. It was Keira.
“Are you off?”
“Yeah. My dad’s here.”
“Oh, right. Well, goodbye then. See you some time.”
“Yes.” Roddy wasn’t going to say it. After all, she was a rival midfielder, but then he couldn’t help himself. “Good luck,” he said.
Keira’s face lit up and she grinned. “Good luck to you, too,” she said. “Really, I mean it.”
“And me,” agreed Roddy. “But I must go now. Bye!”
Roddy crossed the drive. His dad was already out of the car. He looked as if he wanted to
hug his son, but although part of him wanted to do the same, Roddy held back.
“Well,” said Roddy’s dad. “How was it?”
Roddy didn’t reply until they were both in the car. He sank back in his seat and sighed. Now it had come to it, he wasn’t sure how to explain. He had so many mixed-up feelings about the past two days.
“I just…” he said, searching for the right words. “I just want to go there so badly.” For an instant, he was afraid he might burst into tears, but that would be pathetic, so he swallowed several times and bit his lip. “It was… great,” he added and closed his eyes.
And it had been great, every minute of it, a sort of paradise for football-mad people like him. He’d been so lucky to get the trial, and he was incredibly grateful for the experience. But he knew that after this glimpse of football heaven, his ordinary, humdrum existence would never be the same again.
9. The Waiting Game
Back at home again, life felt unreal. Roddy couldn’t settle down to anything. Even playing football had lost some of its appeal. Every time he looked at a ball, Roddy started wondering when he would hear if he’d got a place at Stadium School. He did his best to wait patiently, but it was agony not knowing. And everyone’s lives seemed to be moving on, while his was stalled. His sister, Liz, had passed her GCSEs and was going to the local sixth-form college. And Bryn had already been shopping with his mum to buy his new Valley Comp uniform.
“I got some new football boots today,” he told Roddy one afternoon. “And I need to break them in. Shall we have a kick about in the park?”
“OK,” agreed Roddy. “I’ll go and get mine.” He was still using the ones he’d worn to the trial. “Dad said it isn’t worth getting new ones until I know where I’m going.”
“Still not heard then?” asked Bryn sympathetically.
Roddy shook his head. “They said it would be about ten days, and that was up yesterday.”
“I’m sure you’ll find out soon,” said Bryn.
“Probably,” agreed Roddy. But he knew that the more time went by, the less likely he was to get a place. Surely they’d write to all the people they had accepted first? Roddy wondered if he should text Geno to find out if he’d heard anything. But what if he’d already received a letter, and got in? Roddy knew he’d feel terrible. No, it would be best not to text. Not yet, anyway. He ought to forget about Geno and concentrate on his friends at home, not on someone he’d probably never meet again.
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