'Come in,' Mr. Benson said and in came Simon.
Brendan's heart skipped in excitement. It actually leapt for three reasons: One; Simon was still on his side, two; the action was about to happen, and three; what would be the repercussions to this daring act of retribution?
Trying to avoid suspicion, Brendan slightly moved his desk from Angus and Thomas, at least about eleven inches from them. Simon was now talking to Mr. Benson.
Did he maybe want to sell him out? Brendan abandoned this thought immediately. He knew his friend too well to have him stab him in the back. Brendan removed his backpack from his desk and placed it on his lap. He could feel the snake wriggling, fighting to escape.
Suddenly, Simon started gasping for breath like he was drowning. 'I…need…' he kept repeating these words over and over again.
'What do you need, boy?' Mr. Benson had stood up trying to find out what Simon was trying to say.
Simon kept gasping for breath and as he did so, he threw a surreptitious glance which Brendan quickly recognized as his "well?" look. He also realized that Simon had managed to capture the attention of the whole class, including Thomas' and Angus! He now knew that this was his moment to act. He reached over and silently opened Thomas' desk and stuck a quarter of his now slightly unzipped backpack inside and the snake swooshed in, silently, like a hand running down silk. Whilst this was happening, Brendan's heart was beating rapidly in panic and his eyes were alert. Luckily, no one saw him because they were all hypnotized by Simon's charade.
As soon as the whole snake had entered, he silently closed Thomas' desk and then his backpack.
'I…need…' Simon kept gasping.
'What do you need?!' Mr. Benson was now shouting, desperately trying to get an answer out of him.
Simon pointed at Brendan, still gasping. 'My…medication… from…Brendan,' he breathed it out finally.
Brendan stood up and rushed over to Simon, fumbling into his pockets for pills that he did not have. He pretended to hand over some pills to him and Simon pretended to swallow them then he winked at him. As this happened they had made sure to keep this from the view of the class, their backs turned.
'Thank you, sir,' said Simon, his mission now complete. 'I should go now.' He left the classroom without further delay.
Brendan walked over to his desk and sat down.
'What a scene,' Mr. Benson said looking baffled. 'What does your friend suffer from, Brendan?' He asked him.
'It's uh…its…liver furtosis,' he lied.
'Liver furtosis? I've never heard of that one before.' Mr. Benson's face was now suspicion.
'That's because it's one of the rarest diseases of the liver,' he defended his lie.
Mr. Benson shrugged. 'Sounds serious.' The whole class was just as bemused as Mr. Benson.
Just then, the bell for recess rang and people started moving out. Brendan put his hand in his desk just as Thomas put in his. A rancorous grin was stretched across Brendan's face.
'Ouch!' Thomas screamed. The snake had bitten him on his index finger. 'Ooh!' It bit him again, this time on his upper lip. The snake attempted a third strike, this time for his eye but he caught it by the throat and he started strangling it with both hands, his eyes intense with hate for the serpent. He threw it on the floor and crushed its skull with the heel of his shoe.
Meanwhile, Brendan was pacing away through the corridor towards the cafeteria, his heart beating even faster now. It was almost as if he could hear his heartbeat. He had to get to Simon.
Most people were attending to Thomas.
'Are you hurt, Thomas?' Mrs. Cooke had come in having heard the scream he had made and also having noticed the people rushing to his aid.
'I'm okay,' said Thomas, shrugging off the attack and wiping his lips with the back of his hand. 'It was just a python. The fool who did this obviously couldn't tell.'
'I thought pythons had been hunted to extinction in this city and…who could have tried to hurt you, Thom?' Natasha Andrews asked looking perplexed.
'I don't know but I do have a suspect,' he answered staring hard at Brendan's desk, his face filled with frustration.