Get Healthy! – Day 5

And with that, Freddy closed the book and fell into a deep deep slumber, his mission accomplished, his mind full of happy thoughts.  He started to dream a long complicated dream about the time Hardy used the Polyjuice Potion to do that terrible thing to….

NO!

*****

There was pandemonium on the playground as the last day of school finally arrived.  Apart from multiple games and quizzes, they hadn’t really done anything that morning.

And now it was over.

Six whole weeks.

Of freedom.

Freddy and Wil were standing waiting to be picked up.  Michael came running over, his arms outstretched.

‘I’m going to miss you!’ he said, giving each of them a huge hug in turn.

‘Well, OK, but we live just down the road, don’t we?’  retorted Freddy.

‘Yes, but…oh wow, look over there!’

In the distance across the playground they could see a large brightly coloured square box, tottering slowly towards them on two legs.  The box looked heavy in the way it was swaying from side to side.  They could just make out Hardy’s mop of black hair over the top of it.

‘That’s a bit over the top, isn’t it?’   said Michael to Freddy, laughing.

‘I wonder what it is?’

Hardy staggered towards them and set the box carefully on the ground.  There was a clinking of glass as he put it down.  It sounded like small bits of glass.  Pieces of glass, in fact.

‘Before you ask, I don’t even know what’s in it’,  puffed Hardy, straightening his clothes matter-of-factly.  ‘It’s another one of my Mum’s great ideas, although she doesn’t even know what the teacher looks like.  She said it would be good for next year.  Actually I had a little accident coming through the gate, I hope it’s alright’.

He tapped the box with his foot and it chinked again.  He smiled in a slightly embarrassed way.

‘We’re going away at the weekend!’  said Wil cheerily.

‘Where are you off to?’  replied Michael.

‘We don’t even know!  Dad said to just pack a few things and be ready on Saturday morning!’

‘Wow, how exciting!’ said Michael, ‘I’m going to football camp next week, but I’ll be back in August, can we meet in the park?’

‘Sure’, replied Freddy, who hadn’t really thought of football since the trip to Athens, ‘in fact the season starts in August, and our league will start playing in September’.

‘I can’t wait!’  said Michael.

*****

‘Here you are, Miss Smith!’ said Hardy, half passing and half throwing the package in the direction of his teacher.  Miss Smith, who was quite a sporty teacher, attempted to catch the box but, unaware of how heavy it was, had not established a strong enough grip on it.  It tumbled down to the ground.  The box itself made no noise as it dropped, but the contents rattled, crashed, and smashed around inside it.

‘Oooh, thank you, Hardy’, said Miss Smith falteringly, ‘…that’s…erm…just what I wanted… I think.’

Hardy smiled painfully as he imagined the state of the glassware inside, and smiled more painfully as the other children lined up to give their teachers small gifts and cards.

*****

The pandemonium was increased by the reaction of the Year 6s to their last day at school.  Normally, the Year 6s were confident, strong, aggressive, and very proud of their status as the top dogs at school.  Today was different.

Snivelling wrecks.

Complete cry-babies.

Utterly-butterly.

They were standing around in small groups, hugging each other, or grabbing random teachers in soggy embraces.

‘Oooh, I’m really gonna miss you!’

‘You’ve been the best teacher, EVER!’

Two of the students had started signing each other’s arms with the phrase Friends to the End, which prompted everyone else to produce pens and markers, and start signing every part of their friends’ anatomy.  Shirts, arms, legs, knees, all got signed, with a variety of emotional messages.

See you in the next life!

You’re the best!

Don’t leave me!

 Ouch!  You’re hurting my arm.

*****

As they all started to disperse, Freddy pulled his team around him.  He managed to find Alex, Jaz, Wil, Michael, and Clara .  Hardy was picking up broken glass from the playground.

‘Well, have a good summer.  Let’s meet at HQ in August when Hardy gets back.  We’ve got a season to prepare for.  It all starts again on September 5th!’

*****