The boy with the braces was staring at her, a slow up and down. ‘You are at the right place? You know that the Justin Bieber fan convention is down the road?’
The skinnier boy laughed.
Tanzie looked at them with round eyes.
‘Have you been to an Olympiad before?’
‘No,’ she said.
‘Quel surprise. I can’t say many Olympians bring furry pencil cases. Have you got your furry pencil case, James?’
‘I think I forgot mine. Oh dear.’
‘My mum made it for me,’ Tanzie said stiffly.
‘Your mum made it for you.’ They looked at each other. ‘Is it your lucky pencil case?’
‘Do you know anything about string theory?’
‘I think she’s more likely to know about stink theory. Or … Hey, James, can you smell something unpleasant? Like vomit? Do you think someone’s a bit nervous?’
Tanzie ducked her head and bolted past them into the loos.
‘That’s the Gents!’ they cried, and fell about laughing.
As the boys made to walk into the main hall Nicky stepped forward and put his hand on the back of Braces’ neck. ‘Hey, kid. HEY.’
The boy spun round. His eyes widened. Nicky moved in, so that his voice was a low whisper. He was suddenly glad that he had a weird yellow tinge to his skin and a scar on the side of his face. ‘Dude. A word. You ever speak to my sister like that again – anyone’s sister – and I will personally come back here and tie your legs into a complex equation. You got that?’
He nodded, his mouth open.
Nicky gave him his best Fisher Psycho Stare. Long enough for the boy to do one of those massive Adam’s-apple-bobbing gulps. ‘Not nice being nervous, is it?’
The boy shook his head.
Nicky patted him on the shoulder. ‘Good. Glad we’re straight. Go do your sums.’ He turned and began to walk towards the loos.
One of the teachers stepped in front of him then, one hand raised, his face questioning. ‘Excuse me? Did I just see you …’
‘… wishing him luck? Yes. Great kid. Great kid.’ Nicky shook his head, as if in admiration, then headed for the Gents to fetch Tanzie.
When Jess and Tanzie emerged from the Ladies, Tanzie’s top was damp where Jess had scrubbed at it with soap and water, her face blotchy and pale.
‘You don’t want to pay any attention to a little squit like that, Tanze,’ Nicky said, climbing to his feet. ‘He was just trying to put you off.’
‘Which one was it?’ Jess’s expression was flinty. ‘Tell me, Nicky.’
Yeah. Because Jess going in all guns blazing was going to be exactly the start to the competition that Tanzie needed. ‘I … um … don’t think I could recognize him. Anyway, I sorted it.’
He kind of liked the words. I sorted it.
‘But I can’t see, Mum. What am I going to do if I can’t see?’
‘Mr Nicholls is getting you some glasses. Don’t worry.’
‘But what if he doesn’t? What if he doesn’t even come back?’
I wouldn’t have done, Nicky thought, if I were him. They had totalled his nice car. And he looked about ten years older than when they had set off.
‘He’ll come back,’ Jess said.
‘Mrs Thomas. We need to start. Your daughter has thirty seconds to take her seat.’
‘Look, is there any way we can delay the start by a few minutes? We really, really need to get her some glasses. She can’t see without them.’
‘No, madam. If she’s not in her place in thirty seconds I’m afraid we’ll have to start without her.’
‘Then can I go in? I could read her the questions?’
‘But I can’t write without my glasses.’
‘Then I’ll write for you.’
‘Mum …’
Jess knew she was beaten. She looked over at Nicky and gave a vague shake of her head that said, I don’t know what to do.
Nicky crouched beside her. ‘You can do this, Tanze. You can. You can do this stuff standing on your head. Just hold the paper really, really close to your eyes and take your time.’
She was staring blindly into the hall. Beyond the door the students were shuffling into place, dragging chairs under desks, arranging pencils in front of them.
‘And as soon as Mr Nicholls gets here we’ll bring the glasses in to you.’
‘Really. Just go in and do your best and we’ll be waiting here. Norman will just be on the other side of the wall. We all will. And then we’ll go and get some lunch. Nothing to stress about.’
The woman with the clipboard walked over. ‘Are you going to take part in the competition, Costanza?’
‘Her name’s Tanzie,’ Nicky said. The woman didn’t seem to hear. Tanzie nodded mutely and allowed herself to be led to a desk. She looked so damned little.
‘You can do it, Tanzie!’ His voice burst out of him suddenly, bouncing off the walls of the hall, so that the man at the back tutted. ‘Back of the net, Titch!’
‘Oh, for goodness’ sake,’ someone muttered.
‘Back of the net!’ Nicky yelled again, so that Jess looked at him in shock.
And then a bell rang, the door closed in front of them with a solid thunk, and it was just Nicky and Jess on the other side, with a couple of hours to kill.
‘Right,’ said Jess, when she finally tore her gaze away from the door. She put her hands into her pockets, took them out again, straightened her hair and sighed. ‘Right.’