Takeshita Demons Read Free Page A

dodgeball."
    "Then we'll have to give dodgeball a miss
for today." Mrs Okuda smiled, then she sat at
Mr Lloyd's desk, crossing her legs as if that closed
the conversation.
    Other kids' hands went up almost at once.
    "Yes?" she asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
    "When will Mr Lloyd be back?" someone asked.
    "I don't know. He's quite sick."
    "What kind of sick?"
    "Hands in the air," Mrs Okuda said, but she
answered anyway. "He has chicken pox." She smiled.
"It can be quite severe in adults. It could be several
weeks before he gets back." She looked across at me, making eye contact before I could snatch my eyes
away. She looked pleased and her eyes were shining.

    No one else seemed to share her enthusiasm.
Several weeks? No dodgeball? For seconds there
was a stand-off. No one moved. No one spoke.
We just sat there, looking at Mrs Okuda, who just
sat there, looking back. She seemed as hard and shiny
as a toffee.
    Then Alex broke the silence, putting up
his hand.
    "Can I go to the toilet? I'm busting."
    "Me too," said Oscar, his desk partner, waving
his hand in the air.
    "I feel sick," said another kid, his hand shooting
up. "I think I might puke."
    "I'm gonna pee right now," Alex added, wriggling.
"Miss, I can't hold it in."
    A few kids giggled from near the door, but Mrs
Okuda didn't seem to hear them. She didn't move at
all. Instead she seemed to grow taller, as if she were
somehow stretching up and over Mr Lloyd's desk.
In seconds she seemed to be hanging over the whole
class, even though she was still sitting down.
    Her voice boomed down, slow and calm. "You
will work," she said. "And you will work quietly.
There will be no trouble from this class."

    Everyone fell silent, even Alex. Hands went
down, kids stopped wriggling, feet stopped kicking
the desk in front. One by one, the class opened their
desks and pulled out paper and pens.
    Mrs Okuda knew she'd won. "Two pages," she
said. "Before lunch. I will answer any legitimate
questions."
    The class began writing with hardly a whisper.
Even Alex. I could hear the clock ticking. We were
never this quiet for a supply teacher, not even for
Mr Lloyd. A girl near the front put up her hand and
Mrs Okuda went to help her with her question.
    I glanced across at Cait, who was trying to take
things out of her bag without making too much
noise.
    "What happened to you?" I whispered.
    "Bus," she replied. "The weather..." Cait's family
lived right on the outskirts of the catchment area for
our school. She had to travel by bus every morning,
but some afternoons she came back to mine till her
dad could pick her up after his work. "Where'd she
come from?" Cait asked, pointing at Mrs Okuda.
    "Dunno." I rolled my eyes. We'd never had a
supply teacher quite like her before. I opened my
notebook at a blank page and took the lid off a pen.
    "Okuda," Cait said. "Is that Japanese?"

    "Yep," I nodded. I didn't mind if Cait asked me
about being Japanese. She'd been round to our flat
often enough to see what it was like. Plus she was
Irish and had mad curly hair, so she knew what it
was like to be different. "She was speaking Japanese
earlier."
    "I thought so. Strange. Maybe she just wanted to
be friendly?"
    I raised an eyebrow. Since when did I want to get
friendly with a teacher?
    Cait grinned at me. "Don't worry. Hey, can
I come to yours this afternoon? My dad'll pick me up
before tea."
    It
"Sure...
    "Takeshita-san." Mrs Okuda's voice snapped like
a whip from the front of the class. She was looking
up at me from where she stood helping the girl,
still using my surname instead of my real name.
"Shizuka-ni," she commanded. Silence.
    Embarrassment steamed off me. Would she insist
on doing this all day? All week? Cait put her head
down and began writing her essay. I knew I should
start writing mine, but there was nothing I wanted
to say. Nothing I wanted to tell this woman about
myself. I didn't want her to know anything at all
ABOUT ME.

    I