Final Year at TAC

By Richard Pinkerton

In an inventive attempt to control Rex Cassidy, Principal Mr Ropata makes him head boy, however, the Reaper is dead against it and determined to do whatever it takes to have him removed from his position.

Ever the opportunist, Tucker Pyles has decided to re-establish his Vanessa Dante worshipping cult and recruit followers from the new batch of gullible juniors with promises of personal introductions and even dates with the Goddess... for a price. However, an old foe from a previous school has turned up on the scene to make his life miserable and has his eyes on the object of Tucker’s worship.

Pete Cook hooked up with the girl of his dreams during the Christmas holidays and she is now coming to TAC, but Pete is troubled. How will he stop her from falling in love with Rex Cassidy like every other girl before her?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard Pinkerton
• Release date: Apr 2, 2018
• ISBN: 9781370127818

Richard Pinkerton

I am in my early 50s and have been writing now since I was 12. I prefer to write light-hearted drama but have written a little fantasy horror and science fiction too.I have an entire series of high school novels (19 of them so far) set in New Zealand (The Mob from TAC series), which I will gradually publish if there is a demand.I prefer to use a mix of quirky and outrageous characters you would never come across in reality and also your every day Joes.My writings are aimed at teenagers mainly, but also young adults.I have also written a series of detective novelettes, most of which can be found on my website. The majority require work, to be able to be published here, mainly due to copyright issues.Please do leave feedback or contact me if you want to know more about my books.

Book preview

Final Year at TAC

(Book 16 in the Mob from TAC series)

Published by Richard Pinkerton at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Richard Pinkerton

Other books by Richard Pinkerton

Dead End High

Dead End Town

Time Warped

The Rex Cassidy Investigators series

The Mob from TAC series

1 - The Mob from TAC

2 – Mismatched at TAC

3 - Trouble at TAC

4 - Heroes at TAC

5 - Scheming at TAC

6 - Murder at TAC

7 - New Year at TAC

8 - Challenges at TAC

9 - Boot Camp at TAC

10 - Dark Days at TAC

11 - Jealously at TAC

12 - Choices at TAC

13 - Redemption at TAC

14 - Vendettas at TAC

15 - Aberrations at TAC

16 – Final Year at TAC

17 – Conspiracy at TAC

18 – Godly People at TAC

19 – Sabotage at TAC

20 – Distrust at TAC

21 – Competition at TAC

So Long, TAC

Acknowledgements

Fil Reid

Rob Dearsley

Stacey Sweeney

Wuraola Ifeniyi

CHAPTER 1:

A Dubious Decision

'Absolutely not! No bloody way. There is no way you are making that lad head boy of this school.'

‘Come now, Mr Reaper. He's the perfect choice. I don't see how you cannot see that.'

Mr Reaper, Te Arawa College’s deputy principal sat with close to thirty other staff members in the school staffroom. Many of them sat around the dining room tables, while others relaxed in the lounge area. Some sipped on coffee and tea while the others simply watched wide-eyed as he addressed the school principal, Wiremu Ropata in what they no doubt considered an abrupt tone.

Reaper prided himself on being the meanest, toughest teacher in the school, apart from perhaps the head of the PE department, Mr Harris. 'He's the most difficult student in the entire school. Impossible to discipline, fools around in class, gets into fights and behaves completely inappropriately with members of the opposite sex.’

Mr Reaper gripped his coffee mug so tight that some spilt over the side. ‘We need someone who is a good role model for our students. Someone who will represent our school with dignity and restraint. God, look at who the head girl is going to be, Tamara Mitchell. At least she has a good reputation but imagine if you put the two of them together. He'll lead her astray. He'll sully her reputation as he has to other girls in the past. Like he did to our head girl, Lilla Williams, two years ago.'

‘Come on!' The wild-eyed Mr Harris rose to his feet. 'He did no such thing. Lilla Williams’ reputation was unharmed. All he did was be here date for one of the school dances. It wasn’t like he was two years older than her. In fact, it was the opposite. Anything else they may or may not have done took place outside of school and out of the eyes of any of the other students.'

Reaper glared evilly at the crazy Englishman. 'Oh yeah, of course, you're going to support this ridiculous decision. He's your model student, isn't he? The only boy who lives up to your absurd standards. Your pet. You were given the job of keeping him in line when he came to this school and you haven't done that. You've let him do whatever he likes and stuck up for the blighter.'

Mr Harris stood there in jeans and a Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy T-shirt. The frown on his face looked even fiercer with his pointed goatee and scruffy hair. 'He's the best damn thing that's ever happened to this school.'

Reaper slammed his fist onto the table. 'Bull crap! He's a delinquent. Causes nothing but bloody trouble.'

'Alright, alright.' Mr Ropata intervened. 'This is getting out of hand. Mr Reaper, I'd ask you to avoid offensive language, remain calm and let us discuss this rationally.’

Reaper huffed and glared daggers at the school principal.

Mr Ropata sighed deeply and continued with his reasoning, his brown face looking haggard., ‘No matter what some of you may think about him, he has a lot of mana and that’s important in a head boy. And consider this... Don't you think that by making him head boy, it will instil some responsibility in him? Give him a chance to exhibit that mana positively?'

'No, he'll treat it like a damn joke. He'll push the boundaries like he always does.'

The curly-haired Maori replied, 'I don't believe so. I've been here long enough to know that if you give him respect and responsibility, he will always rise to the occasion. He will wear the badge with pride and want to do the job well.'

'That'll be the day.' Reaper turned back to Mr Harris. 'Do you really believe that?'

Mr Harris hesitated, then smiled. 'Sure I do.'

'Bull crap!'

'Mr Reaper!' Ropata snapped. 'Enough of that language, please. Let's remain civil here.'

One of the other teachers rose to his feet, the 61-year-old, head of the English department, Mr Franklin. The thin, bony man spoke with conviction, 'I agree with Mr Ropata. I think it's a great idea making him head boy. Everybody loves him. The girls adore him, the boys respect him—'

'Not all of them,' another teacher said. 'There's a lot of jealousy amongst the boys, not to mention a lot of vindictiveness.'

Mr Sanders, one of the biology teachers rose to his feet. He would take Reaper’s side, although he wished it had been someone else. The slimy 41-year-old was not someone Mr Reaper respected.

'I, for one, completely agree with Mr Reaper. The boy is an appalling role model and in no way should be made head boy. I think we should have a Christian head boy.'

'Rubbish,' Mr Harris said, his wild green eyes ablaze. 'Why should he be a Christian?'

'Because a Christian will try to conduct himself appropriately. That boy has no morals.'

Mr Harris snorted. 'He has the best damn morals I've ever come across.'

'Nonsense. We all know about his promiscuous behaviour when it comes to the girls. We can't have the younger more impressionable students thinking we are endorsing that behaviour.'

Mr Franklin spoke up, 'What makes you think a Christian will be any better? I see no evidence to suggest Christians are more moral than non-Christians.'

'Of course, they are!'

'They are not. Many of the Christian students at this school have terrible reputations when it comes to sexual behaviour.'

Mr Sanders folded his arms. 'They are not true Christians.'

Mr Harris growled, 'Gordon Bennett, give me a bloody break. If we did away with everyone who was ever accused of not being a true Christian there would be none. And your behaviour hasn't been that moral in the past either, so if I were you, I wouldn't start casting stones.'

Mr Sander's jaw dropped. Reaper had heard rumours about Sanders inappropriate dealings with certain female students. Mr Sanders, or Reverend Flanders, as a lot of the students called him as a joke, was too preachy for his own good and often rubbed staff members and parents up the wrong way with his self-righteous attitude.

Mr Reaper intervened, 'We need someone who will live by our rules. We have to maintain the standards of this school.'

'The boy already sets the standards,' Mr Franklin continued. 'Even if we don't like them. Most of the kids in this school follow his lead in everything. He has a huge sphere of influence, even more than our own. If only we could influence the influencer. Imagine what we could accomplish here.’

Franklin paused to sip from a cup of coffee. ‘What we have here is an opportunity to mould him and iron out the rough spots. It will give us a chance to influence his behaviour and lead him in the right direction, thus providing an ideal role model for the other students. He has all the qualities otherwise. Brains, athletic ability, good looks... and as Mr Ropata said…mana. He's going to be great to show the community and other schools. Think of the school production last year and how he represented the school in that. He was amazing and he did a superb job. We took the production around to other schools and they were amazed by him, teachers included. He's the best pick in my books.'

'This is what I'm trying to say,' Mr Ropata said. 'He's never let us down representing this school. Sure, he may do things we don't like but I believe by putting him in this position, we can guide him where we want him to go. It could solve our discipline problems completely. Give him responsibility, see him shine. It will give him standards to aspire to. I know the situation isn't ideal, we had a boy picked for head boy and found out at the last moment he was not coming back, so it means a rush job to find a replacement for him but I have given this serious thought and I think he's the one we want.'

Mrs Tantic, one of the Maths teachers raised her hand. She was a thin, fair-haired 34-year-old, woman, who’d never inspired much confidence in Mr Reaper but she’d had her fair share of dealings with the lad.

'I can see the arguments have merit but do you think he would want to take on such a role? It's a lot of responsibility. I think you'd be hard-pressed to draw him away from his friends... especially the girls... to attend events, write speeches and the types of things that come with being head boy. His time is in big demand.'

Mr Ropata rubbed his neatly trimmed goatee. ‘Well, obviously we would have to ask him. Mr Harris, what do you think? You know him better than the rest of us.'

Mr Harris sat back in his chair and a smirk appeared on his face. 'I'm sure he'd seriously consider it.'

Mr Reaper didn't like the tone in his voice or the gleam in his eye and pointed to the PE teacher. 'Look at him. He thinks this is a big joke and he knows the boy will treat it as a joke too. You make this kid head boy and he'll make a mockery of it. I guarantee it.'

Mr Harris smirked again. 'You can always give him the sack then, can't you?'

'Maybe, but it would be better to put in someone we know will go the distance. Someone we can trust, and we can't trust him. Who knows what harm he can do? Who knows how much he could embarrass this entire school?'

'And who knows how much good he could do in that role?' Mr Ropata said.

Reaper snorted. He couldn't believe the naivety of the principal. 'You don't know this boy. Any previous principal of this school would be horrified.'

‘Let's not forget that the one principal who knew him best of all turned out to be a murderer, so I doubt we can go by anything he would have thought, especially with his track record of dubious management decisions. But I wish you'd give me a bit of credit. I have been here for over a year now and I do know a few things and I have had plenty of dealings with our potential new head boy. I have found him to be intelligent and reasonable. I have found you just have to handle him a certain way. Perhaps you have not learnt how to handle him yourself?'

‘Hear, hear,' Mr Harris said.

Anger boiled up inside Mr Reaper, but he pushed it back as best he could. 'It's a big mistake. A BIG mistake.'

'I agree,' Mr Sanders said.

‘First, we have to take a vote on this,' Mr Ropata said. 'Let's see a show of hands, please. All those in favour of my suggestion for new head boy raise their hands.'

Mr Reaper glanced around the room. Many hands remained down, including Mr Sanders, but many were in the air. He narrowed his eyes, unable to believe how stupid his fellow staff were. 'No... you don't want to vote in favour of this, I'm warning you.'

'Mmmmm,' Mr Ropata said. 'It seems we have a majority in favour.

'This is stupid,' Mr Reaper growled, wanting to throttle each and everyone who'd raised their hand. Even the old hag, Ms Cann had agreed and she'd had a lot of trouble with the lad in the past.

'Very well,' Mr Ropata said. 'It's agreed that our new head boy, if he accepts the role, will be none other than Rex Cassidy...'

CHAPTER 2:

Abandoned

Tucker Pyles leaned against the wooden fence to one of the horse enclosures on Fenton's Livery. He let out a deep sigh and gazed out towards the paddocks where a couple of young horses frolicked. God, he was so sick of the smell of horses and horse crap. If only he could go home and spend his last day of the Christmas holidays watching television and eating snacks.

He dreaded returning to school. Not only was he being held back to repeat year twelve, accumulating credits he hadn’t got the previous year but he would also be doing it without even one friend at his side. His best pals, Ash, and Hew weren’t returning. Hew had got a job in a wrecker's yard in New Plymouth and Ash had a carpentry apprenticeship.

Tucker had been so used to having his pals around to act as his bodyguards and his goons, he didn't know how he was going to cope without them. No doubt he could stamp his dominance on most of the juniors and probably half the intermediates but when it came to the older students, they knew he wasn't as tough as he made out. No matter what way he looked at it, it seemed he was in for a hellacious year.

His holidays had been a bit of an abortion. He'd had to spend most of the time, working at the stables. He'd been doing the job for five months, a huge record for him keeping down a job. He hated it but it wasn't as bad as some jobs he'd done in the past. At least he got to laze around a lot without too much supervision and got to enjoy the fine outdoor weather, despite the ever-lingering smell of horse turd and regularly being bitten on the arm.

His eyes lit up when a blonde long-haired beauty, only a couple of years older than him, arrived, dressed in her riding gear. She was the one thing that kept him returning to work there, day in, day out, the one thing that inspired him to do at least a half-assed job as opposed to trying to get himself fired.

'Hi, Morgan,' he greeted her, shovel in hand.

'Hi, Tucker,' replied the leggy beauty. 'How's the shit shovelling going?'

Tucker sighed. 'I don't know how they do it. I'm sure they dump more crap than what they eat.' He admired her dazzling brown eyes and full lips. Oh, how he longed to kiss those lips. Oh, how he longed to do a lot more than that.

‘Well,