BooksBarbecue
Back The Library
Chapters (57)
  1. Cover
  2. THE LIBRARY
  3. Copyright
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. EPILOGUE
  54. Questions for your Book Club
  55. Acknowledgements
  56. About the Author
  57. Become an Aria Addict

Mr Thackery returned our history essays. ‘Eight, Farah, very good. Five, Joshua, needs a lot of work. Nine, Amy, excellent but expected…’ Amy preened herself as she took the essay back from Mr Thackery. ‘Eight, Tom, very good and unexpected.’ His voice was full of suspicion. I took the essay and glanced at Farah. I longed to be back sitting next to her. We had the same score. We were so compatible. We could have discussed our essays, shared what we needed to do to inch our scores up. I sighed at my lost opportunity.

‘Did you cheat?’ asked Amy, scowling hard at my essay.

‘No. Did you?’

She huffed a response and was so affronted she moved her desk a few centimetres away from mine.

At the end of class I gathered my things slowly. I was in no rush to get home. I’d spent half the lesson rehearsing a conversation with Farah just in case she too had noticed that we’d got matching scores and had spotted the enormous similarity. But when I looked across she had already left. I hauled my ripped bag into my arms as I could no longer carry it on my shoulder. This was a disaster. Dad was going to flip and he wasn’t going to pay for a new one this close to the end of term. He was the same with school uniforms, which was why I always looked like my clothes had shrunk in the wash.

Joshua and his mate Kyle Fletcher were loitering in the corridor. I ignored them and walked past.

‘Oi, Harris.’

Piss it. I paused but didn’t turn around. I didn’t expect the shove that sent me to the floor and my backpack contents spewing across the dusty lino.

‘Don’t you dare even look at Farah. You got that?’ Kemp snarled while Fletcher nodded like a car insurance dog. He bore an uncanny resemblance to the advert, which distracted me for a moment. ‘Got it?’ repeated Kemp. He kicked me and gave me a dead thigh.

‘Yeah. Got it,’ I said, rubbing my leg. ‘I didn’t know you and her were…’

‘They’re not,’ said Fletcher.

‘Shut up, Fletcher.’ Joshua turned his aggression on him. ‘We’ve virtually hooked up.’

The laugh that came was involuntary. I doubted I was on Farah’s radar but the thought that she would be attracted to this thug was laughable.

‘You got something to say, Harris?’

‘No. Bit of a cough coming I think,’ I said, rubbing my throat for effect before gathering up my well-distributed bag contents.

Kemp loomed over me and I covered my groin.

‘Kemp, Fletcher and Harris. Don’t you have homes to go to?’ called Mr Thackery from the other end of the corridor. My groin was spared for another day.

10

MAGGIE