“Portman?”
“Yo?”
“You’re watching the girls getting changed in the change room again, aren’t you?”
“Yep.”
Fulton laughed. Well, at least no one could complain that he lied about being a pervert.
“You realise you’re practically drooling.”
“Hey, Megan happens to be on the other side of the wall.”
“Megan? Megan Tanner?”
“The one and only.”
“Oh wow, that must be a show.”
“Yep, it is,” and Portman sighed happily.
“You realise, of course, that if any of them come out and see you here, you’re going to be in deep -”
“I’m not gonna get caught.”
“You say that every time.”
“Well, I usually don’t. And it’s not like that can do anything to stop me anyway,” Portman went on. “There ain’t nothing that can take my X-ray vision away from me.”
“Except maybe death. Which, I believe, was the last thing you were threatened with,” Fulton grinned.
“You’re just jealous.”
“I refuse to grace that accusation with a confirming or denying response.”
“Oh look, Fulton’s learning big words.”
Fulton laughed and went on his way.
**********
At the beginning of Portman’s next class, maths, they were given back their tests. The colour drained from his face as he saw the big red ‘F’ at the top of the page. The words ‘see me’ stared eerily at him from under the ‘F’.
So when the bell rang, signaling the end of the class, Portman approached Mr Glencross.
“You wanted to see me,” he said.
Mr Glencross slowly lifted his head and looked into Portman’s eyes.
“You got an ‘F’.”
“I noticed.”
“You are aware that this school puts mental education first. I’m sorry, but I can’t let you play ice hockey until you get your grade up.”
“What?” Portman exploded. “You can’t do that! We’ve got the Mutant Ice Hockey Championships coming up. I have to play.”
“I’m sorry. And I think you’d better get to your next class before you fail that too.”
“This is not fair! You can’t do this!”
But the look on Mr Glencross’ face told him that arguing, or shouting, was not going to change anything and he stormed out. Hardly thinking about it, he strode towards Coach Orion’s office.
“Mr Glencross won’t let me play!” he raged. “I have to play! He -”
“Dean Portman, calm down,” the coach scolded. “Now, what’s this about?”
Portman threw down the paper on the desk.
“He thinks he can stop me playing just because I got an ‘F’. One lousy little ‘F’. This is the first freaking time since I’ve been at this freaking school that I got a freak-”
“I get the point.”
“He can’t do this.”
“Actually, he can,” Coach Orion replied coolly. “Look, until now you have been doing pretty well. I’ll see if I can do something, but don’t hold your breath.”
“Whatever,” Portman fumed and stalked out.