Future Queens of England (51 page)

“Well, I didn’t think it’d be me scoring the winning goal,” Hugh shouted over the noise with a massive smile.  “Well, with a little help from the fag hags.”

“You’re right
,
Hugh.  Come on
,
guys, show the fag hags some appreciation,” Tony called down to the crowd.

Giles acknowledged this and lead a group of supporters to pick up the fag hags and parade them too.

Louise pushed her way through the crowd to get to Tony, “Hey!” she shouted to get his attention. 

Tony looked down and smiled at her.

“You were amazing today,” she called up to him.

“What?” Tony said
,
pretending that he couldn’t hear her.

“I said
,
that you were amazing today
.
”

Tony smirked, “Yes, I thought that’s what you said.  Come and find me in the bar later and tell me again,” he called as they carried him away.

The defeated lesbians slid open the door and clambered into their blue VW camper van to the sound of backbiting and squabbling.  They started the engine and pulled up alongside the revellers.

The window unwound, “You’ve not seen the last of me!” Lezzy Lex shouted out. “I promise you that!”

The van pulled off and drove away from them with its engine roaring.

“Oh
,
my God, look!” Gareth shouted waving his finger with his free hand
,
as he helped to cart Tony around.  He laughed as he pointed at the rear side of the VW camper van.  They all looked over to see what he was laughing at and saw emblazoned on the side of the van a huge picture of the Phantom still dripping with wet paint.

Chapter Twenty
Five

“Good morning my nearest, dearest and queerest,” Ben said, as he danced into the room.  “How are you all today?”  He put his man bag down and turned to face the class, “And have our hockey stars come down from cloud nine yet?”

“We’re still flying high.  I keep pinching myself to prove I’m not dreaming.  I just can’t believe we did it,” he grinned broadly.  “I can’t believe that I scored the winning goal,” he said, with a special emphasis on the word ‘I’.

The class let out a groan.

“
Ja, ja
.  We know, Hugh.  You scored the winning goal, you are our saviour,” Uwe muttered sarcastically.

Hugh’s grin disappeared in an instant, “But ... ”

“Okay, okay!” Ben said, clapping his hands together, “let’s not spoil the moment.  We have something new for you all to sink your teeth into.”

Their expressions changed, and they sat upright on their cushions, their interest piqued.

“As you know, we’re fast approaching the end of the year, and now we need to start working on the show to welcome next year’s students.  I am sure that you all remember the breathtaking performance that was put on to welcome you.”  He allowed a moment for their minds to wander back to the welcome party at the beginning of the year.  “Well, you will need to do the same.  We’ll invite you all back to show next year’s students how much they can learn.”  H
e
smiled wryly and pointed at Tony, “That means all of you.”

Tony rolled his eyes and tutted.

“You will come back for one night only, after you’ve graduated, won’t you, Tony?” Ben said.

Tony shrugged his shoulders in a non-committal way, “Yeah, maybe.”

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.  You have to attend, you’re proof that we can work miracles here.  You’ll be the star of the show.”

“As I said ... maybe.”

“And as I said … I’ll take that as a ‘yes’,” Ben said, before declaring loudly to the class, “you heard him folks.  All present today shall bear witness.”  He marched over to the curtains and began to draw them shut against the spring sunshine.  “So, I think it’s time that we watched some videos of the ideas that I have for this year’s performance.” 

Once all of the curtains were drawn, he made his way across to the front of the room and took his laptop from his bag.  He pressed the button to power it up and connected the project cable to it.  As he made his preparations he chattered excitedly.

“This year has to be our biggest and best performance.”  Ben stepped back and picked up the remote control, he pointed it to the projector and switched that on too.  “I think you’re going to love this.”  As the projector began to warm up he reached up and pulled the projector screen down.  As it unravelled a large dark blot appeared in the centre of the screen.  The class squinted to see it in the darkness.  Moments later the projector finished warming up and shone a bright, white light onto the screen to reveal a large, bold Phantom grinning back at them.

The class gasped, as they stared up at it.

Ben took a few steps back in disbelief, “Oh, shite!” he shrieked.  “This has gone too bloody far, I’m sick of this shitting phantom.  This has got to stop.”  He put his hands on his head, “If any of you know who is responsible for this you need to speak up.”

The whole class sat in silence staring back up at Ben.

“Do you know how much these projector screens cost?”

Again, no one spoke.

“I’ll tell you how much.  They cost a bloody fortune and this is ruined now.”  He lifted the remote control and switched the projector off then wandered over and pulled the curtains back.

“What about the video that you were going to show us?”  Gareth asked, disappointedly.

Ben sighed.  “There’s no point trying to watch it on that.  All you’ll concentrate on is that bloody, stupid Phantom.  It’s a waste of time.  Class cancelled.”  He put down the remote control, collected his bag and laptop and walked out of the room.

For the longest time nobody spoke, then Tony stood up and made his way towards the door.  “Well, I guess that gets me out of performing in the big show then,” Tony declared, pulling the door open.  “See you guys later, I’m off to the gym.”

Later that day, Tony returned to the Larry Grayson Boudoir.  He kicked open the door with his foot and sang to his room-mates.  “Macho, macho man.  I want to be a macho man.”  He flexed his biceps at his room-mates as he sang.  They s
tared
back at him in silence.

Tony stopped singing and lowered his arms, “What are you lot looking so miserable about?  Have you just found out that Wham! have split up?”  He chuckled to himself as he kicked his trainers under his bed.

Hugh nudged Bruce and whispered, “You tell him.”

Bruce shook his head, “No!  You tell him.”

Tony looked across at them, “Tell me what?”

Both Bruce and Hugh looked down at the floor.

“Well...” Tony said impatiently.

“I don’t know how to say this,” Hugh started weakly.

“Oh spit it out man.”

“For God’s sake,” Uwe said.  “I’ll tell him.”  He stood up and stared at Tony.  “It seems that Ben reported the latest incident with the Phantom to the Head and he was not a happy bunny.”

“What’s that got to do with me?” Tony frowned.

“If you let me finish, I will tell you,” Uwe replied irritably.  “It would appear that the Head is deeply upset that the culprit has not yet been found and has taken his frustration out on Louise.”

Tony’s face changed to a scowl, “What’s he done?”

“Apparently, he has lost all faith in her after she failed to track down the person behind the Phantom, so he has fired her.”

“He can’t do that!” Tony bellowed.

“Yes, he can.  I believe her failure to apprehend the Phantom, coupled with the relationship she had with you, was all too much for him and he has fired her.”

“We’ll see about that!” Tony growled angrily.  He quickly put his trainers back on and stormed out of the room.

“Oh, good God, don’t do anything stupid,” Hugh called after him.

“Don’t get involved Hugh,” Bruce said, “it’s not your battle to fight.”

The Head almost fell off his chair as Tony burst into his office.

“I want a word with you,” Tony shouted.

“Evidently,” the Head replied, composing himself and straightening his glasses.  “I suppose you’d better take a seat.”  He gestured at the chair directly in front of his desk.

“Now, what can I do for you, Mr Horwood?”

“You can give Louise her job back.”

“Hmmm, news travels fast I see,” the Head said, with a frown.  “And why should I do that?”

“Because I know who the Phantom is.”

“Oh, really?  Do tell.”

Tony stared the Head straight in the eye and spoke defiantly, “I’m the Phantom!”

The Head sat bolt upright in his chair.  “Think carefully, Mr Horwood, about what you are saying here.  You need to consider the consequences,” the Head said solemnly.

“Think carefully?  Are you asking me to conceal the truth, just so you can show the world how you’ve made a changed man out of me?  So, you can show me off like a prize poodle?  I’m nobody’s bitch.”

“I’m just saying ... ” the Head stammered.

“What you’re saying is, that you don’t want the Phantom to be me.  You don’t want to lose me, I’m like a show piece here.”

“I don’t believe that it is you.  I think you’re doing this because of the feelings that you have for her.”

Tony raised his finger and pointed jaggedly at the Head.  “Think about it, the very first incident of the Phantom was on my bed.  Wherever I am, a Phantom surely appears.  Just look at today for instance, I was there when Ben discovered it on the projector screen.”

“This is all very well, but I see no motive.”

Tony sat back in his chair, “The motive is simple.  I did it to spend time with Louise.  You asked her to track down the person responsible, so I daubed more and more Phantoms about the place so she’d have to spend more time investigating this.”

“But, how would you know that she’d have to track this person down?” the Head asked desperately.

“It’s obvious.  She’s the facilities manager, that’s her job isn’t it?  You weren’t going to get off your fat arse and do it now
,
were you?  No, no.  You just spend your time sat up here in your ivory tower letting other people do the hard work.”

  “It’s too late now, what’s done is done.  I can hardly bring her back now, can I?  I don’t see what the problem is, now that she’s no longer staff there is no reason why you cannot start dating again.  If anything, I’ve done you a favour.  Think about it!  And as long as you don’t do any more of this wretched graffiti, then I think that we could just forget about this.”  He got to his feet and gestured for Tony to leave.

“It’s not about me, it’s about her.  You need to give Louise her old job back or I’ll go to the press with this,” Tony said slyly.

The Head froze in his steps.

“Are you threatening me, Mr Horwood?” the Head said angrily.

“I am simply saying, that the press might hear from a credible source how you fired an innocent woman, and then refused to reinstate her.  Just think of the field day the press would have with that.  Think about the tribunal that Louise could start.”

“I’ve just about
had
enough of this from you.  I never should have let you come here!” the Head snarled.  “I gave you a chance and this is how you repay me.”

“A leopard can’t change its spots and you were a fool to think that you could change mine.”

The Head walked over to the door and held it open for Tony.  “I think you had better pack your bags.  I’ve got a call to make to the courts, I’ll arrange for you to be escorted off the premises tomorrow at noon.”