Cyborg Cat and the Masked Marauder, page 10
“Don’t do it, Shed – they’re not worth it. Stick to the plan,” I whispered, willing him not to react.
For a split second I thought Shed was definitely going to do something stupid, but then, to my relief, the expression on his face changed.
“You wouldn’t!” said Shed, looking shocked. He was actually a pretty good actor when he needed to be, I thought. He’d had us all fooled for ages, I guess. Spencer ought to be easy after that.
“Course I would,” sneered Spencer. “Unless you change your mind about not carrying on.”
Shed look at Spencer intensely for a few seconds. Then he relaxed completely.
“Nah, it’s fine, you can tell him,” he said, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.
“What?” shouted Spencer.
“Yeah, go on, then, tell him,” repeated Shed. “Tell Ade.”
That was the cue we’d been waiting for.
Before Spencer or Gavin could say anything else, a wheelchair came out of the bushes opposite me. The person sitting in it was wearing a mask.
“Go on then, tell me.”
Then another wheelchair popped out of the bushes. The person in this one was also wearing a mask.
“Yeah, go on then, tell me.”
Then another wheelchair appeared, and another, and another, until eventually Spencer and Gavin were surrounded by masked people in wheelchairs all shouting, ‘Tell me, tell me.’
The look on their faces was priceless. They looked completely confused and absolutely terrified.
Finally it was my turn. I burst out from the bushes, into the circle of wheelchairs, and went right up to Spencer. I wasn’t wearing a mask.
“Go on then, tell me,” I said.
Everyone laughed, except Spencer and Gavin, of course. They turned to run off but were blocked by an army of wheelchairs.
“And we want ALL the money back!” I shouted. “Or we’ll be the ones going to the police!”
A couple of the guys in the wheelchair circle moved out of the way and we watched Spencer and Gavin leg it out of the park. There was a huge cheer and everyone took off their masks.
Shed’s idea had worked perfectly. Getting all the players from the basketball team to help was a master stroke.
“Boom! Parsons Road Gang and Newham Rollers one, Spencer and his stupid mates a big fat nil!” shouted Dexter, emerging from the bushes with Brian, Salim, Melody and Emily.
“Yup,” I said, a huge grin on my face. “But we couldn’t have done it without Shed. What a performance!”
“Oh, well, you know, I just … It was …” spluttered Shed.
“Hey, you’re meant to give the speech after you’ve got the award,” I said.
“What award?”
Brian stepped forward and cleared his throat.
“Ahem,” he said. “Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Oscars. The next award is for Best Performance by a Member of the Parsons Road Gang. And the winner is …”
He opened an envelope that he’d been holding in his hand.
“Shehzad Akram!” he shouted.
Emily stepped forward holding a statuette made out of tin foil and old toilet rolls. It was really good. It looked just like one of the real Oscars as it shimmered in the light. I could see Emily had worked some of her magic on it. She handed it to Shed.
He looked completely bemused, but he took it and held it up. It had some words on it that we’d written especially.
Winner: Shed
Member of the Parsons Road Gang
FOREVER!
“Make your speech,” I whispered to him.
“I … I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I … thank you, you lot really are the best mates anyone could ever, ever have.”
Everyone cheered again. And clapped and whistled.
“But, erm, I also want to specially thank Salim, cos, well, without the basketball team helping today we wouldn’t have been able to pull this off and, I know it was my idea, but it was him who got them all to come along, so thanks, Salim.”
Salim and Shed high-fived each other, then someone produced a basketball and suggested a match. Perfect.
We were going to choose teams in the normal way, with two captains picking players one after the other, when I had a better idea.
“How about the Parson’s Road Gang versus the Newham Rollers?”
It took a moment for it to sink in, but then Dexter shouted, “Yeah, you’ll never beat us, we’ll destroy you,” and the game was on.
I wasn’t convinced we’d win, but it was great playing with the Parsons Road Gang. My friends might not be the best basketball players, but we had a bond, and an understanding, which meant we weren’t half bad. I was on great form and Salim was part of our gang, not one of the Rollers today, so when we stopped for a break, we were only four points behind.
“Okay,” said Salim. “When we start again I want Shed and Ade to pair up and move forward together. When I shout ‘now’, split up and go in different directions to the basket. Hopefully, it’ll confuse them and they’ll only stay with one of you, leaving the other one in the clear.”
When the game started again it was like me and Shed were glued together. Wherever I went, he went. As Salim had suspected, the Rollers were confused by this, so when we split up on Salim’s command they marked me and left Shed in the clear.
Salim found him with a great pass. The shot was on.
Shed eyed up the basket. He lifted the ball above his head and then he let fly.
“Yes!” The ball sailed straight into the basket.
“Way to go, Shed,” said Melody.
“Great shot,” said Brian.
“Yeah, you did well,” said Salim.
“In fact, you’re all doing pretty well. If you’re lucky, one day I might teach you guys how to play basketball in wheelchairs.”
“Thanks, Prof,” said Dexter. “And if you’re lucky, I might give you a masterclass in football.”
“Yeah,” I said. “A masterclass in how not to play football.”
We played until it became too dark to see the ball – the Rollers won, but only by came up to me and said he was sorry about what he’d said before and that it was good to have someone like me in the squad. He did also say that he wasn’t going to Dublin again anytime soon, but he was smiling, so I think he’s looking forward to some healthy competition. We shook hands with the Rollers and headed for home.
Incredibly, everyone still had enough energy to race back to Parsons Road (and I won that one!).
The next morning I was up early when the doorbell went.
“I’ll get it,” I yelled and headed to the front door.
When I opened it, there was no one there.
“Hello? Hello?”
I was about to go back inside when I looked down. There was a strongbox on the ground. Smiling to myself, I picked it up and went back to the breakfast table.
“Who was it, Doyin? And what’s that?” Mum asked.
I opened the box.
“Goodness me!” said Mum. “Doyin, that is a lot of money. Where has it come from? How much is there?”
I knew exactly how much it was, but I counted it out, just to be sure.
“One hundred and eighty-six pounds and forty-nine pence,” I said. “And when you add in the money we made from the cake sale that would make it …”
I stopped to do the maths in my head.
“Two hundred and twenty-nine pounds and seventeen pence. That’s almost enough to get my chair!”
“Actually, Doyin …”
I swung round. I hadn’t seen Dad come into the room.
“Your mother and I have been talking,” he said, nodding towards Mum. “As I said, you’ve made both of us very proud. So …”
He stopped and looked at Mum, who smiled.
“We’d like to give you something towards your chair, Doyin. How does fifty pounds sound?”
I couldn’t believe it.
“It … it sounds fantastic,” I said. Then I felt a pang of guilt. “Are you sure you can afford it?”
Mum gave me a warm look and a big smile. “Dad and I have been doing extra shifts at work,” she said. “We know how much this means to you.”
“Wow! This is awesome. Thank you so much, Mum. Thanks, Dad. That means I’ve got more than enough for the deposit.”
“Yes,” said Mum. “But there’s more. Coach Carlos knows everything you’ve been doing to raise money and … well, why don’t you tell him, Bola?”
“He’s done some work with a charity called Whizz-Kidz,” Dad said. “They’ve helped a couple of players in his team before. So he asked them if they could help you and they said yes.”
“So … what does that mean?” I asked, my heart pounding.
“They’re going to pay for the rest of your chair,” Dad told me.
“Bu t … but … but …” I stammered. “I thought you said we didn’t accept charity.”
“I never said that!” Dad exclaimed. “Do you remember me saying anything like that, Christianah?”
“Those words never left your lips,” said Mum, smiling broadly and knowingly, and giving me a wink.
I must have been in shock. I didn’t know what to say or do.
“Hahh!!” Dad said. “So do we not at least get a hug from our soon-to-be-best-basketballer-in-Britain son?”
I giggled as I hugged them. They squeezed me tight in their arms. For the first time in weeks, I felt completely happy. I didn’t need to hide who I was, or what was going on. Everything was out in the open and it was all going to be okay.
“Mum, Dad …”
“Yes, what is it, Doyin?” they said together.
“This is the best day of my life.”
Mum wiped a tear from her eye. I think I might even have spotted one or two in Dad’s eyes.
“So you now have enough for your chair,” Mum said, smiling at Dad and me, “and even a little extra to take your friends out for a slap-up meal. We think they deserve it.”
“They do,” I said. “But actually, if it’s okay with you, Mum – and with you, Dad – there’s something else I’d like to spend some of the extra money on. Something really important.”
18
Project Projector
“THANK YOU Mr Jenkins, for that very interesting talk. I must say, I never knew that the majority of marine molluscs subsist on plant matter dissolved in water, which they ingest by filter feeding. Fascinating, absolutely fascinating.”
Somewhere amongst the snoring and occasional belch in the audience there was a slightly less than enthusiastic round of applause.
“Now, to finish today’s assembly we have something of a mystery,” Mrs Bolton continued. “A last-minute addition, a presentation by Ade Adepitan and some of his friends. They’ll have to go some way to beat Mr Jenkins’ extraordinary description of molluscs, but I’m sure it will be very entertaining. Mr Adepitan, over to you.”
I was nervous as I made my way to the front of the hall. I’d never spoken in front of so many people before. The whole school was there, but everyone clapped and cheered (apart from Spencer and his mates, of course), and that made me feel a little better.
“Erm, th-thank you, Mrs … er … Mrs B-Bolton.”
It wasn’t the greatest of starts. If I carried on like this, people would be booing and chucking tomatoes at me.
I shut my eyes for a moment and tried to connect with my powers. Cyborg Cat would help me deliver the perfect speech.
I braced myself, expecting the usual surge of energy to pass through my body.
Nothing happened.
I swallowed hard and gulped. My powers had stopped working at the worst possible moment.
“Don’t just stand there like a lemon, get on with it, you loser!”
No prizes for guessing whose voice that was. I opened my eyes.
“Neville Spencer Frogley, be quiet right now or you’ll be in detention for a week!”
Spencer turned red with embarrassment. Mrs Bolton had used his first name, Neville, which he detested. Fortunately, his outburst had given me just enough time to compose myself. I was going to have to do the presentation without the help of my powers.
I took a quick look over my shoulder. Brian, Dexter and Shed were waiting backstage to do their bit. Shed was giving me a ‘Come on, you can do this’ look. Brian was also giving me an encouraging look, but I think that was more because he wanted me to get on with it so he could do his part and show off a bit. I’m not sure Dexter had any idea what was really going on, but he was always positive and upbeat. They all gave me a thumbs up.
Melody and Emily were in the audience. Melody looked worried; she wasn’t entirely sure what was going on. Emily locked eyes with me and I felt a bit of a jolt. Even though I couldn’t seem to summon my Cyborg Cat powers, it felt good to know that my friends were with me.
I was about to start when something caught the corner of my eye. In the wings of the stage Dexter had stuck his tongue out and was doing a mad little dance. I laughed and my nerves evaporated.
“A little while ago,” I said confidently, “something incredible happened to me. An injustice was brought to light. A criminal was caught.”
There was a collective gasp from the audience.
“I didn’t catch the criminal alone,” I went on, “because my friends helped me. And one of them helped by doing something absolutely amazing. Didn’t you, Melody Louise Watson?”
Melody almost jumped out of her seat. She had no idea about the speech, or our plan, or any of this.
“And –” I went on before she could answer – “it was caught on camera by the great director Brian ‘The Brain’ Kingston.”
Brian had asked me to call him ‘The Brain’. He said every director needed a catchy nickname.
“I’ve just come into some money, so I have been able to buy a projector and screen, and I can show you exactly how Melody Watson helped catch a criminal who had been guilty of taking sponsorship money, money that was meant for a new sports wheelchair for me. Ready, lads?”
“Ready,” came Shed’s voice from behind the stage.
“Yeah, ready,” said Dexter, who was also backstage.
That was their cue to bring out the screen. Unfortunately, instead of a slick, silent operation, everyone in the hall heard this.
“No, Dexter, you’re meant to lift up the other end.”
“But I’m already holding on to this end, Shed.”
“So am I.”
“Well, why don’t you let go?”
“Why don’t you let go?”
“Fine!”
“Ow! My foot!”
A moment later, Shed and Dexter appeared carrying the screen and, incredibly, managed to put it up without any more problems.
Brian had set up his projector. Now all I could do was pray that he had managed to connect his video camera up to the projector correctly.
“I think we’re ready now,” I said to the restless audience. “As I said, what you’re going to see is truly amazing. Take it away, Brian.”
“Thank you, Ade,” Brian said, before pausing for dramatic effect. He was enjoying this moment a little too much. “Ladies and gentlemen of Credon Road School. The astounding, astonishing images you’re about to witness were filmed on a JVC VHS-C compact camcorder by a highly proficient camera operator. As I’m sure you know, the JVC VHS-C films on magnetic tape, which is wound on one main spool and –”
“Brian,” I interrupted. “Could you just press ‘play’, like we arranged?”
“Well, Ade, I thought everyone would like to know a little –”
“Brian!” snapped Mrs Bolton. “I’m sure we’d all love to hear about your video camera, but assembly is due to finish in two minutes, so perhaps you could save it for another time?”
“Yes, Mrs Bolton,” said Brian, and then, finally, he pressed play. The Parsons Road Street Party appeared on screen.
To be fair to Brian, he’d done a pretty good job. At first there was just general footage of the party, and some stuff with us all mucking about on camera, serving on the cake stall. Soon enough the film showed the balloons, and the chaos that ensued after the masks had crashed to the ground.
Brian had captured me spotting the Masked Marauder and giving chase, and everything that had happened until we thought we’d lost him.
Then it was Melody’s big moment. As I looked at the audience, I could tell everyone was on the edge of their seats.
Brian had focused on the ball, but he expertly widened the shot out when Melody approached, so that you could see her properly.
In the distance you could just make out the Masked Marauder by the tree.
On screen, Melody kicked the ball. Her foot struck, the ball curved round the tree and whacked into the Masked Marauder.
It looked even more impressive a banana shot on camera than it had in real life, if that was possible. I didn’t think I could ever get bored of watching it. Melody had played an absolute blinder.
The hall erupted into cheers, claps, whistles and hoots. It was pandemonium.
They even started to chant Melody’s name.
“MEL-O-DY! MEL-O-DY! MEL-O-DY!”
It took Mrs Bolton a good few seconds to calm everything down again.
“Well, thank you for that, Mr Adepitan,” she said. “It really was quite something. And Melody, I have just been given a message for you from Mr Carmichael. He’d like you to report for football training on Thursday. Congratulations on becoming the first girl on the Credon Road team.”
Melody beamed. We all did. Spencer and his mates were seething, but we didn’t care about that.
“Hey, Ade …”
I turned to see Brian pointing the video camera at me.
“So how does it feel to be a superhero?”
“It feels great,” I said, looking down at my chair, which had started to flicker mischievously. A bolt of energy flowed through me. I tried not to react, and gave Brian a wry smile as I continued, trying to sound mysterious. “But it’s fraught with danger and excitement. Who knows what lies round the corner?”
“I do,” said Dexter, popping up behind me. “It’s the gym. It’s just down the hallway and round the corner.”
