Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Wogan, Mohsen, Flora and Charlie were skulking. They had just rushed out of lunch, and were hanging round in the corridor near Ms Fyre's office. Bulging in Charlie's pocket was his dad's electric shaver, which he had sneaked into his bag that morning. If he got it back in the bathroom as soon as he got home, his dad would never know. The minutes ticked by as they nervously waited for Ms Fyre to leave her office. Finally the door swung open, and Ms Fyre marched out towards the school cafe. 'OK, people! Take your positions!' whispered Flora dramatically. Wogan quickly chased after Ms Fyre. He positioned himself in the next corridor, so he had the perfect view of her in the canteen, where she would

soon be holding a tray and choosing her lunch. If Ms Fyre did anything, Wogan would be able to warn Mohsen, who was standing at the corner, where he could see both Wogan and Flora, who was standing outside Ms Fyre's office with Charlie. Wogan gave Mohsen the thumbs up, and Mohsen turned and gave Flora the thumbs up. 'OK. It's time. Good luck, Charlie McGuffin,' said Flora. There was something nagging in the back of Charlie's mind, but he dismissed it. The plan was

ready. It was now or never. He nodded solemnly to Flora and took one last look up and down the corridor to make sure the coast was clear. He placed his hand on the handle, swallowed and, quick as a flash, sneaked into the office. The minute the door closed behind him he realized what had been nagging him. He was desperate for a wee. He opened the door again. 'Flora!' 'What do you want? Get back in there!' Flora asked. 'I'm busting for a wee!' 'Charlie, we don't have time!' Flora said, slapping her forehead. 'Get back in there and shave monkey! Ms Fyre could be back any moment. You can have a wee after!' 'OK, OK. I'm going in.' Reluctantly Charlie crept back into the office and tried to forget about the wee. He closed the door of the office behind him, and tiptoed into the stuffy silence. It was a pretty ordinary office, apart from Ms Fyre's prize orchids, which lined the windowsill. And of course, sitting there like a giant stuffed monkey on a bookshelf sat the giant

monkey on top of the bookshelf. There was no way Charlie could reach it, so he pulled Ms Fyre's swivel chair over and began to climb on it. Meanwhile, Wogan, who was spying on Ms Fyre, was the first person to realize that things were about to go wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong. He watched in horror as Ms Fyre began patting her pockets as if she'd lost something, tutted, and began walking towards Wogan, who froze in terror, his brain crashing. Fortunately his body snapped into action. He began frantically waving at Mohsen. Unfortunately, just at that precise moment, Mohsen had found a particularly well-lodged bogey and was giving that his full attention rather than the frantically waving Wogan. Wogan realized that no matter how much he waved, Mohsen was just not going to see him. Ms Fyre was already nearly on top of him, so Wogan made a decision and began running towards Mohsen. 'She's coming!' Wogan panted. 'What?' said Mohsen, one finger still deeply embedded in his left nostril. 'Fyre's coming! Look!'

A look of horror spread across Mohsen's face as he saw Ms Fyre striding back towards her office. Immediately he swung round and began waving madly at Flora. Flora, fortunately, was keeping good watch. Her face paling when she saw Mohsen's panicked waving, she quickly gave three knocks on the office door. That was the agreed signal for Charlie to hide. They couldn't risk Charlie leaving the office in case he was seen, so they had agreed that if Ms Fyre returned early that Charlie would hide and Flora would try to delay her to give Charlie longer to get himself hidden. When Charlie heard Flora's three sharp knocks his heart nearly fell out of his bum. He jumped down off the swivel chair, and looked round in blind panic. He dived down under the desk and curled up into a ball. Then, with a shock of fear, he realized that he had left the chair by the bookcase,

and not by the desk where it belonged. He scrambled out, and began pulling the chair backwards when he heard the voice of Flora, suddenly, loud, right outside the door. 'Oh, hi, Ms Fyre.' 'Good afternoon, child. Out of my way and allow me to enter my office.' Ms Fyre's cut-glass voice cut through the closed door. 'But… how are you, Ms Fyre?' 'I'm perfectly adequate, thank you, now if you would move out of the way–' 'Ms Fyre, can I just say you're looking really lovely today? The way the sun is shining through the window on to your head, it makes your hair look beautiful, like a great big bush caught fire.' Charlie crawled backwards under the desk, dragging the chair with him. 'Hmm. Why, thank you, I suppose. Now out of my way, child.' 'But, Ms Fyre, can I just show you, I've got this strange rash–' 'Then go to the nurse, child. Out. Of. My. Way. Now!'