Free Spurt by Chris Miles Page B

first girl lowered her cup and held Jack’s gaze. ‘The username “ModLSkillz” belongs to … someone at this school,’ she said.
    Jack felt suddenly nervous.
    ‘The person who has this username … is someone you know,’ said the second girl.
    ‘No way,’ whispered Jack.
    The third girl nodded. ‘The person with the username “ModLSkillz” is … Oliver Sampson.’
    Jack nodded dumbly, processing the information. He wasn’t completely shocked. In fact, now that he thought about it, he wasn’t shocked at all. Sampson had basically gone from teasing Jack in the changing rooms to teasing him online. But it still didn’t make sense that Sampson would have made an account on the Bigwigs forum two years ago.
    ‘There’s something else,’ said the first girl.
    Jack looked up. ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘Something else about Sampson,’ said the second girl.
    As the other two girls sucked on their smoothies and traded conspiratorial glances, the third girl fixed Jack with her most serious and most beady stare.
    ‘Something you definitely, definitely need to know.’

    The bell rang for lunch. Jack thought about grabbing some hot chips or a pie from the canteen, but then he remembered something about revenge being a dish best served cold, and got a ham and salad roll instead.
    He headed for the quadrangle and found the others already at the table. Sampson was there too. For once, Jack was actually pleased to see him.
    Vivi and Darylyn looked on as Reese jammed his earbuds into a protesting Sampson’s ears. At first Sampson pulled a ‘What the – ?’ face. But after a few moments of having his ears invaded by rocksteady Martian doo-wop or whatever other weirdness Reese had queued up for him, Sampson’s face lit up with a ‘My life is changed!’ glow.
    Vivi looked up as Jack approached. ‘So did you decide already? Because I really don’t want to be sitting next to you for the next double if you’re going to be as spaced out as you were this morning.’ She turned to the others. ‘Mr Jacobs had to call his name out three times in home room.’
    Jack nodded and looked at Sampson, who handed the earbuds back to Reese. ‘Actually, yeah. I have decided.’ He imagined Sampson at his keyboard, hammering out insults about Jack and sending his bitterness out into the world for everyone to see. Because it all made sense now.
    Jack shrugged. ‘It’s a no-brainer, really.’
    Reese wound the earbuds back around his MP3 player. ‘I told you, dude. It’s the right call.’
    ‘Agreed,’ said Vivi. She poked Jack in the arm. ‘Obviously I should be the centre of attention right now that I’m officially in the running for Mayor –’
    ‘I’m doing it,’ said Jack.
    Reese nearly dropped his MP3 player. A flicker of shock passed across Vivi’s face. Darylyn raised an eyebrow.
    ‘I genuinely did not expect that,’ she said.
    But there was only one reaction Jack cared about. He kept his eyes fixed on Sampson.
    Oliver Sampson. Applicant for Bigwigs season two.
    Application rejected .
    It was almost too good to be true. But the Year 7 girls had solid sources: they knew people who knew people who had older cousins who’d done work experience in the Bigwigs production office. Somehow, they’d traced the ‘ModLSkillz’ tag to an application from Oliver Sampson. And for whatever reason, Sampson had been rejected. Jack didn’t care why. All he knew was that he had the upper hand for once.
    Sampson went quiet for a moment. ‘You’re going to be on Bigwigs again?’ he said, finally.
    ‘It’s a reunion special,’ said Jack. ‘Me and the other past contestants. It’s weird, you know – in some ways, you never really stop being a Bigwig. It probably seems weird to someone who’s never actually been a Bigwig themselves –’
    ‘Well, it’s pretty brave of you,’ Sampson butted in.
    Everyone turned to look at him.
    ‘Brave?’ said Jack, frowning. ‘Why?’
    ‘I mean, it’s not like you’ve actually