Not Pretty Enough (15 page)

CHAPTER 27

“Francesca,” my mum says as I
walk in the door that afternoon. “I’ve had the most interesting day today.”

Uh oh. She never calls me
Francesca.

“Me too,” I say. “Why aren’t you
in work?”

“Oh, that’s a funny story. Do
you want to hear it?”

I don’t think I really want to
hear it, but I nod anyway.

“Well, just as I was getting
ready this morning, I got a phone call from your principal. He said that some
accusations had been made against my husband – husband, huh? That’s a laugh, right?
Mr Sapsford said that he was very sorry, but they’d had no option other than to
call the police, and that I’d be getting a visit from said police sometime
today. So I decided to stay off work and find out what was really going on.
This sounds crazy so far, right? It’s like some kind of parallel world or
something, right?”

Oh dear. My mum is
so
mad it’s hard to describe. I don’t think I’ve ever
seen her this mad before. I can almost see steam coming out of her ears.

“Around lunchtime two officers turned
up and they wanted to speak to my husband. Obviously I invited them in and
tried to explain that I don’t have a husband, or a boyfriend, or indeed any
significant other whatsoever. They told me that an accusation had been made at
your school that your stepfather was violent towards you. Obviously, I thought
there must have been some mistake because, well, you don’t have a stepfather,
and then they told me that you have been seen at school covered in bruises, and
that you told a fellow student that they were caused by your stepfather. Then,
as if the police weren’t enough, Mr Sapsford himself turned up on the doorstep.
He told me that several other teachers could attest that they’d noticed bruises
on you in recent weeks, and that the student who’d made the accusation was a
very reliable person and not one known to flights of fancy or erratic
behaviour, and actually seemed to have become a friend of yours in recent
weeks. So, you can imagine how shocked I was. I mean, Chessie, your
non-existent stepfather has been beating you up and you didn’t tell me?”

“There’s an explanation for all
this.”

“Oh, I’m sure there is, but
perhaps you’d like to hear how I spent the rest of my afternoon first? Well,
I’ll tell you. In the police station, Francesca. Making a statement pending
further investigation. In fact, I’m under investigation myself. They think that
saying your stepfather hit you was a cry for help, because sooner or later
someone would realise that you don’t, in fact, have a stepfather and realise
that it was actually me who’s been hitting you. Can you believe that?”

“It was all a misunderstanding.”

“Oh, that’s all well and good
then. It doesn’t matter that I now have a criminal record.”

“I’m sorry,” I say. “It was just
a mistake. This boy got the wrong end of the stick and it took me too long to
set him straight because I thought he liked me. But I’m going to make it up to
everybody, I swear.”

“Teenagers,” my mum says,
throwing her hands up in despair. “Bloody teenagers. It’s always about a boy.”

“I didn’t mean for all this to
happen.”

“It doesn’t matter what you
meant to happen. You run your mouth so fast these days that you don’t even
think about what you’re saying until it’s too late.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“I don’t want to hear it,
Chessie. Consider yourself grounded until you’re in your thirties.”

I sigh.

“Don’t sigh at me. And don’t
expect me to cook dinner tonight. I’m going for a long, long soak in a very hot
bubble bath, and when I come out I expect you to be in your bedroom doing
homework without so much as a peep. Clear?”

“Clear.” I nod. “Sorry.”

“Don’t bother, Chessie. I don’t
want to know.”

With that, she walks away.

I know I’m in trouble now.

For a start, how am I supposed
to become a fundraising queen if I can’t even leave my bedroom?

CHAPTER 28

It’s while I’m lying there trying to cheer myself up that I
get my idea. This all started with a basketball lesson. What our school needs
is a basketball team. Or, more specifically, what I need to do to get back into
Lloyd’s good books is form a basketball team, and use them to raise money for
charity. I’m not really sure how you use a basketball team to raise money, but
I’m sure I’ll figure it out along the way.

Lloyd can be team captain. I’m
sure he’ll do it because being so tall makes him really good at basketball, and
he likes all sports but I think he likes basketball in particular. Imagine if
Lloyd Layton was the next Michael Jordan or someone and it would all be because
of me.

I, of course, will be team coach,
and I’m pretty sure that the coach and the captain have to spend loads of time
together to discuss tactics and… stuff. When Lloyd sees how much I’m doing to
help the kids who actually do get hit by their parents, he’ll totally give me
the time of day again. At least, he’ll probably look at me again.

It’s just a shame that I don’t
know anything about basketball, but I figure that it’s pretty much like netball
but without the skirts.

I decide to ask Miss Raine about
it first thing tomorrow.

“Debs,” I ask in my most
pleading voice as we walk to the bus stop the next morning. “Have you ever
wanted to be a cheerleader?”

“Not really, Chess. Why?”

“Well, I was thinking…”

“Uh oh.”

“No, it’s good, I swear. I was
thinking that our school needs a basketball team, and if you’re going to have a
basketball team, you may as well have cheerleaders.”

“Why does our school need a
basketball team?”

“Because Lloyd would make a
really good captain, and as team coach I would get to spend loads of time with
him, and I need to do something to raise money for charity to show Lloyd that I
really am sorry for lying to him.”

“How do you use a basketball
team to make money?”

“I haven’t quite figured that
bit out yet, but I was thinking maybe some sponsored matches or taking some bets,
or maybe we could even charge some big business for advertising on our shirts
or something.”

“Chessie, I hate to be the one
to say it, but don’t you think it’s time to leave Lloyd alone now?”

I go to object but she stops me.

“I mean, you’ve been at this for
nearly a year. Every day, it’s been nothing but Lloyd, Lloyd, Lloyd. Hasn’t the
guy made it pretty clear that he’s not interested by now? Quite frankly, I
worry about what you’re going to come up with next. If it’s not lying about one
thing or another, or a string of hair dye disasters, it’s basketball which,
correct me if I’m wrong here, is a sport that you know absolutely
nothing
about.”

“For your information, I happen
to think that Lloyd is worth it. And okay, no I don’t know much about basketball,
but how hard can it be? It’s just like netball but for boys. Come on, Debs, the
objective is to get the ball in the net more times than the other team do.
Anyone can do that. In fact, I can’t believe I haven’t thought of this sooner.”

“You know, I don’t claim to know
anything about basketball either, but I think it’s a bit more complicated than
netball for boys.”

I shrug. “Well, I’m going to get
Lloyd to be the team captain and he knows about basketball, so he can do all
the sports stuff, I’ll just be all organisational and motivational and stuff.
It’ll be really cool.”

“You’re crazy.”

“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun. We
can even hold cheerleader tryouts like they do in the movies.”

“I don’t know,” she says
reluctantly but I can tell that she’s already folding.

“Come on,” I say. “It’ll be
great.”

“I’ll help you as much as I can,
Chess, but I can’t see this being a good idea.”

I don’t even bother going to the
cafeteria that morning, instead I run straight to our form room and find Miss
Raine.

“Miss Raine,” I shout, out of
breath from running. I really do need to get fit if I’m going to coach a
basketball team.

“Calm down, Chessie. What can I
do for you?”

“Have you ever thought about
playing basketball here at the school? Have you ever thought about having a basketball
team?”

She nods slowly. “Yes. We’ve
thought about it, but with the hockey team and the football team we’ve already
got, we didn’t think there would be enough interest. Why? Are you interested in
joining one?”

“I think we should have one. What
if I can generate enough interest to make up a whole team and a bunch of
cheerleaders?”

“What’s brought this on,
Chessie? Usually I’m struggling to get you to play so much as an hour of
basketball on the rare occasion that we have it for games. Actually, I’m
usually struggling to get you to do any PE whatsoever.”

“Well, I’m not going to be
playing,” I say quickly. “I’m going to be coach because I’ll be good at getting
the team motivated and all that stuff. But I want to do something good for
people; I want to do something for charity. Don’t you think it would be great
for the school to be able to make a big donation to charity? And it would be
great for the morale of students to have a team they can really care about like
they do in the movies.”

“How do you propose to make
money from a basketball team, Chessie? Because, let me tell you, this is going
to
cost
money, not make it. What with uniforms,
transport, and who knows what else. You’d have to score a huge advertiser to so
much as break even.”

“We’ll wear our gym kits and car
pool or something. I don’t know, but I really want to do this. I think it will
be good for the entire school, and I want to give something to charity to help
children who aren’t as lucky as us.”

“I don’t know, Chessie. It’s not
even up to me—”

The buzzer rings for the start
of school and cuts her off.

“Who is it up to?” I push,
knowing that soon we will be interrupted by a stampede of students rushing to
registration.

“The decision ultimately rests
with Mr Sapsford.”

“What if you’re backing me? And
the other guy, the boys’ gym teacher.”

“Mr Hursh, and I don’t think it
will make any difference, but you’re welcome to go and see the principal
whenever you can get an appointment, and yes, by all means feel free to tell
him you have my support.”

“Can I go now?”

“You won’t get to see him
without an appointment, Chessie. He’s often booked up for weeks in advance.”

“He told me that I can go and
see him whenever I want to,” I say. “He says that his door is always open.”

She looks at her watch and
sighs. “Go on then, I’ll mark you here for registration. Be quick though,
you’ve only got ten minutes before your first class.”

I nod excitedly.

I can do this.

I tell the secretary that I’m
here to see the principal and give her my name, and she ushers me straight into
his office.

Lying to the principal has its
benefits after all.

“Miss Clemenfield.” He spins
around in his fancy black office chair. “What can I do for you this morning?”

“I wanted to put forward an idea
I had to you,” I say, somewhat nervous all of a sudden. What if he’s found out
that Hairolitis doesn’t really exist? I feel like I should have a business plan
with me, like I’m applying for a loan at the bank or something. “Before I start
I should point out that I already have Miss Raine’s backing – my form teacher
and head of the PE department – and quite possibly Mr Hursh’s as well.”

Mr Sapsford nods. I don’t know
why I said that. He knows who the teachers in his own school are.

“Well,” I begin. “I was thinking
that what this school needs is a basketball team. I have a plan to form a team
here at school, and use the team to raise money for charity. Just think how
good it would look for our school if we could donate a large sum of money to
charity. It would make us look good, and it would be good for our community as
well. The hockey team and the football team don’t get as much recognition as
they should, I mean, our sports teams aren’t even on the map, are they?” I
decide I shouldn’t give him a chance to answer so I jump right back into the
hard sell. “And I really want to do something for charity. I don’t think I can
raise much money on my own, so what better way than to get the whole school
involved? I bet you have, um, investors or something breathing down your neck.
It would make us look like a really good school. Parents would be lining up to
send their kids here.”

I pause for breath.

He’s shaking his head in
amusement. “One day, Miss Clemenfield, you would make a really good lawyer.”

I’m not really sure if that is
supposed to be a compliment, but I smile anyway because I once read a book that
said you should always smile because people will be more open to you if you’re
smiling.

He laughs and starts rummaging
around in his desk drawer. “It just so happens that someone out there likes you,
Francesca. I got an invitation in the mail yesterday, an invitation to bring my
school’s basketball team to the national championship up in Birmingham. Now, I
was just about to respond saying that regrettably we don’t have a basketball
team here, however, now you’ve come to me with this idea of yours and you
really couldn’t have come at a better time. It’s a three-day event up in
Birmingham, quarter finals, semi finals, and obviously, the final. The prize
for winning the championship is two thousand pounds. A sum of money that my
investors, as you call them, would be very happy with.”

I nod excitedly.

“However, as I’m impressed with
your generosity, I propose that if we win, we split the money half and half. We’ll
keep half for the school, and donate half to a charity we all agree on. How
does that sound?”

“A thousand quid? That sounds
fantastic.”

“Good.”

“Does that mean you’re going to
let us then? You’re going to let us have a basketball team and cheerleaders and
everything?”

“Provided they can all fit on
the school bus to take us up to Birmingham, then yes. Go for gold, Miss
Clemenfield. Good luck.”

“Thank you so much,” I say,
getting up to leave. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet, Francesca.
The competition is on December the first.”

I nod. “That’s fine. Wait, this
December first?”

“That’s the one.”

“That’s three weeks away.”

“Indeed it is. Do you think your
team are up to the challenge?”

Um.

“Yes,” I say instinctively.
“Yes, they definitely are. I can do this.”

“Then good luck.”

Now, I just have to find a team.