CHERUB: The Recruit Read Online Free PDF Page B

He wondered what Lauren was doing.
    *
     
    Just after four, James’ room-mate, Kyle, came running in. He was a skinny kid, a bit taller than James, wearing school uniform. Kyle slammed the door and tried to get his key in the hole to lock it. James wondered what the hell was going on.
    Kyle couldn’t lock the door before another kid rammed it. This kid looked older. Same height as Kyle but twice the width. Kyle jumped on to his bed. The big kid bundled Kyle over and pulled him to the floor. He sat astride him and punched him a couple of times in the arm.
    ‘You think you’re so smart,’ the thug said.
    ‘Take it,’ Kyle said.
    Kyle took a couple of slaps in the face. The thug slid a diary out of Kyle’s blazer and cracked him on top of the head with it.
    ‘Touch my stuff again, doughnut, I’ll smash your face in.’
    He got off Kyle, kicked him in the thigh and walked out.
    James sat up on his bed. Kyle tried to act like it was nothing but couldn’t hide the pain as he raised himself on to his bed.
    ‘I’m Kyle,’ Kyle said.
    ‘I’m James. How’d you upset him?’
    ‘His diary fell out of his pocket this morning. I found it. Most of it’s bogus, but he’d written this poem about a girl.’
    James laughed. ‘That big moose writes poetry?’
    ‘Yep,’ Kyle said. ‘I read a couple of lines out in front of his mates. He took it badly.’ Kyle was holding his face.
    ‘You OK?’ James asked. ‘You took some serious beats.’
    ‘I thought he’d grab the diary back, not try and kill me … One bit of the poem was great. You give me a buzz that’s like a bee. Even when I feel melancholy . Isn’t that cute … Man, is that what it looks like?’
    ‘What?’ James asked.
    ‘That skateboard under your bed must have cost over a hundred quid.’
    ‘You reckon?’ James asked. ‘I only used it about twice.’
    Kyle started laughing. ‘That board is a legend, James. Kids die to get their hands on them and you’ve used it twice. Can I see it?’
    James shrugged. ‘Whatever.’
    Kyle seemed to forget his pain as he reached under James’ bed and wheeled out the board. He sat back on his bed twisting it in his hands.
    ‘Nice. Hard wheels, must be fast. Can I try it?’ Kyle asked.
    ‘Sure. I never use it. As long as I can use my Playstation 2 on your telly.’
    ‘Playstation 2! We have Playstation 2 in this room? James, you’re a little beauty. What games have you got?’
    ‘I don’t know. About sixty different ones,’ James said.
    Kyle rocked back on his bed and started kicking his feet in the air.
    ‘Sixty games! I don’t believe you, James. You must be the most spoiled kid in the world and you don’t even realise.’
    ‘What?’ James asked. ‘Don’t kids in here have games consoles?’
    ‘We get three pounds a week for pocket money. You see that Gravis shirt on the floor? Twenty-five quid. I had to save up two pounds for twelve weeks to get that. I had to steal my Stussy shorts from a shop at Camden Lock. Would have ended up with a security guard standing on my head if I didn’t know a few moves.’
    ‘You want to try the Playstation now?’ James asked.
    ‘After my homework,’ Kyle said. ‘I always do homework first.’
    James laid back on his bed, wondering if Kyle was a swot. Someone knocked.
    ‘Yeah?’ James said.
    It was one of the house parents, a bearded hippie type. He looked at James.
    ‘I’ve sorted you a place at West Road School. You can start there in the morning. You’ll have to come back at lunchtime. The counsellor wants to see you.’
    James was miffed. He thought that his mum dying, and getting expelled, would get him off school for at least a couple of weeks.
    ‘OK,’ James said. ‘Where’s West Road?’
    ‘Kyle,’ the care worker said, ‘can you find James a school uniform and show him to school tomorrow?’
    ‘No worries,’ Kyle said.
    *
     
    Kyle and James spent the whole evening together. After his homework Kyle took James down to dinner. The food