The Day A Very Unusual Boy Went To School

By I J Noble

Tim has had to change schools owing to his parents recent divorce. He likes his new school but there is a fly in the ointment - a gang of bullies who want money, something he doesn't have. Every day he has to devise plans to keep out of there reach, and every day the gang become more determined to catch him. In the summer holidays Tim's mother makes him audition for a film - he gets the part. This saves him from thinking about the gang for the summer. The film company take him and his mother to a castle deep in the countryside. The film is about a boy being bullied at school and saved by an alien - a part Tim knows only too well how to play. But why are the C.I.A. making this film?

• Language: English
• Publisher: I J Noble
• Release date: Jun 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9780955255564

I J Noble

My name is Islwyn, but you can call me Iss, or Izzy - well you can call me anything you like, but please don't call me too early in the morning.I was born in a castle on the banks of the river Teifi. When I took my first breath, the butler called down the stairs to the awaiting servants that it was a boy and the household gave a cheer - if anyone tells you different don't believe them!All right, I might have laid it on a bit thick its not entirely true - the family were living in a castle at the time I made my presence felt on the planet. Albro Castle was a converted workhouse that had seen better days - but the rats thought it was just perfect.One rat took a liking to me and tried to eat me alive - I've still got the scars on my leg.My luck changed when I was four and we moved to what seemed to be paradise. The estate was full of young families and we had acres of marsh, and the river Teifi on our doorstep - our wonderland.I left school at the age of 15 and spent some time living and working on various farms before moving to Reading and London during my teenage years. Before that time I had never lived or worked more than 3 miles away from the river Teifi, The inspiration for my second book, Telynog's Tail. Missing the river and country life - I chose to return home from Reading. I've been playing happily family every since, I'm now a father, grandfather and great-grandfather.My main hobby is writing, otherwise I'm sitting in my garden drinking tea or on the river in my boat.So far I have completed five novels and two books of short stories, which I'm hoping will be available to you soon. I have published one paperback book, The Lost Birds. I've sold loads of copies and luckily no one has trashed it so far - fingers crossed. I've started a further seven novels, which I hope to finish if I live long enough!

Book preview

The Day a Very Unusual Boy Went to School.

A Novel.

By I. J. Noble.

The Day a Very Unusual Boy Went to School.

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopied or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

Published by I. J. Noble.

Copyright Text I. J. Noble 2013.

ISBN 978-0-9552555-6-4

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Other titles

Novels

The Lost Birds

Telynog’s Tale

The Day They Broke Time

Short Stories

Cocktail 1

Cocktail 2

This is a story about a boy who is going through big changes in his life. His mother has just left his alcoholic father to escape domestic violence. Tim has to come to terms with a new home, new school and finding new friends. The real fly in the ointment is Mucker Dodds and his gang at school - who are demanding money with menaces. Tim has no money to give them, and has to make elaborate plans to keep out of their clutches.

His mother makes him go for an audition for a part in a film. He gets the part. His home for the eight weeks of his summer holiday is a castle in the countryside. Here he is safe from the gang.

He makes a very unusual friend at the castle - Tweeka. They have several adventures together. Their biggest adventure is when Tim takes Tweeka to school with him. They become the heroes of the school after giving Dodds and his gang their comeuppance.

Chapter 1

The clock on Tim’s bedside table showed seven-thirty A.M. and its alarm was set for twenty-to-eight. But Tim was already up and dressed for school. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his face cradled in his hands, and his blue eyes were fixed on his old bedside clock. The expression on his face was of someone deep in thought. He was making plans for the day ahead, trying to think of every eventuality.

He knew all the odd soundings and movements of his clock, especially of late, when he was lying in bed trying to sleep. Every tenth tock of the clock, Mickey’s luminous head sprung back into life, as it had done with every tick and tock when it was new. That was four years ago - he had felt he was to old for a Mickey Mouse clock even back then. It was something his father had given him, when their family was in better times.

The more he listened to the ever changing ticks, tocks and clonks, the louder the clock seemed to get, it had become the only sound in his universe - until his mother broke the spell.

Timmy, time to get up, you don’t want to be late for school! she shouted up the stairs.

But that was exactly what he did want. He just needed to be two minutes late and if everything went to his plan he would be. He let the clock tock nine more times before he decided to move to the door.

Timothy Day, if you don’t get a move on you’ll make me late for work again! shouted his mother, with a little more urgency in her voice this time. He wished she wouldn’t call him Timothy. She was always calling him Timothy - when she was angry with him - and when she was pleased with him - he couldn’t win either way. He especially hated it when she did it in front of the bigger boys at school, even though he had asked her a hundred times not to. She said she would try to remember, but never did. At least she’d stopped kissing and hugging him in public, like she used to at his old school.

Tim knew he could bunk off school with a tummy upset, but then his mum would insist on taking the day off work to look after him. He knew she couldn’t afford to do that - she had enough trouble paying the bills on time as it was. He hadn’t had any pocket money for some time, three weeks to be exact, and that was part of his troubles. But he knew his mum would have given him some money if she had any to spare. Besides he wouldn’t really bunk off school; he liked learning too much. All that was needed was perfect timing and everything would work out. Every second counted, he had to make everything take twice as long as usual. He took hold of the door handle, but didn’t turn it - timing was everything. He listened for any sound on the other side of the door.

He looked at himself in the wardrobe mirror, he was getting used to the way he looked in his new school uniform. He thought the colour made him look just a little bit taller. Tim was of average height and weight for a fourteen and a half year old boy. He had blond hair and blue eyes. He thought his ears stuck out a bit – but in truth they didn’t stick out anymore than anyone else’s. He did have a few freckles though, which he hated. At his last school a couple of the girls teased him about them. He missed his old school; he missed his old friends, he missed his old home. But things were better with just him and his mum. It wasn’t that he didn’t miss his dad - the trouble was his dad was an alcoholic and sometimes when he was very drunk, he would hit his mum. It got so bad that they had to leave him and their old life behind forever.

They had moved to the north side of the city, where things were a little different – but lots of things were better as well. His new bedroom was much bigger than his old one, and that meant there was a lot more room on the walls for his posters. They weren’t at all typical for a boy of his age, he had pictures of: planets and galaxies; black holes; spirals of DNA; molecular structures; the Amazon rain forest; the polar ice caps and white tigers: and behind his door a large poster of the once popular England football captain David Beckham. Tim looked up into Beckham’s face and wondered if Beckham had any of the problems he was having when he was a schoolboy.

Two more precious minutes had dragged out, then he opened the door at exactly the same moment as his mother put her head around the bottom of the stairs.

Come on sleepy head or we’re both going to be late, and that’s not an excuse for not brushing your teeth properly. With that she dashed back into the kitchen. Tim’s mother had short blond hair and blue eyes, she had more then a few freckles, but you wouldn’t know it - she hid hers with make-up. She wasn’t very tall; but she wasn’t short; she wasn’t fat, but she wasn’t thin either, she was sort of in the middle. This was how Tim had explained her to his teacher Mrs. Jones, who incidentally, was hoping to recognise her when she came to the school. She wanted to meet his mother, and have her sign some papers, and have a chat about any special needs Tim might have.

How old is your mother? the teacher had asked.

Tim couldn’t quite put an exact age to her, but thought she was about fifty. He had to amend that the following day, as his mum was actually only thirty-two. Tim thought it strange because she looked as old as his teacher. The teacher wanted to know how old Tim thought she was Tim thought his teacher must be around fifty and told her so - it seems Tim was wrong again. His teacher quickly pointed out that in fact she was only twenty-five.

When Tim handed his homework in the following day, she said, If there is one thing I can’t stand it’s scribbled handwriting, so you’ll have to do it all over again.

He looked at his work hard, he couldn’t see any difference in his handwriting - it looked exactly the same as his homework from the week before. But every cloud had a silver lining, and scribbled writing had earned him lots of lovely detention, in the last few days. He had more than learnt from his mistake.

He brushed his teeth for twice as long as usual, before going down to the kitchen for his breakfast. His mum liked him to have a good breakfast, it builds you up for the day she said. This was somewhere he knew he could lose more time on; all he had to do was chew his food for a little longer than usual. He could get away with this, because she frowned on him hurrying his meals. But she did hover nervously, and was holding on to his packed lunch.

Have you got everything? she asked, and gave him the once over, fussing with his tie for the third time in five minutes.

I don’t want us to come back again, like yesterday and the day before, and the day before that. School bag! Where’s your school bag, she exclaimed. She was already halfway out the door before she finished the sentence. She flew up the stairs, and was back with his bag in a flash. Then she was helping him on with his jacket and guiding him through the door.

My homework! Tim protested, trying to sound surprised.

In your bag, I spotted it on the bed, you really are getting absent minded, you never forgot it at the old school and you were always the first to arrive every morning. Is there something you want to tell me? Because if you’re not happy we can move back to your old school - you know that don’t you? She said with a lot of feeling in her voice.

But Tim knew that was out of the question, he would do anything to make sure his Dad couldn’t hurt his Mum again.

No mum, there’s nothing, it’s a very good school. And he wasn’t lying; there was a lot more going on at the school. He had been so convincing, that she seemed totally taken in by it.

A few seconds later they were on the pavement, it all happened so fast, it made Tim’s head spin. It had put out all his timings. He should be putting his coat on about now, not charging down the road heading for the bus stop.

He was always quite surprised how fast his mother could run while pulling him along. They got to the corner of their street, as the bus pulled up on the other side of the road. But all was not lost.

Tim had a plan for an early bus. He ‘accidentally’ dropped his school bag and the contents were strewn across the pavement.

His mother was not pleased, she flung her hands into the air in frustration as the bus pulled away. Then without a word she helped Tim to gather his things. The next bus wasn’t for at lest ten minutes. At that moment Tim felt awfully mean, and was very sorry. But if she knew why, she would understand. He had thought of telling her; a hundred times he had thought of telling her, but when it came down to it, he knew she had enough worries of her own.

They stood at the bus stop for twelve minutes - not a word passing between them. His mother worked just two stops before the school, she would ride on to drop him off and walk back to her job at the dentist’s - but that was after she had fiddled with his tie, called him Timmy, in front of everyone and, if he was really unlucky, it was the Timothy word. His face turned red just thinking about it.

As the bus pulled up at the lights, Tim could see Mr. Davies the dentist standing outside his premises; he was looking at his watch and scanning up and down the street.

If you get off at this stop you’ll only be two minutes late mum, and I am old enough to go to school from here on my own, Tim said - but didn’t think for a moment she’d go for it. His mother looked him straight in the eye, opened her mouth two or three times, but no sound came out. The bus pulled up at a stop and his mother got up, touched him on the nose with her finger, smiled at him and to his surprise, stepped off the bus. She was still waving wildly as the bus turned right at the lights.

Tim’s mother had noticed his reluctance to go to school in the mornings and was more than a little concerned. She had shared her concerns with Mr. Davies her new boss. She had confided in him, telling him that perhaps she had done the wrong thing in moving him away from his friends, and more importantly his father. She told him about Tim - wanting to continue his journey to school on his own that morning.

As I said before, he’s just looking for a little more independence Mrs. Day, it’s all part of growing up, he said, as he fumbled about in his patient’s mouth. Tim’s mother had no recollection of him saying anything of the kind. But decided not to challenge it.

Well I hope so, I don’t mind telling you I feel a little more than relieved, she said.

Suction please, said the dentist, the machine sucked and gurgled and made a few other disgusting noises.

Getting better, Mrs. Day, didn’t get the tongue once that time! exclaimed Mr. Davies with some relief.

It’s hard to know what’s going on in the mind of a boy of that age, Tim’s mother continued.

The woman in the chair felt she wanted to say something on the subject. But she didn’t get past ha Tim’s mother took it on herself to give her some more suction and unfortunately this time she did catch the poor ladies tongue.

Sorry, Mrs. Lamp, they both said in unison.

As I said before, Mrs. Day, a boy’s got to do, what a boy’s got to do.

Tim’s mother remembered him saying that, because he liked John Wayne so much, he would quote him at every opportunity.

Perhaps he’s met a girl at school and doesn’t want his mother putting the dampeners on it, if you know what I mean, nod, nod, wink, wink, as they say.

If he is still on edge in the morning, I’ll go around to the school in the week and see his teacher, Tim’s mother said firmly.

Would that be after three Mrs. Day, we are fully booked, said Mr. Davies, worry lines appearing on his face.

The bus pulled up at its next stop and Tim got off.

He could see the school clock from there; two minutes to nine, perfect. If he walked slowly he was going to be about two minutes late. A boy ran past and gave him a look that seemed to say, ‘you’d better run or you’re going to be late’.

At nine on the dot, Tim heard the bell ring. He could see everyone crowding into the building, at exactly one minutes past nine he walked through the gates. A minute later he was stood outside his classroom door. He took a deep breath before opening it and stepping inside. He was met with a deathly hush, everyone in the class was seated, and all eyes were turned in his direction, you could have heard a mouse blink.

Glad you could join us Tim, come and see me at the break, said his teacher automatically. Tim took his seat and smiled to himself, he felt pretty sure she would give him the detention he thought he deserved.

The break bell dragged him out of his studies. He loved history and thought he might like to be a historian. Then again he liked geography. But at the same time, he quite liked architecture, and he loved science. He wondered if there was a job, where all these things might play their part. Then again if he became a librarian, he could read about all these things to his heart’s content. He had a mental picture of himself, sitting up in bed reading, the bed was slap in the middle of a huge library. By the time he’d dragged himself out of this daydream, the class had half emptied, and his teacher was packing