Over the Wall Read online

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Attending a conference called Getting Reluctant Readers Reading, Michael Panckridge skipped lunch to sit in the old commentary box at Victoria Park, where he was inspired to write stories for kids who were as keen on sports as he had been when growing up. Fifteen years on, Michael is the author of over 35 books, selling more than 250,000 copies. As well as sports books such as the Legends series, he also writes action-packed thrillers and suspenseful mysteries. When he’s not teaching or writing, Michael enjoys watching sport, reading, and running.

  Also by Michael Panckridge

  Chasing the Break

  Down the Line

  Against the Spin

  Clearing the Pack

  The Toby Jones series

  The League of Legends series

  The Clued Up series

  The Cursed

  The Vanishings

  The Immortal

  The Book of Gabrielle

  Be Bully Free

  Big Bash League Cricket series

  Thanks to Robyn and Tim and all the staff at Ford Street Publishing for their wonderful support and expertise as we work together to bring the Legends back to life – MP

  Published by Ford Street Publishing, an imprint of

  Hybrid Publishers, PO Box 52, Ormond VIC 3204

  Melbourne Victoria Australia

  © Michael Panckridge 2018

  2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1

  This publication is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the publisher. Requests and enquiries concerning reproduction should be addressed to

  Ford Street Publishing Pty Ltd

  162 Hoddle Street, Abbotsford, Vic 3067.

  Ford Street website: www.fordstreetpublishing.com

  First published in 2003 by BDB. This edition has been revised.

  Creator: Panckridge, Michael, 1962- author.

  Title: Over the wall / Michael Panckridge.

  eISBN: 9781925804126

  Target Audience: For primary school age. Subjects: Sports--Juvenile fiction.

  Children’s stories.

  Cover design and interior illustrations: Marita Seaton ©

  Interior design: Grant Gittus Graphics

  Editors: Robyn Donoghue & Tim Harris

  Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1 Searching for Bryce

  Chapter 2 Visitors

  Chapter 3 Fisk and Some Hoods

  Chapter 4 Jack

  Chapter 5 Shootout

  Chapter 6 Bryce the Explorer

  Chapter 7 A Tricky Phone Call

  Chapter 8 A Visit to Scornly

  Chapter 9 The First Test

  Chapter 10 Fisk Lends an Elbow

  Chapter 11 I Meet a Rat

  Chapter 12 The Legend of Soccer

  Chapter 13 A Mystery

  Soccer Match Scores and Ladders

  Legend of Soccer Results

  Legend of Sport Points Table - Boys

  Legend of Sport Points Table - Girls

  Soccer Quiz

  Quiz Answers

  Event Dates

  Surfing

  February

  Cricket

  March

  Tennis

  April

  Football/Netball

  June

  Soccer

  July

  Basketball

  August

  Athletics

  October

  Swimming

  November

  Scoring

  1st

  5 points

  2nd

  4 points

  3rd

  3 points

  4th

  2 points

  5th

  1 point

  Structure

  Each sport has a teacher in charge. Generally, there will be three types of testing to determine the Legend for each sport.

  The percentage for each session is approximate only. The teacher in charge will decide the final balance of scoring.

  A skills-based session

  30%

  A knowledge session

  20%

  A game session

  50%

  Practice

  All participants in a Legend event will have the opportunity to practise on Wednesday afternoons from 1:00 pm till 5:00 pm. During this time, Legend participants will be able to use the library. Sports staff and sports venues will also be available on request. It is the responsibility of the student to book venues, equipment and other materials. Normal sports training will continue for all students on the appropriate afternoons.

  The Legends Noticeboard

  The noticeboard outside the gym should be constantly checked for updates. It is the student’s responsibility to do this. The Teachers in Charge for the Legends of Soccer are Mr Zucker and Miss Lan.

  The Legends of Football and Netball have just finished. Mitchell Grady is still feeling the bruises from his last match against Wetherhood. After a weekend break between Legend sports, it’s time for the Legend of Soccer to begin.

  Having won the Legend of Football, Travis Fisk finds himself only two points behind Mitchell. Fisk always claimed he’d win the winter sports, and he dominated during the football competition. Soccer, he is boasting, will be no different. But Mitchell played soccer at his previous school and is quietly confident about his chances.

  It’s no longer just sport that has the attention of Mitchell and his friends. Has Bryce solved the mystery of the secret room in the Sandhurst school library? Has he found a way in? And if so, will he find a way out? What does Fisk know about the secret room?

  And what has happened to Jack Crossly? Jack helped Mitchell so much during his first months at Sandhurst. Mitchell considered Jack to be his closest friend, so his sudden disappearance from Sandhurst has been concerning . . .

  I still couldn’t quite believe what had happened last week after the Legend of Football presentations.

  A group of us had raced off to the library straight after the presentation assembly. We hadn’t heard a thing from Bryce, who had shoved his mobile phone into our hands moments before the end of lunch that day. Then he’d headed off to, we assumed, the library. Outside the hall there were parents, students and teachers milling about everywhere. There was a great-looking afternoon tea for everyone, with visitors and kids alike tucking in.

  We got to the library door just as Miss Javros was heading out, key in hand, about to lock up.

  ‘My goodness, you’re keen. It’s Friday afternoon, school’s over, there’s food galore downstairs, and you arrive on my doorstep,’ she said.

  ‘You’re right, Miss Javros. What was I thinking?’ Bubba said, glancing at the library exit. Bubba had appeared a bit anxious about leaving all that food behind.

  ‘Could we just make a little pile of soccer books to borrow?’ Luci asked. ‘You know how Travis always gets the best books out at the start of every Legend sport? We just didn’t want to miss out on the really great soccer books you’ve got, Miss Javros.’

  Miss Javros looked at Luci, then the rest of us, and smiled. ‘Against my better judgement, I’ll say “yes”. Leave your selections on the desk and I’ll process them first thing Monday morning. Only two each, mind. Leave a slip of paper with your name on each pile.’ She headed off, then turned around. ‘Becky,’ she said, ‘you are responsible for pulling the door shut. It should lock automatically. Five minutes only, okay?’

  ‘Got it, Miss Javros,’ Becky said.

  On her way, Miss Javros flicked the lights out. ‘Just in case you forget to.’

  Luci, Becky and I filed i
n.

  Bubba was still torn between the food downstairs and finding Bryce. ‘I think I’ve reached a turning point in my life,’ he explained, as he walked past me to the sports end of the library.

  I looked at him oddly.

  ‘I’ve relegated food to second place.’ Bubba shook his head slowly, not quite believing his own decision.

  We knew something was going on straight away. Miss Javros must have skipped checking this end of the library before she left. Perhaps she had just come back to lock up and get her books and stuff.

  It wasn’t messy so much as strange. The bottom shelf of the sports section was supposed to hold the boxes of school publications, with a separate box for each year going back to 1975. In each cardboard box were the school magazines, along with folders of notices and anything else that was special about that year. Students would often check them out for old Legend scores and results. Four of the boxes had been pulled out and stacked neatly to one side. All of the others up to the year 1991 were just lying in a pile on the floor, leaving half of the shelf bare.

  ‘Bryce!’ I whispered. No answer. ‘Bryce!’

  Nothing.

  ‘Why are those four over there stacked so neatly?’ Becky said, thinking aloud.

  ‘It’s probably something to do with those numbers on that piece of paper Miss Javros had, remember? The ones she found at the back of these shelves,’ Bubba said, kneeling in front of the bottom shelf and looking hard at the wood behind it.

  ‘The dates on the boxes and the numbers! Maybe you’re right, Bubba.’ Luci was excited. ‘What were the numbers? C’mon, can anyone remember?’

  ‘Luci, you’ve got to be kidding,’ I said.

  ‘No worries, Luci. Eight – seven – nine – one; I remembered that because, well, I dunno, I just remembered it, and, yeah –’ Bubba was looking embarrassed.

  ‘No, Bubbaman, go on. You’re doing brilliantly,’ said Luci.

  ‘I am? Okay. The next numbers were five – eight – nine – one.’

  ‘Yeah Bubba, keep going,’ I encouraged him.

  ‘Then two – nine – nine – one.’ We all looked over at Becky, who had crawled over to the four boxes stacked neatly by a large chair. It was Becky who had called out the last four numbers.

  ‘Hey, Beck.’ Now Bubba was looking impressed.

  They both recited the last one together. ‘Nine – nine – nine – one.’

  ‘Look, the numbers are the years on these four boxes, but backwards.’ Becky said. ‘I reckon Bryce realised this. That was his discovery. He’s pulled each of these boxes out and stacked them.’

  ‘And?’ Luci asked.

  ‘Quick, shove all the boxes back. In their correct order.’

  I looked around thinking someone was coming, but the library was quiet.

  We put all the boxes back.

  ‘Okay. Now, let’s take out each of the four boxes, just like Bryce would have done.’

  I bent down and tried to copy exactly what I thought Bryce had done. I pulled out the 1978 box, then the 1985 one, the 1992 one and finally the one from 1999.

  ‘Very neat,’ commented Luci. ‘Exactly seven years between each one.’

  ‘So, what would he have done now?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, I would have put my hand into the space to feel around and see if there was some sort of catch.’ The voice came from nowhere.

  We all jumped. Becky screamed.

  ‘So can you get on with it? Someone?’

  The voice was coming from behind the bookshelf.

  I was the first one to find my own voice.

  ‘Bryce?’

  ‘Of course!’

  ‘But, why didn’t you–?’

  ‘Never mind that now. Shove your hand in and feel around near the bottom of the first space. There’s a little bit that feels sort of looser than the rest. Pull it towards you.’

  Luci and Becky were muttering angrily, but Bubba put his head down and tried to locate the catch in the 1978 folder’s space, his nose almost to the ground in front of the shelves.

  A moment later there was a little click. To our absolute amazement, a wooden panel started to slide to the right.

  Just at that moment, the lights of the library switched on. Voices filtered down to us and got louder as they headed into the main part of the library.

  ‘Brycey!’ Bubba hissed into the ten-centimetre opening that had appeared.

  ‘Right here, Bubba. Now do the same–’

  ‘No, no. Guys, quick! Someone’s here.’

  I shoved the 1978 folder back into the shelf to block out the tiny window into Bryce’s secret room. In one smooth movement, three of us landed in a heap behind a long couch covered with cushions. A moment later, Bubba landed, too – right on top of us.

  ‘Of course, after the tragic fire of 1976, this facility became one of the features of the school,’ someone was saying.

  It sounded like Mrs Lee, the head librarian. She was probably showing some visitors around. I just prayed that Bryce realised.

  ‘Hey, Bubba?’ called Bryce.

  So much for my prayers! At least it wasn’t a shout, more of a loud whisper.

  Mrs Lee and the visitors must have been about halfway down the library, about seven or eight metres away. The four of us were huddled behind the couch, Bubba giggling, Becky horrified, and Luci looking really annoyed.

  For a moment, the room was silent. Then the voices drifted away. Maybe Mrs Lee had seen the mess and didn’t want to take the visitors any closer?

  I poked my head over the back of the couch in time to see the retreating figures of Mrs Lee and, believe it or not, Mr Fisk and another man walking towards the door. The lights went out again.

  We raced back to Bryce. The sliding panel had closed. Bubba reefed out the 1978 book and repeated his trick to release the catch. He did it again in the 1985 space, and the panel slid another half a metre or so to the right.

  Bryce squeezed himself out of the space where all the school-year folders should have been. We craned our necks to get a look, but the interior was dark. All I could make out was a wall to the left of the opening and shadows.

  The long panel started to close again. We replaced all the books and boxes in their correct spots as Bryce dusted himself down.

  We all began talking at once, but Bryce raised his hands.

  ‘Let’s get out of here first,’ he said.

  We grabbed a few soccer books, scrawled our names on some pieces of paper and left them in piles on the front desk.

  When we returned to the quadrangle there were still plenty of people, along with stacks of food. Bubba looked relieved.

  Bryce wanted to hear all about the assembly, and who had won the football and netball. Finally, we got him on to the subject of the secret panels.

  ‘You wouldn’t believe it,’ Bryce was saying. ‘It’s like another room in there. And I saw the most amazing thing. There was a–’

  ‘A what?’

  How was it that Fisk always managed to sneak up on us like this and interrupt us?

  ‘No, don’t stop, four-eyes. Tell us all about this amazing thing you saw.’

  Mazis and Paisley sniggered behind Fisk.

  We moved away, but Fisk grabbed my arm. I shook his hand off and spun round to face him. We eyeballed each other.

  ‘You know that soccer pitch opposite the Kent Street milk bar?’ he said to me. ‘I want you to know what you’re up against, okay? Just you and me, next Friday, after school. Straight after school.’ He turned and walked away.

  I searched for Bryce, but couldn’t see him anywhere. Another hand touched me, this time on the shoulder.

  ‘Come on son, time we left.’

  It was Dad. I waved to Luci and Becky and told them we’d catch up with Bryce on Monday.

  That had all happened last Friday.

  I hadn’t spoken to any of the others since then, because my family and I had spent the weekend out of town.

  I hung around the Legends noticeboard o
n Monday morning, but neither Bryce, Bubba, Luci nor Becky turned up to the board before school started.

  The soccer section of the noticeboard, the fifth panel, was surrounded by three-dimensional soccer ball diagrams. It already had a couple of notes up, giving the times and dates for the three soccer matches to be played against the other schools. They were the same schools as for football and netball: Ascot, Scornly and the Hoods. The noticeboard also had the date for the skills session, only a couple of weeks away, and for the knowledge test in the same week.

  At recess, I went up to the library to see if our books were ready. Becky and Luci were outside the entrance, each with a snack.

  ‘Bubba and Bryce are inside,’ said Luci. ‘We’ll be there in a tick.’

  Bryce and Bubba were down near the sports books, soccer being the featured sport, of course. Bryce was staring hard at the school year boxes, but plenty of kids were around so he wasn’t pulling any out this morning.

  ‘It was booby-trapped, Mitch,’ Bryce said, as I joined the two of them. I grabbed the first soccer book I saw and sat down next to them.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I asked.

  ‘The panels down there. A plank of wood fell on top of me as I rolled into the room. I think I must have been knocked out. The next thing I remember was you guys talking. I’d tried to open the panels up again, but couldn’t. Boy, was I glad to hear your voices.’

  Luci and Becky arrived while Bryce was talking. I kept looking around, expecting Fisk and his gang to show up out of nowhere. Then again, the library wasn’t exactly their all-time favourite spot at recess.

  ‘So, what was the amazing thing you saw?’ asked Luci.

  ‘A light.’

  ‘A light,’ repeated Bubba sarcastically.

  ‘Yes! Don’t you see? It means someone else has been in there. It was a dim sort of light, not bright, but off in the distance – away from where I was.’

  We were looking at him blankly.