The Piper 11

Rain always threatened.

No matter how the weeks had passed since they first began at St Agnes’s, the boys still waited for the inevitable to…inevitably happen.

Sharp pellets of rain shot down upon the knots of students scattered around the playground. With their backs turned against the weather and the world, they looked so much like penguins huddled against the storm.

For the weaker ones, the weather was the least of their worries. It was the gang members, wandering with impunity, who had to be avoided. Boredom and bravado meant that an attack could take place at any moment. Even in this time of odd peace, there was still some danger. The teachers, who were supposed to be on duty, were hidden away in doorways and recesses. Everyone knew who ran the school. A certain Joel Podrall stood at the heart of his lieutenants and accepted the homage they paid.