Page 95 of The One Plus One
‘Yes?’
‘It’s Nicky. Nicky Thomas. Um. I’m really sorry to bother you. But we need your help.’
21.
Nicky
It had been obvious to Nicky that this was a bad idea from the moment they had pulled into the car park. Every other kid at that place – apart from maybe one or two at the most – was a boy. Every single one was at least two years older than Tanze. Most looked like they were not unfamiliar with the Asperger’s scale. They wore wool blazers, bad haircuts, braces, the overly scruffy shirts of the properly middle class. Their parents drove Volvos.
The Thomas family were Aldi to their Waitrose, generic ketchup to their pesto. Tanzie, in her pink trousers and denim jacket with the sequins and felt flowers that Jess had sewn on, was as out of place as if she had been dropped there from outer space.
Nicky knew she was uncomfortable, even before Norman had broken her glasses. She had grown quieter and quieter in the car, locked in her own little world of nerves and car-sickness. He had tried to nudge her out of it – this was actually an act of epic selflessness as she smelt pretty bad – but by the time they had hit Aberdeen she had retreated so far inside herself that she was unreachable. Jess was so focused on getting there that she couldn’t see it. She was all tied up with Mr Nicholls, the glasses and thesick bags. She hadn’t considered for a minute that kids from private schools could be just as mean as kids from McArthur’s.
Jess had been at the desk registering Tanzie and collecting her name tag and paperwork. Nicky had been checking out Mr Nicholls’s phone, so he hadn’t really paid any attention to the two boys who went and stood next to Tanzie, as she peered up at the desk plan at the entrance to the hall. He couldn’t hear them because he had his ear-buds in, and he was listening to Depeche Mode without really noticing anything at all. Until he caught sight of Tanzie’s crestfallen face. And he pulled an ear-bud from one ear.
The boy with the braces was staring at her, a slow up and down. ‘You are at the right place? You know that the Justin Bieber fan convention is down the road?’
The skinnier boy laughed.
Tanzie looked at them with round eyes.
‘Have you been to an Olympiad before?’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Quel surprise. I can’t say many Olympians bring furry pencil cases. Have you got your furry pencil case, James?’
‘I think I forgot mine. Oh dear.’
‘My mum made it for me,’ Tanzie said stiffly.
‘Your mum made it for you.’ They looked at each other. ‘Is it your lucky pencil case?’
‘Do you know anything about string theory?’
‘I think she’s more likely to know about stink theory. Or…Hey, James, can you smell something unpleasant? Like vomit? Do you think someone’s a bit nervous?’
Tanzie ducked her head and bolted past them into the loos.
‘That’s the Gents!’ they cried, and fell about laughing.
As the boys made to walk into the main hall Nicky stepped forward and put his hand on the back of Braces’ neck. ‘Hey, kid. HEY.’
The boy spun round. His eyes widened. Nicky moved in, so that his voice was a low whisper. He was suddenly glad that he had a weird yellow tinge to his skin and a scar on the side of his face. ‘Dude. A word. You ever speak to my sister like that again – anyone’s sister – and I will personally come back here and tie your legs into a complex equation. You got that?’
He nodded, his mouth open.
Nicky gave him his best Fisher Psycho Stare. Long enough for the boy to do one of those massive Adam’s-apple-bobbing gulps. ‘Not nice being nervous, is it?’
The boy shook his head.
Nicky patted him on the shoulder. ‘Good. Glad we’re straight. Go do your sums.’ He turned and began to walk towards the loos.
One of the teachers stepped in front of him then, one hand raised, his face questioning. ‘Excuse me? Did I just see you…’
‘…wishing him luck? Yes. Great kid. Great kid.’ Nicky shook his head, as if in admiration, then headed for the Gents to fetch Tanzie.
When Jess and Tanzie emerged from the Ladies, Tanzie’s top was damp where Jess had scrubbed at it with soap and water, her face blotchy and pale.
