Hacker (2 page)

‘I … I told you I’d finished,’ I said.

I only said that so that Mrs Bracken would look at me and not at what my hand was doing. Mrs Bracken straightened up to scowl at me and the butterflies in my stomach turned into stampeding rhinos.

‘So it was you, was it …? Pick up your things, Victoria, and follow me.’ Mrs Bracken had a face like thunder.

‘What’s the matter?’ I whispered.

‘Do as you’re told,’ she hissed at me.

I scrambled to pick up all the items on my desk. Something told me I was in mega-trouble. I stood up.

‘Is there anyone else who claims to have finished?’ Mrs Bracken asked.

Her piercing gaze darted over everyone else in the assembly hall. I looked around. As soon as I caught anyone’s eye, they looked away or down at their desk. I saw Gib. He had sunk into his chair, trying to look as small as possible as Mrs Bracken and I looked at him. My head, my entire body, now felt about the size of a pea. And you could have cooked several eggs on my face, no bother at all.

‘Victoria, follow me,’ Mrs Bracken ordered.

Clutching my papers and sweets and my calculator to me, desperate not to drop them, I followed Mrs Bracken out of the assembly hall. I still didn’t understand what was wrong. Maybe she knew about my calculator being programmable …

Mrs Bracken shut the hall door carefully behind me. ‘And where did you get the answers from?’ she asked me stonily. ‘As if we didn’t know.’

I stared up at her, thinking I must have misheard.

‘P-pardon?’ I stammered.

‘You heard me. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about. You and I both know how every one of your answers happens to be correct.’

I didn’t even feel good when I heard her say that. I knew I was in seriously serious trouble.

‘Miss, I don’t understand …’ I began.

‘Victoria, there is no way you could have finished this test in …’ Mrs Bracken glanced down at her watch, ‘in thirty-three minutes, unless you already knew the answers.’

‘But I didn’t … How could …?’

‘Don’t compound your crime by lying, child.’

‘But I’m not …’

‘So you just read the questions and automatically knew the answers?’ Mrs Bracken’s eyebrows were so low they touched her eyelashes.

‘No … n-not exactly …’

‘You didn’t show how you worked out any of your answers. There are no jottings on your answer paper, no workings, nothing. Or are you telling me that you worked out the answers to all my questions in your head?’

‘N-not exactly,’ I said. ‘I u-used my calculator …’

‘Don’t be facetious, child.’

‘I really did.’

Mrs Bracken didn’t let me finish. ‘Not another word. You’re a cheat, Victoria Gibson,’ she said furiously.

That word made me jump. I wasn’t a cheat. I’d never cheated at anything in my life.

‘Mrs Bracken, if you’d just let me explain …’ I began again. I rummaged through all the stuff in my arms to dig out my calculator. ‘I didn’t cheat. I—’

‘You don’t have to explain, Victoria. I know exactly how you did it. I knew I’d catch the culprit. But I must say, I’m surprised it’s you. I thought you knew better.’

Culprit? What culprit? What was she talking about?

Mrs Bracken folded her hands across her ample chest. ‘We are going to see the headmistress,’ she said with satisfaction.

At that, my heart tried to burst out of my chest. My face was burning, boiling hot, and I felt absolutely sick.

‘We’re going to see Miss Hiff …?’ The words came out in a dismayed squeak.

‘Yes. Miss Hiff,’ Mrs Bracken said with relish.

‘But I didn’t cheat, miss …’

‘Of course you did,’ Mrs Bracken said icily. ‘When it comes to maths, Victoria, you are no Einstein, and not even Einstein could have finished my test in the short amount of time it took you – unless he previously had the answers, of course.’

Previously had the answers …? I felt like I’d started watching telly halfway through a really confusing film. How could I have previously had the answers? I programmed my calculator to work out the answers. My eyes were really stinging now and there was a whole football stuck in my throat, choking me.

‘I’m surprised at you, Victoria, I really am. But I’ll tell you something. When I’ve finished with you,’ Mrs Bracken bent over suddenly so that her face was only centimetres away from mine and her breath felt horribly warm and moist on my face, ‘when I’ve finished with you, my girl, you’ll wish you’d never done it. Now follow me.’

MRS BRACKEN MADE ME
wait outside Miss Hiff’s office for ages before she finally opened the door to let me in. Whiffy Hiffy’s usually not too bad – in the past she’d always smiled at me whenever we passed each other in the corridor – but I took one look at her face and I didn’t feel any better.

What have you been saying about me? I thought, and scowled at Mrs Bracken.

Whatever it was, it hadn’t been very pleasant. That much was obvious from Miss Hiff’s expression. My heart was dancing like a Mexican jumping bean as I stood in front of the headmistress. Her office was small and square, with grey filing cabinets against one wall and a huge wooden table just in front of the window. Miss Hiff sat behind the table, her arms folded and resting on it as she leaned forward. She had dark brown eyes and black hair with streaks of grey all through it. We all called her Whiffy Hiffy because she wore a really strong perfume that smelt of flowers and made you want to sneeze.

‘I have just one question to ask you, Vicky, and I want you to tell me the truth,’ Miss Hiff began. ‘I know how good at programming you are. Did you work out these answers yourself, or did they come courtesy of your considerable computer skills?’

I tried to think of something to say that wouldn’t get me into worse trouble. OK, so I’d used my own calculator instead of one of the school’s prehistoric ones. But no one had ever said I couldn’t. The thought popped into my head that no one had ever said I
could
either, but I made it pop out again.

‘I’m waiting, Vicky,’ Miss Hiff said.

‘I … er …’

‘Yes or no?’ Miss Hiff asked.

‘Yes … I did, but …’

Miss Hiff leaned back in her chair. ‘I see. I’m disappointed in you, Victoria. Deeply disappointed. So you admit that you cheated?’

‘I never said that,’ I replied hotly. ‘I … I didn’t exactly see it as cheating.’

‘Then how did you see it – exactly?’ Miss Hiff asked sternly.

‘Well, no one ever said I couldn’t do it,’ I muttered, which was a big mistake because I should have kept that little thought to myself.

‘Victoria! I can’t believe you said that. You know a lot better than that,’ Miss Hiff said sharply.

‘But, Miss Hiff, I—’

‘No buts, Victoria. I can’t imagine what you were thinking of. This was a maths exam, not a test of computational deviousness. Not that I would have approved of your methods in the latter case. Did you really think we wouldn’t catch you?’ Miss Hiff leaned even further forward over her desk. Her brown eyes glinted like marbles.

‘No … yes … I mean …’ I didn’t know what I meant. ‘I guess I didn’t really think about it … really … I thought I was being clever …’

‘Clever! Do you realize that at the very least I’m going to have to suspend you?’ Miss Hiff asked.

I felt like I’d been hit in the stomach. I stared at her so hard I’m surprised my eyes didn’t pop out of my head and plop on to the carpet.

‘Suspend …? You’re joking,’ I whispered.

‘Do I look like I’m joking?’ Miss Hiff said stonily. ‘This is very serious, Victoria, very serious indeed. You cheated to get the answers to your maths exam and not only that but you were disgracefully rude with it. I would never have thought it of you. I have your mother’s phone number at work, so I’ll give her a call and ask her to come and see me …’

‘NO! No, you can’t. You can’t phone Mum.’ I didn’t mean to shout but I could feel myself beginning to panic. Mum and Dad … What on earth would they say about all this? And how was I rude? How was it rude to use a calculator?

‘And why not?’ Miss Hiff asked.

I took a quick look at Mrs Bracken who stood beside me, shaking her head down at me. I could just hear ‘the youth of today’ or one of her other soppy phrases rattling around in her head. I turned back to the headmistress. I couldn’t believe it. I was going to be suspended for using my calculator. Was this fair or what?

‘M-mum is … she isn’t well,’ I said reluctantly.

‘Oh? What’s wrong with her?’ asked Miss Hiff.

I swallowed hard. This was horrible. Now I’d have to talk about private family stuff.

‘Mum … Mum’s six months pregnant. And she’s not very well. She has high blood pressure and she’s only just been let out of hospital. Her doctor said she’s got to take it easy and she mustn’t get upset.’

Every part of Miss Hiff’s face seemed to be frowning. Her lips were turned down, her eyes were turned down, even the many lines on her forehead bent down at the ends.

‘Very well then. I shall phone your father,’ Miss Hiff said.

‘Oh, couldn’t you call him on Monday?’ I pleaded. ‘Friday is his busiest day at the bank.’

‘I can’t help that,’ Miss Hiff said firmly. ‘Mrs Bracken, would you get Mr Gibson’s work number from the school secretary.’

If she ran any faster, she’d take off! I thought as Mrs Bracken fairly sprinted from the room.

‘Vicky, now that we’re alone is there anything you’d like to tell me before I phone your father?’ asked Miss Hiff.

Like what? I thought.

‘No.’ I shook my head.

‘Is everything OK at home?’ Miss Hiff asked gently.

My face felt like it was on fire. I knew what she was getting at. Did my parents quarrel or did my mum throw saucepans at my dad or me or something equally ridiculous. I got on fine with Mum and Dad. In fact, Dad and I spent a lot of time together. He was the one who got me interested in computing in the first place and he was teaching me all about the computer system at his bank. And if Gib and I had the occasional quarrel, so what? All brothers and sisters argue sometimes.

‘Vicky?’ Miss Hiff prompted.

‘Everything’s fine, miss,’ I said. I was so embarrassed I just wanted to crawl under Miss Hiff’s table.

‘Then why did you do it? I’m at a loss to understand …’

‘Here we are, Miss Hiff.’ Mrs Bracken walked back into the office, closing the door behind her. ‘This is Victoria’s card.’

A small index card was handed to the headmistress. She picked up the phone and dialled. I tried to read what was on it but it was too far away and upside down at that.

‘Ah, good morning,’ Miss Hiff said almost immediately, ‘I’d like to speak to Mr David Gibson, please.’

There was a pause and then the headmistress repeated her request.

‘Yes, that’s right – Mr Gibson … Oh, I see … Oh, I see … no, I’m the headmistress of Boroughvale School … I wanted to talk to him about his daughter … Oh, I see … All right then. Thank you for your help.’ Miss Hiff put the phone down. She was frowning even more now.

‘Your father’s not there and he won’t be back today,’ Miss Hiff explained.

It was my turn to frown now. Dad was always at the bank on Fridays. If he wasn’t there, then where was he?

‘It seems as if I’m destined not to speak to either of your parents today, but I want to see your father early next week without fail. Wait outside whilst I write a letter to him and your mother.’

Mrs Bracken ushered me outside. I racked my brains for something to say that would sort all this out, but there was nothing in my head and nothing in my mouth. The story of my life! All I could think about was what Mum and Dad would say. I’d never been in trouble at school before. That was usually Gib’s department. Mum and Dad were always saying to him, ‘Why can’t you be more like your sister?’

As I stood outside Miss Hiff’s office, I realized I’d never hear Mum and Dad ask that particular question again.

Suspended
.

Even Gib had never been suspended. He’d never even come close and he was always getting into trouble. And now I’d outdone him – in one fell swoop. But that wasn’t the worst of it.

What were Mum and Dad going to say?

‘Vicky! Vicky, wait for me!’

Stupidly, I turned my head to see Gib legging it after me, his jacket off his shoulders and his school bag waving about all over the place as he ran. I carried on walking even faster. Gib was the last person I wanted to speak to.

‘Didn’t you hear me calling you?’ Gib puffed angrily once he’d caught up with me.

‘What do you want?’ I snapped.

‘I want to make sure you’re all right,’ Gib said.

I stopped walking and looked him straight in the eye at that.

‘Do I look like I’m stupid? Don’t answer that!’ I said quickly as Gib opened his mouth to reply. ‘You just want to know what Whiffy Hiffy said to me – nosy git-bag!’

Gib started to smile. ‘Well, you can’t blame me. So what
did
Miss Hiff say?’ The smile on his face was getting bigger and bigger.

‘None of your business,’ I replied. I started walking again.

‘Oh, go on. I won’t tell anyone,’ Gib cajoled.

‘Don’t be so bloomin’ nosy,’ I said, glaring at him.