“Come on guys, hurry up the pace,” said Chen who had dropped back to wait for the boys.
“Ah, Chen, decided to join the boys then. Girls talking about hair and nails,” said Ahmad jokingly.
“No, actually, they were talking about you,” he replied straight faced.
“What? What were they saying?” Ahmad looked worried.
“Only joking, as if they were talking about you!” teased Chen and everyone laughed.
“What’s so funny?” asked Lela as the boys caught up with them at the entrance to the restaurant.
“Nothing, just boy talk,” said Chen.
“OK. Let’s eat!”
As Lela walked away, Tom turned to Chen.
“How did you get away with that? I would have been grilled for hours as to what exactly boy’s talk meant,” said Tom.
“Natural charm, my friend. Although I have to admit, I’m used to dealing with my older sister.”
“What year is she in?” Tristan asked, instantly interested.
“She’s not here, she’s quite a bit older than me,” answered Chen.
“Well, let’s eat,” said Tristan losing interest as quickly as he had gained it.
The food was excellent, dispelling Tom’s concerns that they had put a show on for Sam Mitcham. They had managed to catch the breakfast menu which was the only self-service meal of the day and there was a choice of every conceivable breakfast from around the world. Despite this, Tom made his first complaint. He spoke to the restaurant manager and pointed out that in Scotland, potato scones were a breakfast staple and were far tastier than the anglicised hash brown. The restaurant manager apologised and asked for the recipe to ensure Tom would not be disappointed again. Tom offered to send an e-mail to his mother and forward the recipe.
As he walked back to his table of friends, they all laughed. He had only been out of his room for thirty minutes and was already making waves.
“Tom, you really are outrageous! As if there wasn’t enough to choose from,” said Lela embarrassed by what he had just done.
“Yes, but everybody else’s national breakfast is here. In fact, I should have made the case for square sausage,” he replied stubbornly.
“You’re unbelievable, trust you to spot the one thing they don’t do,” said Lela.
“Well actually, that’s two things they don’t do but I’ll leave the sausage for another day,” said Tom.
“Well guys, now you know why Tom’s motto is ‘If you don’t ask you don’t get’,” said Lela.
“Not quite, it’s ‘if you ask you get’. It’s not often that you don’t get what you ask for.”
“So what shall we do after breakfast?” asked Ahmad.
“We could take one of the golf carts and do a tour of the grounds?” said Chen.
“Are we allowed to drive them?” asked Mia.
“Yep.”
“Cool,” said Tristan. “Who wants a race?”
“Tristan, they only go at 15mph, we can run faster than that,” replied Chen.
“Sounds great to me,” said Lela.
As they made their way out of the restaurant, they bumped into Oleg who was waiting by the entrance, alone.
“Hi Oleg, we’re going for a tour of the grounds, do you want to come with us?” asked Tom.
“No, it’s OK thanks. I’ve got to wait here for my brother, Yuri, well my step-brother actually.”
“Are you sure? It should be fun.”
“No, I’d better wait. Yuri’s expecting to meet me here.”
“OK, we’ll catch you later then.”
They made their way around the corner to the carts. As they approached, there were only two carts left, it was obviously a popular idea. Oleg suddenly appeared from around the corner. Tom was delighted that he had changed his mind.
“Hi, Oleg, glad you changed your mind,” he shouted.
Before Oleg had a chance to respond, a large forearm pushed him aside.
“Leave those carts, they’re ours,” came a booming voice.
Tom and his friends had just reached the carts and were in the process of getting into them. There were four seats in each and room for only one more person.
“What do you mean, they’re yours,” Tom shouted back. “I don’t think so.”
Before they knew it, seven large boys surrounded them. Oleg was with them but hanging back, looking frightened and ashamed.
“Yuri, just leave them, they got to the carts first,” said Oleg weakly.
“What did you say?” Yuri hit his younger step-brother across the face with the back of his hand. “Don’t tell me what to do, you little runt. Now you lot, get the hell out of those carts before you get the same treatment.”
Oleg fell to the ground and crawled away from his step-brother. Lela jumped out of her cart and ran to check whether Oleg was alright.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” said Tom, enraged.
“Just get out of the carts so we won’t have to deal with the rest of you in the same way,” said one of the thugs accompanying Yuri. They were much larger than Tom’s group of friends and very intimidating.
Mingmei and Mia jumped out of one of the carts to join Lela, leaving one of the carts empty. Four of the thugs immediately jumped in. Chen, Tristan, Ahmad and Tom remained in the other cart and had no intention of moving.
Yuri and two thugs moved closer, surrounding the four younger students.
“Move! Now!” commanded Yuri.
“No way! This is our cart. We were here first,” said Chen.
“I’m really starting to lose my patience. Get out before you get hurt,” said Yuri.
“Guys, just give them it and let them be all macho and big,” said Lela who wanted the confrontation to end.
“Why should we?” said Tom.
“Come on Tom, Oleg is hurt, just give them the cart and let’s get Oleg checked out.”
“OK, let’s go. Let the animals have it,” said Tom to his friends.
Yuri and the two thugs barged onto the cart, pushing Chen to the ground. Chen jumped up to retaliate but was stopped by Ahmad who put a friendly arm across his body. The thugs laughed at the angry Chen.
“Don’t make me laugh little boy,” Yuri said to Chen as he pushed the accelerator and left the scene with his band of thugs.
As the carts departed, everyone rushed to Oleg’s side.
“Are you OK?”
“I’ve had worse. I’m just so sorry for the behaviour of my step-brother.” Oleg was truly mortified.
“How long has he been your step-brother?” asked Lela.
“Too long. About two years. My dad married Yuri’s mother and he came as a bonus. My father’s completely besotted by his mother and Yuri can do no wrong in her eyes. So, my life has become a nightmare.”
“Does he hit you often?”
“All the time,” said Oleg as he lifted his T-shirt to show his friends a collection of bruises, from dark purple to greenish yellow.
“Who are the thugs?”
“That’s his gang. They used to rule the roost at our old school in Moscow. All their parents are very rich and untouchable. Nobody dares mess with them, even the Headmaster. They could do anything they wanted and nobody could stop them. They even put a boy in hospital they beat him so badly.”
“That behaviour won’t be tolerated here,” said Mia.
“So what should we do?” asked Chen who had calmed down.
“We can speak to the Headmaster,” replied Lela. “He’ll have to act and their parents can’t help them here, whoever they are.”
“You must be joking, absolutely not! Yuri would kill me!”
“But without you explaining what happened, the Headmaster can’t do anything.”
