Gemma Gibbins-Smythe

by Brian Taylor.

Chapter 2.

Not two minutes had gone by when Gemma, unaware of the panic she'd caused, walked calmly into the house. "Where's dad gone? I saw him zoom off as I walked up the street."
"Gemma! Where have you been?" shouted her mum angrily, "We've been worried sick."
"I just …"
"Not now. First, I have to let your dad know your here. He's gone looking for you."

As they drove to the Estate Agents, Gemma apologised to her mum and dad. "I'm ever so sorry. I didn't mean to worry you. I thought there was plenty of time for me to nip down to the bridge over the river and take a final look at the town from there. I guess I just lost track of time. It was only when the Town Hall clock rang noon I realised I ought to hurry back."
"It was very inconsiderate of you not to let us know what you were up to in the first place." said her dad.
"‘I know … and I'’m sorry. I just thought ..."
"No Gemma! That's the problem. You didn't think." snapped her dad.
"Let's say no more about it." interrupted her mum deciding it was better to calm things down.

Gemma fell instantly in love with 6 Chestnut Avenue. It was everything she had dreamed of and more. Her parting words to her parents as she went to bed that first night were, "I'm sure we're going to be happy here."

The weekend was taken up getting the house just the way they wanted it. Monday morning seemed to come before they were really ready for it. Everyone was a little bit on edge, rushing around getting things together. Gemma's dad was the first to leave for his first day in his new job, but Gemma and her mum weren't far behind.
Mrs Gibbins-Smythe had no trouble finding a space in the Spurthorpe County High car park. As she undid her seat belt she looked at Gemma, "You ready love?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
"Let’s go then."
At the school reception desk Mrs Gibbins told the receptionist that she'd been told to ask for a Mr Latham.
"Would you please sign the Visitors' Book then just take a seat. Mr Latham will be with you shortly."
It wasn't long before the Head of Year 9 introduced himself to Mrs Gibbins-Smythe and Gemma. He pulled up a chair, welcomed them to the school then gave them a lot of general information about the school and how it ran. He concluded, "Gemma will be in 9NM – the initials are those of her teacher, Mr Morton. I'll take her there now."
"Bye then love. Have a good day. I'll collect you after school." Mrs Gibbins-Smythe gave Gemma a kiss on the cheek, turned on her heels and left.
Mr Latham led Gemma to 9NM's form room, knocked at the door and ushered his charge into the form room. "This is Gemma Gibbins-Smythe, Mr Morton. I believe you were expecting her."
"Oooooooh!" went up the cry from the class as Gemma's name was announced.
"That’s enough!" said Mr Morton to the class before welcoming Gemma to the form. He pointed to a desk. "We've kept you a seat beside Sandra. She's got a timetable for you and has volunteered to show you the ropes until you've settled in."

At break, Sandra introduced Gemma to some of the other girls. Then at lunch they got down to talking about some of the boys. "If you have any problems with computers Kevin Pritchard is good. He's the skinny boy with the thick glasses. Then there's Dan … Dan Howarth, he's gorgeous …and good at sport. You can't fail to notice him. He's always got a bunch of girls around him. They all fancy him. Neil Downs is a nice guy. A bit quiet … religious, which is okay if you're into that sort of …"
Just then a voice boomed from behind them. "Hello my darlings."
Gemma turned to see who it was but Sandra didn't move, "Get lost, Tug." she said.
"Nice welcome for a gentleman." laughed Tug. "I only wanted to say 'Hello' to our new blonde babe."
"Hello and goodbye", said Gemma, "and I'm not a babe."
The boy turned and ambled away, "Have it your own way. But I'm sure we'll see lots of each other."
Sandra put her head close to Gemma's, "That was Tug Turner. Everybody avoids him. He's a bully. Though he tends to leave us girls alone."

"They're not a bad bunch and I get on well with most of them." Gemma said to her mum at the end of term. "There's only one person I haven't taken to. His name is Tug. He's tall and fat and a bully. Nobody else likes him either. When I have the party for my 14th birthday, I'’ll invite everybody except him. As there are 29 in the class I'’ll need 27 invitations."
At the start of the summer term, Gemma secretly gave out the invitations to her classmates. "Don't let Tug know." she said to each person, "I'm not inviting him. He'd only find a way to spoil everything." None of them needed persuading. They didn't want Tug there either.

Saturday 26 April was like a beautiful warm summer's day. Gemma and her parents spent much of the day preparing the house, the food, the drinks and the music. Neil Downs was first to arrive just before half-five. "Hi Gemma! I'm sorry; I must have mislaid my invitation."
"Doesn't matter." said Gemma, "I know you're invited."
The party had been underway for about half an hour when Sandra found Gemma in the kitchen. "Gemma! Gemma! You won't believe it. Tug's turned up. He's in the garden with Kevin."
Gemma found Tug sitting with Kevin at a picnic table on the lawn. "What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"Go on Kevin, answer the lady." said Tug.
"Not him. You."
"Me? Well … I accepted your invitation of course." Tug grinned.
"There’s only one small problem with that you liar. I didn't invite you."
"Then what's this?" Tug triumphantly held up the invitation. Gemma snatched it from him.
"Huh! You've made a very bad job of forging my mother's handwriting. And I can see it was Neil's invitation. He said he'd lost it."
"So, errr, what y' going to do about it?" taunted Tug.
"‘Get my father to throw you out."
At that point Tug squeezed Kevin's leg very hard under the table. Kevin got the message. "Don't do that", he gurgled, "I'm sure Tug'll behave himself. I can keep an eye on him!"
"As if." said Gemma as she turned to go. Then looking back over her right shoulder she said, "You can stay, but any hint of trouble and you're out. Do you understand?"
Tug smiled. "Yes Miss! I'’ll be good Miss! Won't I Spotty?"
"Yes" squeaked Kevin.

Gemma was in the sitting room changing a CD when she heard an uproar coming from the direction of the swimming pool. "What's that?" she instinctively asked. The others in the room stopped what they were doing, looked at each, and then began moving to the door into the garden to see what was going on.
In the garden, Kevin was running from the pool, "Gemma! Tug's had an accident. He's in the water …he's drowning. Someone's ringing for an ambulance."
Gemma turned on her heels shouting, "Dad! Dad!" as she ran back into the house.
Mr Gibbins-Smythe was already on his way down the stairs when he saw Gemma, "What is it love?"
"There's been an accident in the pool. Somebody's ringing for an ambulance."
Together they ran to the pool, where they found Neil holding Tug's head above water.
"Let’s get him out. Pronto!"said Mr Gibbins-Smythe, "And Gemma, go to the road to direct the paramedics."
Gemma stood at the pavement outside No 6. She was agitated and anxious about what was happening inside and kept saying under her breath, "Come on! Come on!" as if she could speed the arrival of the ambulance.
It was 7 or 8 minutes before the ambulance turned into Chestnut Avenue. When she saw it, Gemma started jumping up and down and waving her arms. As it drew to a halt, she began shouting, "C'mon! C'mon! Hurry! A boy's had an accident in the pool." The paramedics grabbed their equipment and followed Gemma at a run around the side of the house. "In there," she panted, pointing at the pool door.
She wanted to follow but stopped herself. Instead she walked dejectedly to a bench and sat with her head in her hands.

"‘Gemma! I was wondering where you'd got to." Gemma slowly lifted her head. She hadn't noticed that Sandra had perched herself on the bench next to her.
"I couldn't face going back in there. What's happening?" Gemma's voice was flat.
"They're just putting Tug on a stretcher to take him to hospital. He's alive but unconscious. If Neil hadn't leapt in after him … I hate to think what might've happened."
"Will he be alright?"
"I don't know. We'll have to wait and see."
"What a disastrous birthday party! I so wanted it to go well. I'm starting to wish we'd never moved here. I guess things can't get any worse." Gemma paused and looked pleadingly into Sandra's eyes, "Can they?"

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