Then Ruth said: "He doesn't suspect a thing. Look at him. He really doesn't suspect a thing." When she said this, I looked at her and searched michael kors shoes for signs of disapproval about what the boys were going to do to Tommy. But the next second Ruth gave a little laugh and said: "The idiot!" And I realised that michael kors outlet for Ruth and the others, whatever the boys chose to do was pretty remote from us; whether we approved or not didn't come into it. We were gathered around the michael kors handbags windows at that moment not because we relished the prospect of seeing Tommy get humiliated yet again, but just because we'd heard about this latest plot and were vaguely curious michael kors bags to watch it unfold. In those days, I don't think what the boys did amongst themselves went much deeper than that. For Ruth, for the others, it was that detached, michael kors shoes and the chances are that's how it was for me too. Or maybe I'm remembering it wrong. Maybe even then, when I saw Tommy rushing about that field, undisguised delight on michael kors shoes his face to be accepted back in the fold again, about to play the game at which he so excelled, maybe I did feel a little stab of pain. What michael kors shoes I do remember is that I noticed Tommy was wearing the light blue polo shirt he'd got in the Sales the previous month--the one he was so proud of. I michael kors outlet remember thinking: "He's really stupid, playing football in that. It'll get ruined, then how's he going to feel?" Out loud, I said, to no one in particular: "Tommy's got his michael kors handbags shirt on. His favourite polo shirt." I don't think anyone heard me, because they were all laughing at Laura--the big clown in our group--mimicking one after the other the expressions that michael kors shoes appeared on Tommy's face as he ran, waved, called, tackled. The other boys were all moving around the field in that deliberately languorous way they have when they're warming up, michael kors bags but Tommy, in his excitement, seemed already to be going full pelt. I said, louder this time: "He's going to be so sick if he ruins that shirt." This time discount michael kors Ruth heard me, but she must have thought I'd meant it as some kind of joke, because she laughed half-heartedly, then made some quip of her own. Then the boys had discount michael kors stopped kicking the ball about, and were standing in a pack in the mud, their chests gently rising and falling as they waited for the team picking to start. The michael kors handbags two captains who emerged were from Senior 3, though everyone knew Tommy was a better player than any of that year. They tossed for first pick, then the one who'd michael kors bags won stared at the group. "Look at him," someone behind me said. "He's completely convinced he's going to be first pick. Just look at him!" There was something comical about Tommy at michael kors shoes that moment, something that made you think, well, yes, if he's going to be that daft, he deserves what's coming. The other boys were all pretending to ignore the picking michael kors outlet process, pretending they didn't care where they came in the order. Some were talking quietly to each other, some re-tying their laces, others just staring down at their feet as michael kors shoes they trammelled the mud. But Tommy was looking eagerly at the Senior 3 boy, as though his name had already been called. Laura kept up her performance all through the team-picking, michael kors outlet doing all the different expressions that went across Tommy's face: the bright eager one at the start; the puzzled concern when four picks had gone by and he still hadn't michael kors bags been chosen; the hurt and panic as it began to dawn on him what was really going on. I didn't keep glancing round at Laura, though, because I was watching discount michael kors Tommy; I only knew what she was doing because the others kept laughing and egging her on. Then when Tommy was left standing alone, and the boys all began sniggering, michael kors outlet I heard Ruth say: "It's coming. Hold it. Seven seconds. Seven, six, five..." She never got there. Tommy burst into thunderous bellowing, and the boys, now laughing openly, started to run michael kors shoes off towards the South Playing Field. Tommy took a few strides after them--it was hard to say whether his instinct was to give angry chase or if he was panicked michael kors outlet at being left behind. In any case he soon stopped and stood there, glaring after them, his face scarlet. Then he began to scream and shout, a nonsensical jumble of michael kors bags swear words and insults. We'd all seen plenty of Tommy's tantrums by then, so we came down off our stools and spread ourselves around the room. We tried to start up michael kors shoes a conversation about something else, but there was Tommy going on and on in the background, and although at first we just rolled our eyes and tried to ignore it, michael kors bags in the end--probably a full ten minutes after we'd first moved away--we were back up at the windows again. The other boys were now completely out of view, and Tommy was michael kors bags no longer trying to direct his comments in any particular direction. He was just raving, flinging his limbs about, at the sky, at the wind, at the nearest fence post. michael kors bags Laura said he was maybe "rehearsing his Shakespeare."