Chapters (75)
- Cover
- Praise
- About the Author
- Title Page
- Intoroduction
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EITHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- CLIMATE EMERGENCY
- Copyright
‘I want to walk you through the things I’m thinking, Josh. Stop me at any point. You get dragged off with a group of guys who are known thugs – violent, racist ones – and then you don’t come back to school. No one’s heard anything from you, even Dana.’
‘You spoke to her?’
‘Yeah. I’m worried. And what’s that bandage on your hand? What happened? Did you fight back?’
‘No. They didn’t do that. Christmas pudding accident.’
‘And then, on the same Monday you don’t come to school, there’s a story in the Gazette about a Refugee Support shop getting vandalised. And a picture of a hammer in the window covered in a lot of blood. And I can’t help thinking that…’
Perhaps Jamie stops as he sees the tears in my eyes.
‘You’re joking, right? So, your hand… That was—’
‘They made me. I didn’t want to.’
‘Does it make a difference?’
I think for a while, before replying, ‘It has to.’
‘I’m not sure I know what that means. So are you a racist or not?’
‘No.’ I say, emphatically.
‘Oh. So you’re just doing racist things. With racists.’
‘No. I… There’s something that’s going to happen. Something—’
‘What?’
‘Something bad. Really bad if it all happens how they want it to and—’
‘And what? You’re going to bring it down from the inside?’
‘I … well…’
‘Come on Josh, who do you think you are? Some kind of MI5 trained super-kid with gadgets and a fucking walkie-talkie? If you know something you need to tell someone, people, police people, quickly. We don’t live in some film world where kids get to save the day all the time and walk away wiping the dust off their hands while the baddies get put in jail.’
‘I know, but—’
‘No, Josh. It’s dangerous. Really fucking dangerous.’ He leans over the table. ‘These people you’re hanging around with are really. Fucking. Dangerous.’
‘How would you know?’ I sound angrier than I meant to, again.
‘Ahmed’s been—’
‘Ahmed! Having one friend who happens to be Muslim doesn’t make you some kind of ambassador, Jamie. You don’t have to wear him like a badge!’
Jamie ignores me, shuts his eyes and carries on. ‘Ahmed’s been showing me some stuff online about these patriotic groups. It’s the White Lions around here, right? That’s Carl’s outfit?’
I’m startled for a second. ‘Yeah. How did you…’