Shared Skies (17 page)

“
You’re taking Gaiah
out?”

“
Yes, indeed.” Graeme
smiled, putting his arm around Gaiah and causing ripples of
interest around the canteen. “I’m thinking of a hike in
Craigphadraig woods if this weather holds. I’ll show Gaiah all the
sights. She needs a knight in shining armour to show her what’s
what, and that would be me.”

Neal sat down next to Cassie and Donald and
folded his arms on the table. “Why don’t we all go? Your Volvo will
take the six of us, won’t it?”

Graeme’s eyes narrowed as Donald said
enthusiastically, “Wicked! Great idea. I know a great area for a
picnic, there’s an old Pictish–”

“
Yeah, well guys, sounds
good but you know…the whole two’s company thing?” Graeme almost
drawled this.

Gaiah felt uncomfortable. Graeme’s arm was
heavy across her shoulders and she didn’t like his assumption that
she had no say in this matter. She tried to slide away and attempt
a joke, “Well, Graeme, it isn’t as if we were planning to elope or
anything, and it might be fun to all go together?”

Graeme tensed up and removed his arm. He was
silent for a while then said in a cold voice, “Whatever, we’ll sort
it out tomorrow. Anyway, I’ve no more classes today so I’m off.”
His gaze flicked up to Cassie. “I’ll drive you home, if you like,
Cassie?”

Neal stood. “No! It’s okay, I’m going in
that direction so Cassie and I can walk together.” There was an
awkward silence while Neal and Graeme glared at each other.

Gaiah tried to fill it. She took out the
flask of coffee Kaley had packed for them that morning and filled
two cups. Renny picked up a cup but her arm jerked and her coffee
sploshed over Gaiah’s shoulder and arm. Gaiah leapt. “Aaargh, watch
it Renny. That's hot!”

“
Oh No! I'm so sorry,
Gaiah. Come with me and I’ll help you clean up.” She grabbed
Gaiah’s hand and almost dragged her from the canteen. She kept
going until she reached the bathrooms in the annexe. Exhaling
loudly, she pushed the door closed behind them and put her back to
it.

“
Earth’s Death!” She
cursed. “I needed to get you out of there. Someone was
encognating!”

“
What? Are you
sure?”

Renny was white faced. “I think it was aimed
at Cassie but I couldn’t be sure. The sense of it being that she
wanted to go and have sex, now! It was vile. It was something that
she did not want to do so it met resistance and not acceptance. Oh
Power! I feel sick. I think it came from Graeme!”

“
No,” said Gaiah slowly.
“I don’t think so. I think it was Neal.”

“
What? Why? I mean, I’m
not sure. I can detect when encognating is being done, and I would
have thought that I’d have an idea where it was coming from too.
It’s not as if it’s all that common.”

“
Exactly! I didn't tell
you but I tried encognating Neal earlier. I tried as hard as I
could and it didn't have any effect whatsoever. And you know I can
encognate people properly.”

Renny looked at her. “You what? Powers,
Gaiah, why? Why didn't you tell me? But yes, there’s no doubt you
can encognate as well as I can. So…What? You think Neal’s an
occupied and is trying to hurt Cassie, but why? Gaiah, that doesn't
make sense.”

Gaiah marshaled her thoughts. “Perhaps Neal
is an occupied, and if he is, then he probably knows that I’m a
Gaianan, and he must have felt me encognating at him. But why was
he hanging around? Was he keeping an eye on me? For what? To kill
me? Kidnap me? And why was he was furious when he found I was going
to go out with the Earth guy Graeme?”

Gaiah quickly filled Renny in on what she
had seen in the shop, the first day she met the guys.

Renny's eyes were wide. “So Graeme's not a
friend of Neal’s at all?”

“
Far from it I’d
say.”

“
Do you think Neal’s so
angry he was going to take it out on Cassie?

Gaiah shook her head, gusting out a long
sigh. Nothing really made any sense.

“
God! I feel awful, let’s
get some air.” She pushed open the bars on the emergency exit and
went out to the volleyball court. Renny followed her
out.

“
Look, I’m not sure about
it all, but the facts are that you tried to encognate Neal, and I
know that you are more than capable of it. So if it didn't work, it
can only be because he is an occupied. I mean, he can’t
be
an Or’kan because
Cassie and Donald grew up with him, and whereas an adult could
pretend to be something they aren't, a young child just can’t. And
I know Cassie was encognated just now. So really, the only logical
explanation is yours.”

They were still debating this when Cassie
came running out followed by Donald. “Are you okay? Gosh, I hope
you’re not burned?”

“
No. I’m okay really, I
just got a fright,” muttered Gaiah.

“
Actually,” Donald
confessed, “to be honest, I have
no
idea what happened there; one minute we were
making plans for the weekend and the next minute the cold war had
started and you were sprinting for accident and
emergency.”

Graeme and Neal appeared at the door. Neal
was still looking angry but Graeme’s good humour seemed
restored.

“
Well? Not too bad I
hope?”

Gaiah didn’t meet his eyes. “No problem, my
jumper is more damaged than my arm.”

He smiled at her. “Well, that’s good, so
we’re okay to make plans for Saturday? I think Donald’s plan sounds
good, we can all go to the woods. Let’s sort times and things
tomorrow. Anyway, I’m off now, I have no more classes, coming
Cassie?”

Cassie turned away, “No, I’m going to walk
with Neal.”

Graeme’s brown eyes darkened as he stared at
Neal. “Do you really want to do this, Neal?”

“
Yes,” Neal’s reply was
almost inaudible. “I do. I now realize exactly what I want to
do.”

Graeme stepped closer to Neal and even
though Neal was taller, Graeme seemed to dominate. “You will regret
it if you take this step, Neal, I promise you!”

Neal didn't reply but turned to walk back in
to the school with Cassie. Graeme’s arm shot out. “Don't do
this!”

Neal brushed Graeme’s arm away and pushed
past. Graeme suddenly hooked his right arm around with his hand
closed into a fist and punched Neal hard in the kidneys.

“
Ooof,” Neal gasped and
jerked upwards, his head thrown back, but almost in the same
movement, he turned, swung his fist and connected with Graeme’s
cheek.

There was a wild light in
Graeme’s eyes. “A line has been crossed here, Neal, and I
won't
forget it, I
assure you!”

Donald stepped forward. “Hey, guys, this
isn't cool. You don’t have to do this!” He may as well not have
even been there for all the notice they took. Graeme put his head
down and ran at Neal hitting him in the chest, staggering him
backwards.

Gaiah watched in horror. This was not a
choreographed fight with perfect punches landing on waiting jaws,
nor with stunt doubles rolling and leaping. This was flailing and
falling, lucky punches and violent kicks, but with a rage that gave
these punches and kicks savagery.

Two year tens passing by saw them out of the
window and faster than twitter gossip, the volleyball court had
about two dozen boys chanting, “Fight! Fight! Fight! But it soon
became obvious that this was more than an ordinary school scrap and
the watching boys fell silent as the gasps and grunts and cries of
the two figures rolling on the ground echoed around the volleyball
court.

When Graeme knelt on Neal’s chest and pulled
his ponytail so that he could use it to crack Neal’s head off the
ground, the sound was a sickening thud and the blood left behind
was clear on the beige floor. When Neal pulled Graeme’s legs from
under him, Graeme hit the ground, with a bone jarring crash. Graeme
didn't spring back from the blow to the head, bouncing and ready to
do a ninja jump; he staggered and tried to clear the blood, leaving
it smeared across his face. These weren't the computer game moves
that everyone was used to. This was real and, as such, it was
messy, horrifying and brutal.

Gaiah clutched at Renny’s arm. “I’m
encognating as clearly as I can and nothing’s happening.”

“
Yes, me too! They may be
closed to us because of fighting or…”

Neal fell, Graeme kicked him hard and fast
into the stomach and head. Neal rolled to his side and grabbed
Graeme around the knees. Graeme fell on Neal, lunged forward and
caught Neal around the throat with both hands. He was squeezing as
hard as he could. This was obvious to all as Neal’s face was going
redder and redder. He desperately tried to pull Graeme’s fingers
away, but Graeme’s face was set in a mask of fury.

“
I told you, I told you
NOT to do it!” He was repeating over and over.

Cassie screamed. Gaiah and Renny ran
forward, but it was the intervention of the principal accompanied
by the caretaker and the woodwork teacher that brought things back
to normal. They pulled the boys apart and all the spectators slid
away. None were ever going to admit how disturbing this had
actually been to watch.

Neal was sitting with his knees drawn up and
his head resting on them, gasping heavily. Graeme got up slowly,
the fury leaving his eyes.

The principal shouted, “Neal, I’m stunned at
this behaviour. And as for you Graeme, this may be how you could
behave in America but I can tell you this is NOT acceptable
here!”

Neal slowly got to his feet as Mrs.
Patterson continued to address the two of them. “I have never seen
such violence. I have good mind to call the police. At the very
least I want your parents in here, Graeme. Your grandparents too,
Neal... I...I...mean...this is...well...I know that boys will be
boys and everyone loses their temper from time to time, so I
suppose there’s no harm done–”

“
Er…Mrs. Patterson,” the
caretaker stared at her, “they nearly killed each
other!”

Mrs. Patterson looked at him for a second or
two. “Oh yes! Indeed! Thank you very much for your help here. Sorry
for dragging you all away from your work, it’s all under control
now. Thank you all, I’ll deal with it from here.”

The staff members walked slowly away looking
troubled, but Mrs. Patterson had seemed quite clear. “Right! Back
to class and I don’t want to hear any more about this nonsense.”
She stalked back into the school.

Graeme stretched slowly, easing his head
from side to side. “Don’t look so worried, Gaiah. As she said ‘boys
will be boys’. Anyway Neal overreacted, and a few punches don’t
mean anything. We’ll sort it out between us. But I guess that it
means that he won’t want to come out with us on Saturday.”

Cassie and Donald were still just standing
in silence. Graeme punched Donald gently on the shoulder. “Hey,
lighten up! Scraps like this happen all the time back home. Anyway,
Gaiah, what about Saturday?”

Gaiah stared at
him.
Was he for real?
No response came to mind. There was too much to figure out.
“Oh, let’s sort it out tomorrow.” He made an elaborate bow. “Yes,
Miss Scarlett, after all–tomorrow is another day!”

Despite everything, this
almost made Gaiah smile. Who didn’t know the famous last line
from
Gone With the Wind
?

“
Now, I’m off to clean
up–I don’t want to frighten the customers in Mrs. McKintyre’s
emporium.” And he left without looking at Neal.

Neal’s battered face was
unreadable. He looked at Gaiah but said nothing, just turned and
walked away. Donald exhaled. “Wow! That was something
never
seen at this
school before, it was awful.”

“
Yeah,” agreed Cassie. “I
hated it. I feel sick, and
what
was that with Mrs. Patterson? That was really
weird! I mean no detention, nothing! That’s
not
normal. Oh God! It was really
gross. I don’t feel like going back to class now.”

Donald nodded, “Yeah, I feel like heading
off too. Let’s just get the bus home now, shall we?”

Cassie gave Renny and Gaiah a small smile.
“This isn't really typical of our school you know.” She gave her
usual little wave as she disappeared back into the school with
Donald.

“
Powers! Wait till Kaley
and Alasdair hear all about today.” Renny sounded
breathless.

“
Hang on! Don’t say
anything yet.”

“
What? Why?”

“
Well, we’re not
exactly
sure about
anything. Don’t forget, there wasn't any threat to me. Anyway I
still feel…I feel…Oh, I don’t know what I feel. I don’t understand
what’s going on and until I do, I don’t want to alarm my
grandparents. I mean, truthfully, I was never at risk, was
I?”

Renny thought about this. “No,” she said
slowly, “but I’m sure it’s as clear to you as it is to me that Mrs.
Patterson was encognated by someone. And there was no way she would
be happy to let that fight go, so the encognation had to override
all her instincts. As far as I can see, we still have only one
candidate for that role!”

“
But why was Graeme so
aggressive and violent too?” Gaiah countered.

“
I don’t know, some humans
are quite sensitive, you know. Maybe he sensed Neal’s intentions
toward Cassie and wanted to defend her?”

They walked slowly through the school out to
the front where Kaley was waiting in the car park. Neal was just
starting his bike and didn't look at them as they walked past but
Gaiah could see the finger marks on his neck quite clearly.