Extreme! (11 page)

Jumping off his board and plucking it up without a falter in his step, Dunk Dog raced up to a building that was being renovated. Metal scaffolding crisscrossed each wall. Long planks had been lashed down to form walkways and work stations. Dunk Dog flung himself through the scaffolding and onto the boards, pushing himself to his feet and starting to run.

At this point Mio felt like giving up. She had nothing left. But her grandmother’s saying haunted her:
Keizoku koso chikara nari
[Perseverance is power], and she knew she could not give up.

She hopped off the saddle, left the bike to skittle along the grass verge, and plunged headfirst through the scaffolding and onto the walkway.
Now, Mio had the advantage. Without the impediment of a skateboard, she could manouvre herself easily through the metal pipes and beams.

Being too short to jump the height, Bella pulled up on the ground beneath, her whiskers and nostrils twitching as she ran in circles of frustration. ‘Good girl,’ said Darcy, giving her a lightning pat. ‘Now stay!’ He was shocked when Bella sat, without a whimper of protest. She looked at him as if to say, ‘I will guard the bike. Now you be off.’

With an encouraging ‘woof’ Bella watched Darcy scale the scaffolding. In no time at all she was joined by the others.

‘Darcy!’ screeched Mrs Jacobs. ‘Mio! Come down.’

Dunk Dog had scaled one floor up and stopped, trying to get his bearings, when he realised he’d backed himself into a corner. The walkway had run out and Mio was fast approaching. Homing in from the right was Darcy.

This is it
, Mio thought to herself, then yelled out loud, ‘Got you.’ She saw Dunk Dog glance at her, then at the end of the walkway. Dunk Dog looked down, up, and then down again, calculating his escape route. Mio saw him clamber over the top of the scaffolding and balance on the outside.

‘Don’t,’ she cried, then watched with horror as Dunk Dog made ready. ‘Don’t jump!’ she shrieked, but it was too late. Dunk Dog and his board flew
into the air, whizzed past her ear, and crashed to the ground.

Clem screamed. Mrs Jacobs tried to cover her eyes, but it was the
thud
that would echo forever in her head.

Tong and Bryce raced to see if they could help. They were shocked to find Dunk Dog’s landing spot empty and had started to look for him when the others pulled up.

‘He’s gone,’ said Darcy.

Bryce whistled. ‘You’ve got to hand it to him. He’s one hell of a fighter.’

Mio sank to her knees when Darcy said halfheartedly, ‘I suppose we could use Bella and chase him again?’

But Mrs Jacobs thought otherwise. ‘Absolutely, positively, no-room-for-arguments
not
!’ She went from kid to kid and gave them a hug. ‘This is so foolish. Foolish and dangerous.’ She turned and asked, ‘Mio, what on earth possessed you?’

‘I…’ Mio saw the wrinkles of concern on Mr Lark’s face. ‘I…’

And she couldn’t, didn’t dare say it:
Mr Lark, I’ve lost your dog tags
. She looked down, anguish wrenching her heart. Mio had never felt so relieved when Mrs Jacobs put her arm round her shoulders and said, ‘Time to get you home, young lady. Time for all of you to be home.’ She pointed
to the bike and added, ‘Bryce, put that in the boot. I’m driving you, too. The least I can do is make sure you all make it home in one piece.’ As the kids buckled up their seatbelts she added, ‘We shall talk about this tomorrow.’ Then she glanced in the rear-view mirror and said, ‘Clem, Darcy. If this is what you get up to when you go out, I’m not sure I can trust you to ever go out again.’

Clem stared out the window, too pooped to argue. But Darcy’s fingers curled and he swore under his breath.

‘What did you say?’ asked Mrs Jacobs, glancing at him from the rear-view mirror.

Darcy felt his nails dig into his palms. ‘Nothing.’

And the rest of the trip was made in silence.

Late that night, Mio checked the computer again and was shocked to find 856 emails had flooded her inbox, all sent by the same person, someone calling themselves Cinderella. Mio racked her brains but she couldn’t think of who it could be. Tomorrow she would report this to the internet provider. Tomorrow she would change her contact details and password. Tomorrow, this would stop. In the meantime she forwarded an email to JEAAG outlining this latest development. She wondered why they were taking so long to reply and prayed they’d get back to her soon.

The next morning before school the kids met at the Van. After tying up her bike Clem took a large foil package from her basket and deposited it on top of the TV table.

‘What you got?’ asked Bryce, sniffing the air in a pretty good Bella impersonation.

‘Piggies in a blanket for breakfast.’

‘I didn’t think you guys could eat pig,’ said Bryce.

Clem laughed saying, ‘We can when it’s kosher pig.’ She pulled open the foil to reveal a pile of steaming kosher frankfurts.

‘Here, piggy, piggy,’ crooned Bryce, reaching for a frankfurt.

Clem brushed his hand away, saying, ‘Don’t forget the blanket,’ and she pulled a loaf of bread and some tomato sauce from her backpack.

‘Me no see pig. Or blanket,’ said Tong, and everyone laughed, even Mio despite the weight of her worries.

Bryce grabbed a slice of bread and put on a demonstration of how to wrap the frankfurt inside:

‘Here is the blanket

And a pig, not mutton

Look out stomach

I’m just a glutton’

Clem pushed him off his milk crate, saying, ‘Idiot!’ but it was just what they needed to break the tension. Soon, they were all eating piggies in a blanket.

Tong avoided the tomato sauce. It reminded him of blood.

As Bryce reached for his fifth one he grinned and said, ‘I could eat my weight in cocktail frankfurts,’ to which Clem replied, ‘So, who’s the piggy?’

‘Oink, oink.’

Mio put down her half-eaten piggie in a blanket and said, ‘Can you believe last night? How did Dunk Dog and his crew know we were going to be at the meeting?’

‘Someone tipped them off,’ said Bryce.

‘But who?’

There were puzzled faces all round until finally Mio said, ‘I guess it could have been anyone who knew about the petition and, let’s face it, hundreds of people knew about the petition.’

‘Didn’t see any skateboarders I recognised from school,’ said Darcy. ‘Did you?’

‘No. No-one from The Met was there.’

Bryce asked again, ‘So, how’d they know if they don’t go to our school?’

‘They were tipped off,’ suggested Clem.

Then Mio asked, ‘Anyone know someone who calls themselves Cinderella on their email?’

‘Nuh, uh,’ said Clem. ‘Why?’

‘Cause they bombarded me with emails last night.’

‘Were you flamed?’

Mio shook her head.

‘What did they say, then?’ asked Clem.

Mio sighed as she answered, ‘They said a big fat nothing. They were blank.’

‘Clogs up your system,’ said Darcy. ‘Nuisance value, that’s what they are.’

Clem frowned. ‘It’s more than that. Are you keeping a record of all this, Mio? Sounds suss to me. If you right-click over the email with the mouse it might give you more information about who it is.’

‘I’ve done that,’ said Mio, straightening her skirt over her knees. ‘All it says is cinderella @hotmail.com. That doesn’t tell me much.’

‘Spammer?’ asked Bryce.

‘Don’t think so.’

Bryce licked the last of the tomato sauce from his fingers as he said, ‘You could try blocking their address.’

Clem wrinkled her nose. ‘They’d just come up with a new one. Why don’t you get a new user name? Your old one tells people too much: mioshinozaki, isn’t it? You need one that’s completely anonymous.’

‘Like smartgirl or licoricehead?’ suggested Bryce.

Clem shot him a look to zap pineapples, adding, ‘Something like that.’

‘I’m going to change it this afternoon,’ said Mio. ‘I’ll tell you guys, but no-one else. It’s going to be bushidomio.’

‘[email protected]?’ asked Clem and when Mio nodded she asked, ‘Why?’

‘Bushido represents all the codes of a samurai warrior: justice, bravery, loyalty, honour, veracity, benevolence and politeness. We learnt about it at karate.’ She threw back her shoulders and held her head high. ‘I will be like the samurai warrior.’

‘What about that sep-seppu-something you told us about?’ asked Bryce. ‘You know, suicide.’

‘Lost honour could be regained by performing seppuku, or ritual suicide, but don’t you worry about me. I faint at the sight of blood,’ responded Mio.

Bryce laughed. ‘So much for being a samurai.’

Tong, who had been very quiet up till now, suddenly asked, ‘What about dog tags, Mio? How you know they belong Mr Lark?’

Mio threw her hands up in the air. ‘That’s just the thing. I don’t know if they’re Mr Lark’s or not. That’s what I was trying to find out last night when Dunk Dog took off. He might be quite innocent.’

‘So why’d he run then?’ asked Bryce.

The question dangled in the air.

When the kids arrived at school that morning the first thing they heard was, ‘Mio Shinokazi to Mrs Burridge’s office. Mio Shinokazi to Mrs Burridge’s office’ over the public address system.

Through gritted teeth Mio asked, ‘When is that woman going to get my name right?’ And with that she marched to the office. Whilst waiting to be summonsed Mio saw Mrs Burridge’s door open and Leks walk out. She wondered what he was doing there. Her question was soon answered.

‘Come in,’ called Mrs Burridge when Mio knocked at the door.

Mio went inside, remembering the previous time she had sat in this room and the total debacle that was the meeting with her parents.

‘Up to some nasty business, I see,’ said Mrs Burridge.

‘Pardon?’

‘Breaking into lockers.’

Mio felt her stomach churn but she tried to keep her features passive. ‘What do you mean?’ Then she remembered that she and Darcy had indeed gone through Leks’ locker—and not so long ago. Leks. The same Leks who’d just emerged from Mrs Burridge’s office!

‘Wh-what do you mean?’ she stammered again. A light sheen covered Mio’s nose and her clothes felt too small.

‘Leks says he’s had something removed from his locker.’

‘So?’

‘So, it was found, tucked inside your book.’

Mio felt like her world was spinning. ‘Which book?’ she asked. ‘And what was stolen?’

What Mrs Burridge did next made Mio buckle at the knees. ‘These,’ she said. ‘Which were inside your school diary.’ And from inside a drawer in her desk, Mrs Burridge withdrew a diary with Mio Shinozaki in fluoro green on the cover. Mio’s eyes burned black as she watched Mrs Burridge open it, and tip out some…

‘Dog tags!’ Mio dropped into a chair, as though she’d been king hit from behind. In a tortured
voice she said, ‘They’re mine. I didn’t steal them. Leks stole them from
me
.’

‘Now, Mio.’ Mrs Burridge’s top lip curled. ‘Leks says he had these in his locker. He says you have been in his locker…’

Mio was racking her brains trying to think how he could have found out about that. Had he guessed it was she who’d taken the photocopied list of names? She could feel her body tremble.

‘…Is it true, Mio? Were you in Leks’ locker?’

Mio felt winded, as if she’d been tackled on a playing field. Even though Mrs Burridge had got it all wrong, she knew she couldn’t lie. ‘Yes.’ Mio stared at her hands clasped in her lap, then glanced up as she added, ‘But I can explain.’

‘Finally, confession!’ said Mrs Burridge, standing up to signal an end to the conversation. ‘Not another word. I’m fed up to the back teeth with you and your “I can explain”s. Is there nothing you won’t stoop to?’

‘I didn’t take the dog tags from Leks. He took them from me. I can even tell you whose they are. They belong to a Mr William Lark.’ Mio’s eyes flashed with triumph as she looked up.

Mrs Burridge squinted at the name on the tag then looked up. ‘No. They do not.’

To Mio it felt like another body blow. She felt pummelled. They weren’t her dog tags after all! So,
why had Leks set her up? Why had he lied to Mrs Burridge that she’d stolen them from his locker? ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Well I do. I understand perfectly well. You’ve come to this school and betrayed our trust. This is the last of a long string of most unfortunate incidents. I’m afraid I’m going to have to expel you.’

Mio doubled over. Her head spun. Expelled! This could never happen in Japan. When would this insanity stop? Mio knew she should say something but speech and reason had deserted her. All she could manage was to remind herself to breathe.

‘I will notify the relevant education authorities and contact your parents.’

Mio’s mind went blank, as though someone had pressed ‘Delete’ on a computer. The thought of what this would do to her parents was too much to bear. She had caused them total anguish.

‘Sit outside till they collect you.’

Mio couldn’t move. Every muscle, every nerve refused to fire. Apart from a cold sensation, her body felt completely numb.

‘I said wait outside.’

Mio managed to nod, then dragged herself back to the waiting room and lowered herself into a chair, her face buried in her hands. How had it
come to this? Mio felt like she had been picked up and plonked into someone else’s nightmare. Her clammy hands and feet reminded her that it was her own. Her teeth began to chatter. She tried to breathe but her lungs felt like they were locked in an iron band. ‘Fresh air,’ she gurgled at Mrs Burridge’s secretary.

‘Out you go, then,’ said the secretary, unaware of the phone conversations going on behind the Principal’s door. ‘And maybe some water, too.’

Mio nodded. She walked to the door in slow motion, as though she was wading through sludge. Once outside, she snuck into the first bathroom she came to. It was for Staff Only, but Mio didn’t care. After all, what could they do to her now?

As she sat in a cubicle trying to recover, a door opened and two sets of footsteps could be heard. She heard voices. One she recognised as her History teacher.

‘…and he asked me how much dog tags were worth.’

Blood pumped to Mio’s head and her lungs filled with air. She leant forward, instantly alert, straining to hear every word.

‘Not much, I’d imagine,’ came the reply.

‘Said he had quite a collection.’

Who? wondered Mio. Leks? But her questions
weren’t answered as the teachers washed their hands and left the bathroom.

Mio went to the basin. She’d stopped shaking but even the hot water failed to warm her hands. She returned to the Reception room where Mrs Burridge was waiting. ‘Your parents say they are unable to come. You are to sit here for the rest of the day till they can collect you at five.’

‘Yes.’ Mio’s voice was barely a whisper. She stood, head bowed, hands clasped as she waited for Mrs Burridge to return to her office. She could feel the tears welling but refused to look up. She would not give Mrs Burridge the satisfaction of knowing how deeply she was hurting. A samurai would accept this pain.

When the bell went for lunch, four heads appeared at the Reception door, and four faces were startled at the sight of Mio, shrunken into the chair.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Clem.

‘What’s going on?’ demanded Darcy at the same time.

‘You okay?’ asked Tong.

Before Bryce could get his question in Mio looked up. She forced a weary smile, then shook her head. ‘No, I’m not. I’ve been…’ Mio gulped, ‘…expelled.’

‘What?!’

‘Why?’

‘For stealing dog tags from Leks’ locker,’ Mio whispered.

Darcy snarled. ‘But he stole dog tags from you!’

‘I tried to tell her.’

‘You reckon he’s behind this whole thing? The dog tags and emails as well?’

Mio shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’

Clem butted in, ‘But it’s Leks’ word against yours. Where’s his proof?’

‘Apparently the dog tags were hidden in my diary.’

‘Where’d he get the diary?’ asked Clem. ‘From your locker?’

Mio sat up, cross with herself for not making the connection earlier. And so much for her new lock and keys. ‘It’s true. The diary did come from my locker.’

Darcy took two steps towards Mrs Burridge’s door saying, ‘I’m going to point out that small but significant detail,’ when Mio stopped him. ‘Don’t.’

‘But being expelled is too extreme,’ said Clem. ‘It isn’t fair.’

Bryce gave a wry grin as he tousled her red hair and said, ‘So, Clem, you’ve finally figured it out. Life’s not fair?’

Clem turned to Bryce and stamped her foot. ‘Mio’s innocent. She hasn’t done anything wrong and she certainly hasn’t done anything to deserve this.’

‘I know.’ Bryce flung an arm around Mio’s shoulder saying, ‘I know exactly how this feels.’

Clem’s eyes widened in shock as she imagined the impact this would have on Mio’s mother and father, not to mention the impact it was having on Mio. It wasn’t so much the shame that would crucify her, it was knowing she had disappointed them, knowing she’d let them down. ‘Mio? What about your mum and dad?’

In the smallest of voices Mio replied, ‘I will be dead to them as a daughter.’ Then she closed her eyes and retreated into her shell.

‘Not so fast!’ said Bryce, grabbing her arm and tugging her up. ‘What about the bushido you told us about? Where’s that fighting warrior spirit?’

Mio thought back to her teacher in Japan. To the Samurai Creed he had told them about. There were so many sayings but one flashed into her mind.
I have no parents; I make the Heavens and the Earth my parents.
If the samurai could do it, so could she. She would distance herself from her parents and deal with this alone. She could hear the words of her karate teacher now:
Comply in the face of the inevitable; pacify the emotions; and self-control in the face of any event
; and she knew what she must do. Mio looked at Bryce and said, ‘You’re right. I’m going to fight this.’

‘Let’s tell Mrs Burridge, then,’ said Clem.

‘No!’ Mio’s voice was firm. ‘I will fight this my way. I will find Mr Lark’s dog tags and return them. I will find out who Cinderella is, and I will put a stop to the emails.’

Bryce slapped her on the back, saying, ‘Good for you.’

‘Just don’t ask me how…’

Bryce grinned, then said, ‘Wasn’t going to.’

And just as quickly as the kids had entered the Reception room, they now all went out, leaving Mio to herself.

During the course of the day Mio went over in her head everything that had happened, seeking to shed new light on things. Like a barrister, she sorted through details, trying to work out what was evidence and what was speculation. How had things gone so wrong? And what could she do to change them?

By the end of the day she’d come up with a plan.