He turned back to Diane. ‘Diane Connell says that Ralph only got that commission because the Council felt sorry for him. Did you hear that, Ralph?’
Even then his gaze never left Diane.
I glanced at Ralph and his smile had disappeared.
Murdo continued. ‘This is our Council, by the way, which evicts old ladies from their homes if they can’t pay their rent. This is our Council, which throws blind people out of our libraries when they try to bring in their guide dogs.’ He batted his eyes in feigned shock and the class began to snigger. ‘Ooo, but they’re all heart when it comes to our Ralph. Och, they decided, the poor wee laddie. Let’s give him this commission. He’s rubbish but we just feel so sorry for him.’
Now he was laughing too. He smiled over at Ralph. ‘Och, isn’t that nice, Ralph?’
For a moment he let the class laugh. Laugh with him, and laugh at Diane. And Diane didn’t like it one bit.
Suddenly his voice became an angry roar again. ‘Do you know what your problem is, Diane Connell? The only way you can feel important is to belittle other people. And I am telling you now, and I genuinely hope it helps you to know this, that true greatness comes from recognising other people’s worth. Maybe then, you can find your own.’
He stared straight at her. I knew, because I know the kind of teacher Murdo is, that he really did want her to understand that. He wanted to change something in Diane. But Diane wouldn’t look back at him. She kept her eyes downcast, and sucked in her cheeks as if she had something sour in her mouth.
Finally, he shook his head. ‘Stay behind after class, Diane. I want to talk to you.’ And he began to walk back down the aisle to Ralph.
And suddenly, the class were applauding again, only this time they were applauding Murdo.
I stood at the door while Murdo spoke to Diane. His voice was soft at first, but grew steadily louder when he realised he was getting no response from her.
‘Lass! I’m only trying to help you!’ he yelled at her. ‘Do you want to go through your whole life being totally obnoxious?’
Diane tutted in that superior fashion of hers and looked away with a long sigh.
‘I will not have you speaking to me like this,’ she said.
Murdo’s eyes went wide and he roared so loud I thought he was about to invade England. ‘I will speak to you any way I choose, lassie, if it’s for your own good. And you can bring your father here and I’ll tell him the same thing. Do you hear me!!!!’ With that Murdo lifted the desk lid as high as he could and banged it down ferociously. Diane jumped and so did I.
‘Ach, get out of my sight, lassie!’ Murdo bellowed at her. ‘And if your behaviour doesn’t improve I’ll be sending for your parents.’ And Diane swung round and left him.
‘Thank goodness I’m going to Adler Academy!’ I’d never seen her so angry. Tears were starting in her eyes but she kept swallowing them back. ‘Trying to humiliate me in front of the whole class. Who does he think he is? Well, he’s just stepped over the line. I’ll get my own back on him.’ She suddenly pulled me back to face her. ‘And you’re going to help me.’
‘Me?’ The thought did more than dismay me. It terrified me.
‘Yes, of course, you. I helped you get back at Ralph Aird. Now it’s your turn to help me get back at Murdo.’
She turned from me then and I shivered. It was a warm May afternoon, but it was Diane who made me shiver. There was something really scary about her.
‘I’m going to make him very sorry he ever treated me like that.’
Chapter Fourteen
May 31st
I can’t think what Diane is planning for Murdo. What can you possibly do to a teacher? No one’s ever going to believe anything a pupil says, especially a pupil like Diane. Though I didn’t say that to her. I hope she just forgets about it. Murdo’s anger never lasts. He used to hate Ralph Aird too. I can remember him bellowing at him when Ralph had done something particularly nasty – which was often. Once, he even ran him all the way to the headmaster’s office when he caught him trying to flush Harry Ball’s gym shorts down the toilet. Trouble was Harry Ball was wearing them at the time.
And now look at Ralph. You would think he was Murdo’s favourite. And all because one day he’d caught him doodling a sketch of him in his English jotter.
We’d all held our collective breath expecting Murdo to yank Ralph to his feet and frogmarch him out of the school.
Instead, he held it up for all the class to see and he said, ‘Ralph Aird, that is extremely good.’
After that, whenever Ralph had an essay to write, Murdo insisted he illustrate it as well. So Robinson Crusoe came to life on the pages of Ralph’s exercise book and Shylock the moneylender, and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. And Ralph came to life too – until the day I destroyed his collage.