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Chapters (75)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. About the Author
  4. Title Page
  5. Intoroduction
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EITHT
  14. NINE
  15. TEN
  16. ELEVEN
  17. TWELVE
  18. THIRTEEN
  19. FOURTEEN
  20. FIFTEEN
  21. SIXTEEN
  22. SEVENTEEN
  23. EIGHTEEN
  24. NINETEEN
  25. TWENTY
  26. TWENTY-ONE
  27. TWENTY-TWO
  28. TWENTY-THREE
  29. TWENTY-FOUR
  30. TWENTY-FIVE
  31. TWENTY-SIX
  32. TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. TWENTY-NINE
  35. THIRTY
  36. THIRTY-ONE
  37. THIRTY-TWO
  38. THIRTY-THREE
  39. THIRTY-FOUR
  40. THIRTY-FIVE
  41. THIRTY-SIX
  42. THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. THIRTY-NINE
  45. FORTY
  46. FORTY-ONE
  47. FORTY-TWO
  48. FORTY-THREE
  49. FORTY-FOUR
  50. FORTY-FIVE
  51. FORTY-SIX
  52. FORTY-SEVEN
  53. FORTY-EIGHT
  54. FORTY-NINE
  55. FIFTY
  56. FIFTY-ONE
  57. FIFTY-TWO
  58. FIFTY-THREE
  59. FIFTY-FOUR
  60. FIFTY-FIVE
  61. FIFTY-SIX
  62. FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. FIFTY-NINE
  65. SIXTY
  66. SIXTY-ONE
  67. SIXTY-TWO
  68. SIXTY-THREE
  69. SIXTY-FOUR
  70. SIXTY-FIVE
  71. SIXTY-SIX
  72. SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  74. CLIMATE EMERGENCY
  75. Copyright

‘Anyway, it wasn’t,’ Jamie continues. ‘I get to her office and there’s this kid there I’ve never seen before. Amad, Ackmed, something like that. Syrian kid, Miss Amber said. And he’s there with his mum. Or she looks like his mum. Turns out this kid is starting here on Monday, and Amber wants me to be his buddy.’

I look at Jamie. I can’t work out whether he feels proud to be asked, or put out. Jamie’s the kind of guy who always gets asked to do things like this. He’s bright, well liked and good with people.

‘That’s alright though, right?’ I answer.

‘Yeah, I guess I can be his “buddy”…’ There’s something Jamie’s not saying. I feel like he’s asking my permission.

‘So what’s the problem.’

He sighs a bit before he answers. ‘You know Alan Almes, right?’

I nod. ‘Sort of. Haven’t spoken to him for years though.’

‘Sure. Well, there’s people saying that his brother,’ Jamie looks at me sideways at this point. ‘His brother and him have been doing pretty nasty stuff. Like, anti-Muslim stuff.’

I think I can tell where this is heading. The word he wants to say. To me.

‘It’s not that I think like that. Not at all. You know that, right? I’m not a racist.’

I nod, unsure if I want him to continue or not.

‘It’s just all over the place at the moment, isn’t it? That’s what you’re supposed to think. About “them” or whatever. I just don’t want people thinking I’m hanging out with a … terrorist.’

And there it is.

NINETEEN

NINETEEN

We don’t get many Muslims here. We don’t get much of anything here except more of the same, but of the things that we do get, Muslims are quite far down the list. There are two kids in our year whose parents are Polish, and one whose dad is Romanian. Maybe there’s a handful of non-white kids in the whole school. That’s about it for diversity.