Year 10 At Tibcot - A Mel, Tab, Mewla & Cathy story

Chapter Twenty-Seven


  The days of our Geography presentations soon came round. Because we didn't have any double Geography sessions, the presentations were to take place over the space of two lessons, one on the Wednesday, last lesson, and one on the Friday, before lunch.
  As the days grew closer, Cathy suddenly began to get very serious about getting our work done, and got very cross with Mewbellinne when she started whining that because she was new she shouldn't have to be included in it and that she still didn't know enough.
  "Well what have you been doing with those books we gave you?" Cathy had said angrily on the Monday, when we were using our last lesson to make sure we had everything ready and that all our work and posters looked good. We had got on pretty well with ours actually, we had a huge poster of the Mindanao area, a kind of cross-section, showing the islands, the ocean, the sea bed, and all the different depths of the ocean trenches. Cathy had even made little palm trees to stick on the islands. When she gets into a project she goes all out to make it amazing.
  Mewbellinne had muttered something about not having time to read them with all the other work she had to do, but Cathy just made a rude huffing noise and carried on with her work.
  "Well it'll be you that gets the bad mark, not us." Cathy said. "We get individual marks as well as group ones, and no-one's going to excuse you for being new any more, you've been here long enough for that excuse not to work now."
  Cathy and Mr Mewan were still sneaking around to see each other, and this was still causing much hilarity amongst all of us that knew. The next thing that happened surprised us even more, and it happened at lunchtime on the Monday. Tab disappeared after we finished Art and we headed off to have lunch.
  "Where's she gone off to?" Mewla wondered as we made our way to the picnic tables.
  "Toilet, maybe?" I said. "Although it's unlike her not to say. We could all have gone and brushed our hair and stuff."
  Time went on. We all sat and ate our lunch and still she didn't show up. Mewla tried ringing her mobile but there was no answer. After we finished lunch, we popped to the toilets, then decided to stroll down to the field and watch the boys playing football.
  As soon as we got down to the field, Tom came rushing over to us and grabbed Cathy's paws.
  "Cath - guess what!" he grinned.
  Cathy, looking rather taken-aback, looked at us and then back at Tom.
  "What?"
  "We saw Mewfal getting off with Tab! Ha ha ha!"
  "What?" I said. "Tab? Getting off with Mewfal?"
  "Hilarious isn't it!" Tom laughed.
  "Ahh, I think it's sweet!" Mewla laughed. "So that's where she's been all lunchtime!"
  "Wonder how long this has been going on!" Cathy said. "She's kept that a secret!"
  "There she is." I pointed, as Tab and Mewfal came walking over the field together.
  "Whoooo - and where've you two been then, as if we didn't know!" Cathy yelled across the field. All the boys stopped kicking the ball around and looked over at Tab and Mewfal, both of whom were blushing at all the attention.
  "What's the big fuss about?" Tab said.
  "You two can't vanish all lunch and come back red in the face and then ask what the fuss is about!" Mewla laughed. "Anyway - Tom's already said he saw you two getting off with each other!"
  "Oh, what?" Mewfal laughed. "There's no privacy anywhere round here!"
  "Oh, come on mate, you should know that!" Tom laughed, slapping Mewfal on the shoulder. "Anywhere near where we're playing footie and you've got no chance of any privacy!"
  Tab came over to us.
  "How long's this been going on?" I asked, grinning.
  "Not long really." Tab shrugged and smiled. "We've just sort-of been getting to know each other and we've got on so well lately, and this has just sort-of happened."
  "You and Mewfal eh - who'd have thought it?" grinned Mewla. "Wonder what Purbelle will say?"
  "She'll be very protective of her brother and tell him that Tab's a bad influence on him!" Cathy grinned. Tab punched her lightly, laughing.
  So that was the whole Tab-Mewfal thing. None of us had even noticed that Tab and Mewfal had been getting on well over the past few weeks; Tab always seemed to spend all of her time with us. She said she had been spending bits of time with him here and there, and that she had popped over to his and Purbelle's house a couple of evenings a week.
  Cathy was nagging us constantly to try and think of places that she and Mr Mewan could meet up in secret outside of school. None of us could think of anywhere at all where it would be safe for them to meet, as there is always someone from school hanging round somewhere in our town.
  "You're not even safe in the park at night." I had said, with a sneaky glance over at Tab. "I've heard Tab and Mewfal go there for midnight goings-on."
  "Oh shut your face!" Tab had laughed and thumped me.


TO BE CONTINUED......