Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 Charlie pawed his way through the bathroom door and sprang down the corridor. When he turned the corner, there they all were, as planned: Flora, Wogan, Mohsen and, in the middle of them, pinned against the basement door, was Dylan. Charlie was pleased to see that, even though they knew he was coming, his friends still all did a leap of fright when they saw him. It was human instinct– if you see a huge lion pad towards you, you fear for your life. Charlie strode up to Dylan, jumped up on his hind legs, and placed his front paws either side of Dylan's head. He breathed heavily on Dylan's face, a low rumbling growl, deep in his throat, which seemed to shake the air. Dylan whimpered and slipped to the floor.

'I… know… that's you… Charlie!' Dylan snivelled. 'You won't do anything to me. You wouldn't dare!' Flora kneeled down and spoke quietly to Dylan. 'We thought you'd say that. But you need to understand– you've made Charlie desperate. He's willing to do anything. And if that means…' Flora left the threat hanging but, to emphasise the point, Charlie widened his jaws over Dylan's face, letting hot drool drip down into his gibbering mouth. Dylan squirmed backwards, desperate to get away from the glistening teeth. 'OK!' he whimpered. 'OK! You can have the key!' Dylan reached into his pocket, but then his face went even paler, if that was possible. He checked his other pocket, panicking. 'It's gone!' he said. 'The key! It's gone!' 'CHILDREN!' came a sudden scream from the far end of the corridor. It was Mr Wind, his face a red explosion. 'GET AWAY FROM THAT LION!' Instead of getting away from that lion, which would be the perfectly normal course of action,

Mohsen, Flora and Wogan all groaned and slapped their foreheads.fn1 'Argh! Not now!' gasped Flora. 'Go away, Mr Wind!' 'SAVE YOURSELVES!' Mr Wind cried, bravely charging forward. Flora, Mohsen, Wogan and Charlie the lion all froze in horror. Dylan saw his moment. He sprang up and sprinted away as fast as his terrified jelly legs would carry him, leaving the friends' plans in tatters. 'RUN, CHILDREN! What's wrong with you! For the love of all that's holy, WHY WON'T YOU RUN?!' cried Mr Wind. Inspiration suddenly hit Wogan like a dozen hamsters dropped out of a plane without parachutes. 'Don't worry, sir!' he said, patting Charlie the lion. 'It's fine! This is my pet.' Wogan, Flora and Charlie the lion turned in unison to Wogan, in total disbelief. This had to be Wogan's most ludicrous, doomed-to-fail idea ever. And there was some stiff competition for that title. 'He's harmless,' Wogan continued, ruffling Charlie's mane, ignoring the nagging voice in the back of his head telling him that this was his most ludicrous and doomed-to-fail idea yet. 'Perfectly safe.' Mr Wind paused, panting, his face getting redder and redder. 'PERFECTLY SAFE?! WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? It was just attacking Van der Gruyne!'

'No he wasn't!' replied Wogan. 'We were just playing a game.' 'It didn't look like a game to me. The boy was practically wetting himself.' 'It was a game! With my pet lion,' Wogan said with certainty. Mr Wind eyeballed Wogan suspiciously. Flora and Mohsen and Charlie waited for Mr Wind to explode. 'You have a pet lion?' Mr Wind asked. 'That's right, sir,' nodded Wogan innocently. 'A pet lion? As in, a lion that you have as an actual pet?' Wogan simply nodded again, seemingly oblivious to the volcano that was about to erupt. 'And you thought you'd bring your pet lion into my school?' 'Yes, sir.' 'You thought you'd bring a pet lion into my school on the day of the school dance?' 'Yes, sir. I thought he'd enjoy the music.' 'YOU THOUGHT HE'D ENJOY THE MUSIC?' Mr Wind exploded. He practically had steam coming out of his ears. 'ARE YOU INSANE, BOY?' The lion gave a look to Mr Wind, which if Mr Wind was not mistaken said, 'Yes. Wogan is completely insane.' Mr Wind shook his head, convinced he must have imagined it. 'I mean, is it even legal? To keep a lion as a pet. It can't be.' 'It is, sir,' Wogan said. 'I have a special licence.'

'A LICENCE? A LION LICENCE? I mean… of all the… Well… GET THAT LION OUT OF HERE! THIS INSTANT! If the school inspectors find out about this, we're in big trouble!' 'OK, sir. If you say so.' Mr Wind turned and walked away, shaking his head and muttering to himself about lion licences. The moment he'd turned the corner, Charlie the lion turned back to normal-Charlie. 'I can't believe,' Flora said to Wogan after a long pause, 'you actually got away with that.' 'I was completely confident,' Wogan replied, nonchalantly. 'I knew it would work.'fn2

'Anyway!' said Flora, after giving Wogan a final disbelieving stare. 'We need to find Dylan again! And somehow get into that basement!' They hurried back to the disco, but just outside the hall they bumped into Daisy and Lola. 'Ah!' said Lola. 'There you all are. We were just looking for you.' 'We thought you'd want this,' said Daisy, holding up a key. 'It fell out of Dylan's pocket when he was doing the headspin. You know, during the dance-off. I picked it up– thought it might be useful for you.' She handed the key to Flora and walked off, arm in arm with Lola, leaving the four friends slack-jawed and gobsmacked. After a moment of stunned silence, Flora snapped. 'Quick– split up, guys!' she shouted. 'Wogan! Take the key and go with Mohsen to check the animals are safe! Charlie, you come with me and let's stop Dylan showing the video!' Wogan and Mohsen raced off, and Charlie and Flora plunged into the hall. But despite frantic searching, they couldn't find Dylan anywhere. The flashing lights and dancing crowds didn't make their job any easier. Five fruitless minutes later, they stood in the middle of the dance floor in despair. 'I'm done for,' Charlie shouted over the music. 'He's won.' Flora looked at Charlie, lost for words. Wogan and Mohsen suddenly ran up so fast, they nearly bowled them over like skittles.