Time and Again Read Free Page B

that Luke had no chance to get him into trouble. Now he would have to miss the lunch-time game of football in the playground.
    Chris tried to keep a low profile for the rest of the morning, not wanting to attract the attention of his teacher again. Luke, however, had other ideas. He kicked Chris under the table, making him yelp in pain and surprise.
    â€˜Was that you making that noise, Christopher?’ demanded the teacher.
    â€˜Sorry, Mr Samuels.’
    â€˜
Sorry, Mr Samuels
,’ mocked Luke out of the corner of his mouth.
    â€˜Then please be quiet. Some people here are trying to work.’
    Luke sniggered. ‘Not exactly Sammy’s blue-eyed boy this morning, are you,
Christopher
?’ He kicked out again but Chris was ready for him, grabbing Luke’s foot and yanking him off his chair.
    Mr Samuels put the blame on Luke this time. ‘You can join Christopher in here at lunch,’ he told him, ‘and get on with that Maths you haven’t done yet.’
    Becky drifted by their table a few minutes later on her way to the other side of the room to return a book to a shelf. ‘You boys having fun together?’ she said, smiling.
    Luke swore at her, but she kept smiling. She was also keen to carry out her own little act of revenge for yesterday’s insult in the market. On the way back to her seat, via the sink, she passed behind Luke and tipped some water down the back of his neck.
    She sat down at her own table, the very picture of innocence, and resumed her work while Luke’s loud complaints went unheeded by the teacher.
    The running feud continued throughout the day.
    When Mr Samuels left the room briefly,he returned to find the two boys brawling on the floor and gave them both extra work to do at home. During the afternoon, he had to stop them flicking pencils at each other across the table and then he caught Luke and Becky squabbling over the use of some science apparatus.
    The teacher’s patience finally ran out and he sat all three in separate corners of the room with strict orders not to move for the rest of the session.
    Despite their differences, the trio still took part as usual in the after-school football practice. Surprisingly, Mr Samuels seemed pleased to see them, but that might have been because Luke was the team’s top scorer that season.
    The squad was divided into four groups for a series of five-a-side games and Luke was delighted to find himself playing against Chris in the first match.
    â€˜Sucker for punishment, ain’t yer, Jacko,’ he sneered. ‘Always coming back for more. When you gonna realise you’re useless in goal?’
    The criticism stung. Chris would havebeen the first to admit that the regular first-team goalie, Butch, was better than him, but he certainly wasn’t useless. And neither was he in the mood for any more cheek from Luke.
    â€˜Well you won’t score against me in this game,’ he boasted.
    Luke laughed. ‘We’ll see about that.’
    Both boys were determined to outdo the other. Chris was in inspired form, saving everything that Luke’s team could fire at him, but Luke was perhaps guilty of trying too hard to score.
    â€˜Don’t be greedy,’ called Mr Samuels when Luke shot straight at Chris from a narrow angle. ‘You should have passed to somebody in a better position.’
    Luke scowled. The only thing that mattered right now was that he should put the ball past Chris himself and time was running out. Much to his relief, and Chris’s dismay, the striker finally managed to poke the ball into the net from close range beneath the keeper’s desperate dive.
    â€˜One-nil!’ Luke cried. ‘The winner!’
    And so it proved, with Luke taking greatdelight in taunting Chris further before the teams swapped around to play new opponents.
    â€˜Right, that does it,’ Chris muttered under his breath. ‘I really will come back for more now. We’re going