Mum smiles. ‘I’m glad,’ she says. ‘Working on the raft has done you the world of good. Did I tell you me and Dad are proud?’
‘Yep.’
‘Ah well, doesn’t hurt to say some things twice.’ She reaches out to touch me, but then realises she’s got a pair of Lizzie’s knickers in her hand.
I pull a weird face. Mum laughs.
I step outside and follow the path round the side of the house.
‘Yes!’ Lizzie shouts. ‘I knew you would.’
I stop at the edge of the grass. I’ve been going out all week: maybe I can do this.
‘Come on,’ says Lizzie. ‘You can help me flip.’
I look at the grass.
Rats, squirrels, birds, cats. Rats, squirrels, birds, cats.
Nope.
I stay at the edge of the patio and watch Lizzie bounce.
Dan: Nightmare!
I’m back at the STC. I’m running through a corridor, pushing open doors, looking for Ben. He wasn’t in the Visitors’ Room and he wasn’t in the toilets. I push open a door marked Interview Room. He’s not in there either. I run back out into the corridor, through two doors, into another corridor that looks exactly the same as the one I just came from. Visitors’ Room, Toilets, Interview Room. I check them all again. Still I can’t find Ben. He must be in his room, but where is his room?
More doors, another corridor, Visitors’ Room, Toilets, Interview Room. All of them empty. I’m running round in circles. I stop and lean my back against the wall. Ben, where are you? Just shout so I can hear. Guards’ voices echo down the corridor.
‘Keep looking!’
‘He can’t have got far.’
‘In here! In here!’
I see Mike Ashton’s face through the window in the door. He pushes the door open and runs down the corridor, followed by two guards.
‘I don’t know where he is!’ I shout. ‘And I wouldn’t tell you if I did!’
‘Got him,’ shouts Mike Ashton. ‘Quick, Grab his arm.’
‘No,’ I shout and try to wriggle free. ‘What are you doing? I’m just visiting my brother. What have you done with him?’
Mike Ashton puts his face up close to mine.
‘You said you wanted to swap with him.’
‘I didn’t. I didn’t say it out loud.’
‘Too bad,’ says Mike Ashton. ‘You’re stuck in here now.’
‘No!’
I sit up on my bed. It’s soaked with sweat and so am I. I look around me. All the corridors and rooms have gone and so have the guards. I put my hand on my chest and catch my breath. All I can hear is my heart and the squeak of Rex as he runs around on his wheel.
I don’t want to swap places with Ben. I just wish we were both here.
Alex: Waiting for Dan
‘Drive safe.’
‘Okay, drive safe, now off you go.’
I wave to Dad, then walk towards the cave. I wonder if Dan has thought of a way to stop Sophie and the Georges from picking on me. I’ve been thinking of ways too, but all the things I’ve thought of end up the same way: Sophie and the Georges picking on me, and Dan joining in again.
I walk past the pier, then the aquarium and big wheel. The sky is grey and the sea is greyer and it’s so early that no one is on the beach yet and the shutters are up on Mr Kendall’s kiosk and his ice-cream boards have been blown over by the wind. I look along the seafront. I can see the cave, but I can’t see any sign of Dan’s bike. I look at my watch. It’s 9.30. It’s the earliest I’ve been, but Dan says he’s always here by nine.
I keep walking. Dan said he’s never been late. Maybe he’s had such a great time with his brother that him and his mum have stayed in Milton Keynes so they could see him again today. He’s probably been so busy that he hasn’t even thought about what to do at school on Monday. But we’ve only got two days left if he really meant it about taking Shooting Star out for a trial. There’s no way he would want to be late for that.
I look back towards the Observation Tower to see if he’s cycling along the seafront, but the only people I see are two joggers and a man out walking his dog.
An ambulance light flashes along the seafront.
He’s had an accident. A bus has knocked him off his bike. He’s in the back of the ambulance going to hospital now.
He hasn’t had an accident. He—
My heart slows down as I see Dan swerve out from behind the two runners and head towards me. I never thought I’d feel so pleased to see him.
Dan gets off his bike and half smiles at me.
‘Sorry I’m late,’ he says quietly. ‘My tyre was flat. I had to wait for Dad to fit a new tube.’
‘No worries,’ I lie.
He half smiles at me again as he lays his bike on the ground. I want to ask him about Ben and about the trial run and what we’re going to do on Monday, but I don’t know which to ask first. He unlocks the cave door and turns on the light, then we pull the tarpaulin off Shooting Star. Two weeks ago she was just four planks of wood, now all the planks are joined and the bottles are fixed on. All we have to do is fit the buoys and she’s ready to go.
‘She looks great,’ I say.
‘Yeah.’ Dan rolls the tarpaulin up and throws it in the corner. He doesn’t look like he’s thinking about Shooting Star: he didn’t even look at her. He sits down on his bucket and starts scrubbing the buoy again. If he scrubs it any more, we’re going to shine out like a beacon. I hate it when it’s this quiet. We’ve been talking a lot more the past few days but now it’s as if all the air has gone out of him like it did from his tyre. It’s like he’s mad at me for doing something wrong, but I haven’t done anything. I’ve not even seen him. Something must have happened when he went to see Ben.
‘Did you have a good day yesterday?’ I ask cautiously.
‘Yeah.’ Dan keeps scrubbing.
‘How was Ben …? Did you get to play Call of Duty with him?’
‘Yeah.’ Dan looks up. ‘We played it all morning. Then we went to the canteen and then we played football all afternoon.’
‘Brilliant,’ I say. ‘Did you get to see Five X too?’
‘Yeah, he’s really funny. But he’s rubbish at FIFA.’
I smile. ‘I’m glad you had a good time.’
‘I did … I did.’ He looks down at the buoy.
I’m not sure he did.
Dan: I didn’t lie – I just didn’t tell the truth
I look down at the buoy for so long that my eyes go blurry. I don’t want to blink because if I do my tears will fall. I can’t cry. Not in front of Shark Face.
‘Are you thinking about Ben?’
‘Yeah.’ I look up and see a concerned frown on Shark Face’s face.
I take a deep breath. I’m used to people talking at me, not being interested in me. Every time Mum and Dad ask questions it always turns into an argument so I don’t bother talking, and Mr Francis is a teacher which makes it hard to talk. I swallow a lump in my throat.
‘I think about him all the time,’ I say. ‘When we’re here. When I look out of the window at school.’
‘I thought that was because you were bored.’
‘That too.’ I laugh and a tear escapes down my cheek. Shark Face looks at Shooting Star like he’s pretending he didn’t see. Ever since I went to see Ben, my chest feels like it’s going to burst open. It was like that as soon as I sat in the car with Mum to go home. I didn’t tell her, but I looked out of the window so she couldn’t see how upset I was. Mum didn’t talk much either and when we got home I don’t know what she said to Dad because I went straight upstairs to my room. I kept thinking that if Ben was that scared when we were there, how scared must he be when he’s on his own?
I turn and look at Shark Face. He’s waiting for me to say something but I’ve not told anyone about how I feel since Ben went. I’ve not even told anyone what he did. I want to tell someone now, but my throat is aching so much that the words won’t come out. All I can think of are the blue lights
flashing outside our house when the police came for Ben that night. And the neighbours looking out of their windows. I thought everything was going to be okay, that the police were just telling Ben off in the sitting room. But then I heard the door click open, then the front door opened too. I looked out of my bedroom window and watched Ben walk up the drive between the two policemen. I wanted him to turn round and tell me everything was okay, a joke, but he just kept walking, head turned to the ground. Then they put him in the back of one of the cars and it drove away. That’s when mum came in, crying, and gave me a hug.
‘You don’t have to tell me,’ says Shark Face—
‘He was in a car,’ I blurt out. ‘He stole a car with some friends late one night and they crashed it into an off-licence. Then he jumped out and went into the shop and stole loads of beer and cigarettes.’ I stop talking because the blue lights are flashing in my head again now. But I have to keep going. I have to get the words out. ‘Ben says he’s really sorry, but it wasn’t his fault. He wasn’t the one driving. It wasn’t him that ran the girl over.’
Shark Face is so quiet I can’t tell if he’s still here.
‘Is she … is she dead?’ he asks softly, like he’s scared to hear the answer.
I shake my head. ‘No. Broken legs and an arm. The others ran off, but Ben stayed with her and called an ambulance.’
I stop talking and puff out my cheeks. I’ve replayed it in my head so many times, it’s almost like I was there, in the car.
I look up at Shark Face. I feel tired and empty inside. I’ve told him everything except how much I miss my brother, but I think he knows that. If he wanted to, he could go back to school on Monday and tell Sophie and the Georges what happened, that he’d seen me cry. But he just smiles at me.
‘I’d miss my brother if I had one,’ he says.
‘You’ve got a sister.’
‘Yes, but who would miss her?’
We both laugh. I wipe my tears on my sleeve.
‘Why are you being so kind?’ I say. ‘After all I’ve done to you?’
Shark Face shrugs. ‘Don’t know, just am.’
‘If I was you, I’d want to hit me.’
‘I’d lose.’
‘Wait!’ I stand up. ‘That’s it!’
‘That’s what?’
‘When we go back to school. You’ve got to hit me.’
‘What?’
‘We’ve got to have a fight.’
‘How will that work?’
‘It’ll be easy.’ A minute ago I was crying, now I can’t stop myself smiling and I’ve got goosebumps. It’s an amazing idea. I walk over to Shark Face. ‘We have to have a fight in front of Sophie and the Georges. You just have to smack me right here.’ I point to my right cheek. ‘Go on, practise.’
‘What, now?’
‘Yeah.’
‘But you’ll hit me back if I do it at school!’
‘I won’t,’ I say, ‘… well, not hard.’
‘See, you will.’
I laugh. ‘Well, I can’t let you win. The idea is that it’s a draw. That way Sophie and the Georges will think you’re cool for standing up to me.’
‘But what if I hit you and you fall down and crack your head open on the floor?’
‘What?’
‘And the ambulance comes and it goes so fast to save your life that it crashes on the way to hospital?’
‘Shark Face, you worry too much!’
‘I know.’
I shake my head slowly and smile. ‘Ok,’ I say suddenly. ‘Now put your hands up.’
‘I can’t now.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because.’
‘But you’ll do it on Monday?’
‘I’ll think about it,’ says Shark Face.
I throw two punches and pretend he’s hit me back. ‘Pow! Ow, that was really hard, Shark Face,’ I say.
‘You’re mad,’ he says.
‘Is that a yes!?’
Shark Face holds his arms out by his side.
‘I give up!’
We both laugh.
Alex: Noah’s Ark
It’s Saturday morning and me and Dan are walking along the seafront on our way to get some wood for the paddles and a mascot. Dan’s dancing around in front of me, pretending to throw punches – ‘Pow, pow. Pow, pow’ – but I’m too busy watching the pavement and sky to throw any back. He says he was practising in his bedroom last night and that I should be too. But there’s no point practising anyway because his plan will never work. Sophie and the Georges would never believe that I’d have the courage to hit Dan. And I’m not sure I’m brave enough either. Dan doesn’t seem to be worried about it. He just keeps bobbing and weaving in front of me and I do find it funny, but I wish he’d stop calling me Shark Face now. Shark Face. It only takes a second for him to say but it hurts me for ages. I want to tell him to stop but don’t know how.
Dan stops and presses the button on the crossing. I don’t know where we’re headed, only that we’re going to get the oars and the mascot and I have to follow him. When the lights turn red, we run across the road, then I follow Dan past the chip shop, through a car park, then down a narrow street.
At the end of the street Dan stops and puts his finger to his lips. ‘We need to be quiet.’ He checks behind us, and then we walk down the side of a fence. Through the gaps in the posts I can see a big grey warehouse.
‘This is where I came with Ben to get the base planks,’ he whispers.
This doesn’t feel right.
‘We can’t go down there,’ I say.
‘Why not?’
Dog poo. Mud. Weeds growing along the fence where people go to the toilet.
‘It stinks.’
‘Come on!’
I tuck my arms in so my elbows don’t touch the fence and put one foot directly in front of the other so my feet don’t touch the weeds or anything else.
‘You look like you’re walking a tightrope at the circus.’ Dan laughs at me. I can’t tell if he’s teasing me or not, but that’s what I feel like. Any minute now I’m going to wobble and fall off into the sawdust, and the clowns will come into the ring and carry me away. I try to take a deep breath and concentrate. Dan stops at a gap in the fence.
‘Look,’ he whispers. ‘Through there.’
I look through the gap. On the other side there’s a yard full of yellow skips and the skips are full of wood.
Dan puts his head close to mine and points at two men in blue overalls standing talking by the warehouse doors. ‘They make cabinets and things,’ he whispers. ‘And they store all the stuff for the carnival too. Wooden pirates and animals.’
‘I’m not going in there.’
‘You’ve got to.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I don’t want to do it on my own.’
‘That’s not a reason,’ I say.
‘It’s the only one I can think of.’ Dan smiles. ‘Come on, it’ll be fun.’
I know we’re about to do a bad thing, but I like that Dan wants me to go with him and I don’t want him to be upset like he was yesterday.
I look through the fence again. The men are still talking and inside the warehouse there’s three pirates leaning against a wall and beside them there’s two elephants and two giraffes and further back in the warehouse I can make out a cut-out of Noah’s Ark.
‘When they’re not looking, we’ll take the wood and then grab a pirate. Okay?’
I nod, even though I shouldn’t.
A truck drives into the yard and stops. The two men walk over to it and start talking to the driver.
‘Come on …’
I can’t do it. It might be exciting but stealing is wrong. I’ve never stolen anything. Apart from when me and Elliott picked up two Batman comics by mistake from W.H. Smith.
‘No.’
Dan opens his eyes wide. ‘You want to go on Shooting Star, don’t you?’
‘Am I going on her?’
‘Course you are. I told yo
u ages ago.’
‘You didn’t.’
Dan shrugs. ‘Well, I just did. Now are you coming or not?’
He turns sideways and squeezes through the gap. There’s no way he told me. I’d have remembered something as exciting as that. I want to celebrate that I’m going on Shooting Star but all I can think is:
Fence-dirt-germs. Stealing-theft-crime.
I’m going on Shooting Star! I’m going on Shooting Star!
Dan holds the fence open for me. I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I’m smiling so much after what he just said that I don’t care. I feel like shouting out ‘THANKS!’ as I watch him scamper across the yard. He stops behind a yellow skip, then beckons me to follow. My grin must be as wide as my head.
Dan beckons again. I check the men are still talking. I’m so excited I feel like I’m going to be sick.
NOW! Dan mouths.
The men aren’t looking. I have to go.
I can’t.
I clench my fist, then run across the yard.
Dan grins at me. I smile nervously back, then he peers over the top of the skip.
‘Change of plan,’ he says.
‘What? What are you going to do now?’
‘I’ve just seen two oars by the ark.’
‘But we want paddles, not oars.’
‘Same thing. Anyway, if they’re too big, we’ll just cut them in half. Now come on, let’s do it!’ Dan flips his hood up over his head, checks the men aren’t looking, then scurries like a rat across the yard.
I hesitate. Dan reaches the warehouse and beckons to me.
COME ON! he mouths.
I pull my hood over my head, then run as fast as I can towards him. My heart is racing. I feel like I’m escaping from a prison camp in the war and any second my back is going to get peppered with bullets from the guards.
‘Haha, this is brilliant,’ Dan says excitedly when I reach him.
I get my breath back and I glance over at the truck. The two men are still talking to the driver.
‘Come on,’ whispers Dan. ‘We’ll take one each and I’ll come back for the pirate.’
I feel bad for taking them, but Shooting Star won’t go far without oars. Dan hands me one. It’s as tall as my dad, but not so heavy. We look back out into the yard.
‘It’s clear,’ says Dan. ‘Let’s go!’
All the Things That Could Go Wrong Page 19