Benworden (9 page)

10

M
OVIES,
M
OLECULES AND
M
ENTORS

L
ast but not least in our club that year were our year 7s, Brian “Star” Martins and Sean “The Professor” Derricks. Brian's parents lived in Melbourne. His mother was a doctor and his father a fashion designer. Brian's mother wanted him to be a doctor too but his dream was to become a big star in Hollywood. He was a tall boy for his age and had short, blond, wavy hair and sapphire-blue eyes, and always dressed immaculately.

When we read through his file we found that he had an IQ of 135, and if that wasn't enough he also possessed a photographic memory. Once we knew this we could see he would learn quickly from all the other club members as he progressed through the years at Benworden.

Brian was in awe of Carla and the Hollywood stars she knew. He spent as much time around her as possible, constantly listening to her stories about one star or another which he got her to repeat over and over again, while she would ask him about the latest fashions that were about to hit the market. Brian asked his father to send some photos from recent fashion parades and Carla would get one of the stars to send an autographed photo with remarks like: “To my special friend Brian” written on them. She was like a big sister to him and it not only helped him with his social skills but also contributed to the new life Carla was building for herself.

Brian was so into acting and fashion that he rarely gave us
a glimpse of his intellect, except for the day that Sean was in the science room at school and was about to do something that had got him into trouble fin the past. He was mixing chemicals before properly calculating the effect they may have when combined. We had asked Brian to keep an eye on him during these classes and it turned out that this had been a very good decision.

Just as Sean was about to pour the contents of one beaker into another Brian stopped him in the nick of time by saying, “You do realise that if you do that most of us in this room will be asphyxiated, don't you?”

Sean, still holding the beaker and ready to pour, looked up at Brian and said, “You're kidding, right? What would you know about chemicals? You're an actor!”

Brian held both his hands at shoulder height displaying his palms to Sean and said, “Hey, no offence, but you have two choices: you can either read my notes and make your own deductions from them or you can go ahead and do what you want. But do me a favour, will you?”

“What's that?” Sean replied.

“Just give me a few minutes to get out of the room before you do it, ok?”

Sean thought Brian was playing a practical joke on him at first but then realised he was deadly serious. He put down the two beakers and said, “Ok, let me have a look at what you've got.”

Brian grabbed the papers from his desk and handed them to Sean and Sean began to peruse them.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm, interesting. Oh. I see.”

Brian, still relaxed, said, “Well, what d'you think, brains?”

Sean slowly lifted his eyes from the papers and said, “You're much cleverer than you pretend to be, Brian, and I think I'll consult with you on further projects if you'll let me. Oh, and by the way, you're right. We may have needed an ambulance if I'd continued. As much as I hate to say it, thank you.”

Brian agreed to go over Sean's notes in the future and incidents like the one that had almost happened never did.

These sorts of incidents had been a common thing in Sean's past and he would never have qualified for induction at Benworden if his parents hadn't called in some favours that were owed to them by some very influential board members at the school.

He had almost been expelled on several occasions from a very elite private junior school for the intellectually gifted. This wasn't because he had a “bad boy” reputation, but because of his quest for knowledge and how he went about pursuing it. He was always inventing new gadgets and dabbling in chemistry and he liked to note down the reaction when he mixed two or more chemicals together, sometimes without initially considering possible outcomes.

Like his fellow year 7 club member he had a very high IQ. In fact, it was higher, and it wasn't hard to figure out why once you knew his father was a highly noted scientist and his mother an astrophysicist. We all joked about the type of conversations we thought his family might hold around the dinner table of an evening; it's hard to imagine it to be an average family's banter.

Mr Gowdy warned Sean's parents that if there was the slightest sign of him blowing up the science room or burning holes in tables as he had done in the past, it would mean instant
expulsion, but we could see nothing but positives in enlisting Sean as a club member. With the other well-trained minds in the club he would get all the mentoring he required.

The good always seemed to outweigh the bad at Benworden and most of the teachers there were very helpful and easy to get along with, especially Miss Cathie James and Mr David Neals. They were everyone's favourites and whenever there was an issue they were always approachable and easy to talk to. More importantly, they would listen non-judgementally and although they didn't know about the club they could see that Mr Gowdy had it in for all those who were members. I'm not sure if it was some kind of instinct that old Gowdy had for sniffing out our members or whether we unknowingly showed some sort of distaste for the way the man treated people. Either way the feeling was mutual.

It was plain to see that Miss James and Mr Neals had feelings for each other but they were both too professional to allow this to interfere with their work.

Miss James taught music and had the voice of an angel. She had thought of becoming a psychologist before she became a teacher and had completed a degree in that subject, but music was her real love and being a music teacher combined both of these talents harmoniously.

Mr Neals was a science teacher and had been a mining engineer before accepting a teaching position. He was born in the mining town of Emerald in Queensland. His father had been a powder man working with explosives for a local mine site and the two generations before him were also miners. He had always hoped his son would follow in his footsteps.

When Mr Neals was young, he attended a local boarding school in Rockhampton which was just under 300km from
where he lived, and then he went on to Sydney University to do his Masters in engineering. This was a turning point in his life. While in Sydney he had grown fond of the busyness of the city and when he returned to Emerald to work in the mines with his father he couldn't adjust back to the isolation and slower country life and longed for the city again.

His best friend Paul, whom he had met in university, had gone home to Ballarat and had opened up a drilling and machinery business. Mr Neals would fly down for a visit whenever it was possible. He loved Ballarat as it had that home town country feel yet was only under a 100km from Melbourne. When he found out about a position being advertised at the local school he rang to ask them what qualifications they required for him to be eligible. He was pleased to hear that because of the qualifications he had already accumulated there was very little he needed to do to be appointed a position. The other pleasing thing was the school told him they would hire a “fill in” until he had achieved the necessary requirements. Although his father was disappointed he knew his son needed to follow his dreams.

11

T
HE
B
ULLIES OF
B
ENWORDEN

L
ike any school, Benworden has its share of bullying, and Wally “Scar” Freeman was the bully at ours. Wally never had a scar but he thought the nickname had a gangster feel to it so he made all his crew call him that. If that wasn't enough he also made his gang members take on aliases as well.

He wasn't very tall. In fact, he was only 5 feet 6 inches and was built like a barrel. He had red hair that looked like tangled string and his face was covered in freckles. Wally's favourite pastime was walking up the corridor and slamming some poor unsuspecting year 7 or 8 kid into a locker and then giving his freaky mates a high five. The so-called Scar was in my class but rarely picked on anyone the same age as himself, and if he did it was only when he had the backup of his four henchmen.

Mr Gowdy was often pulling him up about his bullying, yet if it was one of our club members wearing the club ring and they were being bullied by Scar, Mr Gowdy would walk past as if he didn't see anything.

Wally's crew consisted of Andrew “Fists” Humphries, a lanky boy with no coordination at all. He had blond hair, pale skin and bright blue eyes. He was very untidy and was always being told by teachers to tuck his shirt in. His older brother Paul, alias the “Cutter”, had a stockier build and was plainer in looks yet had the same blue eyes. Chris “Pistols” Hume had a babyish face and mousy-coloured hair. His voice was on the cusp of breaking and went from high to low pitch when speaking. The last of the gang was Peter “Tap Out” Lew. Peter had a nasty
streak in him and Wally was constantly encouraging Peter to take his bullying to the next level. Peter was born in Hong Kong and told everyone he had hung around and studied martial arts on some of the toughest back streets there, but we all knew his parents ran a very lucrative chain of fast food stores and that he had always attended private schools from an early age. We also knew that the only martial arts he studied were when watching movies.

Most of the time we would stay clear of them and they would do the same, but the biggest mistake Scar and his band of thugs ever made was the day they beat up Brian and Sean.

It all started when Brian and Sean were heading over to the sports ground during the lunch break to discuss homework and Brian caught sight of Wally and the boys having a smoke near the hedges. When Brian spotted them he grabbed hold of Sean's sleeve and swung him around 360 degrees to face the direction they'd come from.

Sean said out loud, “Ah! What are you doing?” He hadn't spotted the bullies and Brian replied, “Shut up! Just keep walking and fast!”

That's when a voice came from nowhere and Sean realised the reason why Brian had nearly ripped his arm out of its socket.

“Hey, you pair of nerds. Get here!” Wally called out, and they both started to run. Both knew they had to get back to the school buildings where there were teachers and students, and although they also knew that they would still get a sly punch or kick later, if they were caught away from witnesses they were in for a full-on thumping. However, like a flash three of the gang had caught them and were now blocking their path, and it wasn't long before Wally waddled his way up behind
them with his main man Peter.

Wally grabbed both the boys by the back of their shirts and was puffing like an athlete who had just completed a triathlon.

When he regained his breath he said, “Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Peter replied like a shot, “Looks like geeks to me, Scar.”

Wally laughed out loud and said, “Can't stand geeks. I think we may need to teach them a lesson for running, don't you, Tap Out?”

A smirk came over Peter's face and he replied, “You bet. I could do with a little kung fu practice.”

“LET GO OF US!” yelled Sean, while throwing air punches at those who were near him.

“I don't think so, scum!” Scar growled while keeping a tight grip on the back of Sean's shirt and giving him a bit of a shake. Sean struggled harder and said, “You better let go you fat pig or, or,” and before he had a chance to finish Wally tormented him with a childish reply, “Or what? You'll blow us up like you blew up your class room last year?”

And then Peter slapped Sean on the back of the head and said, “Show some respect, idiot!”

“Leave him alone!” said Brian angrily and that remark was met with a slap on the back of his head by Peter.

Scar smiled and said, “Ok boys, grab 'em.”